"Oh...Hi Mr. Lee," he looked at the landlord with a noncommittal smile plastered on his face, "I'm so surprised that you are here."

"Hey Han Yu Jin, I really don't want to tell you this, but you know how long ago the monthly rent payment was due, right?" The landlord glared at him with hostility.

"I know Mr. Lee, I am really sorry, but I am just br..."

"Can you stop making excuses, every single one who does not pay the rent on time says the exact same thing!"

"I am really sorry, but can you just give me some more time please? I promise I will pay it for you," he apologised profusely and looked at the landlord with the guiltiest expression that he could display, just like the way a child who had just caused trouble would be looking at his parents.

"Listen, I understand that students' lives are tough. But...your rent payment has already been overdue for more than a week. I need money too. It's not like I'm donating my money to any charity, you understand it?" He sighed in exasperation.

"Yes, I am aware of that, I will try to pay it to you as soon as possible. But for now, may you give me some more time please?" Yu Jin looked at the landlord with a pathetic face.

"I will give you five more days. No more than that. Don't make me have to remind you too many times, otherwise I will ask you to leave, understood?"

"Yes Mr. Lee, thank you really really much!" He smiled in relief and bowed his head.

Right after the landlord left, he noticed something hidden behind the corner of a wall. It seemed like Eun Chae's red Mickey tote bag.

"Hey Hong Eun Chae, you are there, right?"

"How do you know that it's me?" Her smiley face emerged from the middle of the dark.

"Were you standing there and listening to everything?" He gave her a suspicious glare.

"Uhmm...not really, but a bit," she said and came closer to him.

"You eavesdropped on me?" He raised his voice and peered at her in confusion.

"No, I just accidentally overheard it, I swear," she refuted him right away.

"Fine. But don't tell anybody that I am broke, OK?" He sighed and shook his head with his hand rubbing his forehead.

"I won't, don't worry. By the way, I have this for you, grilled sweet potato," she grinned and raised up the paper bag of sweet potato, "I met an old lady on the street who sold this, she only had two left, so I bought both so that she can go home. Poor her, it's cold out there."

"Shall we come in and eat?"

"Sure", she repeatedly nodded her head.

Eun Chae and Yu Jin went in and started munching on the food. While they were eating, she suddenly asked him a question.

"Hey Yu Jin, is your rent so expensive that you cannot pay for it?" Her question was a little blunt, but it did not seem to have any bad purpose though.

"Kinda expensive. It's 700 thousand won."

"What? Why so expensive? Even my two-room is only 600, you know?"

"Cuz I only put 1 million for the deposit. The landlord wanted 2 million, but I said I didn't have money, so he accepted 1 million, but he then increased the rent fee instead."

"Oh I see. You wanna move to my two-room? I used to have a friend living there with me but she suddenly flew to New Zealand for college, so I am now alone. If you move there, then each of us will only need to pay 300 thousand."

"Is it fine for a girl and a guy to live in the same house?" He screwed up his face at her.

"I mean...it sounds a bit weird but...as long as you have no ill will then it's fine," she emphasised on the word 'ill will' and laughed mischievously. "Oh but wait, then what about your deposit?"

"The landlord will give it back to me once there is another person who comes here and replaces me."

"Ah OK! Then just think about my offer, if you need to find another person to rent this house for you, you can ask me."

"Thanks, a lot. By the way, I can find that person on my own, so don't worry."

Things seemed to be getting more and more complicated for him in the last few months. At first, he talked to her at the conference and then on the bus, which he definitely would not normally do. Next, he agreed to study with her despite his timid nature. Then, he ate out with her, which many people thought that only couples would do. And now, she offered him to move to the same house with her. He might be a typical introvert and rarely communicated with others, but having grown up in a prestigious and virtuous family, he was at least taught a common sense that he should not live in the same house with any girl at this age, no matter how close they were together.

But after all, what could he really do? He would run out of money to pay the rent if things continued at this rate, and the landlord would not tolerate him so many times. He would probably be forced to move out if things worsened. Considering that, moving to her house was, in fact, not that bad. In addition, as a 'future medical student', he was apparently aware that he could not just simply sell his kidney or his gall bladder for money. He wanted to be a doctor, not a patient after all.

******

Fortunately, Yu Jin managed to pay the rent on time, which he considered to be a real miracle. Upon that, he also found a Vietnamese student who wanted to rent this house. So now, he could finally move out without worrying about his deposit.

He arrived at 'his' new home pretty late in the evening. However, Eun Chae showed no sign of lethargy and enthusiastically helped him to move his stuff.

The house had a typical cutesy set-up just like any other girls' houses. The same as his old house, its living room was also its kitchen and its dining area. But there was a huge difference between them in terms of the atmosphere. Eun Chae's living room walls had a pastel colour and some stickers, resembling stars and planets, attached on it. It was as bright as her personality. She also installed it with a set of pink dining chairs and a table covered by a piece of Minnie Mouse table cloth. She must like the movie Mickey Mouse a lot. This new house was by no means relevant to his old dreary one-room.

Eun Chae was so excited about Yu Jin coming to her house that she had already finished preparing his room. It was nothing much, just a bed with a new mattress, still in its plastic cover, erected next to it, a small desk and a bookshelf.

"You want me to put the books on the shelf for you?" She brought in his carton box of books and asked him.

"Ah...no thanks, just help me put it on the table please," he gently smiled.

