” Ning.” Yichan murmured before walking towards the bedroom.

…. ​​

Inside the bedroom.

Ning frowned when she saw Yichan entering her room along with his suitcase. Stopping him, Ning yelled, “You-what are you doing? Why are you here? This is my room.”

“Apart from the fact that there is only one room in this entire cottage there is one more thing I would like to highlight.” Walking towards the bed, Yichan took off his shoes and made himself comfortable.

Stretching his legs, Yichan let out a satisfying sigh, “Ahh this is perfect.”

” What do you mean by there is no other room? I am not going to share a room with you.” Ning yelled. Staying with him in the same house was quite acceptable but sharing the room with a complete stranger was too much.

Supporting this head with his elbow, Yichan raised his eyebrows and smirked, “Well don’t expect me to leave because this is my room too.” All the Vastians had to not only share a cottage but also the same room. Since Ning was told that her cottage mate would be a girl, she had no objection but now that it was a man, she obviously couldn’t be okay and comfortable with such arrangements.

Placing her hand on her waist, Ning fronwed, “Well, don’t expect me to share a room with you because that is never going to happen.”

Turning to the other side, Yichan started adjusting the pillow completely ignoring Ning’s presence which obviously made her super mad.

” You- I am talking to you.” Ning yelled.

When Yichan did not say anything and pretended to sleep, Ning shouted, “Fine, you sleep here.” Picking up a pillow and a thin sheet, Ning dashed out of the room.

“Turn off the lights please.” Yichan shouted.

….

Midnight.

“Yichan wake up.” Poking his arm Ning tried to wake him up.

Yichan frowned and groaned, “Five minutes aunty Lin, just five minutes.”

Clutching onto his arm, Ning murmured, “Please wake up.”

Yichan opened his eyes and frowned when he saw Nings pale expression, “What happened?”

Tightening her grip around his arm, Ning murmured, “It’s dark.”

” So what if it is dark? What are you five?” Yichan asked.

When Ning did not say anything, Yichan sighed, “Turn on the lights if you are scared.”

Ning shook her head and said, ” There is no electricity.”

“What do you want then?” Yichan asked.

Ning lowered her head and asked, “Can I sleep here too?”

Yichan raised his eyebrows and smiled, “So now you don’t have a problem sharing a bed with a man?”

Without saying anything, Ning adjusted herself on the empty side of the bed.

Turning to the other side, Yichan dozed off to sleep but was immediately poked by Ning again, “What happened now?”

” Can you turn towards me?” Ning asked.

Yichan sighed before flipping to the other side, “Happy?”

Without saying anything, Ning closed her eyes and dozed off to sleep.

…..

One month later.

“Mr pancake, here are your forever favourite honey pancakes.” Placing the plate on the table, Ning poured a glass of orange juice for Yichan and smiled, “Enjoy.”

Rubbing his hands together, Yichan licked his tongue, “You are awesome Ning.”

Shoving a big piece of the delicious pancake, Yichan mumbled, “Oh yeah I asked the crew to send some strawberries too. They are inside the fridge.”

Walking towards the fridge, Ning took out the big, red, juicy strawberries and explained, “This is heaven, thank you Mr Pancakes.”

“My pleasure Ms Strawberry.” Yichan said.

It had been a month since they started living together and had already started to understand each other.

Yichan realised that Ning couldn’t stand darkness at all. He had his doubts that maybe something happened in the past which forced her to develop a very acute fear of darkness but he always refrained himself from asking any personal questions though he wanted to know everything about her. He also found out that Ning loved strawberries and could eat a hundred of them in one sitting. She was a crazy strawberry lover.

Never had he stayed with a woman all alone or been with one ever in his life in fact, Yichan thought that women were troublesome and it was a waste being with one but staying with one as beautiful as Ning, Yichan realised that wasn’t that bad.

Initially he had a hard time. Those strawberry flavoured shampoo, conditioners, hair serum and God knows what not covered half of the bathroom shelf. Her skin care products occupied the entire dressing table. He just got a small space to keep his after shave lotion and his perfume. But as time passed by, he got used to all of this.

Now, he found himself using her strawberry flavoured shampoo because it made his hair super soft. He even knew what her night and day skin care routine consisted of.

All the cute things that Ning did whether it was teasing him or the way she snorted while laughing hard, Yichan started liking everything about her. Yes, it was too early to give a name to feelings that he had started feeling for her but there was definitely something that was pulling him towards her slowly and steadily. He wanted to know everything about her but was restraining himself from showing his enthusiasm because he was scared that Ning would draw a line and friendzone him.

…