“Do you want to have dinner?” Liam asked.

“Before that, shouldn’t we talk about some house rules?” Aki suggested to which Liam immediately agreed.

They walked back to the living room. The clean and spacious area, coupled with the view outside entranced him once more. Liam pressed a button and the blinds opened wider. They sat around the center table with Aki sitting straight as a rod.

Liam noticed and offered a small smile. “Please feel at home.”

Aki crossed his legs but his back remained stiff.

“Like what I said earlier, feel free to use anything in this house,” Liam thought for a while, “except for the storage room, I guess.”

Aki nodded. He turned away, facing the window, acting nonplussed.

“Just… at the university, can we pretend like we don’t know each other?” he murmured.

Liam’s face clouded for a moment before he forced out a smile that did not quite reach his eyes. “Sure.”

He bid Aki good night and went back to his room.

“H-how about dinner?” Aki called out.

“I remember that I still have to finish a presentation. You can go eat, they’re at the table.”

Aki stood in the middle of the living room which seemed to have doubled its size when Liam left. Him and his big mouth. Way to start your relationship with someone you were living with. Was this whole things even a good idea?

‘But there’ll be more rumors about us! Besides, there’s nothing good that comes out of associating with myself. I’m unlike his friends.’

Aki knew what people talked about behind his back. He was a party animal -- only because and for Zy, a big flirt -- he could get clingy once tipsy, and a man-whore. Everyone seemed to think that he jumped at anyone’s bed which was totally off the mark. But it was not like he would come up to them and clear his name.

Jun did not care and people usually left him to his own devices. But these things would taint someone as popular as Liam who was known for his good guy image.

Considering the bad rumors and image he had at the university, it would eventually taint the good guy image of Liam. Aki did him a favor.

He comforted himself at the thought and walked towards the table to get food. There was a plate of garlic bread, a bowl of pasta, and a pitcher of iced tea. He took a bite and was surprised that it was actually delicious. Then it hit him.

‘Is this what he was cooking while I was settling in my room?’

He stared at the meal prepared at the table. They looked simple but tasted great. Liam must have prepared all of that to welcome Aki. No wonder he was so eager to eat. Aki did not even know that his roommate cooks or would have. And how did he reciprocate that?

“Talk about a good start,” Aki sighed as he continued eating sullenly.