Chapter Text
Telling story of your life had never been an easy feat for anyone. (unless if you are a writer) My life story is not that interesting. I am just a future medical student at that time. My roommate however is entirely different story.
Well, this is his story.
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Let’s just call me LJY, I have started study in USA since a week ago. I have been staying at the campus international house for the initiation month but it does not suit me. The reason is just simple, because I want to try a living like real locals. You know? Finding interesting roommate, sharing apartment, split rent, working to make ends meet?
All of those things I mentioned above is impossible to experience in my hometown back in China. One, my family is stinking rich (no, I am not showing off here). Two, it would shame my family name. Lastly and also most logically, my family own lots of land or house or penthouse back at the country, so it is very illogical for me if I want to pay rent and life in struggle while I could have it all easily in a snap of my fingers (or more likely my father’s finger) but you get the idea.
That is while I am studying in USA. I want to try and find a flat to share outside of the university to experience the ‘local’ life trying not too depended on my father.
*Sigh* I stare at the advertise paper in front of me as I whisk my matcha latte some more before drink it. “I have already checked three place and still doesn’t find one suitable enough. Could this fourth one is the one?”
The first one is homestay. The owner is a single parent with three kids, there are also a vegan crazed young woman staying at their place. Not that I don’t like kids but I am not a patient person and honestly my eating habit is not that good. I’d rather not staying in place where I will have a lot of potential conflict.
The second one area is quite noisy, especially in afternoon and later. Luckily I meet a neighbour on her way out complaining about the noise people make every day. Logical of course, seeing the place is next to a music studio building and across an indoor futsal field. This place is very suitable for extrovert people who had the need to interact with other human almost non-stop. Not I don’t like hanging around with other human, but I just need some balanced proportion of ‘me time’ as well.
The third one is has no noisy neighbours, the place does looks friendly and under well care. However… there are a lot of girls on the next building. A group of girls just come back from work that time; I went to see the place at six in the morning as I do my morning jogging. What kind of job require girls to come back early in the morning, wearing makeup like they are about to go to a carnival or at least being a bride in wedding party? No doubt they are working at a night entertainment business.
To be fair, it is not my business what other people do as a job to support themselves, moreover in a free country like USA. However it is not a good idea to associate myself with the lot of people who work in that kind of place. Not to mention father would never agree to let me get out of our penthouse to stay at a place like that.
This fourth place however…
1000ft2 – Looking for male roommate
I am a freshman at local university looking for another university student to share a flat with. The location is close to the B University (around five to ten minutes by bus), near groceries store, with bus access to everywhere else and a park nearby.
The flat is two bedroom apartment, already furnished, and well lit with natural light. We will be sharing the bathroom, kitchen and living room though so potential candidate is expected to be a neat person and could keep the common area clean. Ability to cook and clean the house is a plus point. My study is art and sometimes I need to be working in silence.
NB: I also own a hamster and raise a bunny periodically.
An art student who need to work in silence? Well… not that unusual. I mean the artsy students are usually rather eccentric. I think I am not that neat, but not very messy either. He is an art student anyway, aren’t they usually splattering paint everywhere? Maybe that is why that guy put the good price for it. Cook and clean? I can do only the basics more or less but he doesn’t specify that person have to be a super chef or cleaning service, right?
The last part is actually what interested me. He own hamster? I always want to have a pet of my own too. I mean really mine, one day. It might be a help to stay with a pet owner, right? But why did he own bunny periodically? Is he like some sort of a bunny seller or what?
Well, I have to look at his place first of course... After I finish this matcha.
What kind of guy he is?? It really piqued my curiousity.
*
DING! DONG!
KNOCK-KNOCK
“Who is it?” a deep voice comes from inside the flat. The music sound stop; the music that sounds a lot like stringy.
“I saw your ads for a roommate. Is the ads still on?”
“Oh yes, of course. Wait a minute.” I suspect he is setting back the piano or whatever thing he is playing just now. Is he going to look like the highly stylish Harry Styles? Or artistic Zayn Malik? Mixture of the two? One thing for sure, I certainly doesn’t expect him to look like a Leonardo da Vinci.
