She doesn't answer his question immediately, her hands hold the tea cup, eyes watching him over the rim as if wondering what to say and what not to say. Finally, she takes a sip of tea and replies quietly, with a faint hint of avoidance in her voice.
"I..." She fumbles over her words for a moment as if she started wrong, then continues quickly to hide it, "...there was a dog... running on the street just outside your house. It looked miserable... like very miserable, so I thought... saving him from the rain would be good..." Just as she was continuing, he coughs once quietly to interrupt her and takes the sip from his own cup while looking at her.
"I guess... don't tell your situation right now if you don't want to. You don't have to find things to fill in for the answer."
She stared at him silently for some time, as if thanking him for his consideration about her state and accusing him at the same time for his bluntness about her avoidance tactic. But, her shoulders relax slightly visibly at that and she really drank her tea afterwards properly.
As the night deepened and a few hours passed by in a continuous tap-tap of rain hitting the windows and roof, they both found out a strange and cautious harmony in the same house, though the tension between them lingers. He lies on his bed, staring at the dark silently. The encounter with the girl remains in his mind obviously, since she is sleeping just in the living room. There had been a talk but it mostly ended with the passing of names, deceptions, unanswered questions and curiosity.
"Though... It looks very much like that movie..." The thought crossed his mind briefly, sending a faint wave of heat passing over his face. Quickly pulling the blanket over his face and closing his eyes, he decided to sleep because while the thought was alluring, reality would definitely not allow him to indulge like that hero. If waist was the destination of the hero... then police station would be his destination in the reality.
The next morning arrived quickly, bringing both freshness and questions with. During the early morning, he watched silently as she drank the tea again and how she ignored him tactfully while doing that. Later that morning... She walked inside the bathroom timidly for the bath. He was getting both impatience and slightly irritated at the progression now.
The time was near the afternoon, the sound of his footsteps was unusually loud on the sidewalk. His hand tightened on the strap of the shopping bag once and he finally snapped as his gaze shifted sideways beside him.
"Just what are we doing here? I gave you the place to sleep during the rain, not to mention two whole cups of tea, one at night, the other in the morning! You bathed literally two times in my house! And... now... now..."
He couldn't finish his words properly, just pointed at the stores with his hand while staring at her.
She was still in his clothes, head tilted down as she just listened silently to him without interjecting even once. Her hands clutched tightly on the hem of her shirt, desperate and helpless. But she felt the sudden urge to speak something before she could be perceived wrongly.
"I didn't mean to do that! I... I just..." Her eyes darted toward him once as if to gauge his reaction, then looked away again quickly. "Some... personal problems... Yes, that is the problem!"
She looked up again quickly, eyes wide as if she had stumbled upon the truth finally.
"..."
He looked away slowly, face twisted as he swung the shopping bag albeit too high. She's... just spouting loads of bullshit, isn't she? he thought silently. With a deep exhale and suppressed annoyance, he walked ahead of her to buy milk and bread... with a quiet awareness that she is still following after him.
What started as the sudden union and reluctant sharing of space... turned into a slightly familiar, albeit awkward routine as more than several days passed by. His taunts which were thrown at her slowly turned into a resigned acceptance when she became used to listening to him simply. She revealed things about herself to him... but they were mostly to keep him on the edge without ever saying what he really wanted to hear.
On this random day, both of them sit across from each other in the living room, their eyes stare at the chessboard between them with painful intensity. Black for him and white for her. He leans down slightly forward and moves the pawn ahead.
"Try harder... or do you want something from me...? Maybe some pity?"
The girl simply scoffs in return, half of her body draped over the table as her finger taps her white knight forward. "No, keep your pity. You will need it later for yourself."
"..."
"Confident... are we?"
"It's intelligence, to be precise."
He glances up at her briefly for a moment, takes in her sitting posture and looks back at the board. The corner of his mouth twitches upward.
"Intelligence..."
The black bishop jumps several steps ahead... lands straight over the head of the white queen with an albeit loud thump.
"...Sure."
Ten minutes later, all the pieces are cluttered around the board. Her toes are swaying left to right, feet on the table and eyes looking at him with what looks like... contempt. He stares between her feet and the board silently as if looking at her feet will erase the last ten minutes of shame. Her voice comes low, slow... and melodic.
"Say it... Make excuses that this was a mistake..."
His jaw tightens briefly. "I... Something went wrong."
"Your intelligence?"
"J...Just some strategy..."
"Just accept it already."
"...If I did that, you will..."
"Obviously, I will! I wasn't the one who started throwing taunts after killing a mere queen!"
He stares at her face for some time before his shoulders finally hunch forward slightly. His hands slowly find their way near the board, and then... slowly on her feet. Unable to keep looking at her eyes, his gaze falls down as he starts massaging her feet slowly.
She just smirks in return, curling her toes against his palm, teasingly. "Stop sulking already, you lost the bet. There... rub the heel properly."
Several minutes later, water falls down on his hands with sharp pressure. He cleans his hands as if they were contaminated, the image of her feet flickers in his mind and he rubs his hands even more aggressively thinking of that. He glances back over his shoulder for a moment in the direction of the living room. Still smirking... that devil... he thinks silently.
After the return from shopping that day, she had promised that she would leave in just a few days and that she has some personal issues with her family. The reason he agreed to that absurd excuse was even unknown to him, but anyhow... she had adapted real quick after that... or maybe she was just shameless, he has trouble distinguishing between the two words. A few days had passed already, even more than that, but she wasn't mentioning anything about her return and... neither he was pressuring her as he had done in the beginning.
Whether the reason was related to his feelings, lack of self-preservation, or simply that he... was tired of living alone... remains unknown.