Hyunwoo gets off the taxi after he makes his payment and looks carefully at the house number. While he double-checks the address making sure he is at the right house, the gate suddenly opens. A man with fair skin greets him politely. This is the first time Hyunwoo meet his housemate face to face. All their discussion about the room rent is done through video calls and text messages. Hyunwoo tries hard to keep his self-composure before he gets lost in the latter beautiful smile. 

"Nice meeting you Mr Sohn. I'm Kihyun, your housemate" the man says. 

"How do you know I'm here?" Hyunwoo asked in confusion. "I didn't even press the bell yet"

"CCTV" Kihyun answered as he pointed at the camera. 

"Wow," Hyunwoo is impressed. When he was living in Jeju, his life is surrounded by nature. So, even a simple technology like CCTV impresses him now. 

"Come on in" Kihyun opened the gate wider to let the tall man walks in. "I am actually heading out and just happened to see you on the screen," he explains.

Hyunwoo bows politely at his housemate as he let the latter lead him into the house. The front yard is pretty empty, but it didn't stop Hyunwoo from feeling impressed - thanks to its size. 

"It's good to know that I won't be living in this house alone anymore. Let me show you your room" Kihyun guides the tall man to the guest room. Hyunwoo just quietly followed him. "Hope you like it" he gesture for Hyunwoo to enter the room as he opened the door. 

Hyunwoo entered the room as he looks around. If the guest room is this big, he wonders how big will it be for the master room. But, he keeps that thought to himself. 

"You got transferred from a hospital in Jeju to Seoul, right? Do you need to report for duty today? I see your car is not here yet, I can give you a lift. I'm leaving to work in a moment" Kihyun offered. 

"No, it's tomorrow. I mean I will be reporting to duty tomorrow. My car will be here in the afternoon, I think" Hyunwoo answered as he put his backpack and luggage on the bed. 

"I see" Kihyun nodded his head to no one knows why. "By the way, I guess we won't be seeing each other often then" 

"Why?"

"Being a surgeon is very demanding. You will be busy at the hospital and I am often busy with my case. I usually stay overnight at my firm" 

"Case? Firm? Are you a lawyer?" Hyunwoo makes a guess. He mentally slaps himself for never looking or 'investigating' his housemate's background before moving in. 

"You didn't know? I thought I have told you in one of our phone calls but apparently not. I'm sorry" Kihyun sincerely apologize. "Hope you got no problem with that" he knows many people who have negative perceptions of the law profession and he wishes Hyunwoo is not one of them because it will just make their landlord-tenant relationship complicated.

"That explains the CCTV," said Hyunwoo to himself. "I don't mind, but it makes me curious about something" 

"About what?" 

"Usually people will rent out their guest room for money, but...." Hyunwoo failed to find a polite way to complete his sentence.  

"I rent it out because I'm lonely" Kihyun laughed a little. "It's funny, I feel that way though, considering I barely home myself" Kihyun shrugged. "Don't worry. I'm not looking for a life partner. Plus, a married man really turns me off" he added. 

"Excuse me?" Hyunwoo is flustered. 

"I can see your wedding ring, Mr Sohn" Kihyun answered with a smile. "Judging at how much stuff you bring, I assume you are here just temporarily" the thought that Hyunwoo bringing his wife to stay in this house comes to Kihyun's mind. But, he immediately crushes the imagination because it will be weird - let's not think about it.

Hyunwoo looks at his ring finger and laughs awkwardly. 

"How long? Your marriage" Kihyun pretends as if nothing happens - in his mind - the imagination, of course. 

"5 years" Hyunwoo answered honestly. "How about you?" he asked, trying to change the topic. "I mean, are you in a relationship?" he rephrases his question because it's pretty obvious the man is not married. Why would a married man rent his guest room anyway?

"I am single. My 8-year relationship just ended like 2 months ago"

"Sorry to hear that" Hyunwoo finally understand why the small man is looking for a housemate out of loneliness. In fact, he can relate to him even better now because the main reason why he moved out from Jeju to Seoul is that he was told in order to fix his wounded heart he needs to meet new people and make new friends. 

"Don't be. With who I am, it's bound to happen" Kihyun flashes another smile. "I'm going to work. Make yourself comfortable" Kihyun waves his hand at Hyunwoo as he left. 

Hyunwoo sighed as he throws himself on the bed. He stares blankly at the ceiling until he feels his phone vibrating in his pocket. He fishes it out and answers the call. 

"Yes, I'm here already. I still don't understand why you insisted that I find a place to live in Seoul when I can just stay with my brother-in-law" Hyunwoo said to his 'therapist'.

"Because your brother-in-law is in a relationship. He needs some privacy. Plus, I told you to come here because I want you to move on. How can you move on if you stay with your brother-in-law? By the way, where is he? I mean your housemate, not your brother-in-law" Hyungwon asked. 

