Chapter 2 - The First Tenant

“Oh, I’m sorry, I wanted to give you a special greeting, didn’t expect to scare you.”

The visitor took the “dog head’ off and revealed her smiling face which was hiding in the sweater, She seemed as sweet as her voice. The “dog head”, which was actually a Shar Pei(1), had a bitter look, seemed desperate for being kept by such an idiot.

“Hello, I’m a transfer student at Springtown High School, we talked on the phone, can I come in?”

“Ah, yes, please, come on in.” I felt shamed and quickly let her in.

“Thanks. Can my dog come in too?”

“Oh, that, OK.” Actually I couldn’t say I don’t mind tenants bring dogs, but what did she just say? Springtown High School, isn’t that my school? Thinking of tons of possibilities with this girl, I could take this for now.

The bitter face dog was passing my couch, he suddenly stopped and turned his head back to give me this scorn and provocative look, he discovered my adult magazine, which was not well hidden. I was about to cover that magazine with a cushion when I heard a scream of my sweet visitor.

“What’s wrong?” I rushed to her.

“The layout of this bedroom is almost the same as my houses’, God, almost every detail is the same!” She pointed at the room and said with excitement.

This was a guest room, and one of my mother’s friends lived here once. It was empty most of the time, since I just cleaned it this morning, it seemed refreshing. The layout of this room was quite simple, if I have to say anything special about it, it would be the European style furniture and the stained glass windows.

The room was common, I’m surprised that she fussed about it, I served tea to her politely despite of that, luckily we still got tea in the house.

“I’m Early Summer, I just transferred here, Springtown High School is famous nationwide!” This cute loli(2) started to talk about herself freely.

“I’m Shu Yuan. Actually, I’m in that school you just mentioned.” I carefully kept my normal speaking pitch, I certainly did not want her to think I’m hitting on her.

“Wow! Great, then we can go to school together!” This loli seemed happy, but her dog’s eyes were full of alert.

“If you don’t mind, can I ask you about your parents? Why didn’t they accompany you here? It’s a completely new city and… the dorms in school are cheap.” I slapped myself in my mind after saying that, what did I just do, pushing this cute tenant out? I just said it bluntly. I’m really not good at getting along with people.

“Ah, my parents are abroad, I’m used to live all by myself. And the school dorm, I don’t know if you believe it, I think the girl dorm is a scary place. “ The loli was holding a cushion in her arms, saying that in a deeper voice.

“I’m not good at dealing with all those girls, it’s hard to guess what they want and it’s even harder to get along with them. That’s it.” She suddenly looked up at me and smiled, “So, could you please rent me the room? The one I just checked. Please, money won’t be an issue.”

The last sentence made her my first tenant, I automatically neglected all other words she said.

Early Summer was happy, I offered to help her moving in, she treated me to dinner in return. And she paid the rent for a whole year generously.

Money gave me a lot of comfort, I let Early Summer use the bathroom downstairs exclusively, and I even bought dog food and a luxury dog house for her Shar Pei. Lover her, Love her dog, literally.

I prayed to god in my mind, god, please transfer her to my class!

(1)Shar Pei: a breed of dog known for its deep wrinkles and blue-black tongue, the word literally means sandy skin.

(2)Loli: a child-looking girl that has slightly erotic characteristics.