𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐎𝐒

Maitê was dragging her bags with effort along the path indicated by the porter. The driver of the app car that she had picked up at the airport refused to take her to the door of the house, claiming that the route ended at the number that was indicated in the request for the ride, which referred to the door of the condominium.

Deep down, Maitê knew he wasn't wrong, but it didn't cost anything for him to enter the condo. In fact, the girl suspected that the driver just didn't do it because the app beeped with the notification of a potential race on hold, and being a foreigner, with a lack of confidence in the language and English loaded with the accent, she wasn't so worthy of such kindness, the tip at the end might not be so gratifying, so why change the right for the dubious?

The girl stopped for a moment and took a deep breath trying to relieve the pressure she felt in her chest and lessen some of the shortness of breath that all the effort with the suitcases brought. She knew she should have postponed the trip until she got medical clearance, but the treatment for the pneumonia that had been diagnosed in Brazil was almost over. The girl had faith that all that snow and cold wouldn't interfere with the results of the treatment, which so far had been more than satisfactory.

Also, who was she kidding? To begin with, he had only gone to the doctor because the had made all the right threats, and in the service as soon as the doctor gave the prescriptions and instructions for the treatment he had left there as fast as his legs and lungs, temporarily impaired, allowed.

The only person he would miss was Bá, the woman named Benedita who had worked with the family since before Maitê was born. She started working with her mother, Laura, when she was still single and as soon as Maitê was born, she became her caregiver when her mother worked. As soon as Laura died, when Maitê was still a child, Bá worked even harder to try to fill in all the empty spaces left. was always there, but Maitê knew she was old and needed to rest, and while she was in Brazil she would insist on continuing to work. So Maitê organized everything for her retirement and offered her a house near the beach so she could walk every day in the morning.

Obviously refused the gift, so the girl renovated it and made available all the comfort that could need in the small house she lived in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. Once she was sure that was well settled and could enjoy her well-deserved retirement in peace, Maitê packed her things and left.

Maitê simply needed to get out and leave everything behind. All the fights, carried out by her father, over money and the management of the technology company that her dear mother had left her as an inheritance. He had to leave all the girlfriends his father had taken, and insisted on putting inside the house, so young they were old enough to be his sister and clearly I was only there for the money. Drop all the people who only related to her out of interest.

Two suitcases and a backpack was all Maitê needed to start her life over.

Maitê started walking again, looking at the houses along the way, the standard of the condominium had been a surprise, it seemed well above the average standard of living for American families. The girl had thought a lot about the type of accommodation she would choose, her classes at Brown University would not start for six months and she would study Computer Science. In order not to suffer with the language when the classes started, he decided to anticipate his trip to pick up the peculiarities of the language that could only be acquired with the natives. And there's nothing better than an exchange program with homestay accommodation to offer that.

Finally, the girl arrived at house number 45-B. The house looked like something out of an American movie, its facade was painted in pale yellow and the windows and doors were white. Outside, the grass was covered in snow and burned in spots from the harsh winter. Towards the door stretched a concrete path flanked by small seedlings, today only with dry branches, but which promised to bring flowers when the weather improved, decorating the walk to the door.

Maite dragged the bags the remaining distance to the entrance, mentally thanking her for having arrived. Before squeezing the company the girl smoothed her coat, which wasn't doing much to ward off the cold, and brushed the little snowflakes off the pink hat she wore.

She took a deep breath and took courage, after all that would be her home for the next few months, until classes at Brown started and she moved to the university's dormitory, Maitê wanted to make a good impression.

The girl watched anxiously as the door opened some time after the ding of the doorbell was heard.

The woman who emerged from behind the door, Amber Ayers, was even warmer than the face in the photograph Maitê had received on her return from the exchange application form the agency had provided.

The form contained data about the house and the people who would host it. Basic information about the address, rooms in the house, residents, among other things. Maitê knew that two women lived in the house, both were almost reaching their forties and were married.

- Hello, welcome - the woman said in perfect, quick English, very different from 'hi, how are you?' that every school that taught English in Brazil insisted on forcing students down the throats as if it were the standard greeting for any American. - Come in, poor thing, you must be freezing out there! - Maitê felt herself being pulled inside before she could say anything.even being able to say anything.

