“I found the perfect housemate for you.”

That was the first sentence Kevin says as soon as he plopped down on the seat beside me. His face exploded with excitement as if he’s the one who should be happy I can finally reduce my rent to half with the help of my future housemate.

“Mmm that’s nice,” I hummed, diverting my eyes back to my phone to continue watching cat videos.

“You don’t look like you’re delighted.” From the sound of his lowering tone voice, I’m two hundred percent sure he’s sulking. “And here I am yelling around for you to get a new housemate.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You just drew me a flier and posted it online in our university website forum.” I chuckled while shaking my head, not believing the things he spouted just now.

“Well,” he started but immediately grew quiet. He’s trying his best to make a comeback so I turned to face him with an eyebrow raised, silently urging him.

“Do you know my art is expensive?” His face scruntched, taking my phone along the way. “And what. I drew for you but didn’t ask for any fee. And what’s more, all of those bafoons dm-ed me asking about the size of the room and bath tub and stuff when I’m not the one who they should reach out. I swear to god I wrote your number on the freaking flier but I guess a portion of our uni students are blind.”

He wanted to say more but he must be getting thristy as he slurped down my iced coffee that he stole from my hand.

“Are you done?” I asked after he emptied my plastic cup.

“I am far from done.” Instantly, the scruntched-faced Kevin is back.

Nice. Don’t doubt me when I say Kevin can talk for an hour straight. He once criticized something regarding this art piece we saw in an art museum – I got dragged without a say – and I had to lend my ear. They were ringing when he finally ended his speech.

He then complained about his nasty roommates who didn’t bother to clean up after themselves when he’s in charge of cooking. There’s also some stuff regarding his assignments that he needs inspiration to draw.

At last, he got back to the reason why he’s here.

“Oh yea about your new housemate. I would say out of ten, I’ll give him a nine. You will love him. Though the guy’s a Business major, he does play guitar in his free time but he promises he won’t play during night time. He’s also good at cooking so he doesn’t mind if you leave the stuff to him but you’ll have to be in charge of the cleaning. He’s a neat-freak so you won’t see his clothes strewn everywhere. Hmm what’s more?”

“His name?” I arched a brow. I’m not surprised my new housemate is a male anymore.

“Right. His name is Bae Joonyoung. Apparently he also has an English name that goes by Jacob. Oh oh he’s also a year older than us. He’ll bring his things tomorrow and I’ll also help him cause we became friends. He’s a nice guy.”

“Boohoo Kevin found a new best friend and he decided to trash me away,” I faked a cry and from the way he rolls his eyes, he’s officially done with me.

Almost at once, I got gripped by my neck in a head-lock. “Pay me for my service first. I got through a lot of things cause of you.”

No lie, I feel like I’m gonna get choked to death. “Okay okay I’ll buy you Mint Choco for a month.”

He finally let go with a sh*t-eating grin on his face while deflecting my death glares.

 

I heard the doorbell ringing so I paused my music before resting my laptop over the coffee table. Getting up to answer, I looked over the door hole first and opened up for the new guy to get inside. Thank you to Kevin for sending me a photo of my future housemate this morning so he wouldn’t be worried if I would open up for any burglar.

Jacob (is it?) seems taken aback when I appeared at the other side of the door. You can see the way his eyes widened in absurd as he quickly opened up his phone, probably to check if this is the right address.

“This is the right apartment. Jacob right?”

He blinked once, twice before slowly giving me a nod. Pushing the door further, I invited him inside and I can sense the awkward silence creeping in. Kevin where are you when I need you the most?

“So, your room is the one on the right, mine’s the left while straight door is the bathroom.” I showed his room so he can leave his things as we’re gonna have a tour of the apartment right after.

Jacob just mindlessly followed me, similar to a puppy, and he didn’t once say anything. We’re done in 5 minutes as the apartment isn’t that huge but comfortable enough for 2 people and right now, we’re just sitting at the dinner table, facing each other, mugs of coffee both in our hands.

“Well, this is awkward.”

I said that cause I was being honest but he seems to find that funny since he just snorted. I guess I just broke the ice as he started to carefully question everything starting from A to Z.

“What’s your name?”

