4 Chapter 4: Puddles

"Welcome to Dock 5. Please pick out the car assigned to you by swiping your card here."

A door on Dock 5 opened.

"Please proceed and drive your car home or to the home supply office. Proceed to Desk 17. If you need to gas up your car, just swipe your card a local gas station. The fuel is for free."

Is this a dream? Everything's for free?

"Thank you."

"Stay here and I will get the car." Arodelf told me.

"Hey, give me the bag. It may inconvenience you while setting things up." He ran towards it.

"Okay." A few moments later, the car was already near the dock. The car was a shiny blue with tinted glass. I thanked the man and I quickly opened the car door.

He smiled at me with a debonair look and wicked smile, "Come on in." He licked his lips and revved up the engine.

"Supplies?" I demanded.

"Yes ma'am." He sped up his driving.

We were silent. The car aircon is cold. The whole car is squeaky and new. I could smell the leather and upholstery. I can assume that this is not a normal car.

"This car is a..."

"Maserati."

"Yes." Inside my mind, what I was about to say was bribe.

"Ella."

"Yes?"

"What are your plans tonight? Are we?" He freed his other hand and held my hand.

"I don't know yet. I'm pretty scared about that."

"Are you still a virgin?"

"You asked that before. Do you have memory gap or something?" I sighed, "I'm a virgin." I think the world stopped as I said those words because I could feel the tension between us getting too strong. I saw a little smile spread across his face as he continued to drive. He faintly whispered something. Just a fraction would render it silent, I heard it. I can hear it well. I heard it clearly.

"Don't be scared about that." Arodelf looked at me and gestured me to lean on him.

"Okay."

We got to the supplies office.

We parked the car outside and we got inside the office. We got to Desk 17 and the woman gave us a card to a storage room numbered 978 where all of our monthly supplies are located. The room is filled with unnamed boxes. These could be worth a fortune.

"Are we going to check them one by one?"

Arodelf asked while picking up the smallest box.

"Yes. We have a checklist here."

He opened it and gasped.

"What is that?"

"Nothing."

"What is it?"

"No."

He showed it to me eventually.

I felt my face flush red and asked him, "Are those things used for...?"

"Yes. I don't think we need them. It's not like I'm and your are uhm... nevermind. Mark that out in the checklist already!" He was frantic, you can see it in his eyes.

Arodelf put the box in the corner and started checking the contents of other boxes. He said proudly, "If these are just for a month, I think we cannot consume these stuff. Hand me the checklist." He started ticking off what's in the box he had opened.

He handed me the checklist. "They told us that this ration is just for the two of us." I started ticking the boxes of the checklist.

We checked the boxes and ticked all the things in the list. Some of the ration are not present in the room and there is a paper slip within the box stating that it will be given next week.

"We don't need to go to the grocery with this heap. Okay, these are 27 boxes in total." He carried three large boxes in one lift and I carried two small ones. "Lead me so I won't stumble on anything okay."

We placed some of the boxes one by one inside the car and I helped him put all of it inside. We left some of the boxes in the room since it will not fit inside the car.

The first trip towards our designated home is a bit scary. I'm so filled with excitement and my smile would not budge. The Suppliea Office is not that far from our home.

"What's with the smile?" Arodelf asked me. He may be creeped out since we know that this would eventually come with a price we have to pay.

"I'm excited to see the house."

He sighed and told me, "Get used to calling it Home, 136-1." His tone was furious.

"What's with the..." We paused. His eyes were staring at something. I can see the little camera that is in the middle of the rear-view mirror. "Yes. I'm excited to finally see our home!" I leaned on his shoulder and he manuevered and stopped his driving. We were in the middle of the by-pass road.

Arodelf quickly cupped my face, avoiding the scars of my operation, and kissed my lips gently. Two gentle streams rushed from his eyes and I felt them drop to my thighs. I quivered in his kiss as his hands reached the back of my ears and nape. He let go of the kiss once he felt it was too much to handle and kissed my forehead. He kissed both of my hands and wiped his tears away. He composed himself and started driving again like nothing happened. We were silent. It was just too fast.

We got to the home designated for us. It's a two story house. In an awkward manner, I opened the car door and closed it as I got out. I immediately swiped the card and used the key to unlock the door. With no time to check the house, we unloaded the boxes from the car.

"Let's rest for a bit." Arodelf sat on the doorstep and told me, "I'm really not used to this kind of work you know."

"Yes. I know." I smiled. We rested for a bit to look at the surroundings.

It was very warm in this area but everything in this place seemed lonely. It's located far from neighbors.

"This is very isolated you know." I saw him looking at the surroundings with a huge frown. His eyes were tensed. His body slightly quivered in an imagining.

"I am getting scared already." I spoke out of the blue. He turned to look at me with a huge smile.

"Don't be afraid of that." I get it, Arodelf.

I smiled in return. I listened to his words, not missing anything. It was vivid and clear.

"Crime rates are very low in our country. Don't be scared, there are things that are much scarier than that."

A paradox.

"I thought so too. You know what's scarier than that, Arodelf?"

"What is that?" He stood up and leaned on the already closed door.

"I don't want to lose you."