Amber first led the girl a few steps into the house, to protect her from the cold, and then went back to retrieve the bags that had been left in the entrance.

- Oh sorry! - , Amber said only now realizing that she was acting purely on instinct and hadn't even let the girl introduce herself, - it's just that it's very cold and your cheeks are even red. Why don't we go in and have something hot, we can start proper introductions when you're warmer. Let me hang up your coat!

Maitê silently watched Amber advance on her once more and help her with her coat. It looked like the woman couldn't keep her own hands to herself, and what was even weirder was that she did it in such a natural way that it felt like the right thing to do, so Maitê was especially quiet as her coat was pushed off her shoulders. and hanging in the closet next to the door.

Amber sucked her lips into her mouth as she hung up the newly arrived girl's coat. The garment was clearly not suitable for the cold weather, the fabric was slightly damp on the inner layers. If I were your girl, I would certainly get a hell of a scolding for not dressing according to the temperature. But Maitê wasn't hers, even though she looked so fragile it made all of Amber's maternal instincts collapse.causing her to advance the signal twice in less than a minute. Amber needed to police herself not to scare Maitê, she was not there to be taken care of but to study.

- Let's go? - , Amber called, walking towards the kitchen. Arriving in the room, he pointed to one of the chairs for the girl to sit on, - chocolate milk or tea?.

- One, I don't like either of them very much -, Maitê replied shyly. She was already shy normally and realized that it would be even more difficult coupled with the shame of speaking English. There was still the issue of the drink offered, she didn't want to be picky but not a big fan of milk and tea looked a lot like dirty sugar water, - if I had some coffee I would love it.

- Of course, - the woman replied, biting her tongue shortly afterward to prevent the recommendation that coffee was not appropriate at this time as it could disrupt sleep and that she was too young for the drink to slip out of her mouth. And how could you not like milk?

The woman went to the coffee maker and chose the capsule with the lowest caffeine content possible, already thinking about going to the market and buying some decaf options. Soon the drinks were ready and she joined the girl.

- Thank you - , Maitê replied taking the cup offered.

- You may have noticed by now, but I'm Amber - the woman started watching the girl take a sip of her coffee.

- Yes, I recognized it from the photo on the form - the girl said, - I'm Maitê, but I think you already know too.

When Amber was going to continue the conversation she heard the rattle of keys on the front door.

- Maggie is here - the woman said - it's great that we all talk together, introduce you to the house and you can have some down time before dinner. You must be exhausted from the trip.

Their attention was diverted to the woman entering the kitchen. She was tall, had long brown hair like Amber's. In fact, the two looked a lot alike, the difference was that Amber had green eyes and slightly wavy hair, while Maggie had dark eyes, straight hair and more golden skin.

- I see the new resident of the house has arrived. Welcome, dear! -, Maggie said politely. Maitê noticed that in personality the two were very different too, while Amber was cheerful and friendly, Meggie seemed to be more restrained.

- Thank you! -, Maitê replies with a small smile.

- Did you arrive long ago? - Maggie asked, going to the coffee maker to make a cup of coffee and join the women at the table.

- No, almost now, - Maitê said quietly, a little intimidated by the new woman's presence. Maggie herself seemed to be a force of nature, her features so hard and eyes so penetrating that it would make any seven-foot-tall grown man cry if he wanted to.

When the coffee maker beeped, Maggie took her coffee and sat down next to her wife, so they were both facing the girl, who was sitting on the other side of the table. - So I assume you didn't talk much or talk about the rules.

- Love, she just arrived - Amber said, rolling her eyes at her wife's precocious sense of order and control, - was planning to show her home and accommodate her so she could get some rest.

- It's a great plan - Maggie said smiling, - let's do this, but first I want to talk about the expectations we have for the house to continue working and our relationship for the next few months to be smooth.

The girl swallowed, what kind of rules was the woman talking about? Maite had long lived as she wished, it wasn't like anyone cared enough about her to be interested in what she was doing or not doing.

