Chapter 5

After school had ended, I remembered what Tyler wrote in the rules of a live-in stranger so I reluctantly went back to the apartment. I was supposed to go out with Dianna for lunch. That was what we always did but my usual routine was beginning to change and I knew I wasn't going to get used to it very soon.

Once I reached the apartment, I rang the doorbell. It was definitely inconvenient for me if I kept on depending on Tyler to open the door whenever I needed get into the apartment. I frowned, thinking about the problems I would had to encounter if I asked him for the key code.

Tyler opened the door and his hand was immediately in front me. He was holding a paper, with numbers. I slowly looked up at him, raising my eyebrows. He was just standing there, ushering his hand towards me, telling me to take the paper. And I took it, hesitantly. What was up with him? He was awfully being nice.

"Don't get carried away. I just don't like always having to open the door for you," he said, before walking back into the apartment. I sighed. I thought he was actually being nice. He just didn't want trouble. Trouble, trouble, trouble. All he could talk about was how troublesome things were. I closed the door after I went in. I saw Tyler sitting on the couch and Prison Break was on television. Knowing that he wasn't going to say anything else to me, I headed to my room to get my clothes out of my luggage and hung them in the wardrobe. After that, I took out a few clothing and went to the bathroom.

***

After an hour of showering, I got out of the bathroom and was ready to make lunch. As I headed to the kitchen, I glanced at Tyler. He was still sitting on the couch, putting all his attention entirely on the television. I walked towards the kitchen and quietly opened the refrigerator next to the stove.

It was full of ingredients. Back home, we didn't even have half of these in our refrigerator. I wondered if he actually cooked all his lunch, dinner and supper all by himself before I came. It was either he was good at cooking, loved cooking or he just didn't want the 'trouble' of going out to eat instead. I wondered why he didn't state that I should make breakfast for him in one of rules though.

Scratching my head, I scanned and searched through the refrigerator, thinking of what to make. There were a carton of eggs, bacon, beef, vegetables, fruits, frozen food, drinks and many others that I didn't know what was called. Soon I decided to make something simple, so I made fried rice. I smiled, taking out the ingredients from the refrigerator. I was glad that I was going to fill my stomach up. It had been grumbling since 11 am.

After half an hour, I was done cooking and honestly, I was satisfied with what I made. I couldn't wait to see how Tyler would react once he put a spoonful of it in his mouth. He would regret not letting me stay here in the first place. With a big smile on my face, I settled the plates and glasses of water on the small rectangular dining table in the middle of the kitchen before walking to where he was.

"Lunch is ready," I said while putting my hands on my hips and waiting for him to get up from the couch.

He unglued his eyes from the television and take a look at me before turning his head to the dining table. I wondered if he could even actually see the food on the table since he was sitting so far away from it. Why did he even bother looking?

Tyler got off the couch and walked straight to the kitchen, taking a seat. Following after him, I took a seat on the opposite of him and grabbed the spoon I prepared earlier. I quickly indulged myself in the friend rice and stuffed them into my mouth. I mentioned that I eat like a monster, didn't I? I had already forgotten that I wanted to see Tyler's face when he first taste it. While I was trying to get myself a big spoonful of rice again, I caught him staring at me with a look of disgust on his face.

"What are you looking at?" I asked. Rice flew all over the table. Reminder: Do not talk with your mouth is full. My eyes got big and I felt my face getting warm. I didn't want to show him that I was embarrassed so I shrugged it off and acted like I didn't care how rude I was being.

Tyler's face had turned more distorted. "You look ugly."

I scowled at him. "Then don't look at me," was all I said before eating again. I didn't even feel like rebutting him. But when I realised that he hadn't even touch his spoon yet, I stopped and glared at him. "Why aren't you eating?"

He looked at the fried rice on his plate and mine. "Was this all you made in half an hour?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?" A bewildered look was evident on my face. I was sure I didn't take a really long time cooking it.

"I don't eat fried rice."

"What?" I spouted and gave him an incredulous look. I swear, the only expressions that you can see me having while conversing with this jerk are an incredulous, an angry and a shocked one. Calming down and frowning, I told him, "Well, I don't care. Just eat it. You should thank me for abiding to your rules."

