I blinked twice, trying to grasp the information the landlord dumped on me. My wide eyes looked into his emotionless eyes, I felt my heartbeat beating wildly and I tried to stop my hands from shaking.

"But— but why? Mr. Kim, why so sudden? Is—" I frantically asked him, shuttering my words out. 

"I know this is so sudden, but you have to move out within a week anyhow." He sighed.

"But why?" I asked, I had every right to ask this. I paid rent on time even when I had a shortage of money, I was never a bad tenant then why was he sort of kicking me out? 

"I…" he trailed off. "I happen to lose this building in a game of poker, the new owner wants the building empty by the end of the week. Don't think it is only you, I'm telling this to everyone." Upon hearing these words, I had the immense urge to murder him.

"How could you? How could you just put this building on a bet?" I asked, controlling my urge to just choke him.

"It's not a big deal for me, I have other buildings across Seoul." He shrugged his shoulders, making me burn with anger. How could he? It may not be a big deal for him, but what about people like me? Who is dependent on this building to give them a roof on their heads? Who doesn't have enough money so they leave here because the rent is cheap? Where are we going to find a house to live in within a week!? Finding a good cheap rental apartment is so hard in Seoul. Where are we going to live?

Where am I gonna find a house I can afford to pay rent for?

"That's it, it's not a big deal. You can move out in a jiff. Just pack your things up, you don't even have any furniture to move." He looked around in my house, in fact churning in disgust when he saw paint on the floor. "You better clean before you leave. Anyways, I will leave. I have other people to inform too." He looked at me, who was too stunned to reply. I closed the door once he left, my knees buckled and I sat on the floor.

This small apartment was all I had.

"What am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go?" I have been living here for around four to five years, after a couple of years of living in slums, I finally found this apartment. It was a small one-room with a kitchen and restroom, where I managed to have a bed and space for painting. 

It was my everything. 

Fresh hot tears started to make their way down from my eyes. Maybe it was a bad time and experience I had while living in a slum or was it the loss of my apartment or maybe it was the memories that flooded my head some moments ago.

Either way, I was crying.

Rays of sunlight peeked from the curtains and made their way in, slowly illuminating my dark room. I squinted my eyes as they were sensitive to the light, lowering my head down between my knees. I continued to cry in peace— until it was disturbed by my phone which rang loudly. I looked up at the nightstand where it was kept, I wiped my tears away and walked to it. I let out a sigh when I saw the contact, clearing my thoughts and throat; I picked up his call.

"Hello." I tried to sound normal, hoping he wouldn't catch that sadness in my voice. 

"Good morning Raemi! I didn't expect you to be awake early in the morning. Let me guess, you were working on another painting?" His voice was cheerful, as usual.

"Hmm." 

"Sorry I disturbed you, but I have some news which you'll love." 

"What?" I sat on my bed, looking at my feet. Silent tears were weeping out of my eyes.

"Remember the painting you submitted for the art exhibition? Well, both of your paintings are sold! I'm so happy for you right now." 

"Great." I choked out, usually, I would be beaming at this news. Jumping here and there and telling him how much I'm grateful to him and his art gallery. 

"Hey– Hey Raemi what happened?" His voice tone changed, from cheerful to worried.

"J-Jungkook." I choke on my tears. "My landlord came a few minutes ago and told me to move out." 

"What!? Why!?" I heard some scuffling sound from the other side of the phone.

"That cunt said he lost this building in some poker game and the new owner wants to empty this building within a week." 

"What the fuck!" He yelled, clearly angry.

"I don't know what I am supposed to do, Jungkook. I'm homeless and broke. It is impossible to find a rental home within budget." I once again cried. "And those which are in my budget are around—"

"Don't worry Raemi, you know you can just live with me—" 

"No Jungkook." I shook my head in denial even though he couldn't see it. I met Jungkook when I was struggling. We both were emerging artists, relying on our painting to get some wons—which sometimes gave us money and sometimes not. However, Jungkook's talent made him who he was today. He was one of the renowned painters in Seoul and owned a commercial art gallery.

