UNDER THE SAME ROOF

While carrying a roll up bed that Erika’s father just handed me from their closet, I made my way downstairs and went out from Erika’s place’s front door.

They have a car parked in a carport beside the front door, and I went towards its back to place the roll up bed in the trunk.

Since Mari was already seen near Erika’s house, and across from Cafe Million, we figured the safest place Erika could stay at for now is at my place. Mari likely doesn’t know where I’m staying right now. That’s why we’re currently packing some stuff that Erika would be using while staying at my place.

The room I’m currently using to play games only has my computer in it, so I figured I could just move that to my room, and Erika could use that room for herself.

That said, I haven’t actually got any furniture for her to use while she’s staying at my place, thus we need to pack some of the basic stuff she’d need while staying at my place.

Her laptop along with the other stuff she uses for university is in the backpack she’s been carrying around today, and it was the first thing put inside the car. For her daily needs, clothes, which Erika is currently packing with her mother, some towels, and toiletries for her needs are currently being packed into a suitcase. As for the furniture, we’d just be bringing the roll up bed I just put in the back of the car, a blanket, and a pillow. These are necessary since I only have one bed at my place.

I went back inside Erika’s place after placing the roll up bed in the car’s trunk, and saw Erika’s father carrying a bundled-up blanket, with a couple pillows on top.

I offered him a hand upon seeing this, and brought the items outside, and placed them inside the car’s trunk.

When I went back inside, I saw Erika’s mother carrying a large bag down the stairs and offered a hand to take it inside the car, but she refused. She said there’s still some more stuff in Erika’s room that needed to be brought down and wanted my help carrying those down instead.

So, I went up the flight of stairs and went towards Erika’s room further to the back of the hall from the stairs.

The door was open, probably because Erika’s mother’s hands were full carrying the large bag so she couldn’t close the door.

I peeked inside her room, and saw Erika sitting on the floor, closing another suitcase.

I knocked twice on the door, and Erika turned to face me. “Can I come in?”

She nodded, and I walked inside.

“Is this one done? I can carry it down for you.” I said pointing towards the suitcase she just closed.

She gave me a nod, and I grabbed the suitcase’s handle before getting it up on its wheels. She stood up after I brought the suitcase up, and signed a ‘thank you’ to me.

I gave her a smile in response. “Do you still need to pack anything else?”

She nodded.

“Alright, I’ll take this down and help you with that.”

I then immediately rolled the suitcase outside her room, and towards the stairs. Once at the stairs, I lifted it by the handle, and brought it down, then outside to put the suitcase inside the car’s trunk.

Erika’s dad is already inside the car, turning on the car to warm up the engine a little. Her mother is rearranging the stuff I already put inside the car trunk to free up as much room as possible.

When I walked up to Erika’s mother, she told me to put the suitcase I’m carrying down by her feet, and I did just as told.

Leaving the suitcase to Erika’s mother, I made my way back up to Erika’s room where she’s now placing some bottles of what I assume are personal care items inside a small opaque bag.

I gave the door a couple knocks to let her know I’m here, and she looked at me.

“Can I come in?” I asked again.

She quickly nodded her head.

I stepped inside her room, and even though I know it’s somewhat bad manners to do so, started looking around her room while standing a little by the door.

I had thought that Erika is somewhat of an audiophile when I saw her get excited over my speaker, but it seems she’s more of a musicophile.

Her walls are decorated with band posters. Most I recognize, but some I don’t. There’s also a music player on top of a shelf full of CDs, with a headset wired to the player on top of it.

She also has a guitar leaning on a stand. With my lack of knowledge, I could only tell that it’s shaped like an electric guitar, so it probably is. The surface gleams with a shiny, somewhat reflective chromatic black color. The metallic parts, and the edges of the body are gold, while the edges on the neck are bright white.

There is also what I assume to be a small amp next to it. Which could also be a small portable speaker. I’m not familiar enough with those equipments to tell which is which.

Other than that, it’s just her bed and a desk with a chair.

After packing the bottles inside her opaque bag, she turned to look at me and gave me a smile.

