On the bus, my phone rings.

 

“Kyung,” Hani raps into the receiver, “the kids are gathering for dinner. You coming?”

 

“Can’t. I have to finish packing my things for the move,” I sigh. The rent is getting too expensive for me to stay alone in the apartment and just in time my cousin’s letting out her smaller unit so I’m preparing to move over.

 

Hani clicks her tongue. “I still don’t get why you can’t just share the apartment with someone else and have to go through all the trouble to move house. Anyway, we’ll probably go somewhere else for round two so call me when you’re done.”

 

“Hmm.” I hang up. Pressing the bell on the bus, I alight at the next stop.

 

Sighing again at the apartment door, I press in my passcode and enter the dark room. I feel for the light switch on the wall and as the place brightens up, I eye the mess in the hall. In one corner, boxes are stacked one after another. Smaller boxes and unfolded clothes litter the floor.

 

Having lived here for almost two years now, I think I’ve developed a bit of attachment to this place. This is also the first house I rented with my own money, savings that I’ve gathered after years of working part-time. But now that it’s beyond my ability to keep it, I have to move on and let this place go. Well, there is that other option but I haven’t been able to find someone to share the apartment with and I’m not up for living with a stranger.

 

Throwing my bag onto the sofa, I roughly fold my clothes before packing them into more boxes. I don’t know how much time passes but the doorbell rings.

 

“Coming!” I call out, kicking things out of the way as I go to open the door. The landlady stands outside with the new tenant behind her.

 

“Things decent inside?” The landlady asks jokingly as she enters. “I did tell you that the new tenant would be here to see the house today, didn’t I?”

 

I follow her in. “Yes, ma’am. I’m still in the midst of packing so it’s a bit messy, but everything else is in order.”

 

“Right. Come on in, young man!” The landlady waves the new tenant in.

 

I stare at his silhouette, ready to study him when he steps into the light. My eyes widen. “Kim Seokjin-ssi?”

 

“Hyekyung-ssi!”

 

“You two know each other?” The landlady asks, curious. I look away to evade her question.

 

“Such a coincidence,” Seokjin says looking around the living room. To the landlady, “I like this place.”

 

The landlady nods. “Girl, you will be ready by the end of this month?”

 

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “The end of this month is in two days.” She glares at me. “I’ll be ready by then.”

 

“I’ll start bringing my things over after that, then. But Hyekyung-ssi just take your time.” Seokjin smiles.

 

The landlady clears . “I’ll leave you two youngsters alone since you know each other. Young man, you can come down to the office tomorrow to sign the contract?”

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

And the landlady leaves, slamming the door close behind her. Seokjin and I stand in the living room in utter silence until someone’s grumbling stomach breaks the quietness. It could be either of us but to me it sounds like it’s from both our stomachs.

 

Seokjin tries to hold in his laughter but fails and seeing that, I burst out laughing. “We can call for takeout?” I suggest, walking into the kitchen to pull delivery flyers off the fridge. Seokjin comes in after me, eyeing the choices.

 

“How about chicken? My treat.” He pulls out his phone before I can even answer him and not long later the deliveryman arrives.

 

We sit at the dining table opposite each other. Picking out a drumstick, Seokjin passes it over to me.

 

“Thank you.” I smile.

 

Seokjin chews on a piece on chicken as he stares at me. I don’t break the eye contact. Finally, he speaks after swallowing. “Why would you want to leave such a nice place?”

 

I shrug. “My cousin has a place she’s renting to me for cheap.”

 

“I was just wondering what it would be like if we ended up as housemates,” he says absentmindedly.

 

“Where are you moving from?” I ask, casually changing the subject.

 

“I’m actually staying with a friend at his place but he’s getting tired of me,” he says, then laughs to lighten the mood. A forced laughter, I realise. If Seokjin notices the raise of my eyebrow, he makes no indication of it. “This was the only unit available I could find in this area. I have a small shop in the next neighbourhood.”

 

I nod. Then silence again.

 

“I’m free for the next couple of days, if you need help moving out.” Seokjin offers. “Not that I’m in a rush to move in but you know…”

 

“Ah, I, uh… I’ll let you know if I need help, thanks.” I try to think of something to say to salvage the awkwardness but my phone rings, disrupting my train of thought.

 

“Yah, Lee Hyekyung!” a male voice screams over the line. I remove the phone from my ear to confirm that it’s Hani’s number calling.

 

I steal a glance at Seokjin before cutting the call. “Must be a wrong number,” I explain.

 

“Hyekyung-ssi,” he calls my name. His eyes seem to be trained on something over my head.

 

“Yes?”

 

Seokjin doesn’t say anything for a while but when he does, he stumps me with a weird question. “What do you think of someone who becomes a different person every time he sleeps and wakes up?”

 

I tilt my head in question. “What do you mean? Like, hypothetically?”

 

He shakes his head, then thinks better of it and shakes his head even more vigorously. He lets out a bitter laugh. “No, just ignore me. That was a really random question. It’s getting late. I should let you rest.”

 

“You’re leaving now?” I ask.

 

Seokjin puts on a smile as he takes his jacket from the sofa where he left it. “Don’t have to see me out. I’ll call you soon, Hyekyung-ssi.”

 

I stare at the closed door even long after he leaves. The gloomy feeling from earlier this afternoon returns. What is it about this man that's making me feel so uneasy? Whatever it is, it's also true that he's intrugued me and at this point I can't even deny that I want to get to know him better. 

 

 

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