It’s been a few weeks now since I moved into the house of the two sisters, and so far, it’s been great. Sam is nice and almost feels like a little sister to me, with her occasional tantrums and outbursts. In the beginning, I could feel she was a bit skeptical (who wouldn’t be of a total stranger), but she’s starting to warm up to me. I’m glad because something in me tells me that if Sam still didn’t like me, Melody would’ve called the landlord already to kick me out. Talking about Melody, she’s a bit more difficult to read, but she too seems to have eased a bit, compared to the first evening I moved in here.

And then there was that evening’s conversation Sam had with Melody. I really tried not to listen in, tried to block it out, but I was too curious. Too curious to see or hear what Melody was thinking. Like I said, Melody is truly like a closed book. It’s not that she’s rude or unkind to me; I don’t think she can even be unkind, but she’s always been polite, distancing herself when she looked at me too much, removing herself from the situation when I looked at her too much, which is not a great habit of mine. But then again, she’s fascinating to look at. I always wonder what she’s thinking. And today, my self-control just gave in. After weeks of guessing her gazes, her thoughts, the opportunity was too easy, too great not to take. So, I listened in.

Her saying to her sister that “nothing is happening” and “neither of us wants to start anything” was not the answer I had hoped for. Then again, Melody seems to really love her sister and wants whatever is best for her. Not getting into anything with anyone just because her sister says so seems to be something Melody would do.

I look at her. She’s sitting across from me, cross-legged again, and with her phone in her hand. Her face is unreadable, most likely thinking about Sam and their conversation as well if the nervous biting on her bottom lip is any indication. I wasn’t sure if they made up yet, but so far, the air in the room has been tense whenever Melody and Sam are in the same room together. I’d hoped that I could ease the tension a bit, but I had no luck yet.

Suddenly, Melody catches me looking and raises an eyebrow. “What?”

“Nothing,” I say quickly. “Just replaying lunch with the team. Your face was funny,” I say something random, hoping to ease the tension in her eyebrows. Jessica asked me where I was living, and I’ve never seen Melody so scared and anxious, even though I had promised not to tell anyone anything.

“That’s not funny. I was really nervous, though,” she sulks, putting down her phone.

“Why?” I now also put down my phone. “That I would rat you out?”

She shrugs. “Yeah, you easily could’ve.”

“Nah,” I say. “I don’t do drama, and besides, I already promised you that I wouldn’t say anything.”

We look at each other, and a silence falls. Sam went to bed, or at least went upstairs to avoid her sister, so it’s just me and Melody. She puts on some jazzy music, but the music fades into the background, as everything always does whenever I look at her for too long.

“Well,” Melody says. “I thank you for that. It’s nice to have someone who isn’t about drama for once.”

The sentence holds too much weight to be said so casually. I still wonder what happened to her family. I sometimes wonder why she doesn’t see her parents. I wonder why she treats Sam as her daughter sometimes. I wonder why a young person like her is living with her sister in a cheap house, despite the work paying well. And then I wonder how she keeps herself standing. She must be in an even more difficult situation than I can imagine. But I know better than to ask. If she doesn’t tell me herself, it’s not my business, no matter how curious I am.

Again, she catches me looking, and I smile at her. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone a thing. I promised, didn’t I?”

She smiles too, as she lets air out of her mouth. “Yeah, you did.”

Melody goes to bed early that evening. Removing herself from the situation again, and the urge to stop her gets stronger, but again, I don’t act on it. She clearly has been through something. Something that’s bad enough to ward off any men in the form of the self-inflicted dating ban. So, I wish her good night and wait until the bathroom is quiet again, and then wait some more until I hear her bedroom door close before I make my way upstairs.

I’m scrolling on my phone for a bit, and I don’t think it’s that late (it’s 2 a.m.) when I hear some sound coming from Melody’s bedroom. A few days ago, I heard it too. At first, I couldn’t place it, but then I realized she was murmuring and crying in her sleep. I never went in there; entering a housemate’s bedroom is off-limits, and she always calmed down herself. However, this time it’s different. It’s been ten minutes already, and she doesn’t seem to calm down. If anything, it sounds as if it’s getting worse. They always say never to wake a sleeping person, but I don’t think she’s sleeping anymore. Before I can think twice about it, my body moves. I open my door and make my way to Melody’s bedroom.

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Before I can go back again, I raise my hand and knock. “Melody? Are you okay?” The crying hasn’t stopped, and only seems to have gotten worse. I look at Sam’s bedroom door. No sounds from there. Seems like she’s so used to her sister having nightmares that she doesn’t even wake up anymore. “Melody?” I ask again. I didn’t really have a plan to begin with, but her not responding to me isn’t something I expected. I feel stupid waiting outside her bedroom, waiting for her to calm down, hoping she calms down. She doesn’t.

