2.

 

He couldn’t be anymore excited about meeting his roommate. He’s anxious but at the same time curious. He has only had two roommates in his life. First was Zico, but after Seolhyun and his best friend moved together, Dean was stuck with guy roommate who he lasted for only a couple months with. He doesn’t even remember the guy’s name.

 

He dresses himself casually this time, but still with thoughtful efforts. It’s the middle of August, and although summer is ending; Dean finally finds some pleasure into wearing long sleeve shirts. His hairs is pulled back and reveals his forehead and doesn’t hide his face. He wears a quite loosed, ripped denim jeans and black converse with a grey v-neck long sleeves. Honestly, his concept seems to be eye-catching.

 

It’s hard not to notice the eyes he’s receiving from the females around the cafe. It kind of irritates him in a way since it’s always like that. He checks his phone multiple times to see a text from anyone important. Zico texted him earlier wishing him good luck and hopefully his roommate would be the perfect fit for Dean. Seolhyun texted him too saying that he needs to be careful and observe his roommate. His mother even texted him saying that his dad just got a check up and is currently doing well. His little brother called him this morning just to announce that he made it to the soccer team at his school using a payphone nearby. Dean was surprise those were still around, then again… they do live in the sub-urban.

 

Dean planned to arrive at least twenty minutes early at the cafe in hopes of making a good first impression. It’s five minutes to noon and so far no one has approach him. He’s starting to wonder whether or not his roommate will arrive. He takes a sip of his Americano and looks out the window screen, eyes meeting the traffic. He must be stuck in traffic… I wonder if he drives though or just commune… he thought.

 

His phone makes a doorbell sound, catching his attention and finally receives a message from an unknown number.

 

Raise your hand up, halfway.  

 

He does as told and eyes meets a certain person standing in front of the entrance, staring at him. Dean freezes a bit and his roommate smiles at him. A girl… ? he thought, a little bewilder. She starts to walk towards and Dean watches as she takes a sit on the chair in front of him. She places her fossil backpack next to her and takes a folder out of it then revealing the copies of paperwork from Dean. When their eyes meet again, Dean comes back to earth, somewhat speechless.

 

“Kwon Hyuk?” she asked.

 

Dean nods, slowly.

 

She wears glasses, not the nerdy kind of glasses or the thin ones either. They’re black and he can tell that it has some simple floral design on the sides. Her skin is rather golden, but perhaps it’s the sun’s fault but she seems golden. Not fair. Her hair’s shiny black, obviously layered due to the volume it shows. They’re hold down to her chest, just underneath her , wavy and clean. She wears a thin black denim jacket, and a simple white shirt underneath. She is simple.

 

“I’m Kim Jae Hyun. Your future roommate,” she said and folds her fingers together, looking at the surprise Dean. “Judging from your expression, you didn’t think I was a female?” He nods. She chuckles a bit, breaking the ice for about a percent. “Most, don’t. Hopefully, that doesn’t become a problem.”

 

He finally clears his voice and takes a long sip of his Americano. He positions himself comfortably and observes her. She continues to review the copies of paperworks and stumbles upon his set of rules that he wrote down for her. “It seems that our set of rules matches each other’s taste. I don’t think we will have a problem…” she pauses and makes eye contact with him, “unless my gender reveal matters.”

 

They’re quiet for some time and he clears his throat again, shaking his head as no. “No… uhm… I just didn’t expect it. So … uhm, but no, it shouldn’t be a problem…” he stuttered and gulps. She smiles and nods, carefully placing everything back in the folder then to her bag. She sits comfortably and eyes him. He tries not to heavily sigh. They continue to sit there in silence for about a minute or so.

 

“So tell me some things about you?” she asked.

 

Dean his lips and rest his back on the chair. “Well… I go by the name of Dean, so you can call me that.” She nods. “I work at Jam Records as a Music-Tech and graduated with a master degree on Music Production.”

 

“So you do music for a living,” she comments.

 

He nods with a smile, “Yes. I have music site only under the name of Deanfluenza.”

 

“I’d like to listen to you music some time if that’s okay,” she said with a genuine smile. For some odd reason, he’s starting to feel comfortable.

 

“Of course. I wouldn’t mind.”

 

“Do you do collaborations and gigs?”

 

He’s somewhat surprise at her sudden interest but he smiles and scratches the back of his head, “I actually do. I’ve done a few guide voice as well for other artists. I’m not big in the shadow industry yet but I’m working on it. Working at Jam Records sure is helping me get there.”

