Amelia Gonzales, twenty-six years old, better known as Lia is standing in front of a an apartment building, thinking if her decision was right.
She had just gotten off the plane from Tokyo, Japan. She was home once again after her sudden vacation with her parents. Her parents convinced her to take a short vacation because of what happened. She was a wuss ay handling break ups. Probably, she still is, but that would be another story.
She recall being super exhausted from the flight, irritated for having to drag three pieces of luggage plus a backpack containing her life's belongings from the trunk of an unhelpful airport taxi driver to the third floor of the apartment complex she was going to live in.
She was anxious as fuck. She probably took a thousand of deep breaths, adjusted the backpack on her shoulder a few times, and checked the address in her phone until the battery of her phone gave up.
She was nervous and, of course, she would have been. Who the hell moves into a stranger's place - a stranger who was going to be her legal roommate for a year without ever having met the person before?
That's right! Only Lia Gonzales.
The thing is, she took her friend, Adrian's word for it. She took his word that the stranger she was going to share an apartment with, for an entire year, wasn't a serial killer or something equally horrendous.
She knows, she's an idiot. She should have done the vetting herself because who the hell trusts their friends with life decisions like this nowadays? But she had no choice.
She'd rather took the man's offer instead of Alex's. The woman is crazy enough to let her stay at the prestigious penthouse she knows. And she is aware that she couldn't afford the rent, hence, she decided to share the room with someone else.
She let out a sigh again. She doesn't understand why is she so nervous. Aside from the fact that she would legally have to pay rent for an entire year, even if her new roommate turned out to be a serial killer, or a pink enthusiast, or someone she couldn't liv with, there was really no other clear warning sign that was telling her to bolt off.
For one thing, the apartment complex seemed nice enough, both on the inside the on the outside, and the location was just perfect. Just a fifteen minutes walk from the school she was going to be teaching at.
Besides, serial killers didn't have doormats that read "Welcome!" right?
After somehow gathering enough courage that were hidden somewhere up her spine, she rang the doorbell.
And... no one answered.
It was very anticlimactic.
So she rang again the doorbell. She told herself that if her roommate to be didn't answer on the second ring, it is probably a sign from above to run the fuck off. For all she cared, her roommate to be was probably chopping someone's limbs off and hiding them in the freezer.
In those minutes of uncertainty, she thought of alternative places to stay for a week. Her rational brain immediately conjured up the image of a cheap motel, where the middle aged attendant would eye me suspiciously precisely because I would be the least suspicious-looking person there. Or she could stay at a nice hotel and maybe seduce the manager into letting her move in with her - but who the fuck did she think she was? She definitely didn't have that kind of courage in me. More realistically, she would crash in with Adrian, for sure Alex was already there, so primarily that would be a punishment for making her go through this.
She was starting to think that she definitely shouldn't have trusted Adrian with this.
But, for better or worse, she didn't have to go with any of these depressing options.
She then hear a sudden and unsettling movements from behind the apartment front door - probably the sound of her roommate to be realizing the doorbell had rung and running to get it - just before it finally swung open.
And fudge! She was not prepared for what she saw.
She felt like her mind went blank for a couple of seconds, actually, she was unable to process what was before her.
If she would paint the picture of the figure in front of her, it would be this way - He is a Greek god and not a serial killer. The man is ridiculously good-looking, overwhelmingly muscular, tall, tan, and half-naked guy who just stepped out of the shower, by the way, he didn't bother drying himself off. He was wrapped on the world's smallest towel around his waist, and did not give a damn that he was all dripping wet over the mat.
And he had the most photogenetic dimpled smile Lia had ever seen. And it was on full display.
She could lie and tell that she handled that first meeting gracefully, but who is she kidding?
She was obviously speechless, slack-jawed, and not sure where to look.
But it was the right apartment.
The handsome, almost-naked, wet, and roommate of hers to be finally spoke and he had a lot to say and introduced himself.
Chase seemed nice, welcoming, and polite.
Lia didn't know what to do. She probably had a lost-and-confused dumb look on her face throughout the introduction.
"Lia... I'm Amelia Gonzales," she said like a dumbass, and then pointed herself with her forefinger.
Yeah, she definitely nailed that introduction.
The man gave her a smile and a nod back, but not the look of understanding she was looking for so she kept going.
"I am your new roommate. I just signed a lease..." she doesn't know why those came out like she is being unsure, it just did. And Chase still acted like he did not understand a word that I was saying.
She tried again, but prefaced with a loud sigh this time, "I am Adrian's friend..."
When Adrian's name finally registered on the man's brain, he warmly welcomed Lia in. He did not only gestured her to come into the apartment, but he also wrapped his wet arms around Lia's shoulder and hugged the woman in.
To say that she was hesitant to walk inside would be an understatement.
