Chapter 3— Settling in
Daphne's POV
The first week passed in a blur of lectures, unfamiliar hallways, and too many new faces. But at the end of every exhausting day, I came back to Ethan.
He had this way of making the apartment feel less like just four walls and more like home. He'd knock on my door with bowls of ramen, complain about professors I didn't know yet, or sprawl across the couch with his headphones and invite me to join him without words. We would spend nights together watching movies and reels on Instagram. Go out to get food or sometimes cook together. We were never apart. As time went by people who always saw us together thought we were a couple. Some even thought we were siblings. We found all these comments funny.
Spending so much time with Ethan made me less active on my social media accounts since we would be happily chatting instead of being on our phones. It got to a point where I could even use his phone without asking him. That is how close we were.
Daniel,my long distance boyfriend called every night, but sometimes I caught myself comparing his voice — distant and pixelated through the phone — with Ethan's laughter echoing just down the hall. I told myself it wasn't fair, that I shouldn't compare. But I did.
By the second week, campus didn't feel like a maze anymore. I knew which coffee stand served the strongest brew, which shortcuts saved me five minutes, and which professors to avoid eye contact with when I hadn't done the reading.
But the apartment… that was where the rhythm settled most.
Ethan and I slipped into this unspoken routine. He always claimed the left end of the couch, sprawled out like it belonged to him, while I took the right. He cooked like someone who wanted to prove a point — pasta one night, questionable stir-fry the next — and teased me endlessly about my obsession with instant noodles.
"You're going to turn into one," he said once, waving a fork at me.
"Then at least I'll always be delicious," I shot back, and he nearly choked laughing.
It was easy. Comfortable. The kind of friendship you didn't need to explain.
But then there was Daniel.
Our calls started slipping into the background of my evenings. Sometimes I'd answer with Ethan humming in the kitchen, and Daniel would pause before speaking. I had told Daniel about my new roommate,Ethan and that he was the only friend I had at school but I guess Ethan being a guy wasn't alright. He never complained tho. That was good I guess.
And sometimes I wondered if he was talking to someone else too. His laugh sounded different through the phone, stretched thinner than I remembered.
I hated doubting him. We'd promised each other trust. But distance had a way of digging holes in promises.
One night, I hung up and sat in the quiet for a long time. Ethan was asleep in his room. My phone screen glowed with Daniel's name until it faded to black.
I hugged my knees, staring at the ceiling, and whispered into the dark:
"I miss you."
The walls didn't answer back