British English accent
When Emma first met Daniel Reed, she was struck by how carefully he listened.
Most tutors interrupted. Daniel didn’t. He allowed her to finish, even when she struggled to find the right word, and only then suggested a better expression. He had an unhurried manner and a dry sense of humour that made the lessons feel more like conversations than classes.
Emma had found him through a recommendation at work. She was preparing for a promotion and wanted to become more confident speaking English in meetings. Daniel specialised in business communication and taught from his apartment three evenings a week.
For the first few weeks, everything seemed perfectly ordinary.
Then, almost casually, Daniel began asking personal questions.
“Do you live alone?”
Emma looked up from her notebook.
“Yes.”
“Must be convenient.”
She smiled politely. “Sometimes.”
He nodded and moved on.
A week later, he mentioned seeing her in town.
“You were near the pharmacy on Tuesday, weren’t you?”
Emma frowned.
“Yes. How did you know?”
“I happened to be there.”
The explanation was plausible, but something about his tone made her uncomfortable.
The following lesson, he referred to the bus she usually took home.
“The forty-one, isn’t it?”
Emma stopped writing.
“I’ve never told you that.”
Daniel looked surprised.
“I’m sure you did.”
“I didn’t.”
After a brief silence, he smiled.
“Perhaps I’m mistaken.”
Emma tried to dismiss the incident. Malta was small, and coincidences happened. But she soon noticed other things.
Daniel knew she usually worked late on Thursdays. He knew which café she sometimes visited after work. Once, he asked why she had changed her route home.
When she confronted him, he seemed genuinely offended.
“You’re imagining things,” he said. “I’ve simply been observant.”
That word stayed with her.
Two days later, Emma received an email.
Don’t take the bus home tonight.
There was no explanation.
She replied:
Why?
Nothing came back.
Instead, she stayed at work until nearly ten and took a taxi home.
The entrance to her apartment was open.
She stood outside, staring at the doorway. She was almost certain she had locked it that morning.
Inside, everything appeared normal. Nothing seemed to be missing, but she checked every room before going to bed.
At midnight, she heard footsteps in the corridor.
They approached her door.
Stopped.
Three quiet knocks followed.
Emma didn’t move.
After thirty seconds, the footsteps receded.
The police found nobody in the building and no evidence that anyone had entered her apartment.
The following morning, Emma cancelled her lessons.
Daniel replied within minutes.
That’s probably wise.
Then another message appeared.
You should have trusted me.
She blocked his number.
Two days later, the police contacted her.
Daniel had been arrested after another woman reported that he had been following her. During a search of his apartment, officers found photographs of several women, including Emma.
Some had been taken in public. Others had clearly been taken without her knowledge.
One showed Emma entering the lobby of her apartment building.
Another showed her sitting at her desk.
“When was this taken?” she asked.
“Three weeks ago.”
“That can’t be right. I was working from home that day.”
The officer nodded.
“We know.”
Emma stared at the photograph.
“How was it taken?”
“We think he copied your apartment key.”
A cold sensation ran through her.
She suddenly remembered returning home three weeks earlier to find her front door unlocked. She had assumed she had simply forgotten to lock it.
“We found a second key in Daniel’s apartment,” the officer continued. “It matches your lock.”
The strange details suddenly fitted together.
Daniel had not been guessing where she went. He had been following her. He had not accidentally seen her on the bus. He had been tracking her routine.
“What about the night of the knocks?” Emma asked.
“We checked his phone records. He was near your building.”
“So he was outside my door?”
“We believe so.”
“But why knock if he already had a key?”
The officer hesitated.
“Because he wanted you to know someone was there.”
Emma looked down at the photographs.
“He wanted to frighten me.”
“Yes.”
The officer placed another photograph on the table.
It showed Emma asleep in her bedroom.
She stared at the date.
It was three days before she had first met Daniel.
“So he was already inside my apartment before I became his student.”
“Yes.”
Emma looked at the photograph for a long moment.
Then everything became clear.
Daniel hadn’t chosen her because she had taken his lessons.
He had offered her the lessons because he had already chosen her.
📒 Key vocabulary
- struck (strike, struck, stricken) – make a strong impression on someone
- struggled (struggle, struggled, struggled) – have difficulty doing something
- unhurried – calm and not rushed
- plausible – seeming reasonable or likely to be true
- dismiss – to decide that something is not important or worth considering
- confronted (confront, confronted, confronted) – face someone directly about a problem or concern
- corridor – a long passage inside a building with rooms or doors along it
- receded (recede, receded, receded) – move farther away
- lobby – an entrance area or large hall inside a building
- tracking – following or monitoring someone or something over time
🤔 Comprehension quiz
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