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."
"Glad to hear that," she said sincerely. "Since you're here, I've been wanting to tell you that I've found the person who's willing to share a flat with you."
"Woah, really, Mrs. Chai?" Jingyu was delighted to hear the news. "That's awesome!"
"Yeah, right? And the boy is planning to move in by tomorrow, since his term will start by Monday. He has come here two times to get to know you but you're not home the entire time. I hope you'll receive him well by the time he shows up in front of your door."
Jingyu was shocked to know that. "Why didn't he contact me first if he wanted to see me before he moves in? To know that he missed me two times, it just made me feel bad."
Mrs. Chai furrowed her eyebrows in her attempt to recall something. "I did remember giving him your WeChat contact. Have you added him?"
Jingyu blinked his eyes and his mouth opened in an 'o', expressing that he had no idea about it. He had been neglecting the messages and the invitations in the app because he's busy settle down for the past weeks. Seeing that foolish expression in Jingyu's face, Mrs. Chai just chuckled at him.
"I hope you'll like him. He's a nice boy."
"Yeah," Jingyu nodded, giving her a smile. "I hope so. Thank you Mrs. Chai."
After he bid goodbye to Mrs. Chai, he walked to his flat only to find out that his girlfriend had been waiting for him in front of his door. Her presence was out of his knowledge. They had been on silent treatment for weeks. Jingyu thought that by her showing up, she wanted to rekindle their relationship. It seemed so at first. But as she started to comment how awful Jingyu's current place was, and demanded him to go back to Shanghai, Jingyu's ego was nudged. They went into another big argument that night, resulting in them breaking up their relationship. Jingyu regretted to be ever with a woman like her. She only had a good body but not a good heart. To drown the feeling, he drunk himself off for the entire night.
It's not until the next day that Jingyu got to check his invitations in WeChat. Among other invitations he found an account with ID name 'ZhouMeow' and a profile picture of a cat had requested him to become a friend. He tapped on the 'accept' button while his eyes moved up and down to match the profile picture with the boy who was currently sitting in front of him.
After spending a half day with Zhouzhou, he started to think that the boy was somehow really resembling a cat. A cute one at that.
The boy's contact lensed eyes are big and expressive as he told Jingyu about what he studied in university. The way he talked while dipping in for the cold dessert and licking his spoon was somehow too cute for a grown up man.
For your information, they had moved from the Huang Meng Ji place to a Korean Patbingsoo shop near Zhouzhou's campus. At first, Jingyu was never one for sweet desserts. He used to just accompany his girlfriend whenever she wanted some ice cream. But under the influence of the bossy kid, he became addicted and could not stop spooning for another treat after the first time Zhouzhou made him try.
"Mmmm," Zhouzhou moaned with the spoon still in between his lips as he got the notification that Jingyu had added him as a friend. "Took you long enough."
"Sorry," Jingyu said bashfully. "I was... busy."
"Yeah, right, Mr. I-can-do-anything." Zhouzhou rolled his eyes. He referred to the current jobs that Jingyu was taking: model, bartender, and editor.
"Hey, don't mock someone with many jobs!"
"I don't mock you, I'm praising you." Zhouzhou said that so earnestly that Jingyu didn't find any reason to get offended.
"Really, you're practically just two years older than me but you have a bunch of life experiences much richer than me. I gotta learn much from you, Da Ge[1]."
Jingyu smirked satisfiyingly from the compliment. This kid sure knew how to talk.
"You're the man of talents yourself. I'm sure you'll get successful with them."
Within 2 hours of conversation, they warm up with each other quite fast. Although Jingyu was the type of rather cold and distant towards the person he just met, Zhouzhou's enthusiasm had made him easy to loosen up.
"I'm from Shanghai. You've been living in Shanghai, too. How come we ended up meeting in Beijing?" Zhouzhou laughed. He was pretty amused at that fact.
Jingyu was kinda distracted by that laugh. Is that dimple he just seeing?
"Well... who knows if we ever happened to stroll at the Bund at the same time? There's just too many people there."
"Hmm..." Zhouzhou nodded. "You got a point there."
"There's..." Jingyu gestured with his fingers. "...a cream on the upper of your lips."
Zhouzhou went cross-eyed when trying to lick off the cream. His tongue missed some part of it, which made Jingyu tsk-ed him and reached out with a tissue to wipe it off.
