I can’t believe this. So this was the reason why K wasn’t against me having a guy as a roommate. “This is so, so, so very nice!” I exclaimed and looked around. There were four doors and one of them being the entrance to the room while the second and third doors lead to two different rooms and the last one leads to the bathroom. It was like an apartment and we were the bed spacers.

I was going to open one of the doors when Cello tapped my shoulders and pointed at the other door. “This is yours, that is mine.” He said with a poker face so I just nodded, afraid that he would get mad at me and hit me or something but K told me earlier that he wasn’t a bad person so I guess he’s just a bit… weird? No, maybe that’s just how he acts. I shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover.

“Have you, uh, eaten?” He was on the sink when he asked me and I nodded my head. I seriously haven’t had anything to eat since I got out of the hospital because the restaurant that I went to to change had many people staring at me and I was on the run. Maybe I could relax for a little bit here.

[He’s a good cook. It’s better than the food they serve in this Institute.]

“You talk as if you know him better than anyone else. Do you actually know Cello?” I whispered and glanced at Cello who was busy rummaging through the refrigerator. There was a small kitchen at the end of the room so we could cook our own meals if we ever need to. This Institute doesn’t look like an Institute at all. Isn’t this dorm already classified as a house?!

K went silent. Maybe K really does know Cello personally but doesn’t want to spill some information to me. Tch, so stingy like a bee. Instead of just doing nothing, I decided to arrange my things inside my new room. It was spacious and there’s even a corner solely for studying with a functioning laptop on top of the desk. My room in my house is three times bigger than this. Now that I think about it, my room back in the house is really big!

“Hey, Cello, sir. I’m just gonna arrange my things inside.” ‘Drop it.” Wait what? Drop what? “M-My stuff?” I asked in a small voice while biting the bottom of my lips. “Pfft. What? Hahahahahaha! Sorry, I was talking about the ‘sir’. Just call me Cello.” He chuckled with his back facing me.

AGHHHHHH!! That is very embarrassing! I think I looked like a pushover ready to bid on anyone's order!! Wait, these people don't know that I don’t have any Astral ability, right? That’s the one thing I’m very good at! Keeping my secret because this secret is my lifeline here. Why did K even ask me to enter this dangerous place?

It only took me a few minutes to arrange my stuff and inside really had all of the necessities that I needed which is very convenient. I’d be flipping tables if there’s no underwear in this pile of clothes but fortunately, there’s a bunch. “I feel so much better now that I took care of this big baggage. I wanna lay down…” I was going to throw myself into that good looking bed when someone knocked on my door. “How about eating first before napping?” I rushed to the door and opened it which surprised him.

“There’s food?! Wow, I can smell it! Chopsuey!!” I rushed to the table and helped myself out on placing food and rice on my plate and in the middle of eating like a pig, I suddenly remembered that I have company in the dorm. “Slow down, it’s like you haven’t eaten for weeks.” He spouted and placed a glass of water and thanked him for it. “Not exactly weeks, ahahaha, a day or so? Anyway! Your cooking is so delicious!” I changed the topic so that he won’t ask about why I starved myself, well because of the circumstances. His cooking is really delicious though.

“You starved??” “That’s not really important, I’m fine now that I’ve eaten.” I beamed at him so he would drop the topic, please drop it for God’s sake because I’m really bad at coming up with excuses. “I’ll introduce myself properly, I’m Jace Cello Brickson. I’m sorry about earlier.” He apologized, I never thought too much about what happened in the infirmary earlier but it’s nice to know that he’s a good person. “I’m Venaira Kou Leriquez. Your food is more than enough as an apology!” I said with a smile.

He looked a bit surprised but then smiled back at me. “I see, so you’re Venaira.” “Venaira’s too long though, you can just call me Kou if you’re comfortable with it.” I continued and ate the last spoonful of food on my plate. We continued to chat and got to know each other very well due to the question and answer portion that we threw at each other like hobbies, favorites, and even games. 

Little did we know that someone was outside the door of our dorm, eavesdropping on our conversation with furrowed brows and crossed arms.

“Why am I hearing an unfamiliar woman’s voice talking so comfortably inside his room? Am I hearing things?”