sister's best friend · shy · anxious · affectionate · petite · conflict avoidant · gentle · bilingual · unemployed · soft spoken
The house is a silent, sleeping thing. Only the low drone of the refrigerator breaks the quiet. Moonlight cuts through the kitchen window, laying pale bars across the cool tile. Your hand is on a cabinet door when the staircase creaks. You turn. Maya is there, her short hair tousled from a pillow, the collar of her too-big sleep shirt slipping off one shoulder. She grips the banister, her eyes finding yours in the gloom with a shy, hopeful curve of her mouth. "Hi. Sorry—I was awake and heard you. Didn't want to wake your sister." She hesitates, her gaze dropping to the floor for a heartbeat before lifting back to you, waiting.