My 26-Year-Old Landlady: An Unusual Living Arrangement

It was a rainy evening, with cold winds whipping through the city, scattering leaves in their wake. Selena and I stood under an umbrella at the entrance of the maternity hospital, amidst a bustling crowd. She looked at me, her face slightly pale. "Carl, I'm pregnant," she said. I was stunned for a moment, then retorted sharply, "Then go find the man who got you pregnant. Why call me out here?" "You're the only man I've slept with all year, so who do I call if not you?" "Would you believe me when I say I've slept with only one of your women this year?" "Carl, are you even a man?" "We're all out to have fun, don't blame me for this kind of thing, if you want me to be responsible, show me something real, don't play with me, who the hell wants to be a father?" Selena fell silent, then said, "The child has already been aborted. There's no proof left." I have some fire: "Do you think I am like a fool ah? Your child removed, and then ......" I raised my hand, and doubly speechless, "and then, and then and I said the child is my Carl's, is it you fake naive or I'm really stupid? ...... Selena, we are all adults, can do something decent?" Selena bit her lips and looked at me, half said, "You don't want to be responsible right, tomorrow I will go to your company ......" "damn ...... you as far as!" I said angrily. Selena tightly bit her lips and looked at me, but I think she is a good actor, I met her in the bar, and then had a one-night stand, a woman who often bubble bar, said a year and I have had s*x with a man, if I believed her, I'd be the biggest fool. Wanting to end this, I pulled out my wallet, took out all the hundred dollars bills, and handed them to her. "You just want money, right? Take it and leave me alone!" Selena didn't speak or persist. She nodded, turned, and walked back into the hospital under her umbrella, as if she had unpaid bills to settle. Watching her lonely figure in the rain, I suddenly felt an indescribable emotion. Though I didn't believe the child was mine and was annoyed with her, I couldn't help but feel her life must be difficult, or she wouldn't have resorted to this. After a long silence, I finally called out to her, "Wait..." Selena turned to look at me. I pulled out a bank card from my wallet and offered it to her. "This card has some overdraft. You just had surgery; buy something to take care of yourself." Selena didn't accept it. "No need. Seeing that you're willing to take responsibility is enough for me. I came to you because I didn't want to be carelessly taken advantage of and end up pregnant without knowing!" In the bar, I sipped my drink in solitude, waiting for my only close friend and colleague in the city, Fang. Since the first day I came to this bar, I've seen many lonely women and empty men drinking all sorts of liquor, some in silence, others with eyes full of desire, searching for something called "a life of drunken dreams." In fact, the moment we shed our daytime selves and let our souls wander in this neon jungle, we're already living that drunken dream. I can't recall when exactly, but this bar became my sanctuary. I loved the swaying women, love the flickering lights, the colorful drinks, love the mix of perfume and tobacco, the drunken dreams. Here, I could turn my messy past into a monument in the haze. Lighting a cigarette, I peeled off the cellophane from the pack and stared through it at the wavering lights. My body swayed slightly, and in the refracted light, I saw a kind of degenerate contentment. I was spellbound. ... Fang snatched the cellophane from my hand, and suddenly, my world came back into focus. "What's so urgent that you had to call me?" Fang asked, setting down his briefcase and lighting a cigarette from my pack. "I need to borrow some money; I've been conned!" "Getting someone else's girl's belly big again?" Fang asked, unsurprised. "Again your big man ah! This time I'm really blackmailed ......." "Who conned you this time?" "Why do you ask so many questions?" "Every time I lend you thousands, at least let me know who's conning my money away." "Selena," I said, unable to hide my anger. "That model?" "It's just her. She said she's only slept with me in a year, do you believe? Fang Yuan, if this were to happen to you, would you believe it?" I tapped the table frantically. "That wouldn't happen to me. Besides, she wouldn't need to con you for a few thousand. She was the face of our department store's campaign last month, earning over ten thousand..." I scoffed, interrupting Fang, "Look at her lifestyle. Can ten thousand last her a month? She messed around with someone else, ran out of money, and now she's turning to her convenient fling – me. I was a fool to have introduced her to our company. I helped her earn money, and now she's backstabbing me. Where's the professionalism?" Fang ignored my rage and asked softly, "Did you take precautions?" I tried to remember but only recalled being nearly blackout drunk. After a pause, I said, "Maybe... that's why I say I was conned!" Fang eyed me skeptically, then sighed, "Carl, we've been friends for nearly a decade. Sometimes, I want to advise you. I know Elise's breakup hit you hard, but it's been two years. You don't have to degrade yourself like this... Youth waits for no one. Find a girlfriend, settle down, alright?" When Elise's name was mentioned again, I subconsciously froze before saying, "Don't fu*k . I've got nothing to worry about, I'm doing fine!" "Alright，alright." ... Fang tried to advise me for a while, but I responded impatiently. Eventually, he left in dissatisfaction, muttering "incorrigible" forgetting about the money I had asked to borrow. Fortunately, having frequented this bar for two years and often bringing friends along, I had developed a rapport with the bar owner, who kindly put my drink on a tab. Leaving the bar, walking under my umbrella on the rain-drenched streets, I truly felt the depth of my solitude. After two years of striving in this city, all I had reaped was endless emptiness and loneliness. To escape this toxic void, I had donned a mask of shamelessness. With it, I could indulge in reckless abandon without guilt. But no matter how much I struggled on the edge of pain, she would never return! ... I walked several stations in a daze before reaching my apartment complex, an old and run-down place without even a property management office. On my first day, I heard from the ladies in the complex that it was built in the early 90s. The buildings, weathered by the years, seemed to lean on each other as if afraid of solitude. It felt like they could whisper to each other to dispel decades of loneliness in the quiet of the night. With a cigarette between my lips and the keys in hand, I headed towards my building, the only one in the complex covered in ivy. In the summer, the south-facing wall would be lush and green. If these buildings had genders, this one would undoubtedly be a woman, a cold and indifferent woman. She often evoked a sense of sorrow. ... To my surprise, a red Audi Q7 was parked below the dilapidated building. In my two years here, I couldn't recall seeing a car worth more than 50,000 dollars in this neighborhood. Not giving it much thought, I whistled as I ascended the stairs to my apartment. Reaching the top floor, I was shocked to find my door ajar. I had clearly locked it when I left. Thinking a thief might have broken in, I steadied my nerves, then remembered I hadn't paid my rent to Landlord Simp for two months. He must have come to collect. Pushing the door open, I found Landlord Simp and a strange woman sitting on the sofa. A set of Audi Q7 keys lay on the coffee table, undoubtedly belonging to the mysterious woman. A question flashed in my mind: How did Simp, a typical street-smart guy, manage to bring such an elegant woman, untouchable like a white lily, to this humble apartment? I was utterly baffled. ...