“You might use the lower part of the refrigerator for your food, is that okay?” She quickly learned her way around the kitchen, and felt in need of going to the supermarket and buying groceries for a full meal.Adrien, on the other hand, was just looking at the clock as it was almost time to go jogging. He was always very punctual in his daily routine, and that day he had a date in the evening, but he still wanted to explain everything thoroughly to Joy before leaving.“It’s fine, boss. I won’t burn anything here, promise.”“You should stop calling me boss,” he said, “it’ll be weird since we’re flatmates now.”Besides, Nora had told him he should make the newbie feel more comfortable around him, just as the rest of the team. He didn’t want to explain that Joy felt quite comfortable around him, despite the way she addressed him.“Okay.” She agreed promptly. “Then, Adrien, I’ll make lasagna later, do you want some?”“I’d love to, but I’ll be busy tonight.”“If you want I’ll just leave a bit in the refrigerator for you.”He smiled as a way to express his ‘thanks’, but then he noticed something weird. The tone she was using with him, almost motherly, reminded him of Aunt Lisa and the times he used to stay at her house during summer when he was a child. The poor abandoned child, wasn’t it?Why did Joy suddenly speak to him like that?His eyes followed hers, looking at the portrait in the living room. This woman was too transparent, so he guessed she probably thought him pitiful. It made him laugh.“The portrait has his usefulness, but don’t worry. I’m not a broken-hearted man or anything.”“I… I wasn’t thinking anything along those lines.”“Yes, you were.” He picked a bar of cereal from the counter “but that’s okay. You’re a funny girl, Joy.”Waving his hand, he walked to his bedroom, and she stared at him, a bit confused and thinking he was a strange man. She shrugged it off a second later, and started to write down her grocery shopping list on the phone.‘It's good enough he’s so clean and organized.’She was, too, and it was difficult to find a person whose own rules aligned with her own. It seemed like the universe’s primary truth that a tidy and clean individual had to deal with a messy one. Back in college, Joy used to argue a lot with Amanda, her roommate during the first year. Later they changed rooms for this very reason, but Joy regretted it when her boyfriend cheated on her with her new roommate, Nicole, not much after. Not that she blamed it only on the girl.Breathing in the light pinewood scent that perfumed the room, she looked around once more and felt this was the right place to be.******Shanya was always a great companion. They didn’t have a relationship, it couldn’t be called that, but they often met when she was in the city, always sharing new entertaining stories about her flights to Europe and back.There wasn’t much to talk about, family or other more personal subjects were never a conversation topic between them. Their dinner would usually end with them heading to his apartment or to her hotel room, only to part until the next time (maybe two or three months later) one called the other again.It was easy, and it was comfortable. But it was the first time Adrien found it boring.Hours ago he’d laughed at Joy’s gaze of pity directed to him, but more than once during that week he’d found himself thinking about the wedding photo to end up feeling empty afterwards.“Then, should we head to your apartment?”“Actually, Shanya… I’m not feeling quite well today.” It was an awful excuse.Giving him a disappointed look, she didn’t insist and grabbed her purse. The woman would probably be angry for about thirty minutes before moving on to something else. Adrien didn’t have any illusions that Shanya liked him for much more than his appearance.In that sense, just as his aunt or his father had told him before, he was blessed to have his mother’s looks. What for, though? It didn’t help either of them with the relationships they cared about.Calling for a waiter to bring the bill, Adrien kept thinking about this.He was aware looks alone were not enough to make people stay in the long run, was he being too arrogant thinking otherwise and putting that wedding photo to ‘scare’ the ones who might or might not want to see him again?Or was Joy right at looking at him as a poor abandoned boy, the way he hadn’t been since his teenage years?‘There’s no way I’m not over Allison yet.’Jason Mraz’s music played in the car as he drove back home, and when he opened the door he found something different from silence and lights off that always welcomed him.She was lying on the sofa, having ice cream directly from the tub and watching something on the tv.“What’s that?”“A korean drama. I haven’t been into this since my highschool days. Now you can even find them on netflix, amazing how times change, right?”He had no idea what she was talking about. He didn’t watch much TV, the boarding school had taken away most of his interest in it early in his life, and the device was mostly a decorative element in the apartment.“You’re here early.” She noted.There was no way for Joy to know at what time he was usually back, yet she was right. He was much earlier than he’d been on a regular night.“Want some?” Her eyes were again on the screen, but she offered the tub.“Is that strawberry?”“Yup.”In just a few steps he reached the kitchen and looked for another spoon, then came back to sit in the armchair next to her, stretching his legs and resting his feet on the coffee table.“The visuals are good.” He pointed out. “It has a good production team.”“Right?” She was beaming, and started filling him about the previous events in the show, something that wasn’t really his style, but he listened nonetheless. “And it makes you want to travel to those places.”“Have you traveled a lot?”She shook her head.“Not really. It was school and more school for me until recently. But I have my list, of course. I added many places because of your exhibitions, you know? I really envied you back then.”Envy him? Adrien raised an eyebrow.“I think you just need to live a bit more.”It was comforting to spend time like this, he decided, and having a housemate could turn out to be his best idea yet.******It was past seven when Joy woke up, cursing silently because it was Saturday and she could actually keep sleeping some more. However, as it happened every time she was in a new bed, resting was not an easy task. Yawning and stretching her arms as she sat on the bed, it occurred to her that it had been a while since she’d been in Chinatown.It’d be nice to go walk around and have lunch at a restaurant there. With this idea in mind, she jumped off the bed with enthusiasm and went to clean herself up.As it was their day off, Joy was pretty much convinced she’d been the early bird, but after she was done with her shower and crossed to the kitchen to make breakfast, it became evident it wasn’t the case.Slowing down her steps in the living room, Joy noticed there was something different.The photo frame of the beautiful bride and the handsome groom wasn’t there anymore.“What...” She turned around, but there were no signs of Adrien.Instead, there was some freshly made coffee, and some half-eaten sandwiches on a plate. It looked as if he’d left no long ago.Her eyes fell on the yellow post-it note next to the coffee machine:[You don’t like coffee, but if it helps, feel free to drink it.]How could he know she didn’t like coffee? The fact that he took note of that was shocking.It was also touching.Making her best to control her fluttering heart, she served herself a cup and added as much sugar as a person could possibly take, but drank it nonetheless.