A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Cooheart's POV

"What the hell, Earth?" I heard Title say angrily without warning.

One minute we were pleasantly talking about how I had just learned how to make my favorite Thai dessert from my uncle's assistant cook, the next minute he was calling me by my official name 'Earth' which meant he was upset with me about something.

"What are you upset about, Title?" I asked cautiously.

"Don't pretend to be innocent with me, Cooheart," he said, "why didn't you mention to me that you have decided to rent out your room to some handsome stranger?"

"I didn't know anything about that until after I landed here," I tried to explain, "my mom convinced me to rent my room out temporarily until that student, whoever he is, finds another place to stay close to the university."

My explanation seemed to appease Title because he was quiet for a little while.

"I still don't like the idea that someone is going to invade your private territory," he said grudgingly, "but there's nothing we can do about it if that's your mom's decision to rent out your room.'

"Well, anyway, he will have to move out once I go back there at the end of the semester," I said.

"Cooheart, your mom has finished doing business with the new tenant of your room," I heard Title say, "she is showing him and his father out the door right now."

"Okay," I said, "tell mom I love her and that I will talk to her soon. Are you staying for dinner? You know she loves your company."

"Will do," said Title, "take care, Cooheart. Talk to you later."

"Be good while I'm gone," I said and cut the call before he could get back to me with some cutting retort.

Third Person POV

Amongst Mrs. Namwirote and Title and the housekeeper Rose, Cooheart's room was emptied of all of Cooheart's personal belongings. They placed all of Cooheart's stuff in one of two big and spacious closets in Mrs. Namwirote's room which she had never used. They had to leave the foldable bed that was kept on one side of Cooheart's closet because there was no more space to place it in Mrs. Namwirote's room.

"No, no, no! Leave those picture frames up there!," Mrs. Namwirote exclaimed when she saw Title reaching for them and getting ready to take them off the wall, "Cooheart said it's alright to just leave them there."

Title wanted to argue with Mrs. Namwirote but decided to hold his tongue.

Kao had already packed his stuff even before he and his father had proceeded to Mrs. Namwirote's office, and so when all the necessary paperwork pertaining to his occupancy of Cooheart's room had been signed, and all the rental fees had been paid to Mrs. Namwirote, Kao was ready to move in that same day.

Kao's father helped him to bring his boxes and suitcase into Cooheart's room and then left him with instructions to call him if ever he needed anything. Kao thanked his father and hugged him goodbye.

Before unpacking his stuff, Kao looked at the picture frames that were hanging on one side of the room. There were two high school graduation pictures of Cooheart, one was by himself, and the other one was with his mother. A third graduation picture was with a friend whose high school badge on his uniform showed that he was two years lower than Cooheart. 

There was another picture of Cooheart posing with that same friend by the entrance of a theme park. The younger friend had grown taller than Cooheart, probably about the same as Kao's height and he had his arm resting on Cooheart's shoulder. There were two other photos hanging on the wall. They were photos of Cooheart at the beach with the same friend. One photo showed the same friend standing in the water, with Cooheart riding piggyback on him, and another photo of them in one of those sheds by the beach and they were sipping some kind of tropical drink with a pineapple slice stuck in one corner of their glass and a small red umbrella on one side of their drink.

Kao could not help staring at Cooheart's photos for a good amount of time. He was trying to guess what kind of personality Cooheart had, just by studying his facial features. He was very attractive in a cute way and he had a kind smile.

Then suddenly a thought struck Kao. The guy whom he had seen earlier in the kitchen talking with someone on his phone was the same guy in the pictures on the wall with Cooheart. Kao suddenly remembered the face. Kao wondered if that guy was more than just a friend to Cooheart.

Kao shook the thought out of his head and started to unpack his stuff.

Kao was busy hanging his clothes in the closet when he heard a knock on the door. He stopped what he was doing and went to open it.

It was the housekeeper.

"Mrs. Namwirote sent me to tell you that dinner will be ready in ten minutes but you can go to the kitchen any time if you're hungry or thirsty. There's always something in the kitchen that's ready to eat or drink."

"Thank you, I will do that," said Kao, "how should I call you, by the way?"

"My name is Rose," said the housekeeper, "oh and Mrs. Namwirote said to tell you that Cooheart keeps the key to this room inside the drawer of his study table."

"Thank you," said Kao once more, "by the way, can you please ask Mrs. Namwirote if I can have a duplicate made out of the room key so that in case I misplace it or leave it inside the room I have a spare key. I promise to surrender both original and duplicate keys when my contract ends."

Rose did not reply right away. Then a thought struck her.

"I think it would be best if you discussed that with Mrs. Namwirote at dinner time," Rose suggested.

"I think that's a good idea," Kao agreed.

"Okay then," said Rose, "just come to the dining room in a few minutes,"

"I will," said Kao, and went back to hanging the rest of his clothes inside the closet.

Soon he finished unpacking the rest of his stuff and decided to go to the dining room. Mrs. Namwirote was already seated at the head of the table when Kao got there.

Kao tried not to show his surprise when he saw the same guy in the pictures on Cooheart's wall sitting on one side of Mrs. Namwirote.

"Come sit over here," said Mrs. Namwirote, indicating the chair on the opposite side of that guy.

"Thank you," said Kao, taking his seat across Title's.

"I'm not sure what your dinner customs are, but I make it a point to say a brief silent prayer of thanks before dinner," Mrs. Namwirote addressed Kao. She didn't have to explain anything to Title because Title had spent many dinners with her and Cooheart before.

"Oh, I always do the same," said Kao, already putting his palms together and closing his eyes.

When the brief silent period of thanks was over, Mrs. Namwirote lifted the lid of the tureen and served several ladles of the Thai vegetable soup into Title's soup bowl.

"Thank you, mom," Title said to Mrs. Namwirote.

Kao did not fail to note that the guy addressed Mrs. Namwirote as 'mom'.

Then she pushed the tureen toward Kao and let Kao serve himself.

Kao suddenly felt homesick. At home his own mom would do the same for him that Mrs. Namwirote did for Cooheart's friend sitting across from him.

"Oh, wait! How remiss of me," Mrs. Namwirote exclaimed, "Kao, I totally forgot to introduce Cooheart's childhood friend. His name is Title."

Kao reached across the table to shake Title's hand.

"Pleased to meet you, Title," Kao said.

"And Title, this is Kao. He is my new tenant. He is older than both you and Cooheart so I guess you will have to address him as P'Kao," said Mrs. Namwirote.

When Title did not immediately respond, Kao hastened to say, "You don't have to call me P', whatever is your preference is fine with me."

"I will address you as P'Kao," said Title, already scooping some of the soup and nodding to indicate that he liked how the soup tasted.

"So how long have you been friends with Cooheart?" Kao wanted to know.

"Since we were in our elementary grades," Title replied, "actually, I was still in kindergarten while he was already in second grade."

"I see," Kao responded, trying to absorb the fact that Cooheart and this guy were inseparable friends. Or, maybe, more than just friends?