the lucky one

“Are you serious? What is all this?” I kicked at a box in irritation. Once I got off the elevator, I was greeted by a bunch of moving boxes obstructing my way, making it impossible to go inside. “Who just puts their stuff in front of someone else’s place? So inconsiderate…”

I glanced at the slightly ajar door next to mine, barely making out a bunch of similar looking boxes through the crack; my old neighbors had moved out months ago and it looked like the apartment had new tenants. I had come to appreciate having complete silence from one side and hoped that my new neighbors wouldn’t be any trouble, but judging by boxes blatantly blocking my way, maybe my hopes were too high.

I made my way around the boxes in front of my neighbor’s door and just as I lifted my fist to knock, it swung open, revealing a tall, lanky guy; he had a small, v-shaped face and soft, chocolate brown hair that swept across his forehead. I yelped in surprise, simultaneously he jerked back, eyes wide. “Hi. I’m _________,” I lowered my arm and extended my hand out to him, “Your boxes are in front of my door.”

“Oh my gosh, you’re my neighbor!” he exclaimed, quickly grabbing my hand and pumping it twice in a firm handshake, “I’m Minghao. I’m so sorry about all the boxes, the movers just put them down wherever they wanted to…I was hoping to get it all sorted out before you got back.” He released my hand and made a move to go around me, “I’ll go clear them out of your way right now. Sorry again for the trouble!” he said apologetically, looking a little frazzled.

“Hey, Minghao,” I began, watching as he scrambled to move the heavy looking boxes away from my door, feeling a little guilty at thinking him inconsiderate and annoying. “It’s okay, I understand; when I first moved in, my stuff was all over the place too. Do you need any help? It looks like you have a lot to sort through.”

Minghao whirled around, looking surprised, “Oh, no it’s okay! I don’t want to bother you anymore than I have. You’re probably exhausted from work.”

I shook my head, “It’s totally fine, I was just going spend the rest of the night watching TV anyways, at least now I’ll be doing something productive.” I dug through my bag for my keys, “Let me drop my stuff off and change and I’ll come over.”

A few minutes later, I found myself sat on the couch in Minghao’s living room, taking things out of boxes and putting them into designated piles. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor by my feet, digging through a box of his own. Minghao was so easy-going and amiable that soon we were talking and laughing like we had been friends for years; I told him about my awful morning and my job at the dating agency and I found out that he worked as a veterinary assistant and was also part of a b-boy dance crew in his spare time - with a little prodding and pleading from me, he demonstrated some moves.

“You have a lot of action figures,” I observed, as I opened my second box of carefully packaged toys, “Do you collect them?”

Minghao glanced over at the box on my lap, “Oh those aren’t mine, they’re all my roommate’s; he really likes them.”

“Roommate?” I tilted my head, “No wonder there’s so much stuff here. Where is he?”

“He had a meeting today, so he couldn’t call off to help me unpack,” he explained, “His name’s Jun, he should be home soon so you’ll meet him.” He stood up and threw his arms above his head, stretching from side to side, “Hey, it’s already 7, you must be starving; I’ll make you dinner to thank you for all your help.” Holding his hands out, he hoisted me to my feet and led me to the kitchen, which was surprisingly uncluttered.

I sat down at the table and watched as he boiled some water on the stove, “You don’t have to go all out for me, I’m fine with anything.”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Minghao laughed, “It’s just ramen; we haven’t had a chance to go grocery shopping yet so there's nothing but that." After a while, he turned off the stove and grabbed two bowls from the cupboard. “Here you go,” he placed a steaming bowl in front of me and handed a pair of chopsticks over.

He sat down across from me and we both dug into the noodles in silence, before continuing our conversation. “What does Jun do?” I asked, lifting the bowl to my lips to drink the rest of the soup.

“He works at a consulting firm, so he usually comes back pretty late.”

“So you work with animals and he’s corporate,” I scrunched my eyebrows, “How did two completely different people like you meet?”

Minghao slurped the rest of his noodles before replying, “We’re not so different; we actually met through my dance crew,” he looked up at my widened eyes and nodded, “Yeah, he isn’t a b-boy but he’s really good at stunts and stuff like that. He left to join a local theater group though; he was always super passionate about acting.”