"You already have done so much for me, I don't wanna be a burden on you more than I already." 

"No Raemi, you're not—"

"Thank you Jungkook, but no. As I said, you have already done so much for me." 

"Alright." He sighed. "But that doesn't stop me from helping you. Some worry we will surely find a rental apartment for you. Don't lose hope, somewhere you will find a good apartment." 

"Yeah." I didn't have hope in the first place.

"How about you go to sleep and meanwhile I hunt apartments for you? Please, you need sleep." How could I sleep with a mindset like this?

"Okay." I nodded. 

"Hmm, Good Night Raemi." 

"Good Morning Jungkook, and thank you. I'm grateful to you." 

"Stop it, it's nothing. You're my best friend. It's the least I could do for you. Goodbye. Sleep well." I hummed and hung up the call. I felt sorry for him, he tried to help yet shut it down but I couldn't help. How long will I rely on him?

I sighed, and put my phone on at night. I lay on the bed and covered my head with a blanket since I couldn't sleep when there was any sort of light. 

I closed my eyes and tried to calm my mind, trying to remove those thoughts from my head, trying to clear my head but it didn't work. Of course, I knew it. I just lay there with my eyes closed— hoping to sleep engulf me and it did. I never knew when I fell asleep.

*** 

"There are a few apartments found, but they are out of Seoul. Those which are in Seoul are a bit expensive." Jungkook's disappointment was visible in his voice. "Don't worry, I'm still searching. We will surely find one." He looked up from his laptop and tried to cheer me up. I hummed and scrolled the website on my phone. He drooped here after his work, and I'm so thankful for him.

 "It's too expensive." I sighed, putting my phone away and closing my eyes. I have been searching for an apartment since afternoon but there was no luck, same implied to Jungkook. Poor guy was hunting apartments on different websites since morning.

"I know but we need to keep searching. It's hard, but we shouldn't give up that easily." Jungkook sighed and put his hand on my shoulder, reassuring me.

"Oh, Jungkook." I gave him a small smile. "Thank you so much." I gave him a side hug making him smile. 

"No need to thank okay, I hate seeing you sad." He chuckled.

"Yeah, I won't thank you but I can order food for you right?"

"I already ordered, and it's on its way," Jungkook informed without looking away from his screen. I shrugged my shoulder and went back to search.

"Raemi!" He suddenly yelled making me flinch. I looked at who was smiling like he won something. "Look what I found!" He enthusiastically showed me the screen.

"Jungkook, it's not a rental apartment. It clearly said paying guest—" 

"But look at the rent they want, it's affordable. There is an entire room of your own, plus you can use the kitchen and bathroom. It's not bad if you're living with an old grandma or couple. Think of them as your room partner, I mean you used to live with me right?" He was right, the room in the picture was spacious, I mean equivalent to the apartment I was living in. 

The deal was not bad at all. And the rent they were asking was as same as the rent I give to that cunt. If the rent was this cheap for this spacious room then an old couple will be no problem. I don't mind living with old people.

"This is good." I scrolled down to know further details but there was just the dynamic of the room, the email of the owner, and the address of the apartment. From what I know, the apartment was in a good area, I wasn't expecting it to be in a good family-friendly area.

"I know right? You should mail them asap and fix a date to meet and discuss it further."

"You right, I should snatch this before anyone else does." 

"Here," Jungkook showed me the screen. "Do it right now." I nodded and typed their email in my phone, drafting a mail right away.

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: To inquire about the paying
guest ad on findrenters.com

Hello. Good evening. I hope 
I'm not disturbing you. 
I am writing you regarding the 
paying guest ad I showed on
the house rental website. I'm 
very much interested and would 
like to meet you to discuss this as 
soon as possible.

Thank you. 

***

I sighed when I sent the message, eagerly waiting for the reply to come.

"The food is here." I looked at Jungkook who stood up and stretched his back. "Relax and eat. You finally got a good house." I smiled and stood up.

