"Katherine!" a voice boomed from downstairs.
After Darius left Nathalia had decided to stay in her room for the time being. It wasn't that she was avoiding Chris, she'd just decided to procrastinate getting to know him for a little bit. And despite Chris being there, the house felt oddly empty without Darius.
"Yeah?" she yelled back down, pausing her tv show.
"Come here." Chris's voice boomed again.
The fact he didn't even ask her, or that he didn't come upstairs himself irked her. Pushing the irritation down, she reminded herself she didn't know the man and that she should be patient. So she went downstairs as he told her to.
Before she could ask him what he needed her to come down for he'd already chucked a file at her. Her sharp reflexes weren't something she was known for and the file bounced off her arm and fell down, causing her to glare at him.
"Geez, thanks for the warning," she said sarcastically.
But Chris seemed unbothered and rolled his eyes. "Just read it," was all he said as he walked off.
Picking up the file from the floor she scanned the contents. Lucky for her, it was just a few pages detailing Chris's cover story and not some long document.
He was supposed to be her uncle Chris from her mom's side in California. He was staying with her this week as he had a job interview at a company nearby. Darius had supposedly gone on a business trip that week and would return at the end of it.
It was all simple enough, and she didn't think any of it would pose a problem. Putting the files down again she looked around for something to do. Since she was already in the kitchen and dinnertime was fast approaching she decided to start cooking.
Opening the fridge she scanned the contents before grabbing the ingredients for spaghetti and closing the door again. Putting everything on the counter she started chopping up the ingredients in peace. Until Chris walked into the kitchen and stood next to her, too close for her liking.
"What's for dinner?" he asked as he looked at the ingredients in front of them. One of those ingredients was a box that said 'spaghetti' on the front, telling her his deduction skills were not as on point as Darius's were.
"I'm making spaghetti with meatballs, I hope that's okay?"
He seemed to mull it over for a bit, not realizing it was a rhetorical question and she was going to make it regardless of his answer.
"It'll have to do for now, but I prefer a steak with mashed potatoes," he said as he turned around and took a seat at the table, not even bothering to help her with setting it.
Ignoring him, she continued her cooking. Unfortunately for her, though, Chris wasn't the silent type. He continued to talk about how steak was the only 'true' American dinner and everything else was inferior. About how his uncle's steak was unmatched. About how a real steak was cooked by a real man using a barbecue. All the while Nathalia didn't even have to talk. He seemed to be having a conversation with himself.
Handing Chris his plate she went to grab some for herself before sitting down. As soon as she took a bite all the negativity of the day disappeared. Spaghetti was her all-time favorite food and never failed to lift her spirits.
"It's a bit bland."
Snapping her head up she met Chris's stare from across the table.
Bland? My spaghetti?
I'll tell you what's bland: your face.
"I'm sorry my cooking is not up to your standards." Her voice was calm and composed, yet inside she was seething. She'd worked at a hotel for years and met many a rude customer, but Chris took the cake. And she didn't even work for him.
Oh, how she wanted to hurl her plate at his head, to cuss him out and tell him how she really felt. But she couldn't, she simply didn't have it in her. She knew she'd regret it immediately. Instead, she focussed on her breathing.
In.
And out.
In.
And out.
Darius had never complained about a single aspect of her cooking, he ate everything she'd put in front of him and he'd always thanked her for it. He even helped her with setting up the table and putting away the dishes, something she was sure Chris wouldn't do either. She briefly wondered if Chris lived with his mom still. He had that 'never had to do household chores' vibe about him.
"It's fine, I shouldn't have expected you to cook well anyways," he replied as he took another big bite. He seemed to be completely oblivious of the anger his words sparked inside her. "Can I have some water?"
For a second, she was confused. Did he ask her for permission to get water? But then it dawned on her. He wanted her to get him water. There was no way she was going to get up to pour him a glass of water, so she decided to play dumb.
"Yes of course," she replied in the sweetest voice she could muster, without getting up. Instead, she continued to eat as though nothing was wrong as Chris just stared at her.
In the end, he just huffed like a spoiled child and got up to get it himself. To Nathalia, this felt like a small victory, even if the whole situation was a bit ridiculous.
If this dinner was any indication of the week to come, she was in for quite a long week.
----
Turns out, it was.
Chris's behavior hadn't improved in the least and he seemed determined to treat her as some kind of maid. Every time she'd cook he would find something wrong with it. It was too bland. It was undercooked. It was overcooked. One time he just straight up said he didn't like it and then refused to elaborate.
Besides his horrible table manners, she also found out he was a total slob. He just didn't clean up after himself. At one point Nathalia decided to stop cleaning up his trash but quickly found he'd just let it pile up until she couldn't take it anymore and did it herself. This included everything from dirty dishes to candy wrappers and personal items.
On Wednesday, the laptop she'd been given made the sound of someone contacting her. It was programmed in such a way she couldn't go on the internet or play games on it, but a select few people were able to video call her and she could in turn contact those people as well.
Upon unlocking it she found it to be Darius who was calling her, and her heart started pounding in her ears. She wasn't prepared for this. If she knew he'd call her she would've put on a nicer shirt, but it was too late for that now. After quickly fixing her hair she pressed the answer button.
"Hey, Darius, how are you? Enjoying your time off?"
She tried to sound casual, as if she wasn't counting down the days before he'd be back again, but perhaps she'd said it too casual.
"Hi, Nat. I'm fine, I just wanted to make sure everything was going okay over there. How are things going with Chris?"
It was the one question she hoped he wouldn't ask. In the past few weeks she'd gotten used to telling people small lies, she'd give them her fake name without hesitation and recited her backstory when asked where she was from. But telling him things were going great with Chris was one lie she knew she wouldn't be able to convince him of. But at the same time, she didn't want him to know the truth. That she hated Chris and couldn't wait for him to leave again.
"Oh, you know, the usual. Things are going fine," she lied smiling.
But he didn't smile back. In fact, his small frown turned into a full-on scowl.
"So there aren't any issues at all?" he pressed.
There are two things Nathalia could do at this moment: Either she'd admit her dislike of the man and the way he treated her, which would probably make her cry. Or, she could just double down in the hopes he'd let it go.
Crying in front of Darius was not something she looked forward to, so option two it is.
"No, no issues at all. Why would there be any?"
"Just wanted to make sure, is all. How's your game going?" he said, changing the subject. Nathalia was grateful for the change as she relaxed her tense muscles while her mind went back to her game.
She explained to him how she'd caught a rare fish and how one night shooting stars appeared. Why he was interested in this, she didn't know. But he listened to every word she said and would sometimes ask questions about this and that.
She tried to ask him about his vacation, but he'd quickly shut that down. It seemed that despite the two of them having come a long way, he still wasn't willing to talk about his personal life. She chose not to press it and went back to talking about her game.
Suddenly, a knocking and some murmurs came from somewhere off-screen as he turned to look and nodded. Nathalia couldn't make out what was said but the murmurs soon stopped with the sound of a door closing. "Alright, listen, I gotta go. But if there are any issues at all just call, okay?"
She nodded quickly and then the screen went black. Yet, she kept staring at it. Did he really just call to ask her if she was alright? She tried not to look into it too much, it could've just been part of his duties to check up on her. Yet she couldn't convince herself, he could've just called Chris after all. Deep down she knew he called because he cared, and it scared her.
Caring about her could get him in serious trouble, in more ways than one.