Chapter 3
“That is so amazing Chloe! Let's do it one more time and we can call it a night” Brandy cheered, Ethan gave me thumbs up and I began singing from the first verse. When the words start pouring from my mouth, I let myself lose in the music…
“This is our last rehearsal,Are you ready for tomorrow Chloe?” Jack asked, putting his guitar in its Case.
“I am a little nervous, it will be my first time on stage” It was the most honest response, my fingers were shaking from the nerves and I wasn't sure if I could enjoy tomorrow. Blissful soul - Our band will make its first performance tomorrow with the vocalist- which is me and Ethan constantly reminding me makes me want to crawl under the ground and stay there until the weekend passes.
”You’ll be Fine, Chloe. We'll make sure of that. Aren't we guys?” Jack asked, receiving a nod and a hell ‘Yeah’.
“See? It's normal to be nervous. We are there with you, I know you'll do great Chloe” Ethan squeezed me shoulder.
When I came back home, Mr Young surprised me with his presence. He cooked a chicken dish with extra salads and smoothies which I love so much.
“Mr Young, you don't have to do this. Now I'll be sorry to disappoint you if something goes wrong” He laughed, and it still scares me how the sound affects me. Mr Young has a perfect combination of honey eyed and dark brown hair that falls over his eye, his ears are pierced and a shiny small ring reflects under the dimmed light of my kitchen. But what made me go crazy was the dimple on his right cheeks that appears only when he bites his lips with his upper teeth or when he smile -
“I’ll be there tomorrow” He surprised me by saying.
“You mean, at the bar? When I sing?”
”Of course, Your Aunt trusts me to take care of you. It's what guardians would do” The tiny hope that perhaps he wanted to see me perform flew out of the window when he mentioned the word Guardian like he was paid to look after me. The dinner and breakfast thing between us seemed like he was forced to do it and it made me feel lonely for the hundredth time in my life.
“Chloe, What's wrong? You look like someone murdered our Bibi.” he chuckled and pinched my cheek as if I was his niece and he was my uncle.
“Damien, I am eighteen years old” I blurted out and by the look on his face, he wasn't expecting my reply.
“I am aware of it,Chloe and what are you trying to say?”
“I am not a kid”
“But you are a kid to me”
“You are right, I am seven years younger than you”
“Chloe…”
“Don’t come to the bar tomorrow!” I stood up and walked away,banging my bedroom door shut.
It was a stupid move on my part, but when he acted like my guardian, I hated it. All of my life, Aunt Shirley made sure I didn't get attached with her family and that was fine with me but When Mr Young says things like he was forced to look after me, I couldn't control my sadness although it was totally uncalled for. I wanted to see him not only as his student and the orphan who lives in his building, but what do I want him to see me as? But him calling me a kid was something I can't bear, it is ironic how I wanted him not to see me as a kid but the way I acted was a ten year would.
What was I thinking? I can't possibly go back and apologize and like the good girl I am, I pushed the matter at the back of my head and threw myself on the bed.
****
“Chloe, Wake up”
“Chloe !” I groaned under my duvets and rolled over to my side, and wished I hadn't. Mr Young stood on the foot of my bed, with nothing but only a towel hanging low on his waist, the visible v shape disappeared under the white towel and my eyes trail after that path. My throat suddenly goes dry at the sight, little droplets of water clinged to his chest and glistening under the poor sunlight that peeked through the windows.
“Mr Young...Wh-What are you doing here?” He smirked lazily and gave me a crooked smile, looking devilishly and utterly unworldly.
“You tell me, What do you think I am doing?” Suddenly his weight dips on my bed and his body hovers above me, my mouth part opens and Mr Young tooked that as a chance to thrust his tongue in between my parted lips.
“Ca-Can you move away?” my voice sounded hoarse and Unrecognisable.
“Isn’t this great, Are you wet for me Chloe?”
“What!?” his minty breath fanned over my face, and heat pooled on my lower region, I squeezed my thighs together hoping it would cause some friction.
“Meow,Meow”
“Mr Young ,What are you-?” Just then, he disappeared and Bibi peered down at me,purring slightly.
I sat up,breathing heavily and panting like I just ran a marathon. My cheeks flushed recalling the dirty dreams I just had.
“Chloe! Breakfast is ready” Speak of the devil, Mr Young peeked his head in between my door, my cheeks are on fire unlike his who looked incredibly hot and smart with his buttoned up shirt and blue tie that made him appear like he just stepped out of a vogue magazine.
“Why are you not ready? Freshen up and come down for breakfast” he said and left, leaving me all hot and so bothered.
A cold shower will do.
When Mr Young and I walked out of our building, what surprised me was the sight of Ethan in his black convertible car. When his gaze landed on my face, he raised his hands up and waved enthusiastically, his face brimming with a wide smile.
“Looks like you got a date today” I ignored my landlord and greeted Ethan who was watching the exchange between our English teacher and I.
“Good morning, I didn't knew you would come”
“Get in, Might as well just pick you up since you don't have a ride”
“You don't have to but since you are already here….” He smirked at me and I jumped into the front seat beside his driver seat.
“But...uhm..I am not judging but Isn't that Mr young? Our English teacher? It's definitely okay to- I mean we'll graduate in a few months -I mean,Oh Fuck what am I saying” his stuttering made him sound like an idiot but I can't stop the grin that made my face split into half.
