After class, Dome fixed his stuff and ready himself to move out of his dorm. He bid goodbye to the landlady for formality. He was limping because of too much stuff he's holding and to his surprise, a tan man was leaning over to black car, more like waiting for him. Because when he saw him, he straightened up his body and waved at him. Dome arched his eyebrows as if asking what he's doing there. The tan man walked towards him. He did his famous wink.
"I am here to pick you up. I brought my car in case you have a lot of stuff to carry," he said.
He peeked at Dome's stuff and took the bags in his hands. "Are these all your things?"
Dome nodded. Cannot figure out what to say because the tan man left him dumbfounded. He casually put Dome's things on the backseat. Dome followed him and almost got startled when the tan man opened the passenger seat's door, gesturing for him to get inside.
He wasn't the man he met in the mall. He's the man who kindly bought him food and offered his dorm. Dome kept that thought in his mind. Because honestly, the tan man was kind of a gentleman unlike their first meeting.
"Hey, as you can see it's almost dark. We need to hurry so you can fix your things early and beside, I have an assignment to work on too." Pavel waved his fingers in Dome's face.
Dome flushed when he saw a wide smile on him. He rolled his eyes and stomped his feet when he got inside. Strong smell of perfume lingered on his nose when he got in. But hey, he likes the smell. He didn't let the man notice what he's thinking when he moved to the driver's seat.
Feeling awkward, he leaned on the window and stared at the street lights. This was Dome first time living with a stranger. He just hopes that everything will be fine while living together.
"At least we should know each other's name, right?" The tan man broke the silence.
Dome slightly moved from his seat then nodded. Not wanting to introduce himself first though. He heard chuckles coming from the man. He looked at him and saw the tan man scratching his head like a shy boy. 'I should be the one who feels shy, right?'
"Fine, I'm Pavel Mitchell." Dome was taken aback again when the tan man stretched out his other hand to him.
Trying to figure out what to do, Dome waited for a minute before speaking. "I'm Dome." He ignored Pavel's hand.
"Wow, you're really talkative." He sensed sarcasm on his voice. "Dome what?"
"Just Dome." He said with a bored tone.
"A'right Just Dome, I really need to teach you to speak human language," Pavel said. He wiggled his eyebrows that made him a bit childish.
Dome without thinking twice, smacked Pavel's head. "Shia! It hurts. You always hit me!" The tan man touched his head while pouting.
"You deserved it," Dome snorted back. He never imagined that this man was kind of childish.
Silence fell over again until they reached a building. He was about to pick his things at the back but Pavel picked it faster than him. He smacked his hand and he glared. They stopped in front of a door with a large number 142 hanging above.
"I have hands too as you can see. I am not your girlfriend either for you to carry my things . . ."
". . . and opened the door for me." He said when Pavel opened his dorm's door for him. He dodged his chest that made the man yelp in pain.
"Phi! Look at my own drawing! P'Aki taught me to do one."
Dome literally jumped in shock when he entered the room, a soft voice echoed in the room and a little girl with a pink dress showed up instantly. She bumped on him.
"Sorry, sorry, Phi! Ouch, I think my nose broke."
Dome knelt down immediately on her and checked her nose. Good thing, it didn't bleed. A smile instantly formed on his lips when he saw the girl pouted while crunching his nose. He patted her head and stood up after.
"Little bun, say hello to your P'Dome." Pavel from behind put down his things.
"P'Dome? Oh, the stranger!" The little girl said with shock.
"He's not a stranger anymore because from now on, he will live here with us." Pavel explained a bit that made Cheza look confused.
"Little girl, I am your new housemate," Dome said. Amusement was on his face because of the cuteness of the girl.
The little girl widened her eyes—greeted him with a waii after. "Hi there, Phi."
After introducing each other, Pavel guided him to his room. There are three rooms afterall. He wondered why. But it's not his concern since he has a bed to sleep on now.
The room was not so big like in his dorm but enough for him tho. It was painted light blue and white. Spacious because there's nothing much besides the bed, side table, two chairs, cabinet with mirror and study table.
Dome lazily slimmed down his body on the bed, hands on either side of his head. 'Please be good to me, my new room!'
He almost forgot the tan man on the door if he didn't make a chuckle. Looking over the door, the tan man was leaning on the door frame with his hands on his chest. Dome's chest pounded a little when Pavel smirked. It confused him. And that's what he needs to know and never let the man find out.
"Just knock on my door if you need something. There's still leftover in the kitchen—I mean, you directly came here after school so I bet you're hungry. Just feel at home, okay? I'll just do my homework," Pavel said then left him still lying on the bed.
He just shrugged. He bet, meeting that tan man was not bad after all. After thinking stuff, he let himself drifted to sleep.
