“He likes her. It's as simple as that.”

 

“So, how’s your new place?” I had asked when I saw L a few weeks after Le Crazy Horse incident.   He didn’t stay angry for long and we returned to the old us by the next day, but we had been busy with our classes and work that we hadn’t made time to hang out until now.   “Good. It’s nice to have a roommate,” he mused thoughtfully. “We share the chores and divided up the day when we are supposed to cook. It’s so much better.”   That caught my attention. “What? You’re living with a roommate?” He stared back at me innocently and nodded, wondering what was the need for my reaction. “You’re living with a stranger? Is that safe? Can you even trust him?”   He took a sip from the mug of hot chocolate I had made for him before answering. “She’s my classmate and she won’t tell.”   My eyes almost popped out when I heard the word. I gawked both physically and mentally. She?   “Did you just say ‘she’?” He nodded, smirking at my bewildered reaction. “’She’ as in a girl?”   He rolled his eyes. “Duh!”   My jaw dropped even lower. “You’re living with a girl?" I found it unbelievable. L’s living with a girl? “What the ?!” I scowled. “You lucky bastard!” He knitted his brows in confusion, wondering what I meant by ‘lucky’ because there were just so many reasons I would say he was lucky. “Do you get to be roommates with benefits?”   L turned his head away from me and exhaled sharply. He looked annoyed. He grabbed the pillow couch and threw it onto my face.   “Hey!” I rebuked when the pillow bounced off my handsome face. When the pillow dropped onto my lap, I saw L making his way to the kitchen.   Oh Lord, L’s living with a girl. And the better question, How does he live with a girl?   I followed him to the kitchen to find out what he was doing. It turned out that he had finished a mug of the hot chocolate and went to get some more.   “How do you live with a girl?” I inquired, still astounded. I was glad Hyun Ah was at university, so she wouldn’t know that her so-called fiancé was living with a girl. “You can’t even live with a guy.” He shot me a look and ignored my question. I decided to change it. “So, tell me about her. Is she in all of your classes? Does she know who you are?”   He chose to answer these ones as he poured some hot chocolate from the jug. I always made a jug full of hot chocolate for him whenever he was around because he never had anything except that and water. Sometimes I wondered why he wasn’t obese or diabetic yet, considering his obsession with the sweet drink.   “No, just in Pharmacology and Microbiology. She’s a medical student on exchange from Sydney.”   “Sydney?” I wondered out loud. “Is that in Antartica?”   He gave me a what-the- look for a second before he exploded into laughter. “Sung Yeol!” he exclaimed, both in disbelief and amusement. “Review your Geography, man! It's in Australia.”   I chuckled, nudging him lightly. “I know. I was just trying to be funny.”   He rolled his eyes as he took a sip from the mug before pacing back to the living room. “When’s Uncle coming back? I better leave before he does.”   “He’s in Japan,” I reassured him, following behind. “A medical student? Is she very nerdy with thick glasses and big books in her hands?”   “She does wear glasses, but not thick. The only big books she reads are our textbooks.”   “Yeah, that’s what I mean.” I sighed in disappointment at this sad truth. “The first girl you live with is an innocent little nerdy girl?” I shook my head in pity for him. “It’s gonna be hard.”   He frowned in puzzlement. “How is that hard? She’s really nice and we get along pretty well.”   I gave him an are-you-dumb look. “I mean how are you gonna get her on the bed if she’s all innocent like that? You don’t want to be sued as a .”   He gaped in horror, then his brows furrowed in rage. “What the hell are you on?! I never said I want to sleep with her!”   A shade of red crept onto his face and I had to raise my eyebrows at this. Why was he angry? She must be ugly then, I decided.   “By the way, help me look for a new place. I’m only living at hers temporarily.”  

∞∞∞

 

“So, how’s roomie?” I kept asking him whenever we met