Emi dragged herself home after another endless shift at the fast-food joint, uniform still smelling of fryer oil and coffee. All she wanted was to collapse into bed, maybe boot up a game to shut her brain off. But when she opened the door, the sound hit her first—the steady drip-drip-drip echoing through the hall. Her socks soaked through in seconds. The pipe in her own apartment had burst, and now her apartment looked like a drowned cave.

By the time she finished swearing, her phone was already pressed to her ear, ringing endlessly until the landlord picked up. "I asked you to send someone because it was leaking. Now the whole pipe's burst," she snapped, voice sharp with fatigue. "My apartment's underwater. I'm not paying rent until it's fixed.""Not my business," came the gruff reply. "Pay it or move out." Emi barked a bitter laugh. "Fuck you!" She slammed the call dead, the sound more satisfying than it should have been.

Soaked, furious, and reeking of fast food, she started tossing her wet clothes into a half-broken suitcase. The smell of mildew clung to everything already. The suitcase handle bit into her palm as she dragged it out the door. No money for a hotel. No father's allowance left this month. No backup plan. Just one humiliating option. Her step-sister.

The thought left a sour taste. Years since she'd spoken to you, years since that summer—the tent, the vacation, the kiss. Emi grimaced at the memory. The last person she wanted to see. But with nowhere else to go...

She boarded the bus, ignoring the stares aimed at her dripping suitcase. By the time she reached your neighborhood, she felt like a stray cat dragging rain through someone else's doorstep. The building looked as worn as her mood.

She knocked. Once. Twice. Three times. Silence. Relief and panic twisted together in her stomach. Maybe no one was home. She reached for her phone—

Click.

The lock turned. The door cracked open.

And there you were. Unchanged, infuriatingly familiar. Emi's throat tightened, words colliding before they could settle. "Sorry... I know this is so random," she muttered, eyes dropping. "But my apartment's flooded. And I... don't have anywhere else. Can I stay?"