BM had his phone in one hand, his eyes glued to the screen, and with his other he stirred his sauce as he enjoyed the breeze from his open window. When he had first moved in, he would cook himself extravagant dishes, loving the fact he was cooking in his own kitchen. But he had learnt quickly enough that cooking for one left a lot of waste and so over time his cooking had turned into single packet sauces and tuna pasta and if he was feeling really fancy, some salt and pepper. So, as it was, he could pretty much cook with his eyes closed. He missed cooking properly, but it just really wasn’t worth it for one person.

Slowly his stirring hand came to a stop, and his thumb ceased to scroll through his Instagram feed, as he felt a familiar pressure against his calves. With a sigh, he looked down to see a ginger cat rubbing against his legs.

BM didn’t have cat.

“You again,” this was the third time this week that this cat had gotten in while he was cooking. He acted all nice and sweet, but BM knew he only really wanted the food. The past few times he had just opened the door for him, and he had left, but this time as BM stood holding open the back door the cat just blinked at him. “Go on, I’m sure your owner feeds you at home.” He was pretty sure the cat belonged next door, he had seen it from the next floor in their garden, so he could always pick it up and take it over. But to be honest he wasn’t a fan of cats and he didn’t really want to touch it. The cat turned away, disinterested, and set to work searching BM’s kitchen at his own leisurely pace.

Leaving the door open, he walked towards him with the idea of herding him out, but the cat just ignored him until he lightly nudged him with his foot, and then he hissed. “Hey, this is my house thank you.” Unsure what else to do, he leant down to pick the cat up, but his hands were met with a warning scratch, so he recoiled, standing back up again. “Vicious little-”

As if on cue he heard the neighbours back door open and so he stepped into the garden and put his head over the fence. Just about to sit down in a green deckchair was a guy about his own age with swept back hair holding an iced coffee, humming to himself. “Excuse me,” BM started, the neighbour looked up, blinking curiously at BM. It wasn’t every day your stranger neighbour put his head over the fence. “You don’t happen to have a ginger cat by any chance?”

“Yes I would,” he furrowed his eyebrows, sensing something he wasn’t much going to like was coming next, “he hasn’t wrecked your garden, has he?”

“What? Oh no, I don’t keep a nice garden anyway. He’s climbed through my window. For the third time this week,”

“I see, that’s where he’s been disappearing off too. I’m sorry, there’s not much I can do really, he’s a curious cat,”

“Or just likes his food, it’s always when I’m cooking. I mean it’s fine, it’s not your fault, only this time I can’t get him to leave.” BM explained, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. He suddenly felt like he was bothering this guy, I mean…what was he meant to do about a free-spirited cat after all?

“Let me get you some of his treats, you should be able to lure him out with that,” he suggested, getting up.

“That should do it, thank you.” While BM waited for him to come back, he took a moment to admire his neighbours garden. The floor was a sandy coloured brick and all around the fences were flower beds bursting with colour, from pinks to blues and yellows, you could tell the garden was well loved. No wonder he wanted to drink his coffee out here. How he managed to keep the cat from ruining it, BM had no idea.

“Here you are,” His neighbour handed him a plastic box filled with fish shaped biscuits and BM cracked it open to pull one out and headed back into his house. He gave his sauce a quick stir and turned the heat down and then uncurled his fist to show the cat what was in his hand. Immediately the cat piped up, purring and nuzzling round his legs again. Trying not to trip over him, he headed for the garden, and sure enough the cat followed. Once they were both outside, BM shut the door and knelt down to give him the treat (he wasn’t a tease after all.)

“worked like a charm.”

“I’m glad,” his neighbour replied, giving the cat a scratch behind the ears as he hopped onto the fence to head home. “Sorry about that, keep the box in case it happens again.”

“That would be helpful, thank you. I’m Matthew by the way, but everyone calls me BM.”

“BM?”

“Short for big Matthew. Because I’m..well..big”

“I can see that. I’m Taehyung, but you can call me J.seph.” J.seph extended his hand over the fence and BM gave it a firm shake.

“Your garden is beautiful by the way.”

“Thank you, it started as a time killing hobby, but I got a bit carried away,” He laughed, and BM couldn’t help but think this was someone he wanted to know. He couldn’t say why exactly, he just felt that he should.

