Isabelle

The Shack.

"The nerves she has". He muttered under his breath shaking his head in disapproval because of what he had just seen.

He placed his sable brushes and tripod by the corner of the room, the unfinished painting on the canvas stared back at him. A reminder that he had to finish what he had started a few days back before procrastination and distraction settled in. But that wasn't the case, it wasn't distraction , at least that wouldn't be the way he would've put it. The right terms was 'busy'.
Ignoring the creature that was resting peacefully on the floor, he walked over to the huge drapes which prevented the other side from being seen, push them to the side and Alas! the ray of sun light came in through the wide window.

" Hmmmmm".

He heard the creature groan and complain inaudibly. He went back to where he placed his tripod.

"What? What are you doing here? This isn't your room." Isabelle sat upright on the floor, the sun in her eye and her hair a mess.

"And why am I on the floor?" She asked herself and then gasped "Did I fall from the bed?". She turned her head to the right looking for her bed. " What is going on?".

"This isn't your room. Its my workspace" He said placing the canvas on the tripod looking at the unfinished parts.

"Work..s.space?" The voice, it sounded so familiar. She's heard it somewhere, from someone , someone annoying and

"Jia!" She exclaimed, the sleep that was still hanging around her eyes vanished the moment she realised who she was talking to. Her mouth agape.

"Yes that's my name and close your mouth before a fly gets in there." He said staring at her while making a slip knot with the hands of the apron he had just put on.

'A white apron used by a painter that hadn't been stained? How's that possible?' Isabelle thought. ' or maybe he was just very good at washing his clothes?'

Isabelle gathered her thoughts. She came here with kia , they spoke a little, watched the night sky glow because of those creatures, Kia left to go to bed,she layed on the floor to stare at the creatures and apparently dozed off. She realised that she had slept here last night.

was she supposed to apologize for accusing him of being in her room or she should

"Run!" Her insides screamed.

She scrambled and made her way down the stairs feeling awkward leaving Jia to process what had just happened. she looked horrible in the mornings and she was quite aware of that, it explained the feeling of awkwardness.

The horrible bird's nest of a hair fought tooth and nail with the brush. Scared that she might pull all her hair out, she heaved a heavy sigh staring at the comb whose job was to detangle but wasn't doing its job properly. she searched for a scarf to cover her hair with. Her scalp was already aching.

"Oh yes I forgot to tell you" Kia scratched the back of his head smiling. She just had to ask Kia because what happened was embarrassing, she hated people seeing her face when she wakes up in the morning especially her hair, heaven knows what happens to her hair at night when she had fallen asleep that makes it look the way it does in the morning.

"Its his workspace, he paints a lot and makes miniature sculptures when he's less busy". Kia said.

" So he doesn't just paint, he also makes miniature sculptures?" She was surprised to hear and wondered why she hadn't seen the sculptures when they were up in the room, maybe because it was alright night time.
"Can we check it later?" She asked Kia who was about to put a boiled potato in his mouth.

"Sure, of course we can. Let's eat I'm hungry". There they were, alone and sitting on the dinning table. Nia had gone out earlier " To run some errands" She said.