NEW HOME

"Ay! Jaita! Is that you?" Jaita's landlady hailed.

She was in front of the supermarket, about three minutes away from her house. She had just finished shopping and was about to head home.

"Good evening ma."

"Wow, you must be really attached to our neighbourhood," she giggled. "You had to come all the way to this place just to buy something."

"Huh? No, I'm not buying anything here." Jaita replied.

"Is that so? Anyways, how's your sister?" She asked, as they began to walk home.

"What? What sister?"

"What do you mean what sister? I'm even angry with you. You had a sibling and didn't bother to tell me? I thought we were close. Hmm?"

"Sibling? I'm really confused right now." She replied.

"What's there to be confused about?" She nudged her. "Your sister came today, to help you pack your things. I didn't know you're from a wealthy family, I would have treated you much better." She laughed.

"My sister? To pack my things? Did you give a stranger the key to my apartment?"

"No! She gave me the impression that she knows you."

"What?!"

"What? Stop acting confused. Why did you lie to her that I was mean to you?"

"Eh?"

"She told me that she had heard a lot about me from you and that they were not nice things. But she thanked me for taking care of you and even gave me a monetary gift," she smiled widely.

"Trust me, I have never handled such amount of money in my life and that's why I'm going to forgive you." She said and patted her arm.

"Wow! Believe me, there's a big misunderstanding here. Are you sure you're not sick? Are you aging that quick?" Jaita asked with concern as she held her face to examine her.

"Aw, look at you acting all loving and caring but you backstabbed me in the blink of an eye just because you wanted your sister to take you out of here," she slapped her hand away from her face. "I'm fine. I'm just sixty. Nothing is wrong with my memory."

"I did not talk bad of you to anybody. I can't do that when I know it's not true. You're very kind and understanding to not just me but the other tenants. That's why I'm saying there is a misunderstanding somewhere."

"Pfft! I like your sister more than you now. You're even lying to me after being an ingrate, meanwhile your sister was very grateful to me even though we just met today," she said as they got to her gate. "Anyways, I've forgiven you. I understand kids these days can do anything to get what they want," she smiled. "You still have my number right? Call me when you get home so I can greet your sister again!"

"What?! This is my home! What are you saying?" Jaita protested as she stormed into the compound to her front door.

"Jaita! Hey! Are you alright? Is everything okay? Wait for me!" Her landlady called after her.

"You really don't know your sister came here today?" She questioned, as she caught up with her.

"No! I don't have a sister, and nobody came here today." She replied as she searched her bag frantically. "Just wait and see, I'm with my house keys and I'll open this door and..." She paused. She could not find the keys in her bag. She was sure she left home with it in the morning but they were no longer with her.

Realising that something was indeed wrong, her landlady ran upstairs to get the keys from her house while Jaita continued taking out everything in her bag in search of her keys.

"Here," her landlady paused to catch her breath, "she returned it to me this morning."

Hastily, Jaita took the keys and unlocked the door.

"See? I told you. Everything is still intact!" She turned to her landlady. "This is how I left this house in the morning," she began to move around the house.

"My furnitures are still in place, my kitchen is still in order and look! My room is also in order too."

"No. I'm pretty sure someone was here today. If not how can you explain why your keys are with me?" Her landlady argued.

Jaita paused. "Come on! You've seen everything for yourself!" She turned to face her. "What else do I need to prove?" She asked as she opened her wardrobe.

"Your clothes?" Her landlady pointed to her wardrobe.

"What happened to them?" She turned to look at them but faced an empty wardrobe instead.

"I knew it! I was sure someone was here this morning!" She whispered with her hands over her mouth.

"My clothes? My clothes?" Jaita pointed to her wardrobe in disbelief." She turned to where she kept her shoe rack. They were gone! "My shoes!!!"

"Oh dear!" Her landlady shook her head.

"The lady that came here, what's her name?" Jaita mumbled with one hand over her mouth.

"What?"

She ran over to her. "The lady that came here. What did she say her name is?"

"She didn't say. She only told me that she's your elder sister."

"And you released my keys to her?"