"My housemate just left to work"

"Ummm... 'my', interesting word" Hyungwon commented and receives Don't start from the other line. "Fine. So, how is the first meeting?" Hyungwon asked his friend who unintentionally or unconsciously becomes his unofficial patient for the past few years. 

"He's nice. He seems like a very busy lawyer. He told me he barely spends time at home" 

"Aigoo...I thought moving to Seoul would make you less alone" Hyungwon heavily sighed. 

"The good thing about moving to Seoul will make me occupied with patients. Trauma cases are higher here than in Jeju. I won't be alone as much as I was" Hyunwoo jokes.

"Did you even listen to anything I have said to you? I said I want you to make friends, and meet new people" Hyungwon sound a little piss off.

"Should I go to visit you today?" Hyunwoo completely ignored the tone of his friend.

"I have a fully booked schedule today. By the time, I finish all of these...I might be too tired to talk" It's obvious from Hyungwon's tone of voice that he is feeling bad about declining the offer.

"It's ok. I'm living in Seoul now. We can hang out at any time we want" 

"We even work at the same hospital, bro. I'm pretty sure I will be bored of seeing you that often now" Hyungwon simply replied without giving much thought to the word he uses.

Hyunwoo just laughed at his friend's blunt words. He can tell that Hyungwon said those words with a smile on his face.

"Plus, you should be bonding with your housemate first" Hyungwon added.

"Copy that, Mr Therapist" 

Hyunwoo ended the call after a few more seconds of talking. Then, starts unpacking his stuff.

Kihyun walks into his office. He takes his seat and instantly gets lost in his thought. It's been a while since he has come to his office and it brings a lot of flashbacks of what happened months ago.

A moment passed, and Kihyun comes back to reality when he heard someone knocking on his door. He turns to look at the door and his partner, Lee Hoseok is leaning there with some hard-to-tell expression on his face. He gestures for the latter to come in which his partner did and sit in front of him.

"Why are you here? You are not supposed to be back until next week"

"My housemate check-in today" Kihyun answered before smiling a little. He can tell Hoseok is not comfortable with his decision to rent out the guest room. "He is nice" he added.

"It doesn't really matter if he is nice or not. The fact you are here means you are avoiding him" Hoseok commented as he leaned forward a little. "You are not ready for this," he said sternly.

"Do you know what? He is married and seems a little bit introverted" Kihyun ignores the comment. 

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Hoseok asks worriedly. "It's not been that long since that incident. Living with a stranger doesn't sound like a good idea to me" 

"He's a surgeon" Kihyun ignored his friend's words again. 

Hoseok sighed. It's obvious his partner and best friend do not want to listen to him.

Kihyun smiles, reassuring his friend that he is really fine.

They stare at each other in silence. 

"Well... since you are already here, let's talk about your return. I am thinking that we should exchange our portfolio for temporary" Hoseok said.

"On what ground are you making that decision?"

"It hasn't been long since the incident. People will stop and stare at you"

"I can deal with people staring, Hoseok. I will be okay. Plus, you hate going to court"

"I will go anywhere for you, Kihyun. Don't you know that?"

Kihyun nodded as he smiles. "Don't love me too much, Hoseok. You are going to hurt yourself"

"It's my feeling. I am free to feel whatever I am feeling" Hoseok rebutted his friend's words. The 'love' Kihyun mentioned is nothing related to romantic feelings, it's more like brotherly love. "By the way, do you want to help me?" he asked - knowing Kihyun is not leaving anytime soon.

"Enlighten me" Kihyun reply excitedly. 

"It's a corporate matter. This one shareholder is about to be announced as bankrupt. We need to find a way to save him. Are you interested?" 

"Why should you save this shareholder from being announced bankrupt? Isn't bankruptcy matter is a straightforward case? I mean if you can no longer pay your debt you are a bankrupt person" Kihyun frowned. 

Hoseok just stares at his friend, remembering Kihyun's last battle in the court two months ago was not an 'achievement' that should be shared with anybody else even though he won the case with flying colour. He is also pretty sure that despite Kihyun taking two months' break, it is not long enough to make people forget about what had happened.

"Hello," Kihyun waves his hand in front of Hoseok who seem to be in deep thought. "I will do the case. But, you need to guide me. I have zero knowledge about corporate stuff" he added when Hoseok is focusing on him.

Hoseok smiles as he gives his friend the 'of course' look. 

Kihyun ended up spending his unofficial first day returning to work after his long break with trying to get familiar with the corporate rules and regulations. It brings him back to the time when he was a legal trainee years ago and for some unknown reason, despite having difficulty understanding what he read in one go, he doesn't feel suffocated like he used to feel for the last three months.