The next morning I ignore Nathan. I avoid both breakfast and lunch with him. I remain in my room, surfing through the net. I check the orphanage's website near his house. There is an advertisement searching for a governess on the website as well. The orphanage is very nice. I will definitely visit it today again. I hear Anna call out my name so go downstairs to find everyone sitting in the living room. I join them, sitting in my usual place next to Vennessa.
"Let's go outing," Anna says as we sit in the living room. Nathan is busy in his phone I don't think he paid attention to what she said.
"That's a wonderful idea, love." Robin pecks her lips and sits down next to her, "Where do you want to go?"
"Somewhere adventurous!" Venessa suggests.
"Uh. I do enough adventures at work dealing with clowns all day." Nathan cringes.
"Nathan! Where do you wanna go Venessa?" Robin asks her.
"Umm, thinking of going camping."
"Then you can plan it with your friends, take April with you as well. It will be like a girl's weekend." Anna suggests, " I want to go somewhere quiet and peaceful." Venessa looks at me requesting me to back out. I smile understanding she wants to go with Ethan.
"Uh, I actually already planned to go to the nearby orphanage so I'll pass."
"Oh, no problem!" Venessa side hugs me.
"Okay. That leaves us with Nathan. What are your plans?" Robin asks.
"I wanna sleep and complete a long pending lists of TV series."
"Good, so April and you can have the house to yourselves." Anna smiles. Oh no, I am so not coming back home today.
"I'll pack our bags," Anna says to Robin. Quickly kissing him on the cheek she leaves the room, leaving me smiling and Nathan rolling his eyes. I move upstairs to my room and grab my phone and bag. I'm dressed in slacks and sweater. I wear my sneakers and go downstairs to say goodbye to Venessa and the folks. Fortunately Nathan is still buried in his phone. We are so good at ignoring each other that we could do it for a living.
I walk towards the orphanage with my headphones on. When I reach the gate there is no sign of children playing in the ground. Where are they? I walk to the main office and open it. Teenagers are scattered in the hall to my right I see a bunch of girls playing with a baby and boys talking around. One boy catches my eyes, he sitting all alone in his bed reading something off his phone.
"His name is Noah," a strange male voice startles me. I jump and turn, "Don't be afraid I'm not a ghost." a man chuckles.
"Uh-yeah, I'm April, I'm visiting." I catch my breath.
"I'm Ethan," he says.
"Oh my God! You're Ethan! It's so nice to meet you," I stretch my hand for a handshake, "I'm Venessa's..." a stop for a moment think what I really am, "Sister in law?" I say hesitantly.
"Oh yeah, of course!" he smiles and shake my hand, "She told me about you, I get why you are so unsure. Nathan is uh-...." he search for words.
"Difficult?" I suspect.
"Yeah, as Venessa says."
"Hmm..." I stare at wall behind him thinking of Nathan and my kiss and the embarrassment that came with it, "Hey! You had to go with Venessa on camping right? What are you doing here?"
"Oh yeah about that. I kinda cancelled on her so she went with her friends. I had already promised the children I would spend time with them this weekend. I'll make it up to her later."
"Oh, okay. Why is Noah sitting all alone?"
We sit on the swing while Ethan tells me about Noah. He is 16 years old and came to know that his parents abandoned him a few years ago. He is angry with life since then. His tantrums are almost impossible to handle sometimes. Ethan has known him since he came in his orphanage, they were close once but grew apart once he went to Stanford.
"We are looking for a governess specially for him." he sighs.
"Oh! Can I help?" I ask.
"Yeah, if you want to." he shrugs, "You can visit whenever you like."
"I will. Do you have any plans for Christmas or New year's? You know for the children?"
"Yes, of course! I was thinking of a fairy tale play. Snow White maybe? The children will enjoy that."
"The young ones will and the teenagers will sleep." I laugh.
"Yeah but I can't think of anything else." he sighs.
"You know, I always wanted to be Snow White when I was young."
"Really?" he says totally amused, "Then why don't you play that in our play!" he suggests.
"Are you serious?" I ask shock clear in my voice.
"Yes, absolutely."
"Well okay, I won't mind. Then who'll be my Ferdinand?"
"I have an old friend whom I asked. He seemed interested. He'll be here by tomorrow." The old man who greeted me last time calls Ethan inside. I follow him to the hall and mix with some children playing snakes and ladders. I lost track of time while playing with them. When I get up it's almost 5 in the evening. When I say goodbye to the children and head outside I find Noah sitting on the swing.
