I was utterly taken aback. I did not know how to react. Gary was back, and he had his mischievous smile on his face. It was as if he knew something that I didn’t. And I hated it when he called me Addy. Between him and Hale, hearing that name gave me chills, and the only difference was Hale was trying to remember if it indeed was my name, whilst Gary looked like he had some dirt on me. “Did you become deaf now?” he asked as he still had his annoying smirk on his face. “Oh, sorry, I zoned out for a minute.” I sighed “Anyway, I was saying it is so lovely to see you once again. Hope you have been great.” he said I nodded. I could not speak. I thought after signing the stupid contract that the first few days were going to be enough of seeing Gary, but apparently, that was false. “Is the big guy in?” he questioned “Yes, he is in his office,” I answered as I stepped aside for him to get into the house. He walked straight to the office without even bothering to pay attention to the cri
“What does he mean by pass any greetings?” Dominic turned around and asked me the minute Gary was out of the gate.“I don’t know what he means.” I shrugged nervously, wondering if he, too, was onto something“Homer, there better not be some crying kid you left in another state or drooled up father,” he said “It’s okay, let’s just leave it,” I sighed “No, I just want to know.” he insisted. Now, he was the one pressing. Now, I knew why he would get so annoyed when I would keep asking questions or snooping around in his personal things. Except, I had not seen this Gary man and did not know what he was talking about. “Homer, just tell me what it is so that I go easier on you,” Dominic saidI was thinking of lying about some dying and crippled father in someplace. Or at least some estranged father because that would add more juice to why Gary keeps saying he will greet. But then again, Gary looked like the type who would not keep his mouth shut. Dominic would go and ask him about my wi
He kept quiet. It was as if he was trying to process what I had just said. After giving him my surname, I hoped he would finally retire the ‘Homer’ name he gave me from my interview and start using the correct one. “I am confused.” he finally spoke“Why are you confused?” I asked back. “Because what do you mean by this?” he questioned, feeling confused. Well, he would not have been that confused if he called me ‘Holmes’ or ‘Harper’ like everyone else rather than calling me by a totally different name. “Okay, let’s talk about this,” I suggested.“No, wait,” he said. He ran out of the room and practically ran down the stairs. He came back holding a paper. It appeared to be my application form. “Oh, this it just says ‘Harper’ as a first name and ‘Holmes’ as the last. How am I supposed to believe you when now you’re bringing in Ashely?” he asked. He called me by another name.“It’s Addison, and I dropped it when I was moving, and that is why you only see ‘Harper’ ‘Holmes’ with no ‘
It was nighttime. Dominic had been in his room singing and listening to music while I was downstairs, wrapping up the last bit of cleaning before I hopped into my comfortable clothes and bed. “I have ordered tacos. I hope you’re not allergic to anything.” Dominic said as he walked down the stairs“Are you talking to me?” I asked, trying to sound as soft as I could“Who else would I be talking to?” he answered. I was shocked that Dominic had included me in his dinner plans even after I practically yelled at him and was somewhat not completely honest with him.“They will be coming in a few minutes.” he continued to speak. He walked over to the cupboards, reached out for a glass and poured himself some water and sipped on it. I was done cleaning the house and I walked off to the bedroom I was using during my stay and took off my clothes. I quickly wrapped my body in my bathing towel and walked out of the room. Dominic froze once he saw me. It was as if he wanted to say something, and
I pulled out one of the dining chairs and sat down. I made sure to keep my distance between me and him. I did not want even our knees to touch. I was already very much thrilled by him inviting me to the dining room to eat. “I am very strict about eating in my living room. You can eat fruits, snacks or like have a drink in there but not a meal.” he finally said after swallowing a huge chunk of his food“Oh! I see.” I answered with a huge chunk of food in my mouth and not even bothering to cover it.“Cover your damn mouth!” he snapped.“I am so sorry.” I found myself replying without first swallowing but I had attempted to close my mouth. I looked at Dominic and to say that he was disgusted was an understatement. He looked furious. If I was his own child, we would have dished out a few slaps on my face for being so mannerless. There were some things that were clearly taught and prioritised in Dominic’s house while in mine, there were not much of an issue. “I am starting to think you
The next morning I woke up to Dominic humming and moving around the house. I quickly checked my phone and saw it was already past 11 and I was still in bed. I rolled out of the bed and immediately rushed out of the room. Dominic was sitting outside, already doing the crossword in the newspaper. That meant that he was already done reading it and probably done with his cup of tea because he would often save the crossword for last. I slowly walked out there to go and greet him. “Good morning sir,” I said“You know, for your sake and I don’t know, maybe mine too, I hoped that you died in your sleep or something because you had not woken up and then I thought maybe you were up and showered and all but just cleaning that room. But now, I have seen that you’re still wearing your skimpy clothes and looking very crusty,” he replied without lifting his eyes from the newspaper. I watched him jot down a few words in some sort of diary and then continue with the crossword. “I am so sorry, sir
“Hale, you know I do not do birthdays,” Dominic answered plainly “Come on, it’s not every day someone turns 30,” Hale replied I had no idea that Dominic was turning 30. The way he moved around, always frowning and seeming unhappy about many things, made him seem way older. But I knew he could not be too old because his face was young. The way his moods would switch from happiness to anger to calm was beyond alarming. “I told you that I find birthdays useless. We are just celebrating the day I was pushed out of some woman, and then we have to pretend that everything else is going to be okay from there,” he answered. “I mean, no one likes birthdays anyway. Unless you’re like a 4-year-old who is looking for the next doll or football for a gift, but at this age, we find birthdays boring, and no one looks forward to them.” “I like birthdays!” I found myself interrupting their conversation“Thank you, Addison,” Hale responded. Dominic widened his eyes as he slowly turned his head to lo
I had finished cleaning upstairs and carried the cleaning supplies downstairs. Dominic and Hale were seated downstairs. Dominic was scrolling through his laptop while Hale was on his phone and then occasionally, Dominic would pick up his phone, chat angrily with someone and then put it back down. “Sir, where do you want me to clean?” I asked “Anywhere except here,” he replied while he continued to press the keyboard of his laptop angrily“Even the office?” I questioned He looked up at me as if he was about to kill me. “I tell you when you can clean my office. From there, you clean other parts of the house.” Dominic answered.I nodded and walked away. “What’s in your office that you don’t want her to touch?” Hale asked. I was in the kitchen cleaning and washing up the dishes, so I definitely got a better chance to hear whatever they were going to talk about. And I just knew that Dominic would not want to answer seeing that I was still within range. “No, it’s just my office is my