Summer at 21
“Can I go with you?” I ask
Kaye while he changes clothes in the bedroom.
“What can you do while you’re there?” He tosses the towel into the humper, showing me his sculpted body with only his briefs on. “By the way, why are you here when I’m changing? Don’t you know what privacy is?”
“You don’t seem bothered by it anyway.” I shrug, hiding the fact that I’m actually enjoying the sight of his toned body and the flexing of his muscles. “I just want to go with you. I won’t bother you, I promise.”
“I want to finish things quick without thinking of anything else. With you there, I can’t keep my focus.” He draws a denim pants and puts it on. “Besides, I have a feeling you’re hiding from something so why are you exposing yourself in public?”
“Why can’t you be focused?” I ask while my own eyes are the ones losing focus at his disappearing firm buttocks. “I promise not to make my presence obvious, ok? And you’re right that I’m hiding but it’s not like I won’t be found out soon.”
“You have a bad temper and I’m afraid you might butt in during the meeting.” He looks at me over his shoulder before I hear the sound of a zipper being pulled up. “Now that you mention it, why were you running away last night?”
“The man that I had quarreled with during lunch was actually my assistant.” My gaze transfers up to his broad back after his buttocks has been covered by his pants. “He always comes to pick up my due manuscripts. I already told him that I’ll email the chapters as soon as they’re finished but he still keeps pestering me.”
“Ah, so it’s like that. So you’re actually late from submission of your manuscript yet you have the audacity to get upset with him in the crowd? That poor assistant.”
I squirm before answering in a small voice. “Only a week late though. It’s not like I do this all the time. I’m stuck and had a writer’s block. What can I do about it?”
“See? That’s why I’m telling you not to come with me. Something like that might happen. You always get what you want regardless whether or not you’re right. And you give me the impression that you’re always in the wrong.”
“Hey, how judgmental for you to say that! I told you, I won’t interfere with your business, ok?”
Kaye breathes out a tired sigh and shakes his head. “You’re not gonna drop this until I say yes, are you?”
I grin at him as my answer and Kaye rolls his eyes as if in resignation. He closes his closet and buttons his shirt down.
“Just one condition,” he says while looking at me with squinted eyes. “You shave that damn beard and tie your hair up!”
“I can’t!” I burst out and suddenly clutch my precious beard.
Even as a man, growing hair is rare for me. That’s why I have to buy hair growing cream just to achieve this beard. It’s not like I really like this though but it’s a form of disguise for security purposes. Yet, right now, he wants me to shave it? What do I do?
“I can’t do that,” I repeat in panic.
“Then you stay home,” he says dismissively and turns, but I snatch his hand to stop him from leaving.
“O-ok, ok! I’ll do it,” I announce decisively while staring him in the eye. “I’ll s-shave but y-you… K-kiss…” I say disjointedly and stop to take a deep breath before continuing. “I mean y-you gotta kiss me.”
“What?” His eyes bulge in disbelief before whisking my hand away. “Why would I do that? Besides, I’m the one giving the condition here.”
“I’m not giving out condition. I’m asking for a prize. After all, I’ve grown this beard for so long. I deserve to, at least, get a reward if you suddenly ask me to get rid of it, don’t I?”
Kaye stares at me for a moment as if weighing something in his mind. And when he can’t seem to find anything to refute my words, he eventually sighs in defeat. He combs through my hair and holds my face in both hands before granting me a kiss to my forehead.
“Hey!” I exclaim in disappointment.
“I don’t kiss on a hairy mouth. After you shave, I’ll reconsider.” With that, he finally steps out of the room, leaving me dumbfounded and frustrated.
I slap my hands to my cheeks and gasp in shock. Oh, my God! I did it! I actually asked for a kiss from Kaye! How could I? I touch the place where his lips landed and my face heats up while my heart thunders in my chest. Oh, gosh! Kiss! Kaye’s going to kiss me!
