****

Daniel looks at his red light in front of him in frustration. He can't take u-turn until he passes this signal. He grows impatient. On the other hand, he can clearly hear the loud knock on the door through the speaker.

He hears Oliver's scared puppy-like voice this time. Which he is familiar with,  through his past experiences.

"Sir, are they ... going to break in ?"

"Go to your bedroom and lock that door too." Daniel orders. He hears Oliver's footstep moving around the room. He speeds up the car as soon as the signal turns green.

Then suddenly the noises through the speaker go silent.

"Oliver are you there ?" Daniel asks after a while of silence.

"Um.. I think they left. Should I go and check it out ?"

"No !" Daniel almost shouts. "I will be in in five minutes. You do not move a single inch. Is that clear ?"

Oliver nods "clear."

Daniel stops his car engine right after four minutes. He climbs down the car in a hurry. His eyes fell on the empty bikes parked in front of the building. The boys are nowhere to be seen.

Daniel climbs up.stairs from the left side of the medical store. His boot making tàk ták sound with each step he takes.

And just as he guessed there are six boys standing in front of Oliver's door in a circle. Two of them are smoking and all of them reeked of alcohol. He walks towards the door "yes ? What do you want ?"

The boys study Daniel up and down for a while. Daniel is in his formal suit. He always dresses up that way unless he is at home.

"You rented this place ?" One of the boy asks.

Daniel nods "yes ! I do. Do you guys need anything?"

"Yeah, we came to say hello..but we saw another one entering the building. Your ?" The smoking boy asks.

"What ?" Daniel asks back.

"He is your relative?" Another one joins. "We wanted to say hello."

Daniel puts his hands in his pockets. "This is a very weird time to say hello. He must be sleeping by now."

One of the boys smirks "how will you enter then ? Got the keys ?"

"I think you guys should leave."

"We will .. we will." All the boys raise their hands in surrender then laugh.
One of them looks at Daniel with a mocking glance. He signs his head towards the door "What's the rent ?"

Daniel's fist clenches inside his pockets.

"Don't mind, brother !" The boy raises his hands again. "I was asking about the apartment."

All six of them laughed again.

Daniel stays silent.

Finally the boys decided to step back "let's go boys. We can't afford premium service. Rent seems high ."

The boys climb down the stairs one by one while shouting "we mean the apartment. Ha ha ha."

Daniel pulls out his mobile from his pocket. He is still on call with Oliver.

"open the door." He whispers finally.

****

Oliver hurriedly runs towards the door hearing Daniel's order. He face passes a relieved expression when he sees Daniel sir standing outside his door.

"Sir ..." Oliver's face turns red. He feels like crying. Really crying his heart out.

"Pack your bags." Daniel walks in the apartment with his cold and clenched jaw.

"Huh ?"

"I said pack your clothes,. essential documents and toiletries." 

"They wouldn't come back again." Oliver whispers in an uncertain tone.

Daniel folds his arms in front of his chest. At this point he doesn't know what surprises him more. Oliver's audacity or Oliver's survival instinct.

Oliver steals a glance at Daniel "I paid for two months in advance."

"I will give you two months bonus tomorrow."

"Bonus for what ?"

"Bonus for letting me live in peace for one day."

Oliver's eyes burn. He turns around with a sigh. "I need ...some time to pack."

Daniel nods "I am waiting."

Oliver was busy packing his essentials in his travel bag with a red face. He didn't notice when Daniel walked up to him.

"You father ?" Daniel asks holding photo frame in his hand.

Oliver startles a little before looking at the photo frame. "Hm !"

"He is ?"

"Dead."

Daniel nods with a frown. "In your company profile, there is no name in place of emergency contact."

Oliver nods while packing his socks. "I have no one."

"Your mother also ?"

Oliver stops midway "she is alive."

Daniel frowns deepens but Oliver had no intention of explaining any further. So, he didn't ask. He just gives the photo frame to Oliver "aren't you taking this ?"

Oliver looks at the photo frame "It's just temporary arrangement. I can't just live in your house permanently."

Daniel tilts his head "you are planning to be back here ?"

"I can't just leave. It's not easy to find a new home."

Daniel sighs "what is your rent here ?"

"Huh ?"

"How much do you pay to the owner ?" Daniel asks again.

"Around 20k with electricity."

"Give that rent to me and live in my house until you find a proper home." Daniel puts the photo frame in Oliver's bag.

"That's not possible."

"I am not asking you. I am telling you."

"I am not a charity case." Oliver's face turns redder. A tear escapes from his eyes.

Daniel holds eye contact with Oliver firmly "You are worse than a charity case."

Oliver pushes Daniel by the shoulder "get out. I am not going anywhere with you."

Daniel grips Oliver's wrist that was shoving him repeatly. He gives it a shake to calm Oliver down.

Oliver stops moving and glares at Daniel. "You always make me feel like a burden. I am not a burden. I don't care if you give me your job or not. Do whatever you want. Get out of my house."

Oliver starts full on crying as he struggles to release his wrist from Daniel's grip. But he fails repeatedly.

Daniel watches Oliver cry for almost ten minutes. Oliver stops struggling after ten minutes as his nose got blocked and his head started to hurt. He calms down.

"Stupid, Kid, Burden .. what else I made you feel  ? Tell me all together. I will say sorry for everything at once." Daniel suggests with a soft voice.

Oliver looks away with a sniffs "No. You are right.....I am stupid, dumb and a burden to you....I can't see the warnings and I drag you .. into my mess."

A little smile forms at the corner of Daniel's lips "Yep, you surely do that."

Oliver lowers his head without protesting.

"But I am very smart and intelligent and an excellent CEO. So I am not dumb to invite a burden inside my house." Daniel releases Oliver's wrist from his grip "as long as you pay 20k to me within the first week of every month, you aren't going to be a burden." 

Vote & subscribe ❤️