She tried to grab at least one of her suitcases, but the man beat her to it, gesturing that she should leave it to him.
When everything was finally inside and I was still standing in the small entrance area to the apartment, Chase moved to lock the apartment door.
And there are two things Lia wanted to say. First, she was internally freaking out, thinking 'Goddamnit! He's a serial killer and he had just locked her into his apartment to have his way with her'. And second, in that tiny entrance space, she had to back herself up against the wall to avoid touching the man, it was awkward.
When he was done locking up the front door, the man gave Lia a smirk which she didn't know how to feel about. Chase then moved to stand in front of her as she was still backed up against the wall, and apparently, to mess with her, he stood too close that Lia thinks they were breathing the same freaking air.
But like the awkward sack of potatoes she was, Lia moved away uncomfortably and got down to business.
"Okay... uhm... let's see," she looked away from the narrow hallway they were standing in and into the apartment. It looked nice enough. She looked back at the said hot-potential-sociopath who was still dripping with water and not making any move to dry himself.
Adrian surely had a lot of explaining to do and she decided to call the man right away. She held her finger up to Chase, trying to sign that she needed a moment to literally call a friend, and to distance herself from the man a little. But Chase only came closer.
"Yaaaah! Adrian Callum!" she hissed as soon as the idiot picked her call up. She cradled the phone closer to her mouth and turned away from the man with a poor understanding of personal space, hovering next to her. "What the fucking hell, Adrian?!" it was my greeting to my best friend whom I hadn't talked to in the past couple of months.
"Lia!" Adrian called out to me on the other line and even had the audacity to chuckle.
"Let me guess, you are at the apartment already?" another chuckle. "Oh, you're very much welcome, by the way."
"What the fudge, man?!" was her obvious reaction. And she was using the British accent, praying that Chase wouldn't understand it. When she glanced up at the man, there were no clear signs of comprehension on his face. He was just standing there with a blinding dimpled grin.
With difficulty, she turned back to her phone conversation with Adrian, "I don't even know where to begin," she was heaving, trying to emphasize to her best friend her frustration. But all she got was yet another laugh.
"I am sorry I wasn't able to pick you up from the airport, or even help you to move... you know how it is. Work is a bitch and Alex was being a baby. But you'll be in good hands with Chase. He's just wonder-"
"Shut it!" Lia is pissed off at this point. She hated being teased. Hated it with gusto. What really bothered her was that Adrian knew her too well. He knew exactly the kind of men she liked. Not that the guy her best friend chose as her roommate wasn't everyone's type. But... still, Chase is exactly her type on the physical appearance.
Adrian should have at least gave her a heads up.
Lia kept going, "You asshole, where do I even begin?! Let's see... why the fudge didn't you tell me that I was going to room with a Greek god?!" she yelled into the phone, confident that only Adrian could understand her accent. "What does he even do for a living? You know he answered the door wet and half-naked."
All she got from her best friend for years were chuckles of amusement like she was telling jokes.
"Adrian! Stop laughing! This isn't funny!"
And the man answered with, "I didn't hear a thank you yet!"
"Fuck you!" that was her thank you to him. Not because she didn't want to room with the incredibly hot guy standing less than a foot away from her but because there was this other important thing that her friend failed to mention. "I can't even talk properly to him!"
The line went silent for a moment before Adrian responded with "What are you talking about? He's actually a polyglot."
Now, imagine this, her eyes bulging out, she was trying not to drop the phone in her hands, as she turn to look again at the half-naked man, who clearly heard and understood EVERYTHING she said just now.
And then that smirk finally made sense to her.
"Fudge! Holy crap!" Lia cursed quietly and hung up on her best friend, who she decided was dead to her from now on. It was time to deal with her mess. "You actually understand what I said, right?" was the only thing her embarrassed self could come up with at the moment.
"Of course," said the smug bastard in perfect American accent. He probably felt Lia's embarrassment radiating from the woman because he then added, "I just thought it would be a fun icebreaker," Chase shrugged his naked shoulders before coming even closer to her to introduce himself one more time. "I'm Chase Ruiz, I'm sorry if you thought that I was being mean, I am just messing around. I like to do that," the man then extended his hand to her and winked. His peace offering, apparently.
All Lia wanted to do was to slap that grin that was still plastered on the man's face.
"Come on, I'm sorry," Chase apologized again but with a small restrained laugh this time. He did not look apologetic at all, but he was getting closer to her and it seemed that if she didn't shake the man's hand, he was going to push her up against the wall in retaliation.
So, she shook his stupid, large, manly, and now dry hand.
"So..." Chase said with a sly grin. He was apparently not planning on letting go of Lia's hand as he leaned in so close to her face. He then lowered his voice a notch before saying...
"You think I'm a Greek god, huh?"
Fucking hell! Holy sht!
Adrian is definitely dead to me!
*****
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