“Is that all you need?”

She nodded.

“Do you want me to carry that?” I asked while extending my hand towards the opaque bag she’s holding.

She shook her head.

“Okay.” I said while lowering my hand. “Oookay..” I said again, trailing off as I turned to look at her guitar again.

The guitar looks really taken care of. I could see the strings gleam, and the surface shines under the light. Though, it’s not entirely spotless either, as I could see a greasy spot in some places upon better inspection. This shows that it also gets at least some use, instead of just sitting in her room.

While I was inspecting the guitar, Erika suddenly tapped my shoulder to get my attention. When I looked her way, she showed me her phone screen. “Do you play?”

I shook my head. “It looks cool.”

She smiled at me in response.

“Can I hear you play?”

She fell into thought for a while. Looking down as she does so.

“You don’t have to, if you’re not comfortable.”

I may have hit a bad spot by asking her to play. From what I understand, Erika’s traumatized from the events that happened when she was in the idol and music industry. So, she might not want people to hear her play.

I stepped outside her room and extended my hand towards to invite her to walk with me. “Let’s go?”

Erika looked at me and grabbed my hand. I gave her a smile when she did, and she smiled back at me. But when I tried to take her downstairs, she tugged on me instead and took me back inside her room.

She pulled the chair away from her desk and pushed me slightly to make me sit down on it.

She then grabbed her guitar and sat on her bed. After placing the opaque bag, she has on her hand down on her bed, she positioned the guitar to play it.

I turned the chair a little so that I would be facing straight at her while she plays.

Erika looked at me and tapped her guitar lightly a few times while looking distant. She seemed to be thinking about something, and I didn’t want to rush her and make her uncomfortable, so I just looked at her in silence.

She then started plucking the strings one by one, playing a note after another. After a short while of doing that, she started strumming the guitar, playing one note after another just as she did when plucking the strings.

After a short while of doing that, she placed a hand on all the strings to stop them from vibrating. Then, she started playing.

Her fingers on one hand move about slightly, plucking on one or two strings at a time to create beautifully arranged sounds. Meanwhile, on the guitar’s neck, her other hand glides over the string with such delicate, yet sharp elegance to tune the sound.

The sound that both hands work to create is so exquisite. Clear sounds coming from the vibrating strings feel as if they sink deep into me and reverberate inside of my head to make me feel warm inside.

She is amazing.

Then, after a long reverberating strum of the strings, she finished her short performance, with me still longing for more.

I smiled at her and gave her a round of applause which caused her to blush a little.

She then immediately stood up, placed her guitar back on the stand she has on the floor, and looked at me with both her hands behind her.

She seemed to be ready to leave now, but that leaves me somewhat confused. “You’re not bringing the guitar with you?” I asked her while standing up and pushing her chair back to her table.

She typed something into her phone and showed me the screen. “Won’t you be disturbed by the noise?”

I chuckled a little upon reading this. “You’re too good for me to complain.”

She then blushed and looked down.

Seeing as she no longer has any reason to not bring her guitar, I walked towards it, grabbed the neck from the back just like I saw her do when grabbing it to play. I then gently picked it up, taking care not to let it bump into anything.

“Let’s go?”

She nodded in response.

She then went to walk outside her room and wait for me outside her door. She seems to have forgotten her opaque bag, so I grabbed it from on top of her bed with my free hand, and walked towards her, exiting the room.

Once outside, Erika then tried to take the opaque bag from me, but I moved it away from her hand, which caused her to pout at me.

I smiled in response, and she closed her room door behind me.

We then made our way downstairs and outside towards the car.

The car is now already outside the carport, with Erika's parents waiting in it. After Erika closed the gate behind us, we went inside the car.

I placed Erika’s opaque bag on my lap and positioned her guitar away from everything so as not to accidentally bump it into anything.

Once everyone was ready, we left towards my apartment.

Hopping out of the car after it was parked close by the basement entrance, everyone made their way to the back of the car.

