Flatmate

Chapter 1: There's Always a Rainbow After a Thunderstorm

Huang Jingyu was broke.

The man who contracted him to model for an online clothing store had decided to stop him halfway during the photoshoot, reasoning that "your body is too bulky" he said, and, "just stop, I won't use you anymore."

Despite being dismissed unceremoniously, Jingyu had hotheadedly fought for the payment that he deserved for the 100 or so pieces of clothes that he had taken photos with. But still, after arguing for a half day, the boss didn't give him as much as he deserved. Feeling hopeless, Jingyu just wandered around the city of Guangzhou for the rest of the day, dragging a suitcase along with him. He had bought the ticket back to Shanghai for the next day and he didn't have a place to stay for the night. He was too optimistic that he could afford a nice hotel after he got the payment from the modeling. Never he thought that he wasn't always that lucky.

To put ease to his growing headache, he stopped in a noodle stall, which was said to be one of the famous delicacies of Guangdong, Guangzhou city. While enjoying the noodle, he tried to contact his friends to get some help. Once he got online on WeChat, he was flooded with the text from his nagging girlfriend who pestered him to buy the 20,000 yuan of diamond necklace that she wanted so much. He actually had been short for money for the past months and could not afford that much luxury. He was stalling his answers yet again to his girlfriend, saying that he would buy it soon for her.

His headache was multiplied when he found the chat from his landlord who demanded for his a month-late rent pay for his apartment. The landlord had warned him if he could not pay off the rent by next week, he would be kicked out from the apartment. The only good news for him in that horrible day was coming from the reply from one of his friends, who said that he had relatives in Guangzhou and that Jingyu could stay there for a night.

After Jingyu returned to Shanghai, things were getting worse because he didn't have that much saving anymore.  Modeling wasn't exactly giving him a stable and secure income. He also went on a big argument with his girlfriend who accused him for not spoiling her as much as before. Jingyu then thought that enough was enough. He should try to build a new life in other city.

He knew the path that he took was uncertain. But his past decision to leave his hometown early in young age was not going into a waste by giving up due to the harsh life of a metropolitan city. He knew he should strive on. But in order to do so, he should use another strategy.

That's why he found himself a month later moving in a flat in the downtown of the capital city, Beijing. The life was not much easier there than in Shanghai because typically, both cities are quite the same in competition. But if Jingyu still wanted to stay in the modeling industry, at least he should try to stay in the circle.

The flat that he chose to live in was not as luxurious as his apartment back in Shanghai. In fact, it's quite ordinary, with four rooms and one bathroom, enough for two people to live in. When he proposed to the landlady that he wanted to have one additional person to stay with him so that he only paid for half of the rent, the lady was very willing to help him to find one.

"Jingyu my boy, I hardly see you ever since you moved in. How's your new job going on my dear?"

Mrs. Chai greeted him when they met in the staircase one afternoon two weeks after he moved in.

"Hi, Mrs. Chai," Jingyu greeted her politely, he liked his current landlord more that the previous one. "Busy, but it's going well."