If Things Should Stay the Same

Chapter 10: Predict

"You're not wrong. He did tell me that while playing a few games of chess in the recreation room or the game room... whatever you call that big room with those dark green walls. The one that had many tables, the majority of which had their bases affixed to the floor and most of the wooden ones having built-in drawers. The marble ones are just amazing though. The feel of playing any board game or card game on them... no, even just doing anything on them just gives me this inexplicable adrenaline rush of exhilaration and..."

His attention slipping away from Sev's answer-turned-monologue, Joshua could feel his heart sink upon hearing that Alex was still upset with him for being kept in the dark with his impending temporary resignation. Although he had a set of compelling reasons why he wanted to leave his position for some time and against his best intentions, he was sure that Alex would fail to take them seriously and attempt to dissuade him from pushing through with his plan.

"Also, there was a large collection of boards games displayed on the shelves. I wonder if Monopoly or Scrabble was a better choice of game to entertain him. Anyway, I saw both the billiard table and the foosball tables further past the set of tables. I would say they were certainly a nice touch. Not to mention, there was a substantial empty space towards the back end for Twister or something, I believe. I mean, it's big enough to accommodate a group of twelve for a party game or something," Sev prattled on, idly leaning against the bland grey concrete walls of the room.

The small square space had never been used that it was as barren as it had always been. Save for the dust collecting on the floor and cobwebs forming on the corners of the ceiling, not much had changed since the room was constructed. It was not until recently that its locked metal door was wide open once more when many deliveries of decorations, furniture and the like were arriving for the ongoing renovations. With most of the equipment being dumped in this very room, it was often delegated to Joshua to sort which ones were good enough to be used for the home.

Carrying on with his task of cleaning up the newly-bought carpets shipped from the Northern States, Joshua had spread the last one across the floor and inspected its quality. Comparing it to the others he had already seen, rolled up and placed against the walls, this one seemed to be made of a more durable material and woven into an intricate pattern to reinforce the sturdiness of the product. A thin coat of white dust partially dampened the solid colors of the geometric patterns on the surface.

Joshua could not decide whether it would find its place in the main foyer or one of the many halls that lead to the spacious courtyard. He guessed he would definitely be sending this one off to Yumi and Scott so they could determine where to place it. After all, they were in charge with the design and the maintenance of both the interior and exterior.

He knelt down and ran his handheld brush over the rug, slowly ushering the unwanted powdery substance into a dustpan with every stroke. All the while, he was listening to Sev's oblivious droning about the games room that he could almost feel his own ears clogging up from his friend's nearly endless string of words without a single evident pauses in between. He thought that maybe it was a mistake to be talking to Sev while doing a task which he preferred to do alone.

It was not until Joshua had let out an audible sigh that Sev suddenly stopped to catch his breath and then then spoke with an embarrassed look on his face. "I apologize for not being able to meet with you at an earlier time this week. I've been occupied with some things lately," he said as if detecting Joshua's disinterest in what he had to say.

"It's not your fault. I thought your formal training was done too," Joshua replied as he swept up the seemingly last bit of dust off the carpet and slowly stood up to meet Sev's gaze.

"No, not that. My training has officially been complete as of yesterday, actually. I have just been busy." Sev momentarily looked away before re-engaging eye contact with Joshua, subsequently flashing a self-conscious smile. "With things, yeah," he added with a nod as if mentioning an afterthought out loud.