Erika’s guitar was relatively lighter or smaller compared to the other luggage on the car’s trunk, so I handed it to Erika along with her opaque bag which is obviously the easiest thing to carry around.

After Erika’s dad opened the car’s trunk, I reached in and grabbed Erika’s backpack and threw it on my back, while Erika’s dad went ahead and placed the suitcase on the ground.

The security in the basement noticed us unloading luggage from the car and rushed along to help.

We then share the load among the three of us. I have Erika’s backpack on my back, and the roll up bed on my hands. Erika’s father has the blanket and the couple pillows on his hand. And the guard has the large bag slinged on one shoulder, while rolling Erika’s suitcase down.

Once Erika’s mother closed the trunk and locked the car, we went inside the apartment’s basement hallway. I opened the door using my resident card, holding the roll up bed on one hand while doing so, and we all went inside.

Considering the amount of stuff we’re carrying, we went to the far side to use the service elevator so that we could stick inside one elevator. Once inside, the elevator only took a little time to get to my floor, and we all got off once the elevator stopped.

The security accompanied us to my door, where he put down the bag on top of the suitcase and went to leave, making his way back to the elevator.

Before he went too far away, I stopped him in his tracks and threw the roll up bed to one hand again to reach towards my wallet in my back pocket and tumbled about a little to get a bill out. I handed it to him, he thanked me as he took it, and I thanked him back for helping us.

After putting my wallet back inside my back pocket, I pressed my thumb against the fingerprint reader and typed in my passcode to unlock the door. I opened the door, and held it open for everyone to come inside.

Erika’s mother is bringing the large bag inside, and Erika rolled the suitcase in after Erika’s father came inside carrying the pile of blanket and pillows.

Once I let go of the door, it closed on its own, and I went further in to open the door to the (currently) computer room.

Leaving the door open, I placed the rolled-up bed on one corner of the room and placed Erika’s backpack on the floor next to it. After I did so, everyone came inside the room.

Since I already put everything, I’m carrying down, I looked at Erika’s family as they all looked around the room when putting the luggage, they had on their hand down. There’s nothing in the room other than my computer, so I don’t really know what had intrigued them to do so.

They then finished putting everything down. The blanket and pillows are piled on top of the rolled-up bed, the suitcase and large bag is placed on the floor next to Erika’s backpack, and Erika placed her guitar down gently on the floor before then placing her opaque bag on top of the large bag.

Seeing everything put down, only now had I regretted the fact that I didn’t bring her guitar stand with me. Erika herself doesn’t seem too concerned about it, though.

“Is this what you wanted to move?” Erika’s father asked, pointing towards my computer.

“Oh, yeah.”

I had told him that while I have a room Erika can use, I have to first move some stuff I have inside the room to my room first. He then told me he’d help me move the stuff.

I had turned down the idea at first, but he insisted saying it’s the least he could do, since he’s troubling me with having his daughter stay at my place.

I started to unplug everything from the computer and lifted it down to the floor from my desk with the help of Erika’s father. After that, I moved on to unplug the couple monitors I have on the desk, and I placed one down on the floor while Erika’s father took the other one. There are still some peripherals and accessories on the table still, but they should stay on the desk while we move the desk to my room.

With Erika’s father on the other side of the table from me, we lifted both ends of the table and took it outside the room. We brought it over to my room and placed it down on an empty corner of my room.

We then went back to the other room and started moving the rest of the stuff. I lifted the computer and took it to my room while Erika’s dad brought one of the monitors over. Erika and her mother also offered to help, and while Erika’s mother had the other monitor, Erika rolled my seat over to my room.

After placing the computer down on the desk, Erika’s parents then placed both monitors on the desk, and Erika pushed the chair under the desk. That just leaves the unplugged cables which I grab from the other room.

As I make my way back towards my room, Erika’s family, now in the main room of my apartment, is standing around, looking all over the place.

Seeing this, I tell them they could take a seat on the couch, and they then did, with Erika sitting in between her parents. Once I confirmed that they had gotten comfortable on the couch, I went inside my room and threw the cables on my bed to sort out later.

