Sweet Admiration (MewGulf AU)

🌻Chapter 15

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That night, Bright met Gulf at the Shinjuku station, and brought him to a favorite bar of his. There were both small and large tables lined up inside the large bar. There were already  a few customers enjoying their food and drinks when they got there. Inside the place, the smell of alcohol mixed with the scent of tobacco.

They made their way through the lively bar, and were shown to a small corner table. Settling down, Bright raised his hand and ordered beer and some food.

"Well, let's celebrate you getting company housing!" he said gleefully.

"Celebrate?" Gulf asked.

"You don't look very happy. You finally got the company housing you've been waiting for! Cheer up!" Bright raised the mug of beer.

Gulf smiled and raised his glass. "Cheers!" Their glasses clinked together in a toast.

He hadn't had beer for quite a while, and the taste of it bit at his throat. But a cold beer after work was definitely refreshing. He was exhausted after making the rounds of their regular clients again that day with Kao. Kao had laughed and told him that that was how work was supposed to make him feel. Even if clients refused their offers, if he kept going back, they would start to remember his face. Pretty soon, he would be able to make more conversations with the clients. Kao had told him perseverance was necessary in order to sell a new person's name and face. Gulf felt like he was just beginning to sense how important his job was.

"Well, where is the company housing?" Bright asked as he took a bite of his food.

"Higashinakano," Gulf answered. "It's about eight minutes from the train station by foot."

"Wow, so is it an apartment or a condo?"

"It's a condo."

"That's so weird! My brother lives in a condo in Higashinakano! I wonder if you're in the same neighborhood."

Gulf hesitated. "Um, actually..."

"What?"

Just as he thought, Gulf figured it would be hard for Bright to even imagine him living with Mew. He's in for another surprise, he thought, and started to explain.

"Actually, the condo in Higashinakano...is less like company housing and more like a dormitory situation."

"A dorm?"

"Yeah. Apparently, the plans the president had for my company housing fell through. But since he had promised, he made me move in with someone who was already living alone in company housing.

"Wow, that sounds terrible."

"Yeah, that's what I thought, too. But who cares about me? I feel terrible for the guy who was forced to take me in! They changed the terms of his company housing and everything."

"Well, yeah, if they told him he'd be living alone in the beginning, I'd feel bad for him, too."

"So that's why I'm not completely happy, even though I found a place to live. All I'm doing is causing trouble for him," Gulf said in desperate tone.

Bright interrupted him quickly, "Now, don't be so negative! Maybe he's happy tha he made a new friend?"

"I don't know..." Gulf tilted his head. After the way Mew had acted yesterday and today, he highly doubted that.

"So how old is your roommate?"

"About 26."

"He's close to our age! It's not like you're from a different generation or something, so maybe you'll actually hit it off? He might be like an older brother to you."

"It's P'Mew," Gulf finally said.

"What?"

"My roommate is P'Mew."

TBC