We were just housemates

Living together-apart

The next morning, Sarah is found chilling at the kitchen counter, eating a bowl of cereal. Very simple breakfast. When Jin gets out of his room, he looks messy but still handsome. He scratches his head and is wearing only a shorts with colorful animals on it. Sarah almost spat out her milk. He looks in the cupboards and is just going on with his day but Sarah is shooketh. Not only is she seeing his body like this, but the shorts were too funny for her. She tries to focus on her cereal. "Late night, last night?" He asks. She nods. "It was alright. You?" "Yeah, it got late yesterday, sorry. Did you wait long for dinner?" "Not at all." Sarah lies through her teeth, trying to not make him feel bad. Little does she know, Jin now feels even more bad. As if he wasn't worth waiting for... "Did you like the food? I didn't lie about being a great cook, right?" He smiles a superficial smile. "It was amazing, even re-heated." She giggles. "You're welcome! Honey." She adds the last part to it, to give it a sweet undertone. "Look, this is our schedule board." She points at a small, whiteboard with markers and the days of the week. There is a line in the middle to split up. A fancy S and J is on the top. "This is your column, and this is mine. It's for matching our schedules. There is even a bit of whitespace on the side to make little notes, short messages to each other. Isn't it great?" Jin comes closer while sipping his coffee and peers at the board. He can see some of the days already filled with Sarah's schedule. He puts the cup down and grabs a black marker. He fills in his working schedule. Sarah smiles, happy that this system works and he approves of it.

Jin goes back to his room, to get ready for work. Sarah is still lounging in the couch, texting with another guy she met. Jin is standing in the mirror, checking himself out. "Was I too much? Like second morning already walking around like we are intimate? Maybe she didn't like that. Should I talk to her about it? Should I just do as I normally do? I didn't think this through." He leans on the mirror and looks down at his funky underwear. He then looks to his door, where behind it in the living room, Sarah is somewhere. He doesn't seem to know in how far they can discuss private things... Finding a balance isn't easy.

He goes to take a shower. "I'm using the bathroom!" "Go ahead!" She answers, not even looking up from her phone. Suddenly Sarah gets up. She walks to the board and checks his hours. "Hmmmm so he will be home late again. Maybe I should make some more food that is easy to re-heat... But tomorrow he is home. I'll stay home too, I mean..." She looks at the door of the bathroom and hears the shower run. "After all, we are living together... no? I should probably start to get closer, to break the awkwardness..." She takes another color marker and writes over the border line.

Dinner together.

She puts the head back on the marker and looks approving of her work. She puts the marker back and goes to her room to get ready to go outside too. She is in charge of fixing up some phones, and closing a contract for them. When she closes her room door, the bathroom door opens. Jin walks out, only having a towel around his waist and still drying his hair with another one around his neck. He looks into the empty apartment and notices her door is closed. His eyes fall on the bright color on the board. He walks closer, curious about it and sees the little note that crosses the border. He smiles. "Glad to see she thinks the same..." Somewhere, deep down, he looks forward to tomorrow evening. Sarah comes out of the bedroom and sees no one there. She looks beside her and notices his door is closed. "He must be in his room already." She heads for the shower now. After finishing up, she cleans the bathroom, loyally. After getting dressed she walks out and notices Jin's shoes are already gone. He is off to work. Her wet curls are laying over her shoulders that are covered with a towel. She starts to clean the house. She makes preparations for dinner and leaves the house too, to fix the phones.

She's on the train, Yamanote line, towards Akihabara, The electric town of Tokyo. She is destined to find some good deals there. She gets off and walks with ease through the streets. Lucky for her, she is fluent in Japanese and can manage. Suddenly she is reminded of Jin. "Is he okay? I mean... How will he manage without Japanese?" She can't help but get a little worried about him. She enters a shop. She explains what she wants. "Couples phone?" the sales lady asks. At first Sarah refuses, but then rethinks. "Yes, what are the benefits?" "You can text and call each other as much as you like!!" The lady seems very upbeat about it. Sarah smiles. "I'll take them." The lady rings them up and hands her the Japanese Simcards. Sarah signs the contracts and forms and takes it with her. "Wait!" The lady calls Sarah back. "Bonus!" She hands Sarah 2 matching, cute keychains. Sarah holds them up. "Give to special person. Will stay together forever." Sarah bows politely while exiting the store, stuffing the charms in her pocket. She decides to hang out some more in Akihabara but soon is too bored. Only otaku's and Neets ware walking around there. She has a bit of standards so she decides to head back to Ginza. She has lunch in the local conbini and starts her search for work again. She is going to go to a Belgian restaurant in Nihombashi. She is confident and strides forth in big steps. She shows her resume and laughs and chats her way in. They will consider her. Happy like 10 she leaves the restaurant and bumps into a hot guy.