The stray cat

The morning sun rays caressed Sasha’s eyelids and woke her up from the deep slumber.

Rubbing her eyes with the palms, Sasha stretched her body without leaving the bed.

Unable to withstand gleaming sun rays, she covered her eyes and turned away from the window.

“These glass windows!”

Sasha scanned the floor-length windows in her bedroom and looked outside,

The window on the other side was covered with thick grey coloured curtains.

Did her neighbour move in?

Then she must buy some curtains too,

Since she was alone on the top floor, Sasha never cared about buying curtains. But that’s not the case now. She got a nosy neighbour. It is better that she should start thinking about her privacy.

Yes, she should buy some curtains too.

Sasha removed the blanket which covered her body and got out of the bed.

All of sudden, a wave of nausea washed over her which made Sasha fall back to the bed.

“Aiishhh, not again,” Sasha cursed herself as she saw the empty wine bottle lying next to her bed.

How can she forget that she decided to drink last night?

Even though it was just a bottle of red wine, since she finished the whole bottle alone, the hangover and guilt were enough to make her head heavy.

It was just two days ago that she drank alcohol and made a huge fuss.

After all that trouble, she still hasn’t learned her lesson?

“When Am I going to quit drinking?”

Sasha muttered under her breath and walked towards the bathroom for the morning chores.

Every day is a new opportunity to erase the mistakes and start afresh.

However, the moment she looked at her puffy face and dishevelled hair, Sasha’s forehead creased in a frown.

She looked miserable.

If she ran into someone else, they might mistake her as a pathetic alcoholic who found her solace in drinking.

Sasha let out a sigh and tied her hair into a high bun before splashing some cold water at her face.

Her alcohol tolerance has become trash after moving to Soul city. She wasn’t a heavy drinker, but still, she had quite control over her drunk habits when she lived in the sunny dale.

Even though Sasha doesn't want to admit it for some reasons, she missed Sunny Dale despite the fact that she had no one there.

Something in the cold mornings of Sunny Dale and the breeze which brings the aroma of freshly ripened grapes always made Sasha nostalgic about the place that has been engraved in her memories.

As if she has made a promise that, she will wait for someone in shades of the grape wines.

"Nope. I am not having a bunch of absurdity for breakfast,"

She smirked while applying the toothpaste to the brush.

While brushing her teeth, Sasha’s eyes accidentally fell on the reddened mark on her neck.

Pulling the collar of her nightwear, she gave a close check on the mark which almost looked like a hickey.

"Where did this popped up, suddenly?" Her eyes widened at the sight of the mark.

After that regretful night at the birthday party, her skin had several bluish bruises like this which creeped the hell out of Sasha's wits.

It was not just a bruise, it was the signs that reminded her of something which she doesn't want to remember.

She spent a night with an absolute stranger- another shameful memory that forced her to stop drinking.

“No. It must be something else. Or did I just fail to notice it?"

Sasha searched in the whirlpool of her memories and figured out that last night, she went to the balcony to toss cheers to the heavens.

"Did any insects bite me? Ahh, it must be some mosquito,"

Sasha tried to calm her mind while smearing some medicine over the mark after brushing her teeth,

Walking out of the bathroom, Sasha halted her steps in front of the floor-length window for a moment.

After giving it a thought, she headed straight to the storage room and picked up the measuring tape to measure the length and breadth of the windows so that she could buy curtains as soon as possible.

There is no reason to delay it anymore.

Once she finished measuring the windows, Sasha moved to the kitchen to grab something to fill her hungry stomach.

After cleaning up the penthouse, Sasha walked out of her apartment to throw out the garbage.

And out of nowhere, she ran into Philippe next door,

Dressed up in a navy tailored fit suit and nicely combed hair, Philippe appeared like a model from the suit commercial.

Meeting a beautiful lady, first thing in the morning, Phillipe greeted Sasha cheerfully. One thing he really loved about his boss moving into Crimson bay was the improved chances of meeting the pretty neighbour every day.

“Mr Salazar, are you leaving for work?” Sasha asked when she saw how well dressed her neighbour was.

“Ah…yes, I thought about dropping here to meet my boss before heading to the office,” Philippe replied honestly. Since his boss was planning to officially join the head office on the first of New Year, it was Phillippe’s duty to report to his superior.

“Your boss…it’s your boss the one who is living here?” Sasha inquired with a tinge of bewilderment. So this man is not her neighbour?

