P A S T T I M E
The following morning, the day was bright and hot.
Yawning and patting her mouth, her soft slippers rubbed against the wooden floor of her room. The edge of her white silly pajama almost kissed the ground as she walked up to the sliding doors and grabbed the curtains of her room to push them aside.
Darkness vanished the moment her curtains slid away, followed by the doors that made a rough sound.
She sighed and stepped out of the white-painted boundary, looking up at the sky which was bright blue. The sun was high, shining with all its might and spreading a glow and warmth that was high enough to torture anybody.
"This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it."
Speaking out what the Word of God said was her habit every morning. She always did it, never minding if something wrong happened that day because all the while, the supernatural peace inside her helped her fight every single battle.
The perfect peace of God inside her was something that she never wanted to lose and it stays with those whose mind is on God because they trust in Him.
Right in front of her was the man who enticed her every time he caught her eye.
He wasn't aware of her or was he?
Her very eyes, the very next moment, were called by his appearance as he was on the balcony of his room. It was alluring and habitual for a neighbor to catch a glimpse of each other and Delilah couldn't be blamed for it.
Her smile widened, her eyes twinkling like stars at the view of the man.
Holding a cup of coffee in his hand, he was relishing the fresh taste of it. His eyes were set down on his laptop which was set before him while his fingers skillfully danced upon the keyboard.
Very early in the morning, he spent working, Delilah couldn't help but wonder.
"Hey, Mr Vincent!" She grabbed his attention, waving her hand at him as her sleeve slipped down her elbow, but the smile never slipped off her lips.
His fingers ceased for an immeasurable second on the keyboard as he looked at her. "Good morning!" He heard her but said nothing. He didn't even give her a gesture of acknowledgment and continued working.
He ignored her.
Delilah gaped at him for what he did but she couldn't say anything to him. However, the fact that he was ultra rude to her wasn't easy enough to be digested by her.
She wondered if such people existed but seeing him, she never questioned in her heart again if such people existed or not. She saw one of them and she didn't like that rudeness.
Not saying a word to him, she walked inside to get ready for her college.
He saw her sliding back the curtains of her room but the doors remained open.
The afternoon of the second day, she came home early from her classes and decided to spend some time working instead of going to bed and sleeping until sundown.
Before that, she took a cold shower and changed into a pair of denim shorts. The top she chose was a crop top, bearing colorful horizontal lines over the cream background of it.
Her father wasn't home. He was in the office so she had no one to talk to.
The sun was high in the sky, burning brighter than the previous days according to its season. The clothes hanging in the yard of her house were dried.
Pushing her feet into the rubber slippers one by one, she stepped out of the house to collect the clothes.
She walked to the backside of her house where butterflies rested, hidden among the flowers planted by the roots of the Neem trees. Squirrels sprinted over the branches and some of them hid behind the tree trunk, getting alarmed by the presence of a human.
Reaching the hangers, she collected all the clothes from there. Holding them close to her chest, she turned to walk back into the house when her eyes caught the man standing on his balcony.
He was holding a phone in his grip but what surprised her was that he wasn't busy with his phone like always. Rather, he was looking at her. And the moment she looked at him, he tried to look away, getting lost as she caught him on time.
He was looking at her and the thought left her speechless. It felt awkward to her but he silently walked inside, leaving her confused and a bit flushed.
She didn't know why he was looking at her. Maybe, he was wondering how she could be so friendly to him every time he rejected her rudely. But she didn't run her mind over it and walked inside to arrange the clothes.
She never entertained that thought in her mind after that.
The evening of the third day she drove back home from college and the first thing she did was to spot her father passing by the living room.
In his hands, there was a tray which she noticed.
She caught him in the middle and hugged him, uttering, "Dad, I aced once again!"
Judas pampered his daughter with the utmost care, teaching her great manners. If he failed somewhere, the Bible taught her the rest. Being a very innocent girl, she always expressed her emotions freely. Call her still childish that she every time rejoiced whenever she did great in college or anywhere she participated.
Judas was well aware of it, and he didn't shy away from smiling at her even if there was someone else to behold them, too.
He gently wrapped an arm around her waist, answering her, "Congrats, my sweetheart." The sleeve of his shirt hid her waist as the black top she wore got ridden up.
Holding the tray in the other hand, he secretly stole a glance at the man who was waiting for him in his study and the doors of the room were wide open.
He was his boss once again.
The man was sitting on a chair, leaning back for comfort. His face was stoic like always but his eyes were set on the father and the daughter duo, mind wandering over something that nobody could understand.
Not even Judas.
The gray-haired man lowered his gaze into the long and chocolate hair of his daughter. It was awkward for him when his boss could see it. And not even for a second he looked away from them.
