Chapter 1

Moving In

It was a warm early autumn afternoon and he had just stepped out of the train carriage where he had spent most of his day. He had watched the city spread out before him as the train passed the last valley hidden behind some mountains. It weren’t the largest of cities, but that suited him just fine. He needed a new beginning and a fresh start and this place would give him exactly that. 

He had felt so clever a couple of days ago when he was still back home at the moment when the idea to send his stuff ahead of him to his new shared apartment first had struck him. 

Arriving at said apartment days later to find slightly disgruntled new co-inhabitants was not something he had expected when he had stood there waving at the truck a couple of days previously. 

Seeing the piles of boxes and stuff standing everywhere he couldn’t blame them for being upset. 

    "So you are Seungyoon eh? Your stuff got here before you" a tall slender man with piercing eyes said with a voice dripping of annoyance. "I’m Lee Seunghoon and my room is behind this pile of your stuff" he continued shaking his head once in the direction of the boxes of stuff lining the apartment hallway. 

Apologizing furiously he stepped inside and began moving boxes into the first room on the right labeled with a post-it with his name on it. 

He had only managed to move a few things out of the way when another man showed up in the doorway smiling sweetly at him. 

    "I’m sorry about this poor welcome, let me help" he said and picked up one of the heaviest boxes labeled books as if it was nothing. "I’m Jinwoo by the way, Kim Jinwoo. I study acting at the university on the second year" he dropped the box with the books by the empty bookshelf and straightened up giving him another smile. 

    "I’m Seungyoon, Kang Seungyoon. Yet again I’m sorry about this" he gestured to the chaos around them but Jinwoo only shrugged. 

    "It’s fine, it’s fine. You came by train right? Not as if you could have brought all of this on the train" Jinwoo stepped outside into the hall again and returned with another box. 

They kept at it like that, chatting casually while moving boxes and plastic bags into his room. Within ten minutes had they moved all his stuff and Jinwoo was showing him around the apartment. 

The place looked a bit scruffier than in the pictures, flaking paint here and there with a creaky old wooden floor, but it was charming with huge windows lining one wall letting in lots of natural sunlight. 

    "This is the fridge, everyone got one shelf each which should be plenty of space. Don’t take Seunghoon’s food or he’ll prank you in your sleep like the sneaky lion he is" Jinwoo said throwing a quick glance at the now closed door to Seunghoon’s room. 

Jinwoo then proceeded to show him the bathroom and gave him general directions to the closest super market and different means of public transport to the university and to the city center. 

    "Thank you so much for the tour" he said to Jinwoo’s back as he watched Jinwoo open the door to his own room. 

    "No problem, I’d love to help you out more, but I need to get ready for my shift down at the super market" Jinwoo said turning in the door way. Seungyoon thought he saw a glimpse of something moving behind Jinwoo but was quickly distracted by the pile of clothes directly behind Jinwoo. 

    "Ah, yes, I plan on doing laundry tonight. You can tag along and I’ll show you, it’s in the basement shared with the guys in the apartment on the opposite side of the hall" Jinwoo said while pushing the pile slightly out of eyeshot looking a bit embarrassed about the mess. 

    "I’d love that, I’m not the greatest at laundry seeing as I just moved away from home" he explained, now it was his turn to feel a hint of embarrassment. His mom had sent him an email with detailed washing instructions, but there would be no way that he would pull out that in front of Jinwoo. 

He returned to his room after seeing Jinwoo off as he left for work. Seungyoon was relived that at least one of his new roommates were so friendly. He could only hope that Seunghoon would come around as they got to know each other better. 

Looking at the boxes he sighed, no reason to postpone it, he might as well unpack. The start of the semester was only a couple of days away and there was a lot he wanted to get in order before then. The room was painfully plain, painted in a light gray with white trims and the same wooden floor as could be found through out the rest of the apartment. 

A single bed, a desk with a chair by a small yet tall window and an empty bookcase was the only furniture 

Starting with his most priced possession he put his guitar case that he had brought with him on the train on top of his desk. Taking out his guitar he smiled fondly as he turned it over in his hands making sure it had arrived unscathed.

One of the strings were a bit loose, but except from that was it all good. He sat down on the chair by his desk and began fixing it right away, he needed a break and this was the perfect excuse. 

Most people got something that helps them relax, clear their minds and disconnects them from the stress of the world and for him that thing was music. He decided that just a quick tune possibly couldn’t hurt anyone and so he began playing, humming the half finished lyrics to himself as he went.  

    "Ah he plays too" he heard from beside him. Slightly startled he looked up to find Seunghoon in the doorway. He was leaning lightly on the frame, a much friendlier expression on his face this time. 

    "Sorry, did it bother you?" he asked putting down the guitar suddenly remembering how Seunghoon had already been in a bad mood because of him earlier. 

    "Not at all, are you going to attend the performing arts course at the uni?" Seunghoon asked walking over before casually sitting down on the box labeled books. 

    "Nah, I was in a band back home. I’ll be studying music production. How about you?" he asked mentally making guesses at what he thought Seunghoon studied. The university got so many specialities it might as well be science or engineering for all he knew. 

    "I’m a dancer, so I study dance" Seunghoon said simply, his eyes sparkling with what Seungyoon could only interpret as amusement. "Want to play me something else?" Seunghoon asked, stretching out his legs before him between the boxes on the floor. 

Seungyoon nodded and began playing the first random pop song that came to mind that he thought Seunghoon would be familiar with. Half way through Seunghoon interrupted asking him to sing too. Flustered he began singing as well, what a pushy guyhe thought, but sang the song to the best of his memory. 

When he finished Seunghoon clapped enthusiastically and smiled, he couldn’t help but to smile in return. Even if it was a smile of relief mostly. 

    "I think we will get along just fine" Seunghoon said and got up from his spot on the box. "I can tell you are really talented, I respect that" he gave him a small nod before walking out of the room leaving him slightly puzzled. 

He had just gotten to his feet and put down his guitar when Seunghoon poked his head around the edge of the door opening saying: 

    "Don’t worry about the noise btw, the guys on the other side of the hall are much worse than you anyway" before disappearing again. 

This was the second time their neighbors had been brought up and now he was starting to wonder what kind of people they were. Loud by the sound of things. 

He spent the next couple of hours unpacking, dressing his bed and getting familiar with the rest of their shared living area. The kitchen was small but already well equipped. He hoped one of the others were better cooks than him, because he still got lots to learn. 

There was a wooden table with chairs for up to six people and a large corner sofa against the wall and the windows facing a decent sized tv. Several consoles and some magazines were cluttered under the tv along with some small speakers. 

Looking out the window he could see down the street towards the bus stop Jinwoo had mentioned and he got a pretty good idea of where the super market was too. 

Deciding it was time to fill his shelf in the fridge he set out to find the super market. Leaving the building he found it to be a quick ten minute walk which wasn’t bad at all. Jinwoo was lucky to have found work so close to home. 

He arrived home less than an hour after leaving. He had run into Jinwoo who eagerly told him about all kinds of sales and offers at the store. Unable to completely reject all of Jinwoo’s suggestions he was soon carrying home several kinds of groceries he g