“He’s not here,” Jongdae said, pulling the door of what used to be Chanyeol’s room shut.

“He’s not here either,” Baekhyun said, giving the kitchen a cursory glance. “Maybe he went out.”

Jongdae walked over to join him. “If he doesn’t want to move out then we’re stuffed.”

“Or maybe he packed up and left.”

“In that case we’re still stuffed, just for a different reason.” Jongdae sighed. “Did you have to argue with him first thing in the morning?”

“I didn’t.”

“And did you have to be impulsive and rent out his room without confirming everything with him first?”

“You didn’t stop me,” Baekhyun pointed out. “And apparently you’ve forgotten that you were the one who told me to post an ad online.”

“I guess as long as nobody contacts us before we have a chance to talk to him then it’s fine,” Jongdae said, plopping himself down on the ratty old couch in the living room. “Let’s wait for him to come back.”

Baekhyun frowned. “We’re not sitting around all day doing nothing.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

“We should go put up notices around campus.”

“We haven’t talked to Tao yet, remember?”

“What if he left?”

“His bags are still here,” Jongdae said, gesturing to the closed door of the bedroom.

“What if he’s out looking for places to move to?”

“What if he’s not?”

“Then we can quarter the rent.”

“We don't have a spare bedroom,” Jongdae pointed out.

“They can sleep on the couch,” Baekhyun suggested. “We don’t have to say yes to whoever contacts us anyway. There’s no harm in putting up notices.”

“Fair enough,” Jongdae mumbled, sluggishly getting off the couch. “We need to make that notice first, right?”

“Let’s make it at the library so we can print it out straight away,” Baekhyun said, heading towards the front door but halted midway. “Do you want to wash up first?”

“It doesn’t matter. I might as well look the way I feel.”

“Aren’t the pills working?”

“They are.”

“Okay,” Baekhyun said, giving an indifferent shrug and resuming his steps.

Jongdae went into his room to get the house keys before rushing after Baekhyun. “Which library are we going to?”

“The main one.”

“So we can grab something to eat from the café first,” Jongdae said, pulling the front door shut.

“You haven’t eaten anything?” Baekhyun asked.

“You woke me up and I’ve been stuck in bed until you dragged me out,” Jongdae reminded him.

“If I didn’t you would’ve stayed in bed all day, wouldn’t you?” Baekhyun said absently, crossing the road towards the footpath that led to the campus.

“I should,” Jongdae said, following him. “We had a late night.”

“Who cares? Life has to go on.”

“Says the guy who slept a whole week away."

“That didn’t happen."

“I was there. I know.”

“This is after the mid semester break in April, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, so I got a phone call from my dad, and then you asked me to sleep in your room, and then in the morning my dad called you. After that we went to uni and I slept with our tutor to get us passing grades. Where would you fit a missing week in there?”

“I think there’s a gap in your memory. You don’t remember missing uni for a whole week?”

“Hang on,” Baekhyun said distractedly, making a sudden detour from the footpath towards the gardens.

Jongdae frowned as he saw who Baekhyun was running off to meet. That couldn’t be a coincidence. He kept a wary gaze on the person Baekhyun had pulled into an overzealous kiss, anticipating one of the usual furtive trades, but failed to catch anything. He watched as Baekhyun broke off the kiss with a smile and whispered something to his druggie ex before turning around to walk back to the footpath.

“Why are you always randomly running into that guy?”

“He works on campus,” Baekhyun said as they continued walking towards the largest library at the university next to the courtyard.

“Selling drugs?”

“Well, he has to earn money somehow.”

“You didn’t buy anything, did you?”

“No.”

“Then why did you kiss him?”

“I don’t have to buy something to kiss him.”

“I thought kisses are just means to an end for you?” Jongdae asked, giving Baekhyun’s pockets a pat down just in case he missed something.

Baekhyun stopped walking and gave him a quizzical look. “Even if I did buy something, what's it to you?”

“I didn’t see you buying anything,” Jongdae mumbled, pulling out whatever was in Baekhyun’s pockets and frowning at the phone in his hand. “Didn’t I tell you not to keep your phone in your pocket? Do you want to be sterile?”

“Well, it’s not like I want to have kids.”

Jongdae sighed when his search produced nothing except for the phone and a wallet, which he handed back to Baekhyun. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Baekhyun regarded him contemplatively. “Is it the drugs or the kiss that bothers you more?”

