chapter 1

Harlow was planning to head to bed. It was rather late for her, at 11 PM. While she could stay up later..she was preferring not to force herself to. She lived in a rather nice place. Quiet house, near others of course. But it was good to have decent sleeps for once.

She was about to head upstairs when her eyes passed by her window, stopping when she could’ve sworn she saw something move towards the house in the dark of the night. A very odd thing, and something that left her feeling nervous.

Brushing a strand of red hair behind her ear, she carefully moved towards the window to see if she could spot anything. She flinched at the sharp knocking of the door, though.
Harlow stepped back, staring warily at the door.

Someone was outside. But who would knock at a time like this? She wondered.

She walked towards the door, peeking through the peephole and backed up when she realized someone was most definitely standing outside. Not saying anything at all. Should she call the police?

“Whoever’s out there,” she yelled, “back up.”

It took a moment before that person seemed to move away.

Harlow wasn’t sure if she was making the right choice by opening the door, but she had to know. Who was out there? Did they need help? Curiosity overcame her as she opened the door..

..and was immediately knocked breathless as someone collided with her.

She recovered quite quickly, however. Whoever it was..was, well, desperate. They hadn’t attacked her aside from running directly into her, so maybe that was good. Now to figure out who the hell this was.

Well, he didn’t live in this area for sure. Blue eyes looked into her hazel ones as she stared at him. Why hadn’t he spoken yet? Could he?

“Pomogite,” he breathlessly spoke, still keeping his eyes on her all together. That wasn’t English.

“Sir,” he stepped back off of her, eyes somewhat scared, “I don’t understand. Can you speak English?”

“Golodnym.” He spoke again.

“What?”

“Golodnym.” This time, he pointed at his stomach, then his mouth.

“You need..food?” She tilted her head, then pointed at her own mouth. The man seemed to be processing this complicated guessing game before he nodded. He wasn’t completely sure of it, but he took a leap.

“I’ll get you food..” Harlow wasn’t quite sure of this entire thing, either. She moved behind him, feeling his eyes on her this entire time as she shut the door. She made sure to lock it as well. Turning around, she began to walk towards the kitchen, only stopping to wave the man over.

Once she was sure she was being followed, she made her way into the room to prepare something. She wasn’t going to prepare something very large. She did have quite a bit, but this was just one person. So how much could he eat? Not this entire kitchen out, that would be silly..

She turns around with the meal prepared and she quite surprised as the man almost immediately takes it from her, faltering as their eyes meet. He blinks, freezing up.

“It’s okay,” she softly says. Since he can’t understand her most likely, she’ll have to rely on tone and gestures. “You can have it.” She points at what she made, backing up. She feels a bit silly right now.

It takes him another moment before he begins to eat. And boy, does he eat fast.

So fast that when he’s done, he returns to look at Harlow again. And proceeds to point at his mouth once more.

Harlow winces. Well, it’s only a little bit, and the meals don’t take long to prepare. She is rather tired, though..she doesn’t know what to do with this man. She’ll just have to keep making more until he’s satisfied.

“Sit,” she speaks, gesturing down. The man glances at the chair and pulls it out, sitting down. At least he seems to recognize some English words.

As she’s getting out her supplies again, she turns around and tells him her name. “Harlow,” she says.

The man looks confused. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting.

“Harlow,” she repeats, pointing to herself.

“Haa..Harlow.” The man says.

“Elie,” he then points to himself.

At leas they’re on first name basis Harlow thinks. She can stop calling him the man or the stranger. If Elie was even his real name of course.

She sets the finished meal on the table and he begins to eat again. Unsure of what to do, Harlow begins to prepare another one. And another one.

It feels like a breeze when all of this time has passed. She knows she’s made at least ten small meals by now. And yet...

She turns to Elie, who’s finishing up on what she’s just prepared. By now his stomach has taken on a more bloated look. Will he still want more, after this? It’s hard to tell.

She’s leaning towards the no option however, as she sees the obvious discomfort in his features when he’s getting close to being done. His hand moves to the side of his stomach as he gives it a rub.

Harlow moved towards the fridge this time. Mostly to put away whatever needed to go in into the fridge, but she paused. Harlow does like to keep her water cold in the fridge, and Elie has yet to have a drink. Surely he must be in need of one? She takes one of the jugs out and sets it onto the counter, taking a glass out.

She pours. Not to the very top, but a full glass of nice, fresh water. Harlow moves over, setting the glass in from of Elie, who doesn’t notice it until a few seconds after he finishes eating. He’s leaned back into the chair, stopping at the sight of the glass.

His pupils move to meet hers, then back at the glass. He grabs it, then tips his head back to drink it.
By now, Elie is feeling full, with a taut stomach. The water doesn’t exactly help but wash things down. When he’s finished the glass, Harlow knows that he’s full.

She begins to clean up everything, pausing to glance at Elie a couple times. He must be tired, like her. What will she do with him now? It’s too late now, he’s going to stay at her home. She does have a spare room, but it’s downstairs and Harlow’s not sure if she trusts him fully.

Elie opens his eyes again, hands resting on his belly. He looks up at her, watching her pace around as she considers what to do. She decides with a rather firm ‘ah ha!’ however, which seems to surprise Elie as he jolts up slightly.

She won’t be sleeping in her own bed tonight. The spare room has two beds. She’ll just need to monitor him from there. Now...

She spun around, turning to Elie who had once again went back to closing his eyes. It was only when she went to get him up did she realize he had fallen asleep. But when? When did that happen? And how?

Harlow wished she had that sort of ability. It didn’t look like he was waking up, either. It was definitely weird..

She put her hand on her chin as she thought of what to do now.

The solution wasn’t that hard to think of. She just had to pick him up and bring him to the bed. The act was a lot harder, though. Humans weren’t light, usually.

This guy in particular wasn’t that light either, even if he looked pretty average in terms of build aside from the rounded stomach.

She had to admit, he looked pretty calm sleeping. Not even disturbed in his sleep by her picking him up. Carrying him took some time, but did she do it?

Yes.

She set him onto the bed and went to her own, sitting on her bed. She stared at him for a few moments, then turned off the table lamp.

She would have to make a call in the morning to a certain someone....