Episode 9

I always thought my alarm tone was the most annoying sound one could ever hear. But as I was sleeping peacefully, snuggling with a cushion my phone went off.

Never in life had I thought that my ringtone would make me murder someone. I groaned tiredly and answered the call without checking the caller ID which in hindsight I should have.

"You motherfucker better have a good reason to call me on a Sunday morning." I greeted whoever there was on the other side.

"I really hope you don't talk to my son like that Ms. Morgan."

It was funny how my hazy and tired brain picked up on the humor that Mr. King's voice held. His voice was deep even as my brain tried to register the fact that he called me after ignoring my presence for the last two days like I was the plague.

"Why the fuck are you calling me on a Sunday morning?" I groaned a second later then realized I cursed so to make it up I continued. "Mr. King."

"You are a rather lively person in the morning huh?" He chuckled and suddenly I felt rage as I realized he was the guy who didn't even talk to me for the past two days and now he wanted to talk.

But biting my lips I refrained from saying that would cost me my job.

"Did you just call me to remind me how vividly I cuss or is there any other reason Mr. King?" I asked him sweetly.

He must have realized I wasn't interested in any conversation because he cleared his throat. "Yes, uh, Alex was asking for you."

"Oh, give him the phone then. I will talk to him." I said as I stretched my arms to free the knots that seemed to form as I slept in a weird position last night.

The sunlight was peeking in through the window curtains lighting up the room with the light yellow and orange hues.

"Not like that." He cleared his throat again. "He wants you here, in our place."

I was a bit stunned that Alex wanted me there. But also not that much as he was always friendly with me and liked me too from what I could gather for the past few days.

A sense of pride hit me as I realized that Alex liked me enough to want me around him willingly.

"Uh..." I stuttered, not sure exactly how to express my excitement without making a fool out of myself.

"I will pay you extra if that's what you need." He bargained with me and my good mood was immediately flushed down the drain.

"I am not taking any money for this. Alex wants to meet me and I will do it for him without any money." My voice was cold and detached just like I how taught myself to be when situations demanded.

"I didn't, I didn't mean it like that Ms. Morgan." He stumbled on his own words, his voice was soft.

"I will be there in thirty minutes." I didn't wait for him to respond and hung up.

-

The worst part of living in New York, other than the fact that coffee was four dollars and 25 cents, was that it always smelled like urine. Everywhere. Even in the most sophisticated places, it smelled like urine and garbage.

And this smell was tempting me to puke as I was lightly jerking from left to right with the force of the subway.

The money was tight this month and the cost of a cab was astounding as the end of the month was nearing.

I could hear the faint sound of No Shame by 5 Seconds of Summer from the headphone of the girl standing beside me.

Lay me in the palm of your hand

I'll give you my permission

You'll always be forgiven

Go on, replace me

When you're craving something sweeter than the words I left in your mouth

Go on and spit me out

The lyrics borderline felt like it was talking about sex, but knowing their overall vibe, it could never be about as petty as sex.

The subway came to a halt and people around me started rushing for the door like it was the door for heaven.

In hopes of living through a possible stampede, I backed away and waited for the rush to be over.

A rather unusually familiar hair color caught my eyes darting out of the subway, I tried to look for his face but I was too small and everyone in this subway was tall enough to be competing with Robert Wadlow.

"Move out of my way!" A guy screamed in my ears. I jumped back and quickly started to rush out of the subway as fast as I could.

Cursing my parents for not giving me the tall genes and ruining my life all at the same time.

♚

"You are here!" Alex leaped into me as soon as I get through the door.

The young woman who was opening the door for me for the last few days was now a bit more comfortable in my presence.

Grace, as she told me her name was, chuckled at our interaction. She was carefree, life was still sweet for her, she was still not exposed and I was envious of her for that.

I wanted to be like her. Carefree, smiling without hesitancy and burdens forming knots in my shoulders.

For as long as I can remember, I remembered myself to be hiding in my room, distracting myself, bailing my parents out, answering their calls for them, making excuses.

And the minute I thought I had a break from this, they ended up taking away my dreams from me.

"You are here, good." I heard a gravely calm voice spoke and I looked away from Grace to see Mr. King with his eyes zeroed in on me.

He was wearing a light grey sweatshirt with dark grey sweatpants, he was free of his usual suits and tuxedos. Leaning against the railing of the stairs, he was looking like every bit of a nightmare wrapped around with the wrapper of temptation.

"Yes, Alex wanted to see me." I glanced away from him and focussed my gaze on Alex who was still clinging to me. "And how I can ever refuse his wishes."

I tickled him as he tried to squirm away from me. "No! It's tickling."

"That's the point." I carefully moved him from my arms to the couch.

"No! Dada, save me!" He laughed loudly.