Watching Sasha’s bewildered face, Philippe tried to hide his smile and maintained a poker face.

“Yes, ma’am. Did you think that I am the one who is living here?”

“Since I only saw you, I thought,” Sasha touched her ear in embarrassment and immediately changed the topic, “ah so your boss moved in?”

“Yeah, yesterday. We came to meet you, but you weren’t home at that time,” Philippe explained. It was true, yesterday when he came to drop his boss off at the new penthouse, Philippe suggested paying a visit to the neighbour’s penthouse.

“I am really sorry, I had to go out for work,”

“It’s alright, we will be staying here for awhile and will have enough opportunities to meet,”

“Ah sure…Then I am not taking any of your time. Have a good day,” Sasha immediately ended the conversation and went back to her home.

Phillipe stared at her parting back with a smile. There is no perfect way to start a day other than having a conversation with a woman like Sasha.

Should he come to pick the boss every day, so that he can have a glimpse of Miss Sasha?

Philippe thought of a plan and pressed the doorbell. However, even after waiting for some time, there wasn’t any response from the owner.

Letting out a long sigh, Philippe pressed the passcode of the door and entered penthouse 5010.

Soon after he stepped into the living room, his eyes found the sleepy yet handsome man resting on the couch.

Although the man was clearly sitting under the golden sunlight, his body was cloaked in a layer of everlasting ice. Even though he was dressed up in casual lounge wear, the aura around him resembled a king in an ancient castle.

Did he wake up the beast? Philippe doubted for a moment before greeting his boss.

“You are early today,” The man responded in his deep morning hoarse voice.

“It's you who woke up late,”

“I am still not able to cope up with the time difference, Philippe,” He looked at the clock as he retorted and walked towards the kitchen,

“Do you want coffee?”

“Let me help you, boss,” Philippe immediately unbuttoned his suit to follow his boss to the kitchen.

“It is just a coffee, stay put Philippe,” He placed a glass jug on the coffee machine and turned it on as if he is familiar with the process.

“Boss, I ran into your neighbour,” Philippe reported in an elated tone. “She said that she was out for work, yesterday,”

“Work? Where does she work?”

“I don’t know the details, she is some sort of CEO. Do you want me to look into her details?” He asked the man who was busy pouring out the coffee into the mugs.

“It’s alright I will ask herself,” The corners of his lips curled into an enticing smile as he passed a coffee mug to his assistant.

For a moment, Philippe was taken aback by the change in his boss’s demeanour. Last night when he went home, he clearly saw how disheartened his boss was. After moving to Soul city, the boss’s mood was changing like a teenager going through puberty. Sometimes, he will be high in energy and sometimes his mood will be far worse than a feral beast.

What happened now? Why is he showing his mesmerizing smile which is capable of shaking the hearts of young maidens?

While taking the coffee mug, Philippe’s eyes caught the sight of the purplish bruise on the boss’s wrist.

“Boss, what happened to your hand?”

“This?” The man glanced at the bite mark on his wrist and his obsidian eyes bloomed into a mischievous smile, “A ferocious kitty bit me last night,”

“Kitty? Here?” Philippe raised his eyebrows as if he heard something unnatural.

“An unfriendly neighbourhood kitty,” The man retorted casually and took a sip from the freshly made coffee as the sweetness of the coffee as well as last night's memory flashed into his mind.

“Oh how come I’ve never seen it?” Philippe was curious. He was the one who arranged the penthouse and he has never seen a cat in the vicinity.

“Is it a stray cat?”

“Sort of. She is elegant and beautiful as a Persian cat but was alone and weeping. I tried to help her, but she didn’t like it and ended up attacking me,”

“I never knew that you were a cat person,” Philippe shrugged his shoulders and drank the coffee as he spoke.

“No no, I’m not a cat person, but I kinda like her. I felt some sort of connection with her,”

“You said Persian cat, right? Then she must be someone’s pet. Still, how about we go to the hospital and get a tetanus shot?” Phillippe suggested.

“Nah, it’s alright,” The man stroked the bite mark as he spoke, “I want to keep it as an insignia to commemorate the beginning of our relationship,”

Philippe looked at his boss as if he was looking at some alien.

This man is a weirdo.

He got bitten by a stray cat and he wants to keep the bite mark as an insignia of some battle.

Why did he even think that Miss Sasha will be perfect for this weird boss and fall in love?

That’s impossible.