Delilah pulled back. "Thank you!" She smiled, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "But why don't you look happy?" She giggled, looking at his other hand which held a tray. Two coffee cups were in it.
She secretly wondered if he was having guests once again.
"I am happy. So what if it doesn't look so? Don't go on looks, okay?" He gently patted her cheek. "Now go into your room. I have a guest who's waiting for me."
"Of course! I'm sorry I took your time," she pursed her lips apologetically, pushing her arm to tug the strap of her knapsack.
"It's okay. I'm not mad over it." His assurance gave her relief. She nodded obediently and walked away, without looking around for the guest or even casting a glance at the doors of the study room which were wide open.
Once she was out of his sight, Judas found relief. However, it wasn't full.
She went upstairs, humming a melody and the lines of a Hindi song.
Judas walked into the study room and closed the doors. His boss was observing him as he put the tray in front of them and took his seat.
His forest green eyes were keen on him, sharp enough to pierce into him.
"I'm sorry for the interruption. She wasn't aware of your presence," said Judas, not sounding apologetic enough.
His boss knew he wasn't sorry for what his daughter did but he said nothing about it. He knew Judas loved his daughter enough to ignore all the people in this world. She was his priority.
"Why are you afraid, Judas?" He asked instead, asking what troubled him in reality. It wasn't about the interruption and his boss knew it.
Judas swallowed. His eyes never raised from whatever he found worthy enough to stare and he was afraid. Indeed, he was afraid.
"When I'm not afraid around you, sir?" He asked back, earning himself a smirk from his boss that curled slowly and tauntingly.
He was proud of his presence that forced anybody to bend before him.
"You've learned to twist the answers, haven't you?" He raised his arm, alarming Judas as to what he was going to do but he relaxed the moment his boss chose to hold the coffee by its rim.
"Relax," he murmured, "I don't harm people unless they ask for it." He took a sip, looking away from Judas to the window of the study room.
"And you won't be afraid of me unless you're doing something that I don't entertain," he added, gazing at the setting sun. Its glow was melting over the roof of his house which could be seen from there. "Because I'll catch it and give you a valuable reason to be afraid of me."
Judas knew that but he was underestimating him.
A few more days passed and the rain was pouring down heavily.
Delilah opened the umbrella above her head and stepped out of the bakery. Her shoe pushed aside the water puddles and a tiny frog jumped beside to save itself. She gazed at the dark sky, thanking God in her heart for the shower because she loved the rain.
Her eyes lowered from the heavens and right before her eyes, she found the boss of her father who stood in front of a mall, gazing at the downpour with a poker face.
A truck passed between them, letting her get a glimpse of him once again.
The way he was looking at the poor raindrops, it was clear to Delilah that he didn't like the season. Quite opposite to what she loved from the bottom of her heart. She was the lover of rain while he seemed Ben an enemy.
"What a grumpy man he is!" She mumbled, giggling under her breath.
The heavy drops struck against the dark bitumen pavement, making puddles here and there, and they were like the curtains of nature, trying to hide the man from her eyes.
"Mr Vincent!" She uttered, waving her hand at him. Through her arm, hung a shopping bag on which the logo of the shop was branded.
He looked at her, expression remaining the same. His eyes, for sure, scanned her down briefly and still nothing changed in him.
She held her hand and looked around. There was no vehicle on the road. She crossed it carefully, and the cold air passed by her side, pushing on the pink shirt that she wore over a white tank top.
The thick soles of her white shoes hit the ground, the water around them spreading to give them space. She walked over to him and stood right in front of him while he watched her silently.
Wearing a simple white shirt and khaki pants, she could guess he didn't go to the office that day. In his hand was a shopping bag in which there were some vegetables. She was internally impressed to see he wasn't ashamed to do a home chore even after being a proud businessman.
"You forgot the umbrella at home?" She asked, raising her gaze to his face after looking at the shopping bag in his hand.
He hummed, voice deep and soothing.
"I see. We can share my umbrella then," she offered out of kindness. "Mine is big enough to give both of us shelter."
"I can buy one." At his indirect rejection, she frowned mockingly. He saw it and she didn't even try to hide it.
"I know you're a very rich man but it'd be a waste of money when we live in the same society and we're going the same way and I'm even willing to help you." She rolled her eyes in the end, not minding if it irked him.
He couldn't even do anything to her.
He sighed, not wanting to say a word to her. As she waited for his answer, it came up with an action.
He reached out for the umbrella in her hand and held it, taking it from her small and thin fingers and holding it above their heads. She smiled at him. "That was wise."
Still, no reply.
They started walking ahead and Delilah being Delilah, asked him the very first thing that came to her mind for him.
"You also cook?"