“God! What are you saying? Mr young is my landlord, I live in his building”
Somehow Ethan seemed to look more embarrassed with the way his cheeks flushed pink and stared ahead like he doesn't hear me.
“Please pretend that I didn't just stuttered like a fool there” I nodded and turn the volume up in the radio singing along to the old random songs, It felt amazing to experience a normal talk between my classmate and for the first time I got a little glimpse of what it felt like to have a friend besides Mr Young and Bibi. And I have a feeling that Ethan and I can get along very well as friends.
Chapter 4Days come by so quickly when I am dreading it, it feels like the past five days flew by in a blur and suddenly I am on the backstage with my bandmate- If we are even considered one.The songs that we had rehearse for tonight were mainly Kacy Musgraves and Lady Antebellum.Ethan, Brandy, Jack, and Oliver were the only guys that I find myself comfortable with besides Bibi and Mr Young , solely because we were in sort of a band and Mr Young is my landlord. But the stares and the gawking that I've been receiving tonight creeps my skin out, it makes me uneasy and the urge to vomit overwhelmed my senses.“Are you okay? You look like you just swallowed a watermelon” Jack placed reassuring hands on my shoulder, I jumped a little.
Chapter 5“Mr Young, How are you feeling? You were so wasted last night” Breakfast was rather awkward with Mr Young constantly sighing and by all means trying to avoid having eye contact with me.“Bibi,Why is daddy ignoring us?” He choked on his soup and stared at me wide-eyed.“Oh my God, Are you Okay?” I passed him the tissues which he took from my outstretched hand and wiped the mess he created.My attention shifted back to Bibi who was trying to sneak a toast from my plate.“Bibi table manners!” I exclaimed in horror.“Here, have some water” I passed the glass full of water to Mr Young whose face is red like a tomato.“I think you should stop drinking, Whiskey is not good for your health Mr young”&ldq
Chapter 6“Hey, Are you free tonight?” I grunted a response and chewed on the fresh slice of apple from the bowl.“Is that a yes or no?” Ethan asked from the other side of the end.“I think I am busy tonight,” I said with a sigh . I heard him scoff and a sigh of irritation.“Please tell me you have friends, What are you doing the whole weekend except sleep and read!?” He asked, sounding incredulous like sleeping was a bad thing.“What’s so bad about staying in my comfort zone? I like my life the way it is” I argued hoping he would stop asking me to spend my
Chapter 7The worst part of being an orphan is when you suddenly feel sick and there would be nobody to take care of you, no one to nurse you, check your temperature and make you soup. Thirteen years of being an orphan, and I should get used to this type of circumstances but as I walked up to the receptionist, grimacing because the movement worsened the pain on my lower right abdomen, I felt so lost and envied the people who had a family to take care of them.Twenty minutes passed, The nausea returned but I took a breath and waited for Dr Michael to call me. Ethan's text distracted me from my distressed condition, I rolled my eyes at his dramatic text asking me Why I wasn't at school and another ping of a mochi with an arrow in the heart.“Miss Green? Dr Mi
Chapter 8“Is She awake? How long does it take for a normal human to wake up after a surgery?”“Mr Young, it is only three hours.Why don't you rest and maybe sleep a bit? Please stop asking me the same question every ten minutes.”“But What if she stop breathing while she is-”“I’ll see you later.” With that, I heard a door slamming followed by Mr Young's cursing.Silence engulfed the air after Dr Michael left the room, I groaned and peek my eyes open. Mr Young's worried face is the first thing that came into my view, his iron shirt has creased all over and for once his hair is no
Chapter 9Mr Young walked ahead of me carrying the bags of groceries and medicine bags that we brought on our way earlier. My twenty-five years old landlord greeted our cat and rubbed his fur gently, which is a sight to behold. Mr Young and my beloved son together was something I didn't want to change. I knew whatever we had right was nothing permanent but I could allow myself to enjoy the moment which was what I always did.“Meet your mama, Bibi.” Mr Young announced. I chortled and moseyed my way towards them taking Bibi from him.“I was planning to murder you if he went dissapearing.” I teased with a serious face.
Chapter 10I walked into detention that following afternoon. While Mr Young might have been unhappy with me for disrupting his classes, Why was I the only one who got detention and not Ethan who was the main culprit?It wasn't fair, My first detention had to be given by my favourite teacher!I settled on the farthest corner of the classroom because Lord knows Mr Young's close proximity is something I couldn't handle. He appeared three minutes later after I had settled on the chair comfortably.I put on my earphones and pretended to get lost in the music and started doing my homework, failing miserably. I could feel his eyes on me and I looked up.“Why are you sitting there? It’s just the two of
Chapter 11Come morning, the humiliation I felt was still fresh and I cringed every time I recalled how rudely I was rejected by Mr Young. Literature class is just a step away and with a last minute decision, I texted Ethan and pivoted my heels towards the opposite direction of the literature class. I knew I was being a coward, an oddball but getting rejected does that to you. Don't try this at home.Ethan appeared five minutes later, he was grinning with mischief like cutting classes were the most adventurous thing I had ever done.“Wow! Miss Green cutting classes!?” he exclaimed mockingly.“Don’t make me regret this. I