The Pinewood Village Files: Unit 406

Chapter 1: New Arrival

"Where in the world is he?...". That's what I said to myself after waiting for about 2 or 3 minutes for him to at least come and greet me—then I heard a bunch of curses, assuming he had hit his foot on something based on the big thump I had heard.

"Fuck!"

"Hello? Are you alright? It's the new roommate" I announced with my concern.

"Oh— shit, um—I'm alright, sorry I'm coming right now!" He mumbled to himself, then clearing up my concerns.

I heard footsteps approaching me from the hallway on the left, as a tall but not slanky man came out, presumably early 20's. He was wearing a black hoodie with a white dragon on the front and black jogging pants. I then noticed his face, his black hair which was layered in bangs on both sides like a wolfcut, fell to his shoulders, and framed his sharp face very well. His smokey siren eyes held a deep mystery that I couldn't even fathom to know. I didn't know what to make of him. The silver jewelry, the lip ring, the earrings. He looked so unordinary and ordinary at the same time.

"I'm sorry, I just woke up from my nap." He explained. He had a very deep but soft voice, it wasn't raspy at all.

"With all of that on?" I questioned with complete bafflement.

"Yes...I was supposed to be leaving, but I fell asleep out of nowhere." He said while rubbing his eyes and fixing his hair.

"Oh, well it seems like I came at a bad time—can't be helped though," I said sarcastically as I sat down my bag on the gray contemporary sofa.

"I can carry your boxes up, don't worry." He offered.

"No— it's fine, I got it," I said, rejecting his help, desperately shaking my hands in disagreement.

He then opened the front door and stood to the side waiting for me.

"Come on. Let's go."

"Fine," I whispered under my breath.

-————————————————————

Before I knew it we were waiting for the elevator to come to our floor. It's like patiently waiting for someone to pick you up. Like a taxi driver giving you a ride after dropping someone off. Of course, without paying though. The elevator opened its doors for us, and we walked inside. I have very unfond memories of elevators. Mostly from the elevators in my college, either the elevator always smelled like crap from who knows what, it was cramped, or I'm alone with a weirdo in there. All are crappy in my book.

When my index finger attempted to push the first-floor button with the star next to it, another hand reached out at the same time trying to push it. I aggressively signaled my hand so he could move his, and pushed the button, as it then lit up.

"Jesus Christ..." He huffed out in annoyance.

The elevator was moving down floors. The number on the monitor on top went from 18 to 17, to 16...

"—You never told me your name."

"...what?" I said, thinking for a second, coming to the realization he had never told me his. You see, the website I used only shows the renter's initials, not the full name. I'm not sure why, but maybe it's because of privacy reasons.

"Actually, you never told me yours, sir." I sarcastically said, mocking him.

"You're making me sound old, madam." He replied. Now it feels like he's mocking me.

I cocked my head to the side to look at him.

"What timeline are you living in? The 1860's? I'm the one who should feel old..."

"I've been watching too many historical TV shows, sorry," He clarified, but I honestly don't mind, it was laughable at most.

"It's Yazii, by the way. You?" He finally answered my question.

"Aella—"

"—How do you spell that?" He asked as he pulled his phone out of his hoodie pocket.

"A, e, l, l, a," I said, spelling it out at a normal pace. He then started typing it, but I didn't know on what.

"Alright, done. Changed your contact name." He said, showing me his phone with my contact on it.

"Oh—"

*ding*

I was interrupted by the sound of the elevator, as it stopped at the first floor. Yazii nodded his head to the side signaling me to go out first, as the doors opened from both sides. We walked through the lobby, with bubble chandeliers that varied in color and size. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. It was assorted in a rainbow, and my eyes kept following it as I walked through captivated.

Yazii turned his head to a girl acting like a 4-year-old right now. 'Like the ceiling? Haven't you walked through here before?" He questioned me, with his eyebrows furrowed wondering.

I heard what he said but I waited a while to answer. The more I looked at it, the bubbles looked like they were moving. It wasn't much of a surprise to me, since a lot of apartments on the richer side of downtown Chicago are very well-kept and built. I kept walking with my head up and realized we were by the doors. They were the sliding ones, just like the elevator, making an entrance for us. I finally turned my gaze down to what was in front of us, then to him.

"No. I came through another entrance. My car is right there—the blue one." I showed him, I took my car keys out of the front pocket of my jeans. I pressed the unlock button, with the latch of the lock open. The car yelped, and the lights flickered. We walked towards the car and then stopped at the parking space. Yazii placed his hand under the trunk handle and pulled the trunk door up, revealing loads of brown boxes stacked on top of each other like a big family. Yazii was astounded as he took a step back.

"Dang. That's a hella ton of boxes." He gasped.

That's what I said!... well I did it so—

"Alright! Let's get to business!" Yazii exclaimed loudly.

"Ok...um—I can take these boxes right?" I questioned, slapping my hand on one medium-sized box with 'computer things' written on it, and a large box with 'stuff that shouldn't be this heavy'.

"No no no no no! I'll carry those after I'm done carrying these to the box carts," Yazii told me, his arms extending out to a normal-sized box about to carry it—wait is that my underwear box? The right side of it had 'undies and stuff' written on it. Oops.

My face scrunched up but I didn't say anything.
I wiped the look off my face and took the box from him before he was able to grab it.

"I'll just take this box. Carry whatever you were going to carry." I said, cradling my box in the grip of my hands. Yazii nodded his head in understanding. The car wasn't too far from the door so it only took 20 seconds to reach the sliding doors as I entered through them. I laid down the brown box and searched for a box cart at the entrance, without luck. Where were they?

The lady at the front desk, from a distance, seemed a bit short, with curly black hair and a blue polo on—I think, yelled with a soft shout.

"If you are looking for the box carts, they are over in the dining area!!" She assisted, words flowing like honey. Her small hand pointed towards a connected room with a wide opening. I darted my head and gazed towards the space. Do they have a dining room? I thought that was a hotel thing.

"Thank you!" I thanked her.