“You never know whether your friend is a snake or a snake is your friend until one of them bites you.” I didn’t know whose room I’d barged into—until the owner walked in.
Panic switched on autopilot. I dived behind an old, bulky refrigerator just as the door creaked open. A girl entered. A female. Wrapped in a towel. Lucy. She had clearly just finished bathing.
My heart calmed for half a second—at least it wasn’t her father. But my relief didn’t last. Lucy started dancing to the music in her room, carefree, while I crouched sweating bullets behind the fridge like a fugitive.
How long could I hide? What if she saw me? Worse—what if her mother joined her? The heat and nerves worked on me, and before I knew it, I sneezed.
Pandemonium. Lucy screamed. I screamed back. I stumbled out from hiding and she shrieked even louder. In the chaos, her towel slipped to the floor. She froze, naked, trembling in shock.
Before I could even think, someone began banging hard on the door. A man’s voice thundered: “Lucy! What’s happening in there?” He rattled the handle. Thank God she had locked it.
Lucy was speechless, her body shaking, her eyes wide. I begged her silently not to reveal me. She finally answered: “It’s nothing! I just… I saw a big mouse on the bed.”
The man cursed under his breath, muttered insults, and stomped off. Lucy quickly grabbed her towel and wrapped it back around her, but the damage was already done—her fear, my shame, and that split second when I saw what I shouldn’t have.
She turned on me, furious: “What are you doing here? Why are you here? How did you get in?”
I tried to calm her. I explained about the dog, the panic, how I had no choice but to run inside. I thought she might pity me. I thought she might laugh it off. Maybe even hug me. Maybe more.
I was wrong. She shoved me out. She didn’t care about the dog still waiting outside. She didn’t care about the man who nearly caught me. All she cared about was that I had seen her naked.
I entered her room with courage but left carrying pure shame. The embarrassment was so heavy that fear itself couldn’t find space in my heart. I walked past the wild dog without flinching, pushed the gate, and left.
That day I knew my chances of winning Lucy’s heart had shrunk to almost nothing.
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