I opened my mouth to respond but suddenly there was a loud knock at the door. “That’s gotta be Jun,” Minghao said, jumping up, “The landlord dropped off our keys while he was at work. I’ll go get the door, can you put the dishes in the sink? Don’t worry about washing them, I’ll get to them later.” He headed for the door and I gathered our bowls and put them in the sink, choosing not to listen to him and wash them myself instead.

As I scrubbed at the bowls, I could hear Minghao fiddling with the locks and opening the door. “Xiao Hao Hao, I’m home!” I heard a new voice sing out.

“Don’t call me that.” Minghao retorted, “And stop clinging to me like you haven’t seen me for years; you saw me just this morning.” I giggled at both the cute nickname and his exasperated tone.

“Who’s shoes are those?”

“Our neighbor __________’s, she’s been helping me unpack since someone couldn’t help.”

“Okay listen, you know I why I couldn’t call out; I should’ve just taken the day off, the meeting was a total bust anyways. Some idiot spilled on my shirt and I didn’t have enough time to change so I had to go to the meeting with a ruined shirt and completely embarrassed myself…” Jun’s voice got closer, “But that’s not even half of what happened today…” I stepped out to introduce myself and he froze when he saw me, his voice trailing off. “What are you doing here?!” he sputtered, his eyes bugging out.

Oh my god it’s the guy from earlier. I thought to myself, completely horrified. “What are you doing here??” I demanded.

“What?” Jun asked, his face a mixture of disgust and bewilderment, “I live here! Are you following me or something?”

My mouth dropped, “No! I live next door!” I spat back, my eyes narrowing, “I was helping Minghao unpack.”

There was a brief pause as Jun and I glared at each other. “Uh,” Minghao piped up, eyeing the two of us, “You already know each other?”

“If you can call it knowing,” Jun scowled, turning to face Minghao with a roll of his eyes, “That’s the idiot who ruined my shirt and basically ruined my meeting.”

“It was an accident! It’s not like I saw you and thought ‘Oh hey, let me just dump my drinks all over this guy!’” I protested, also pivoting to look at Minghao, “He’s the one who bought the last toy this morning and wouldn’t let me have it!”

“Again with the toy!” Jun grumbled, “I got there first!”

“You didn’t have to be so rude about it!”

Minghao watched the two of us bickering back and forth, eyebrows raised in amusement. “Jun, why didn’t you just give her the action figure? It’s for a little kid and besides,” he gestured at the boxes in the living room, “You already have two boxes solely for your toys.”

Jun glared at his friend, his features scrunched in indignation, “Seriously man, you too? It’s mine! I bought it first!” He stalked past us and into the kitchen, “Whatever, I don’t have time for this; I’m starving.”

“I should get going,” I muttered, heading for the front door, Minghao trailing behind me, “Thanks for dinner.”

“Thanks for helping out _________, I owe you one.” he replied, opening the door for me, “I’m sorry about my roommate by the way, he literally has the mentality of a five-year old when it comes to toys. Let me know if you really can’t find another one anywhere and I’ll try to talk to him again.”

I smiled gratefully at Minghao’s kind offer, “Thanks, that’s really nice of you but I doubt he’ll give it up. I’ll see you around though! If you need anything, I’m right next door.” He gave me a cheerful goodbye wave and closed the door behind me.

I walked the five feet to my door and hovered my hand over the knob, banging my head gently against the wood. “Why does the universe hate me? Why did he of all the billions of people in the world have to end up living next door to me?”

After closing the door, Minghao headed back into the kitchen and found Jun hunched over the stove, stirring his ramen with a pair of chopsticks. “So what was that all about?”

Jun glanced over at his friend and turned back to focus on his cooking, “What was what all about?”

“The hysterics; she really got a rise out of you.”

“I wasn’t being hysterical, she was.” Jun turned around, one oven mitted hand holding the pot and began eating directly out of it. “Everything that happened today? Her fault. I was just the victim.” His eyes flickered up to see Minghao staring at him, the corners of his lips twitching. “What?”

“I’ve never seen you get so worked up over someone before,” Minghao mused, cocking his head to one side. “Even with all that happened between you guys. What’s different about her?”