He went through the daily task of getting his daughter ready for Daycare and started to wonder about the dream and that man’s words as well as the contract. Sighing he wondered what would happen to him and his daughter if he didn’t pay the bill and refused the new job offer. ‘I can’t do that to Ari,’ he decided, ‘I’ll give her a call and see about some changes to the contract for her. It’s a live-in job, would he accept if I had my daughter with me?’ Worries started to swirl until Ari pulled his jacket.
“Daddy?”
“Sorry Sweetheart,” he looked around and looked at the next stop, he rang the bell and they got off, a few stops over. They walked towards the Daycare in no rush at all, Ari started talking of all of her activities yesterday and he listened. He wasn’t sure why he was feeling like this, so calm like nothing was going to go wrong.
He dropped his daughter off and called his sister to pick Ari up again today.
“Oh, Mr. Sen,” Emily, his daughter told him, stopped him. “Are you busy tomorrow? I was just wondering if you and Ari wanted to have dinner at my place.”
“Sorry, my days off are Monday and Tuesday.”
“Oh that’s fine! I can look after Ari tomorrow and Sunday if you don’t mind.” Emily looked at him hopeful.
“Uh, Rain check?” he offered instead, not wanting to tell of his eviction on Monday or that he might have family over.
“Ok, sure,” she accepted it and went back to the kids in the Daycare. He walked out and wondered if what the guy said the other day was this. It would be great for Ari to have a mom again but would Ari accept it? She likes Emily and she’s pretty, “It might be possible,” he said quietly and wondered if he could actually have romantic feelings for Emily.
He got to work in a flash and wondered what had happened, shaking it off he started work on making food. The task didn’t feel daunting and wondered if Emily was the cause for his light mood. He smiled and started working with more passion until his break. He called his sister and said that he’ll take her up on the offer from last night as long as it was at her place or their moms. The deal was accepted and he went back to work again feeling a fire ignite in him.
“Alright cheque time!” his boss called out suddenly waking him from his trance. He picked up his and looked at the amount. It was just $200 short from last week.
“Uh-”
“That’s for thinking of the woman’s offer,” he said and walked away.
“What?” he looked back to his cheque and wondered if it was enough to pay the rent until next month so he won’t have to be evicted. He put the cheque in his wallet in his locker and went back to work.
The end of the day he went to his
locker and found it open a bit, he went and checked his things and
noticed that everything from his wallet was missing, his phone was
gone and his watch. He hit the side of the locker with his fist in
anger and took his things and went to his boss to talk about the
security in the backrooms.
“Security, there is none. If you didn’t want your things to get taken then don’t bring them. Simple as that, now get out of here.” He walked out and made his way home, he went to his Landlord and tried to explain what had happened but the guy wasn’t buying it and the door shut in his face.
He made his way upstairs and walked in calling out that he was home. It was empty. He walked to his landline and dialed up his sisters number, “Hey, where are you?”
“Home, Ari is with me. Why are you home, I told you to meet me here.”
“My phone got stolen, as well as this weeks pay.”
“Is that Neko?” it was their mom speaking Japanese. “Tell him I have his phone, some hoodlum tried to run away with it when I tried to call.”
“Mom, it’s on speaker,” Amaya answered back in Japanese.
“Oh good! WHY DON’T YOU CALL ME!” their mom yelled and he flinched. “I’ve waited a year for you to call me to tell me you are doing well and alive. I worry!”
“Sorry Ma, I’ve been busy.”
“Oh I know that excuse! Your father used it on me a lot, now look at him, he’s no where to be found!”
“I’m sorry, can Ari stay there tonight?”
“Of course dear, pick her up on your way home and call me when you two get home.” their mom said. “What are you eating tonight? Will it be enough?”
“I’ll make some soup and grilled cheese, I don’t feel like going all out tonight.”
“Alright dear, we’ll send dinner home with you tomorrow and no you can’t reject.” He started to get to work in the kitchen for his dinner and listened to his mom talk about her days. He finished eating and his mom finally said ‘Goodnight’ and they hung up.
He walked to his bathroom and started the shower, he felt more at ease now that he knew his daughter was being taken care of tonight and tomorrow.
