Checkout first two parts of this romance story here.
I thought a new country would fix me.
That was the plan. New city. New flat. New version of me who didn’t lie awake every night thinking about a boy who broke my heart without even calling it a breakup.
But somehow, even in the middle of England, with clouds smothering the sky and red-bricked buildings that all look the same, I’m still thinking about Luke.
The plane landed in a light drizzle. The kind that wasn’t quite rain, just mist that clung to your skin like breath. The customs line was long. A kid screamed for ten minutes straight. And when I stepped outside into the arrivals bay, dragging my suitcase behind me, I felt exactly the same as I had back home, just colder.
The drive to Ashgrave University took an hour. The campus looked like a movie set for a moody drama; wrought iron gates, gothic towers, ivy crawling up the stone walls. The air smelled different here. Wetter. Older. Like pavement and rain and something I couldn’t name.
The cab driver asked if I was excited. I said yes.
I lied.
My flat was on the second floor of a long brick building just off campus. Not a dorm, exactly. More like university housing with a shared kitchen and three bedrooms. It was cute. Modern. Clean. At least until we moved in.
Min, my flatmate was already there when I arrived.
He opened the door wearing soft grey joggers and a tank top that looked like it was stolen off a luxury runway. His skin practically glowed. Like K-drama actor levels of glow. Floppy black hair. Big eyes. A warm smile that made you forget you were jetlagged and homesick and one emotional sneeze away from crying.
“Troy?” he said.
“Yeah.”
“I’m Min.” He smiled. “Your new favorite person. Come in.”
We clicked fast.
Min was the kind of guy who made things feel easier than they were. He offered me tea before I’d even unpacked. Sat cross-legged on the counter while I wrestled my bags open. Made fun of how many sweaters I’d packed. Called my accent cute. Called himself a skincare fairy. Told me he had a girlfriend... Yuki, who was in the girl’s dorm a block over and who would absolutely love me.
By the second day, I believed him.
We explored the local shops, grabbed bubble tea, and made fun of the campus map that looked like it was designed by a dyslexic crow. He took me to the best local coffee shop (tiny tables, cute barista, overpriced muffins), helped me decode the British grading system, and let me use one of his fancy serums when I woke up with plane-induced dry skin.
And for a second... a small, fleeting second, I started to think maybe I could forget Luke.
That maybe there was something new starting here. Maybe Min was a sign. The way he touched my arm when he laughed. The way he always made sure I was walking on the inside of the street. The little glances that could have meant something.
He was model-beautiful. Lean, long-legged, impossibly soft-looking. The kind of person you’d swipe right on and then swipe again just in case. I caught myself staring more than once.
But there was no spark.
Not the kind that burned.
Not the kind that hurt.
And he had a girlfriend too.
“I can tell what you’re thinking,” Min said one night, flopping onto my bed as I tried to organize my textbooks.
I looked up. “What am I thinking?”
“That you’re into me,” he deadpanned.
I blinked. “Wow. Full offense, you sound like a narcissist.”
He grinned. “Please. Everyone’s into me. But relax. I’m taken. Happily.”
“Yuki, right?”
He nodded dreamily. “She’s the only person I’d marry before thirty.”
I laughed. “I didn’t say I was into you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t have to. It’s the eyes. You’ve got the soft eyes.”
“Maybe I just have bad vision.”
Min kicked his legs like a kid. “Well, tough luck. This face? Taken. You’ll survive.”
I rolled my eyes. But deep down, I was relieved. Because even though he was everything Luke wasn’t... open, talkative, affectionate in ways that didn’t feel secret, he still wasn’t what I needed.
Our third flatmate was more of a ghost.
Min had told me about him. “Theo,” he said. “Tall. Gym-obsessed. Had a brutal breakup recently. He’s been kind of… in his own world.”
For the first few days, I didn’t see him at all. Just heard the faint thud of weights from his room. The occasional cupboard opening and closing. Maybe a flush. Maybe not. It was like living with a shadow.
Until tonight.
