living room :: March 24, 2005

Day and night, James wondered… when Jonathan will return to him… Jonathan left him… the next day after he slept on his thigh for the last time… in the living room of his apartment.

Disclaimer: Characters featured in this story are fictional and carries no relation to real life beings. All story and incidents are works of fiction.

Chapter 1: The living room

I stared out of the window, holding my favorite cat by my side at the window still. Gazing out across towards the open field, watching kids playing soccer in the evening sun. It was a fine scene, which I could observe every day. However, today was special; it marks the first anniversary Jonathan left me.

About a year ago, in the evening, I was over at his apartment, spending our last few hours together. He has been told by his manager that he will have to travel to Australia to work for five years, without much choice, he had to leave everything behind as it was a last minute decision and to fly alone with nothing, except for his credit card, passport and laptop. His daily necessities and housing has been pre-arranged for him by his company.

That evening, he told me about this breaking new, I thought it would mean we will never to together again. He assured me that he will be back, 1 year later, for us to meet at the same venue as well as to mark our 2nd anniversary together. Before he left, he had passed me his apartment key – and told me to maintain it while he was away. From then on, I became his housekeeper. He also left behind his favorite cat – Alice.

I took Alice home, the night he left. For the first few nights, Alice could not adapt to the new environment. She wanted to go home; she kept staring out of the door of my apartment, hoping to see him – as much as I miss him.

After a few sleepless nights, Alice finally realize that he will not be with us for a long while. And she began to explore the apartment and spend her time with me. I enjoyed her company as she reminds me of him. His playful side, how he values life as a whole. Every moment spend with him is something which money cannot buy. We live in our dreams, the lovely outings and nights we spend together, with each others company - especially weekends, where I will stay overnight at his place. To keep him companied, as well as to make up for the lost time from the hectic weekday we both have to endure.

Over the first few months, I felt I got used to living alone… with no one by my side every night except for Alice. We do exchange e-mails every week, and it was very exciting to be reading his e-mail messages and replying back. It slowly became routine, yet, the fun never dies down. However, few months later, our e-mails got lesser and lesser out of a sudden. We stopped e-mailing on another. He was getting more and busier with the developments over in Australia, being overly committed in his work, we drifted off literally. I took it lightly as it being a temporary. Even though I had the though of flying over to Perth to find him, yet I held myself back, telling myself, again and again that whatever he said, he will always execute.

The following half a year, I also started to get busier with a position shift in the corporate world. I rose from a normal staff to become an assistant editor for a Newsmagazine.

Chapter 2: Work Work Work…

Suddenly I woke up, Alice was licking my arms… suddenly, there was a knock at the door. I walked slowly towards it. Through the peep hole, I saw a very familiar figure. The sight of him made me want to give him a hug, a kiss and breakdown to tear. I miss him so badly, I felt that my heart has melted. We are now back together, I pray hard for it to be true.

I opened the door, put Alice down; gave him a long big hug, slammed the door closed and we started to kiss. It was a long and deep kiss we ever had. The last one being months ago, with tears already streaming down my eyes.

After being in the same position of hugging and non-stop kissing. I push him away, and looked into his eyes. I finally mumbled some words in front of him.

“How have you been Jonathan?” I asked.

“I guess I am fine. I finally am off work. I have been posted back to Singapore after 1 year of work overseas.” He replied with a smiley yet tired expression.

“Is that good? I mean, it has been a while since we last got together…” I said.

“Yea boy, finally, we are back together. You seem to have got fitter and tanner as well” he said.

“I thought I look more mature and old? I have been working on 50hour work week reviewing the articles by fellow journalists before I put them together for printing.” I said, still smiling.

“Oh! Really?? Guess I have been neglecting you for a while now… so sorry…” he said.

“What shall we do now? You want to go take a shower then we go our for dinner?” I asked.

“Sure, that would be a nice idea. Where shall we go for dinner?”

“How about having dinner at home?” I asked.

“Sure, the usual spaghetti. I miss your cooking” he said.

“okies, I have got the ingredients ready actually… gonna go prepare them now. Enjoy your long shower” I replied.

He went to take him shower, while I entered the kitchen to make his favorite pasta.

After shower, we sat down, to enjoy the hot pasta while having a toast of red wine and chatted till the wee hours while landing up in the living room while kissing and having hot bodies… soaked with sweat and a loving atmosphere. The nights seem young, yet, deep inside us, we are thankful for fate to bring us back together again. However, we hope that time didn’t move on that quickly afterall.

Afterword

A story inspired by a living room and a friends online blog on how he sat by the window with his cat. This was how I got the story pieced together, and well not to forget the feeling of sleeping by the lap.

Written: March 24, 2005