Jun Weichen slowly sat into stool that He Xialuo pulled up for her. Her eyes were still held firmly in the gaze of the woman across from her. He Xialuo's bright, clear eyes moved so quickly across the opposite's face that her pupils shivered and danced under her long eyelashes, partially obscured by her trailing, messily long locks.
"I smoke." He Xialuo said suddenly, her gaze still fixed on Jun Weichen's face, "I will not smoke in the house, but I will always smell terribly of cigarettes. As a surgeon, will this bother you?"
"I do not mind." Jun Weichen was startled into voicing an honest answer, "Although quitting is still the best for your health, as long as you do not smoke indoors, I cannot fault an unhealthy habit or two, we all have those."
"I generally have chemicals and cadavers from my experiments around at home" He Xialuo followed up quickly, "I am very particular about how they are set up and will insist that they do not be disturbed. Would you be bothered by the smell or clutter?"
"Not at all." Jun Weichen responded, still confused as to why they were having this mysterious conversation, "I am a bit of a hoarder myself. Plus I am a surgeon, I too may have a cadaver or model about for study or stitching practice."
"Let me see---" He Xialuo's gaze finally slid off Jun Weichen's face to gaze off into the room, deep in thought, "What other flaws do I have as a roommate? I get very depressed for months on end when I have nothing to do and will not talk for days out of stir-craziness. You must not mistake my silence for hatred or passive aggression, just leave me be and I will be fine. Come, come! Tell me about your flaws, Miss Jun. I think it's best that we get to know the worst of each other if we're going to decide if we are compatible roommates!"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Si Tian interrupted, snapping the two other women out of their thoughts, "I have only just brought Sis Chen here to meet you, Miss He. How could you have known she was here to look for a roommate?"
"Well isn't it obvious?" He Xialuo said impatiently, clearly a little miffed her thoughts had been interrupted, "Just this morning I was moaning to Miss Si about how all the places I want to rent are too expensive without a roommate, and here you are, not 5 hours later with an old medical school friend, just returned from Afghanistan! It's so very simple! Now the only thing left to do is to see if we two are compatible enough to live together. I've had my eye on a nice little place on Beike Street and I want to quickly reserve it before it goes away!"
"But how did you--" Jun Weichen felt her inquiry about how Miss He could have possibly guessed so much about her person dry in her mouth as she was once again fixed with the extraordinary gaze of the woman who sat across from her. The dark eyes boring holes into her own were clearly silently asking her to resume the roommate conversation where they had left off.
"I-I guess my biggest flaw is that I hate getting into fights with people who I live with," Jun Weichen offered shakily under the stern gaze of her new potential roommate, "It makes me too nervous if we start disagreeing over every little thing. I also keep all sorts of weird hours and sometimes I am extremely lazy. Oh! And I have a small french bulldog named Gladstone and sometimes I might bring men over, but never the same one. Those are the major flaws I can think of, but I'm sure there is more that are not coming to mind."
"Do you consider cello-playing something to fight about" He Xialuo asked, suddenly nervous.
"Well, that depends," Jun Weichen answered seriously, thinking about it, "I can appreciate a good cello player, but a bad one might..."
"Then this is perfect!" He Xialuo exclaimed, clapping her hands and leaping out of her stool, beaming, "I'm going to go put our names down for the apartment right now! As long as you are fine with how they are..."
"When can I see them?" Jun Wiechen inquired, surprised the other women had decided everything was settled so quickly.
"Meet me back here at exactly noon and we can walk over there together!" He Xialuo cried happily, grabbing Jun Weichen's hand and shaking it vigorously, "The address is 221B Baike Street! But let's walk over together so I can introduce you to the landlord!"
"Ok, exactly at noon tomorrow then." Jun Weichen agreed, returning the exuberant handshake.
Later, while walking back to the hotel with Si Tian and trying to plan how best to sneak back into that man's house to retrieve Gladstone, Jun Weichen stopped suddenly and turned toward her friend.
"By the way," Jun Weichen said slowly, mind still catching up to the whirlwind conversation she had just had with He Xialuo, "How could she have possibly known I had just returned from a deployment in Afghanistan? Si Tian, did you tell her?"
Si Tian smiled mysteriously at her good friend, "That's just something she does. Lots of people would also love to know how she finds these things out!"
"Hmm, a mystery, huh?" Jun Weichen mused, fascinated, "It'll be interesting to unravel the threads of my new roommate. Si Tian! I have to thank you again for introducing us, you're such a lifesaver!"
"Don't worry about it Sis Chen!" Si Tian laughed as she waved Jun Wiechen off, "You'll have plenty of time to pick apart the giant knot that is He Xialuo. I'll bet she learns way more about you than you'll learn about her soon enough!"
And so, with a mind full of more questions than answers about her mysterious new roommate, Miss He Xialuo, Jun Weichen turned towards her hotel, eager for tomorrow to come.