I got out and closed my room door behind me. “Tea?” I asked while making my way towards the kitchen part of the main room.

“Oh, no, we wouldn’t want to trouble you anymore, Oliver.” Erika’s mother said, with Erika and her father nodding along.

“It’s no problem, ma’am. Just need to dip them in hot water.” I said while holding up a box of tea bags.

Placing the box of tea bags down for now, I put some water in the electric kettle and turned it on. While waiting for it to boil, I got four cups and placed a tea bag in each one of them.

After I did that, I had nothing else to do while waiting for the water to boil, and I noticed Erika’s parents still looking all around the place while occasionally whispering something to Erika.

“Oliver, you have quite a nice place.” Erika’s father then said to me.

“Thank you, sir.”

“If I may, what do you do to be able to get this place? You’re still young, so I actually wasn’t expecting such a nice place.” He then added.

His question was actually well warranted.

As far as they’re concerned, I frequent a cafe on weekdays, and lounge around there for hours on end at a time. If no one told them what I did yet, then it is pretty suspicious for me to have a nice place like this. And as I’m pretty much in a relationship with their daughter, they would need to confirm what I actually do.

It’s not something that I’m very fond of talking about, but it’s not like I’m keeping it a secret or anything. I just don’t want strangers to know about who I am, and I don’t want people close to me to ask why I’ve stopped doing it. But it should be fine for Erika and her family to know.

I went inside my room before answering the question and went towards my bookshelf. I grabbed one of my earlier works, one of the worst ones under my pen name, and brought it outside.

After closing the door behind me, I walked towards the couch and handed the book towards Erika’s father who asked me the question. “This is one of the few I have written.”

Erika’s father took the book from my hand, and Erika’s mother’s eyes widened in surprise when she saw what I was handing to her husband. Erika also seemed to be intrigued as she seems to be keeping her eyes on my book ever since I walked out of my room with it.

Once I handed the book over to Erika’s father, the kettle had started boiling, and I made my way to the kitchen. “I’ll help you with that, Oliver.”

“It’s fine, ma’am-”

“Oh, hush. You only have two hands, and there’s four of us. You need at least another pair of hands.” She said, holding both her hands up after she cut me off mid sentence.

I smiled in response and let her help me with the tea.

I poured hot water onto all four cups, and Erika’s mother started working on two cups, dipping the tea bags in the water to dissolve the dried leaves in them. I did the same with the other two, and we brought all four of them to the coffee table where Erika and her father were sitting, reading my book.

That book was actually written and published using international language instead of this country’s language. Seeing how Erika’s father scrunches up his face a little every now and then, I think there are some places where he doesn't quite understand what was written. Erika on the other hand, seems to be enjoying the book somewhat as she looks quite immersed reading the book from her father’s hand.

“Are you a minimalist, Oliver?” Erika’s mother asked me.

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, I actually would love to get some things for the place. But I don’t really feel the need to do so, so I haven't done that.”

“Are you too lazy to pick up some stuff from the store?” She asks me in a teasing tone.

I chuckled a little as she did so. “You got me.”

She chuckled along with me for a while, before placing a hand on her husband’s shoulder. “If you want to get anything, you can ask my husband here.”

“Oh yeah, I’m a manager at a furniture store. Just tell me if you ever need anything.” He said before closing the book in his hand and placing it on the coffee table. “Anyways, we should get going. It’s getting quite late already.”

“Oh yeah. We hadn’t planned on staying this long.” Erika’s mother added.

They both drank the tea and brought their cup with them as they got up. Erika also got up alongside them, but instead of her cup, she has my book with her.

They then made their way to my kitchen.

“You can just leave the cups in the sink. I’ll wash them later.”

“Thankyou, Oliver. The tea is great. I might get the same one next time I go out shopping.” Erika’s mother replied.

“Oh yeah, it tastes quite strong.” Her husband added.

Me and Erika then walked them out the door. I had initially wanted to accompany them all the way to their car, but they insisted that me and Erika just get back inside. So, we just see them off to the door and watch them go to the elevator.