***
Morning came fast. Dome rose from his bed and got nervous when he noticed the unfamiliar room he's in. But then, he remembered that it was his new room. He did his morning routine before heading outside.
He scrunched his nose when he smelled burnt food coming from somewhere. He searched for it and saw how disastrous the kitchen was. Pans and plates all over the sink. Burned bread and some hotdogs on the table. Spilled dough on the floor. And a sweaty man with his red apron in front of the stove. He looks like he is struggling to make food. He chuckles on what he saw and laughed even more when the man turned around with some of his face covered in flour. Pavel was pouting on him maybe because he's making fun of his looks.
"Stop laughing, yeah? I know I'm not really into cooking but I am trying harder." Pavel said and pouted again. Dome tried his best not to laugh but he couldn't stop himself when Pavel yelped because he unconsciously put his hand on the hot pan.
"Pale man, you're so dead now!"
Dome stumbled back lightly when he felt something landing on his face. He touched it and saw some spilled flour on his hand. His eyes returned to Pavel and glare, as if a cue that he's in for a flour fight. Both of them looked at the flour on the table and ran faster to have it. Dome almost touched it but Pavel dodged him to the side. To his surprise, the other man looked like he stripped on something and landed his face directly on the floor. Dome bursted out his laughter with the scene.
"P'Pavel, what happened to your face?" A soft tone asked behind them. Cheza was curiously looking at her P'.
Pavel coughed first. "Someone with lollipop size just did this to me." He wiped his face with his own shirt. He whimpered slightly when he saw the abs of the tan man.
Dome gasped for amusement. He then glared at Pavel. "Back off, I will cook before you burn the whole place." He smacked Pavel's head first before walking in front of the stove.
"Hey! I've been cooking for years! And I didn't burn anything." He snorted, defending himself.
"Oh really? Then what was that?" He remarked pointing to the bread. Pavel rolled his eyes. Stomping his feet, he sat on the chair and watched him instead.
"So I guess, you should be the cook for us everyday."
Not minding the tan man's remark, he asked Cheza. "Little girl, what breakfast do you want?"
She clapped her hands with excitement. Deja vu. "I want an omelette and fried rice," she said. As if it was her first time to eat something like them.
"What about these?" Pavel suddenly asked. He looked at the burned foods. Dome sighed and picked them.
"I'll try to fix these. Maybe I can do magic for them…" He said, full of sarcasm. "Oh poor bread. Who murdered you, huh?"
"Dick!" The tan man snickered. Dome saw something flickered in his eyes. But it faded away quickly.
He smirked at him and started cooking. Cheza asked many questions though. She was a nice and smart girl. They interact as if it's only the two of them were in the kitchen.
"I am here too, you know?" He just glanced for seconds at Pavel. He saw him pouting. He clicked his tongue.
After a while the food was already done. "Little girl, wash your hands first before eating, okay?" Dome said. He arranged the food nicely on the table. He just added some toasted bread, ham and orange juice.
"You looked like a mother to me, P'Dome." Cheza's sudden outburst echoed in the kitchen. She had an innocent smile without knowing what her words mean to Harris.
No one talked after that. They fell into silence. Dome was trying to regain his composure, Pavel seemed tense and was rolling his spoon on the food and Cheza was being herself, eating innocently not realizing the effect of her statement.
But he was curious. He wants to know where it came from. Why did Cheza say it? After thinking thoroughly, he cleared his throat. "Why did you say that, little girl?"
He can sense the tension radiating from Pavel. Maybe something happened before.
"P'Aki always did that to Mia, her daughter, you know. She's cooking for her because she said that it's what mothers do to their kids." The fact that her smile didn't reach her eyes, Dome's heart clenched at the sight.
"Little bun, I always cooked for you!" Pavel glared at his niece.
"But either burned, the food did not taste good." Cheza answered, then stuck out her tongue to her uncle.
"Little girl, it's bad sticking out your tongue to someone older than you. And you should thank your P' because he cooks food for you."
Dome stated that Pavel and Cheza looked at him. Well, he just thought that the tan man was the only one who took care of Cheza. He hasn't seen other people home since he came here yesterday.
"I'm sorry, P'Dome. I will remember that." Cheza said then turned to her P'. "Sorry Phi. Thank you because even though you burned the food, you still cook for me."
Dome looked at Pavel with amusement. Because the tan man got teary-eyed. But before it fell, he smiled at Cheza and patted her head. "That's okay, my little bun. Let's just eat. Foods getting cold." He murmured, a smile formed on his lips but it was a sad smile.
Dome knew deep inside, Pavel was touched. But he didn't interfere anymore, he has no right to lecture them after all. He just got carried away because it was what he's doing to his nephews. Maybe he just missed them a lot.