"Thank you for your purchase, come again soon!" Miru smiles. The bell hanging from the door, chimes as the customer leaves. Miru cleans up the ribbon and tiny leaves strewn across the floor, grunting with the soreness in his back. Parting his outer robe, Miru rubs his heavy tummy, bloated with three little beans nestling inside. "Oh, my babies, you are getting heavier, and heavier to carry around," Miru sighs heavily.
Standing up again, and slowly, Miru grabs the broom and begins sweeping the tile floor littered with dirt and lost flower petals, small twigs, and red foam berries. His pale skin easily beading with sweat from the labour. Sweeping the pile of trash in the dustpan, Miru carries it to the garbage can and dumps it. Miru sets the broom and dustpan in the utility closet behind his desk.
With soft piano music playing from a speaker, Miru rearranges his flowers, waters them, change a few pots and potting soil, and sprays a little nutriented water on each and every bud. Humming to his babies, Miru grabs a cart of Christmas decorations, from the storage room, and pushes them to the window display. "Time to get in the Christmas spirit." Grabbing the broom and dustpan again, he sweeps out the dirt and dust that winded up in the window display. Disappearing back into the storage room, and comes back out with another cart of Christmas decorations.
Stepping back, Miru squints his mint and aqua green heterochromia eyes, mapping out the window display in his head. Miru hums to himself as he shrugs, "I'll just let it flow." Miru lays out all of the decorations on a table sitting in the corner closest to the window display. Tinsel, lights, ornaments, red ribbons, elf plushies, and more. Miru pulls on a pair of gloves before heading back into the storage room.
Minutes later, he is holding a baby Spruce tree about two feet tall, in a bucket. Setting it aside, Miru sets to work on decorating the window display.
..........
"Phew!" Miru sighs, wiping his sweaty face with his robe's sleeves and stretching his back. He flips a switch, the lights turning on, and steps outside in front of the window display. He gasps, his eyes shining with the glow of the lights. "Oh, it looks perfect." In the window display, the floor is coated with cotton, and in the right corner, the baby Spruce stands, decorated with ornaments and lights, a golden star sitting atop. And throughout the whole display, Santa's workshop is set up. Rows of clay elves holding wrapped presents, a plump clay Santa standing beside the tree, and a Mrs. Claus standing beside. In the left corner, a red sack where a few elves were lined up to put the presents inside.
Miru steps back inside, and cleans up his mess. Sweeping up the tiny strings of tinsel left over, Miru stiffens when he notices a shadow on the floor beside his feet. The shadow portraying a man. Miru trembles slightly, when he sees the shadow's arm reaching into what looked like a coat. Miru starts back sweeping, his shoulders tense and legs unmoving as he sweeps the tinsel back and forth. Shivers run down his spine, but Miru doesn't panic like a headless chicken. Instead he calmly, as best as he could, walks out of the display to retrieve the dustpan and returns, the shadow gone. Miru releases the breath he didn't know he was holding, clutching the robe over his heart, before finishing cleaning and closing up shop.
..........
Locking the shop door behind himself, Miru pockets the key and unlocks his car. Starting his red 2015 Chevrolet Impala, Miru backs out of the reserved parking spot, and into the light traffic. Turning his radio on, Country plays softly. Rubbing his tummy, Miru hums to the songs he know.
Miru looks in his rearview, suddenly feeling uneasy, noticing the all black Lexus Coupe behind him, the one he saw about thirty minutes ago. Clenching the wheel, Miru takes a breath in and releases it slowly. "Easy 'Ru, whoever it is just probably heading in the same direction. It's just coincidental that the same Lexus car has been behind me the entire time I've been driving since I left the shop," he consoles to himself, glancing at the rearview mirror. Turning onto his home street lined with houses, some already decorated with Christmas lights and blown up snowmans and reindeers, Miru slows and pulls up in his driveway. Hurriedly getting out, as fast and safely possible as his tummy allows, Miru locks his car doors and quickly unlocks his front door, stepping inside and locking it behind him. A sigh or relief escapes him, and he heads into the kitchen.
Miru prepares a small dinner for himself, a bowl of cheesy Italian spaghetti and garlic bread, and eats. When he finished the bowl, Miru washes the dish, but not without noticing the same Lexus from earlier parked across the street in front of his house. He closes the kitchen window blinds and pull the drapes close before rinsing his bowl and drying it. Heading upstairs, Miru goes into his room, takes a shower, and heads to bed, but not without closing and locking his bedroom and bathroom window and drapes.
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