My Phobia Man

9. Change of Scenery

Thud!

I jolted awake with the vibrating sound and saw the nuisance was on the ground, rubbing his elbow.

"What happened?" I asked with a hoarse voice, rubbing my neck.

He grimaced, "I just tripped over the cushion, damn I am so clumsy," he said as he stood up, "sorry to wake you up."

I shook my head as a response and stood up on my numb legs. While he folded the blankets, I put the cushions together. From outside, I am sure it looked like we were collecting our camping stuff, but the pain over my limbs felt more like torture than camping.

"What do you want for dinner?" he asked me as he gathered his cushions up on his chest.

Okay, it sounded so domestic; therefore, I stood aghast for a second.

"Do you want me to send you the menu?" he pressed with a smile as I was silent.

I shrugged, "anything is fine, but let me pay." Once or twice in a while was okay, but now he was bringing food regularly, so I didn't want to exploit him.

"No, it is the least I can do," he said firmly before going back to his flat with his heavy burden.

Well, I tried, right?

After he left, I took a hot shower and had my breakfast while chatting with my mom on the phone. Then I sat down to work. Interestingly, my body got adjusted to the weird sleeping pattern very well. Now I didn't need to nap to get myself together. I was productive as ever and my agent finally was happy.

The only problem was sleeping on the ground. It would be nice if I could just lend him my sofa, but it was impossible. I wasn't ready for any intrusion to my space yet.

Damn, my body was already cursing my mind for being paranoid. Whereas, after what happened, it was only natural...

So... I worked for hours, and when I was having some coffee while reading a book about curses, the familiar knock echoed inside my flat.

I checked my wrist watch and saw it was seven. "On time, as usual," I mumbled appreciatively with a smile and made my way to the door.

"Hey," he waved his free hand, "today I brought you chicken pad thai," he said with a tired smile and reached the familiar brown bag forward to me.

"Thank you," I replied, taking the bag from his hand, but my gaze was on his air-banded fingers. I did my best to ignore it, but my mouth had a mind of its own and asked "are you okay?"

He followed my gaze and held his hand up to look at it or to show me, I wasn't sure. Puffing, he said "I broke a glass today, it is nothing serious."

Well, I believed it was serious regarding the amount of times he got hurt. Was he still sleep-deprived or just so clumsy as he claimed before? And why the hell was I thinking about it?!!

"So, I was thinking" he continued, not minding my lack of response, "would you like to change the scenery tonight?"

The panic was instant. I felt my breathing stuck into my throat while my hands trembled.

"Wait no no!" he shouted, raising his hands in surrender like usual, "I meant sleeping on the terrace, in our areas, separated by your fence!"

Breathe in and out... I calmed myself and gave him a suspicious look, "why?"

He feigned a cough and averted his gaze for a second before saying "the corridor is cold and stuffy, you know. Isn't open air better?"

From his behaviour, I knew there was something amiss. I crossed my arms on my chest, still holding the bag, "and?"

"A-And?" he stuttered.

"The real reason?" I pressed with a knowing tone. Jeez, he was so easy to read.

"You were so kind not to tell me that I was quite loud," he said with an abashed expression, "but the apartment owner called me today and said the complaints about me increased. It is probably because my voice echoes through the corridors."

Brimming with anger, I opened my mouth to curse the neighbours, but realising I was the same, I closed my mouth abruptly. How could I be that hypocrite to curse other people for something I did as well? I was even worse than them, no matter how much he tried to communicate with me, I had always ignored his attempts and never asked if he was okay. I labelled him as a nuisance before even getting to know him.

"I bother you a lot too, right?" he asked with a sad tone, his blue bangs covering his eyes.

"No," I replied immediately, "see you at eleven on the terrace then," I added with a tiny smile.

"O-Okay, thank you, Veera," he replied softly and walked to his flat pell-mell.

Even after he left, I couldn't leave the door, thinking how much I upset Talay when I pestered him to be silent. I lived through the same thing, but I guessed I forgot those times quickly.

We, human beings, have a selective memory and are very prone to be cruel and ignorant...

I slammed the door, lashing my anger out of it and walked to the dining table with my heavy burden. I put the bag on the table, but I had already lost my appetite.

If I learned anything from life, it is; it is no use crying over spilled milk. As there was no use regretting the past, I decided to be super helpful to Talay. Who knew, maybe it would do me some good too...

At eleven precisely, Talay knocked on my door to inform me that he was ready to sleep. I nodded and closed the door before I wore a random hoodie in case it would be cold and went out to the terrace with our blankets.

There, Talay was waiting for me on his side of the fence with a smile. The moment he saw me he pointed at the ground, and leaning forward, I saw two white sunbeds with blue mattresses lying side by side.

"I got these from the apartment owner, he said they were left behind by the previous tenants next door," he announced with a proud smile. Then he clumsily lifted one to give it to me, but fretting he would get hurt, I grabbed the bed while holding the fence with my other hand to balance my weight. Under his amazed gaze, I pulled the sunbed to my side with my hand easily.

"Wow! You are good!" Talay gave me two thumbs up in an exaggerated manner.

I rolled my eyes, "it is not that heavy, you are just so small," I commented and the regret was instant. Why the hell did I say that? What if he was offended?

But he laughed.

He laughed loudly, holding his stomach while my bewildered gaze was stuck on his face.

How could he laugh that genuinely when he had nightmares haunting him at night? How come he managed to curb those dark memories or thoughts into their cage during the day? He must indeed have been so strong.

"I... am not... small," he said in between his laughter, "it is you... who are... so big!"

I let out an unexpected chuckle and lifted my arms in surrender as he had a point. My height and body were surely unusual for an Asian man.

Seeing my response, Talay smiled like a winner and raked his long bangs back, creating an illusion of sea sparkle under the dim light coming from his flat.

"Before we lie down," he said softly, contrasting to the excitement he had a minute ago, "tomorrow is my day-off, so shall we have coffee then?"