After they got inside the elevator, we both went back inside. Erika fidgeted around nervously at the door, and I told her to just make herself comfortable. She’d be staying here for some time after all.

When I went further in before her, she tugged on the hem of my shirt to hold me back. When I looked back at her, she had my book in her hand, raised to her chin with the front cover facing me. She also has this puppy eyes as she stares at me.

“You want to keep reading the book?”

She nodded quickly.

“Sure. I have quite a lot of books in my room. You can take a look to get whichever you want.”

She shook her head quickly in response and sprinted a little towards the couch. She then took a seat and continued reading the book.

I walked inside, passed through the bathroom, and looked inside it. “Erika, do you want to take a bath before reading that?”

She looked at me and nodded.

“You can use the shower here, or you can use the bathtub in the bathroom in my room.”

She closed the book and pointed with one hand towards the bathroom we’re by.

She then placed the book on the coffee table and got up. I watched her go inside her room and went to the dinner table to finish my tea.

Once I finished my tea, I went to the kitchen and washed all the used cups in it. While I was scrubbing the cups with a sponge, I heard Erika close and lock the bathroom door behind me.

After drying up my hands once I finished washing the cups, I went inside my room while leaving the door wide open. I need to set my computer, and by leaving the door open, Erika can see where I’m at, and it would be easier for her to get my attention if she needs anything.

I grabbed the cables on my bed and went towards my desk to start plugging everything back in, to set my computer. But when I reached the desk, I could feel my stomach rumble about a little. I just remembered that I hadn’t eaten anything. Neither had Erika.

I’ll ask Erika if she wants to get something delivered when she’s done with her shower.

As she just got inside the shower, she should take a while still to finish. So, I got to work plugging in my computer.

Once I finished plugging everything, I tidied up the loose cables, stuffing them in the cable management holes I have on my desk, and straightened up everything on the desk. Once that’s done, I took a step back to admire what I’ve done.

I then took a step out of my room and saw the bathroom door still locked. So I went back inside my room and got my phone. Before I turned to leave the room again, I looked at my bookshelf, scanning over the books I have in it.

While I was scanning over the bookshelf, my eyes were then drawn to a small box I have on it. It’s my box of bookmarks. I hadn’t given one to Erika, so I took one out of the box before exiting the room.

Sitting on the couch, I placed the bookmark over my book, and went to pick a restaurant from a food delivery app.

After I found one that looked good, I scrolled down and picked something for myself.

And just then, Erika walked out of the shower. She was bringing all of the stuff she brought in, out with her. Including her towel and toiletries.

“Erika.” I called out to her before she could go back inside her room with her stuff. I then got up and went towards the bathroom door. “There’s a place for soap and stuff near the shower. You can put the towel on the drying rack there, and you can put the rest on the sink.” I said while pointing to each spot I was talking about.

She nodded along to everything I said and made her way back inside. She placed everything down on the place I mentioned and was now only left with the clothes she wore before she got into the shower.

Once I’ve noticed that, I finally noticed the clothes Erika is currently wearing.

She has a set of pajamas on, with a long-sleeved shirt, and thin looking pants that goes all the way down to her ankles. It’s lightly colored with stripes and looks very refreshing on her.

“You can put your clothes in the basket under the sink.” I said while pointing towards the basket. “We can bring it down for laundry when it’s piled up.”

She then nodded and placed her clothes on the basket.

She then smiled at me when she no longer had anything else with her.

I smiled back, and we went out towards the main room, and we sat on the couch. She went to pick up her book, along with the bookmark I just placed on top of it.

Before she opened the book, I showed her my phone. “Want to order this?”

She nodded and I handed her my phone.

She then scrolled up and down before settling on something and added it to the order. After she did so, she handed the phone back to me and I made the order.

After I did, she got back to reading her book.

“I’m going to take a bath.” I said to her.

She replied with a nod, and I made my way inside my room.

After getting a fresh set of clothes, I went inside the bathroom in my room and took a shower. Once I’m done, I dried myself, threw on the fresh set of clothes I got earlier, and stepped out, and sat on the couch waiting for the food to arrive.

