Tenant’s Secret Love

Chapter 15: Teasing Renee

Sitting back on the sofa, I will finish the cigarette in my hand, then press it out in the ashtray. I look at the guitar next to me, but I no longer have the mood to sing even one song.

I lie on my back on the sofa, once again unable to bear the torture of death from boredom. I look into Renee's room, a little unhappy in my heart. If it weren't for the restraint she has given me, by now I would already be drinking beer with Robben and the others, watching a catwalk show full of beautiful women. So to a large extent, the current boredom is bestowed upon me by her.

If she hadn't suddenly bought this house, I wouldn't have had to compromise to continue living here, and I wouldn't have had to change my living habits and die of the torment of boredom on a night like this.

I feel that she is responsible for helping me get rid of this endless boredom. No matter how robbers this logic seems to others, I feel that it is justified, because boredom is so terrifying in my world of perception. It arises entirely from loneliness. If you're alive, who isn't afraid of loneliness?

I went to Renee's door and decided to break out of the prison of loneliness in the not-yet-deep night. I knocked on the door and said to Renee, who was doing something inside, “Hey, do you have a minute? Come out and chat.”

“We don't have anything in common,” Renee's voice came from inside the room.

“Everyone speaks Chinese, so how can there be no common language? ... Besides, I'm the landlord and you're the tenant, living under the same roof. In order to get along harmoniously in the long term, frequent communication is essential.”

Renee ignored me, and all that could be heard in the room was the slightly awkward echo.

I immediately changed my strategy and adopted a policy of appeasement, knocking on her door again and saying, “Have you eaten dinner yet? Why don't I cook some late-night snacks...”

Renee didn't appreciate it and interrupted me wearily: “Please do something meaningful.”

“Damn, I'm making you a midnight snack and you're mocking me for living a meaningless life, right? Then I really don't want to bother, that's great! I'll go play with my spoon...”

I sat back on the sofa in a huff, but I was not willing to give up. Why did she act like she didn't care about me? I was poor and not very promising, but that didn't mean I was willing to use my lowliness to fulfill her high attitude. Since I was alive, I still cared about my self-esteem.

I really found a spoon from the kitchen and placed it on the coffee table, using my fingers to turn the spoon handle, making the spoon spin like a top.

...

Half an hour later, Renee's door opened. She had changed her clothes and was heading to the bathroom in a white coral fleece pajama top, as if she was already getting ready for bed.

I stared at her, but she didn't look away. She walked over to the coffee table, glanced at the spoon that was still spinning, then stopped and looked at me. I looked at her expressionlessly, then vented like a child and started flicking the spoon handle with my finger, making it spin even faster.

My boring behavior finally made Renee smile a little on her face, but I couldn't tell if it was just funny or a mockery.

“What are you laughing at! Didn't I just tell you I was going to play with the handle?” I said while spinning the spoon faster.

Renee nodded and said, ‘You really keep your word, that's an improvement.’ After that, she didn't say anything else and walked towards the bathroom.

I looked at Renee's departing back at an angle and slapped the spinning spoon handle to make it stop.

...

A moment later Renee walked out of the bathroom. Her hair had fallen down, and there were some traces of water at the ends of her hair. Although she had completely removed her makeup, her skin was still white and translucent, which showed off her natural beauty even more. At least among the countless women I know, there really isn't one who is still so pretty after removing her makeup.

She continued to ignore my existence and walked to her room.

I once again shamelessly shouted at her, “…you, stop.”

“What for?” Renee asked, looking at me with a cold expression, not just with her words.

I was a little guilty, and said with a stiff upper lip, ‘I'm... I'm quite bored, so you can chat with me for a while!”

“Go find someone as boring as you, I'm going to rest.”

As if I had received a pardon, my tone was a few decibels higher: ’You said it, I'm going to go out and find some fun now.”

“You can go out, but you have to take your luggage with you, and then there is no need to come back.”

“I knew you would take advantage of my weakness to amuse yourself... Seriously, I have been renting for more than three years and have met all kinds of people, but I have never met such a cocky tenant as you. Can't you be polite to your landlord?” I once again forced the title of tenant onto Renee with dissatisfaction.

Renee retorted, “I've never met anyone as brazen as you!”

“If I wasn't brazen, I would have been living on the streets a long time ago. You're the one who forced me to do this,” I glared at Renee, remembering the events of the past few days and feeling another wave of anger.

“Aren't you the landlord? Who dares to force you!” Renee looked at me with a half smile, but her words were full of sarcasm.

I pointed at Renee, so angry and amused that I could hardly speak, and said after a while, “You poisonous woman, I said I was the landlord, but did I want to find a fig leaf for myself? Can you spare me some dignity?” After that, I sighed again, “The life of the poor is hard...ah! There is no sense of happiness in living...ah!”

“People like you were ruffians and scoundrels in ancient times, and they are rascals and hoodlums in the present!” Renee glared at me, and then, unwilling to argue with me any longer, she turned and walked towards her room.

