"Erik, wake up."

"Hmm…"

"Wakey, wakey sleepyhead."

Another sleepy hum.

"ERIK KIM! GET YOUR LAZY BUTT OFF THE BED NOW!"

It always worked. Every single time. Josef grinned when he saw his brother immediately got off from his bed and stood up straight. The boy's eyes were droopy but he held his head high to keep himself from falling back into sleep. Josef went to his younger brother, pulling him into his arm to hug him sideways as he messed with Erik's already messy hair.

"You have to get ready. You will move your stuff in your rented flat today and it's already ten. You have to be quick to check out the place, hm?" Josef chuckled when Erik groaned in annoyance and attempted to plopped himself onto his bed to get some more sleep again.

"Don't remind me about that. I still don't get why I am not qualified for a dorm…" Erik grumbled, sulking at his misfortune.

A few weeks ago, he received an email from the dormitory's management of the college where he studied. Erik was ecstatic at first when he received the email but the moment his eyes landed on the 'We are sorry' line, he wailed in despair, claiming that the world was being unfair to him.

That was Erik Kim. The boy who lived in Cornwall, England. Who was studying at a college in the heart of the Great Britain's city. Who was unfortunate and had to rent a flat nearest to the college. Who, again, unfortunately, had to pay for more things for that term because of the flat's rent. Perhaps he was right about life was being unfair to him.

Things were a little bit different for a certain girl who lived in Bristol, though. Tiffany Hwang was ecstatic to learn that her family allowed her living in her own rented flat. Being the youngest member of the family, they seemed reluctant to even let her live on her own. They made a pact in which if ever Tiffany felt like she struggling, the next term she had to apply for the dormitory accommodation. By any means, Tiffany knew she had to adjust to the life of living on her own.

"I can't believe I'll be living at my own place and be independent," Tiffany exclaimed excitedly. The mattress bounced as she let herself fall on the bed, beside her close friend, Jessica. "I know I sound so childish and excited, but I actually really am!"

"For God's sake, Tiff. I've heard it for like thousands of times already, it's making me depressed." Jessica groaned, stuffing her face into the pillow. Tiffany ignored her friend's remark and giggled. "And stop it. You never giggle for things other than guys."

Tiffany clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes, secretly making a mocking Jessica behind the girl. "Don't you want to celebrate this, Jess?" Tiffany whined, talking with her nasal voice and high-pitched tune. "C'mon, I'm finally growing up!"

Jessica looked at Tiffany in disgust before erupted into a fit of laughter after Tiffany made a very funny face to her. "Why would I want to celebrate it? I just lost a roommate."

"Stop sounding as if I died! I'm here!" Tiffany exclaimed and grinned. "Hey…we'll still see each other. I promise if this doesn't work out, I'll apply for the dorm later, okay?" she pulled Jessica into her arms, hugging her friend tighter. "We'll still be with each other most of the time anyway…and you can come and have a sleepover with me!"

"Boring!" Jessica exhaled. "What if your housemate ended up hating me after?"

Tiffany laughed at her friend's predicament. "Jessi, you won't know until you try. You were the one who said it to me before!"

Jessica nodded and hummed, becoming uninterested all of a sudden. "You know, all this talk about you living on your own is making me hungry. Let's go food-hunting. I'm up for some Kung Pao."

And that was Tiffany Hwang…and her best friend, Jessica Jung. Unfortunately, nothing interesting about them…yet.

"Not bad. I thought those flats they advertised in the net are frauds. Can't believe some aren't." Erik's mother said once she stepped into her son's rented flat unit. While she looked around, her husband and children busied themselves with moving Erik's things into the flat. "I'll take a look around and pick your room for you."

"Yes, please do that mother," Erik said, panting after he set down the large heavy box. It was as if he was the only one carrying things as his brother, his father, and his sister, Hana, were carrying little things, not even using both of their hands. Erik wanted to be annoyed but it was nice enough that they helped him cut the trip of him going up and down two levels.

"Did you checked who's going to be your housemate?"

Erik turned around to his father and shook his head. "Didn't see the landlord around. Did you see him downstairs?" he asked as he scratched his sweaty head.

The old man shook his head and shrugged. As he walked around the flat, his eyes were round in amazement and smile as wide as his open arms. "Ooh, nice. It's fully furnished. How much did you pay for the rent again?"

"I don't know yet. I'll manage, though." Erik shrugged, scratching his head again as his body started to feel itchy after sweating so much. His father then sat on the couch, resting his aching body. A moment later, his mother joined the father. Erik smiled as he watched his parents being lovely towards each other. "You two should've just rest at home, you know. I'll be fine on my own."

His mother shook her head. "We're going to do this until you graduate. Until we're sure we don't have the energy. Besides, we're here to encourage you." She paused, laughing as she recalled something. "I know how you dreaded the idea of wasting your money on things other than foods and studies. You even had a nightmare about it."

Erik gasped in surprise. His face was beet red as his parents laughed at him. "You can't be serious."

"Oh son, your mother is telling you the truth." His father said as he relaxed his body onto the couch. "If you feel like it's getting harder, we're here. Your mother and I will help you."

The boy nodded and smiled. "Thanks, father." He looked at his father, then to the old woman who was smiling serenely. "Mother. I don't know what I'd do without both of you."