He ignored the way she gazed at him with dove eyes that shone like shooting stars. "I don't. Have servants for such chores," he answered, his voice dead of any excitement.
"You don't know how to?"
He fell silent, letting her speak further as she said, "You can tell me if you don't know. I'm not gonna make fun of you or judge you."
"I wasn't thinking so."
"Then what were you thinking?" She was excited to know, hopping over a large puddle of rainwater.
"That, why I'm being talkative to someone as talkative as you."
How could he?
Delilah rolled her eyes. She folded her arms on her chest and huffed loud enough to be heard by him. She did it to let him know how rude he was. She wasn't thinking of hiding it.
"And you're the rudest person I've come across," she answered, not being afraid of his reaction.
A group of young guys was coming from the opposite side and Delilah didn't take note of them, not finding them interesting enough to look at them. However, the man beside her did.
While she was waiting for an answer, he raised his other arm and held her shoulder to pull her close to himself as the guys passed by her side, lost in their own fun.
She gasped a little at his sudden touch as she fell closer to him. The warmth of his palm seeped through the fabric of her shirt to touch her skin.
She didn't look at the guys but him, wondering why he did that. But the loud laughter of the guys gave her a hint and she sighed.
Gaze stuck on his face, she wondered how handsome he was along with being mature and sharp. His hand still held her shoulder and his eyes were on the boys, sharp.
Water droplets falling on his background lost their charm before him and she secretly inhaled a whiff of the woody fragrance that surrounded him. Mixed with the scent of wet soil, it intoxicated her mind in an ephemeral moment.
There was something about him that lured her in.
Once the guys were out of sight, he looked down at her, staring into her dove eyes.
How innocent she was, he wondered, that even the pupils of her eyes screamed this compliment about her and her talks were proof of it.
"You just never came across someone as honest as me," he replied, breaking all her sweet and soft trances, earning himself a scoff from her.
The audacity of the girl!
Looking away from him, she walked ahead. He was right beside her, and while his dark eyes pierced into her, she found a puppy shivering like a dry leaf. It was under a tree's shade, trying to find comfort from the rain which it wasn't getting.
Gripping his arm, she rushed to the puppy while the man followed closely after her, ignoring the way her shoes splashed the water carelessly. The edges of his pants were dirty because of her but he did not comment on it.
She stopped near the shivering life and crouched beside it.
"You ran for this animal?" He muttered, glaring at her head.
"Yeah. It's shivering," she mumbled softly, holding the bag in her lap.
Because of the umbrella being over her, the puppy got saved from the rain's torture but Delilah pitied the lowlife.
She held her plastic bag before him. "Please, hold it for me."
He took it, muttering. "What are you going to do?"
She began to remove her pink linen shirt and he sighed, knowing very well what was going through her mind.
His gaze lingered over her bare shoulder where he found a beauty spot. Her hair was long enough to reach her hips as he ran his eyes over her, unable to stop them. She was beautiful and enticing, after all. She was wearing a white tank top inside the shirt and a pair of white shorts under it.
It was becoming hard for him to look away from her but he had to.
She was so young and innocent. He wanted to stay away from her and not get drawn by her femininity and get stuck into the web of her eyelashes.
"I'm taking it home," she answered, wrapping the puppy in her linen shirt. It was still shivering in her hands and was weak and very small.
She stood up and turned to him. "In my bag, there's another tot bag. Could you please bring it out?" She asked him politely, caressing the pup's wet hair through the sleeve of her shirt to dry it.
He did as she said. While he held the bag open along with holding the umbrella, she put the pup inside it and held the tot bag.
He held her other bag along with vegetables and wasn't bothered about it.
"Thank you," she smiled at him, continuing their journey to their home.
They talked no more to each other. Delilah, all the while, said soothing words to the pup which stopped shivering after some minutes passed, and the man beheld her, listening to her words carefully and wondering how she could talk to an animal that knew not a single word of human language.
They reached home.
"Keep my bag with you. I'll come back to take it. There are nine red velvet cupcakes. You can take one for helping me!" She said, eager to leave and take care of the puppy.
He frowned, pursing his lips.
"Okay, you can take two. But not more than that, yeah?" She offered and turned around to leave.
He watched her jog away with her umbrella over her head. She reached the threshold of her house and opened the door very carefully. Before walking inside, she peeked all around and the man knew she was trying to hide the puppy from her father who was home by then.
What a childish girl!
He knew she gave him the offer of two cupcakes just to annoy him. He didn't know why she admired him enough to spend time with him and joke with him even though he wasn't very fond of him.
Because he still took her as a child. But was she?
He knew he had to get rid of her likeness towards him because he could see it or else she was going to regret it for the rest of her life.
Because only if she knew who he was.