Prequel- Chapter 5: Apartment Hunt

Alena Fleur

Elian and my relationship bloomed after we spent the entire night talking at his friend's party. Neither of us realized how hours flew by in what felt like minutes.

Whenever we would see each other on campus, we would catch up with each other to strike up a conversation, almost as if our feet would automatically lead to the other one. I loved his company. It was so much better than chatting online. The light brushes of his hand with mine sent tingles down my spine. The constant smile on his face made warmth spread through my chest. I even found his eye-rolling cute.

Rumor had it that he was a rude and grumpy person, but with me, he was always playful and seemed happy. I had only seen that grumpy side of him when we first met. But even then, he had a soft side inside him. He sat down and listened to me as a random girl told him about her favorite memories of the snow he despised the most. Maybe this gesture was also just for me, but who knows?

I wasn't sure what I expected in the future with him, but at the present, I enjoyed our current relationship. I wouldn't call us friends or say we were seeing each other yet. But there was something about him that I couldn't resist. More like, I didn't want to resist.

Because I liked him.

I had wondered before the party if I was ready to let myself like someone. But I never had the choice, to begin with. It was impossible to not like Elian. He made me feel special in a way no one else had ever made me feel. I didn't care about my promise to my parents. I was old enough to go out with a guy.

Nevertheless, it felt too soon to tell Elian about my feelings. As straightforward and blunt as I was, I didn't want hastiness blowing up on my face. We could take it slow and steady. There was no rush.

"You are going for an apartment hunt today?" Elian asked after I told him the reason we couldn't hang out after classes today.

"Yes," I sighed, exasperated. "I'm tired of my roommates' nuisances."

"Maya had a fight with her boyfriend again, didn't she?" he sounded just as exasperated as if he had suffered the experience with me. "How much did she cry this time?"

"After last night, if she comes crying to me once more, I'll make sure she leaves with crying blood," I declared. "How can a person cry over the same person over and over and still shamelessly go back to that toxic relationship?" I had little to no sleep because of Maya's consistent sobbing over her breakup, while I knew she was going to go back to him the very next day.

Elian laughed at my situation.

I shot him a glare. "What do you find so funny, huh?"

"Just imagining your urge to strangle Maya while comforting her last night."

"And you find it funny?" I hardened my glare on him.

His laughter gave me my response.

"Don't laugh." My warning only made him cackle more. "Elian!" I whined.

"Sorry, I can't help it. You just look so cute with your glare."

Usually, I would get lost in the sound of his laughter, but this time, my nose flared with anger. "I am—my glare is not cute!"

He pressed his palm over his mouth to control his laughter and said, "Sure, sure."

Huffing, I stomped ahead of him after saying, "One day, you will learn to be scared of my glares. Because even the lion is scared of his lioness."

"You surely fit the bill to be a lioness," he said, catching up with me and completely ignoring the point of what I was saying.

"And you will fit the bill for a dead lion if you laugh at me one more time," I warned.

"I'll keep that in mind," he tried to sound serious as he said so, but his little snort gave it away. However, instead of pointing it out, I rather tried to suppress my own smile. "Anyway," he lightly brushed his shoulder with mine and asked, "Are you open to a partner tagging along for your apartment hunt?"

Having a company would be very assuring, especially if it was Elian.

"Don't you have anything else to do, though?" I asked as a formality and gave him a skeptical look, in case I was inconveniencing him.

He twitched his lips, giving it a brief thought before shrugging. "Nothing important."

I smiled happily. "Great then. I'll see you at three in front of the girls' dorm."

"Okay."

###

I hurried down the stairs of the dorm, checking my watch and cursing myself for being ten minutes late than the agreed time.

I found Elian waiting outside the dormitory, leaning against a car I had never seen him with before.

"Hey, you are early," he said, pushing himself off the car and walking toward me.

"I'm late," I corrected.

"No, you texted five minutes earlier that you were starting to get ready—"

"So you expected I'd be here thirty minutes later?" I arched an eyebrow playfully.

"Honestly? Yes," he admitted sheepishly.

"I may start to get ready late, but I only take five to ten minutes to get ready," I told him proudly. "So don't worry about waiting for hours."