But on the other hand, the girl had seen enough reports of exchange students and their experiences on Host Family. Most lived by their own law, which was what Maitê expected, and had no major problems. But the other part, that small portion of students, fell into homes with rather strict families, and it seemed that Maitê had had the same luck, or rather, bad luck...

Maggie watched the girl's features slowly change, she even seemed to be afraid of what was to come. Maggie thought it was cute and a little childish, it made her remember people not to be remembered, so she got her focus back.

- No need to fear - Maggie began - it's simple things and you'll be fine. First I want to remind you that you're here to study and we want you to work on it. Every night we want to see your homework and help you out. as far as possible, you already speak fluent English, but even so, we want you to make the effort to do everything the school tells you to. Bedtime will be at 10 pm, your weekday classes start at 9 am, so you have to enough hours of sleep to keep up with everything. You can go out during the week, although I prefer not to abuse it so as not to interfere with your studies, and always let us know where you are going and who you are going with. The curfew is at 9 pm, when I want you in the house at that time, because at 9:10 pm we are going to look at your notebook and at 9:45 pm we want you to be ready to go to bed. Any questions so far? - , Maggie asked, seeing that the girl's mouth was open. on a small 'o', probably surprised with all the information.

But what the fuck is this?! Maite thought. Curfew, bedtime, seen on homework. She wasn't a fucking baby to have to follow that.

But for now, she decided to accept everything and start off on the right foot, with time she would make women change their minds. Then he gave a small nod of his head, offering the answer that was expected.

- Fine, now let's get to the simpler part - Maggie continued, - no booze, cigarettes, and drugs. And no clubbing, or whatever you young people call it these days. Needless to say, adulthood here is just reached at age 21, so you can only do what's appropriate for your age, which according to the records we got from the agency is 18. Am I right?

- Yes, ma'am - Maitê replied automatically, without even thinking about it. All that woman exuded was authority.

Both Maggie and Amber smiled at the girl's response and the apparent submission she showed. That wasn't what they were looking for, not at the moment, but demonstrations of the sort massaged the ego of both dominators.

- Enough of the boring part - , Amber got up and tried to lighten the slightly tense atmosphere that had been installed.

She had talked at length with her wife about the rules. It was the first time they had hosted an exchange student, Maggie was against it at first, but Amber just wanted a youthful joy back in those walls, everything had been so empty after the last sub was gone. They didn't want another sub, not after the not-so-good experiences they'd had, they weren't ready yet.

So what better idea than having a foreigner in their home, they could teach the language, show them around the city, and take care, even if it was in a superficial way. Maggie ended up accepting, but only with a good network of rules and protection, she didn't want her wife to suffer again, and maybe bringing some new blood to the house would renew the air.

- Come Maitê, let's see the house - , Amber called the girl to start the tour.

Maitê was more than impressed with what was presented. The house was large and well decorated, the girl hadn't caught all the details because she was so tired, but she made a mental note to explore it all another time. She had counted four bedrooms, in addition to the master suite. It had an office, dining room, TV room and living room, in addition to the kitchen, which she had already known.

At the back of the house there was a backyard and a private pool, Amber said there was also the condominium pool, which it was much bigger. But what impressed Maitê the most was the basement, the place was built and decorated to look like an apartment, there was a bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen.

- We figured you could stay here - Amber said, - for more privacy. But you can choose any of the upstairs rooms if you prefer.

Maitê noticed a little expectation in Amber's voice, as if the woman wanted her to choose a room. But without a doubt she preferred the basement, the further away she was from Maggie and her list of rules the better.

- I'll stay right here - Maitê replied, referring to the basement, - it's great, thank you!

- Fine - Amber replied with a sigh - the kitchen here isn't equipped, we'd rather you go upstairs so we can eat together. Dinner will be ready in two hours, for now, get some rest.

Maitê nodded and watched the woman go upstairs. As soon as she was alone, she set the alarm for dinner time and threw herself on the bed, her bags would be for later. She couldn't fall asleep right away, the new was frightening, and she didn't know what to expect for the next few days. It all boiled down to the new, meeting new people, food, places, and a bunch of other things that fate threw her way.