When he came to live with me

The Boss

When I opened my eyes, I realized it was bright already. The dim light that lit us the previous night was too faint to even be noticed. I fetched my phone and turned it on. It read 11:11 am. Then it dawned on me that Kev had to go to his work now.

I nudged Kev,"You need to leave for work. Wake up!"

He hardly moved. I knew what was needed to get him up, so, I got up and dragged myself downstairs and started making sandwiches. I brewed myself a cup of coffee and a cup of tea for Kevin. Coffee upset his tummy. As I waited for the breads to pop out of the toaster, I reimagined the incident from yesterday and chuckled. I touched my lips gently. Felt like I could still taste him. I snapped out of my daydream when the breads jumped out. I made the sandwiches, poured us our drinks, placed the food on a tray and headed upstairs.

I slowly sat on my bed picking the cup of coffee and took it under Kev's nose. He woke up smelling it and looked at me with his bedroom eyes still craving for sleep. He got up and rested his back on the board of my bed.

"Had a nice slumber?" I enquired.

"Morning, Mon Amour!" he smiled as he raised his cup of tea and took a sip. It energised him and then he took a bite off the sandwich. I followed him. He always liked my food, surprisingly.

"Yummilicious!" he praised as I blushed.

As he swallowed another bite and gulped his tea, he mentioned,"Hey, I'm really sorry for my unacceptable behaviour from yesterday. I was really messed up and dumped my shit on you..."

I interrupted,"It's fine. I don't mind!"

"I understand if you are annoyed," he apologised again.

"No! And stop with your apologies, please!" I insisted.

"I will if you admit that you liked it," he teased. There he was, the same old Kev, always making fun of me.

I wanted to, but aware of the consequences of life long humiliation, I kept it inside me and put up a poker face and yelled," You need to hurry, it's half to noon!" I dragged him out of my bed and into his room. He went to his bathroom and brushed his pearls as I opened his closet. His closet was a disaster waiting to unleash. As soon as I opened his closet door, I was welcomed by a flying underwear and before the rest of the pile collapsed on me, I pushed them back. I heard Kev laughing behind me seeing his underwear around my head and all his laundry pushing against my lean body.

"You need to clean this up!", I yelled, aware that it had been like that since I last organised it a few months back. I shoved them back in, fetched a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans and closed the door before it tumbled on me again. I threw them on his face,"Don't expect me to dress you up, kid!"

I often dressed him up. He liked it and so did I. 'I feel like a celebrity!' he used to say.

"I would have liked that but if you insist, I shall gladly do the honours."

"Oh please!" I objected, "Cut out your charm already..."

"Are you blushing?", he interrupted noticing my cheeks flush.

I immediately took off from his room and slammed the door before he could humiliate me more. I could hear him laugh from inside and I smiled, leaning against the door. My feet took me downstairs where I sat on a couch staring at my garden. I had planted a banyan tree when I came to live here which had grown tall. Its foliage shaded the colourful tulips, roses, orchids, peonies, lilies and the pond in between all of them. I had released some tadpoles and fish a few months back. I could see them bouncing around. I saw my parrots flying around the branches and hares hopping below them.

That's when I felt a warm hug smother me from behind. I recognised that warmth immediately.

"Wish I had a life like you," he sighed, "always in home gazing at the mesmerising surroundings, not having to worry about work."

"I work from home an I need to go for presentations sometimes," I argued. "And there are countless things I worry about."

He sighed giving me a pitiful gaze,"I'm the boss. I can stay back if you want me to."

As much as I wanted it I debated,"This reckless boss needs to worry about his million dollar company a bit more and learn responsibilities or else your firm will go down the rabbit hole." I pushed him to the door, handed him his car keys and sent him out.

"Bye, Mon Amour!"

I shut the door and blushed. I could see his face smiling as I closed my eyes with an enormous smile on my lips stretching across my face. I returned to the couch, fetched my laptop and started my work while my mind went on a rollercoaster ride!