The next morning –

The stray sunlight caught on my lashes as I stretched awake. I yawned, rubbed my eyes, and fiddled with the comforters, my consciousness flaking in and out. As I buried my head back into my pillow, memories of yesterday began to speed through my mind. My smile dropped when I remembered Taehyung being a part of my evening, the curve of my lips kept twisting downward with each image of him. And then the most shocking memory of all jolted me out of bed and onto the floor in wild tangle of sheets.

Now fully awake I could hear the thud of boots and chatter coming from the living room. I ripped myself free from the blankets and scrambled down the halls like a newborn dear.

The first thing I saw were the yellow vests of some of the movers. The door was swinging wide-open and they were coming in and out with packages.  I swear I almost teared up when I saw the piles of boxes scattered across my rug. There were suitcases in the kitchen and worse of all, my favorite books were shoved off the table and into a corner to make room for all the stuff. Mouth agape at the gory scene I felt an all too familiar hand rest on my shoulder. God knows when he snuck up behind me.

Taehyung.  

“Good morning roomie.” He whispers before chuckling at my wild bed hair. “You must have slept in late.”

Even though I clearly remembered signing a contract with him last night, I still couldn’t come to terms with the fact that I had betrayed myself so easily. Surely, I couldn’t have just opened the gate for the goat with my own two hands.

“B-but, what’s all this.” I gestured to the room full of stuff.

“Here’s the thing. I’m moving from a house, so I have a lot of stuff and nowhere to keep it. But-” He tried his best to be convincing. “I’ll squeeze it all in my room, I promise. You won’t see any of it after today.”

I really wanted to believe him but when could I ever. I sighed and just turned away from the sight. It’s too early for this.

“Thanks for understanding.” He said as I shut the door to my room, swiftly locked it and sank to the floor.

I need to tell Karen.

I send a quick not-that dramatic text message to Karen to tell her of my ridiculous situation. If anyone would sympathize with me it would be her.

Message from Leah: Come over quick! I’m dying

I stayed huddled in my room the whole morning. It wasn’t until the savory scent of ramen floated into my room that I got out up from my bed. I pressed my ear against the door and heard the bubbling sounds of the soup being stirred. My stomach growled, and I my lips remembering that I hadn’t eaten since yesterday. But he would be out there and that would mean that I would have to eat with him.

I moved away from the door and started pacing in circles and doing what Karen used to say was my creepiest habit, talking out loud to myself. 

“On one hand.” I told my teddy bear plush “I can’t wait in my room forever. I’ll have to face him at some point and rather sooner than later. I mean, I shouldn’t make this more awkward than it has to be.”

“But” I swerved back around “If I acknowledge him so early on then that’s like I’m saying he’s forgiven. Which he’s not. And maybe he’ll try to get close to me again and become my…friend.”

The thought of that made me shake my head and sit back down. This was an issue.

But then as if the heavens heard my worries, I heard the clink of the lid as he put it back on the pot and then the door to his room shut.

My head peeked out from the crack in my door just to make sure it was safe to venture out. No sign of him it seemed, so I made sure to quietly inched toward the kitchen. The kitchen and living room were just as empty as the hallway with only a used bowl in the sink and the pot on the stove. It looks like he cleared some of his boxes away too, though a few were still stacked in the corner.

I moved toward the simmering soup, a sticky note on its lid.

I made a lot. Feel free to have some.

Well, I suppose he owed me at least this much.

Taking a seat at the table I grinned at my bowl of ramen. One of few good things about that guy was his ramen skills. It was just the right temperature with fresh vegetables and egg thrown in. This was almost enough to change my mood but then I heard his door open again.

He waltzed out with his hands in his pockets and took a seat at the end of the table. Seems like he was already getting comfortable here.

“Like it?”

I wiped some soup off my face with a napkin “It was okay.” Then glanced to the side. “I appreciate you making me some. I guess that wasn’t so bad of you.”

“I just thought it wouldn’t be right not to make some for you since I used your ingredients.”

I nearly spit all my ramen across the table. “M-my ingredients. Why?” I swallowed the rest of my food quickly. “Why would you used mine?”

“I just got here so I didn’t have any.”

Every time I thought I understood this guy, he would surprise me again. How can someone sound so logical but make no sense?

I took a deep breath, pushed the bowl out of the way and grabbed a piece of notebook paper from a nearby shelf.

“We need to lay down some rules.”

“First rule.” I drew a number one on the paper. “Don’t eat each other’s food. That includes snacks.  I can’t afford meals for two people and I plan how I’m going to use my food throughout the week in advance.”

He nodded and leaned back in the chair

“Second rule.” I pointed back to my door. “You can’t come into my room without permission. Not even if you knock first. I have to physically open the door for you.”

“Third rule: Bathroom. You can take a shower at night and I’ll take one in the morning. I will be locking the door too so don’t try anything weird.” He narrowed his eyes at me, but I couldn’t take any chances. I had to address everything.

“Fourth rule. Friends. I’m fine if you have one or two friends over but I need to be informed beforehand.”

“And what about you?” He said. “Will you also have to tell me when your friends are coming over?”

“Of course not. It’s my house.”

“And fifth rule.” I finished writing the last entry. “Chores, like taking out the trash and cleaning the dishes, alternates between us each week. On Saturdays, we can help each other clean the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. That’s what Karen and I used to do.”
I pinned the paper on the fridge with a magnet and looked back toward him. His expression was hard to figure out but seemed somewhat curious.

“Agree?” I asked.

“Actually,” He took the paper off and popped the pen back on. “I want to add my own rule.”

“I didn’t say you get to add your own rule.” I objected but he was already scribbling it down.

“Number six.” He locked eyes with me. “Let’s be nice.”

Again, he does something unexpected. There’s no way that rule could have been addressed to me though. I was always nice.

“Look,” He shrugged. “I know that we may have had a bad split a long time ago. But I think we should be civil." When he emphasized ‘we’ he nodded toward me.

“Let’s be nice to each other, okay. Even if we can’t be friends.”

I was dumbfounded, really. He took my hand and shook it in his own before signing his name at the bottom of the paper and nudging the pen toward me. As much as I wanted to argue I know that would only give him what he wanted. And to be completely honest, it wasn’t a bad rule. I just didn’t like the implications. Fine. I sign the paper and put it back on the fridge. It won’t be hard to follow. Since I’m not the problem.

He grinned. “So, what’s the penalty for breaking a rule.”

“You get kicked out.”

“And what if you break a rule.” He raised an eyebrow at me.

Hmm… I pretended to rub my chin and think about it. “How about. You get kicked out.”

“Wow.” He shook his head toward me and pointed toward rule number six.

This will definitely get annoying.

“Okay, no penalties then. Let’s just do what we’re supposed to.” I said.

He agreed and got up from the table to finally go back to his room. I was left by myself with a now soggy pot full of ramen. Distracted by everything that just happened and our new set of rules, I didn’t notice my phone on the table lighting up like a strobe light with text message notifications popping up one after another.

Messages from Karen: What’s wrong?

Message from Karen: Hello?

Message from Karen: Are you okay?

Message from Karen: Did you hurt yourself with a fork again?

Message from Karen:???

Message from Karen: Leah?

Message from Karen: !!!LEAH!!!???

Message from Karen: I’m coming over…