Unobservant Thoughts
“Hugh!” At once Opel’s face turned red.
He gulped nervously.
Zakai offered with a cold face, “Come!
You can steal my quilt.
I don’t mind.”
Opel swallowed hard with an audible motion of his throat.
He looked at the empty space on the bed with nervousness.
Suddenly his heart beat fastened.
He knew that nothing was gonna happen but something inside him hesitates in the idea of sleeping on the same bed.
“You are hurt.
I think I’ll let you take the whole bed so you can sleep comfortably.
And about me…ummm…” He pursed his lips and looked to his left and right.
“I can sleep on the floor.” He answered looking at the marbled floor.
“——”
Zakai didn’t respond again.
As soon as Opel proposed to sleep on the floor, Zakai turned to the other side, facing the wall.
Opel looked confused at Zakai’s action.
‘Is he angry that I turned him down?
Or he is feeling sleepy now?’ Opel thought in his mind.
Zakai surely makes him puzzled with his unconcerned actions.
Opel went to the wardrobe, opened it, took out a quilt and a bed sheet from the shelf and then closed it.
Then he slowly lifted the heavy patchwork quilt and spread it softly over Zakai’s sleeping form up to Zakai’s chest, gently tucking the edges beneath his shoulders.
With a soft-lingering touch, Opel smoothened out the wrinkles that appeared on the edges of the quilt.
Opel then switched off the light and steadily lay on the sheet on the floor.
He bent his arm; sliding the forearm underneath his head that acted as a head-rest and worked as a pillow for him.
A solitary golden beam from the street lamp cuts through the glass window into the gloomy room, making it dim- lit.
Through the low intensity lightening, Opel peeked at the soul on the bed who has turned his back towards Opel.
Smiling while looking at the motionless back, Opel closed his eyes and tried to sleep.
KLICK!!CKACL!!
CLICK!!CLACK!!!
Opel slowly opened his eyes with the beam of sunlight directly falling onto his body, making him warm and sweaty.
He could hear some unfamiliar sound as he tossed on the floor lazily.
Waking up to an unfamiliar noise in the morning suddenly made him scared.
He at once raised his head and sat on the floor.
And he looked at the bed.
The bed, which was empty now, only has the wrinkled quilt spread on it.
Opel stood up and scanned the whole room.
And the next moment his body got ready to fight and he rushed out of the room only to find out that Zakai’s voice was heard from the kitchen.
He was actually talking to the old woman.
As he looked to the corner of the living room, he saw the old man hammering an old broken chair.
KLICK!!CKACL!!
CLICK!!CLACK!!!
Opel sighed with a relief.
With a subtle twitch at the corner of his mouth that crept inward, his face transformed from a neutral expression into a warmth one.
He was himself shocked at how his body reacted fast to keep that boy safe.
Opel turned back and went to the room.
He grabbed his own clothes and put them on.
Then his eyes shifted to the table where Zakai’s own clothes were kept folded.
He went near it and brushed the cloth tenderly with his fingertips.
“Why do I get anxious every time when you get involved in a situation?
I’m trying my best to give you a brotherly affection but…but why does it turns awkward?
Am I doing something wrong?
Am I thinking something wrong?” Opel talked to himself.
CLANNNNNK!!!
The door opened and Zakai got in.
Surprised Opel took a few steps back.
He pulled his hands back with tensed grip behind his back, hiding his nervous impulses.
Zakai walked in slowly.
He grabbed his clothes from the table and went back from the same door, calmly ignoring Opel’s presence.
As the door closed, Opel sat back on the bed and looked at the broken couch.
“I hope his back is fine.”
After a few minutes Zakai came back to the room again after changing into his own clothes.
Then he serenely started to fold back the clothes he wore last night and kept on the table.
As he rolled his eyes on the floor, he saw Opel’s clothes, thrown carelessly on the floor.
The sheet on which Opel slept last night was still on the floor.
Zakai’s eyes drifted towards Opel, who was already staring at him.
With an intense look, he kept on looking at Opel.
Narrowing his eyes, as if it would hurt to even look at him; a cold, blank and a piercing stare could be sensed.
