A House Made For Two

Where Did My Umbrella Go

Jack peered through his window and saw the sky was a darker shade of grey than it was ten minutes ago. Sighing at the indication of heavy rain, he glanced at the stack of unmarked papers on his desk, staring right back at him. Although he was partly hoping they'd become magically marked by themselves, he knew better. After a few more minutes of procrastination, he checked the time on his phone and noticed it would only be an hour before Leena got home. It had probably been three months since they started living together. Letting out a long breath, he hesitantly picked up his red pen and grabbed the first sheet off the pile.

*****

It was downright pouring and occasionally thundering when Jack had driven barely halfway home, and he tapped his finger irritably on the wheel at the waterfall cascading down his windscreen and the rows of cars trapped in a heavy onslaught of a traffic jam. Just as it was finally his turn to drive off, he pushed down on the foot of the pedal, but the figure of a small, drenched girl with a large case slung on her back jay-walking in front of his car caused him to abruptly slam down the brakes. The girl flinched at the movement, at last noticing the car she was blocking. But when her eyes met his, there was no way he couldn't recognise that face, even if she was soaked with no umbrella to minimise the falling water.

He quickly pulled over, and seeing as how Leena quickly skipped to the pathway and awaited his arrival, he knew she had seen him too. Jack hurriedly opened his door and pulled the girl inside, her climbing over to the passenger seat and flinging her hard-cased cello onto the back seats. A few honks spurred Jack on faster, as he promptly swerved to the main road and continued driving. "What the heck, Leena?!" he half-shouted over the overpowering sound of droplets of water crashing onto his windows. "Why're you so soaked?" He spared a glance towards the quiet girl, and saw her head was hanging low, her hands clasped together in her lap.

"It's raining, dumbass." Another look towards her made sure of the angry scowl on her face, her eyes fiery with menace.

"Jeez, what happened now?"

She grunted and faced the window, indicating she wouldn't be answering anytime soon. He could hear her stifle her sneezes as much as she could, and saw that her body was shivering slightly. Jack grimaced sympathetically at the sight. "Don't worry, we'll be home soon. You can turn on the heater if you want." Leena still refused to move.

"Jeez," he sighed. "You can be so stubborn sometimes."

She didn't make any sign of hearing the comment.

*****

As soon as they were parked in the driveway, Leena quickly padded out of the car, her instrument long forgotten, and unlocked the gate, the barred barrier, the fly-net and finally, the door, which had three more locks on it. It reminded Jack how long it took for him the first time to figure out all the different keys, and how he had cursed the over-extended security measures, much like how Leena was cursing now under her breath.

"Goddamned...Erica...scaredy-cat...thunder...gonna kill..." The words made no sense to him, but he vaguely recognised the name she uttered, the girl being one of the waitresses that also served in Café Riosa. A blinding flash of lightning followed by a piercing thunderclap ushered Leena on, and she at last managed to fling open the door, half-falling inside with it before hastily composing herself. Jack glanced back at the cello case sitting in the back of his car and looked away, determined to get it later.

Leena wrapped her arms around herself and begun taking small, uneven strides towards the bathroom, quivering from the additional coldness of the house interior. Seeing this, he practically shoved her and followed her step by step towards her destination. "Hurry up, you're gonna get sick at this rate!" he scolded.