Kim was in her pijamas, she was looking like a kid, waiting for the adult to give her instructions that she would obey unconditionally, no questions asked.They had to talk, but in this moment, they had nothing to say. Kim realized Carl was wearing something different, so she decided to start the conversation by asking about his clothes.
"I see you went shopping, it looks nice on you." She began.
"Not really but thanks."
His short but direct reply made her feel he wasn"t ready to talk to her about himself.
"I understand if you don"t want to talk about yourself since we"re strangers. I"ll tell you about myself first, when you become comfortable with me, we can talk about you then." She looked directly into his eyes for a reaction, but there was none. Just the same deep and dark eyes, but not as lifeless as earlier when they met. She blushed, she couldn"t hold his eyes so she looked away.
"My name is Kim Sanders, I"ll turn 19 by July, you already know that. Anyway, I graduated high school last year but I didn"t take the national exams because I lacked funds, so I decided to work and earn the money for registration."
Hearing her speak, Carl felt he had it easy all his life. Though, his parents might have treated him badly a few times in the past, he never lacked money. He saw her in a new light, a young lady who was willing to work hard to fulfill her dreams unlike the rich, spoilt kids he was used to seeing. They were not all bad, but the spoilt ones were overly spoilt.
"I"ll apply this year and if my score is high enough, I"ll be granted scholarship, so I don"t need to worry about money for school."
She paused for a few seconds to see if he was listening. When she looked up at him, he was staring into her eyes, she felt goose bombs all over her skin, she became fl.u.s.tered. They weren"t doing anything intimate, she wasn"t sitting overly close to him, but at that moment, her heart wavered.
"Ahem" she cleared her throat and continued. "After graduating last year, I moved out of the orphanage, I got a job as a cleaner in a company, the pay wasn"t that bad, I could foot my bills so I wasn"t worried. A month later, I was promoted. I moved from being a cleaner to a secretary, I was able to save the money for the registration, anyway that"s why I"m behind on rent, I was hoping to use the money from the last three months to cover my rent and other necessities and save the rest, however my salary was withheld and I accidentally caught my boss cheating with his Mistress, so I was kicked out without the salary."
"We"ll get it back tomorrow." Carl simply said.
"Really? How are you going to do that?" Kim asked excitedly.
"For one, it"s illegal and he could be arrested and fined, secondly if he refuses, we"ll threaten him. Just say you have evidence of his cheating and you"ll hand it over to his wife if he refuses."
"Why didn"t I think of that?" Kim questioned herself. "What if he isn"t scared of his wife finding out?" She questioned once more.
"Don"t worry about that, we"ll only think of that if it comes to that, but I doubt it will." He said. "We just have to play our cards right, pretend like we have the evidence, if he asks for one, say you"re not foolish enough to bring it with you and you"ll only leave with the money or else you"ll send it to his wife, that should solve the problem."
"Thanks." She said quietly, avoiding his eyes.
"My turn, I"m Carl, you know that, I"m 21 and... I"m not sure what to say. I have no friends, my mom is late and I have a kid brother." He took a deep breath and added, "I was kicked out of the the house today, I"m not exactly sure what I did wrong so I can"t expand on that."
Kim wondered what the situation at his home was like but she didn"t ask. She didn"t want to intrude. So she smiled at him. "It"s okay, I"m sure things will get better. Since it"s getting late, we should go to bed, hold on, I"ll get you a pillow and a blanket."