Not long after, the food arrived and I went down to get the food, leaving Erika in the room to enjoy her book. I picked the food up from the front receptionist of my apartment and made my way back up. Once back inside, I placed the food on the dining table.

Erika had noticed me walking back inside the room and placed the book down on the coffee table. She then made her way to the dining table after I set the food down on it. We each took a seat and ate our meal together.

“Erika, what time do you usually go to bed?”

She put her spoon and fork down, then raised a finger on both her hands.

If she goes to bed at eleven, I need to mind my voice if I’m going to play games later than that.

I’m going to bed around that time too tonight, though. Since I’m supposed to wake up early to exercise tomorrow.

“Do you have classes tomorrow?”

She nodded her head, before putting down her spoon and fork again. She raised both hands, showing me five fingers on one hand, and four fingers on the other.

“You have nine classes tomorrow?” she tilts her head and looks at me quizzically when I say this. “You have a lot of classes, huh?”

She then let out a silent chuckle, which made me gasp in realization.

“Oh! You have a class at nine?”

She nodded her head quickly while still covering her mouth with both hands to hide her chuckle.

“That makes more sense.”

We continued eating in silence after that exchange. It’s not as if the situation is awkward or anything, but I can’t help but be overly conscious of Erika.

I had been pushing the thought to the back of my mind, instead filling it by forcing myself to think that there’s really no other choice, which might actually be true at this time. But I’m currently at my place alone with Erika.

I wanted to keep the conversation going somehow to push the thought to the back of my mind again, but being conscious of Erika as I am now making me unable to think of anything good to talk about. Having nothing to talk about makes me conscious of Erika. It’s a vicious cycle.

But alas, without anything to talk about. I just ended up eating dinner while glancing at Erika in between taking food into my mouth. I can’t help but stare at her delicate hands while she uses the cutlery to eat, and at her lips when she brings the food to her mouth.

Okay. Now I’m just being weird.

I started speeding through my meals.

Erika looks at me quizzically when I start to eat as fast as I can, and I finish eating mine before Erika is done with hers.

Once done, I put my meal box along with the plastic cutleries back inside the bag the meal came in and stood up. Then, I went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water, instantly chugging it down.

Looking at Erika once I finished my glass of water, I noticed Erika looking at me quizzically still.

I’m at the kitchen, which is to the side of the dinner table, so Erika is looking to her side to look at me, and while doing so, she slowly brought a spoonful of her meal to her mouth, still looking at me quizzically.

I can’t help but laugh out loud at myself seeing how unbothered Erika is by all this. This prompted Erika to look even more confused than she had before.

“Sorry, I was just overthinking things.” She looked even more confused with my explanation but still brought another spoonful to her mouth. After making my way around the kitchen counter, I took a seat at the dining table again, across from Erika. “You look cute, Erika.”

She immediately blushed after I said this.

The moment I noticed the pajamas she has on, I already thought that it looked cute on her. Up until now, I have been pushing that thought to the back of my mind to remind myself to not make it weird by being overly conscious of her.

But seeing how she’s seemingly unfazed by the situation, I might as well not let it bother me either, and just say whatever is in my mind to get it off.

Or I might just want to tease her as it’s unfair that I’m the only one bothered by the current situation.

Continuing her meal, she would occasionally glance up to look at me and find me staring at her still from across the table. Immediately after, she would look down onto her meal again, as if to hide her embarrassment.

I must be such a bother to her right now, but she looks really cute like this, so I kept on staring at her, smiling every time she glanced up to tease her.

Eventually, she finished her meal and placed her meal box along with the cutlery she used inside the bag like I did, still avoiding eye contact with me.

When she tied up the bag, I reached towards the bag, and grabbed it, positioning my hand to brush against both her hands as I did. “I’ll throw it into the bin.”

Her face started blushing even more, now reaching all the way to the tips of her ears.

After I relished her cute, embarrassed look, I stood up and brought the bag with me behind the counter.