"Uhm, have you got bedsheet, blanket and pillow yet?"

"I got all of them already."

"Nice, do you want something to eat, some noodles maybe?"

"Yeah, noodles should be great, thanks a lot!"

By right, he should say "No" as he was already fed up with noodles. Furthermore, he felt uncomfortable letting her cook him dinner. However, it was about nine in the evening and he had not got his dinner yet, so his hunger superseded anything else.

He quickly put his books as well as stationary on the empty, pristine bookshelf and set up his new bed, while his clothes remained in the suitcase.

As he got out of the room, Eun Chae had already finished cooking the noodles. It was jjapaguri noodles with some chicken nuggets and fried egg. Not to let his belly growl for any longer, he quickly said thanks to her and started digging in right away.

"Is it good?" Eun Chae smiled and curiously asked him.

"It tastes fabulous, thanks," he said while he was still chewing. The noodles seemed to taste better because of his hunger.

"Once you are done eating, I'll show you how to use the bathroom over there. By the way, just take your time and have a good rest, you still gotta go to work tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, but my shift is in the afternoon so I have a lot of time."

******

It was an end-of-January evening, less than a week after Yu Jin moved in that Eun Chae received her scholarship application result.

As soon as Yu Jin opened the door, he could see her screaming and merrily running around the house.

"Why are you so happy?"

"You know what, I got the full scholarship for SNU Astronomy", she blissfully looked at him. Her great joy lit up her big, dark brown eyes.

"That's great, congratulations!" He grinned and gave her a thumbs-up gesture.

"You also apply for SNU Med right?"

"For Pre-med to be more exact"

"Then have you got your result yet? Mine is out, so probably, yours is also out already."

Yu Jin turned on his laptop. Hope was the first thing to fill up his mind. But then, it soon turned into anxiety. Sitting in front of the laptop, Yu Jin felt like the chair under him was burning. He hovered his hands above the keyboard for a few seconds, took a deep breath to calm himself down and clicked into his inbox.

In contrast to his expectation, all he got was only an emotionless announcement: "We are sorry to announce that your application letter was not accepted for the scholarship." His lips parted while his eyes were fixated on the screen. He rubbed his temples, hoping to alleviate the pressure building in his head. But it could not soften the disappointment that was overwhelming him. He could not accept the fact that he was rejected yet. His hope was completely dashed. He had just been turned down by KU a few days ago, and now SNU also rejected him.

"Hey, what's the matter, are you OK?" Eun Chae's concerned voice snapped him back to the present.

"No," he blankly said while his eyes were locked on the rejection email, "I...I got rejected. It was close, my CSAT scores were enough to get in but, the scholarship, I...I just..." Yu Jin sighed in despair, burying his face in his hands.

"I'm...really sorry," Eun Chae gently put her hands on his shoulder, "Don't be sad, you can still try applying again before the fall semester, so hang in there!" Her eyes were filled with sympathy.

"Just have your dinner, I need to be alone for a while," his voice started to become more shaky. His eyes became glazed by unshed tears. He tried to cover his face with a veneer of calmness, but his sorrow was too raw to hide.

"Yeah, I know you need some time to calm yourself down. By the way, there is some rice in the fridge, just heat it up when you feel hungry. Even if you're upset, don't skip meals."

"No...thanks, I...had dinner already," he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and forced a small smile.

He came into his room, absentmindedly cleared up his table, rearranged his bookshelf and quickly burrowed himself under his blanket. He grabbed a biology book with him and read it, in the hope that it might distract him from the pressure of being rejected by his dream university. Normally, biology would always make him feel better. However, this time, it seemed that it was even worsening his festering sore. The words seemed to blur on the page. He was crying. "What the hell am I reading this for?", he muttered, hurling his book to the other side of the bed and closing his eyes. He pulled the blanket to cover his face and lied there, being drowned in a multitude of thoughts about his uncertain future.

******

That weekend, Eun Chae and Yu Jin ordered some fried chicken meal sets home. It had been a really long time since both of them had not eaten fast food. They were not so wealthy that they could have that so often.

"Hey, I am taking a shower. Just pay attention to my phone and receive the order when it arrives."

Yu Jin nodded his head.

"And yeah...by the way, don't eat before me. Wait for me!" She chuckled and purposefully slowed down went she pronounced the phrase "wait for me."

"Of course I won't, just go and shower!"

After a while, the order arrived, but Eun Chae had not finished showering yet. Just like what Yu Jin said, he put all the food on the table and quietly read a book while waiting for her. Suddenly, he noticed a blister pack of tablets under the floor, near the table leg. This was really irritating for a person who had OCD like him, so he came closer to the table to pick it up. Normally, he would not be the type of guy who likes prying into others' lives, but this time, his curiosity won him over.

"What's this, is she sick or what?" He nosily mumbled to himself and then flipped the pack over, "Capecitabine? Isn't this the drug for cancer treatment?"

Right at that moment, Eun Chae emerged from the bathroom and came close to him.

"Hey Yu Jin, have they shipped th..." She suddenly stopped when she found out that Yu Jin was holding her tablet pack, "What are you doing Han Yu Jin?" her voice intensified.

Thank you very much for making it this far! If you enjoy reading my story and are excited to find out what is going to happen next, don't forget to click the star to vote for me as well as recommend my story to your friends. You votes really motivate me a lot^^