He leaned forward in the shower letting the water wash over his back in a massaging manner. He started to wash himself up and suddenly grunted when he touched himself, his hand started to move on it’s own.
“Ah,” he shuddered and put his mouth on his forearm keeping his sounds as quiet as he could. He tried to make it last more than one minute but he felt that he really needed the quick release. “Mmm, mmm, hmm!” quivering with effort he washed himself off and dressed, he laid on his bed feeling tired.
He didn’t dream that night but woke up feeling refreshed, how long has it been since he last took care of his own needs. “Maybe a girlfriend wouldn’t be a bad of a thought,” sighing he sat up and got ready for the day.
Yawning all day at work he was relieved that he finally got to go home, he took the bus to his sister’s first. The greeting was short and the hugs were long, he walked home now with Ari and a fully charged phone. Shame his mom couldn’t get the rest of the stuff but he was just glad for the phone to be back.
He walked up the stairs and noticed boxes outside his apartment. “Daddy?” He smiled at Ari and they walked to the boxes.
“Get your favourite things and stuff that you’ll need,” he instructed Ari started to fuss but eventually did as was told. She tried stuffing all of her toys in her small bag, he grabbed his clothes and put them in a dufflebag. After he was done he helped his daughter saying that she could only take two toys with her and to not forget Mr. Snuffles. While she searched the boxes he made a call to Danica Greenbell, he told her his counteroffer and to include his daughter into the contract.
He was surprised that she agreed easily then offered to give him and his daughter a ride there. “No, just send me the address,” he said and took his daughters hand when she was done. He hung up and seen that she texted him the address and they started down the stairs. He looked up at the night sky and breathed in, ‘I’m doing this for her,’ he thought and they set off in the direction of his new work place.
The walk was long and Ari was getting tired, he wondered if he should have accepted the ride offer then shook his head. No, they had to do this on their own. “Oh, I forgot to call Amaya and tell her what happened.” He dialed up his sister’s number and the name ‘Demon of the Abyss’ showed up and he pushed call. His sister answered and he then started telling her what happened including his new job offer.
He shied away from an alleyway with a few rough looking people and sped up slightly to get by quickly. A few moments later a car zipped by and he flinched from the sound.
“Well if it doesn’t work out then call me, you can crash at my place until you find a new one. No freeloading!” Amaya stated the last part in Japanese.
“Yeah, I’m almost to the place now, I’ll call you later and update you.” He hung up and put the phone away. He walked up to the intimidating gate and opened it, Ari ran up to the door and rang it. He picked her up and the door opened to Danica Greenbell.
“Come in, just up the stairs,” she said and he walked in taking a quick glance around noticing that the lower floor was empty. He put Ari down and she went up stairs in a hurry, he was halfway up when she suddenly stopped at the top and stared to the left. She turned around quickly and grabbed his dufflebag strap. They walked up together and he looked to the left wondering what scared Ari.
A tall dark man stood there with messy long black hair and an unfriendly cold silver stare, he was dressed in black and was frowning at seeing him and his daughter. He started to worry if he wasn’t updated on the situation.
“Sign here,” his voice was deep and also held a hostile tone. He knew Greenbell was not emotional he didn’t expect that her boss, now his boss, to have an even colder expression. He bravely walked forward and looked over the contract, he noticed a few more changes were made and it was mostly to his favour. Even going as far as to say that he would get a house and car if he ever broke the contract also storage blocks? His daughter also benefited either way, he’d pay for her school and daily needs.
There were so many questions now, why did he benefit so much for breaking contract? Does he get to pick the house? Why was the pay so much? Even breaking the contract he got to have a lot of money and was practically set for life. There really was no downside, all he has to do is cook Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner with some snacks between. He also gets to live here rent free, use the place as he pleased.
He took the pen then stopped, was he doing the right thing? He was about to ask a question then thought better of it, he shouldn’t be greedy. He wanted to ask if his daughter was ok to stay, then the contract was pulled from under his hand and a new one was placed before him. It stated that his daughter was also free to do as she wants and was given a room to call her own and any room in the house to have as a playroom. The pay was also doubled as well, the contract break was bumped to a million.