"Well, I don't mind waiting either way."

"Lies, but okay," I conceded. "By the way, whose car is it? I have never seen you without a Mercedes or Lamborghini."

"This is a car I use when I don't want to attract attention, and my reason for bringing it along today is so that no landowner assumes you have a loaded boyfriend to pay for you and hikes up the price to double or triple," he explained. "The last thing I want is to cause trouble for you."

My heart melted at his consideration. I hadn't even thought of it that way. But he did and even thought of a way to counter it.

I smiled at him and honestly said, "That's really sweet of you."

His face got a little red at the compliment and he turned toward the car door. "Let's get inside the car. It's cold."

I nodded and went to the passenger side to get in. Just as I opened the door, he commented, "By the way, even your five-minute-ready look is flawless."

Blood rushed to my cheeks thanks to his brazen words, and I was glad that he already got inside the car so that he wouldn't see my embarrassed face.

He was the only person who could leave me speechless and awkward after compliments. I hated it. At the same time, I loved it.

Experiencing romantic feelings was infuriating and addicting altogether.

###

"You really thought you would actually find an apartment that cheap in California?" Elian asked, shaking his head in disappointment.

"My realtor said these apartments were in my budget. There's nothing to do if the rent went up over the New Year. I have to pay my tuition and food costs besides paying rent. I can't afford an apartment over 500 bucks," I reasoned.

"But you need to be reasonable about what's available. I don't think such an apartment even exists at this point," he replied and stopped the car in the parking lot of the seventh apartment on my list.

"There has to be one," I declared, unfolding my arms over my chest and grabbing my purse to get out of the car.

Elian sighed and followed me inside the apartment complex.

This time, luck really opened up to us. Because this apartment fell under my budget and the bathroom wasn't rotting away. Even the room size was moderate. The open kitchen was pretty nice, too. Not that I could cook, but it was nice to have it.

"I love this one!" I exclaimed to Elian with excitement. "I have found my perfect home!" I gushed.

He tried to smile for my sake, but I couldn't ignore the uneasy look on his face.

I tilted my head and put my hands on my hip, furrowing my brows at him. "Now what's wrong?"

"Isn't something off about this apartment, though? Isn't it too nice to cost this cheap?"

I huffed. "There's no pleasing you, is there?"

He rolled his eyes. "It's not the case. It's just too suspicious."

"You're worrying for nothing," I shrugged him off. "C'mon, let's go check the rooftop. I want to see the view!"

Without giving him a chance to protest, I grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the stairs after locking the door. I would return the keys to the building manager downstairs on our way back.

Once we reached the rooftop, I breathed into the cold evening air.

"It seems like the perfect place to sit down and sing and play the guitar," I said, smiling.

"Do you play guitar?" he asked curiously.

I shook my head. "I like to sing. Even though I can play the guitar a little, I'm waiting to meet someone who can play it while I sing to his music," I expressed dreamily.

"You like to dream a lot, don't you?"

"Yes," I admitted unabashedly. "I have a lot of dreams. I know all of them won't come true. But there's no harm in gaining happiness from just dreaming. For example, there's no guarantee the guy I like will know how to play guitar, but I can still dream, right?"

I knew for a fact that Elian couldn't sing nor did he have any musical talent—because he had told me himself. So I had no hopes of this dream coming true. But as I told him, it was still nice to imagine.

Instead of replying to me, Elian walked toward the railing and said, "Now I see why the apartment here is so cheap."

I pouted a little for being ignored and decided to see what Elian was talking about. "Why?"

"I didn't notice the surroundings while entering the building. But this neighborhood has a bad reputation. There's crime all around here," he stated.

"What's that got to do with me?"

He gave me a don't-pretend-to-be-dumb look. "It has got to do everything with you. This neighborhood is dangerous. I don't want to picture you walking these streets alone every night."

Normally, I would blow it off laughing because I was pretty reckless and didn't care a dime about my safety, but his voice held fear, and it made my heart react, wanting to ease his worries and fears.

I placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly. "It's okay. We can go look for more apartments. I'm sure there has to be another suitable apartment for me in this big city, right?"

He placed his hand over mine and smiled back. "I hope so."

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