I didn't expect it to go anywhere when I casually joked, "Want to move in with me?"
We were both at the campus café, shivering because the heater was broken, when Mia came in. Her hair was wet from the rain, and she looked exhausted in a way that made me forget about the cold.
"Long day?" I asked.
She laughed a little, but it wasn't happy. "You have no idea. My landlord just raised the rent again. I swear, I might as well live in my car."
I always joke when I'm nervous, especially around her, so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Move in with me?"
She paused, blinked, and then laughed, nudging my shoulder. "If only it were that easy."
We both laughed, and I thought that was the end of it.
But then, the next day, right as I was reheating some pasta, I heard a soft knock on my door. Mia stood there, holding a backpack and wearing a look in her eyes that told me everything.
"Hey," she whispered.
"Mia, are you alright?"
She swallowed hard before asking, "Is your offer still on the table?"
The room seemed to stop.
She wasn't joking. She wasn't smiling. She wasn't the confident, sarcastic Mia everyone knew. She was someone who was scared, someone who needed help.
Without thinking, I moved aside. "Of course, come in."
She didn't bring much—just clothes, a laptop, and a picture of her mom.
Over the next few days, I learned the full story. Her landlord wasn't just raising the rent. He was evicting everyone for renovations. She didn't have family nearby, and the friends she had were already living in tight spaces.
One night, while staring into her tea, she said, "I didn't know where else to go. You're the only person who's ever made me feel like I wasn't a burden."
That hit me harder than I could've imagined.
So I started doing little things—making breakfast before she woke up, fixing the leaky faucet she hadn't even mentioned, doing whatever I could to make her feel at home…
To be continued in the comments 👇