The Housemaid [in edit]

The Housemaid - Chapter Seventeen

NOTE: I wanted to update this just for you. It's almost past 1am but I needed to get this done since I was so close to finishing. So HERE. :)

seventeen: THE NEW CO-HOUSEMAID

The next morning, the whole household staff in separate divisions, excluding the band was called for a meeting before work. Christine was already dressed in her daily uniform before 8am, and before she made her stop to the library—where she will meet with Sandy and the new co-worker—she went to check if Jay was in the little gym. 

There were no members in the gym, but she did noticed a second time that Tom’s bedroom door was open. Instead of turning to Jay’s room first, she somehow made her way to see what Tom was up to.

She saw Tom in his room with his bare glistening back towards her, working on his arms with the heaviest dumbbells he could lift. She looked back to the empty hallway before, seeing Jay’s door still closed and knocked softly on the doorframe. 

He turned his head back and raised his brows. “Oh…hey Chris.”

“Hey…” She gave him a small smile. She hadn’t spoken to him since she last saw him with Zoe, but she wondered if he was still upset with her. “Uh, how are you?”

He lifted one dumbbell towards him, then slowly away from him. He grunted. “I’m doing alright. I reckon I can say the same for you.”

She somehow felt her heart skip a beat for a moment and reminisced the moment between her and Jay yesterday afternoon. The moment they pulled away a second time after they kissed, she found that the boys left. She hadn’t seen any of the band members since. “Oh. Yeah, I suppose you can.”

Tom set the dumbbells on the floor and opened and closed his fists. He stood up and grabbed a towel nearby and hooked it around his neck after wiping the sweat off his face. He must have been working out long before she came over. 

For some reason, Christine couldn’t stop staring at him. She was reminded of that night she called Lyla out, and the next morning where he confronted her. She also thought of that dream, too. Her heart raced after realizing she was close to the very room; she held in her breath, hoping to relax herself a little, and that he wouldn’t notice.

He turned around walked over. “So you really fancy Jay huh?” He asked.

She nodded, almost looking at him amusedly. “Yes.”

He stared down at her curiously. “You don’t look so sure.”

Just him asking that made her wonder if he knew what was going on in her head…about him. She started to panic inside. “Oh, I’m sure…”

“That’s good.” Tom leaned against the doorframe, twisting the bottle cap of his water bottle back and forth. “I’m happy for you.”

He still didn’t look like he was convinced. If she recalled, their last encounter obviously didn’t end well, hence the short answers. They stood there in silence for a long minute.

Christine tried to remember why she went to visit him in the first place. She meant to stop by Jay’s room…

“Um, thanks. I’m gonna…” She pointed to the direction of Jay’s room with her thumb and started slowly walking backwards towards it. She turned around halfway, when she felt Tom’s hand on her wrist.

“Chris, wait…” He said softly. 

She turned around facing him again. This time, his eyes were sad; he had a look of concern. It confused her. His hand was still on her wrist, but softly, almost tickling, it brushed against her hand. She wasn’t sure why or what he was doing, but she wasn’t stopping him.