Hide N Seek

7. Roommate

The ringing of the calling bell of the apartment interrupted the trio's conversation.

"I will go check who it is." Seff got up from his chair and went to answer the door.

"Thank god you finally opened the door!" Din spoke with difficulty as he supported a drunk Jan.

Din was Jan's friend from the same faculty. He often visited their apartment to drop off and pick up Jan. He also made friends with all the other residents of the apartment.

"Jan! Why is he like this? What on earth happened to him?" Seff was shocked to see Jan so wasted.

Jan had always been a well-disciplined boy. Coming from a poor family in Nan Province, he too studied at the university with the help of a scholarship. He worked part-time in Shawn's café to earn money for his expenditures.

He was a sweet and kind-hearted boy who got along with Seff well, maybe because he could relate to the latter as both of them were struggling due to financial issues.

"P' Ball broke up with him," Din whispered making sure that Jan didn't hear it.

Ball was the guy Jan had been dating from the first year of their university life. Their relationship had been a bit rocky recently as Jan was busy juggling his studies and part-time job and had little to no time to tend to his boyfriend. This made Ball upset. A break-up became an inevitable conclusion.

"It took normal than I expected." Seff sighed. He had long predicted that Ball would end their relationship but Jan never listened.

"Baby Boo..." Jan lurched onto Seff as soon as he saw him and smiled revealing his cute dimples.

Seff shrugged a little from the sudden weight thrown at him. He managed to gain balance and support Jan.

"Did he drown himself in alcohol? He stinks like hell." Seff leaned backwards cringing his nose. The smell of alcohol Jan was emitting was too much to handle.

"He has been drinking since today afternoon. He saw P' Ball kissing another guy." Din looked sympathetically at Jan.

Seff facepalmed. He had always known that Ball was up to no good. He wasn't even surprised to hear the news. "I will take it from here. You can go, Din."

"Are you sure, Seff? Can you handle him alone? He has been cranky all this while." Din asked feeling concerned.

"It's okay, Din. I will manage." Seff smiled at him. "Thank you for bringing him back."

"Hey, don't be so formal." Din chuckled. "I will get going then."

"Drive safe. Good night." Seff waved him goodbye as Din drove away.

"Baby Boo..." Jan whine.

Seff turned his attention to his drunk friend.

"He dumped me, Seff! He did!" Jan sobbed. "He cheated on me with a freshman from our faculty!"

"Jan, let's go inside and talk." Seff was having a hard time supporting Jan, who had a larger physique than him.

"When he told me that he wanted to break up last month, I thought he was joking. He used to say that a lot when he got upset with me. I never thought that he was serious." Jan clunked onto Seff's skinny body and started crying.

Seff consoled him as he helped him into the apartment.

The two new tenants were watching the door all this while.

"Baby boo... you are the only person in the world who loves me. I love you, na. Mwah!" Jan kissed Seff's cheeks while the latter kept trying to pull away.

Seff noticed the two people staring at them with furrowed brows.

"This is Jan., My roommate." Seff introduced him to the two people.

"Oh!" the two spoke in unison recognising their other housemate.

"Baby boo, who are these handsome men? What are they doing inside our house? Did you call them over when no one's here?" Jan wiggled his brows at Seff teasing him.

Seff flicked Jan's forehead. "They are our new housemates Dawn and Grey."

Jan looked disappointed. "I thought you called strippers to cheer me up." He got heavily smacked on his head as soon as the sentence was finished.

"I don't mind stripping for a cutie like you," Grey said flirtishly. He was mesmerized by the drunk little guy who had adorable dimples. He walked over to Seff and Jan.

"Wow. You are so tall. Even taller than P' Ball." Jan looked up at Grey's face and flashed a smile. "and handsome too."

Grey smirked hearing Jan. Just as he was about to touch Jan, Seff pulled him back. 

"My friend is drunk. Don't take his words into the record." He said sending a warning glare at Grey.

"I know. I was just trying to help." Grey replied with a smile.

"You don't have to trouble yourself. I will take care of him. I am sure that you have a lot of unpacking to do." Seff was clearly unhappy with the way Grey behaved.

"Yes, you are right. We have a lot of unpacking to do." Dawn held Grey back. "You go ahead with your friend. Call us if you need our help." He was trying to salvage the situation.

Seff shot him a glance and helped a whiny Jan to their room.

"What the hell were you doing?" Dawn asked Grey once they were left alone.

"Ain't I obvious? I was hitting on him." Grey shrugged nonchalantly.

"We are on duty, Grey." Dawn was irritated. He followed Grey into his room

"Didn't that apply when you were trying to make a move on Seff?" Grey's question successfully shut Dawn up.

Grey turned and looked at Dawn. "I don't know how long we will have to put up with this new identity of ours. So, it would be better if we lived a normal life like others."

"But, they are our housemates, phi. If we make complications, we might..."

"Dawn, listen to me." Grey interrupted Dawn's rants. "As someone who has been in this field longer than you, let me give you a piece of advice. Things will get complicated only if we make it complicated. I know you are feeling somewhat attracted to Seff even though he seems a bit hostile to us and I don't blame you for that. He is cute.

But don't ever let the attraction get into your head and mess with your emotions. Because once we take off our masks, all this is going to be over. We are taught to be emotionless. But we are not robots, Dawn. We are only human. And human can change their emotions."

"What are you trying to say, phi?" Dawn asked feeling confused.

"You take Seff and I will take Jan."

"Huh?"

"Aren't interested in Seff?"

"A little bit." Dawn blushed.

"Then go ahead and try your luck with him. But, don't get yourself too involved. You know that you will have to leave him one day. That is the price we have to pay for choosing this profession."

"What about you? Are you sure you can hold back when it comes to Jan? I could literally see little hearts popping up in your eyes when you looked at him." Dawn smiled mischievously

"Go and unpack your stuff." Grey dismissed his question and pushed out of the door.