“Neither. The situation doesn’t add up. That’s what bothers me.”

“This almost reminds me of the time you walked in on Yixing and me.”

“I didn’t do anything back then. I just asked you why he was in your bed, you came up with some horse story, and I left. That was it.”

“Right,” Baekhyun said, shoving the phone and wallet back into his pockets and resuming his steps. “If you have to know, I kissed him because I like him.”

“That sounds fishy as all get out. If you like him so much, then why did you leave him for me?”

“I didn’t. He dumped me.”

Jongdae paused. “I’ve been living a lie, haven’t I?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun said simply.

“Wait,” Jongdae said, falling back into step beside Baekhyun. “I thought you dumped him because he’s a lousy lay?”

“No, I cheated on him because of that. He’s in bed but I like him anyway. I don’t know how that works, to be honest.”

Jongdae mulled that over for a moment. “So you still had feelings for him when you dated me the second time and when you were dating Kyungsoo?”

“Not really.”

“What do you mean not really? You either did or you didn’t.”

“I like him, sure, but when he’s not right in front of me I don’t even think about him.”

 Jongdae frowned. “I’m lucky we live in the same house, aren’t I?”

Baekhyun gave a nonchalant nod.

“But anyway, if your druggie ex dumped you then that means that you’re always getting dumped. Is that why you’re so bitter about dating and commitment?”

“I only remember getting dumped once.”

“Let’s work through it backwards. The last guy you dated i.e. Kyungsoo dumped you after you tried to go down on him, right? So that’s one.”

“If he didn’t dump me then I would’ve dumped him. It was just a matter of who said it first.”

“And before that, I dumped you because I thought you slept with Yixing.”

“Does that count? You didn’t actually say anything.”

“After Yixing left I told you I was sick of your for once. That definitely counts as dumping.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“You don’t remember anything,” Jongdae mumbled. “Anyway, before you started dating me, your druggie ex dumped you because…?”

“Hippie,” Baekhyun corrected. “He dumped me because I kept asking him for freebies.”

“Hippie. Right,” Jongdae said dryly. “Before you started dating him, you were going out with Chanyeol, who apparently dumped you because you treated him like a walking .”

“What else is he good for? I was just his Luhan stand in anyway.”

“I wonder how you two can remain friends.”

Baekhyun shrugged. “It’s Chanyeol.”

“Anyway, before that-” Jongdae hesitated. “Am I the only person who you’ve had a mutual break up with?”

“When I dated you the first time? Did we even break up?”

“You told me you were bored and I said okay, and next thing I knew you were doing Chanyeol.”

“Doesn’t that mean I dumped you?”

“No, I agreed to it so it’s definitely a mutual break up.”

“Huh. Why do you make it a point to memorize my life anyway?”

“Because I’m a part of it.”

Baekhyun frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’ve been your best friend for three years. How can I not know every inch of your life?”

“I don’t know anything about you,” Baekhyun pointed out.

“That’s because you don’t give a about anybody.”

Baekhyun nodded. “True.”

“Sometimes I wonder why we’re even friends but then…” Jongdae trailed off with a sigh. “Friendship is all about giving, right?”

“What’s your surname?” Baekhyun asked suddenly.

Jongdae gave a confused chuckle and turned to look at Baekhyun only to see that he was being serious. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I forgot what it is.”

“You don’t know my name?” Jongdae spluttered. “We’ve lived together for three years. You dated me twice, for god’s sake.”

“I don’t have to know your full name to do those.”

Jongdae took a deep breath before exhaling heavily. This type of thing shouldn’t surprise him anymore. “It’s Kim.”

“Okay,” Baekhyun said, probably not even registering what he was told.

“Do you remember everybody else’s names?” Jongdae asked.

“Yeah.”

“So you just don’t remember mine.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m extremely flattered you don’t care enough to remember my name.”

“You should be. You’re in the same league as my mum.”

Jongdae looked at him. “Don’t you think that’s strange? Do you think it’s actually possible to forget your parents’ names?”

“I forgot yours, didn’t I?”

“I’m not your parent.”

“You might as well be.”

Jongdae studied him for a few seconds longer before shaking his head. “I’ll figure it out myself. Let’s see if there are any free computers in the library.”