Chapter Three: The One With Finding A Job and Glaring Eyes

“Hey, the fuck did you do with my clothes?” 

Anton didn’t need to look to know that once again, he had pissed off his roommate. As a matter of fact, his eyes were fixated with feeding Bessie as the golden retriever munched the last piece of doggie treats without a care. He wished he could at least trade places with Bessie even for a day.

“They’re in the washing machine and they’re about to be done.” At least she should say thank you. But any retorts coming from him might end him up on the streets again. No way he would experience that again.

Dark brown eyes narrowed as her lips curved into a scowl. Her long wavy hair was tied in a bun and she was wearing her red satin nightgown. He hadn’t noticed her glasses were placed on top of her head and he mentally slapped himself on the face that he didn’t know that she was wearing glasses at all. 

If only she allowed him to ask questions. Stupid rule number three.

“I didn’t ask you to wash my clothes, Emma.” Unconsciously, Anton flinched whenever someone addresses his surname. He didn’t like his feminine name, after all. “You agreed that we shouldn’t lay our hands on our shit.”

Cursing in the morning? Guess somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Anton patted Bessie before standing up to look at Fin. If this was a staring contest, Fin would obviously win on this one as her glare could kill someone. Despite that, she was small and four times shorter than him —not that he was particularly on the average height, in fact he’s pretty tall for a Filipino guy.

“I am just helping around, sorry,” he sighed.  Despite his looks, Anton hates dealing with confrontation. “I noticed that you were using the same clothes for three days and well, your laundry has been untouched for weeks.”

She opened her mouth for another retort but she stopped herself as she heaved a sigh. “Anyway, just don’t touch my stuff.” Turning away from him as she motioned herself in the bathroom’s direction.

“Aye, aye.” But you’re a slob and I couldn’t help it, was in his thoughts. He slumped on the floor next to Bessie, who was clearly watching everything that happened here. He wrapped his arms on their canine companion and tucked his face on her fury neck. 

Technically, Bessie is Fin’s dog. But living here for a month and doing most of the feeding, washing and walking her in the mornings, did that count Bessie as his as well?

Speaking of which, he should consider working as Fin’s maid, if she allows him to. But apparently, this wasn’t the first time she berated him for doing something around: from washing the pile of dishes on the sink, sweeping the crumbs left in the living room or even cooking dinner for her after she missed lunch. 

Whatever he did, it only just pissed her off more. 

So it would be better off if they don’t talk at all. 

In fact, this morning was their first talk after a week when he got caught doing her dishes. 

But that wasn’t the real issue he had at the moment. In fact, he felt really comfortable in Fin’s place, contrary to his earlier complaints.

Most of the time, Fin allowed him to do whatever he wanted as long as he followed those four rules. He is allowed to cook for his own dinner (Fin would have another hissing fit if he offered her his cooking), he watches TV all he wants and he is allowed to use her laptop. 

It’s like he had the luxury to relax for a change. But that didn’t stop Anton from job hunting. 

Anton uses her laptop to find any available jobs. Occasionally, he chatted with Eric through video calls and it actually helped him vent out his frustrations when Fin wasn’t around. 

And he debated whether to work for a cafe which offers dorm accommodations or to frying burgers. For some strange reason, the thought of being caught doing this by his former teammates irked him.

“What should I do, girl?” He hugged the dog tightly while she licked his cheek for reassurance. He heard the shower sound stop and he gulped.

Rule number Two. He shouldn’t be here if she got out. 

He stood up and made a beeline for his bedroom. He may have hated the rules but he didn’t want to face Fin’s wrath at all.

---

“Hey, Anton! Glad that you dropped by!” Blaire beamed as he entered the shop. 

“Yes, I wanted to give you my share of my cooking,” he grinned as he pulled out a bento box and a bottle of tea. “You sent me a very difficult recipe but I do hope it fits to your liking.”

“Yesterday’s definitely a treat,” she giggled. “You saved me some time for dinner, so I am not complaining.”

He sat right next to her while she was tapping numbers in the calculator. Her eyes are fixated towards the laptop. Anton glanced to see a number of sales had increased since arriving in this store. Even though it wasn’t his store, he couldn’t help but smile at the immediate success of this jewelry shop. “Busy day, huh?” 

“Yeap, the cherry blossom theme was a huge hit last month. The boss lady may not look like it but she has some amazing marketing skills.”

If Anton remembered, Blaire got hired to be Fin’s assistant to deal with the customers while she cooped herself up  in her work station. He finally realized why her first rule was not to get to her room because she hated being interrupted.

Blaire’s reason for working alongside Fin was to get a better concept of the field of marketing which she is currently studying in her freshman year. 

Despite that, Blaire, even at eighteen, seemed capable of handling different tasks by herself. 

She reminded him of his dear sister, Angie.

“Okay, done with today’s tally, now I’m starving, let’s eat!” Blaire grinned as she put the laptop and the calculator aside. 