"She entered with your keys and handed them to me when she was done packing."

"Right! You're the one who gave them to me just now." She shook her head.

"She came in with two men to move your things out."

"You're not helping." Jaita frowned at her.

"She drove in with a green sports car."

"You're not..."

"Very clean. Not even a single scratch was on it." She continued, using her hands to describe it in the air. "It was magnificent, it was magical, it was....."

"Why did you let a stranger into my house?" Jaita wailed.

"Oh! No! Jaita!" Her landlady caught her head from hitting the floor in time. "Stand up! You're too heavy for an old lady like me." She smacked her head. "And she's not a stranger."

"Who's not a stranger?" Jaita asked, still on the floor, with her eyes closed.

"The lady that came in here today. She's not a stranger but your elder sister."

"I don't have a sister." She argued.

"But she looks like you. I find it strange that she looks younger though, but she totally resembles you. Okay not totally, but at least, I could see some resemblance."

"What did she wear?" She opened her left eye.

"A black corporate gown."

Jaita paused as Yuki's words echoed in her mind. 'Well if you insist. But don't say I didn't warn you.'

"Was the gown sleeveless?" She opened her other eye.

"Yes."

She sat up abruptly and held her arms. "Did she wear a black jacket over the dress?"

"Yes! How did you know?" She chuckled.

"Yuki Taikiru!!!" Jaita hissed.

"You know her?"

"Does she look like me? No way!" She rushed to her mirror. "Does she really look like me?" She asked rhetorically as she touched her face.

"You know her! So she's really your sister?"

"My what? God forbid!"

"Wait! Come back here! Where are you going to?" She called after Jaita who had taken off suddenly and was already at the gate.

"I'll call you!" She replied and zoomed off.

"What a nice weather today!" Yuki smiled to herself as a chilly breeze blew against her face. She was at the rooftop looking at nothing in particular. To be more precise, she was waiting for Jaita whom she sensed to be close by.

Few seconds later, a taxi pulled up in front of her gate, and in an instant, Jaita was out of the vehicle and was banging on the gate as loud as she could.

"Is she aware that this is a residential area?" Yuki scoffed. "Hello there!" She called out to her.

Jaita having heard someone say something, looked around to get a glimpse of the person.

"Over here!" Yuki waved. "At the rooftop!"

Her phone rang and the caller ID indicated that the call was from Yuki, but she could not sight any phone in Yuki's hands.

"Stop disturbing the peace of this neighbourhood." Yuki began as soon as Jaita picked up.

"Open the gate."

"Why?"

"Open the gate now!" She yelled.

"Ooh! I'm scared."

"Tsk," she hissed. "That's not funny." She waited for a few seconds without getting any reply. "Open this gate." She glared at her.

"Go back to where you're coming from. You clearly stated that this is not your home." Yuki replied and vanished into thin air.

"What?! Hello? He... Wow! Did she just hang up on me?" She clenched her fist and began to hit the gate again but it did not make any sound this time around.

She was completely amazed. She placed her hand on the gate and could totally feel it, but when she hit the gate, it still didn't make any noise.

While she was still processing the whole event before her, the lock made a clicking sound.

"I told you not to disturb this area." Yuki said, as she opened the gate.

"Whoa! Whoa!" She screamed as she tried to maintain her balance and reached out to hold onto Yuki to stop her from falling to the ground.

But Yuki swerved a little so she could avoid her touch which made Jaita fall to the ground instead.

"What is making you fall down?" Yuki looked down at her with a straight face.

"You could have just held me!" She yelled.

"I didn't see a reason to." She shrugged. "I knew your head wasn't going to touch the ground."

"Is that enough reason to let me fall?" Jaita stood up and began to dust her clothes.

"Why did you fall, when the only thing I did was to open the gate?"

"My hands were on the gate! I was virtually leaning on the gate! I didn't expect you to..."

"It was a rhetorical question. There's no need for you to shout."

Jaita cleared her throat. "Where are my things?"

"In your room."

"Where's my room?" She bounced off to Yuki's front door. "The door is locked. Open it." She said in frustration as she wrestled with the door knob.

