The school bell rang, indicating freedom for the day.
The classes were over for today. This is the first time in the entire day where Jian felt a little energetic. She quickly picked up her bag which she had already packed and walked out of the school as fast as she could, not caring about the people or students around her.
Jian was skipping happily on her way to the department store, her blue bob was flying in the wind, her hand was in the pockets of her hoodie as she was listening to music in her EarPods. She felt happy because tomorrow is Saturday. The weekend which she waits for every week. No school, no academy, no tutors only games, music and dramas. That's why even though her mood stays bad all week, it starts getting better slowly after school on Friday. And on the weekends her mood stays good and then her mood starts getting downhill from Monday morning.
Today Jian had another reason to be happy. Normally after school on Friday she goes straight home but she gonna buy a ps5 today. She wanted to buy it for the longest time. She even wanted to get a part time job to afford it because she didn't want to ask her grandma for money. She thought about dropping out of the academy for a month to afford it but her grandma keeps in touch with the teachers there so she would be busted as soon as she tries that.
But this Monday something 'good' happened to her. This Monday morning at about 3:30 am she caught a man snooping around in her house. He didn't want to get caught to the police and seemed really desperate to sleep, Jian saw an easy way to get money for her ps5, so she blackmailed him for money for her ps5. And it worked.
Well..blackmailing would be the wrong terminology. Business is more appropriate.
Was what she did dangerous? Yes.
Does she care? No.
That guy fulfilled his promise and left the next morning before. But he left her a note on her notebook using her red sharpie from her room when she clearly warned him not to touch anything in the house. She had ripped the paper and it's now in his bag. She doesn't want her grandma to see it. On the note it wrote, in horrible, barely readable handwriting,
"If you tell anyone about me, you're dead. Remember, my freedom is way more important than your life would ever be."
The red sharpie was definitely used to scare her more, but it wasn't working. It just made her cringe at his childish attempt to appear scary.
Gosh, that man was interesting.
Jian really hasn't encountered someone like him ever. She was really curious about what he was doing in her house that night, who he was and what did he want. But she decided to mind her own damn business and she knows if she meddled anymore it would definitely be dangerous. She has no plan on telling anyone what happened that night. Because she got her money. She didn't necessarily care about anything else.
It was a weird encounter to say the least but he got what he needed, I got what I needed so there's no point of complicating things by involving others.
This weird encounter will forever be kept as a secret.
Jian shook her head to stop thinking about that strange man and to start thinking about her ps5. Just thinking about it made her happy.
She reached the departmental store and went to the the electronics section to get herself a ps5. She was so happy. A big smile was adoring her face. She was excited. She got the money out of her pocket and looked at it. It reminded of that guy's face.
We won't ever meet again but thank you for your money. I'm using it for good work.
She was just about to pay for it when her phone rang. She saw the called id, 'Granny💜'.
Jian smiled while picking up. She wasn't going to tell her about the ps5 now. Her granny would raise hundred questions about how she got the money and she can't let her granny know she let an unknown possible criminal stay at their house at night, can she?
"Hello granny!"
Her granny completely disregarded the excited tone of her voice,"You brat, I thought I told you to be home early today. Where did you go? Come home right now. It's urgent. I want to tell and show you something."
"Granny that can wait,right? I'm kinda in the middle of.."
"I don't care. Drop whatever you are going and run home. If you aren't home within five minutes, no phone tonight. And I'm serious. So better hurry young lady."
Jian sighed and hung up. She looked at the receptionist saying,"Something urgent came up, I will be back this afternoon. So please hold the play station for me."
And having said that, Jian ran. God knows what kind of emergency her grandma is talking about. But Jian didn't let it ruin her mood, she rarely feels this good so it would be a waste if she ruins it like this. She kept telling herself that she would be back for the play station soon.
Jian reached home within 10 minutes and quickly got in, calling for her granny hoping nothing bad happened. But what or rather whom she saw sitting on the couch of her living room got her stunned. Completely. She was at the loss of words.
There, on the couch of their living room sat the guy from the Monday night, sitting and smiling innocently at her as if he didn't break into their house a few nights ago at 3:30 am. He even was wearing glasses and his swept back hair was replaced with bangs to appear more innocent.
He stood up when he saw Jian. His smile grew wider when he saw her.
"Hey!"
What the actual fuck?
Jian's first reflex was to get her phone out and call the police, but he was quicker. He grabbed her phone from her hand.
"Woah, easy there!"
"What the actual fuck are you doing here?"Jian asked trying to grab her phone. But damn he was taller.
"Woah there, calm down and listen to me-"
"What is there to listen to, just freaking tell me what you want and why the hell are you in my house again?"
"Hush, your grandma will hear. You don't want that, do you? So calm down and listen to me before both of us get freaking busted.."
"Give me my phone back, I should've called police that very night.."
"Calm down and listen to me, kid. That'd be better for both of us. And is that a way to treat someone who's elder than you?"
"You freaking.."
"JUNG JIAN!"She heard her granny scream after entering the living room with a tray full of tea and snacks. The guy quickly slipped her phone back into her hands without her grandma seeing and smiled innocently looking at her grandma.
Jian was about to ask her grandma what the hell this guy was doing in their house, but the next thing her grandma said made her the biggest shock of her life.
"Jung Jian, is that a way to treat your new roommate?"
I'm sorry what?
I must've heard wrong, right?
"Say what?"Jian asked, unable to believe what she just heard.
"He's gonna rent our rooftop room starting this Sunday. So you better bring all your stuff back down into your room and clean it before Sunday," she said while placing her tray full of treats on the tea table.
Jian was still in the state of shock. She couldn't believe it. Her jaw was on the process of dropping. She doesn't get shocked easily but what kind of scenery is this?
She looked at the guy who was already looking at her with a sly smile on his face. He looked like he achieved something big.
He mouthed at her,"Play along if you don't wanna get busted."
And then said out loud,"It's very nice to meet you, Jian. Your grandmother told me a lot about you."
He smiled as his smile grew wider,"I'm Byun Baekhyun. You're new roommate."
He offered his hand for a handshake. Jian stared at his hand for a few seconds, unable to move or think of anything.
"Jian, quit being rude, shake his hand,"Her grandma said and then looked at Baekhyun,"Pardon her, it takes time for her to get along to people."
"Oh I totally understand!"Baekhyun said and was about to take his hand back but Jian slowly held his hand and shook it. She was angry and was in utter disbelief. So she did what would help her release a bit of her anger. She dug her nails deep into Baekhyun's palm and fake smiled. She could see it was hurting him but he couldn't do anything in front of her grandma. He certainly didn't expect her to do this. So he smiled through the pain and said,
"I just know that we will get along very well."
Jian kept fake smiling and still digging her nail into his palm, careful enough to not actually cut his hand. He was trying his best to free his hand from the handshake without making it too obvious to grandma, which was a funny sight to see.
"We sure will."
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