Looking at the door, which had been slammed shut, I gave a disgusted hiss and angrily said, ‘The bourgeoisie are so great! Comrade Xiaoping has already said that the Chinese people will ultimately become prosperous together. You bunch of early birds will be able to bask in your wealth for a few years, but in a few years’ time, just you wait and see...”

After tossing around in the living room for a while, I returned to my room, closed the door, lay on the bed, and lit a cigarette as usual. I was still thinking about the argument I just had with Renee. Although I didn't get the better of it, I felt a surge of happiness when I thought about Renee's pretty face, tensed with anger, scolding me as a scoundrel and rogue. My mood seemed to have eased, and after a while, I fell asleep, dazed. Finally, I didn't die from the torture of boredom!

...

It was probably because I went to bed early last night that I woke up at 6am. After that, I couldn't sleep no matter what I did. I just stared at the ceiling with my eyes wide open, and I couldn't help thinking about Harlan and Natalie's upcoming wedding. My mood became anxious, and I realized that this anxiety didn't come out of nowhere. It had something to do with the fact that I was about to meet Brittany, which was killing me! No matter how I tried to comfort myself, it seemed that I couldn't take it calmly...

Moreover, I was also curious. Brittany and I had both dedicated many years of our youth to each other. I was anxious about meeting her soon, but what about her? Was she feeling the same way as me?

I had no answer. I couldn't use myself as a basis for measuring Brittany, because sometimes women are different from men, and sometimes Brittany was even less equal to me. Maybe when we met again three years later, she would only regard me as an ordinary friend, or even a stranger!

It's still early in the morning, and I can't sleep with my constant anxiety. I get up, wash up briefly, and prepare to cook myself breakfast. I open the fridge and see that I still have some salted eggs from the other day, which my 'stubborn father'

brought. Boiling a pot of congee and buying a few fritters makes for a pretty good breakfast.

I went downstairs to the breakfast shop to buy some fried dough sticks, and then to the convenience store to buy some bags of pickled mustard tuber. When I got back, the water in the pot was already boiling, so I poured the rice in and then cleaned the house with a mop.

A cold wind suddenly blew in through the window on the balcony, and I realized that Renee and I had both forgotten to close the windows last night. No wonder this morning was colder than usual.

It was already halfway through autumn, and the temperature in the morning was very low. I tucked my clothes in and walked to the balcony to close the windows. The first ray of morning sunshine also refracted through the glass and lazily swung on the colorful foliage below the balcony, as if to tell me: This is a nice morning.

To immerse myself in this nice morning, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Gradually, my anxious mood settled down a little.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Renee walking out of the room. She was still wearing her pajamas and looked like she had just woken up.

I said hello to Renee with a frivolous smile, leaning on a mop: “Good morning, my female roommate!”

Renee seemed to have no desire to dwell on the tenant status I had forced upon her, and asked me with her messy hair pinned behind her ear, “Do you always get up this early?”

“Of course not, I got up especially early today to make you breakfast.” I lied without batting an eyelid.

“Really? But I was planning to sleep a little longer.”

“Then what are you doing up?” I looked at Renee and asked knowingly. She had obviously got up to go to the bathroom to pee, but I was just curious about the situation when the two indecent words ‘pee’ came out of a beautiful woman like Renee's mouth, or maybe she was just too embarrassed to say it!

Renee frowned at me but didn't say anything. Such a refined beauty really had trouble saying the words “pee pee”. I was pleased with myself and moved closer to block the bathroom door.

After a while, Renee said to me, “Move.”

“No! Do you know any manners? You haven't answered my question, and you're making me really angry first thing in the morning!” I said, raising my voice.

Renee stood still, her face flushed, probably because she was angry with me, or maybe because she was holding it in...it had been building up all night, so of course she was holding it in!

I felt so happy inside, as if Renee had been wronged by the way she had to pay with money to take over the house, and I said in a mean-spirited way, “Go ahead, you were planning to sleep, so what are you getting up for now?”

“I'm getting up now because I need to use the bathroom, so please move out of the way,” Renee said, her expression already very unhappy.

I was afraid that I had made a joke that went too far, and even more afraid that Renee would turn her face away and tell me to move out. I quickly leaned sideways to give Renee room to get in, and suddenly realized that you don't always have to say you need to pee; you can just say you need to use the bathroom. This is the difference between a rough man and a beautiful woman!

After Renee came out of the bathroom, I once again sincerely invited her to have breakfast with me, but she seemed to resent my prankish behavior and ignored me. She went straight into her room and continued sleeping. As a result, I had a boring breakfast alone on what seemed like a pretty good morning, and then started the day as programmed like a machine.

Wait, I need to correct myself. Strictly speaking, I didn't act like a machine, because lately I've been anxious all the time. Every time I think about it: Harlan and Natalie's wedding is approaching, and I will inevitably meet Brittany. I instinctively feel anxious... At this time, I would rather be an emotionless machine, because as another day passes, I still don't know how to face myself and Brittany after three years apart!

At this moment, the morning sun, shining in at just the right angle, illuminated the black overcoat in the closet and extinguished my emotions, while Brittany's face became clearer and clearer...