THE LANDLORD (BBANGSAZ)

Chapter 3

HANNI

"You're joking, right?" Sullyoon asked, gaping at me over her latte. I'd just recounted how my birthday hookup with Minji had turned from dreamy to disastrous.

"I wish." I groaned, massaging my temples. Not only could I not get the image of her four-year-old daughter's horrified face out of my head, but I had a massive tequila-induced hangover. "I probably scarred that little girl for life. Is this what being in this age like? All the guys have kids now?"

Sullyoon put a hand over her mouth, unable to suppress a laugh.

"Come on, it's not funny," I said, but her laughter was infectious, and I couldn't help grinning. "Okay, it's kind of funny. Or it will be once my head stops feeling like it's going to explode."

"What did you do when she saw you?" Sullyoon asked, composing herself.

"Well, after my less-than-ladylike dismount, I ran out of there as fast as I could." I shuddered at the memory, sipping my coffee. "Seriously, I probably broke some kind of Guinness world record."

"At least you're getting an apartment today," she said, her tone consoling.

I nodded, glad there was an upside to this day. "Thank God. I'm so sick of apartment hunting."

Before this one, I'd gone to see five other places, and they'd all been disasters. One had no windows, and another was basically the size of my current closet. If this place didn't work out, I was going to officially be in panic mode.

I glanced at my phone. "Speaking of the apartment, we should probably head over."

Sullyoon had agreed to come with me to check out the space and meet the landlord. I'd binge-watched enough episodes of Law Order: SVU to know it wasn't a good idea to do things like this alone.

Twenty minutes later, we neared the address I'd read off the email from the property management company.

"This is cute." Sullyoon smiled as we drove through the neighborhood, pointing out a craftsman-style home with a sprawling garden. "I love that everyone has a yard."

It was more suburban than what I was used to, but I didn't mind. Actually, that was a good thing as far as I was concerned. The apartment I'd picked out was above a garage, which was different, but I wasn't picky at this point. I'd heard a lot of young couples and new parents were moving to this area, which would make it a nice, quiet place for me to work.

As I watched the houses go by, an uneasy feeling crept over me. I felt strange, like I'd been on this street before. Everything looked oddly familiar, which didn't make any sense because I almost never came to this area.

"Do we know anyone who lives here?" I gazed out the window, having a major case of déjà vu.

Sullyoon shook her head. "Not that I know of. The GPS says we're really close."

She eased into a spot at the curb. As we climbed from the car, I looked around again, bothered that I couldn't figure out when I'd been here before. We walked down the block and turned the corner, and then I saw it.

"It's not that house right there, is it?" I asked, a knot forming in the pit of my stomach.

"Yeah, it is." Sullyoon glanced at the address on her GPS. "Why?"

My chest constricted, and my stomach dropped to my knees. I was having trouble breathing. Of course, this was just my luck. I wanted to turn and run, but my legs kept moving forward, my mind too stunned to do anything but follow Sullyoon.

"Han? What's wrong?" She gave me a strange look as we stopped in front of the house.

"Look, maybe we should just leave—" But before I could even finish my sentence, the front door opened.