Baekhyun moved out a month later, and the days leading up to the day itself was marred by something that was rare between the two of us: silence. It was a rather quiet month comprising mostly calculating costs, settling the house logistics and actually getting around to that Kyungsoo film that we promised each other. Watching the film that starred our high school classmate, I couldn't help but feel that many things had changed. An old friend was now a budding actor on the silver screen, another was moving forward in his life with someone whom he had probably never forgotten about. 

Neither of us really informed our circle of friends of this change, and that required a lot of effort on my part seeing that Chen and Chanyeol followed up rather closely with texts of "how's things going?" and "are you feeling better?" every now and then. Surprisingly enough, the first person to find out was actually Taeyong. 

I did not disclose any details to him whatsoever, nor was he someone who would pry into my life excessively. How he came to that conclusion though, was through his keen observations. Over one of our lunches - after we finally got over our initial awkwardness - Taeyong hit the nail on the head when he asked me if something had happened at home because I was staying back for OTs a bit too much. My boss loved it, but my young colleague seemed more concern for my welfare. What I was truly grateful for, though, was that after our failed start at a relationship, Taeyong had transformed into what seemed like my new gay best friend, rather than pounce on the opportunity that Baekhyun and I were finally drifting apart. For now, I would leave it up to his interpretation. 

The first day after Baekhyun moved out to his new apartment, I woke up to realise that I would be eating alone in this apartment that was obviously too big for myself. I did not know why that realisation seemed so salient that day, because that was quite often the case too even when we were staying together. It wasn't like we enjoyed a daily meal together before this, since our office hours did not necessarily align. Yet somehow, it was just very different. 

It was very strange that the fridge and TV held such little significance to me, and it was something that I only learnt after I started staying on my own again. I'd had takeaway for three days in a row since Baekhyun moved out; I was too lazy to restock the fruits in the fridge; and he had always been the one to decide on a movie to watch anyway. Having these seemed more like an irony now rather than a moment of triumph, because the idea of a big fridge and TV was sadly, like a Valentine's Day discount, meant to accommodate two. 

The two of us were very efficient with the allocation and working with the numbers for how to split things between us. It really sounds like a clean divorce now, and maybe it felt a bit like that to me, but it was all in good will. The only thing that stopped us from the cleanest split of all though, was our Netflix subscription. 

We shared a family Netflix subscription, and there was another month left till the end of the subscription. 

Funny enough, it was the only thing that we shared that he allowed me to pay for my share, because we'd settled it immediately when we first got it. I wouldn't have let him either way - the fridge and the TV were making me feel guilty enough. 
 

I thought untying things were supposed to be messy. Yet, somehow, Byun Baekhyun just makes things easy and smooth every single time. He didn't even give me the chance to complain, to maybe call him about an extra bill or outstanding lunch money between us. 

The perks of not living with Baekhyun though, was that I was no longer victim of ual moans at night anymore, or his jokes and taunts about me meeting my date when I reported to work in the morning. Who was I kidding though? He hadn't had in the house for a good two months already. That didn't seem like a convincing perk of living alone anymore. 

I would continue to return to an empty house for dinner, declining Taeyong's invitations for dinner over at his house, a fortnight into Baekhyun moving out. I tried cooking something, and to my surprise they were mostly successful. Had I just been too reliant on someone, not foreseeing the fact that one day he would move away and begin the next stage in his life too? 

Yet everytime I cooked, I would come into contact with the fridge. 

The damn thing about the fridge was that he took the l