The Boundaries

"Bring him here immediately!" Ruby yelled across her office room. "How dare he…" She slammed her body on her chair.

She was humiliated in the meeting room earlier. Yesterday she reminded Blake to come to the Board of Directors meeting, but never saw a glimpse of him even after the meeting.

"I'm sorry Madam, he refused to pick up the call." Forty-five year old Amber said. She was Ruby's secretary and had been working with her for twenty years.

"I don't care. Bring him here, and use whatever method you need to!" Ruby ordered.

Blake was awakened by a continuous ringing of the doorbell. He stretched his body that was in pain because he had been sleeping on the sofa the whole night.

Rubbing his face, he stood up and headed to the door. He looked at the monitor connected to the camera attached to his doorbell and saw Micky standing in front of his house.

Blake opened the door and greeted him, "She is still sleeping."

Micky gave Blake his most dangerous glare as he entered the house.It was not the first time he's been here. It had happened several times already since Blake moved to this apartment.

"Wake up!" Micky slapped the back of Marissa's shoulder. "Ahh…" He sighed when she didn't budge. "I said wake up!" He pulled her arms to get her up.

Afraid that she might fall, Blake quickly came to her side, intending to help.

"It's not like I don't know your intention." Micky blurted as his sharp stare landed on Blake. "We are both men, and you should know your boundaries."

Blake didn't even manage to react to his words when a slap hit the back of Micky's head.

"Who taught you to talk like that to him?" Marissa slowly crossed her legs and sat on the bed. "Apologise!"

"Sis!" Micky didn't want to apologise. For he could see from Blake's gaze, he didn't treat his sister as a friend. And in his own opinion, no woman and man could be best friends, never.

"Just apologise." Marissa insisted with her eyes still half closed.

"I'm sorry." His apology was half baked. "Let's go! I need to go to my other job after this." He pulled Marissa up.

"Hmm…" She raised her chin, opened her eyes and smiled at Blake, "I'm heading out. Thanks for the bed." She tapped on the comfy bed she believed was expensive.

"I can take you home if you want. But let me take a bath first…" Blake offered.

Marissa just opened her mouth to reply but then Micky answered, "No, thanks. Let's go." He held her hand and walked out of the room.

Blake smiled as he looked at them from the back. He was glad that Marissa had a protective brother like Micky. He always came to pick her up and make sure to send her safely every time she wanted to go somewhere.

"Bye." Marissa waved and closed the door.

Micky instantly gave her a glare, "You know it is dangerous to sleep at a man's house, right?"

"What is so dangerous about that?" Marissa said while pressing the elevator button.

"He is a man!"

"He is not interested in me." She assured him that nothing will happen.

"Tcchh…and you think I believe that?" They stared at each other, at a stalemate.

"You should. Nothing will happen even if I strip naked in front of him." She smiled and entered the elevator.

"Sis!" Micky's eyes widened. "Don't even dare. A man is like a cat, would a cat refuse a fish if it is served in front of them?"

"Oh, he is a cat who eats canned food." She said then burst into laughter.

"Can you stop joking for a while and take this matter seriously?" Micky felt worried. His sister was too carefree. She had a few boyfriends before but it would only last for two to three months all because of Blake. Her exes found Blake as a threat and were not comfortable with their relationship.

"Here…" Micky passed the helmet to Marissa and hopped on the scooter.

The distance between Blake's apartment and their house took about ten minutes. Not that far, but the condition of their house was different. Micky went to work right after he dropped her off.

Marisa stared at the door of their low cost apartment and sighed. It was not like she was ungrateful, but it was because this happened because of their father's mistake.

Opening the door, she took off her heels and headed inside. The sound of sobbing became clearer as she walked in. "Mom?" She peeked at the corner and then went to her room. "Mom?" She called again as she couldn't find her.

The sound of crying stopped, so she tried looking at their open and small kitchen and finally found her mother crouching on the floor, crying.

"What happened?" She sat in front of her mother.

Her mother, Wanda, shook her head, refusing to answer.

"Tell me, is it dad again?" Marissa already felt the anger reach her head.

"What did he do this time? Did he take your savings?" This always happened and her mother would just end crying the whole day and forgiving her father the day after.

Wanda said no matter what, Henry was still her husband and a father for her kids. Nothing could change the fact and because of this bullshit fact, they had been suffering for ten years since her father's business went bankrupt. He changed. It was not like he was better before but after the business went down, he changed from being a loser he became a scumbag.

"Where is he?" Marissa stood up.

"No! No!" Wanda pulled her down, afraid that she would create a ruckus, like last time.

"Did he go to that bi*** again?!" She rushed to the door but then stopped. Wanda, who was following her from behind, was stunned.

"Let me take a bath first. I need to smell good when I'm facing a skunk."