Purposefully Coincidental ✓

20. Emergencies

Josephine

After closing the door, I take a deep breath before facing my very dear brother again.

Except he's not very dear to me right now.

Time and time again I tell them, Roman specifically, to just send a quick text telling me they're coming over.

My other brothers—though they don't always do it—are better at letting me know they're coming than Roman.

He thinks he owns the place and just enters without calling, without texting me, and without knocking.

One time, I was in the shower and heard some commotion. Suffice to say, I almost had a heart attack thinking someone was in my house.

Turns out, there was a game playing, and he brought a friend over to watch it.

And he had the nerve to tell me to dress before walking out of my room.

Well, excuse me for only wrapping a towel around my still soaped body because I thought someone broke in.

I slowly turn around and he immediately starts going off. This time in English.

"Why didn't you tell me he can fucking speak Italian?" He raises his hand in the air.

I shrug. "Why didn't you let me know you were coming over?"

"You didn't answer when I texted you."

"That doesn't mean I'm not home. You knew I didn't have work today, so I could've been home."

"But you weren't." He counters, like I did something wrong for going out with a friend. "Instead, you were here with a 'friend'."

He says the word friend in a mock tone.

"What is your problem? Seriously?" I put my bangs behind my ear. "So what if he's my boyfriend?"

"It's the fact that no one knows, and he's out here having no problem being naked in your room."

I can already feel a headache forming, so I massage my temples as I walk to the kitchen for water.

"I'm gonna say it one last time." I say after drinking a glass of water. "He is not my boyfriend. He's just a friend who happens to be a boy."

"Friends don't kiss each other." He counters, reminding me of the soft kiss Leo planted on my forehead. It was the softest kiss ever, but I could understand everything he was trying to tell me with it. That he doesn't care about the things my brother said about him, that he's only trying to sleep with me.

"Me and my friends do." I argue.

"No, you don't." He comes closer.

I laugh, but this is seriously starting to annoy me.

"Oh, and how do you know that?"

"You're trying to change the subject." He dismisses me with a hand in the air. "All I want to know is why you didn't tell us."

"No, you're the one changing the subject." I say, my voice raising again. I pride myself on being a calm person, but siblings have a special talent of bringing the worst in a person. "He's not my boyfriend. But even if he is, I don't have to tell you that."

"You—"he starts, but I cut him off.

"No." I raise my palm. "All I ever asked of you when I moved here is to either call, text or at least knock! The whole reason I moved out was to have a sense of privacy, but you don't seem to understand that! I gave you a key for emergencies, okay? In case I fainted or the entire thing went up in flames, but you enter like this is actually your place. If you want your own house, just rent or buy one. Don't come here to watch a stupid game, bring your friends that I don't even know, and have the nerve to tell me to close my bedroom door if the noise is bothering me."

After my rant, I take a deep breath. This is the first time I've gone off on him like that. Most of the time, I would just shut up to avoid a headache and confrontation. But this time, he went too far. Not the fact that he waltzed in, but that he cast judgment on Leo with only one glance at him.

"You were the one who told us we can use the place whenever we needed."

And now I regret it.

It's like I still live with five obnoxious, older brothers. Like how it was in high school. Back then, I had no sense of privacy, and now I still don't. Even when I live alone.

"I did." I answer. "But I didn't think you'd take that too literally. I meant if you needed some time alone, away from mama or papa or something. Not to come here just because,"

"Then, you should've been clearer."

"You're right. It's my fault." I give him a fake smile. I want to tell him to give me the spare key back, but I'm optimistic he'll start respecting boundaries after this argument. And also he'll get another key from one of my other brothers if he wants to.

Titling the glass to my lips, I empty it, then put it in the sink.

"Weren't you here to grab your shoes?" I ask him, done with this conversation. He looks like he wants to say something, but he refrains.

He wordlessly enters my bathroom. When he returns, his work shoes are in his hand.

He stares hard at me from the door and after a grumbled goodbye; he closes the door behind him. I peek from the window to see his car driving away, then lock the door from the inside.

Tonight, I don't care if I fall in the shower or if I have a sudden heart attack. They can break the door all they want.