“Can I ask why?” he finally said and looked up at the cold man.
“For hiring you? I like your food. For the money? That’s the usual amount for personal chefs. Staying here? You need a better kitchen than your tiny one in Lucky Duke’s or your own home. It would also take too long to bring it from your place to mine. The breach? Only valid after a week of staying here.”
“I knew there was a catch.”
“Besides you’ll need a few days to pick your new house and car.”
“True, wait. Is cooking all I’m going to be doing for you?”
“Of course, your being hired as a Chef. Also you living here is beneficial for me because I can have midnight snacks whenever I want.” He sounds oddly childish for a cold looking person. Ari also picked up on it and peeked out. “Your room is that one, end of the hall.” Ari recoiled to the safety behind him. “Yours is the opposite on this side.”
“So far apart,” he muttered and signed the contract.
“The only room with a spare bed and moving it would be too troublesome because it’s bolted to the floor.”
“Right,” he said and guided his daughter to her room. She ran towards the room quickly and opened the door. He stopped and stared at the furnished child’s room. It looked exactly like her old bed and toys.
“Mr. Snuffles!” she jumped on her bed and grabbed her teddy bear. He remembered on their walk over that she forgot her bear, he had said that they couldn’t go back for it and that he promised a new one.
“We brought her things over because we didn’t have a small bed, I hope that was alright.” Greenbell spoke up this time.
“N-no, I.” Ari ran past him towards the cold man, gave him a quick hug on his leg and ran back to her room. “Thank you,” he finally said glad that Ari didn’t have to part with anything of hers.
“If you want we can bring the rest of your things-”
“No, that’s fine. Just her things is fine,” he said.
“Good, Daddy!” Ari said and partly closed her door after turning on her nightlight.
“Goodnight, Ari,” he smiled and went to check his room, stopping by his new boss. “Thank you,” he said again and went to the room to set his things down. He looked to the foot of the bed and noticed a lot of boxes stacked up on the dresser, it looked like the whole room but the bed was moved to that one side. The window was shown across from the door, he drew the curtains and looked at the bed. It was freshly made. He walked out of the room and noticed that the kitchen was empty, he wondered if his boss wanted something to eat and looked in the fridge.
He jumped when a door closed behind him from the living room and seen that his boss was coming inside from a balcony. Exploring the house would be fun.
“There’s sandwiches in the fridge if you want some, I already ate so you can just go to bed tonight. I wake up around 6:30 and leave at 9, Greenbell will pick up lunch and dinner so you two will have the house to yourselves until 10 or Midnight. If you do not feel like cooking then don’t, I’ll eat out.”
“What do you like? What do you want to eat? Allergies I should know about?”
“Whatever you make is fine, I’m not that picky and so far I don’t have any allergies other than cut grass.”
“So I can give you deep fried shoes?” he ventured for a joke and suddenly regretted it.
“Ok maybe I am picky. Shoe-wear and undergarments are not on the menu, sea food is also a bit fishy.” He couldn’t help but chuckle at that.
“Got it normal food items. You ok with crab?”
“You being crabby? Sure, just take it out in the gym, it’s the door on the right beside your daughters room. Or are you talking about the crazy critter in The Little Mermaid? I’ll give it a try but I won’t like it.” It’s official this guy is childish, it was just the right amount of childish (oddly enough) for him to like the guy.
“I can deal with that,” he wanted to ask more but instead of a question he yawned. He quickly covered his mouth, his face heating up, “sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. Have something to eat and go to bed, we’ll have more time to talk later.” He watched his childish boss go into the room beside his, he turned around and grabbed a sandwich from the fridge and started to eat. Gasping he started to eat in quick bites, amazed at how delicious a simple sandwich could be. It was seasoned right, didn’t drip, wasn’t soggy and it still tasted as if it was freshly made. He finished off two more sandwiches and felt embarrassed seeing an empty plate and plastic wrap in the fridge.
Taking those out he washed the plate and threw away the plastic and headed for his bedroom. He’ll have to do something about the boxes, he wondered why they were like that. Shaking his head he crawled under the covers and soon fell asleep.
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