127 Records (Dropped)

Chapter 11.3: Taeyong's roommate

"Come in. You can just put your shoes here and you can use these slippers," Taeyong let Doyoung, Ten and Sicheng into his apartment and indicated the neatly arranged row of white slippers.

The four had grown incredibly close over the past months and become the best of friends often meeting for lunch, hanging out on campus and having comfortable sleepovers at Doyoung's.
This was the first time they - or anyone for that matter - had entered Taeyong's apartment. Aside from Taeyong himself and his roommate, that is.

"Thank you for having us," Doyoung said politely and Ten and Sicheng followed the phrase.
They took off their shoes and put on the slippers as instructed. Chatting away excitedly, they made their way into the living room where they all gasped out of shock.

Taeyong's living room was a spacious lobby with sparkling clean tiles, classy furniture and a window that took up a whole wall and thus revealed a magnificent view of the city.
"How about I show you guys to the guest rooms first?" Taeyong offered.
"Guest rooms?" their eyes widened as they thought about the usual sleepovers cramped on Doyoung's living room floor.

"By the way, where's your roommate?" Doyoung asked. "Ah, he's in his room," Taeyong answered quickly and pointed down a corridor with a dozen doors. "He's working on a really important essay and is probably not going to come out of there till you leave!"
"I see...," Doyoung decided not to ask further and accepted Taeyong's answer.

"Oh, you have Jaehyun's pictures!" Ten exclaimed from the living room table. All heads whipped around to Ten who was holding what seemed to be pictures from a photoshoot.
"I know him! Many many girls liked him at my high school!" Sicheng exclaimed. His Korean had improved by far after he had started spending more time with the other three.

"Isn't that Jung Jaehyun, the model? He started his career when he was just 16 if I remember correctly," Doyoung looked over Ten's shoulder.
"Yeah, Taeyong-hyung is good friends with him, right? I also met him because of hyung. He's really nice and fun!"

"Wow, really? Well, I guess Taeyong-hyung would have celebrity friends," Doyoung admitted. But, even if they were friends, the amount of pictures Taeyong possessed of this photoshoot was a few too many. "Y-yeah, we met when I was active as an idol," Taeyong added with a smile.
However, Doyoung couldn't help but notice the relieved sigh that escaped Taeyong when they turned their attention to the huge television.

Doyoung was a smart one. He had noticed the way Taeyong tensed now and then. His hyung was awfully wary to reveal stuff about some aspects of his private life which was fine. He was a celebrity and had to be careful after all.

But then, he had willingly told them everything about his career, his personality, likings, family, friends. Only his roommate and his apartment were taboos. Till now.

Doyoung's apartment, their usual meeting place, was undergoing reconstructions which is why they had relocated to their only other option. Ten and Sicheng had also offered their dorm rooms but after a long phone call with his roommate Taeyong had offered his place.

"Wow, Taeyong-hyung! Do you speak English? That's so amazing!" Sicheng was observing the huge bookshelf which held dozens of English novels.
"You speak English, hyung? I didn't know at all!" Ten's attention was captured.
"N-no! I don't speak English. Th-they're my roommate's. He's a... English literature major. Yeah, he studies literature. English literature."
"Then, I guess that this is also his movie collection?" Doyoung asked and pointed at a row of old American DVDs. "Y-yeah, that's his," Taeyong confirmed.

"Anyway, I made some food. Do you wanna eat?" he changed the subject. They all nodded eager to eat and followed him to the kitchen where Doyoung swooned over all of Taeyong's modern technical devices.
They moved to the dining table to eat Taeyong's homemade Galbitang.

Taeyong excused himself shortly to bring some food to his roommate who was "studying diligently and in need of someone to look after him".
"Taeyong-hyung is hiding something, right?" Ten had caught on as well. "Hiding? Well, he was weird sometimes," Sicheng admitted.
"Yeah, we all noticed it, right? But, what is he hiding?" Ten questioned.

"Not what, but who is he hiding?" Doyoung had come further. "Think about it. Taeyong tells us everything. He is not ashamed of anything. Not his past, not his fame, not his money but he gets really nervous when his apartment is mentioned. But, his apartment is not very suspicious. He willingly showed us every single room from kitchen to living room to bedrooms. Even his home studio.
The only rooms we haven't seen are his own bedroom and this supposed roommate's room. Or generally, his roommate himself."

"So, Taeyong-hyung is hiding his roommate?" Sicheng asked.
Doyoung confirmed with a nod.
"But, why would he have to hide him? What would have to be kept secret about this person?" Ten frowned.

"Maybe it's someone he can't be seen with. Or someone he shouldn't be seen with. Or at least not known to live with," Doyoung speculated. He halted when he had another thought. "Why does Taeyong-hyung have a roommate anyway? Think about it. Why do people normally have a roommate?"

"To share rent. What else? This apartment does seem ridiculously expensive," Ten answered with a shrug.
Doyoung shook his head, "If Taeyong-hyung has enough money to pay for half of this apartment, he is definitely not in need of a roommate because of financial difficulties."

"This means the only reason why he would have a roommate is because he wants to live with this person!" Doyoung deducted.
The others caught on and nodded despite still being in wonder.
"But, we still don't know why he's heading his roommate or who he's hiding. It's not an unusual thing to want to live with someone," Ten shrugged.
Doyoung didn't have an answer to that, "What do we know about his roommate? Apparently, he studies English literature."
"Taeyong-hyung said he's super rich," Ten added.
"He likes English books and films!" Sicheng remembered.

"I think the roommate isn't just interested in English. I think he actually comes from some English-speaking country. All the cupboards and pantries in the kitchen were labeled. But, some labels were in English and all English words used in Korea were written in English," Ten recognized.

Silence enveloped them as they thought hard about the hints they had.
Their thinking was interrupted when a door opened and Taeyong came back out again.
"Why haven't you guys started eating? Does it taste funny or something?" He looked at the untouched food and took a spoon himself but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.

"No, we were waiting for you so we could start eating together, hyung!" Ten explained and smiled brightly.
Taeyong smiled fondly at his younger friends. "Awe, thank you. Let's dig in before it gets cold."

After their tummies were filled, they sat down for some movies, a must at a sleepover.
Sicheng explained that the "Back to the future"-series was an absolute favorite of his and so they fulfilled his wish of a "Back to the future"-marathon.

They had just started the second movie when they heard something hit the floor at the back of the apartment. Someone yelped in pain and another series of loud noise followed. A loud 'thud' ended the series of crashing. It was awfully quiet.