Make No Mistake, the Real Love Story is Between Kkami and Fish

An Unexpected Guest

Although it took a bit of bribery, Hyunjin's friends finally managed to convince him to host a going away movie night. It was all planned out; Chan would bring drinks, Seungmin was on snack duty, and Changbin and Jeongin would each pick a movie. The only reason Hyunjin even agreed was because his only responsibility was to be the host. It wasn't like he didn't want to spend time with his friends before he moved to a whole different city. He just didn't have the time to do anything outside of preparing for the move.

"Unbelievable!" Hyunjin whispered. He placed his face in his hands, and groaned in frustration. The search for an apartment had already lasted three weeks. After turning in his resignation letter, the middle school art teacher had been hunting for a convenient place in the city. Hyunjin knew the chances of finding an affordable apartment in Busan were low, especially one that was pet friendly, relatively close to his new workplace, and at least somewhat inhabitable.

He heard the rustling of a blanket as someone turned over on the couch. "Should've guessed he wouldn't actually watch the movie. I bet he doesn't even care about spending any time with his friends before he moves away and leaves us alone forever." A voice called out dramatically.

Hyunjin's eyes flickered up to discover all four of his guests watching him. "Okay, Seungmin, you caught me! I'm sacrificing quality time with you guys or whatever. But if I don't find a place to move into by the end of the month, I'm screwed."

Chan paused the movie and glanced at Hyunjin. "Listen, we all know you're stressed out about moving and everything that happened with your job. That's the whole reason we did this. I mean, we want to spend time with you, so tonight was supposed to give you a break. We just want you to stop stressing so much."

"Chan-hyung is right. You need to take a break. All this stress is unhealthy!" Changbin commented.

Hyunjin took a deep breath and closed his laptop. "Happy?"

"Very happy, thank you!" Changbin replied.

Though he really wanted to keep searching, Hyunjin knew it wouldn't be the end of the world if he were to spend a few hours with his friends. So he did just that. He spent that night eating snacks, cracking jokes, watching movies, making fun of said movies, and laughing when Seungmin tripped on his way to the bathroom.
Hyunjin knew it would be nights like these he would miss the most.
...

It had been 2 months since he had first started looking for an apartment. Hyunjin couldn't help but feel like maybe this was a sign that Busan was not the right place for him to be. The only problem was that he had already been accepted to teach art there, and living outside of Busan would make his daily commute to Haedong Middle School a very long, unrewarding experience.

He only had two weeks left before school would start again, so the pressure to find a place to live was increasing, and at this rate he was willing to make some sacrifices. Hyunjin opened a tab to the only apartment he had bookmarked. Out of all the hundreds of apartments he had looked at, this one was the closest to fitting his criteria. It was a bit smaller than he had hoped, but the rent was cheap and it wasn't a total trainwreck, so he had bookmarked it in case he couldn't find anything better. The only reason he hadn't just gone for it right away was due to something in the notes.

The thing is, when Hyunjin was looking at this apartment, he had gone to the section of the listing where it stated certain need-to-know things. One of these need-to-know things happened to be the fact that the past tenant had complained about noises, and though he knew the noises probably wouldn't be that bad, he still had some suspicions. The website didn't go into much detail, so Hyunjin had been hesitant to contact the landlord. The major difference between then and now was how much time he had left before the new school year started up. So, after very careful thinking, Hyunjin decided that this apartment was really the only choice he had. Hyunjin typed up an email expressing his interest, then he clicked send before he could give himself the time to reconsider.
...
Standing in the middle of his new apartment, Hyunjin looked around at the boxes he had just finished bringing in. A sense of satisfaction filled him as he was finally able to take a break. He sat on the floor with his spine to the wall, head leaning back. Hyunjin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. While he knew moving had been for the best, he was already missing his old apartment. The other one had just been so much bigger and home-like, but he figured he would have to get used to this. The plain off-white walls weren't so bad, and he had a feeling the space would feel less empty once he actually set up furniture.

He would've loved nothing more than to fall asleep and forget about the entire mess that had brought him to his brand new, small, empty apartment, however the loud slam of a cupboard made him jump. His eyes snapped open, and he looked around, searching for the source of the noise. He watched as Kkami, his long hair chihuahua, barked twice and quickly padded into the kitchen. Heart racing, Hyunjin stood up slowly and tip-toed toward the kitchen. Hyunjin neared the entrance, making every effort to be silent, and slowly peeked around the corner.

What he saw was not what he expected. In fact, it's more so what he didn't see that shocked him. The fact is, there was nothing in the kitchen other than Kkami and his black and yellow betta fish, Fish. Though he was relieved, Hyunjin still felt uneasy. He silently hoped it had just been his imagination running wild after a long day.

Once he decided that the noise wasn't actually real, that it had just been his tired brain playing tricks on him, he made up his mind to go get dinner. He had seen a convenience store close by when he had arrived, and he hoped to make it there before they closed. So, Hyunjin turned towards the room he had just come from in order to get the wallet he left there. Unfortunately, Hyunjin was not able to make it to the convenience store that night; there was something- or rather, someone blocking his path.

~.•*•.~

Are you on the edge of your seat? Are you overflowing with anticipation? Are you dying to find out who it is? Lol

Thank you for reading, and please leave comments (as long as they aren't harsh criticism or something)!