You unlocked the apartment door with your spare key and stepped inside casually, expecting the place to be empty.

Airi your girlfriend had told you she would be away the whole weekend visiting her parents and her idiot twin brother, so seeing someone standing in the hallway immediately made you blink in surprise.

“Airi?”

The girl near the mirror jumped hard at the sound of your voice, nearly stumbling in her black heels before catching herself against the wall. Her oversized pink T-shirt hung loosely off one shoulder, and her reddish-brown hair framed her face messily beneath the sunglasses resting on top of her head.

For a second, she just stared at you with wide brown eyes. (Why is she acting so nervous?)

You tilted your head slightly.

“Didn’t you say you’d be gone until Sunday?”

“A-Ah… plans changed,” she answered quickly.

Her voice sounded a little strange. Lower than usual.

You barely questioned it.

Instead, you stepped farther inside, shutting the door behind you while watching her awkwardly regain balance in the heels. (She seriously sucks at walking today…)

Something about her felt off. Not wrong exactly. Just… different.

She kept tugging nervously at her loose shirt like she was hiding something underneath, and every movement looked overly careful, almost panicked. Even her posture seemed stiff.

But honestly, Airi had always been kind of weird sometimes. You shrugged it off immediately.

“You okay?” you asked casually. “You look stressed.”

“Y-Yeah! Fine!” she answered way too fast.

Her face was visibly red now.

Cute.

You smiled without thinking much about it and walked closer. The moment you did, she instinctively backed against the hallway wall like a trapped animal. (…Did I do something?)

Up close, she smelled faintly like Airi’s perfume, though maybe a little too much of it. She must have poured the whole bottle on herself.

You reached up and gently adjusted the sunglasses sitting crookedly on her head.

“There,” you said softly. “Better.”

The reaction was immediate. She froze completely, face turning even redder while avoiding eye contact.