Zhouzhou ducked his head backwards, surprised with Jingyu's intimate gesture. Feeling awkward, Jingyu cleared his throat as he let Zhouzhou took the tissue instead and wiped the cream off by himself.
Jingyu turned his crimson face away to the window, pretending to observe the passerby. His reddened ears almost failed to catch Zhouzhou's mumbled thanks because he was too focus in saving his embarrassment.
"Hey, will you accompany me to buy some new furnitures? You still have some time before your night shift begins, right?"
Jingyu finally turned his attention back to Zhouzhou, before checking the time on his phone.
"Sure. I'm free until 7 anyway. Let's go."
As they got back to the street, they walked down to the nearest bus halt. Looking at the number of the buses, Jingyu trusted Zhouzhou to choose since, afterall, Zhouzhou was longer being local and this was the nearest one to his campus.
"So, which one we should take?"
Expecting a confident answer from the younger, Jingyu lift one of his eyebrows when he found out that the boy was busy looking at Baidu map on his phone.
"You're not certain of which way to go?"
"Umm..." Zhouzhou scratched his un-itchy head. "To be honest, I've not been taking a bus for ages."
"What?" Jingyu was perplexed. "Then how do you usually get around? By subway trains?"
"I used to drive a car." Zhouzhou chewed at the bottom of his lips, then he quickly added, "I left the car at home."
"Hmmph..." Jingyu sighed. He didn't mean to judge but he started to guess that Zhouzhou was one of that rich Shanghai kids who drive cars by themselves. But this Zhouzhou was rather unique for a rich kid because he's willing to share a flat with someone else instead of renting an apartment for himself.
"I think we should take this one," Jingyu finally decided.
They waited for the bus number 602 to arrive. When the bus came into a stop, it's already quite packed that they have to squeeze in to get inside. The two young, tall, and healthy men like them only get to stand. Worried that Zhouzhou might not get used to the crowd, Jingyu led him near the half-opened window so that he still could breathe some fresh air.
"Are you alright?"
"Hm-um." Zhouzhou nodded.
The bus shook violently as the driver stepped on the gas and started driving on the street. Their destination was five stops away, and during the travel, Zhouzhou kept clutching on Jingyu's shirt. Many times his head was bumped at the crook of Jingyu's neck because of their slight height differences. There was a time when the driver hit the brake, the back of Zhouzhou's head was almost colliding with the glass window. Instinctively, Jingyu placed his hand at the back of Zhouzhou's head to prevent the collision. Instead of getting embarrassed, this time Jingyu felt like a responsible big brother protecting his younger brother. Zhouzhou just glanced up at him at the gesture, but didn't comment on it.
It's drizzling when they arrived at their destination. They raced from the halt to the entrance door of the furniture store to save themselves from getting drenched. They laughed at each other for their silliness.
"My hair is wet!" Jingyu complained as he tried to shake off the droplets from his previously styled hair.
"Aiya, you're not doing a runway on red carpet. No one will pay attention to you. Now, come on let's get in!"
***
"I like this one," Zhouzhou pointed at a medium, queen sized bed. "Oh, this one is also quite cool!"
Jingyu who was busy looking around, turned his body to look at Zhouzhou's preferences. He went to compare the quality of the spring of the mattress, the sturdiness of the headboard, and the tagged price.
"I think this one is better," Jingyu commented, pointing at Zhouzhou's first preferences.
Zhouzhou pursed his lips. He was still thinking to take his other choice into consideration. In the end, he finally chose the one that Jingyu had recommended.
"Laoban[2], I'm going to take this one."
The owner of the shop nodded, and he's about to make a note when Jingyu made a gesture to halt him.
"Wait," Jingyu said. "Are you seriously going to buy it just like that?"
Zhouzhou blinked his eyes. "Yes. Is something wrong? Should I take a look for another one?"
"No it's... 7000 yuan," Jingyu coughed.
Jingyu was a man of quality. He preferred to have a good quality and branded goods. But when it came to price, he tried to negotiate it to the lowest price possible.
"What about it? If you asked me whether I can afford it or not I-"
"No, I mean," Jingyu interrupted him, and then he came closer to whisper to Zhouzhou's ear. "Let's get a cheaper price."
Zhouzhou blinked his big, pretty eyes.
"We... can?"
