Chapter 2
That day, I was about to take a shower. I’d just stepped into the bathroom and hadn’t locked the door yet. I heard the faintest sound of a door creaking open, and my heart instantly seized with alarm. Then, a soft rustling of footsteps. Someone was approaching the bathroom! My nerves went taut. On instinct, I lunged for the door and instantly locked it from the inside. Under the cover of the running water, I faintly heard a man’s heavy breathing from outside the door. My previous roommate was a girl, so I never had this kind of worry. I was used to being careless. I’d been too careless, I’d completely forgotten a man lived here now. If I had been a second slower to lock the door, I didn’t know if he would have burst in.
“Dustin, is that you out there? What do you want?” I called my new roommate’s name, my voice icy, hoping to scare him away. I was terrified he would just rush in. After all, this thin plastic door wouldn’t stand a chance against an adult’s kick. But there was no answer from outside the door, only more faint footsteps. He was moving away. After a hurried shower, I wrapped myself up tightly, pulling a large towel over my nightgown before I dared to step out of the bathroom. On the couch, my new roommate sat with his back to me. Hearing the sound, he immediately turned around, a perfectly calm smile on his face.
“I just needed to use the restroom. I was half-asleep and didn’t realize anyone was in there. My bad.” His expression looked utterly innocent. “Oh… right, no problem.” After a brief exchange, I retreated to my room, and he entered the bathroom. By the time I’d dried my hair and put on a face mask, emerging from my room, he was no longer in the living room. His bedroom door remained tightly shut. It was as if I was the only one who was tense from start to finish. He always seemed so calm. I forced myself to calm down, repeatedly telling myself I was overthinking things. Was I too quick to judge based on appearances? Mulling this over, I entered the bathroom, intending to wash the undergarments I’d just changed out of. I used to just hang my freshly changed intimates directly on the wall hooks, out of habit. But now, I noticed something odd. Did I really hang them like this? The way they were hanging just felt different from my memory. Still, I’d just casually hung them up, and my memory was hazy, so I couldn’t be sure.
“Overthinking it, overthinking it,” I muttered to myself. After washing my intimates, I took them out to dry on the communal balcony. The balcony faced my new roommate’s bedroom door. Everything was perfectly still. But just as I finished hanging the clothes and turned around, I suddenly saw… His door, at some point, had opened a crack, and through the gap, his glasses glinted faintly. This time, I was certain: he was peeking at me.