After a brief walk, they arrived at Katherine's house. It was conveniently located in a quiet neighbourhood, close to both her workplace and the university.

Katherine opened the door, turned on the lights, and gestured for Elizabeth to enter. But Elizabeth hesitated to enter the house, she was clutching the jacket tightly. She was still not feeling good about entering a stranger's house. However, was the street safer than this house?

Katherine quickly realised what was happening. She approached Elizabeth, who was standing in the doorway, and gave her the house key without hesitation. “Here, you can stay in my house tonight. I have a friend nearby, so I can sleep there.” she said. Elizabeth looked at her with surprise, “What?”

Elizabeth did not take the key from Katherine's hand, so Katherine put it on the shoe cabinet and took a jacket from the hanger. As she was putting it on and walking past, she stopped when Elizabeth grabbed her, “Where are you going? This is your house!”

Katherine talked in a serious tone as if this happened before, “You will not be comfortable if I stay, so I will come back tomorrow morning-”

“No! Why are you- Are you crazy? This is your own house!”

“I know. And can you be a little quiet, miss? People here are mostly elders and I'm sure they're asleep by now.”

Elizabeth hissed at her, “Just go in! I will not feel uncomfortable!” Katherine thought the woman's nervous look was... cute? That was surprising. A smirk appeared on her face.

“You sure?”

“Yes! Yes, I am.” She whispered.

“Alright then.”

In the end, they got in the house together. Katherine was about to lock the door as she normally does, but she didn’t. She also leaved the key on the keyhole.

She took off the jacket and hung it back on the hanger, then turned to Elizabeth and pointed to the couch, “Please sit, I will go get some water for you.” Elizabeth did as she was told. She took off the jacket Katherine had given her and put it on the couch. Then she started looking around the house.

Quite minimalistic. Was her first impression. There wasn’t much furniture. There was this couch, a television, and a game console on the coffee table. It was all very well organised. The most interesting thing was that everything was placed where it was in a certain symmetry. The game console was placed exactly at corner of the coffee table. The controller was placed at a ninety degree angle, right next to the console. There was a coffee cup on the side of the console, facing exactly to the couch.

The carpet, on the other hand, was placed under the centre of the coffee table. The vertical line down the centre of the carpet looked like a continuation of the centre line formed by the cabinet doors of the TV set. Is this what they call Symmetry OCD? She remembered one of her mother's friends talking about having it. However, the woman only ever spoke about the order of the teacups when she was in other people's houses.

Katherine returned with an unopened bottle of water just as Elizabeth was beginning to feel dizzy. She sat down on the table and handed her the bottle.

“Here.”

“Thank you.”

Elizabeth was struggling to open the bottle since her wrist was hurting. So, Katherine slowly took the bottle back and handed it to her after she had opened it. It was not until Elizabeth drank the water that she realised how thirsty she was. It was a given… She couldn't even buy water because she had spent all her money on alcohol.

Why the hell was this girl trying so hard to help her? She wasn't used to this kind of treatment, it was making her feel uneasy. The girl’s silence was making her uneasy. Being in this house was making her uneasy…

“Is it okay if I use your bathroom?” She broke the silence.

“Of course, it’s at the end of the corridor. Also, let me bring you new clothes.”

“Thank you.”

This time, she accepted the kindness she got without hesitation. She closed the door as soon as she entered the bathroom with spare clothes Katherine had given to her. She lean towards the door, how could she enter the house of someone she didn't know? But she had to be realistic, it was impossible for her to stay on the street.

She held onto the sink, looked at her eyes in the mirror, red from crying. She was looking so pale. She had hurt her lip because she kept biting it. Her slightly dishevelled hair covered the band on her forehead a little. Such a disaster… She thought.

The cold water against her face made her shiver. She took the pyjamas she had been given. Although they belonged to another woman, they were too big for her. How tall was this girl? How old was she? She looked quite young. She was probably in her early twenties.

Why would she risk putting herself in danger for me? She thought. Was she naive enough to do such a favour to someone she had just met for the first time? She even took her to her house without any proper question. She hadn't even asked who she was… She hadn't forced her to speak. She had prioritized the tiny cuts on her when her own injury was more serious.

Or... does she… have an ulterior motive? The last thought sends a shiver down her spine.

She left the bathroom without changing her clothes and walked slowly into the living room. Katherine was taking out some ingredients on the kitchen counter. She smiled when she saw her coming, “You are here, great. You haven't changed yet? By the way, are you hungry? What’re you want to eat?” 

Elizabeth started rubbing her palm while Katherine continues, “Actually I bought pasta from market before I met you, but I dropped the bag at the park.” The t-shirt that the girl changed into showed off her muscular arms as she cut some vegetables on the counter.

Elizabeth was scared.

“Well, I’m not gonna lie. I’m actually really bad at cooking. Maybe we can order something? There are a few restaurants around here that are open until late at night.” She put the knife down on the counter, leaving Elizabeth staring at the shiny piece of metal for a while, and she walked over to the fridge. She put her hands on her hips and looked at the first page of the notebook pinned to the fridge. “Hmm, what should we order…? I am not that picky, so… What about-”

“I don’t have anything.” Elizabeth tried to speak confidently, but she sound rather pitiful.