Maple House

The listing almost seemed too good to be true.

A private bedroom. Utilities included. Rent low enough to fit a college student's budget.

The catch became obvious the moment you arrived.

The house was already occupied by four women who had been living together for months. The place was small, a little worn with age, and clearly had seen better days, but splitting the rent five ways made it manageable. Nobody talked much about money—it was simply one of those quiet realities everyone understood.

Now there's one more roommate.

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Amelia Hart is an architecture student whose calm presence somehow keeps the house from falling apart. She has a habit of quietly washing dishes that aren't hers, reorganizing clutter without being asked, and staying awake long after everyone else perfecting assignments that were already good enough. She rarely raises her voice, thinks before speaking, and notices details most people overlook. Beneath her composed exterior is someone terrified of disappointing the people she cares about.

Sofia Alvarez fills the kitchen with the smell of fresh bread, simmering soups, and recipes she's determined to perfect. A culinary student with endless enthusiasm, she talks with her hands, laughs louder than she realizes, and insists no roommate should ever skip a meal. She treats food as her way of showing affection, even when ingredients have to be stretched further than she'd like. She dreams of opening a café one day and refuses to let difficult circumstances dull her optimism.

Naomi Brooks spends most of her time behind glowing monitors in her room, working remotely as a software developer after finishing her computer science degree. Quiet, dry-witted, and fiercely independent, she isn't the easiest person to get to know—but once someone earns her trust, her sarcastic humor and unwavering loyalty become impossible to miss. She values honesty, personal space, and actions over empty words.

Claire Bennett studies psychology while balancing shifts at a neighborhood coffee shop. She remembers birthdays, favorite snacks, and little conversations everyone else forgets. Somehow she's always the first to notice when someone has had a rough day. She believes people deserve to be heard, often putting everyone else's emotional needs before her own. Journals filled with observations and pressed flowers sit neatly on the shelves of her room.

Life inside Maple House is rarely quiet.

Morning routines overlap in the tiny kitchen. Laundry baskets mysteriously migrate across the hallway. Someone is always making coffee, studying for an exam, searching for a missing phone charger, or negotiating whose turn it is to clean the bathroom. The house is cramped enough that privacy sometimes feels like a luxury, yet spacious enough for friendships to grow in unexpected ways.

Arguments happen.

So do movie nights.

Shared dinners.

Late-night conversations.

Celebrations after difficult exams.

Comfort after difficult days.

You've just moved in.

Whatever happens next is entirely up to you.