"Thank you, without you, it won't be possible." I engulfed him in a hug, making him chuckle.

"Dumbo, stop thanking me. And shoo, don't hug me. It's all cheesy." He laughed and walked away when the bell rang. I smiled and looked at him— until I heard a notification from my phone. Expecting a reply, I hastily opened it and as expected they replied.

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Re: To inquire about the paying
guest ad on findrenters.com

•••

Hello, good evening to you
too. Sure, we can fix a meeting
when you want.

JM

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Re: To inquire about the paying
guest ad on findrenters.com

•••

Sure, how about tomorrow
morning? Around 10?

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Re: To inquire about the paying
guest ad on findrenters.com

•••

I'm sorry, I will be free around
this time only. So how about
8:30 pm?

JM

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Re: To inquire about the paying
guest ad on findrenters.com

•••

Isn't 8:30 pm a bit too… late? 

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Re: To inquire about the paying
guest ad on findrenters.com

•••

Do you have any problem with that?

JM

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Re: To inquire about the paying
guest ad on findrenters.com

•••

Ah! No, no problem at all.
I will be there at 8:30 exact 
Thank you.

From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Re: To inquire about the paying
guest ad on findrenters.com

•••

👍

JM

***

"Dinner is served!" Jungkook yelled. "Hurry up! I'm hungry as fuck." He whined, serving him already. 

"Coming!" I put the phone away, smiling ear to ear. Now my mind and heart were at ease. 

I was not going to be homeless. 

*** 

I looked at the building, I was at the address mentioned on the website. I looked around, even though it was a quarter past 8 the area was lively. I saw some men and women taking their evening walks, and some teenagers coming back from school and classes. The area was perfect for one to live in, I saw a garden nearby and the neighborhood was perfect. Looking around I entered the building, just to get stopped by the security guard. 

"Where are you going ma'am?" He asked.

"Uh yeah, I'm here to visit umm 802." He looked at me and then picked up the landline phone. 

"Hello, 802. Yes, there is a visitor— okay." He hung up and looked at me again. "You can go." I nodded and walked inside, and waited for the lift. Once I got to the 8th floor, I stood in front of the door. I sighed, I was nervous, I didn't know why. With a deep breath, I rang the bell and waited for grandma to open the door.

Come to think of it, it's bad for me to assume. As we all know, assuming is motherfuck up everything. It couldn't be an old grandma, maybe it could be an old grandma—

My train of thought halted when I heard running and thumping from the other side as if somebody was I don't know. I slowly put my ear on the door, trying to hear what was going on on the other side but I couldn't hear anything— but one thing was sure. There is no old couple on the other side.

I gasped when the door suddenly opened, I pulled away with a faint red tint on my cheeks, of course, I was embarrassed. 

"I'm sorry–" I halted my words when I saw a small girl in pajamas, standing in front of me. She looked me up and down as if she was judging me.

"Dad there is a beggar outside!" She yelled and closed the door right in front of my face. My eyes widened. There is no way I'm going to leave with a kid— a kid like this. 

No. Nee. La. Na. Non. Nein. Ochi.

I was about to revert, but the door opened again. My eyes widened when I saw a semi-familiar man in front of me. I never thought I would see this super duper hot man ever again. I gulped, he was still in office attire, looking smoking hot. Light blue shirt and navy blue pants, sleeves rolled up and messed up hair. 

Fuck he was so hot or I was a hoe. Both options were correct.

He looked at me for a couple of seconds and then it hit him, his eyes widened.

"Wait— you're here for–"

"Ramen Noona!" A gleeful yell but him, I saw Minwoo, looking cute as hell in his pajamas running towards me. "I met you again! Dad, I met her again!" He looked at his dad with shiny eyes and hugged my legs. I looked at Minwoo, then the girl who just called me a beggar, and their hotshot dad.

"Yes, I'm here for the paying guest."

***
A/N

Too late! Will do proof read later!

They met again!!! Yeahhh now byee

(chocochip)