Chapter 12

"What? ... Ah.. What are you doing here?" I asked in surprise.

"I'm just visiting my girlfriend," he said and then smiled at me, but I wasn't pleased. How did he even get in here? He couldn't have gotten past my aunt.

"How do you know Laine?" Nisha asked Alzid, clearly trying to be cute.

"You know, you two don't suit each other... look at her, she looks like a rag," Nisha said, and I felt embarrassed, especially since I was just wearing house clothes, my old ones. I really did look like a mess.

"I don't care, she's my girlfriend, and that messy girl is the one I love," Alzid said, smiling at Nisha. I could see the annoyance on Nisha's face before she walked out. Why is it that when I heard what he said, my heart pounded faster? It felt nice to hear those words from someone, even though I knew it wasn't true.

"Go home, Alzid... I'll get in trouble with my aunt because of what you're doing," I said while scrubbing clothes by hand since we don't have a washing machine.

"Well, she already saw me," he replied.

"What did you do to get in here?" I asked curiously.

"It's not important," he said, then lowered his head, and soon he picked up a piece of clothing from the basin and started scrubbing it.

"Come on, don't make a mess. I'm tired, and I just want to finish this quickly. I don't have time to mess around with you," I said in irritation because I was really exhausted, both emotionally and physically, and I just wanted to rest.

"I will help you… so we can finish this quickly," he said and continued scrubbing.

"Fine, but I'm not forcing you, okay? You just show up out of nowhere. You're unbelievable. By the way, how did you know I was here?" I asked him.

"I asked your friend, Kath," he said.

Oh no, I forgot to tell Kath not to say where I live.

"Geez... Kath can be such a troublemaker," I whispered, but I knew he heard me.

"Why don't you want me to come here?" he asked me.

"I'll get scolded by my aunt," I simply replied.

"By the way, I'm mad at you, Alzid... I got fired because I missed work. I don't know what to do now, and my aunt is furious with me," I said, not realizing tears were streaming down my face. I kept wiping my eyes, my face soaking wet and covered in soap suds.

I was surprised when he suddenly took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the tears from my eyes, along with the soap on my cheeks. I didn't expect what he did, so I just stopped and stared at him.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault that you lost your job," he said, still wiping my tears and face. I could see the guilt in his eyes. I kept staring at his eyes; there was something about them, like they were holding me captive, making me not want to look away. His eyes were so expressive. But I forced myself to return to reality and took his hand away, the one holding the handkerchief that was wiping my tears.

"I'll just look for another job... no matter what I do, it's done, and I can't do anything about it," I said, returning to scrubbing.

"I won't leave you," he said seriously, making me look up at him. I was surprised when he suddenly wiped the soap off my nose.

"What's wrong with you? I'm your boyfriend, right? Naturally, I won't leave you," he said, laughing loudly.

"You're such a nuisance!" I said angrily, and wiped some soap on his face too. But he didn't back down, retaliating until we were both soaked.

In the end, we just laughed. Somehow, I forgot my problems because of this strange guy.

He helped me rinse and hang the clothes. While we were hanging the clothes, he suddenly spoke.

"Do they always do this to you?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Make you wash so much," he said.

"Yeah... I'm used to it," I said, forcing a smile. He didn't say anything more.

"Thank you," I said while hanging a piece of clothing on the hanger.

"For what?" he asked, puzzled.

"Because this is the most fun I've had doing the laundry," I said, smiling at him.

I saw surprise in his eyes, but then he smiled back at me.