From Stripping to Salvation

•Twelve•

•Be Humble•

Desire's POV:
The next morning, as we both got up, I couldn't shake the feeling that I owed Malcolm an apology for the kiss last night. He had been nothing but kind and I guess I went overboard last night. I GUESS! I found him in the kitchen preparing breakfast, and I took a deep breath.

"Malcolm," I started, "I want to say sorry for last night. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or disrespect you."

He looked up, a gentle smile on his face, "No need to apologize, Desire. It's forgiven and forgotten. Let's just move forward, okay?"

I nodded, grateful for his understanding. As we headed out for the day, I couldn't help but appreciate the genuine kindness Malcolm had shown, making me feel I was determined to make up for it in any way that I could.

Malcolm and I made our way to the community gym, where he handed me a set of cleaning supplies.

"Desire here's what you'll need. Let me show you around," he said, leading me through the gym, and pointing out every little detail.

As he opened the janitor's closet, I couldn't help but frown. "Seriously? This tiny space?"

Malcolm chuckled, "It's where we keep the supplies. Now, let's move on."

He showed me from room to room, explaining what needed cleaning.

As we reached the restroom, I flared my nose at the sight of the toilets. "YOU WANT ME TO CLEAN THE TOILETS!? Malcolm, I ain't signed up for this!"

Malcolm sighed, "It's part of the job. We need the toilets cleaned, the floors, and the sinks cleaned. Did you think this was going to be a walk in the park?"

I asked with shade, "How about you clean it then because ain't no way you expecting me to do this alone!"

As we moved to some of the rooms, I continued, "And what's the point of cleaning all these rooms? The gym trainers can do it themselves."

Malcolm calmly explained, "We all pitch in to keep the place clean. It's a team effort."

I rolled my eyes, "Well, they should do their own dirty work. I didn't come here to be y'all mamas and clean up behind y'all tails."

After the guide, between looking at the rooms, meeting different gym trainers, and seeing the filth behind a lot of rooms I couldn't help but feel disgusted.

"Why so many rooms? This is ridiculous," I complained as we walked.

Malcolm remained patient, "It's a community space; we want to keep it clean for everyone."

I rolled my eyes, "Well who knew the community was this nasty?? I'm telling you the moment I can't take it anymore or somebody says something to me! I'ma quit on y'all, whoop somebody's tail, and I expect a paycheck AT THE LAST MINUTE!"

Malcolm folded his arms, "You are so entitled its sad! Where's your humbleness?"

I scoffed, "Boy I'm as confident as they come! I'm more humble than the females you have ever come across in your life. Watch your tone I'm grown!"

Malcolm handed me the Janitor's keys and said, "Well go be grown and clean something!"

I snatched the keys and stormed towards the janitor's closet. I changed into overalls and got prepared for the worst day EVER! I had to tackle the toilets first, and the smell almost made me sick. Cleaning them made me nauseous, and at one point, I couldn't hold it in and ended up vomiting. Then came the gym area, I swept the floors and collected trash. Not to mention I had to clean off old gum underneath the seats and some of it got attached to my outfit! To make matters worse, gym trainers buzzed on the walkie-talkies, asking me to clean their rooms after classes. I complained every step of the way, hating the extra tasks.