Chapter 9
A lot of weird things have been happening to me lately, and I can’t explain why. At first, not eating was just okay—I was planning to go on diet anyway. But then, I have just discovered that I can’t sleep also. I try to, I even force myself to, but…I just can’t! It’s not that I’m complaining ‘cause I don’t feel sleepy at all, but I’m afraid of what effects of not sleeping will have on my skin. And it doesn’t help that HE doesn’t have a mirror and I have to use everything that can reflect. Is he…normal?
Getting tired of just lying in bed since forcing myself to sleep last night, I went out to see what I can do until Jonathan wakes up.
He’s such a, a long sleeper. He sleeps at 9pm; he wakes up at 9am. 12 hours straight! Even if I sleep late (when I used to sleep), I can’t sleep for that long—it makes my head ache. But well, he is different.
When I went out of my room, sounds from the kitchen caught my attention. That can’t be Jonathan, it’s too early. It’s only 7am, that can’t be him. Grabbing whatever heavy was in my reach (ooh, wow! A 5kg dumbbell, yeepee! Not.), I walked silently to the kitchen.
“Jonathan?” I called, hoping it’s him. The sound of like unloading groceries did not stop, “Jonathan?”
Dumbbell at the ready, I walked faster to the kitchen. “Jonathan?”
I stood at the kitchen entrance to see an elderly man, unloading groceries to the table and placing them in their right positions in the kitchen. Taking a good look, something sunk in—he must be Jonathan’s man-servant.
“Hi!” I greeted him, trying to sound calm and not planning to hit him with the dumbbell. The old man, who looks like he was around 50, merely looked at me and continued what he was doing.
“You must be Jonathan’s, ah, assistant” I tried again, he was really ignoring me. Well, I tried. “Uh, okay. I won’t bother you anymore; I’ll just be in the living room if you need any assistance.”
I walked away and went to the living room to read. He looks like he doesn’t see me, might as well stay invisible until he thinks of needing any help.
*****
“You’re still here?”
I looked up from the book that I was reading and to the owner of the voice. Jonathan was standing in-front of me, and then sat to the couch next to where I was sitting and faced me.
“Oh, you’re awake!” was what I said, I sounded stupid. Then realizing what he said, “Uh, where would I go? Did we talk about me leaving today, last night?”
He shook his head, “No. I mean, Albert was here. So I thought you went with him, since you wanted to leave, you know.”
“Albert?” oh right, the old man, “Oh right! He left? I saw him earlier in the kitchen, but didn’t pay me any attention. I was talking to him, but he was ignoring me. Or is he deaf?”
“Maybe he just didn’t hear you. Any—
“Didn’t you say he was supposed to come here every two weeks?” I cut him off.
He sighed, “He had a family problem. Anyway, why didn’t you come with him?”
I felt something tug at my heart, I was avoiding that; did he want me to leave? It’s not that I didn’t want to go home, but…maybe I was already such a burden.
“It’s not that I want you to leave” he said, maybe he noticed the frown on my face, “It’s just that, I thought you wanted to go home.”
I did, but…
“I did.” I said, I thought of saying something else but I think nothing’s going to come after that. He looked like he was waiting for something else, but he nodded and looked away when I shrugged.
An awkward silence filled the space around us for a few minutes before he decided to stand up and…stretch. Yea, stretch. Awkward, he never stretched in-front of me before. It wasn’t that it was a big deal; it’s just that we were always formal in-front of each other. After all, we barely know each other. But well, since I hadn’t left yet (and thinking he’s stuck with me), he might’ve just thought of being himself until we get used to it.
“So, how about breakfast?” he said, startling me from my thoughts. “Albert’s brought supplies; you’ve a lot to use now.” He smiled and went to the bathroom.
Wait…did he just smile? As in…smile?
I shook my head then stared at where he was before he left. I relived the expression on his face before heading to the bathroom. Smile, he actually smiled at me! And he rarely does that, by rarely I mean the first time that he gave me a kind smile (not a smile that was because he was going to laugh or just finished laughing), it was just a smile. It made me tingly and I felt my cheeks heating up.
“Tiffany!” he called from the bathroom, “Hungry!”
“Yes boss!” I shouted back and went to the kitchen. He sounded so bossy that on regular days, that could’ve been really annoying. But now, let’s just say I’m in the mood to cook something really delicious.
***
“I’m sorry.”
Jonathan swallowed his food (I actually cooked food, yey!) and gave me a questioning look, “Uh, for?”
“For over staying. I should’ve just went with, uh, Alfred.”
“Albert, and that’s okay.” he looked away and continued eating.
“Really?” I sounded happy, I wasn’t intending to. I mean, I don’t know.
“I could drive you home, you know.”
I stared at him; he was still eating—serious. “Oh.” Disappointed, but… “Oh, uh, of course you can!” I guess he really didn’t want me to stay, this is his alone place, and I’m bothering him.
An awkward and deafening silence filled our atmosphere and I felt very uncomfortable. I motioned to leave, wanting some fresh air.
“I…”
“You could stay here for as long as you like”, he said, “I don’t mind.”
“Huh?” really, huh?
He smirked, “You heard me.” he said and continued eating, ignoring me as I slowly went out the back door and into the garden.
Jonathan’s been acting weird (nice, kind, not really teasing me, or whatever he was normally the past few weeks) lately, it’s creeping me out.
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