Min and I were on the couch, both in sweats, watching a K-drama I barely understood. I was halfway through my second cup of instant hot chocolate, debating whether I was full or just sad, when the front door opened.
Footsteps. Heavy. Slow. Someone dropped a gym bag on the floor.
Then I saw him.
Tank top. Big headphones around his neck. Black joggers. Hair damp. Shoulders broad enough to cast a shadow. He walked through the flat like it didn’t matter who was watching. Like gravity bent toward him. He didn’t look at me. Not even a nod.
And yet I could not look away.
There are people you clock the moment they walk into a room. Not because they’re trying. Not because they’re loud. Just because they are. Theo was that. He didn’t carry himself like a guy who knew he was hot... he carried himself like someone who didn’t care. Tall. Built. Sharp jaw and a mouth that looked naturally smug. Even soaked from the gym and silent as a ghost, he looked like an Abercrombie ad that had come to life just to ruin me.
I watched him vanish down the hall. Something in my chest fluttered and dropped.
“Oh,” I said, low under my breath.
Min didn’t even glance up from the screen. “Yeah,” he said like he could hear my thoughts. “He’s totally your type.”
Min and I had already reached the kind of closeness where me being into guys was just a part of the air between us. There wasn’t some big reveal. No awkward moment. He just knew. Probably before I even said anything.
Since day two, he and Yuki had taken it upon themselves to wingman the hell out of me. We’d walk across campus and they’d point out guys like they were on some kind of scouting mission.
“Ooh, him,” Yuki would whisper. “The economics major. He’s got a baby face. Want me to go introduce you?”
“No, thank you,” I’d laugh, but Min would already be halfway to calling him over.
Some days I forgot how new everything still was. That I had only just landed here. That back home, I was still the boy who got his heart broken by someone who never said the word boyfriend out loud.
And now?
Now I was sitting in this warm, dim-lit flat in a city that didn’t know my name. I had a best friend who wore sheet masks and made bad jokes. A girl who kept calling me cute. A second-hand mug of cocoa in my hands.
And I had just seen what Theo looked like.
I blinked at the hallway he had disappeared down.
Yeah. I think I might finally be ready to forget Luke.
___________________
Mornings in the flat had become their own little ritual.
Min was already a creature of routine; he liked his fruit sliced a certain way, liked the blinds open exactly halfway, liked blasting soft K-pop on the speaker while he moved around the kitchen like it was a dance floor. Yuki showed up most days unannounced, barefoot in someone else's hoodie, carrying iced coffee and stories from her dorm that made Min roll his eyes and me laugh half-asleep. And me? I floated. Still figuring out how to belong in this new place, still nursing the dull ache of everything I had left behind.
We were comfortable. In sync. We had become a strange little trio, but it worked.
That morning, I was perched on the kitchen counter in my usual half-awake fog, wearing just boxers and an old T-shirt. Yuki was spinning a dramatic tale about her flatmate getting caught sneaking in a Tinder date at 3AM, her voice bouncing off the walls with the kind of casual chaos only she could bring. Min stood by the kitchen sink, humming to himself as he poured oat milk into his cereal, hair still wet from his own shower. Everything felt familiar.
Until the bathroom door creaked open.
A soft sound. Innocent. But something in the air changed.
Then I saw him.
Theo stepped out in nothing but a towel slung dangerously low around his hips. It wasn’t just low; it was indecent. You could see the carved V of his hips, the smooth line trailing down from his abs, disappearing beneath the fabric. His skin glistened slightly, still damp, the morning light catching on the curve of his chest and the slope of his shoulder. His hair was messy, pushed back like he’d run a hand through it while toweling off.
He looked like he belonged in an ad. No; he looked like he’d stepped out of one.
But it wasn’t just how hot he was. It was the way he moved. Effortlessly. Like he didn’t care who saw him. Like he was immune to being looked at.
He walked toward the kitchen like no one else was there. No greeting. No glance. Just Theo, shirtless and damp, completely unbothered.
It wasn’t until he stopped directly in front of me that I realized what he was doing. The milk was in the middle of the counter. I hadn’t even noticed. He leaned across me to reach it, one hand bracing on the counter beside my thigh, the other stretching toward the bottle.
