The inside of the house was not as majestic as the exterior of it. It was a duplex house, and the first thing you see after entering the house is the living room. It was really messy. There were empty beer cans and used tissues on the floor, sofas, coffee table— everywhere. The living room was parallel to the kitchen, which was engulfed with dirty plates, empty chips packets, countertop filled with random fruits that were on the verge of rotting. The dustbin was overflowing with trash. The first floor only consisted of the living room, the kitchen, and the gym. There was a staircase parallel to the gym, leading to the second floor, where all the bedrooms were located.

Ashlyn blinked. Her eyes travelled from the boys— who were not fazed by the mess— to the living room. They merely yawned, took their shoes off, and went in. She wasn't a clean freak, but this was excessive even for her. She vigorously blinked a couple more times before following Namjoon.

"Oi!" She stopped him mid-stairs.

"Yeah?"

"What's with the mess? Don't you guys clean or something? At least throw the trash out!"

"Huh?" He sounded baffled. She made a face and motioned around the living room. He still blinked and stared at her with confusion written on his handsome features.

"Dude! What on Earth- the mess! Do you not see? Blessed fuck."

"Huh-"

"Just go to your goddamn room, I'll clean it up."

"Huh, but wh-" He paused mid-sentence by the lovely glare Ash was giving him, and silently went upstairs to his room. That only left Ashlyn on the first floor; everyone else left for their cosy beds.

She rolled up her sleeves, making a disgusted face from the smell of it, and got to work. She wasn't happy about her generous welcome, but she could work with it. Half of them didn't like her at all, and the rest almost pitied her. Knowing that and also the fact that she needs to get their approval in order to get things done easily, Ash was determined to earn their trust. Even if it meant cleaning a huge house with trash worthy of weeks; even if she didn't like the task on hand. She wasn't going to clean their bedrooms, only the living room, and kitchen. She threw the empty beer cans and used tissues in the trash, organized the pillows on the sofa, took the trash out, washed the dishes, dried them, arranged the countertop, and lastly, put some fresh fruits on it.

"I need a shower and change of clothes, these stinks," She muttered while unfolding her sleeves. After all, she'd worn those since a few heated up combats. Her legs almost gave up as the thought of her room occurred to her. "Please be clean." She prayed internally as she walked up the stairs.

On the second floor, there were 4 bedrooms, 2 on the left side of the hallway, 3 on the right side. The bedrooms were parallel to each other: one on one wall, the other on the opposite. Ash walked away from the last room of the left hallway, there was a don't enter sign along with some weird robotic doodles stuck on the door— it was clearly used. She turned around, and a big oil painting of the seven of them together hanging at the very end of the hallway caught her attention. It looked like something was missing in that painting, something vital. She stared at the picture, until the other door on her left opened, revealing a sleepy Jimin.

"What are you doing?" His voice was raspy.

"Um, do you maybe know where my room is? Like where should I stay?" She took a step back as Jimin opened one eye and peeked through his bird's nest.

"I don't. You can take the living room sofa until Namjoon hyung wakes up. Anything else?"

"No, thank you." She slightly bowed and by the time she looked up, he was already gone. "Here I come, living room, my bestie." She cheered with fake enthusiasm while walking down the stairs. This time around, there wasn't a blanket for her. She swore at herself for forgetting to ask Namjoon about her staying, which now resulted in her lying down, shivering. Even though it was freezing, fatigue got the best of her, and she drifted off to sleep. Right before she was completely senseless, a thought occurred vaguely at the back of her mind.

The painting... None of them was smiling.

-x-x-x-

"Hey, wake up," Hoseok poked Ashlyn with a pen in a feeble attempt to wake her up. "Aren't you cold?"

"God, stop poking me! I can just hear your voice, y'know?" She groaned after sitting up and rubbing her arm. "What do you need?"

"Nothing, but don't you think you need something?" He crossed his arms.

"What?"

"Your room, big brains." Seokjin rolled his eyes, but kept his eyes on whatever business he was doing in the kitchen.

"So, the trouble is, we actually don't have a spare room," Namjoon appeared.

"Excuse me? Where am I supposed to stay?!" She hastily shot up.

"We didn't think we will get a new member so-"

"Where do I stay?" Ash cut Hoseok off.

"So um, we've decided to let you room up with Jimin," Namjoon licked his lips.

"That's something you have decided, not us." Jimin, who was sitting on another couch, flared up. "Do you even consider us your teammates anymore? It doesn't seem so; you're going around making decisions on your own!"

"Don't start a fight now. It's too late for this shit. Wrap it up and go to your respective fucking bedrooms." Yoongi stated in the most calming voice possible. "Besides, Joon's got a point. You are the only one without a roommate, all of us already are full."

"Why are you taking her side all of a sudden?" Jimin gritted his teeth. It was just a simple matter of rooming up with someone, but he couldn't take it. He lived alone in his own private space for over 8 years, and rooming up with someone who's a girl, definitely didn't sit right with him.

"Fun tip dumbass, the rest of us already have roommates; only you don't. Where do you suggest she should stay? In the living room? In the front yard?" He put his halfway filled glass down creating a loud clink. He walked closer to the lot and stood in front of Jimin. "We have to do something about her, since someone here—" He eyed Namjoon, "— forgot to inform us about this mess. So be a good boy and drop your selfishness by letting her stay with you. None of us has another choice."

"If he really doesn't like it then maybe we could switch rooms–" Jungkook piped up.

"Who's gonna switch? You? As far as I've seen, you and Jin hyung hate her guts, and she hates the guts of Taehyung. Namjoon can't switch as he has all works piled up in there. That leaves me, Seok, Jimin. What do you say hyung, would you do the bother of moving out of your room and switching with Jimin?" He turned to Seokjin.

"No way in hell."

"Seok?"

"Well if Jimin wants to stay with me–"

"No."

"Ouch."

"That leaves you. If Jin doesn't move outta that room, she can't switch places with me."

"Honorifics!" Seokjin shouted.

"Shut up," He dismissed the older. "Any other ideas, prince Jimshit?" Yoongi stuffed his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants. After staying silent for a few moments, Jimin got up and took his time glaring at every single one of them.

"Fuck you." He uttered before storming away.

"'Kay, that's decided. I suggest you hurry up and follow him before he locks you out." Yoongi Waved with his back faced to the rest as he made his way upstairs. Without another word, she heeded Yoongi's word. To her, she finally found someone logical who could cope with nonsensical situations like these. One could say, Yoongi was Ash's most liked person in this team.

Ashlyn knocked on Jimin's door a couple of times without receiving any response. She gave up and entered to a grumpy Jimin wrapped in his duvet. He was definitely awake, but was simply ignoring her. She took the hint and silently laid down on the spare bed and faced the wall.

This sure was going to be tough for both sides. It hadn't been 24 hours yet, and they were already at each other's throats. This was going to be a long process— longer for Ashlyn, in fact. She ought their trust. Even though she had only awoken half an hour ago, fatigue got to her yet again; and she fell asleep. The whole house became silent again, awaiting a new and hopefully better day.

Only if they don't end up locking horns with each other, that is.

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A/N NOTE:

HAPPY READING!

To be continued...