I blinked when he asked that but I manage to reply albeit weirdly. I got to know that Kevin didn’t tell him he’ll be sharing a house with – his words – a lady. He thought Kevin lied regarding my name. To be honest it’s partly his fault as my name is a uni one but it’s also partly mine as I didn’t mind having a guy as a housemate so I didn’t bother asking Kevin to put in my gender.

“You’re okay sharing a private space with me? I mean, I’m a guy…” I can see that he’s considering about my feelings from that, probably wanting me to give it another thought.

“If I’m not, I would’ve not answered the door at all. Scratch that, I would’ve demanded Kevin to write another requirement and that is a girl,” I hummed, sipping onto my milk coffee.

He nodded with the same hum, attacking me with a bunch of questions again. “Do you have any, um, set of rules for me to obey?”

“This is obvious but I’ll still say it. No coming into my room or at least knock. One of my ex-housemate which is a guy, almost break down my door in drunken state cause he’s mistaken his room with mine. That moves to the second rule that is drinking moderately. I can tolerate drunkards but vomiting drunkards? You’re sleeping outside. Being noisy? I’ll allow it before midnight but nothing after until 6 in the morning,” I said the things on top of my mind. “That’s all I can remember for now but I’ll tell you more if I have any. Do you have any for me?”

Jacob tilted his head, not understanding my question.

“Do you have your own set of rules? We’re gonna share this ‘private space’ so we need to agree on some things if we want to live together. If you don’t want to, that’s fine. Not forcing anything on you.”

“Um no walking around …?”

As if someone popped a balloon, I burst out laughing while hitting the table. I want to stop, I swear I do, but I can’t help it when I remembered the way his face turned deep red all the way to his ears.

“You’re so cute.” I manage to say between my unending giggles making him to face down, avoiding eye contact. I should stop. I don’t even know if he’s feeling more embarrassed or just pure angry at my teasing.

Taking a deep breath, I calm myself down. “Okay. My bad for that. To answer your question, I won’t ever flaunt my curves if that’s what you meant.”

Again, his face flushed red and it makes me wonder if he’s not comfortable with girls. I kind of feel bad making fun of him.

“Do you not want a girl housemate?” He opened his mouth but seeing the kind of person he is, I think he will lie to make the other person feel better. “Be honest please. I like honest people.”

Jacob complement for a minute and he let out a sigh. “If I have to be honest, I would answer yes. It’s not because of you. I’m just not comfortable living under a roof with the opposite gender. Girls can be… hard?”

He kept quiet after that, probably afraid to offend me though none of his words are offending. “Then let’s just get comfortable with each other. It might be impossible for you but I won’t bite, no worries. Unless you bit me first.”

I wonder if he would flush like an apple to each and every word of mine that can be misleading. I won’t lie, I would love to every once in a while just to see his shy expression. I just knew that he’s being shy every time his face turns red as he said he rarely get mad.

A few hours later, Kevin finally invited himself with two boxes of chicken, one normal one spicy, and a dozen cans of beer. Drinking in the morning? Sounds like Kevin. I recall him saying, ‘wanting to celebrate me getting a housemate after a while’ and ‘for Jacob finding a new place to stay’ along the lines of ‘forgetting to finish an assignment’ so he brainstorm through that first, managing to send it a minute before the deadline.

“I’m here to drink my stress away! deadlines, inspiration and lastly, uni! Thank you!”

Kevin is officially drunk. One of his obvious traits when he’s out of his mind is swearing like a sailor so I did what’s best for him.

“Jacob, a little bit help here.”

Jacob can really tolerate his alcohol. He’s at his fourth can but he seems sober enough despite his cheeks flaming red. Said guy stood up and straightened Kevin’s body like I told him to. Covering my bestie like a burrito using my blanket, he instantly fell over the couch, snoring till no tomorrow.

“He knocked out fast.” Jacob is impressed by the fact.

“Just warm him up whenever he’s drunk. He’ll fall asleep in a minute. He’s not hard to take care of, one of the reasons why I can put up with him.” I chuckled, ruffling his hair adoringly.

I picked up the empty cans to throw it away while Jacob is making himself comfortable on another couch, a plate of chickens in his hand. He’s casually eating the food, his eyes on the television that’s airing a variety show.

Uncomfortable with girls? Doesn’t seem like it. Doubt he’s already feeling chummy with me.