"I didn't ask you to go there." Yuki replied, still standing beside the gate.

"But you said my things are inside."

"But I didn't say they're inside there."

Jaita heaved a frustrated sigh. "Where are they?"

"Walk over to the other flat." She nodded towards the left. "Set the pass code to whatever you want."

"Pfft. How confident of you to think I'd want to stay here." Jaita scoffed and opened the door.

"Wow!" She gasped as she walked into the living room. She was taken aback by the beauty emanating from the room.

The living room was very spacious with neon lights of different colours decorating the walls. There was a big dining room by the right separated by a transparent electronic door. The chandeliers in the living and dining room were the same and made of gold.

The couches and the pillows were blue with a lining of gold at the edges. The curtains too were blue, with golden floral patterns on it. The centre table was also blue with golden linings at the edges.

As she looked round, she observed that almost everything in the room, starting from the wall to the furnitures and the tiles were blue in colour.

"Wow what?" Yuki asked bringing her back to present.

"Eh? Oh! Wow... Wow, I'm tired." Jaita stuttered and headed for the stairs.

"Ah! That's a pity as you still have to pack your things out tonight."

"What?!" She stopped abruptly and turned to her.

"You clearly stated that you don't want to live here." Yuki shrugged.

"Ugh! Come on!"

She smirked. "You see? I went out of my way to refurbish this apartment to your taste. Do you know what the original color of this apartment was? Black, matte black, jet black, grey. The tiles, the curtains, the walls, the ceiling, anything that wasn't black was either gold or orange or red or any other colour that complements it. But I changed it to your favorite colour, blue, yet you find your former house more appealing to you." She straightened her face. "Now tell me? Who am I to hinder you?"

"Woo! You're getting it wr..."

"Help yourself." Yuki gestured to the stairs with her hand. "Or do you need me to call two or three people to help you pack?"

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Jaita ran to the front door and shoved Yuki, to stop her from going out. "Let's sort this out amicably." She tittered.

"What's there to sort out? You don't want to stay here, I want to let you go!"

"I don't want to what? Who would see this alluring structure and want to leave."

"Who would see what?" Yuki smirked.

"Huh?" Jaita cleared her throat. 'I'm not going to let her think she can buy me so easily.' She thought to herself. "Don't feed your ego that much. It's just a compliment given that I'm a well-mannered, cultivated and..."

"I think two people would be enough to pack your things out." Yuki interrupted her and headed for the front door again.

"Ah! Okay! Okay!" Jaita pleaded. "Your house is truly captivating and extremely lavish," she forced a smile, "and I would certainly love to live here."

Yuki heaved a sigh. "Now that's more like it." She walked round the parlour slowly as she continued.

"As you already know, I'm a woman that live by rules and...."

"What are you getting at now?"

Yuki paused and turned to Jaita with a stern look on her face. "Can you repeat the first rule of our partnership?"

Jaita sighed. "You're not permitted to interrupt while I'm speaking."

This time the look on Yuki's face became scarier.

Jaita coughed quietly and cleared her throat again. "I'm not permitted to interrupt while you're speaking."

"Hmm. You're quite good at remembering things." Yuki smirked.

"Well you know, it's not like I'm trying to...."

"So," Yuki opened her two palms and a scroll appeared on each hands.

"Here," she handed the scroll on her left hand to Jaita, "these are all the rules for our partnership. And these," she gave her the other one on her right hand, "they're the rules for living in my house." She smiled.

"What! Why is it so long?" Jaita asked in frustration as she rolled one of the scrolls open.

"Everything including the penalties for breaking a rule are there." Yuki said and left immediately, for her apartment.

Few moments later, Jaita's phone chimed. It was a message from Yuki.

"You would recite every one of them for me, first thing tomorrow morning."

"She must be joking." Jaita scoffed.

Her phone beeped again.

"No. I'm not joking."

"Huh?! How did she know I said that?" She scanned the room with her eyes for any recording device.

"You know, you really underestimate me. My sense of hearing is different and higher than that of a human." Yuki texted.