Let's Be Friends

The Meeting

Stephen anxiously entered the building. Peering around soft-white corners and carefully watching his step. The flat was relatively empty, apart from the obvious furniture that was included and a few boxes on the floor. Honestly, Stephen just wanted to meet his new flatmate, and since he had no idea how the boy would be, personality wise, he wanted to make sure he didn't get on his nerves immediately following their first encounter.

Maybe he was worried for no reason. Perhaps, his new flatmate would be just as bubbly, and happy, to meet him as he was to them. He could only hope.

Upon entering the building three things were apparent: one, the living room was connected to the dining room and was separated from the kitchen by a semi-wall, making the space wide  and open; two, his new roomie had already arrived, and his few, clean and neat boxes, were placed ever-so-carefully on the living room floor, maybe he's a tidy person, we'll probably get along great since I don't like to be messy; and third that his new flatmate was by far the most surprising aspect of the place.

He found himself staring at the small figure, sitting on one of the tall black leather dining room bar stools, aimlessly looking at his phone. He wore a black sweater-like turtleneck with long sleeves that nearly covered his hands, they stopped midpalm, and jeans that were a light gray, with rips scattered up and down the legs. The boy was the prettiest and most elegant person Stephen had ever seen, that he was sure of.

Sometime, during the period that Stephen had spaced out looking at the boy's attire, the stranger had lifted his striking violet eyes to meet Stephen's stare. Stephen eventually returned to reality and looked right into the boy's eyes. They were colder than you'd expect from someone who looked like that, almost unnervingly so.

Realizing that the silence had gone on for too long, Stephen took it upon himself to  begin the introductions.

"Hello, I'm Stephen Ahn, your new Flatmate! What's your name?" He spoke cheerfully to the, rather glum, stranger.

The boy's eyes flittered over Stephen, looking him over. Just this simple action gave Stephen chills, something about the cold stare the boy gave, made him second guess himself. An attitude opposing his looks, he noted for a second time.

The stranger sat up straight in the chair, "Gray Yeon."

"Your name is very," Pretty? Unique? Lovely?  "Suiting." He replied with a smile. With that Gray stood up and walked over to Stephen, leaving about five feet between them, his eyes were still cold, but it seemed as if there was something else there, yet Stephen could not figure out what.

"I want you to know something," Gray began, his voice nearly as cold as his eyes "I have no intention of being your friend. I am going to live over here in my space, and you can live over there in your space. I won't bother you, and believe me, in time, you'll forget I'm here."

And with that simple sentence, all of Stephen's hopes for a friend, were crushed. Destroyed.

As the pair met eyes, Stephen saw little flickers of violet emotion, they fluttered by faster than you'd think. He felt as though he should reach out and hold each piece in his hands, cupping them like valued trinkets. "You don't want to get involved with me, it's for your own good."

Confusion clouded Stephen's mind, filling the boy's head with nothing but questions. For my own good? Don't get involved? What is going on here?  This was nothing new however, seeing as how Stephen always had questions, some claimed he was more inquisitive than even the most renowned scholars.

"You can choose your room first. There's three rooms. They're all down the hallway. One at the end of the hallway, one on the left, and one on the right." Gray stated as he turned to the door, and left. For someone with shorter legs, he walked briskly and with long strides, as if he perpetually had somewhere to be.

Gray had made great effort to build a wall between them, for his own good he claimed. Stephen wasn't exactly sure what that meant, what could he possibly need protected from?

Ah, but little did Gray know, that by pushing Stephen away, he was only further peeking his interest. That's simply the type of character he was, determined to dig through heaps of nonsense and layers of dirt and rock to find the answers to his questions.

"What an odd character," He sighed as he picked up one of his boxes, "What is he hiding? His eyes were cold, anyone could've noticed that, but there's something else there-" Stephen made his way down the hallway, thinking only of the brightness of Gray's eyes, with emotions soft and fleeting like falling Sakura petals, he smiled "-Let's be friends Gray Yeon."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edited 2/5/2023