HIS ROOMMATE

MISCHIEVOUS KAI

CHAPTER 2

ADRIAN'S POV

I can't believe someone can be more annoying than my friend Ash. Kai is so annoyingly stubborn and confident.

I stepped out of the house in the morning, I needed to complete my formality before school started. Didn’t check up on Kai before leaving because I knew it wasn’t going to take much time. Thirty minutes, max. Sign papers, grab coffee, be back before Mrs. Chen even finished breakfast.

Still, I paused at the guest room door. Listened.

Nothing. No cursing. No thumping. No “Adrian, I’m dying” from the other side.

She was probably asleep. Concussed people need sleep. She’d said she was starting a part-time job before classes. Right. She’d barely managed to insult me without passing out.

I almost knocked. Almost asked if she needed anything. But then I remembered her face last night — all defiance and “drink it first” and “I’m bad luck.” She didn’t want pity. She wanted control.

So I left. Locked the door behind me, not because I didn’t trust her, but because the city wasn’t safe and she didn’t have her wallet. Or sense.

Campus was a blur of forms and handshakes and “Welcome back, Mr. Reyes.” I signed where they told me to sign. Kept checking my phone. No calls. No texts. Mrs. Chen hadn’t texted either, and she texts me when the milk goes bad.

By the time I got back, the rain had stopped. The house was quiet. Too quiet.

I dropped my bag by the door. “Kai?”

No answer.

Guest room door was open. Bed was made, but not slept in. The mug was washed and sitting on the nightstand like she’d never been there.

My stomach dropped. Did she leave? Already? With no ID, no money, in last night’s torn jeans—

Then I heard it. A crash from the kitchen. Followed by muttering. And smoke.

“Burn water, not the house,” she’d said.

I ran.

Kai was standing in front of the stove, hair tied up with what looked like my dress shirt, poking at a pot with a wooden spoon like it had personally offended her. The smoke alarm started beeping.

She turned, saw me, and grinned like she’d won. “Morning, Mr. Common Sense. You missed breakfast. I tried to make tea. It fought back.”

I stared at the charred pot, then at her. Barefoot. My shirt hanging off one shoulder. Eyes too bright. Still here.

Annoying. Stubborn. And she didn’t leave.

I should’ve been mad. Instead I just reached for the fire extinguisher.

“You’re impossible,” I said.

“Yep,” she said, popping the ‘p’. “Now are you gonna help or just stand there judging my cooking?”

“Where is Mrs. Chen and why the heck are you trying to burn down my house you psycho!!”

She didn’t look bothered at all. “Stop overreacting,” Kai said, still stirring that disaster in the pot.

I glared at her immediately. Is she serious right now? The smoke alarm was screaming, the kitchen smelled like burnt metal, and she was acting like we were discussing the weather.

“Adrian!!”

That was Valerie’s voice. My girlfriend. The most beautiful girl, we’ve known each other since we were little kids. I was totally in love with her since childhood but I couldn’t tell her, not until two years ago before I lost my parents.

Valerie walked in and was shocked to see me with another girl. She gave Kai a long look before looking at me. “Who is she and what is she doing in your house,” Valerie half yelled.

I noticed Kai rolling her eyes. Of course she did.

“Kai, don’t,” I muttered under my breath. Then louder, “Val, it’s not what it looks like.”

“Not what it looks like?” Valerie’s eyes flicked from the burnt pot, to Kai in my shirt, to the bruise blooming on Kai’s temple that she’d tried to hide with her hair. “Adrian, she’s wearing your clothes. There’s smoke. Explain.”

Kai turned the burner off with way too much satisfaction and leaned on the counter. “Relax, Barbie. I’m not here to steal your Ken. He hit me with his car last night.”

Valerie’s mouth opened. Closed. “He… what?”

“I was crossing the road. Rain. No brakes on his conscience, apparently,” Kai said, then took a sip from a glass of water like she wasn’t dropping bombs. “Don’t worry, I’m not suing. Yet. He’s letting me crash until I can stand straight.”

My parents died two years ago. The house has been empty except for me and Mrs. Chen. No one brings random girls here. Especially not stubborn, concussed arsonists who call my girlfriend Barbie.

Valerie looked at me, hurt flashing across her face before she buried it. “You hit someone and didn’t call me? You brought her here instead of the hospital?”

Mrs. Chen chose that exact moment to walk in from the garden, arms full of fresh vegetables, completely oblivious. “Adrian, why is the alarm— oh! We have a guest!”

Kai waved the spoon at her. “Hi Mrs. Chen! Your boss tried to kill me with tea. I’m retaliating with breakfast.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Ash would’ve loved this. Valerie looked like she wanted to cry or slap me. Kai looked like she was enjoying every second.

“Val, she has no ID, no money, and a head injury,” I said, trying to keep my voice level. “I wasn’t leaving her on the street.”

“And I wasn’t planning on staying,” Kai added helpfully. “Just until I get a job. We have rules now. No stealing, no lying, no regretting. He’s doing great on two out of three.”

Valerie stared at her, then at me. The silence stretched.

“So,” Valerie said finally, voice tight. “She’s staying here. With you. Alone.”

The smoke alarm was still screaming. Mrs. Chen was fanning it with a dish towel like that would help. Kai was leaning on my counter, my shirt slipping off one shoulder, looking way too pleased with herself.

I opened my mouth to explain, but Kai beat me to it.

“Alone-ish,” she said, holding up two fingers. “There’s also Mrs. Chen. And the ghosts , probably. The House feels haunted. Expensive, but haunted.”

“Val, she’s concussed,” I cut in, trying to sound reasonable. “I pulled her off the road last night. She had no ID, no phone, nothing. The hospital would’ve kept her for observation and asked questions I couldn’t answer.”

“Questions like why you have a random girl in your shirt?” Valerie crossed her arms. Her eyes were shiny but she wasn’t crying. Not yet. Valerie never cried where people could see. “You’ve known me since we were four, Adrian. Did you ever think maybe you should’ve called me first?”

Kai winced. Actually winced. For half a second the smirk dropped and she looked… guilty? No. Couldn’t be.

“Okay, fair,” Kai said, setting the spoon down. “I didn’t know Ken had a Barbie. My bad. Look, I’ll make this easy.” She held her hands out like she wanted cuffs. “I can leave. Right now. Rain’s stopped. I’m great at walking in a straight line. Watch.”

She took two steps toward the door and immediately grabbed the counter to stay upright. The room tilted for her, I could see it in her eyes.

“Yeah, no,” I said before I could stop myself. I caught her elbow. She was burning up. “You’re not going anywhere. Not like this.”

Valerie saw it too. Her expression shifted from hurt to something worse. Pity. For me, not Kai.

“Adrian,” she said quietly, so only I could hear. “Since when do you let strangers bleed in your guest room? This isn’t you.”

She was right. It wasn’t. The old Adrian would’ve called an ambulance and been done with it. But the old Adrian’s parents were still alive. The old Adrian didn’t wake up every night to an empty house that was too big and too quiet.

Kai pulled her arm free, but gently. “She’s right, you know. You’re not a charity. I’ll crash at the bus station. I’ve done worse.”Valerie glared at her. She turned to me and dragged me out of kitchen.

Kai was already getting on my nerves, we just f*****g met but she is so free and comfortable and me? I can't possibly throw a homeless person out even though she can be so annoying.

TBC