And suddenly, he was right there.
His bare chest close enough to feel the heat radiating from his skin. His scent hit me like a truck; fresh and clean, soap and warmth and something deeply male. I caught myself holding my breath, eyes glued to the way his muscles moved beneath his skin. His bicep flexed as he reached. His abs tensed. A droplet of water rolled down his side and disappeared into the towel. My gaze dropped before I could stop it...down the line of his torso, to the way the towel clung to his hips, dipping slightly as he leaned.
He didn’t look at me. Not once. And somehow, that made it worse.
Then came the loud, fake cough.
Yuki.
Theo didn’t react. Just grabbed the milk, stepped back, and walked straight to his room. The door shut quietly behind him.
Silence filled the kitchen like smoke.
I was still staring at the hallway when Yuki said, flatly, “Nope. Absolutely not.”
Min let out a quiet laugh. “That’s Theo for you.”
“What the fuck was that,” I asked, half-laughing, half-dying.
“That was your very attractive, very oblivious roommate in a towel,” Yuki said, eyebrows raised. “And that was you about to pass out.”
“I was not about to pass out.”, I laughed.
“Your pupils were dilated,” she said, sipping her coffee like a scientist confirming her findings. “You clenched your thighs. It was like watching a nature documentary.”
Min was grinning but trying to hide it. “You should’ve seen your face, bro.”
I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead. “He didn’t even say hi.”
“He never does,” Min said. “He’s either at the gym or in his room. Not much of a talker.”
“Is he, uh…” I hesitated. “Straight?”
Min tilted his head. “Bi.”
That landed with a thud in my chest.
I blinked. “Wait. What?”
“He dated Bailey for a year. But before that, a guy named Calum, I think. Two years. Broke up before moving here.”
I turned to Yuki, who looked… unamused.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “I mean, it does. But not for you. You’re not about to fall for your roommate.”
I opened my mouth. Closed it.
Yuki crossed her arms. “Troy, no. That is literally the one unspoken rule. You do not fall for your roommate. It gets messy.”
“I’m not falling for him,” I said. “I just… noticed he was hot.”
Min snorted. “You didn’t notice, bro. You practically had an orgasm.”
“I didn’t expect him to look like that,” I muttered.
“He’s always at the gym,” Min said with a shrug. “He’s basically married to leg day.”
I sat there quietly for a moment, my pulse still uneven. My heart felt like it had taken off without me. I hadn’t expected this. I had barely even spoken to Theo. He hadn’t even looked at me. But that one moment; the closeness, the heat, the sound of water still dripping from his skin...I couldn’t lie to myself.
He was beautiful.
And dangerous.
Yuki pointed a finger at me. “No daydreaming. I will physically spray you with a water bottle if I catch you staring at him again.”
Min leaned on the counter, grinning. “So… freshers’ party tomorrow?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Everyone keeps talking about it.”
“You should come,” Yuki said. “It’s gonna be wild. Campus-wide thing. Apparently, last year someone climbed the fountain in their underwear.”
“Will Theo be there?” I asked before thinking it through.
They both stared at me like I had said it in slow motion.
I tried to play it off. “Just wondering. Since he lives here.”
Min gave me a look. “He doesn’t really go out. Parties aren’t his thing.”
“Oh.”
“But,” Min added, “I could probably talk him into it.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Sure I do,” he said. “I’ll be your wingman. You just sit there and look flustered.”
Yuki groaned. “God. This is going to be a disaster.”
Min turned to her. “Come on. Don’t act like you’re not invested.”
Yuki rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Fine..”
Min clapped his hands once. “It’s settled, then. Operation Win Over The Hot Roommate is on.”
I shook my head, laughing despite myself. “You guys are the worst.”
But when I went back to my room later that night, closed the door, and lay back on my bed, all I could see was the way his body had moved. The clean line of his back. The silence that followed him. And I knew.
I was in trouble.
I might be into my painfully hot, emotionally unavailable, gym-addicted roommate.
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