I snap myself out of my daydreaming and square my shoulders. Curse you! You’ll reconsider, huh? Let’s see about that. I dash towards the bathroom and wet my face before picking up Kaye’s razor on the sink. I stare at myself in the mirror, dawdling.
I don’t know if it’s because of this disguise that I’ve had peace right now or have I finally escaped that horror from before? But as long as they’re alive, the possibility that I’d be found again is just a matter of time.
As much as I don’t want Kaye to get involved with my life, staying close like this with him lends me the feeling of safety. As if he can protect me from the monsters in my past just like how he did before. But… Is it alright for me to depend on him once again?
Knock. Knock. Knock.
“Hey,” Kaye’s head pops in the bathroom door, meeting my gaze at the mirror and the me that’s reflected there blushes ridiculously. “You don’t have to force yourself. I’m gonna get going now.”
“No, I’ll do it. Can you,” I swallow as I turn around and offer him the razor. “Do it for me, please.”
He opens the door wider and enters the bath. “I told you, you don’t have to—”
“I want to,” I tell him desperately and force the razor in his hand. “Please.”
Let me depend on you once more. I want to tell him but couldn’t. Once my disguise will fall off, he’ll discover who I really was. But even that wasn’t my real identity either and I doubt if he’d recognize me at all. That’s alright with me since I don’t have plans of telling him anyway.
“Alright,” he squeezes foam onto his hand and lathers it around my cheek and jaw. “Don’t regret it, ok?”
“I won’t,” I pull my glasses off, take a deep breath and close my eyes.
The whole thing didn’t even last ten minutes and now Kaye’s wiping my face off with a dry towel. Of course, because he did the shaving, his eyes are focused on me. However, his gaze turns dark after my entire face has been revealed.
He stares at me for a moment before putting my glasses back on. Although he’s not saying anything, it’s obvious that there’s something in his mind he wants to say. His eyes are practically telling me so. But his silence just makes me squirm and feeling awkward.
Kaye’s gaze is glued to me the entire time he cleans the sink and washes the razor before putting it back in the cabinet. I keep fidgeting until I finally decided to leave. Yet, he snatches my wrist and turns me around. With his calloused thumb, he caresses my face, my lips and tilts my chin up.
“Is this just coincidence or have you been looking for me all this time?” He smirks and his eyes dilate as they gaze at my lips.
“Think whatever you want,” I say defiantly despite my loud thumping heart before arching my back and crane my neck. “So where’s my kiss?”
His brow raises in amusement before he rubs a thumb over my lips again. “I said I’ll reconsider. I didn’t say I’d actually do it.”
I freeze for a moment at the direct rejection. But after seeing the dark glint crossing his eyes, Kaye’s words seem like a promise instead. I swallow as I follow him out of the bathroom while flexing my sweaty hands.
“Oh, my!” Cha-cha exclaims after seeing me emerge, clutching both hands near her chest. “I knew you got a pretty face beneath all that hair.”
“Th-thanks,” I stammer in embarrassment.
“But what’s with your clothes? It doesn’t suit your new look!”
“Ah, they’re Kaye’s.” I look down at myself and silently agree that Kaye’s loose clothes look shabby on me. Not that I look better on my unwashed pajamas though. “It’s because I ran away from home without bringing anything else besides my laptop and wallet.”
“In that case, why don’t you come with me? I still have Kaye’s clothes at home that might fit you. They’re from his younger years that he’s outgrown.”
“Oh, but—” I look at Kaye who’s already reaching for the door.
“That might be a good idea, mom,” he looks back to his mother. “Keep him company for a while. I’ll pick him up as soon as I finish my business.”
“Hey, that’s not what we agreed upon!” I remind him, rushing to the door to prevent him from getting through it.
Kaye reaches up and touches my cheek with his knuckles. It was just a slight graze like a feather. Yet, the heat swiftly passing to my skin makes me shiver. Especially after seeing that dark gleam in his eyes once again.
