The Love Complex (Completed)

Bonus Chapter I

It was the second week of job hunting, and Dylan was becoming more and more exasperated. He had been searching, sending his CVs to various hospitals, and going to plenty of interviews. In fact, he had lost count of the number of hospitals he had encountered in his job search.

He had tried to relax, like Roger had advised him to, but could not stand being idle for more than two hours. Eventually, he found  another outlet, he would occupy his mind by cleaning.

Regina was not as disorganized as Roger had been. She did not leave her things all over the place, like Roger liked to do. She never had trouble finding things; she knew where her journal was. The second drawer, below the television. She was predictable, and had a system in place. However, Regina was the type to forget.

Dylan knew that it was normal to forget, even he forgot. It was rare, but he did. That didn't really stop him from wanting to always clean up after her. His employment status made this urge of his even more annoying.

He knew that it was rude, the house wasn't his and he could get in trouble. He knew that it could possibly annoy Regina or anger her. He had been told in the past that he had to stop being so obsessive with keeping things tidy. He was a man, they said. He wasn't supposed to worry if the table had crumbs or if the floor had been swept, but he did worry. Even if they reminded him to stop caring, he still couldn't ignore it.

Therefore, he walked over to the coffee table. It was three in the afternoon. That morning he had made breakfast for both he and Regina. She didn't often leave the house unless she was called. Dylan had noticed that she liked to work in the living room. He'd often find her sitting down on the floor right in front of the coffee table glaring at her laptop reading something she had written a few minutes before. She'd only leave if she got a call.

That afternoon, just a few minutes before she had left to run errands. She had been in a hurry, not bothering to clean up after herself. Dylan looked at the dirty and messy coffee table. A mug of half drunk coffee was still sitting by her closed laptop, along with a paper towel with a piece of sweet bread beside it. Two packets of paper were a few inches away from the mug, scattered along with pens and pencils.

"She's so..." He stopped himself and closed his eyes. He knew that it wasn't correct to clean after her, but the mess was too much to bear. He had to do something about it. So, he did.

He picked up the mug, and the bread along with a napkin and walked over to the kitchen.

A few hours before, Regina had promised to wash the dishes. He had told her that he could do it, but she insisted.

"I guess I will have to wash the dishes too." he muttered under his breath with a shake of his head.

He didn't mind it. He had nothing else to do. He needed to occupy his mind with something. Cleaning after Regina would be no different from cleaning after Roger. However, the thing that didn't sit well with him was that she had not allowed him to get it done sooner. There was no reason for her refusal, it only made him waste time. He didn't understand her or her logic.

As he washed the dishes, his mind drifted to the landlady. They had only spoken a few times and all of those times had been mainly conversations related to the house rules or small talk to fill the awkward silence. He knew almost nothing about her and he was sure that she knew nothing of him as well.

Perhaps it was better, he thought. There was no need to learn anything about one another. They could cohabit better that way. The system they had established was convenient for both of them.

However, that didn't stop him from thinking about her. It wasn't in a romantic way. Dylan didn't care much about her inner thoughts or feelings, her family, or friends, as much as he cared about her way of living. He was curious about the lifestyle of someone who worked from home. Even during his residency, he spent most of his time at the hospital only coming home to sleep and eat. Even then, he always made sure to keep everything organized and clean. A person like Regina, who worked from home had to have more time to clean after herself. Yet, there he was, cleaning after her. It made him curious.