A Sulawesi Romance

Chapter 4

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Mark's POV

After Gun and I took care of unloading all the supplies from my SUV, I told him that I was going to the kitchen to tell the chef to prepare dinner for me.

"You wanna join me for dinner?" I asked.

"Thank you but I've had dinner already," Gun declined my offer.

"Then just have some dessert," I offered.

"I had some dessert with dinner earlier," again Gun declined my offer. I was so tempted to just grab him and drag him with me to the kitchen.

"Tell you what," I said, putting on my most persuasive tone of voice, "just come with me and keep me company. Who knows you might be tempted to have what I'm having. If not, maybe just some beverage to quench your thirst."

"I'm not thirsty," Gun said.

"I don't care. You're coming with me,"  I dropped all efforts at persuading him and just took on the strong man tactic.

I grabbed him by the wrist and was trying to pull him towards the kitchen but he pulled back.

"I have some work to do that Berkah assigned to me before he left," I heard him say.

"Berkah! Berkah! Berkah! Stop talking about Berkah already! Why did he have to leave after dinner anyway?" I was starting to get upset.

"He... he... he received a phone call while we were having dinner together and... "

"You were having dinner together??? Why would you be having dinner with him on your first day of work here???" now I was well and truly upset.

"It was our break time and even during dinner he was explaining to me the work I needed to do once his time at the villa is over," Gun explained, looking a little nervous now as he studied my angry face.

"And did Berkah say if he was coming back tonight or tomorrow?" I couldn't help asking.

"He didn't say," Gun replied. "Will he be in trouble if he doesn't come back tonight?"

"No," I replied. "But will you be alright if you have to sleep by yourself in the employees' quarters?"

"Umm... " his face looked troubled.

"I don't know if you believe in ghosts but I heard some employees talking about seeing a floating image of a lady in a white flowing dress," I felt guilty for telling a lie but I suppressed the feeling.

Suddenly he clung to my arm. I felt like I was floating in air and my chest literally expanded in happiness.

"I can accompany you while you eat dinner on one condition," he said.

"What is it?" I asked. I was willing to do anything for him.

"Berkah... " he started to say.

"Berkah again!" I complained.

"He asked me to refill the contents of the vending machine in the lobby," he explained. "He said that it is one of his duties to replace the soda cans and water bottles in the vending machine at the end of the day."

"Oh okay," I said. "Yes, that is one of his duties as general helper. I will of course help you out with that."

"I could actually do the task by myself but I don't wanna go to the stock room by myself and be in the lobby by myself," Gun said, his eyebrows almost meeting as he frowned.

"And why is that?" I asked, although I already knew why.

"I don't wanna see a floating image in the stock room or in the lobby," he said, tightening his hold on my arm.

"As long as I am with you, you won't see any floating image anywhere," I assured him. "So does this mean that you would like me to accompany you in your room tonight?"