Tenant's Secret Love

Chapter 15: Teasing Renee

Sitting back on the sofa, I will finish the cigarette in my hand, then press it out in the ashtray. I look at the guitar next to me, but I no longer have the mood to sing even one song.

I lie on my back on the sofa, once again unable to bear the torture of death from boredom. I look into Renee's room, a little unhappy in my heart. If it weren't for the restraint she has given me, by now I would already be drinking beer with Robben and the others, watching a catwalk show full of beautiful women. So to a large extent, the current boredom is bestowed upon me by her.

If she hadn't suddenly bought this house, I wouldn't have had to compromise to continue living here, and I wouldn't have had to change my living habits and die of the torment of boredom on a night like this.

I feel that she is responsible for helping me get rid of this endless boredom. No matter how robbers this logic seems to others, I feel that it is justified, because boredom is so terrifying in my world of perception. It arises entirely from loneliness. If you're alive, who isn't afraid of loneliness?

I went to Renee's door and decided to break out of the prison of loneliness in the not-yet-deep night. I knocked on the door and said to Renee, who was doing something inside, "Hey, do you have a minute? Come out and chat."

"We don't have anything in common," Renee's voice came from inside the room.

"Everyone speaks Chinese, so how can there be no common language? ... Besides, I'm the landlord and you're the tenant, living under the same roof. In order to get along harmoniously in the long term, frequent communication is essential."

Renee ignored me, and all that could be heard in the room was the slightly awkward echo.

I immediately changed my strategy and adopted a policy of appeasement, knocking on her door again and saying, "Have you eaten dinner yet? Why don't I cook some late-night snacks..."

Renee didn't appreciate it and interrupted me wearily: "Please do something meaningful."

"Damn, I'm making you a midnight snack and you're mocking me for living a meaningless life, right? Then I really don't want to bother, that's great! I'll go play with my spoon..."

I sat back on the sofa in a huff, but I was not willing to give up. Why did she act like she didn't care about me? I was poor and not very promising, but that didn't mean I was willing to use my lowliness to fulfill her high attitude. Since I was alive, I still cared about my self-esteem.

I really found a spoon from the kitchen and placed it on the coffee table, using my fingers to turn the spoon handle, making the spoon spin like a top.

...

Half an hour later, Renee's door opened. She had changed her clothes and was heading to the bathroom in a white coral fleece pajama top, as if she was already getting ready for bed.

I stared at her, but she didn't look away. She walked over to the coffee table, glanced at the spoon that was still spinning, then stopped and looked at me. I looked at her expressionlessly, then vented like a child and started flicking the spoon handle with my finger, making it spin even faster.

My boring behavior finally made Renee smile a little on her face, but I couldn't tell if it was just funny or a mockery.

"What are you laughing at! Didn't I just tell you I was going to play with the handle?" I said while spinning the spoon faster.

Renee nodded and said, 'You really keep your word, that's an improvement.' After that, she didn't say anything else and walked towards the bathroom.

I looked at Renee's departing back at an angle and slapped the spinning spoon handle to make it stop.