I Opened one of the cabinets on the counter to reveal the trash bin inside and threw the bag in and closed the cabinet again. When I looked up from the cabinet, I could see Erika still frozen on her seat, her face bright red.

I went to grab a new glass and filled it with water before handing it to Erika. She looked at me when I called out to her and took the glass from me.

I thought about holding onto the glass for a while after she grabbed the glass, along with my hand that’s grabbing the glass. But I ultimately decided against it. Anymore than what I’ve done, and she might actually get mad at me.

After finishing our dinner, I sat down on the couch and invited Erika to sit next to me by patting on the couch. She walked over and took a seat next to me, still a little blushed. She then reached for her book and continued reading it.

“Do you like it?”

She looked at me and nodded.

It feels nice to hear that she likes my work. Especially since it’s one of my earlier works, which are the ones I’m a little insecure about.

I have mixed feelings about my works, since the earlier ones were the ones that hadn’t sold well but were the ones I’m pretty proud about. The later ones on the other hand have sold well, but I don’t feel very proud of them.

This feeling of proudness was heavily influenced by external factors, though.

She then continued reading her book, with me watching her do so from her side.

I actually wanted to play some games, but I also didn’t want to leave her side.

And so, the time just passes by while we sit next to each other in silence. Until Erika then let out a yawn.

The yawn was infectious as I let out one of my own after watching her do so. She turned to look at me when she heard me yawning and let out a chuckle.

Then I took a look at the time on my phone and saw that it’s a little past eleven already.

“Feeling sleepy already?”

She replied with a nod.

I extended my hand towards her cheek, and gave it a gentle pinch and pull, which prompted her to pout cutely at me. I let out a chuckle seeing this. “Good night, Erika.”

She then signed something to me, which I assume to be ‘good night’.

I signed it back to her, and she smiled at me when I got it right at the first try. We then made our way to each of our own rooms, with Erika bringing her book with her, and me thinking that I should pick up sign language while Erika is here.

The next morning, I woke up before Erika did.

Or atleast, I assume so, considering that her door is still closed, and she still has three hours before her class when I left the apartment to go running.

I didn’t want to wake her, so I snuck out quietly, leaving a note that said ‘out for a run’ on the dining table so I wouldn’t worry her.

When I walked out the front entrance of my apartment building, I looked around cautiously, since I was feeling paranoid.

Erika, her parents, and me had all assumed that Mari doesn’t know where I live. This is because of the assumption that if Mari is waiting in places where Erika would likely be my place is out of the question as prior to yesterday. Erika has only visited my place once before.

That said, I was with Erika during the incident at the aquarium, and I was even acting aggressive towards Mari, so there’s a chance she might have looked for where I live.

I have to be careful to keep Erika safe. Which is also why I plan on accompanying Erika to and from her campus.

I really wish I had a car I could use, since that would be much safer.

I don’t have a driver’s licence in this country, so I need to get that before I could get a car, though. And after that, there’s also the fact that I wouldn’t be using the car anymore after Erika goes back to live with her parents. So much for that idea, I guess.

After thinking about this and that on my run, I finally made it back to my apartment after completing my usual route.

After confirming that no one is watching me when I get inside the apartment building, I made my way to the elevator, and went up several floors to the one my room is on.

Pressing my thumb against the fingerprint reader, I put my passcode in to unlock the door and went inside my room. Once inside, I noticed that Erika’s door was still closed, so she’s likely still asleep.

Knowing this, I took care not to make too much noise with every step and went towards the kitchen to get a glass of water.

On my way, I walked past Erika’s room and could hear the somewhat muted sound of Erika playing her guitar.

Walking through her door after I heard it, I grabbed a glass of water just like I first intended.

After drinking everything from my glass, I made my way back to Erika’s door to listen to her play.

I had initially wanted to knock on the door, and ask her to let me hear her play, but stopped just as my hand was about to hit the door.

Now that I’m closer to her door, I could hear the sound coming from inside of her room much better and clearer.

Along with the incredible sound Erika’s making while playing her guitar, I could hear another voice. A soft, calming, and absolutely beautiful singing.