The School Idol's Roommate [BL]

Fools in Love (3)

Aki arrived at the cafe and the first thing he saw was Zy and Drew flirting. His mood sank even lower.

Drew noticed him first and waved for him to come. Aki dragged his feet to their table.

"What's with the long face?" Zy asked.

Aki chewed his lip. "...nothing."

"Come on, that's not the face of nothing!"

Aki pulled out the words out of him, "...I fought with my roommate."

He had been replaying their conversation as he rode the bus. The more he replayed, the more he had the urge to smack himself. Of course, Liam lied for him. Liam might have said that Aki did not say anything. But was it really? Aki remembered pretty much everything that night and he was sure he mentioned names. Yet Liam pretended that he did not know anything to save Aki's pride. Aki dragged a hand across his face.

'Stop being so kind and considerate.'

Liam kept on saving him and every time, Aki just have to fight him. Yet, despite his words, Aki could not help but feel indebted to him. The worst part was, Liam would not like him to feel that way because that was never his intention.

'I don't deserve it.'

Zy was about to eat his pancake but his hand froze mid-way when he heard of Aki's reply. Drew arched his eyebrows too.

"Wait, did I just hear you say roommate? Like someone who lives with you?" Zy leaned on the table, eager for information.

Aki pretended that he did not hear him and went ahead to order fries and coke float, his comfort foods. When he looked back at his friends, the two of them were still watching him. He decided to ignore them. When he came back to their table, Zy and Drew were still waiting for his answer.

He sighed. "I moved and now, I'm staying with one of my schoolmates."

"But how did that happen? You hated having another person in your private space," Zy said.

Resigned, Aki leaned back on his seat and told them how he started living with Liam, omitting the parts of how they met. When his friends heard that he lived in Highlands, Zy whistled.

"You've only been living together for more than a month and now you've fought with them?" Zy inquired.

Aki choked on his drinks. "What makes you think that I was the one who started it?"

Drew munched on his sandwich calmly because everything about him was cool and calm. "Well, that guilty look you have when you came in was a dead giveaway."

Sometimes, Aki hated how his friends could read him so well.

"Wait, enough about me. What did you want to say? You didn't call me for chitchat." As if a veil lifted from his eyes, Aki could see clearly now that Zy never called him because he missed Aki in 'that' way. At times like this, Zy only wanted someone to share the news about his love life. Zy and Drew needed their best friend as their support system. Aki now knew that was all there was to it. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Glad you asked." Zy grinned before he looked at Drew as if silently asking for permission to say whatever it was that they wanted to tell. Aki could have sworn he saw flowers and hearts floating around the two.

"We moved in together!" Zy whispered in an excited tone.

"Really?" Aki grinned but deep inside, there was neither pain nor joy. Just empty feelings. He took that as a good sign. It was not as if he was really shocked. He knew sooner or later it would happen. Zy slipped it out many times. He wanted to live with Drew, way before they got together.

Aki thought that he must have been really blind back then. There were signs everywhere but he chose to ignore them and continued living in his fantasies. He still made himself believe that Zy would like him if he would just stay beside him. He smiled bitterly inside.

But in front of Zy, he could only just smile and fake his surprise.

"We would like to invite you to a simple housewarming but after hearing your story, your house seems a lot cooler!"

Aki had a bad feeling about this.

"So when are you going to invite us to your new house?"

"That," Aki scratched his cheek, "I still have to talk to my roommate."

"Then hurry up and makeup with him!" Zy said.

Aki smiled. He would have liked that but he did not know how to face Liam. He must have hated Aki now and did not want to be friends with him any longer. Just the thought of it made him sad.