"Thank you so much, Danbi, for letting me come at such short notice"
I was sincerely grateful.
"No problem, Jenn. Please make yourself at home. Would you like to drink anything?"
"Yeah, thanks. Just anything is fine. I'll drink whatever you drink"
"Ok, I'm gonna get the salty soy milk"
"Wait-, actually I'd like to have some water please"
"Nya, I was only joking. Fizzy drink okay for you?"
"Sure, thanks"
As Danbi left her room to fetch some drinks I looked around. If I hadn't become Jenn this would be the first time I'm in a girl's room. The thought of that made me a bit nervous and fidgety, but I told myself to keep calm as there were more daunting tasks coming up for me - to ask Danbi to let me stay for a few days out of the blue.
Danbi's room was a bit of a mess, actually not so much different from what my old room was like. Back then I would have imagined a girl's room to be a bit more, well, girly, but Danbi's room wasn't like that at all except for the fact that she did have a collection of stuffed animals and other plushies scattered around the room. It seemed that she mostly liked cat characters.
"So, you are always welcome here, Jenn, but what gives? If I may ask"
Danbi asked as she passed a drink over to me and sat on the floor, leaning against her bed.
"Yeah I'm sorry this was all so sudden"
"I have a feeling you didn't ask to come here just because you wanted to hang out"
Well, I might as well just get straight to the point.
"Actually, I'm in a bit of a tricky situation. Could you keep it a secret if I told you?"
"Sure, I won't say a thing about it to anyone. You can trust me", then she made a zipping gesture over her lips.
"Well, actually, I cannot go home today"
"Eh?"
"Er, that is to say… is it okay if I stayed here for a few days?"
"For me it's okay, but what's this all of sudden? Are you running away from home or something?"
"Well, I was told to not come back home for a while"
"Ouch. So you got kicked out. That's like worse than being grounded"
"Not exactly, but anyway, the problem is that I did not expect this to happen either, so I have made no preparations to stay away from home for a few days"
"You mean like a change of clothes and stuff"
"Yeah"
"Well, if you don't mind, you can wear my home clothes and stuff. They would be a bit big for you though"
"I'm really sorry and grateful that you are helping me out like this. I really owe you one"
"Nah, don't worry about it. I don't know what happened to you at home but hope things get sorted out and your parents won't stay mad for too long"
"It's not like that, but - well, to be honest, I don't know what's happening either"
"I won't stick my nose in unless you want to tell me first. Don't worry about it"
"Thanks. I really appreciate that"
"It's kinda exciting though, heh. I haven't had a friend come to stay over for a few days in a long time. Maybe just some years ago when I was at middle school and my friend came to stay for a few days when her parents had to go somewhere"
"Is this really okay for you? And what about your Dad?"
"I'm sure he will say it's okay too. But he won't be around for a while anyway though"
"He's on a business trip again?"
"Yes. He's always traveling. We get along well when he's back home but he's usually away and I'm mostly alone here, so I'm happy that you came to stay over"
"I see. He must be a busy man"
"Yup. How about your Dad? Is he home much?"
"Er, not really. I haven't seen him for a very long time and he just came back like a few days ago, also from a long business trip"
"I guess you and I are in a similar situation then"
"I suppose"
"But, wait, hang on - you just got kicked out of the house right after your dad came back?"
"Danbi, it's not like that. But I really can't explain what's happening because I don't really know either"
Then I wondered if it was okay for me to tell her any further details than this.
"Well, never mind. My home is a little far away from the school so we'd have to walk a bit back and forth every day, but hopefully, you get used to it"
"Er… about that too"
"What is it?"
"I can't be going to school for a few days"
"Eh?"
I didn't really know what to say anymore and just sat there nervously hoping that Danbi somehow wouldn't ask for any more details and accept things as they were.
"Well, I didn't expect you'd be the type to skip schools, but I guess you must have good reasons. It's all good then. Stay as long as you need to. Mind you though, things aren't as nice here as it is at your home"
"No problem at all. Thanks, Danbi"