Tragically Yours

| 40 |

"Did you really have to bring all the muffins?" I ask as I watch Gail enter the car with the basket of muffins in her hands. "I don't want Ethan seeing those and decides to take some. Call me greedy, but he kept on taking muffins from Ms. Jess as if he lives in the apartment." I kept my eyes on Gail as she buckled her seat belt while resting the basket on her lap. Breaking my eyes away from her, I buckle my seat belt before continuing to stare at her. By the time I glanced back, she already pulled another muffin from the basket and guided it towards me. More specifically, to my mouth.

"Here comes the muffin train, choo-choo!" She kept bumping the muffin to my mouth as if any minute I would open and let her feed me the muffin. But I'm still bitter that she's bringing the basket of muffins to the theater and plans on giving Ethan some. It's fine if she's going to give to the people in the theater, as well as give some to Declan and the others. But giving Ethan a muffin, that's too much. When I still didn't budge and open my mouth for her, I watched as a pout formed on her glowing face. "Come on, eat the muffin, Vy. You're not you when you're hungry."

I narrow my eyes at her as she lifts her lips in a wide grin. "Did you just throw a snicker slogan at me? That doesn't even have anything to do with the muffin." A light chortle came out of her, and I just had to stare at her with a deep appreciation. Her laugh is like the purest form of music to my ears. I could try to record her laugh and make it my ringtone. "Fine, hit me up with a muffin." I open my mouth wide for her to guide the muffin to my mouth. Once the muffin touched my mouth, I slowly and carefully took a bite out of it without accidentally biting Gail's fingers. "Did you reheat those muffins in the oven?"

She pulled the muffin away from me and took a bite of her own. "Yeah, when you were busy taking a shower. I silently reheat these delicious muffins in the oven." A moan came out of her while chewing on the reheated muffin. I had to stop myself from feeling things from the moment I heard her moan like that. It's crucial since I'm about to drive us to the theater. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask you..." One of my eyebrows raised as I turned the car engine on for a moment before finally driving away from the parking lot. "Ms. Jess isn't just a regular landlady, is she? She's like a part-time mother to every tenant living in her building."

I consider her question for a moment, finding the actual question she's asking me. Gail usually hides her actual questions with a bit of sugarcoating. Luckily, I can easily understand what she's truly asking. "If you're asking that Ms. Jess isn't a parasite like any other landlords or landladies, then yes. She's different from that." I twist my body around to fully face her and flash a sincere smile. "I was actually quite lucky to have a landlady like Ms. Jess, since I'm quite aware that other landlords and landladies can be classified as parasites because of how they treat their tenants." I swallowed down the muffin I'd been chewing while explaining about Ms. Jess to her. "What's better is that Ms. Jess' rents are cheap. She doesn't really care if her tenants pay her, she cares more if they're comfortable and secure where they're staying."

Gail tilts her head to the side as she guides another muffin to her mouth to take one small bite out of it. "If she doesn't care about money from her tenants, where does she get the money to buy ingredients for baking these wonderful muffins?"

My smile glows even brighter at her. Her confusion may look adorable on her. But her genuine interest in parts of my life that focus on the people around me is more adorable. "Well, you see-" I glanced around my car to see if anyone was around. Don't want anyone eavesdropping on this information. "-Don't tell anyone about this, as well as Ms. Jess. I don't want her to know that I've told you this. You know that infamous anonymous CEO of the company MindTech?"

Gail's eyes went wide, "I've read some articles about it. Is that the CEO who kept his face hidden to the public even though his company is successful around the globe?" When I nodded my head, she kept going on sharing what she knows about the anonymous CEO. "The only person who represents the company is his partner, right? The COO of the company. He's usually the one speaking in front of the camera because the CEO wants to be anonymous to the public."