The Guy In 4B Has My Heart

Silence! At last. My gosh! My vision was getting distorted from staring at my blinking cursor, and my ears were still ringing from Tems blaring ‘I am not what you need’ through the speakers. I rubbed my numb eyes, pushed away from my table and trudged to my lone bed before plopping down. My bones were easing into comfort when a loud bang on my door jerked me right back up! ‘Eloho! Open up!’ I gritted my teeth as I staggered to the door. Is it 3 p.m. already? A glance at my phone revealed it was, in fact, 3 p.m. It just didn’t feel like it because I had spent the last two hours moping. As much as I loved my Tivere, I wasn't exactly bursting with the enthusiasm of a girl who hadn't seen her cousin in the past five years. And it annoyed me that this loud music had drained all my energy. I just wanted to sleep. But my worries disappeared the second the door opened, and Tivere’s colourful energy burst into my glum pink space. We crushed each other in a hug. ‘Big girl. I have missed you!’ Tivere said, kissing my cheeks, until I reeled with laughter. ‘So you missed me this much?’ I cheesed ‘Of course,’ she replied, leading the way into my room. ‘I have missed you too.’ ‘Nice.’ She echoed as she took in my space. I had gone crazy decorating my room. The mood board definitely looked like a unicorn had puked here. Pink plushies, pink paint, pink curtains. Pink everything. ‘I am in my feminine era.’ We looked at each other, and we burst into laughter. My heart felt warm. I had missed laughing in sync without saying anything. I was glad that our mothers’ falling out couldn't put a dent in our relationship. ‘I made stew!’ I announced as she bounced on my bed. ‘Yes, please! But first tell me, do you think of EU so far?’ Tivere asked. ‘It’s good.’ ‘Worth fighting your mother for?’ Tivere chuckled. ‘Yes. It was Elo University or nothing. It was the only school I put on my form. When my mom found out, she almost had a heart attack.’ I headed to the kitchen. ‘How are Dad and my lovely auntie?’ I called as I scooped the steaming, carrot-speckled rice onto a plate and served the beef stew into another. ‘She would die if she knew where I was now.’ Tivere replied. We burst into another round of conspiratorial laughter. ‘I—‘ Boom! Tems was back on again! The interruption sent bolts of pain through my skull, ‘What the hell!’ I dropped the tray of food I was holding on my reading table. ‘I don’t think I will be able to survive the semester in this place.’ My eyes welled up. The sides of my face were burning up. ‘This is what I've been dealing with since I moved in. And the walls are so f*****g thin! I can’t even hear myself think.’ Tivere saw my eyes cloud over, and she got hyped. ‘Let’s go and tell him to turn down the music! What nonsense. So uncultured.’ She sprang to her feet. But I had gone cold. I am a coward. The thought of knocking on a stranger’s door and telling him to turn down his music seemed too much. I had spent the entire week avoiding my neighbours. I didn't even know who lived next door. I knew it was a Man because I had heard his deep voice, but that was all. ‘Do we have to?’ ‘Duh! He is inconveniencing you in your own room. I don’t see why not.’ Tivere was already opening the door, and I had to follow suit. The next second, we were knocking on the door of 4B. ‘I don’t think they can hear us over this loud music,’ I muttered to Tivere, but she ignored me and kept banging until the door finally opened. We took two steps back as the smell of lavender air freshener hit us along with the loud music. But those were not the only things that hit us. The guy in 4B was shirtless, his light-brown skin glistening with sweat. It seemed like we had interrupted his workout. He c****d an eyebrow, and I wished he wouldn't do that. It made me so self-aware of my existence that I looked away. How someone could be equal parts attractive and scary, I could not put into words. ‘I—‘ I shifted from one foot to the other and turned to Tivere for a little help, but she had gone quiet. I was on my own now. ‘Hello!’ I forced out a smile. ‘I am Eloho. I live next door.’ He nodded. ‘I know who you are.’ Then he blew out a breath and said, ‘I am Kase.’ How did he know me? All this time I thought I had been living in my bubble. ‘Nice to meet you, Kase. Could you please turn down your music? It is really loud. Quite unbearable from my end.’ ‘Okay. I am sorry about that.’ He looked from me to Tivere. He had pretty dark eyes, framed by ridiculously full eyelashes. ‘Okay?’ My breathing evened. I had braced myself for a harsh retort. But the guy in 4B looked kindly at me. ‘Babe?’ A small voice came from above the music. My eyes widened as realisation hit me. OH. OH. We had definitely interrupted a different type of ‘workout.’ ‘Yeah.’ He turned to leave. ‘Tha—thank you.’ He shut the door. And I turned to my now mute companion. ‘That was easy,’ I whispered. The music died down. I shrugged, giddy with relief. I had spent a week in my apartment suffering in silence when I could’ve just told the guy to turn it down. Ah, silly me. I paused. Tivere was sweating instead of relishing this joy I felt. ‘Are you okay, Tivere?’ Tivere pressed a finger to her lips, grabbed my arm and didn't stop until we were back in my apartment, door firmly shut. ‘You need to move out of this building,’ she whispered, licked her dry lips and rubbed her eyes. ‘What?’ I responded. ‘We made a huge mistake.’ She trembled. ‘That guy!’ She pointed at the wall, her chest heaving. I frowned. ‘What about him?’ It looked like she wanted to cry. She swallowed. ‘He's the leader of the Black Fangs,’ she whimpered. I blinked. My mother’s voice echoed in my head. ‘You better be careful. On campus, students are part of all sorts of secret societies.’ Shaking my mother’s voice off, I asked Tivere, ‘How did you know?’ Her voice dropped below a whisper. ‘It is not so secret. Everyone on campus knows he’s the leader.’ My stomach dropped. ‘And wherever Kase goes, trouble follows.’ Her eyes pierced into mine. ‘How did you not know this before renting?’ I did not like her accusatory tone. ‘What? Was I supposed to ask the house agent if the leader of the Black Fangs lived next door?’ I snapped. Tivere scratched her head. ‘You don’t get it, Eloho. We just challenged a very powerful person. He can come for you. For us.’ The air in the room had become unbearably thick with fear. Tivere sat on the cool tiles as she continued to mutter words I could not make out. ‘Or?’ I said, with the bit of enthusiasm I could muster. ‘We could apologise to him?’