Kevin already occupied the three-person couch with his skinny body so I sat down beside Jacob, wanting to continue my chicken where I left. We just watch in silence, him occasionally taking a few more chickens.

"Hey Jacob."

Said guy hummed in reply, eyes still stuck to the tv screen.

"Nah it's alright." I don't really want to take his focus away so I reached over him to take the box of tissue right beside him.

He actually turned to face me, wide eyed, making me to arch a brow. "What." It's not a question, it's a statement.

Shaking his head, he brings back his attention to the television. I kept my laughter in when I finally noticed his reddened ears.

This guy. It's going to be hard for him to share the same house as me and thanks to his expression, it makes me want to keep pulling his leg.

 

Kevin was right by the fact that he's a nice guy. I'm already liking him and it hasn't been 24 hours yet.

I woke up with a slight hangover as I didn't drink much yesterday and I'm actually surprised I fell asleep on the couch. Pushing the duvet aside, I looked over to see that Kevin is still snoring, the blanket still wrapping his body like a burrito so that must mean one thing.

Where's Jacob and what time is it?

The clock on the wall on top of the television read half to nine in the morning so I stood up to stretch my body, trying to keep myself awake.

I need to cook some hangover soup for us three or Kevin will throw a fit right after he wakes up. Massaging my temples, I dragged my feet towards the kitchen to see Jacob scooping soups inside small bowls. He hasn't notice my presence and I didn't intend to make myself visible so I just lean over the wall, eyeing his back in interest. He’s actually singing a well-known English song – I recall it’s one of Maroon 5’s song – and I’m surprised he’s good at it.

Turning around with bowls in his hands, he almost threw them upwards in shock at my sudden appearance.

"When did you get there?" he asks embarrassingly, resting the bowls on the dining table before washing his finger that got burned from the soup just now.

"Hmm I don't know. When you're at ‘Spent 24 hours, I need more hours with you’?”

I can see his face flushed red at once before avoiding my eyes. Stepping closer to him, I almost snort when he slowly moved to the side, keeping a distance between us.

"When did you wake up?" He seems relieved to hear my question, probably thankful I didn't make this more awkward.

"An hour ago. I washed up first before deciding to cook the soup," he said, fingers playing with the hem of his shirt. "I was about to wake both you and Kevin up so you guys can drink this."

"Where's your bowl?" I questioned as I saw there's only 2 bowls.

"I drank mine already though I don't need much. I rarely get hangovers and my alcohol tolerance is pretty high. I hope you don't mind I use your… stuff."

I just give a nod and took my seat. We're going to be sharing anyways so it's not really a big deal to me.

"Oh also, I ate your Honey Stars since there's not much left but I promise I'll pay you back."

From the way his face turns sullen, I almost thought he said something along the lines of he killed my cat or something. He looks so ashamed by it.

"It's fine, Jacob. I'm not petty enough to fight you over cereals."

"Oh but I am."

I blinked, stopping myself from spooning the soup as I snapped my head to him, thinking I heard him wrong.

"I don't mind sharing, really I don't, but I can get cranky if anyone touches my cereal. It's stupid I know but I Iike to munch them whenever and I hope you won't get mad if I stuff the shelf with a huge amount of them."

When he's done, he seems to be anticipating my response and I honestly don't know what to say. The kind-hearted and shy Jacob can get mad over a box of cereal? I can't imagine that. No, it's hard to imagine that.

"Don't even think of doing that. I'm warning you."

"I didn't say anything."

Jacob heaved out a sigh at my innocent face and he stride away, maybe wanting to wake Kevin up. I'm not wrong when my best friend sluggishly make his way to the seat beside mine, his eyes still droopy and I still could see dirt around it.

"You should wash your face first Kevin," I murmured, fingers picking the dirt around his left eye.

He whined when I suddenly pull over his cheek so he obediently stood up to do what I asked. After that, he slurped down his soup in record's time and popped in some pills that Jacob left on the table.

 

After a few hours more of rest, Kevin decided to go back home to finish another assignment of his and I recall he complained the deadline is today's midnight. Thankfully, he just have to do some touch-up and add some words.

I saw Jacob looking around the kitchen when I wanted a glass of water. He was rummaging through the fridge, shelves and everything that he could land his eyes on.

"What are you searching for?"

He jumped upon