Dylan heard her loud and clear the first time. He slowly walked to his door and was about to open it when he heard her quietly say that she should've rephrased what she just said.
"Let's just end her misery." He thought as he opened the door with a naughty grin on his face.
Dylan looked at her with a smirk as she looked at him dumbfounded that he answered and opened his door.
"Yes, I heard you." He answered her in his head.
"Hello, nice to see you again. Come on in."
"Sir Dylan. Umm, Manang said I will be sleeping with, I mean, I-I will be sleeping here as well tonight." She stuttered and closed her eyes as she corrected herself.
Dylan got a whiff of her hair as she entered the room. He just realized that she just took a shower, and her hair was still damp. He inhaled her scent of sweet vanilla and oranges as she passed by him. Her smell was subtle, yet it trailed her all over the room. He closed his door shut and awkwardly stood at the center of the room with her.
"Well, I guess you will be spending a lot of time here with me - you know, just sleeping."
"Smooth, Dylan. Just smooth."
It was then that Dylan decided that he needed to nip this awkwardness in the bud. He needed to be frank, and he needed to lay it all out to her so both of them will feel at ease with each other.
"Listen, I know this set-up is weird - you know for the both of us. But I promise you I am a gentleman and I'm not the type do anything inappropriate," he declared as he lifted both arms in surrender. "I promise, I would be in my best behavior, every night. Scout's honor!" He held up his right hand and did the three-finger salute.
For the first time since he met her, Dylan saw Ballsie smile. The real kind - the kind that reached the eyes.
"I've seen that smile somewhere before," he thought. "Hmm, it feels kind of good to make you smile like that."
"Phew. Sir Dylan, thank you for saying that. Yes, I'll admit. This is the part of my job that I am most scared about. You know, I've never done anything like this before." Ballsie answered with a clear sign of relief.
"Well, that's it. We've settled that and we're moving forward. No more awkwardness, ok?"
"Ok po, Sir."
Dylan then gestured to Ballsie to get settled. "So, I guess I can quickly show you around. There's nothing much really. Well, here is Manang's roll out bed. Once she's gone, you'll take this spot. For tonight though, I'm afraid there's no other place to sleep but on the couch."
Ballsie saw the dark brown leather couch next to the other side of his bed and plopped down on it comfortably. She started squishing the seats with both of her hands.
"Sir, this couch is as big as my bed at home. It also feels much softer. Don't worry, I will be comfortable."
She got up and started to inspect the rest of his bedroom. She looked up the ceiling, then at his wooden floors.
"Sir everything in your home is quite beautiful. From the crown molding on your ceiling, to your staircase banisters, to your hardwood floors, doors, walls, all of it! The materials are exquisite. The wooden floors, banisters, and all the doors are Narra correct? The foyer downstairs too is gorgeous. Calacatta marbles are expensive. And you have slabs of it as your walls and floors in the foyer!"
Dylan was very impressed. Besides his mom, no other person who has seen his house really appreciated the small details that Ballsie noticed.
"Wow, Ballsie! Did you study Architecture?"
"Ah, no Sir. I studied Interior Design."
"So, why are you here? I mean, can't you work as an interior designer?"
Dylan saw her looked down and bit her bottom lip when he asked his last question. He felt a tinge of regret because he felt like he had offended her somehow.
"Sir, I don't have my license yet and um, I had to look for a job right away after college so I can help my dad."
Dylan did not want to ask further. He did not want to make her feel like she was under interrogation.
He felt relieved as Ballsie suddenly noticed the huge glass display case up against one of the walls. It housed his Sagrada Familia, Eiffel Tower, and Burj Al-Arab Hotel modular building blocks he built as mini-projects when he was studying Architecture. She walked to the glass display to inspect the miniature buildings up close, and Dylan felt inclined to follow her as well.
"Sir, you like Antoni Gaudi? He designed the Sagrada Familia right?"
"Yes, Gaudi is why I became an architect. I admire how he designed his most famous works as organic and as nature oriented as possible. I'm pretty sure you learned about him too when you studied Interior Design right?"
"A little bit, but I learned a lot about him from my dad. My dad builds furniture, mostly chairs, and he idolizes Gaudi."
"Interesting, I want to meet your dad." Dylan uttered as he looked down at Ballsie. Their eyes met and all that Dylan could think about was he wanted to know more about this wide-eyed girl in front of him.
"You're different from all the women I've met before Ballsie Flores. You've definitely piqued my interest."