 

She nods and signals for a waitress, “I actually like that place. I used to go there from time to time with some friends a few years ago.” He eyes her and assumes that she’s younger than him. Yes, she’s younger than me…. But she talks like she’s old. “What else?”

 

“Since I got fired from other part time job, I am actually looking into another one,” Dean suddenly laughs, “I actually got fired from my part time because of the girls that liked me made a scene. She, uhm, thought I was hitting on her… and when I rejected her flat out the day before, she got mad at me for not giving her a chance. I told her I have a girlfriend,” he eyes at her after mentioning his last sentence. “Then she went bizarre on me.”

 

Jae Hyun laughs it off, “That’s pretty funny. I feel bad for your girlfriend in a way. Considering she has to deal with those fangirls of yours. I assume you have some fangirls.” His eyes widen a bit and he embarrassingly laughs. “I can also tell because girls are eyeing you right now.”   

 

“It’s fine,” he chuckles. “It can’t be help.”

 

“What about your family?” she asks, her tone obviously says she’s not afraid to cross boundaries right now and ask for some general personal information.

 

Dean takes a sip of coffee and the waitress delivers Jae Hyun’s Cheese Danish and sweetened cold Black Tea. “I have a little brother, and he’s in his freshman year in high school. He called me this morning and proudly told me that he made the soccer team. My parents continues their ramen business over there. Yet, right now, my dad’s currently still injured so I’m helping my mother pay with the medical bills.”

 

Jaehyun nods while she takes a bite of her bread then she chuckles, “You didn’t have to be so detailed but I appreciate it.” Dean laughs a bit. For some odd reason, he’s starting to feel slightly comfortable talking to her. Maybe it’s because they’re discussing these kind of stuffs. They’re getting to know each other that’s all.

 

“How about you?” he asked.

 

“Me?” Dean nods. “Well… I’m still a college student, attending Korea National School of Medicine.” He suddenly looks at her in awe. It’s a no wonder she’s not home a lot, he thought. “I work as licensed vocational nurse at Seoul Medical Center. I’m training to be an registered nurse… but my family lives abroad, California, along with my two sisters and two brothers.” A family with five children huh… wow. “I decided to move here to challenge myself and also I wanted to live here.”

 

Suddenly, they’re quiet with each other again and she drinks her tea. “About your girlfriend,” she states making him perk up to her. “I hope she won’t be around the apartment a lot. I don’t like unnecessary visitors. If it’s family, then that’s fine. But I don’t usually like girlfriends/boyfriends around. I’m not home a lot during the day time but I do come home around eight o’clock in the evening. I prefer the place to not be too noisy and also I feel awkward. Most of the time I’m home, I try to be outside of my room and enjoy the rest of the apartment. I know she’s your girlfriend but I hope there’s no need for her to be at our place every single day or every other day.”

 

She said ours… he repeats in his head. He understands what he means. Since she’s a girl, and obviously younger, it’s normal for her to feel that an elder guy bringing home a girl would be a bit weird. And he appreciates the way she brought it up. She’s genuine about her request. He smiles at her, “Of course. I completely understand.”

 

“I’ll tell you when I will not be home and stuff,” she said then reaches for her pocket. She hands him a spare key. “Here’s yours. You can move in today or tomorrow, whenever you want. The day after you move in, we’ll have a meeting with the landowner together to discuss the rent and bill payments. I have to go to work. Hopefully I’ll see you tonight.”

 

Jaehyun smiles and leaves. He watches her go and finds that she actually drives a car. He stares at the car until it vanishes away from the viewpoint. After that, he stares at his key and smiles. He believes they’d get along. I can move in today, great. He takes his phone out and calls his best friend while he leaves the cafe.

 

“Hey. Wanna help me move in today?”

 

“How’s your roommate?” Zico asked, extremely curious.

 

Dean laughs, “It’s a good story. I’ll tell you when we see each other later.”

 

…

 

“WHAT?! Kim Jae Hyun is a girl!?” Zico yelps from the passenger seat, almost forgetting to hit the brakes. Dean holds on to the door and gasps with his stupid best friend. “Sorry…”

 

Dean sighs heavily. “She’s fine. She doesn’t seem like a psycho and she seems like a pretty genuine girl..”

 

“Did you forget that you have a girlfriend?” Zico asks.

 

Dean looks out the window then checks his phone, “Hae In hasn’t contacted me in almost two weeks… I texted to her to meet up so we can talk about this but apparently … that’s quite impossible.”

 

Zico glances at his best friend’s sulky-ish expression but he sighs seeing that face again. The face that was less than sorrow but also less than satisfied. The face of just in-between. “We’re probably just going to stop talking to each other and fade off, y’know. Isn’t that normal nowadays?”