"Hey!" I chirp sitting next to him. He doesn't answer. "My name is April, what's yours?"
"Why do you care?!" he snaps.
"Uh- just curious.." I answer, unsure of what to say.
"Hey!" he beams after a moment of silence, "Do you know how to..."
"Yes," I persuade expecting to start a decent conversation with him.
"Fuck off!" he barks and I flinch. Wow, ruder than I thought.
"Noah! How dare you talk to our guest like that!" Ethan yells from behind, "Your language is becoming worse day by day!" he approaches them, "What's wrong with her asking your name huh? She's not going to eat you!" he continues to yell. Without saying a word Noah gets up and starts to leave but Ethan grips him and stops him, "I'm not finished yet!" he screams.
"Who are you to tell me these things?! My brother? My father? Who?" Noah raises his volume as well. He jerks out of Ethan's grip and goes inside. Ethan's eyes meet mine and I give him a sympathetic look.
"I'm so sorry," he apologizes.
"No please don't!" I say, "It's not your fault." I rub his arm, "Would you mind if I join this orphanage? I really want to help Noah. I can't see him like this."
"Really? You would do that? That will be amazing!" he stands up, "I'll get the paper work done by tomorrow or day after tomorrow. But you sure, right? And what about Nathan? Will he be okay with you working that too in an orphanage where we can't pay you much?"
"No! I am volunteering. I don't need a job. And speaking of Nathan, I don't need to take permission from him for what I want to do. I'm an independent woman!" I say almost offended by his words.
"Okay okay, didn't mean to offend you," he raises his hands in defeat, "Then we won't need any paperwork as well. You can join tomorrow itself." I smile at Ethan and he reciprocates the gesture. When I finally leave it's dark.
When I twist my key in door, it creaks open to a dark hall. Is Nathan not home? Why aren't the lights on? Maybe he is out with the boys. The living room is pitch black so I switch my flashlight on and move ahead. I hear a noise. A scream? Did someone just scream? Is Nathan really not home?
"Nathan?" I holler. No answer. He isn't home. Oh God, where the hell did the light switch go? In search of the light switch I hit my toe in the edge of the stairs. Holy mother of God! Biting my lip to control the pain, I sit down. Fuck! That hurts. But, at least I found the stairs, the living room seems to have somehow doubled it's size in the dark. I move upstairs. Either my ears are ringing or I just heard a strangling noise. Someone is in here. Is it a serial killer? A theif? I am going to get killed tonight.
"Nathan? Where are you?" I holler again. I feel a tap on my shoulder so I turn, I move my hand here and there to catch something or someone still no-one. A puff of air blows pass me and my phone slips from my hand, turning the flashlight off. What the hell? How will I find my phone now? This house is definitely haunted. Wait a minute, I see something. Someone. It's a figure. This house is haunted, definitely. I turn around running into a wall and I feel someone grab me.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!" I scream on the top of my lungs, "Pleasedon'thurtmetakewhateveryouwant." I blurt out, screamimg. It pulls me into its grasp and covers my mouth, pulling me into a soft mattress kind of thing. The lights goes off and I see Nathan on top of me covering my mouth and laughing like an idiot.
"You sick bastard!" I say as I remove his hand from my mouth, "Who does that?!" I yell and try to push him away. He lies next to me laughing hard.
"Oh... That...that was....awesome!" he says between his laughs.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" I hit him with the pillow. He doesn't stop laughing. I turn away and see a body hanging from the ceiling. "Aahhhhh!" I scream and run into Nathan. I hide my face his chest gripping his t shirt tightly. His laughter slowly fades away, I don't look up to him, I close my eyes try to calm myself. My heart is running at thousand miles an hour.
"You are not a ghost right?" I ask as I catch my breath.
"What?" he laughs, "No, not yet." he chuckles. He grabs my wrist and losen their grip on him. I remove my hands.
"What the hell is that?" I point behind me without looking.
"It's just a movie." he says, "It's our theatre room." I look around the big room with a huge screen almost covering a wall with a bed right in front and two bean bags on either side. As I look around I realise for the first time, it's been almost 2 months since I have visited this house but I never took a tour of it. I don't even know how many rooms are there in it.
"I was watching horror movies so I turned the lights off and increased the volume. You know just to get the feel." he says as he plays the movie. "You can join me, you can sit over there." he points at the bean bag.
"No thanks!" I say, "I have no interest in watching them, they are boring."
"Can't you just admit they scare the shit out of you?"
"Hey! I am not scared of horror movies, I am not a kid."
"Yeah right." He snorts.