“You’ll get your prize later,” he says near my ear so I’m the only one who can hear. “For now, be good and keep my mom company, yeah?”
Saying that he’ll give me the prize makes me anticipate later. Together with my beard, my defiance seems to have also disappeared. So in mute, I follow the mother and son pair and hop into Kaye’s battered pickup truck.
Cha-cha sits at the back while I take the passenger’s seat and together, we dominate the conversation while Kaye stays silent behind the wheels. A few short minutes, we arrive at her mother’s place. It turns out that they live close to each other.
With Cha-cha’s excited invitation and Kaye’s promise, I found myself staying behind as Kaye drives along. I really want to go with him because every time I see his back on me, I feel like it’s going to be our last time seeing each other. But with his mother with me, I know he’ll return soon.
Cha-cha and I spend the entire day together talking this and that. As promised, she hands me Kaye’s clothes. They’re indeed smaller than the ones I’m wearing but still a little loose for me. Maybe I’m really too skinny for a man.
Kaye’s and Cha-cha’s cooking taste the same. That’s why after the first time eating at Kaye’s food truck, I kept coming back because it reminds me of our lives in the island. Back then, Cha-cha cooked the meals and forced her children to finish everything.
I’ve always been a small eater so Kaye would quarrel with Cha-cha for force feeding me until I was throwing up. Kaye, being overprotective of me, would then tend to me and tuck me to bed. The whole thing repeats every day and I ended up getting spoiled by him.
In all honesty, the Robinson felt more like my family than my own blood relatives. Back then, whenever I decided to return to the villa where my biological father lived, his wife would ask me why I came back, obviously wishing for me to never return.
That old hag didn’t even care where I stayed during the nights. Same goes to her children. But around her husband, she’s surprisingly docile and submissive. My living with them was one of the bad experiences I had in the past.
“Cheri?” Cha-cha’s voice snaps me back to the present, calling for me from the window.
“Yes?”
“Kaye’s here. I think he’s calling for you. Look at that young man. He wouldn’t even come down to greet his mother and just pressing on the horn.” She turns to me with a wide smile. “I had a good time with you, Cheri. Please, come by again if you’re not busy, ok?”
“I had fun with you, too, Cha-cha.” I stand from the couch and place a kiss on her cheek before giving her my phone. “Please, input your number here. I’d like to keep in touch with you.”
“Of course!” She beams up and taps on my phone before giving it back to me. “Goodbye for now. Tell my son to be careful on the road, alright?”
“I will. Bye for now, Cha-cha.” I look at her again while trying not to show the longing in my eyes and smile at her instead. “I’ll call you.”
I leave Cha-cha’s house and hop into Kaye’s car in the passenger’s seat. It’s already after seven. I didn’t expect to actually forget the time as I spent it together with the woman I considered my second mother. I look at Kaye but couldn’t clearly see his face in the dark.
“Have you had dinner?” I ask to break the silence.
“Hmm,” he hums as an answer.
I frown at the way he responds to me only to remember what he promised earlier. Goosebumps suddenly prick my skin and I shudder in both anticipation and nervousness. My heart violently knocks against my ribs, making it hard to breathe. This atmosphere…
Since their houses are close by, we arrive after a few short minutes. Kaye parks beside his food truck and unbuckles his belt in a calm manner before getting off. He rounds the car and opens my side of the door. To my surprise, he pulls me down and slings me over his shoulder.
“Hey, what the…” I yell while trying to hold onto the back of his shirt. “What the hell, Kaye! I’m going to fall! Put me down!”
“Shut up! You’ll disturb the neighborhood!”
Kaye keys into his apartment, enters it and kicks the door close before setting me down to my feet. I stop struggling seeing the evil smirk on his face. It feels like staring Medusa in the eyes, it leaves me totally frozen in both fear and… excitement?
“Now your reward,” he pushes me against the closed door before grabbing my face and kisses me lewdly on the lips.
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