His father brushed him off with a hearty laugh. "Don't mention it, sonny. You are our child. It's our duty to have your back."

Erik nodded his head and smiled appreciatively, before grimacing in irritation. "Father, mother, as much as I want to talk more with you two, my body is starting to itch now, so will you excuse me to take a bath before I peel off my skin here?" he said to which both his parents laughed and immediately shooed him go.

After a few hours of setting his things down with his family help, it was time for them to head back to Cornwall. Hana had been bugging him to let her stay with him for the night, with the reason for not wanting to leave her brother alone, but their parents shrugged her off. They parted ways with Hana sulking and Erik being sad by the fact that he had to be apart from them for some time again.

Shortly after his family's car left, another car stopped right in front of him. Erik would have ignored it and went upstairs to mind his own business, but it seems as if that blindingly yellow car was making him stay rooted in his place. Then, all the car doors opened, almost simultaneously, and out came a man in his father's age, a very pretty girl, another mature looking pretty girl, and a man.

It was at that moment Erik realized that maybe, out of all three youngsters a few yards in front of him was his housemate (considering the flat he was living in only have two bedrooms). He wanted to greet them, however, the look on the two males faces were enough to mute him. They were looking as if they were in a heated argument before arriving there.

Lucky enough, they have not realized Erik's existence yet. So, while they were going about their own things, Erik made a mad dash upstairs and clean what he should (although his mother and brother made sure the flat was squeaky clean before they left).

After a while, Erik heard voices coming from outside his flat unit. The closer the noise, the more the cold sweat poured out of his pores. The moment of dread(?) came when the sound of the door clicking enter his hearing. In a split second, he dashed to his room, grabbed the book from his nightstand, and then leaned his back against the headboard with his legs crossed across the bed. It all happened fast, almost as if he was the real Flash.

"Hello…anyone home?"

A girl's voice. Very loud.

"Hello…" she called again. Erik took a sharp breath and put his book down, grumbling that he was dreading for this.

Erik heard them talk again, although incoherent, then picked up his pace, not wanting to make his housemate's family waiting too long. Soon as he was in the same room as theirs, it was the younger male that saw him. By the look of horror on his face, Erik knew instantly that something bad was bound to happen.

"What the actual fuck is going on here, Miyoung?!"

Yes, bad indeed.

…

"Excuse my son's outburst. He can be very impulsive sometimes." The old man smiled apologetically. His daughters and son were seating on the couches, smiling at him with the same look as well.

Erik smiled and nodded. "It's okay, sir. It was understandable with uh…the current situation."

Earlier on, the young man had Erik's back against the wall as he pinned him by his collar. Erik almost fainted in fear for his life as he realized that the man was taller and muscular than him, and most probably stronger than him too. He was asking him questions, delivering his warnings well and loud, and stopped when his father came to stop him. After he released Erik, the boy was very aware of who was his housemate then.

"So what's your name?"

"I'm Erik, sir. Erik Kim." Erik introduced himself and bowed respectfully. When he got up, the old man was smiling widely.

"Asian?" he asked. Erik nodded and smiled back.

"Only 25%. My father is a half-Korean." He answered with a light laugh to ease the tense atmosphere.

However, air went awkward again, and all of them were quiet except for the sound of the low humming of the heater. Erik racked his brain on how to lighten up the situation. Then, he thought of what his mother always do whenever they had guests coming over their house. You bloody fool, he thought, scolding himself. Of course, he has to serve the guests.

"Um…I'm sorry for not asking this just now, but would you like some tea?"

All of them looked at him and nodded, almost unison. A chill crept down his spine in a millisecond before he snapped out of it.

"That'd be good. Thank you." It came from the woman. The mature looking pretty female.

Erik smiled and went to the kitchen to serve his housemate's family.

Compared to his, her family stayed just for a while then went back home. After he served them some tea and homemade brownies and cookies made by his mother (although he was unwilling, but for the sake of the guests, he had no choice), they had a little talk. He was glad that at least the desserts and the tea could salvage the situation.

One thing Erik caught on was their accent. Of course, anyone could know that the family was from the US, living in the UK. Another was that they were also as half-Korean as him, with the surname Hwang. Last one was that they were loud. Really loud.

Apparently, the youngest, full name Stephanie Hwang Miyoung, mostly known as Tiffany (she insisted), would be his housemate. Erik then finally connected the dot on why was the older brother was so violent on him. His younger sister was very beautiful…but to counterpart her physical appearance, Tiffany was very, very loud. Extremely…loud.

However, contrary to her normal voice, when she laughed, she produced almost no sound, just some ugly seal claps. And she was hostile. Almost sending a shiver down his spine. Almost.

"I'll help you with this bag," Erik said, taking the large pink luggage from Tiffany's hand when he saw the girl struggling in picking up her luggage. Soon as he got it in his hands, he instantly regretted volunteering to help her. "Oh my, this is so heavy." Erik chuckled beneath his grunt and frown.

Tiffany turned around and laughed when she saw the look on Erik's face. "Well, take it as a form of a workout." Then she turned around and went to an unoccupied room. "You look pretty strong so I take you can carry it alone, yeah? Anyway, thanks for helping!"

Erik Kim was left alone with his mouth ajar, livid by the girl's audacity.

Absolutely speechless.

Poor boy.