30. Living Together

Lyla was so stunned that she could barely think.

She remained silent, watching as Carlo followed her into the apartment building, stepped into the same elevator, and exited on the same floor, walking straight to the room across from hers.

That room, until today, had belonged to a senior student majoring in physics.

"It did cost me some money," Carlo said casually, inserting a key into the door. "But college students are easy to deal with."

"Is that so?" Lyla shot him a withering glance as she pulled her own key from her bag.

But Carlo was struggling with his key. It got stuck in the lock, and no matter how hard he twisted, it wouldn't budge. In frustration, he twisted harder—until the key snapped in half.

“Damn it!” He cursed, throwing the broken key to the floor.

Now it was Lyla's turn to smirk triumphantly. She unlocked her door but didn’t go inside just yet. This was the moment she'd been waiting for. With a smug look, she said, "I guess that easy-going student didn’t tell you the