“My room is ready! My room is ready!”

T lets out a sigh. He knows I’ve been working tirelessly on the house, up early and at it till late in the night, cleaning and shopping and rearranging things. Testing appliances. Creating checklists. And, having picked the ‘nice but small’ over ‘big but blech’ arrangement for my budget, optimizing every nook and cranny for storage & efficiency. Probably worst of all, he knows I am basically bouncing off the walls in a dangerous fit of hyperactivity, ADHD and OCD.

“I’ll buzz you when I’m on my way.”

His housewarming gift is candy. He pops them into the fridge, hops over to my room, and frowns hard at it.

My room, a square box measuring a few hairs over 9 x 7 feet (with a door that takes up about a quarter of the space), barely fits a single bed, respectable closet, small desk and tiny chest of drawers. In order to leave a huge empty gap in the middle of the room for my brief workouts, the ultimate compromise was leaving an entrance gap between the corner of the bed and wardrobe under a foot wide, which was easily maneuvered by someone my size (I weigh under 110 lbs), but…

“What. What is this? How is anyone any bigger than you going to fit through this?”

“You’ll fit.”

“No I won’t.”

“You’re not even trying!”

T nods, respectfully holding back a chuckle of derision. “Alright then.”

He makes a dramatic effort to squeeze through the gap. It’s fine, but he gives me a big stern look for the trouble.

“On the bright side, it looks really cool.”

“Yep. Not bad actually.”

“And you have to test the bed! The mattress is awesome.”

At this point T’s eyes light up. Hong Kong apartments tend to feature rock-hard, supposedly chiro-practical mattresses. Being Asian and no stranger to sleeping on floors, I was quite alright with this arrangement. But when bouncing from one mattress to the other in IKEA, I realized that the difference between a low-range (HK$700 - 990) and mid-range mattress (about HK$1,500) was like the difference between sleeping on a dishwashing sponge and… a cloud. I splashed for the mid-range, and topped it off with a HK$200 mattress pad which could double as a guest bed.

T cautiously climbs onto the thick mattress, and lets out a short moan as he lies down.

“This is… the first time I’ve laid on a soft mattress… since I left New Zealand.”

“I sleep soooo well on this thing.”

T extends his arms and legs. He turns one way, then the other. His eyes meet Paddington, my wheat-coloured, blue-raincoated teddy bear. He picks it up and plonks it on my desk. “All to myself, please.”

“I need that.”

“It’s fine there.”

“I need desk space too.”

“Put the bear on the floor then.”

T closes his eyes, smiling oh-so-slightly as he lets his entire body weight sink into the pile of softness.

“If you ever come to visit, will it be for me or for trying out my bed?”

“Bed.”

It’s a return on investment, I suppose.