Secrets Behind The REPUTATION

CHAPTER FOUR

Aleena, A.K.A Mrs Rowan, carefully picked the plates up from thedining table, scraped the dishes of excess food, put them inside the sink, and poured a little water over it, thinking that the touch of hot water would lighten the food particles glued to the plates; hoping she can finish it as soon as possible and can watch the evening talk show of Jennifer Jackson without missing a beat. She scrubbed the plates, rinse them repeatedly, and lifted each plate out of the sink to the front of her narrowing eyes right below her blond wavy bangs, carefully examining whether there were any particles on the plates that still did not wish to let go. Ten minutes later, as she was about to reach the finishing red ribbon of her task, the doorbell rang in the usual harsh tone.

Mrs Rowan turned around surprised, and looked at the doorway in between the kitchen and the living room, wondering who had turned up in front of her door this evening. She huffs to herself as she moved to the counter, then wiped her wet hands with the blue striped yellow towel sitting on the counter. She set the towel where it had been before and strode to the front door. Needless to say, before opening the door, she did not forget to adjust her side-swept bangs and white floral print dress in front of the mirror which was situated on the wall of the living room. 

Her eyes widened like saucers and her mouth gaped open as she stared at Vincent and Michael, who spring up on the door without forewarning; acting like they brought some guns around with them. It was not a word of happy or amazement. On the other hand, it was a blend of confusion and staggered.

'Why did you come so early today?' Aleena asked as both Michael and Vincent stepped in and went past her towards the living room. Her one palm was still on the doorknob as she half-turned to look at Vincent.

Vincent swirled back surprisingly; his one eyebrow flew up. Well, that was an unusual question for him, especially from her mouth. 'Are you seriously fretting about that now?'

'No...' Aleena swung her arm, grinned nervously, and swallowed as she shuffled forward. It was sufficient for Michael to point out that there was something off about her. Not knowing what to say in this situation, he simply stood beside the brown couch and watched their side faces.

'I asked because this is not normal. At all!' She rocked her head, notably when she added "At all!". 'By the way, what do you mean by "fretting about it"?' By folding her hands, she stood in front of him, looking forward to a fresh argument. 

'Right, that's not normal either.' Vincent said as he squints his eyes. 'This is the first time you've complained about me coming home earlier. Remember the time you shook the night that I showed up late? You scared the hell out of me. Now, I wanna know what's wrong with this world?'

'I am not complaining.' She placed her palms over her chest before releasing a huff, dramatically. 'Someone who hasn't been familiar with coming home earlier yet has arrived earlier today, and I was wondering why.' Vincent said nothing, rubbed the back of his neck, and listened for the words flowing out of her mouth. As she continued, 'And about that night, it was our anniversary night and guess what someone who has a responsible brain chose to forget it. Oh... I know the answer to that too. It was you!' She pointed her index finger towards him.

Vincent nodded, not wanting to admit that there is a point on her side, but admitted it anyway. More likely, he does not want to wade in and needed to stem her from bringing up any more previous incidents from their argument. So, he chooses to be a good listener, at least for now.

'Where is Dylan?' Although the question was at his wife Aleena, his eyes went up to the stairs to the left side. She had turned to go to her kitchen, but at that question, she bounced and looked at him again.

'Why!?' Aleena shouted. Trying her best to turn down her high-pitched voice as Vincent gave a second surprise peer at her. 'Why do you need Dylan now? He is studying there. Don't disturb him.' She wrapped that up in one second, almost trembling her whole body a little bit while side-tracking her eyes towards the stairs to her right.

'Are you having a seizure or something?' Vincent asked, his forehead making a lot of wrinkles on that question. 'Why are you acting so weird today? Was it because I came earlier or because you suddenly remember the day I forgot our anniversary?' There was a bit of sarcasm pouted in his tone. He came over to her, dipped his head down and then put his hands on either side of her shoulder as her head went up to look at his face.

'No, you silly.' Aleena waved her arm again, and the nervousness turned up on her pink lips was highly visible like a piece of dust floating over a bowl of milk. 'I just had a lot of stuff on my plate today. I mean a lot.' She stopped and passed a smile to Michael before going back to Vincent. 'My buddies from college had dropped in without a message, screaming "surprise" outside of our door. I was completely shocked. But that was not the end. After I invited them inside, they proceeded ahead to blab on about everything their eyes fell into and their hands touched. Went on and on until the throat hurt. It was beyond what my ears could bear, and my head was still... whirling.' In a weary voice, she touched her temples.

'Mmmmhhhmmm...' Vincent hummed and nodded, yet was not satisfied by her reply, and had held his qualms behind that curtain.

Vincent and Aleena stared at each other for a while without blinking. His hands were going back on her shoulders as she put a nervous smile on her pink lips again. Michael looked at them and stayed where he had been before, still did not bother to raise his voice.

There was complete silence. A silence that their ears could take the sound of breathing from the room. Only the ticking sound of the cat clock in the living room was still taking place in the background.

Suddenly, the beat of the drum rang out from upstairs. It overflowed with the blend of eight put on the Hi-hat, four bass drums, and adding the backbeat snare on two and four. It was cherishing from a soul rather than a sound growing from a drum set, from end to end every damn beat. Unlike an act between hands and the drum, instead, it was the flow of the heart to discover the destination and get an orgasm in the ears.

Such a sick one.

Both Vincent and Aleena slowly moved their heads up, their blue orbs reached the top edge of the eyelids. On the other hand, Michael was extremely impressed, and the rhythm that reverberated in his ears fascinated him. It brings him back to the 90s and he loves that goddamn feeling. An invitation to another world, which fills the empty souls with a warm touch like the waves filling the holes in beach sand. He goggled at the ceiling with a wide smile that almost drove blossom on his cheeks.

Aleena breathed thickly as Vincent gently pulled his hands out of her shoulder. His eyes were still on the white ceiling, and the jaws were almost dropped. The rhythm was still thumping and almost pulsing on the walls. Then, the E string on the electric guitar got plucked, causing Vincent to shut his eyes and clench his fists. The anger slowly sprouts out from his inside, getting ready for a battle.

Bom-Bom-Bom Bububom Bububom

Bom-Bom-Bom Bububom Bububom

Michael, not only Michael, three of them guessed the song is "Another one bites the dust" by the rock band named Queen without draining their brain out. After all, it was an easy one to beat the quiz buzzer.

'Is that Dylan?' Michael asked Aleena with a wide smile, unblinking. No words got out of her parted lips, instead, just nodded one time which was slower than a snail crawling as she nervously still darted at Vincent's tight jawbones and closed eyes.

'Oh yeah... he is good. I love Queen!' Michael screamed as his shoulder bopped up and down with the cool riff that buzzed out from upstairs.

At the very least, someone in the room is enjoying the moment. 

NOTE: I love Queen too.