Gently into the good night

Chapter Fourteen- The Surprise Visitors

"How many weeks?" I ask Naomi as I read the menu. "Three" she says with a sheepish smile. I nod and look back at the menu. Naomi proposed a girl's day out today for the both of us and it was honestly one of the greatest things I did in the past three months, maybe.
It's been three weeks since Naomi and Peter are officially together and it's adorable to some extents. I don't really prefer seeing them eat up each other's face, it just doesn't feel very comforting. "What do you want?" I ask her for the sixth time because since we have come here I'm starving and Naomi won't shut up about Peter and yes, that's annoying as well. "And yesterday he told me that my sent is irresistible, I was like oh my..." Naomi restarts blabbering and my ears start to bleed. I gesture the waiter to come and take the order when I feel the rats starting to eat my stomach because it's so empty. "Yes madam" the blond haired waiter says taking out his note pad."What's today's special? The chef's recommendation?" I ask "We have a Salade Niçoise. Organic greens, flaked tuna, niçoise olives, anchovies, egg, tomato and bell peppers." He says "Very well" I say gesturing him to add it."We also have poulet á la moutard et au miel which is a grilled chicken breast with honey mustard glaze and for dessert profiterolles which is chilled cream puffs with warm chocolate sauce" He says "Great! two of each then. Thank you" I say closing the menu and handing it back to him with a smile. "Thank you, Mam. Waiting time would be approximately ten minutes. Hope you enjoy your meal" He says and walks away. "Did you listen to what I said all this while?" Naomi asks and I remember hearing faint sounds of her voice under the sound of how awesome the food is. "Honestly, no I didn't" I reply not feeling even a little bad."Okay so I was saying.." Naomi begins again and I feel like breaking my head so that my brain is unable to process the words anymore.
~*~
We go back home after lunch and shopping and it's around evening tea time. Naomi goes back home which is in the heart of the city so it's quite nearby from where we had lunch and shopped. I come back home in a taxi. I knock on the door and Chris opens immediately. I walk in removing my hat and coat and hanging it on the coat hanger. I sit down breathing heavily. "Would you like some tea?" he asks. I let out a deep sigh "You don't even know how to boil water without evaporating it" I say, he groans and says "Look, I'm no good with food but I'm offering because you look tired." I nod and say "Yeah, please. But do you remember the recipe for boiling water?" I say the latter with a laugh. "Uh stop saying that, It was just to emphasise on my disability to cook. Are you going to tease me about it for the rest of my life?" he says and gets up to make tea. "I will whenever I get the golden opportunity" I say laughing.

We sit in the garden as proposed by Chris. The garden looks shabby, the grass is overgrown and uneven and the flower bed is extinct with no sign of anything close to flower. The shredded leaves are everywhere, it looks like a mess and it's very unappealing to the eyes. "Something needs to be done about this." Chris says with a sigh "I love gardening. I can ask Byron to get all the equipment and seeds and we both take care of the garden and within a week you'll see it looks good as new." I say optimistically. "What? Why Byron. I can do it much better than him." A mark of envy crosses Chris's face. I might have made him feel disdained and I don't feel great about it. I laugh to lighten the mood and he just shoots me a glare. "Well Byron has an incantation to raise life from this dead garden" I say smiling "He has and I don't? There is no magic in his incantation" Chris says grimacing, his face turns red. I gently touch his shoulder and say "I'm not judging you; we all have different proficiency in different aspects. He can't sing like you and you can't do gardening like him. There's nothing to feel bad about. He isn't your rival. Okay? " he gives a dissatisfactory nod "I hope he doesn't steal your heart" he says under his breath and I feel my face starting to blush, I don't comment any further as he expects me to not hear it. I sip into my tea which lacks taste but I don't want to be a pessimist so I just drink it.

He takes a deep breath and I know his wants to tell me something so I don't speak. I put my cup down on the table gently, as if on cue Chris says "My mom used to grow white roses there." He says pointing out to the dead flower bed. "Now they have shed their petals just like mom shed her soul" He says and pauses and I sense the pain in his voice, I don't respond and he begins to speak again "Dad, mom and I lived her when I was small, my dad was a fire fighter when I was, born during the early wars. Well he lost his job when I was six and finance was at stake and jobs were scares, but then he started working in a mill in the outskirts and two years later when I was eight he fell tremendously ill. Coughing fits followed by unable to breathe. He was bed ridden for two months and then later one night he died in his sleep. It was tuberculosis. Mom was devastated, she didn't cry but slowly her soul faded away. She went into depression for the next one year but after that she started to look for other men. I thought it was okay because she deserved someone but things didn't go as anticipated. She started to break down even more. The last man she ever had an affair with was George Princeton, he was a business man. He invited mom to London for a week for attending some event, I don't remember. She brought me along. On the fourth day I remember in the afternoon after a shower she kissed my cheek and said 'Be a good boy okay?' I didn't quite understand her, what she meant. We went down to had lunch, she looked uncomfortable with George and when we came back. Little did I know my moments with her were over. She slowly made me lay down on the soft bed and she stroked my hair. I fell asleep for a while. When I woke up I saw her, her legs on the window sill. "Mom?" I asked. She turned towards me, that woman didn't look like my mom. Her eyes were hollow and soulless, pitiless and painless or maybe it was all absorbed too deep. 'Be good' she said and let herself go. I saw as she slowly disappeared. I ran to the window but was too terrified to bend and have a look. After that I just stood their frozen and processed everything I saw. 'Mom' I screamed and ran everywhere frantically. She was gone. She lost too much blood, they couldn't save her. Another one and a half years later I was adopted by uncle and aunt who were honestly not fond of me. They only let me live was due to legal reasons. Well that's why I left" he says his eyes drowning in tears, deluge down his cheeks. I don't know what to do. Do I say something? I look at his hand which is resting near mine, it looks cold and pale. I'm not sure it's the best thing to do but I slowly slide my hand on his and he doesn't show any reflex in return. "It's alright, it will be okay" I promise, squeezing his hand a little which feels bitter cold. "She was pregnant with George's child" he says squeezing my hand a little.