“It looks great. I have food on the stove, so I need to go see to that, but thanks again for your help.”

“No problem, I’ll try and keep him out of the way.”

“Thank you.”

__________________________

BM found he didn’t mind the cats visits so much after that. Each visit brought with it a new piece of information about J.Seph. He was 26, he worked as a Barista, his cat was 2 and his name was Freddie, he also had tropical fish, he liked to dance, he was a huge fan of superhero movies... it went on. BM found it harder and harder to keep him off his brain, and so eventually he it up and invited him over for dinner. He tried to keep it cool and casual, but the reality was he was flustered and very very uncool. But J.Seph said yes nonetheless.

He cooked a beef bibimbap with cucumber, bean sprouts, spinach, carrots, shiitake mushrooms and zucchiniand then placed a fried egg on top.To go with it he made up some kimchee. J.Seph knocked just as he was about to serve up and BM let him in, offering him a beer as he finished up the last little bits. Having J.Seph actually in his house without a fence in between them was weird, BM found himself hyper sensitive to how close to each other they were. Come on BM get a grip. It was a little bit like a teenager again.

Dinner went by without a hiccup. J.Seph liked the food, and they made their way through 4 beers and talked about everything and anything. Once they’d done that, BM made some coffee and they moved to the sofa.

“Thanks again for dinner, it was really nice.”

“No thank you, it’s been a while since I didn’t eat alone.” BM replied, smiling at him over the rim of his mug. J.Seph’s posture had changed a little, he seemed less relaxed than he had been before, and he kept reaching up to check his hair was in place. It was putting BM on edge, had he said something wrong?

“So, why do you live alone?” J.Seph asked. His tone was…off, and BM felt like he’d just been asked a question with a catch. He sipped his coffee to buy him some time before he answered, wracking his brain for what it could be J.Seph was fishing for.

“I um… Well, me and my ex-girlfriend had a nasty break up and I had to move out. All my friends were already settled, and my parents aren’t in Korea right now. So, it just worked out like this.”

“so…” J.Seph had his mug pressed into his lap and was running his finger round the top of it, focussing on it intently as though it had some answer he could absorb. “You’re still single from that?”

“Yes. What are you trying to get at here?” BM asked, feeling a little hot and uncomfortable at the sudden turn the conversation had taken.

“It’s just… at first when you asked me to dinner, I thought maybe…I don’t know.” He trailed off, shaking his head, “You’re going to think I’m mentally 16 if I keep on like this.”

“No it’s okay,” BM encouraged, he needed J.Seph to finish or this conversation would haunt him at night with every other awkward encounter he’d had.

“I wondered if you meant it like a date. But I told myself that was stupid because who logically makes that jump.”

“A date?” The thought honestly hadn’t even crossed BM’s mind, his intention had been to get to know him more. But now the thought had been brought to his attention, he supposed a date was exactly what he was after. J.Seph was just a person, you could probably find millions like him, but to BM he had become something else. He made BM feel differently. And BM was in no way saying that was because he loved him right now, but because maybe one day he could.

“It’s silly, I sound so naïve right?”

“No actually, I think I might be the naïve one here.” BM admitted. “If you want, this can be a date.” He added, “as long as your cat doesn’t think it makes the house open” he added, trying to lighten the mood a little. The air was pretty thick, and this conversation was making his brain swirl.

“I do want.” J.Seph said, looking up at him. “You make me feel seen and heard, and I find you hard to stop thinking about. I guess I need to thank Freddie for getting me someone to see now.” BM smiled, wrapping his hands round his warm cup as he felt J.Seph move a little closer and lay his head on his shoulder. BM felt as though a whole new world of possibility had opened up for him, and he supposed he better start getting his cooking skills back up to scratch.

No he wasn’t in love with the boy next door. But that’s not how it worked. You met someone, you got to know them, and you fell for them a little bit more each day till you woke up one morning and thought huh, I love this person. And maybe, that was the path these two were headed on. But BM wasn’t going to rush to conclusions, he was going to sit back and enjoy it as it unfolded. And if it didn’t work out, maybe he’d just found himself a new friend. That was the fun of living in the present, the future was always there waiting to unfold.