The next day, I woke up before Dre did. I already started tidying up some stuffs when he joined me.
"Hey"
"Good morning"
"You've started?" he said as he walked up to the fridge, grabbed a bottle water and a cup from the dining table.
"Yeah" i said raising my toes trying to put back the plate I washed in the shelf. He chuckled at the way I struggled to put them back. I wasn't that tall.. He came over to that side and lifted me up with his hands.
"Woah" I said surprised.
"Just drop them" he said.
I placed them, closed the shief and he put me down.
" Short little fellow" he said and laughed.
"I'm not short, I have height, am just average"
"Height indeed" he said.
"At least you made good use of your muscles" I said and we both laughed.
" So where should I start from?" He asked.
"Anywhere you decide to"
We started from sweeping and mopping the living room then moved to the bedroom. What I couldn't understand was if Dre was trying to organize or untidy the place. He threw a pillow to my face.
"Ouch, Dre, stop" I said but he continued.
"Dre, you're being troublesome. Stop" I said as I was trying to dodge the pillow. Maybe he just wanted to clear his head and bring something fun.
I had to indulge in the pillow fight too.
We were throwing pillows at each other then he began to tickle me. I shrieked with laughter, while asking him to stop. While trying to push him away I fell on him, falling into his tempting arm. We had an intensive eye contact and he wrapped his hands around my waist, we stared into each other eyes silently with a smile for some seconds. He started drawing closer and closer, his face was close to mine and I just found myself gazing at his lips. I could feel his breath drawing closer and my heart pounded faster, my eyes were beginning to close, in preparation of beholding his lower lips between mine. I don't know how I scale through but I did and hurriedly stood up, adjusting my dress. He stood up too looking at me with a smirk.
"We should get back to the cleaning" we chorused at the same time.
"Yeah we should" he said
"Yeah" I said still being tensed.
We tided the remaining part in the house then I fixed breakfast and washed the dishes.
*********
Later in the day, I was sitting on the couch reading a book I picked from Chloe's room, I was so bored so I decided to read it.
"Hi" he said coming out of the room.
"Hey Dre"
"What are you doing?"
"Reading a book I saw in Chloe's room" I said showing him the book.
"Oh, deeper by Anya Jayvyn. It's one of Chloe's favorite book and author."
"If Chloe likes it, I am definitely going to love it."
"Yeah, you will but I thought we should have a drive to some where amazing"
"Amazing... That sounds interesting. To where exactly?"
"The rose labyrinth ."
"A rose labyrinth. It's really going to be amazing, okay, let's go." I said getting up and putting on my footwear.
We got into his car and on reaching there, my jaws dropped. It was so beautiful and attractive.
"Wow, it's pretty"
"You like it?"
"What are you saying, I love it. Here, here, take me a photo." I said giving him my phone.
He began to snap me while I changed to different postures.
"Come on, let's take selfies"
"Alright"
We took a lot of selfies, funny ones, nice ones and crazy ones.
Then we took a walk in the rose labyrinth.
"This place is really amazing, I love it here. How did you get to find such beautiful place?"
"The first time I came here, I visited here with Chloe's mum. This is kind of her project. She worked in handy with one of her Philippine partner to make this place with the help of some famers and some other minor partners.
"Oh, really, wow. Something like this is difficult to make"
"Yeah, yeah" he conceded.
"Nice flowers" I said looking at the attractive flower and plugging out one of the rose flower.
"So Cindy - - - "
"Huh"
"Tell me about your parents"
"I stay with my mom and as for my dad, I don't even know how he looks, I haven't seen him before not even in a photo or reality, I don't know anything about him" I said with a melancholic mood.
"I'm sorry about that" he said with empathy.
"No, no need to be sorry, it's no one's fault."
"Your mum hasn't told you anything about him?"
"She doesn't talk about him, i feel asking her might bring something she wouldn't want to remember."
"Alright, I understand"
"Yeah"
"So, it's just you and your mom?"
"Nope, me, my mum and my elder sister"
"Okay." He paused for a while then said "Cindy, what's your phobia?"
"Darkness and large water bodies"
"Really, wow, so you sleep with the lights on?"
"Yeah, expect I have someone around me ."
"And you haven't visited a beach right?"
"Yeah "I responded.
I was thinking of asking Dre if he was going to ever play basketball games again. I didn't want him to get pissed off. In my mind, I was like ask him, don't ask him, well it isn't bad if I asked so I did.
"Dre, would you ever play basketball again?"
"Depends, I don't really know, I don't think so"
"Okay," I said then I changed the topic. "How often do you visit here?" I asked.
"Not that much, but I do, this is my sixth time coming here. I remember when I came her with Chloe, when we were little. It was her first time coming here, she was really excited and she thought we should play a hide and seek game that it would be really fun.
"Hide and seek in a labyrinth, the worst place for such a game especially when you aren't familiar with the route." He said and we laughed slightly.
"She hid and couldn't find her way out. She cried thinking everything has come to an end and she was going to die in the midst of flowers." He said as scoffed. "But I found her" he continued.
"And you felt like her hero" I added.
"Yes of course" he said and we chuckled.
"What did she do when she saw you?"
"She ran and hugged me like a scared kid terrified from seeing a ghost. I led the way out and since then she never visited here again, you know childhood memories sticks the most."
"Yes, true" I said looking around.
"I hope we are still going to find our way out" I said a little bit frighten and he giggled.
"Yes we can" he answered.
"Okay, if you say so"
"We should getting going before the dusk of the day."
We turned back, got into the car and drove home.
*********
At night, we were sitting on the couch in the living room with the lights off watching a comic movie. We were laughing at some funny reactions in the movie till it was over.
"Awwn, when is the next one coming up?" I asked.
"Don't know, I have to check some other channels."
"Interesting ones please"
"Yes ma'am"
"Let me get a glass of water"
"Please get one for me as well"
I quickly got two glasses of water and when I returned, I found him watching national geographic wild.
"What the hell is this?" I said handing him the cup of water.
"What you can see"
"How do you expect me to watch this"
"Just like how I am watching it, quiet and with focus" he said and guffawed.
"You're crazy, change this" I said as I smiled.
" Not at all"
"Dre, change this" I said trying to get hold of the remote control, it was no longer funny anymore.
"Nope, stop stressing"
"Fine watch it all by yourself" I said shifting to the extreme end of the sofa.
"Thanks for surrending" he said and smirked.
I was there till I fell asleep. I wasn't comfortable and my head was whirling from one side to the other.
He turned and saw me. He drew closer, slightly lifting my head and placing them on his shoulder. He waved my hair aside and smiled.
Later on, he turned off the television, carried me in his arms, took me to the bedroom, laid me down and covered me with a blanket.
He squatted in front of me for a while watching me sleep then turned off the lights and went to bed.