I heard him sigh. I knew he was frustrated. I secretly looked at him and saw him slowly picking up the spoon and putting it into the fried rice. Come on, dude! It's just fried rice. Don't you eat Chinese food? It won't kill you! Unless you choke on it, then you will. My eyes lit up when the spoon was reaching into his mouth. I waited for his reaction but he just kept on chewing, without even changing his expression. I groaned. I forgot how expressionless he can be.

After a few minutes of eating in silence, I got really curious in how he thought of the food. I was telling myself that I should be waiting for the worst if he really was going to reply to my question but I didn't care. Mom said that I should get to know him so I should ask him about it.

"How is it?" I questioned. I guessed I was hoping that he would like it. I mean, PUH-LEASE, who wouldn't like their own cooking to be appreciated?

"I told you I don't eat fried rice," he said, without looking at me.

I started frowning, but I wasn't particularly upset. He was Tyler Evans after all. I went back to eating again when something dawned on me. He only said that he didn't eat fried rice, but he didn't say whether it tasted good. That means that it actually tasted good, didn't it? With that on my mind, I unconsciously chuckled.

Tyler moved his head up with his eyebrows raised. He asked, "What are you laughing at?"

I knew he was thinking of me as if I was some weird psycho but it wasn't like I cared about what he thought about me. I just went back to eating and smiling. At least I won't waste my time cooking for this guy for a year, or less.

***

I was in my bedroom, surfing the internet with my laptop on the bed. I had been in here for at least four hours now. I really wanted to hang out with Dianna but I didn't even have a car and I didn't want to take the bus or taxi alone at night. Back home, I usually ride my bicycle to anywhere I wanted to go. I guessed I'll just bring it here when it's time for me to visit my parents. I sighed. They said that I could call them today and I wanted to but I gave up the hope that they'll let me go back even if I told them everything that Tyler was and did.

While I was on Wattpad, reading one of the stories that were written by a talented writer, someone knocked on my bedroom door. I turned my head to the door and wondered why Tyler was knocking it. It wouldn't be anyone else since it was only the two of us staying here in the apartment. I got up from the bed and walked towards the door. I opened the door a little and peeked through it.

"We're going to my mom's place. If you want to change clothes, do it quick." That was all he said before he walked back to the living room.

I closed the door and ran to the mirror, checking out my body -- I mean, clothes. I was wearing a casual blue large size t-shirt and a red short. I figured that it wouldn't be appropriate to meet Aunt Sally this way since she was my mother's friend. I changed into a white t-shirt with 'I just want somebody to love' written on it. No, I was not a fan of Justin Bieber. I bought it before he even released that song. I put on a three-quarter jean and was ready to go.

I got out of the bedroom and looked for Tyler. He wasn't in the living room anymore. Learning from the incident that happened this morning, I immediately opened the door of the apartment. I let out a small laugh. I was right. I was freaking right.

Tyler was there standing in front of the elevators. Feeling happy, I closed the door and stood beside him, waiting for the elevators to reach. I didn't feel angry about him doing that anymore. I'd show him that I was going to play along with him and let him know that all these things he did won't bring me down. I wasn't one of those girls that would just listen to him and follow him around.

One of the elevator reached this floor and Tyler entered it first. We stood in silence once again in there and to be honest, I felt uncomfortable. Being silent was not my thing.

"You're not going to leave me alone here again, are you?" I asked him, moving my eyes to where he was standing.

"Do you know where your Aunt Sally lives?" He was just staring straight, not even giving me a glance.

I thought for a moment. "No, I don't." I really didn't know where she lived. It was always Aunt Sally that visited our house to meet up with mom and I never saw mom going to visit her before. Even if she did, she never brought me along with her.

"Then after going there once, you're going to take the bus there next time."

My jaw dropped. I wanted to pounce on him and strangle him. I wanted him to say, "So -- rry, pre -- tty l -- ady. Pl -- ea -- se, let -- me -- g -- go," while flailing his arms everywhere. I shook my head. Me and my imagination.

We reached the ground floor in two minutes and I followed him towards the outside of the apartment building. His car was parked at the same place it did this morning. Once he unlocked the car doors, I quickly opened the door and sat next to the driver seat. He hadn't got into the car yet but I heard him scoff.