Blaire locked the glass door before they headed inside the employer’s room which means that Fin was probably back at home or somewhere else whenever Blaire locked the door. 

“This is so delicious! Ten points from me!”

“So, we’re doing a grading system now?” He chuckled. He only made some Chinese spring rolls with Szechuan sauce, large vegan meatballs and sided with his mother’s Filipino specialty of veggie stew. 

“Well, you’re improving, that’s a given. You should just be a chef if you want to!”

Be a chef, huh? He never thought of that.

“Anyway, still not having a conversation with the boss lady, huh?”

Ugh, not the topic he wanted to hear at the moment. ‘Well, given the rules from the start, she intentionally made it feel like we shouldn’t bond at all. She was so different back then.”

.

“Like the most masculine man you’ve ever met?” Blaire may have sounded like she was teasing but Anton took it differently as he grinned.

“Of course! Fin was the toughest kid in town! When we were eight, she challenged high schoolers for a football match of to see if we can take over the field since—”

“Since you were just kids and didn’t have your own practice field,” she rolled her eyes.

“Oh right! I told you that before that we—”

“You won despite being kids because Fin was an expert of outsmarting the grown-ups and won by 12-13. I know, I know.You told me this a lot and I think challenging the highschoolers was your best match.”

“I guess I told you that a million times now, huh?”

“Pretty much,” she said as she took another piece of vegan meatball he made earlier. “You know, you and the boss lady are such oddballs, you know that? You kept talking to me about your time with Fin during your childhood every chance you get yet when it comes to seeing her in person, you couldn’t look her in the eye.”

“It was because of her rules. I couldn’t ask her anything at all.”

Her eyes suddenly lit as if an idea came to her mind then she beamed. “In that case, why won’t you just start having a conversation and don’t ask anything related to her.”

“Huh? Blaire, even if I’m just bending the rules, you seem to forget another reason why I can’t see her eye-to-eye.” 

“Sheesh, she’s your childhood friend! You can do it!” She patted him on his back. When she did, Anton ate his last meatball and almost choked. 

He glared at her while she giggled. Damn, brat. 

“Have you tried starting a conversation with her then?” He hissed after he drank his water tumbler.

“Nope, never!”

“Then do, pray tell, why’d I have to do it?”

“Because you’re the boss lady’s favorite!” 

He started to question if Blaire was on his side or she was just trolling him.

“Just do it, Anton,” she smirked as she took his spring roll and took one large bite.

“Hey! That’s mine!”

Yes, she was definitely trolling him. 

---

Later that night, when he arrived, he didn’t expect to see Fin laying herself on the couch while watching an action film. Normally, she didn’t get back till the morning.

When he arrived, she glanced sideways to acknowledge his arrival before turning her attention back to the screen.

This was normal for both of them—to not talk to each other at all. It was always uncomfortable being in the same room as Fin since arriving here. She would either ignore him or start yelling if he had done something (or if not, anything) to pissed her off. 

But he had to do this.

Start having a conversation...Start having a conversation… Blaire’s words kept repeating in his mind. Now is the perfect time without making her pissed.

He almost tip-toed as he went closer to her as he noticed that her eyes were still glued to the screen while she was drinking a can of beer.

“Hey, Fin.”

As if on cue from a stage play, his greeting made her spew her beer out of her mouth. Anton could only blinked, completely caught off guard while she started coughing before him. 

“W-what...cough….do you want?” And as regular as clockwork, her glaring continued to glue at his direction every time they have a conversation.

“I just wanted to start a conversation, that’s all!” He quickly answered and mentally slapped himself on the face for being stupidly honest. 

Her glare worsened and he almost fell to his knees. If he was allowed to ask questions, there was one thing that came to his mind.

Why do you hate me?

It came to his attention that Fin only allowed him to stay because he was in a terrible situation. And that she forced herself to let him stay here until he found a place to stay. 

As much as he missed Fin, he didn’t want to hinder her any longer.

He couldn’t wait for Eric to come back. He had to leave as soon as possible. 

“Give me a chance to ask, Fin,” he said. He needed to tread this carefully. “Please let me work in your shop!”

It was a spur of the moment request. Anton wasn’t sure why he decided to work in a jewelry shop but he had this gut feeling that he should. 

She didn’t reply, eyes didn’t leave his. He gulped, wondering if his request was going to be the end of him.

It didn’t take a while till she said, “Come to the shop tomorrow morning and ask Blaire to train you.”

And just like that, Fin went back to her movie while she moved backward to the scene she missed. 

What the heck happened?

Bessie whined next to him, impatiently and he had completely forgotten that he had to walk her outside.

“Hey, girl. Sorry for the wait, let’s go.” he patted her and in response, she licked his hand. 

While he was preparing to get Bessie’s leash, he glanced at Fin who was still busy watching the movie.

Fin was full of surprises. 

But it didn’t matter. She said yes and he could finally work again. He could help Blaire with the workload from now on. 

And as soon as he got his salary and a few months of experience, he would make sure to leave Fin’s apartment as soon as possible.