Without uttering a single word, he said it.
Opel smiled with an uncertain expression where his lips pulled back tight and straight without reaching the eyes.
“Good morning!” He wished Zakai amidst the deafening silence.
Unfortunately, Opel wasn’t clear.
With that uneasy moment, Opel shoot out an useless topic.
Zakai rolled his eyes and bent lower to pick up Opel’s clothes.
With a flare attached on his nostrils, Zakai folded them and put them on the table.
Then he folded the sheet and again kept it on the table.
Opel, meanwhile, was busy scrolling his phone and texting someone.
Zakai slowly moved towards him and stood next to Opel; motionless.
Upon sensing that Zakai was staring at him, Opel raised his head to look at Zakai.
“Sir!
Do you always wait for the trash to pack its own bags and leave doing what you should do?” Zakai asked with a poker face, yet the tone seemed mockery.
“Hugh!”
“—–” Zakai didn’t take any effort to make him understand further.
Opel sensed something and dubiously stood up taking a few steps away from the bed.
As soon as Opel moved away, Zakai grabbed the quilt and started to fold it.
“Oh!
I hate cleaning up my room.
What’s the point?
It’s gonna get dirty again.” Finally Opel clicked to his senses.
Zakai rolled his eyes.
“Umm..
Zakai!” Opel wished to converse.
“——”
Habitually Zakai kept silent, focusing on folding the quilt.
Opel continued, “What were you talking to the lady this morning?”
“I apologized for breaking her couch and then helped her with the breakfast.
If you are ready, sir, move to the dining table.
Aunt has already laid the table.” Zakai verbalized without looking at Opel.
He was fixing the bed sheet.
Opel obediently walked out of the room and sat on the dining table.
The old woman was shouting at her husband to have his breakfast, who was still fixing the broken chair.
Soon the old man hurriedly rushed to the dining table and sat next to her.
“Sorry!” The old man winked at his wife.
The woman smiled.
Opel looked happy seeing the lovely couple.
“Uncle!
You surely rushed here that you forgot to even put back your hammer.” Opel giggled as he spoke.
“Oh!” The old man realized that he was still holding the hammer.
Keeping it on the floor, he spoke to Opel, “She sometimes growls like granite.
Making her angry would cost me a lifetime.”
“Stop talking!
You know the couch already broke.
How many times did I remind you to fix it?
Is your calendar set to a different time zone?”
“——”
The old man lowered his head.
“Do unnecessary work first and leave the important ones for another day.” She mocked again.
“—–”
The old man didn’t answer.
“Oh!
See because of you I forgot to bring the milk.” Saying this, she stood up and walked to the kitchen.
“Uncle!
Are you good?” Opel asked the old man who was still lowering his head and staring at the empty floor.
The old man raised his head and whispered to Opel while staring at the entrance of the kitchen, “Her one look and I know that I’m wrong.”
The old woman came back with a jar of milk.
She sat next to her husband and looked at him, “What if the boys were hurt?
I think the bed also is ruined by the termites.
Replace it soon.”
“—–”
The man simply nodded.
On the opposite side of the table, Opel reviewed the whole scene and felt familiar.
Just then, Zakai came back from the room and sat next to Opel.
“Now stop being silly and have your breakfast.
I know you’re hungry.” The old woman spoke with a raspy tone to her man.
The old man instantly grabbed a sandwich and munched it obediently.
“I wonder this kind of fight if we are to stay together, right?” Opel spoke looking at Zakai.
He shoots out something unexpectedly from his mouth, which he realized later on when he looked at Zakai’s poker expression.
“Sir!
Please don’t joke unnecessarily!” Zakai spoke with his attached poker face.
“Are you two really friends?” The curious old lady asked them instantly.
She even put back her spoon full of cereals back to her bowl, just to listen to their answer.
“Yes….yes aunt.
He just loves to call me sir.” Opel tried to recover the situation.
“Hahaha!
Of course!
I also call her madam when I create some trouble.
I know this feeling.” The old man spoke and burst out laughing.
The old woman pouted her lips.