[Click]
“Come on in” A cute guy with big glasses welcomed me. Gods… he looks like a nerd. A CUTE nerd. Holy shit.
“Hello. My name is Lan Jingyi.”
“Hi, I am Wen Sizhui.” Oh so we are both coming from Asia then? Wait… is he… he can’t be THAT Wen, right? The mafia family who suspected to be underground boss even if the police had never found concrete proof about it. I gulped.
“Sorry it is a bit messy. I have just finished practicing my guqin.” He points at the wooden, string instrument on the coffee table. The guqin is exactly like the one my uncle loves to play, only a bit more plain and looks rather rough on the finishing. It is probably only a training guqin. Aside from that thing, I don’t see any other messiness.
“No, it is not. So, you play guqin too?”
“Err… yeah. Sorry I kind of forget to mention it in the ads.”
“It’s okay. I like it. My uncle loves to play that a lot. Play for me some time?”
“Umm… Sure. So, this is the bedroom.” He shows a simple room with single bed, a wardrobe, a set of working desk and chair. The room have a window too, covered with red and black curtain. Not bad. Definitely not bad. “That is the key included the spare. Don’t lost it. I don’t have more copies.”
“That is the bathroom. We only have shower though, no bath tub.”
“No problem. I never loves fancy bubble bath anyway.”
We turn to the space next to his room.
“The kitchen.” The industrial looking kitchen has simple two core electric stove with exhaust fan, a rice cooker, a sandwich toaster, a sink and a medium-small refrigerator enough to put some basic food ingredients and few cans of beer.
“Not bad, definitely not bad. It is enough to make a simple dish.”
Could this place really exist in our timeline? For real? It is so much of a ‘dream comes true’ for me. A nice roommate with acceptable, even good housing appliance. There should be at least one negative side of everything right?
“You can cook?”
“Nah, only some basic things. Like lomaigai, spaghetti or lasagne. So don’t expect anything too fancy, ‘kay?”
“Haha it’s okay. I understand.”
We already talk as if we have agreed to live together from the start, when he opened his door.
“So this is my hamster, Einstein.” The all black hamster staring at us with its beady eyes.
“Huh?” He named his hamster… Einstein?? Well… he certainly has unique taste (for the lack of better words). “Einstein?”
“Yup. I can’t help it. He is just so smart. He knows it when I buy his food from different store, not his favourite and he left them untouched and demands his favourite ones.” Then he giggles. He is so damn cute. Gods… he looks so much like a little kid. “He also loves discovery channel.”
“He love discovery channel?” I laugh as well. I can’t help it. This thing had reached to a ridiculous level. Yet it is so adorable. Why?
DING! DONG!
“Eh? Is that the bell?”
“Yup.” Then he ask to the guest behind the door, “Who is it?”
“Hello I am George McLaughlin. I saw the ads on the net.” From the sound of it, the guy is quite nice.
When the door opened, there is a boy there. A tall boy with hazelnut brown hair and charming blue eyes. He is wearing a hoodie and huge headset perching on his nape.
“Hi. I am Steve Wen.” Sizhui said. Oh, so his English name is Steve? Not bad.
“Hello there. You come for the roommate ads? Sorry mate, you are late just a tiny little bit.” I said before anyone else managed to say anything. “I am the new flat mate.”
“Yup, I will take down the ads by now. Sorry for the trouble.” Sizhui said.
“It’s okay. Just not my luck then. Are you art student at Berkeley?”
“Yeah. I am going to start there this new term. Are you an art student as well?”
“Yes. Seems like we are going to meet a lot then.”
They exchange contact numbers there. After that, the guy bid his farewell and went away with his own business.
“So… I get the space right?”
“Of course. I have said I’ll take down the ads right?”
“Yup. So… can I move here ASAP, right?”
“Yeah.”
“This afternoon?”
“Sure.”
That is how I got new status as a roommate.
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Hm? Am I doing this right? Telling my life as a story?
"Life is learning Lan Jingyi" I can impersonate my grand uncle Qiren perfectly now. "Hm, if only you have goatee, little boy."
Huh, the old man surely will say that.