I stirred in the unfamiliar bed sheets, slowly prying my eyes open to the sunlight that poured in through the window, lighting the entire room. With a horrid taste in my mouth and the faint recollection of a bad dream I propped myself up on my pillow.

Where the hell am I… Oh right. Rich guy.

My head ached slightly as I remembered what had happened yesterday. I still had no idea how I was convinced to spend the night in a strangers house. I must have been extremely tired and confused from all the nearly-bridge-jumping  fun I had taken part in. I looked down at my body, noticing the lack of pyjama top. This was nothing new. On top of about a billion wacky habits I had, taking off my shirt in my sleep when I was having a nightmare seemed to be one of them. I searched for my shirt under the soft sheets, suddenly pausing, gazing at the space next to me on my left. Waking up without her beside me was not something I was used to. I gently grazed my fingertips along the cold pillow, remembering how her soft, brown hair would sometimes fall over my side, tickling my face in the night. I gently shut my eyes, remembering everything about her. How I would hold her in my arms, bury my face in her hair and kiss her neck. How her skin had always smelt of strawberries. That was one of the things I loved about her. She was always eating strawberries, or anything strawberry flavoured. I had never liked the fruit that much, but because of her obsession I found myself enjoying the taste more and more over the years. It somehow grew on me.

My thought was interrupted when the doorknob rattled. Before I could call out, in stepped a young man with hair hazelnut in colour, carrying a pile of sheets in his arms.

“Whoa!” He exclaimed, clenching the laundry to his chest. “Sorry I didn’t…”

I pulled the bed sheets up to my chin, blushing from the exposure of my upper body.

The man quickly dashed to the cupboard, placing the sheets on a shelf, muttering ‘sorry’ several times, before stepping out and slamming the door behind him. I sighed in relief.

Who the hell was that?

I began to wonder whether or not he lived here when I heard the same voice call out from downstairs.

“Yah! Donghae! You didn’t tell me there was a guy in your spare bed!”

I felt my cheeks warm. The way he’d said that sounded extremely dodgy. I pulled on a plain white shirt and a pair of designer jeans. I had never felt more like a one-night-stand in my life.

I cautiously headed down stairs, maybe hoping to slip out of the house while I could, not wanting to cause Donghae any more trouble despite his generosity.

I jumped slightly seeing him stand behind the kitchen counter.

“Ah, you’re awake.” He smiled widely. I heard the clatter of a bowl on the bench.  Damn, I almost escaped with a pair of expensive jeans. Oh, and my pride.

“Y-yeah.” I replied. “You eating breakfast?” I watched as he grabbed a box of cereal from a nearby pantry. He shook his head.

“Lunch actually.” He chuckled slightly, pouring the flakes into the dish. “Want some?”

“Lunch?!” I exclaimed. “What time is it?”

“Almost two.” He stated, drizzling a carton of organic milk over what was apparently his lunch.

Two? I groaned, shooting him an apologetic look. He was kind enough to let me stay and I sleep off the entire morning?

“I take it you slept well?” He asked, taking a small plastic jar from the same cupboard, opening the lid to reveal sugar.

“Yes.” I said, finally taking a seat on a barstool by the bench. “Sorry for sleeping so late.”

“I guess you really needed it.” He sighed, dipping a spoon into the sugar, and sprinkling it onto his cereal.

My eyes followed his hands and I counted each spoonful he dumped into the bowl.

One.

“So I have a few errands to run today…” He began.

Two, three.

“… Just little things. Like grocery shopping and stuff…”

Four.

“…You’re welcome to join me, or stay here that’s fine too. Unless you need to do something today too…”

Five, six.

“… In which case I can drop you where ever you need. Then maybe we can start on getting things back on track for you…”

Seven, eight.

“Hyukjae?” The mention of my own name snapped me back to reality.

“Hmm?” I asked. Donghae tipped one last heaped spoonful onto his cereal and then putting the jar aside.

Nine.

“Do you have anything you need to pick up at your place?” He asked, shoving the sugary flakes into his mouth, chewing while watching me intently.

“What?” I asked, resting my head on my hand.

“I assume you’re going to be staying here, right?”

With that, I almost fell off my barstool.

“Wh-what?!” I exclaimed. “No, I couldn’t!”

I was already the luckiest guy on earth to have been offered this kind of help as a complete stranger, especially after he’d saved my life, but I didn’t want to over stay my welcome. I already felt bad, and slightly uncomfortable for staying in Donghae’s house, and was fairly eager to get out of there as soon as possible. Even if that did mean crawling back to one of my old friends from high school and begging to stay on their couch for the night.

“I really don’t mind Hyukjae.” Donghae said, swallowing his mouthful. “As you can see there is far too much room in this place for just me, and as for expenses I have enough  money to build my own army if I wanted too. You need a place to stay, I have nothing going on in my life that you’d be intruding on.”

“B-but we just met!” I said, trying to reject his sudden offer. “You don’t even know me. I mean, yeah, thankyou for not letting me jump, you have no idea how thankful I am for that now that I’ve gotten a good nights rest. But I already owe you my life, you’ve done enough already…”

“Look.” Donghae sighed, drooping his head. “I know I’m not the most interesting guy to put up with, but-.”

“No!” I put up my hands defensively. “It’s not that. I think you’re awesome.”

He smiled slightly, then suddenly his eyes met mine.

“Then what is the problem?” He snapped. “Can’t you please just let me help you? Besides, I think we could both use the company.”

The idea of living with a dude I had met on a bridge seemed too farfetched for the well in the norm Lee Hyukjae, but maybe this was a chance to change my life? I could finally break free from the ties I had with the old me and life, and start fresh.

Maybe I could give it a go…. I promised I wouldn’t over stay my welcome.

“Okay.” I finally breathed. “But I’ll only stay a few days, a week tops! And you have to let me pay my own expenses. I don’t want to get in the way-.”

“Hyukjae.” Donghae actually laughed. Is he mocking me? “I don’t need any more money in case you hadn’t noticed. I don’t like to ring my own bell, but have you looked around you?”

I cowered slightly, looking at the environment. Several bottles of expensive wine lined up on the counter, rare artwork on the walls and a fridge the size of a double doorway. Donghae was everything but in need of money.

“Please, you have to let me do something!” I whined.

Donghae considered this for a moment, lightly patting his lower lip. His eyes lit up. He pointed his silver spoon at me.

“Can you cook?”

So Donghae and I had agreed that in return for my room, I would cook him meals. Although, this didn’t really count in my books, hence the fact that Donghae paid for the food and I would be eating food, but it was the very least I could do. Donghae just thanked me, stating that he was far too tired of eating cereal all the time.

Donghae and I sat opposite each other while he ate his cereal (yes, all four bowls and thirty spoons of sugar), and we engaged in harmless small talk.

Where we grew up, our family, our favourite TV shows and stuff like that. I learnt that Donghae has a sister whom he adores, and that both of his parents live in Japan.

I had told him the story about my family, and how my father had disowned me when he realised that I was unsuited to work in the family business.

“Really, why?” He asked, gazing at me curiously.

“Well out of possibly every person in the family, I seemed to inherit every disorder possible. Not only am I allergic to such a wide variety of foods, I have very severe asthma, and suffer from chronic fatigue, which pretty much rules out all forms of physical activity…”

Donghae cocked his eyebrow.

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