 

His best friend doesn’t know what to do. Dean knows how to love but it’s something he has also never taken seriously before. It was there before ready to bloom but the boy himself stopped flourishing it with water and taking care of it… it forgot to bloom. He made it so far in his life. Having to move into the city to pursue his dream, graduating and fulfilling it, plus working his off every single day. He was gifted with talent and good looks, unlike Zico who just had the talent, and good-looks later on his life.

 

One day you’ll find someone who’ll be truly honest with you, Zico thought… hopefully.

 

After picking Dean’s stuff and going back to his new apartment, Zico finds himself in amazement and taking full on pictures to show his girlfriend. He’s amazed that his best friend gets to live in such a luxurious apartment (more like simply-well-decorated apartment). “You need to invite me and Seolhyun together. She’ll love this place!”

 

Dean laughs and puts his stuffs on the dining table, “Of course. I’ll ask Jaehyun if you guys can. Since she hasn’t had any roommate for quite awhile, I kind of want to respect her space and get to know her rules. She was pretty vague about it during our conversation.”

 

Zico stares at the man in front of him, “Okay… Either this Jaehyun is really pretty or you’re just being wary or she’s legit scary…”

 

Dean laughs again and they walk to his bedroom. “All of the above. When I mentioned I have a girlfriend, she straightforwardly told me that she wouldn’t want my girlfriend in here too much. I respect that. She’s young and probably have witnessed some weird stuffs before.”

 

Zico bounces on his bed and cuddles with one of the pillows, “Ha. How unfortunate for her. So with that being said, you’re not the first guy roommate she’s had?” Dean nods. “How peculiar. Well, I’m pretty sure Seolhyun will want to meet her soon. Have you told Hae In?”

 

Dean turns his office chair to face Zico on the bed while his best friend throws a pillow for Dean to hug as well. He rests his leg on the bed. “No… not yet. Honestly, I want to be a bit frank and just tell her that I found a place to live and my roommate’s a girl then see if she’ll reply fast enough and finally talk to me. But at the same time… that would be the same as digging my own grave.”

 

They laugh for a bit and all of the sudden get quiet. These sort of times when it’s just the two of them talking is something they love and miss the most. Ever since high school ended and the two basically part ways when college started, they don’t get the whole daily-talks and daily-hang out. They got busy and busier as the time went by, next thing they know they see each other once a week or sometimes once in two weeks. But of course, they cherish the times they get to spend together.

 

“Do you really love Hae In?” Zico asks out of nowhere but Dean saw it coming.

 

“I like her, but I don’t think I love her. So far out of all the girls I’ve dated, she’s the longest I’ve been with… but it’s mainly because we’ve always avoided heading butts with each other,” Dean answers honestly “If we were to break up over some cancelled date… then I suppose that’s the end of it. I’m just waiting for her to come to me and confirm her feelings.”

 

Zico stares at his best friend, “Hyukkie.” He sits down and genuinely stares at his best friend. Dean smiles at him and turns his back on Zico again, focusing on his laptop. Zico knows Dean will wait for the girl to break up with him. He usually will not do anything to mess the relationship up and he’d make it up wholeheartedly if he somehow did… but he also will not do anything to let it progress. He’s a guy who never chased his girls or anyone even if he wanted to love them. If there’s one thing Zico knows, Dean has never chased anyone or anything but his dream. He was always and still is the guy who’s in-between.

 

Hours pass and Zico left the place, telling Dean that he will be visiting again with Seolhyun. Dean launches himself on the couch and turns on the television, watching a random korean drama on screen but eventually doses off to the record players underneath the table. He remembers the song he played the first time he visited the apartment. He remembered buying it on his phone so he could listen to it in his car. He remembered … playing it repeatedly everyday.

 

He turns the television off and goes to look for it. “Playing… love,” he mumbles, while looking through all of the vinyls in tact, “plllaaaying.. Love…. Ah! Found it,” he smiles and carefully takes it out. He turns the turntable on and place the vinyl in, letting the tune dance around the lonely room. Dean launches himself again on the couch and closes his eyes.

 

An hour pass and Dean finally wakes up by his ringtone. He sits up straight, realizing he has dozed off. He immediately grabs his phone and looks at the name: Lee Hae In. He looks around for a bit, wondering if Jae Hyun’s gotten home but there seems to be no sign of her so he answers the phone. “You finally called,” he answers, “how have you been?”

 

“OPPA! Open your goddamn door! How dare you not tell me where you’ve moved in?!?!?!” he yelled through the phone, making Dean move the speaker away from his ear, “AISH! And I have to hear it from your stickin best friend who abandoned me at the restaurant alone!! Do you know how embarrassed I was?!” she continued.