"I am just tired from playing with the children all day. I'll go rest in my room."
"'My' room," he corrects me.
"Whatever!" I roll my eyes and move out. The corridor is still dark. I need to find my phone. I turn back and run into Nathan again. He was standing a few inches away.
"I figured you would need light." he says and moves past me to switch the corridor lights on.
"Thank you," I say. I pick my phone from the floor and go inside 'His' room. He is so mean. Can't he say our room or something? But then again he leaves no chance of telling me I'm unwanted here. I rest on the bed surfing through my phone trying to distract myself from the horror noises coming from across the hall. Arghh! Is he doing this on purpose? I finally give up and go across the hall. I knock on his door.
"What now?" he says.
"Can you watch this some other time? When I am not home?" I say through the door.
"No! Why? You afraid?"
"No." I try to lie but I myself am not convinced by this lie.
"Admit it you are afraid and I'll stop watching it." he chuckles. As much as my ego wants to get in the way, the noises are horrible.
"Okay, I'm very afraid of horror movies." I admit in a low voice. The door immediately pops open like he was standing on the other end holding the knob.
"Come inside!" he pulls me by my wrist. I turn my head away as soon as I see headless man.
"Please don't make me watch this!"I plead him. He turns the TV off and moves to the other end of the bed. He opens a shelf reveling hundreds of DVDs.
"What would you like to watch? I have action to romance to porn."
"Eww!" I cringe.
"Oh lemme guess, you have never watched porn."
"I don't need to. I know how to satisfy my needs." I wink.
"Not bad. Getting good at comebacks I see," he rolls his eyes, "I think romance comedy will be okay for you."
"Hmm..." I sit on the bed, "Can we watch mission impossible?" I ask.
"Okay, I like that." The DVDs are alphabetically arranged so it doesn't take time to search the series. Nathan leaves the room to make a phone call.
"What toppings do you like on your pizza?" he sticks his head in.
"Oh, if you are hungry I can make something for you. I am not in the mood of pizza." I say.
"Okay, I'll just order for me then." he orders his pizza and I also get up make something for me. Nathan had switched on all the lights now so I easily find the kitchen. I decide to make myself a creamy fettuccine carbonara.
"Hey, you coming? I am starting the movie." I hear Nathan holler.
"You can start, I will join in a bit."
"What are you making?" He asks as he comes down the stairs.
"Fettuccine carbonara with chicken." I say as I marinate my chicken.
"That's going to take long!" He whines, "I am going to miss the movie."
"You won't if you don't stand here and whine about it. Go watch the movie, I have watched it a million times." Without saying anything he leaves. In half an hour my pasta is ready and I take it upstairs. God, it looks delicious.
After ordering pizza he sits beside me in the bed. There is a comfortable amount of space between us which is very good. When I see Tom Cruise I wonder how can a be so handsome. He has been my crush since my teenage. Man! He is so hot!
"Lemme guess, teenage crush?" Nathan reads my mind, "All girls are the same." he whispers.
"Have you seen him?" I point at shirtless Tom, "Men can have a crush on that creature." He let's out a light chuckle and turns his attention back to the movie.
"Who's your teenage crush?" I couldn't help but ask.
"No one. I didn't have crushes. I always got what I wanted." he states.
"What about celebrities?"
"Had an affair with Victoria Greene and Alyssa Wilson. Of course both were very short. "
My eyes go wide as I hear those names. "Alyssa Wilson as the supermodel?! You left The Alyssa Wilson for our marriage?!" I ask in disbelief. I jump on the bed and face him. He says nothing just nods his head in a yes, "Oh man! And Victoria Greene? I am like her biggest fan! I love her!"
"Good for you." he says casually.
"Are you still in good terms with her? If I go to her concert can I meet her backstage? Can you pull some strings fr me, please? I promise I won't ask for anything else? Please Nathan!" I crawl closer to him.
"No..." he says, before he add further I cut him off.
"Come on, Nathan! I have never asked you for anything. Consider it a charity, I don't care."
"April, honey, she hates me!" He calms me down, "If she comes to know you are wife, she will never like you. She wanted a relationship and I wasn't ready at the time, so I broke it off. I don't she will meet you at my request."
"Oh Nathan!" I hit is arm and he looks at as if I have gone crazy, "You know what, you are useless. You don't know how to please a girl!" I huff and turn back to watch the movie.
"I am sorry?" He uncertainly says. After a while when I don't restart the conversation he chuckles and goes downstairs to throw away is pizza box. Watching the movie, I don't know when I fell asleep.