One Roof

Chapter 24

I dropped off Emily and her car in front of her home. Emily's family told me to just keep the car for now, as it was previously used by Olivia. She had her own car now, so she no longer used this one. I promised to drive it carefully and went home. Despite dropping Emily off, the fact that Emily's shadow continued to accompany me made it look as if Emily never got off in the first place.

"We can't even have an emotional parting, huh?"

"Why do you even want one?"

"That's how it went in shows."

People looked at each other, embraced each other, uttered words like 'stay safe, I'll see you again.' while tears rolled down their cheeks, but since Emily was right here with me, our distance didn't become a factor. It didn't even exist.

"You're parents there?"

"Why are you asking?"

"You seemed to be talking so freely.

While it was true that her family knew about our predicament, Emily had just arrived from afar. When I went back to Jakarta to visit my own family, I found it hard to talk to Emily in front of them, as I felt weird and unnatural. Emily seemed to be having no issue at all with returning to her home. I feel happy that it was the case, but I got curious.

"Well, I'm in my room right now, tidying stuff up."

"Sorry for bothering you."

"Not at all."

The car went silent once again. I noticed that I hadn't turned on the radio and did that, setting the volume to the minimum. I couldn't see what Emily was doing, and knowing that I was still on the road, she did her best to not even appear in the corners of my view.

"It sure feels weird, huh?"

"That's not a new feeling."

"Yeah..."

After that small talk, Emily went silent once more. Not finding anything interesting to talk about, I said nothing. I started to consider the possibility of me staying behind to help her unpack. Had that been the case, I wonder what I would be doing now. Would I actually be helping, or would I be just sitting on her bed, doing nothing? Would Emily's father rope me into a conversation instead, or maybe since he wasn't home, her mom would be the one that talked to me?

Well, Emily had just arrived home from a long trip, so I guess I shouldn't bother her. Since our homes weren't far from each other, it didn't take long for me to arrive. I parked the car in front of my house. Both of my parents were still at work, and wouldn't return until late in the evening, so I left my car there, even if it blocked the garage. I then entered the empty house using my set of keys.

It had been a long while since I last entered this house with no one home. A trip between Jakarta to Serpong usually took about an hour. Not as long as others' commute, I know, but it wasn't viable for me to go back and forth between my home and the university for four years, so we decided to lease an apartment. I would still go home occasionally on weekends, but when I did, I would have my parents waiting for me. For me to enter this house all alone felt unnatural, and that wasn't even considering the fact that Emily was there. She lay on the bed, her eyes closed and her hands spread.

I guess she had fallen asleep after all the unpacking she went through. She still wore the same clothes she wore when she got here. She probably waited for me to reach home before taking a shower, not wanting to risk it. I sent her a silent thank you and used the opportunity to clean myself up. Positioning her so she faced away from me, in the case she accidentally woke up, was a challenge. Since she didn't move, and I couldn't touch her, I was the one who needed to go back and forth, all around her to finally get a good position.