Jingyu pulled a smirk. "Just wait and see, young man."
With the help of Jingyu's negotiation skill, Zhouzhou was succeeded in purchasing a bed, a cupboard, and a desk with the price 10,000 yuan in total. It's still a lot of money, but compared with the original prices, it still saved a lot.
The furnitures would be delivered to their address on the next day. After Zhouzhou finished the payment, he waited outside because Jingyu had excused himself first to get something in the convenience store.
Soon enough, the older man showed up in front of him with an umbrella in his hand. The rain was getting heavier as the day was nearing its end.
"Am I smart?" Jingyu grinned under the umbrella. "Like this, we won't get drenched on our way to the bus halt."
Zhouzhou pretended to scoff at Jingyu's narcissistic remarks. There's something childish in the older man which made him inclined to let the older indulged in his own perception of himself.
"Yes, really smart. Genius!"
Jingyu snorted. "Come," he gestured for Zhouzhou to join him under the umbrella. "Let's go back."
When they entered their shared flat, it's already half past five. Jingyu took another shower to get ready for work while Zhouzhou was filling the fridge with the food ingredients that they managed to buy together prior to return back to their flat.
"Are you not going to have a dinner before going out?"
Jingyu halted on his step to wear his shoes. He was a bit stunned for a while because he was not used to have someone reminding him for having a dinner, or any regular meals at that, directly and not from texting. It's been a long time since someone did that to him. It's something that his mom used to do back at home.
"Um, I'm gonna have it at work."
"You sure? Is being a bartender giving you enough spare time to do that?"
"Umm..." Jingyu was not so sure.
"Just eat some, here," Zhouzhou waved a pair of chopsticks. "I just steamed some dumplings for us."
Jingyu approached the dining table and accepted the chopsticks. As he peeked down to the bowl in front of Zhouzhou, he was surprised that there were decent steamed dumplings inside it.
"You... cook?" Jingyu was astonished. He was not expecting this from a homebody like Zhouzhou. This had changed his perception towards his flatmate yet again.
"And it's perfectly steamed!" Jingyu exclaimed as he chewed on one dumpling in his mouth.
Zhouzhou snorted. "Are you expecting me for not being able to do that?"
"You just didn't give off the vibes that you are."
"Silly."
They enjoyed the dumplings in silence. After his fifth dumplings, Jingyu put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth.
"Thank you, Zhou," said Jingyu sincerely.
"Anytime~" Zhouzhou waved it off. He's busy half eating, half playing with his phone.
Jingyu glanced at the younger while biting his lower lip in nervousness. It seemed that the younger didn't get what he was thanking for.
"I mean... thank you, not just for the dumplings, but for today. I realized I haven't been hanging out and having fun lately."
Those words succeeded in getting Zhouzhou's attention back to the older. Zhouzhou then offered Jingyu a bright, sincere smile as he replied. "Thanks for you too, Jingyu. I had fun as well. Seemed that Mrs. Chai wasn't lying when she said you're such a darling."
Jingyu blinked at that statement, half believing on his ears.
"What... what did you say?"
Too lazy to repeat it, Zhouzhou just got up from the chair and picked up their empty bowl and eating utensils.
"I said that you're pretty silly," Zhouzhou teased.
Jingyu would pinch Zhouzhou on the cheek for his cheekiness if the younger wasn't already getting away to wash the used dishes.
"Ay, this kid..." Jingyu muttered to himself in amusement.
"I'm going out now, okay?" Jingyu half-shouted from across the room so that Zhouzhou could hear it amongst the running water.
Zhouzhou returned back to the same room with Jingyu as he wiped his hands dry.
"Take care, ah."
Jingyu straightened up his back after he finished putting on his shoes.
"Don't forget to sleep on the bed. If you need wifi, the password is on the router."
Zhouzhou nodded affirmatively. "Okay~"
After giving Zhouzhou a last glance, Jingyu made his way out of the flat.
"Um... see you later."
"See you."
_________________________
Note:
[1] Da Ge = big bro
[2] Laoban = boss, referring to the owner of the shop
I'll be pretty much busy after today, so I'm not sure whether I could still update my fics very soon (I'm not a fast writer to begin with, lol). But let's see if I could squeeze some time to write. Anyway, the more paperwork I need to do, the more I want to write fanfics xD
Have a good weekday everyone!