일. Did I have to lose control...
I - I
Chansung hurries down the streets, checking his watch every few seconds and frowning more and more. He hates hurrying. It was nothing physical, he is quite fit and athletic but he simply hates to be in a hurry. He is a person who prefers things to go smooth and nice, without stress. His life is supposed to be a nice, calm straight road in broad daylight… so why does he have to hurry down a crowded, ugly street on a cold, dark November evening?
The apartment, right. It is a pain in the ass with the huge grip sack he has to carry, but he really has to hurry or otherwise someone else might come and take that apartment before he could. And he really needs a place to sleep. He couldn’t afford staying at a hotel anymore. Chicago is expensive, unfortunately.
He turns into a street on the right and heaves a sigh of relief when he sees the renter waiting in front of the huge skyscraper. He slows down a little catching his breath before he greets the older man.
"Mister Chesterfield, I’m… really sorry, I missed my bus…" he pants, bowing apologetically before he remembers that the man in front of him isn’t Asian and quickly straightens himself again.
"Ah, that’s all right. Let’s get in there so I can show you the flat."
Chansung nods with a slight frown, following the man into the building and, thankfully, to an elevator. They step inside and the man presses the button for floor 25, making Chansung’s eyes go wide. Mr. Chesterfield nods.
"This building has 50 storeys with 10 flats each."
"5… 500 apartments?"
"Right. It was built in 1964 and fully renovated in 2006. There are 2 lifts; one goes from the 1st to the 25th storey and the other one from the 25th to the 50th storey. The flats are all equal, just the floor plans differ a little here and there."
The elevator stops, the doors open and they step out just to turn to the right and step inside of another elevator. Getting out at the 36th story Chansung follows the renter down a short corridor until they stop in front of a wooden door. Mister Chesterfield pulls a key out of his pocket and opens the door, continuing to inform the young man about the apartment.
"You have a total living area of 63m². This is the first room, a small vestibule with 2m². The door to the left leads to the bedroom with 18m², the door to the right leads to the living room with 16m². Bedroom and living room are also connected by a door. Over here is the kitchen, also your only way from the living room to the bathroom. The kitchen has 15m² and the bathroom 12m². As you can see you can get from the bedroom to the bathroom without having to walk through the whole flat. The bedroom currently has two separated beds because of the previous inhabitants."
"That sounds great… but, well… what about the monthly rent?” Chansung asks carefully and the renter nods.
"For flats in this area and this storey I usually take around $500 a month…", Chansung’s heart drops, "... but you are young and new to the city, Mister Hwang, so I think for you I can cut down on, let’s say… $350?"
"W-wow… really? That would be awesome! $350 a month, I take it!"
"Okay, then just sign here and you can immediately move in. We’ll arrange all the minor things later, like the day for the rent and so on… It’s late already and we’re both tired, right?"
Chansung nods thankfully, taking the contract and reading over it quickly, just to make sure that there really was a point stating the $350 per month. It’s better to check beforehand instead of being surprised later. Nodding he signs the contract and gives it back to the renter with a smile, putting his grip sack down on the couch and holding out his hand. Mister Chesterfield shakes it, taking his papers and handing Chansung the keys with a smile before turning around and walking towards the door.
"Good night Mister Hwang!"
"Good night Mister Chesterfield!"
The door closes and Chansung immediately drops down on the couch, inhaling deeply before heaving another sigh of relief today. He has the apartment. That is just… awesome. Plain awesome. And $350 a month! A friend had offered him a job at a local newspaper where he would earn $450 a month! For the first time in his life he would have enough money to pay for a nice living. He smiles happily before falling asleep on the couch.
I - II
Chansung wakes up to the sound of someone ringing the doorbell. He growls and stretches while sitting up sleepily before getting up on his feet and walking towards the door slowly, checking his watch. 4:27am. Goddamnit. He turns the key and opens the door to see the renter, Mr. Chesterfield, standing in front of him again, together with a tall, rather angry-looking guy.
Mr. Chesterfield seems to be embarrassed.
"Good... morning, Mr. Hwang!"
"Good morning... isn't it a bit early...?"
"Ah, could we just go inside? I don't want to disturb other people here."
Chansung shrugs and the renter hurries past him, followed by the tall guy who gives him a once-over before turning around again. Chansung decides to call him 'Angry-Guy' and closes the door, still too sleepy to object this early in the morning and simply walks into the living room where the two other men were already waiting for him.
"Do you want something to drink?", he offers half-heartedly, but Mr. Chesterfield shakes his head.
"We better do this quickly.", he says and Angry-Guy nods sitting down on the couch.
Chansung shrugs again when the renter sits down on the armseat and gets himself a chair from the kitchen so he doesn't have to sit next to Angry-Guy.