"But you wanted Ms. Morgan here." He shrugged but a small smile was still there on his lips.

"No, no I don't want her anymore."

I stopped tickling him and pouted at him and put my hand on my heart. "You don't want me here?"

I didn't let him answer. "Looks like I have to leave then, if Alex doesn't want me then I have no business here."

I got up from the couch and tried to live away but Alex quickly pulled my hand and made me sit on the couch again.

"No, no. Don't leave." He looked concerned as he cradled my face into his small hands. "You can tickle me if you want, I won't say anything."

I burst into laughter and ruffled his hair. "I am kidding baby, now bring your books, I want to see what happened after the King was dead."

He nodded excitedly and quickly ran up the stairs. However, his father stayed where he was and was looking at me with his usual intense look, and I quickly looked away. His gaze was unnerving me and I was confused with myself, I had men looking at me with lust, with anger, with rage, and with jealousy, I had seen it all, I had felt it all but his gaze was making me feel hot all over and it wasn't the best feeling.

Are you going soft on him, bitch? I could practically hear Ria's voice whispered in my ear.

I quickly remembered that I royally fucked up with my best friend last night, the ignorance of my boss, the high of getting another friend, and Ria forgetting to call me, somehow made me feel a different kind of loneliness. I wasn't sure if I had felt it when my parents used to ignore my presence but this one hurt more, this one scratched up wounds that I didn't know existed.

"Skylar, uh." I looked up in surprise at the mention of my name. "I am sorry, I know I probably should have apologized earlier but well, I was drunk." He looked down in shame and I felt a sense of joy, at least he felt guilty, my parents never did, never felt shame for what they put me through.

"It's fine Mr. King." I addressed him formally, not wanting to cross the line with him, everytime shit felt right, it blew up on me. So, this time, my guards were on.

He looked disappointed but didn't argue more. "I am still sorry, it was unacceptable for me to come home like... that."

Like drunk.

I nodded but didn't say anything further, I enjoyed the silence, but also my curiosity was a bitch I didn't know how to handle so even though the silence was much preferable and logical I still frowned at him. "Can I ask you something?"

I managed to keep my voice low and steady.

"Yes, sure." He was intrigued too as I sat a little straighter and clasped my hands together.

"Why... uh did you get drunk?"

This was one question that always kept me up at the wee hours of the night when my parents' throats were too sore to scream and too tired to throw shit around. They could have divorced, they could have just moved out, they could have simply left, why did they willingly choose something that could potentially make them so, so vile.

He looked uncomfortable, probably because no one had ever asked him that question. "I... I don't know. Maybe to forget about my life for a few hours."

"Do they work?" This wasn't the question I wanted to ask, I wanted to ask him what could he mean by that, his life so far seemed more put together than mine.

He shrugged nonchalantly though I could see how tensed his shoulders were. "Some days they do, some days it's mostly just hangover and embarrassment."

"Is it worth it?" I whispered, so low that I didn't think he had heard, I hoped he hadn't. But he clearly did as he sighed deeply.

"I don't know Skylar, I don't know."

He looked so broken at that time, defeated, not like the guy I had seen on my first day of the job, not that stuck up asshole, not that boyish guy who pranked me, not the man who argued with me about arson when the whole New York was about to sleep. I almost reached out to him, to hug him, to give him hopes that everything would be alright. But I knew that was a lie, nothing would be alright, there was no certainty, and giving false hopes was just cruel.

But before I could try to comfort him, Alex skipped down the stairs with a picture book in one hand and a half-eaten chocolate bar in the other. "I got the book!

-

The smell of onion was leaving a sour taste behind, and I squinted my eyes as a drop of liquid residual from the crumbles of onions reached my nose. Alex was sitting on the counter right beside me and I was also keeping an eye out for any danger Alex might get himself into.

"Why don't we use that salt?" Alex asked as he pointed at a jar that contained the Korean Purple Bamboo Salt.

I had never seen the salt in reality as it was highly expensive. The only time I had read about it was during my high school days when one night my parents were out, doing who knows what, I had to make dinner, and there was a brief mention of this salt.

I had never heard of it ever again when I saw it was almost a hundred dollars for an 8.5-ounce jar.

I just ordered a pizza that night.

I smiled at Alex as he was still looking at me curiously. "It's a very expensive salt and it will taste better if we use table salt."

He nodded before shifting his eyes to the pan that was frying the onions. I turned away and caught Mr. King staring at us with his usual intense gaze. He was standing at the entrance of the kitchen and a small smile playing on his lips.

I felt my heart doing something stupid but I ignored that and found the lid of the pan before turning away from him.

A part of me felt vulnerable whenever he was around and I was feeling a sense of comfort and unnerved all at the same time.

And that part of me was relishing in that feeling.