 

Dean scratches the back of his head and runs to the door. He opens it and finds Hae In, arms cross and feet stomping continuously. He closes the door behind before she manages to find her way in. She shows a shock expression after witnessing him close the door, “You’re not even going to invite me in?” she hissed.

 

He sighs heavily, “let me explain it to you first.”

 

“Explain? You think you have a right to explain things to me?!” she yelled. Dean immediately tries to calm her anger down but she still refuses to listen to him. “Do you know how long I waited for you to come to me?! All you did was text me and stuff, and never even bother coming to me!! Or going to my place! You have no right to explain anything! AISH! Let me in!” Dean blocks her by gripping onto both her shoulders and moving her further away from the door.

 

“You’re making a scene. The neighbors can hear you,” Dean whispers, cautiously. Hae In hissed again and pushes him away. Just before she can yell away again… They both hear the elevator opens and Dean’s eyes widen.

 

“Jaehyun,” he muttered, nervously. Hae In glances at the two of them as Jaehyun approaches them. Dean immediately backs out a bit but at the same time, ready to cover Hae In’s mouth if anything happens. Jaehyun stops in front of them.

 

“Who’s this? Huh?”

 

“Roommate,” Jaehyun answers, straightforwardly. “You must be the girlfriend considering you’re reacting this way.”

 

Hae In snobs at her and turns to Dean, “Your roommate is a girl… I see. I see.”

 

Dean apologizes, “I’ll explain my situation to you okay? Let’s just go somewhere else and not cause a scene here.” He turns to Jaehyun and apologetically bows, “I’m really sorry about this.”

 

Jaehyun slightly smiles and just nods.

 

But Hae In pushes Dean away and confronts Jaehyun, looking at her from head to toe. “This is your roommate. Tsk. What is this?” She turns to him, “You could’ve asked me to move out with you!”

 

“I was at the edge of the cliff okay. What do you want me to do?”

 

“Move out,” she said, demandingly. “Move out from here.

 

Dean looks back at the two and worriedly said, “Hae In… you don’t have a stable job and remember, you still have to pay up your credit…”

 

 

Hae In glares at him, “What’re you trying to say here? That you don’t want to live with me? Your girlfriend?” Dean shakes his head and heavily sigh again.

 

“It means you’re not capable enough to rent a property alone or with anyone,” Jaehyun answers her, again. Basically adding fuel to the fire, but the honest girl can’t care less about her. Hae In, trying to compose her own anger, turns to Dean and tells him exactly what he needs to do:

 

“Right now. Pick.”

 

…

 

Jaehyun pours juice into a water glass and place it on the table. She carefully put the black bean noodles on the coffee table in front of the television and sits next to the sullen boy. “Are you okay?” she asks him.

 

He sits up and takes a sip of the juice, “I’m really sorry about that. It’s my first time moving in and although I was very well aware of your conditions, I managed to cause a scene at the beginning of it. I apologize.”

 

She laughs, suddenly, “It’s fine. Your girlfriend’s crazy in a way.”

 

“Ex-girlfriend,” he corrected her and watches her expression suddenly gloom down. He laughs and takes the noodle and eat some. She smiles and digs in, munching in the fried dumplings before taking the noodles in.

 

After eating, he checks his phone again. The one he kind of threw before opening the door for Hae In. Zico and Seolhyun spammed him with calls and texts. He just laughs and calls: “Hyukkie! Oh, My, Gosh, I’m so sorry my boyfriend is dumb and such a scaredy cat. I hope we didn’t ruin it for you.”

 

Dean laughs. A laugh that quite surprise his two friends from the other side. It’s a laugh they haven’t heard from him in awhile. “You sound so relax…” Zico commented.

 

“Do I?” Dean answers, slouching on the couch and looking at the food on the table. “I do huh… Hae In and I broke up.”

 

It’s quiet for a while. “I’m sorry,” Zico and Seolhyun mutters.

 

Dean smiles, “It’s fine. I actually feel relieve after… like a huge weight flew off my shoulders.... And funny thing was Jaehyun was there to witness it all.”

 

“She was?”

 

“Yeah. Hae In made me pick between the apartment or her. Obviously, I picked this apartment. I like it here, it somehow feel like home for me. I feel relax…”

 

“Where’s Jaehyun now?”

 

“Oh. We just finished eating and I volunteered to clean the mess up so she can rest. She’s probably sleeping right now.”

 

“Hyukkie…”

 

“For some reason, I feel happy,” Dean said, smiling.