Next thing I know, I hear her thrash and cry and cry out for help. Opening the door, I realize I don’t know her room layout, and her room is pitch black. Turning on the light in the hallway, and keeping the door open, however, does the trick. I rush towards her, as I see tears on her face. Fear spikes in me, hoping nothing is seriously wrong, like a medical emergency. “Melody,” I speak clearly, my voice not too loud to scare her, but not too soft for her not to hear. She continues to thrash and cry, although her crying is less now. “Melody…” I say, as I softly grab her shoulder that is closest to me, trying to wake her up. She doesn’t wake up calmly. Instead, she sits up suddenly. Her eyes red from the tears, her hair a mess, and I feel a tinge of sympathy in my

stomach. Feeling sorry for her, although I still don’t know exactly what happened, I do know it’s bad.

She sniffles as new tears form in her eyes. New tears, but this time of relief. She collapses against my shoulder. I feel the warmth of her skin and the softness of her hair as I try to console her the best I can. “It’s okay,” I say. “It’s going to be alright.” I stroke her hair, feeling out of place to do so. It’s been some weeks, but I still feel awkward, cursing at myself for going into her room in the first place. Sure, she was crying and feeling miserable, but now she thinks I’m a creep. I shouldn’t be here. Shame comes over me as I force myself to gently push her away, hoping she doesn’t think I’m weird. I look at her face, and I catch the moment Melody realizes it’s me. Her eyes go a bit bigger, and the guarded look is back.

“Sorry… Did I wake you?” She asks, turning her gaze down to the blankets. Light from the hallway falls into the room, and I can see the tiniest hint of a blush forming on her cheeks.

“No, I was still awake. I-.” I hesitate before continuing. “I’m sorry, I was awake, and I heard you, and I thought something had happened, so I came to check up on you, but now I feel like I shouldn’t have?” The words fall out before I can stop them, the sentence being said as one word.

For a second, she looks confused, trying to string the words into a proper sentence, and then a small smile. Relief washes over me when I see the corners of her mouth turning upwards. I’m not sure what she finds funny, but a smile is better than tears or fear, so for now, I’ll take it. Then, doubt creeps back into her eyes. “You came to check up on me?”

I blink. “Yeah, I thought maybe you were hurt… or something.” It sounds like a lame excuse. “I’ll get-,” I gather my thoughts. “Should I get you some water?” When she doesn’t protest, I don’t wait a second longer. I stand up and walk to the bathroom. As softly as I can, I take the cup from the bathroom and fill it up. It is then that I look at myself in the mirror and try to calm down. She doesn’t seem horrified to see me, or disgusted or weirded out or anything negative. When the cup is full, and I’ve convinced myself to relax a bit more, I come into her bedroom again. Melody is now lying down but sits up when she sees me entering.

I hand the cup to her. “Here you go…”

She takes it, and I notice her hands are less shaky, her posture more guarded again. When she finishes it, she puts the cup down and sighs. “Sorry for waking you and thanks for the water.”

I smile. “No worries. Try to sleep some more, okay? You’ll have to wake up at 7 again. For your running,” I quickly add.

A small but genuine smile appears on her lips. “Thanks. I’ll try not to wake you up again.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I give her a small wink. “I’ll happily get you some water if that happens again.”

She smiles at me, a shy smile. My heart is happy and jumps up from glee. When I leave the room, I don’t feel like an idiot anymore. I feel like I helped her. At least, that’s what I hope. When I'm in the hallway, I still don’t hear a sound coming from Sam’s bedroom. Luckily, she didn’t wake up or seem to have heard anything. I tiptoe back to my room, but it’s a while before I finally fall asleep.

That morning, I wake up to the sound of the shower being turned on. I groggily look at my phone to see what time it is, and I see it’s 7:45 a.m.

“She’s right on time…” I mutter. I get out of bed, get dressed, and the moment I walk out of my room, at the same time Melody comes out of the bathroom. Fully dressed but with a towel on her still wet hair.

“Good morning,” I say.

She looks up, having not noticed me, and a hint of a small blush appears on her cheeks. I think she’s the most beautiful I have ever seen.

“Hey, good morning,” she says.

“How was the run this morning?” I’m not sure why I’m making small talk. It’s not like we have all the time in the world. In fact, I feel like I’m a bit late.

“It was good and refreshing, as always,” she smiles but bites her lips, seemingly nervous. “Also, I wanted to thank you for last night. I’m sorry for making you feel awkward, but you really helped me. I slept great after that.”

“You’re welcome, and for the record, I wasn’t that awkward, right?”

She now laughs. “You definitely were. But it’s fine. It made me feel less awkward.” Her eyes sparkle, and I feel my own cheeks heat up for once.

I cough. “Well, I’m glad. I didn’t mind it one bit.”

Melody wants to say something to that, probably apologize again, but is interrupted by an annoyed Sam.

“Can you guys not talk so much in front of my literal door? It’s too early for a tea ceremony.”

Melody seems thrown off, and her frown comes back. “Don’t be stupid. You had to get up anyways.” And then to me: “The bathroom is free if you want. I’m going to make some breakfast. Be ready in 10 minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I say before making it to the bathroom. Sam groans and shuts her door again. I sigh, looking at myself in the mirror. My pink cheeks are uncommon for me, and my pupils are too big. I sigh, turn the water on at the faucet, and cool my face down with cold water.