"Okay. What's the problem?"
"See... I'll make this short. I accidentially... gave this flat to 2 people."
"And now you want to throw me out again with the help of your gorilla over there?", Chansung asks furiously, afraid of losing the apartment again.
"No! He.... that's Mr. Ok. He's the other one who owns this flat now."
"Oh. Wait, WHAT?! Owns?! But I signed a contract!!"
"And he did so too."
"But- but- but-"
"I didn't ask for this either and now calm down again. We'll find a solution.", Angry-Guy suddenly says giving Chansung a pitiful smile. "You might get a heart-attack this early in the morning."
Chansung stares at him before slowly sitting down again, shaking his head in disbelief. Everything would've been perfect and now he was facing huge problems again. Someone up there really wasn't that much of a fan of him, seriously.
"Okay, you're right.", he says as calm as he could, ignoring the mean remark. "Now what are you going to do?"
"Well...", Mr. Chesterfield scratches the back of his head. "There's not much I can do, actually. Both of your contracts are legal."
"And that means?", Chansung's voice is a little too shaky for his own liking.
"Well... I can't throw either of you out of the flat again. You're both legal owners of it now. It's the common law that you... have to figure it out by yourself."
"Figure it out by ourselves?", Angry-Guy frowns. "How?"
"I don't know how. Throw a coin. Poker. Anything. I can't do it for you. All I can say is that by June 31th you have to decide. That's in 3 months. One of you has to leave the flat unless you decide to live together and sign another contract together. Until then... you're not forced to live together, but it looks like you're going to."
"And there's nothing I can do?", Angry-Guy remarks. "I... could pay 500 per month!"
"I'm sorry, but I'm just following the law.", Mr. Chesterfield gets up from the armchair. "I'm really sorry for this inconvinience... I hope you find a solution! I know the way to the door, have a nice day!"
I - III
"Maybe we should just stop staring at the wall and find a solution.", Chansung remarks after roughly 10 minutes of counting brickstones and out of the corner of his eye he can see Angry-Guy nod.
"You're right. You move out."
"What the hell NO!!", Chansung laughed. "Are you serious? I'm so not going to leave this apartment, forget it."
"I'm not going to leave it either."
"You don't have your stuff here, I have."
"I'll go and bring it here later."
"So you ARE going to leave?"
"Just so you know, I have a key too."
"Well... whatever, I'm not going to move out, period."
"Me neither."
"So it really looks like..."
"... we're going to live here..."
"... together."
I - IV
"You DO know that that's MY cup, Chansung?"
"Oh...", looking down at his hand, the younger nods. "I'm sorry, I didn't notice."
"Ah, whatever... give me your list, I'll go grocery shopping."
"Shall I come with you?", Chansung asks, handing the other a short list of things he needs.
"No, you can clean up a bit. 5 days with you, not even a whole week and the kitchen looks like a battlefield."
"That's not only my fault, Taekyeon!", Chansung defends himself but the older just shrugs.
"Whatever, I'm out. I'll be back soon."
With a sigh, Chansung turns around when the older is gone and walks into the kitchen to wash the dishes. Taekyeon was right, it is really a mess. Grabbing a plate his mind starts to wander off.
It's been 5 days since they both moved into this apartment. 5 pretty weird days. Ok Taekyeon is a rather reserved, calm guy, quite opposite of Chansung himself who is usually more cheerful and lively. He is 2 years older than Chansung and also Korean and actually Chansung is thankful that he has someone he can talk Korean with. Taekyeon had moved to Chicago because of work after studying Business Administration in Boston. He works as a department leader in a large company, something about architecture and what-not, Chansung already forgot most of it. After work he tutors the kids of Korean and Spanish immigrants in English and every Friday he works as a security guard in one of the most famous Korean night clubs of Chicago.
Chansung is still impressed. At first he thought that Taekyeon is boring and all, but slowly he starts to think that the older is kind of cool with all his activities. He finds himself being envious because his own life is far from cool and satisfying. Okay, he has that job at the local newspaper and he is earning enough money to make a living, but it really isn't interesting or fun or cool in any way, he is basically just making coffee and copies besides being the "girl-for-everything" and once a week he would have to clean the whole department he works in. It sucks but he does it anyways, for the money. He is sure that if he couldn't pay the rent Mr. Chesterfield WOULD be allowed to throw him out.
Okay, that's it lol. I'm really, really, really sorry for not making it longer and more interesting OTL. Would an NC-17-rated 2nd chapter be a good compensation? Because that's currently in the making ㅋㅋㅋ
Anyways, thank you very much for reading! I hope you'll stay tuned for the next chapter! And comments are always loved, of course!