Tobias' bed even looked inviting with a fluffy baby blue comforter and pillows. The California king beckoned her to lie down since all she had to anticipate was the hard twin mattress in her room. Everything had its place in his room, just as it had a place in every other part of his home. On his bedside table, another picture of the woman sat, leaning away from the bed, her happy face. She couldn't help but snoop in the dresser of his bedside table. She couldn't help but smile seeing the small silver wire baskets that sectioned off parts of his drawer. She found a prescription bottle of sleeping pills, she knew they were because ever since high school her doctors had tried various brands to help her to sleep.
She rolled her eyes, Yeah right, he'll be able to sleep with one eye open and know what I am doing at all times.
She felt proud to have found a weak spot in Tobias' steely armor. She smirked and delved deeper into his drawer and found a lace necklace and of course a small book of classic literature. She was a bit disappointed not to find any more kryptonite and decided to check out the other bedside table.
She opened it and found the complete opposite of his side of the bed. It was stuffed with things that were haphazardly tossed in the drawer. On top was a wallet picture of Tobias, smiling at the camera so handsome and fresh. She couldn't believe the man in all these pictures was the same man that was like The Hunchback of Notre Dame barking at her.
She heard him clear his throat from the entrance of the bedroom and she quickly returned the photograph and pushed the drawer closed. He didn't admonish her for snooping which she was surprised because as simply as he had appeared to catch her, he also disappeared to let her finish her dusting work.
He was a sexy frustrating enigma. Every second and every swipe of her duster she fought to hate him and not try to spy a glance at him. Instead, she decided to let her explore her temporary new home.
She found two more second-floor bedrooms that had beautiful views of the sea or the forest in front of the house. It was infuriating to see the empty luxurious rooms on the same floor as the master bedroom yet obviously off-limits to her. She was forced to live in a windowless room like a troll that only came out to clean and dust his home.
She realized she had dawdled a bit and moved more quickly to the end of the hall. The second to last door... locked. The last door sitting at the head of the hallway also locked. It was just these last two rooms she had to clean and the entire second floor would be finished.
Instead, she gave the last to rooms the bird and skipped away. She was done dusting this man's house for one day. He hadn't looked for her in awhile to give her more instructions and at least by pretending to dust she had more free-range of the house to explore.
She was shocked to find a large screening room on the main floor, two offices and a large man cave on the third floor. Whoever the woman was that lived with him, he still had complete dominion over the house. She couldn't find a woman's cave anywhere. Perhaps, her room was the woman's cave in his opinion - a sadistic charmless room without windows.
After dinner and cleaning up the dinner dishes, Tobias showed Mahin his calendar system. She rolled her eyes. Of course, she was to play secretary and manage all of his appointments and meetings.
She wasn't exactly sure what he did for a living. His house was just too immaculate to just be a rehabilitation counselor. He did speaking engagements and yelled about laws or something. But still, there was something a bit more basic and near-carnal about him. Like he used to use the expression of emotions as his way of life once, but now it was a lost art. Whatever it was, it was deeply receded into the deep forest of his fortress of cold calculated living.
He seemed genuinely surprised she was able to quickly catch on to his calendar system. He praised her in half steps yet still said she may not get it, as he showed her more advanced tasks managing his white papers, social network tweets, and posts schedules. Of course, he also wanted her to maintain his social life, he didn't have one in real life why not have her manage his fake one.
She had moved from secretary to executive assistant within a half hour. It was those measly 30 minutes a bit of his hard exterior dropped enough that he was lukewarmly cordial with her. Yet a smile did not crack his countenance and she felt relieved that there was a chance the robot man had a programmed feeling semblance of a heart.
A watch beeped and Tobias quickly dropped the subject and told her to go to bed. Her heart sunk, he had her moments timed on his wrist watch. And like a petulant child, she was being sent to bed without dessert. As she padded out of the living room towards her prison-room, he reminded her that she was to journal tonight.
Mahin criticized herself for letting Tobias plague so much of her mind. She rolled onto her back and sucked her teeth as she imagined if she didn't finish journaling in time he would come into her room and turn the lights out himself. She fished the journal out of the trashcan. Lead still coursed through her arm muscles and made her hands feel numb as she wrote:
*****
Dear Asshole,
If you think that one day I am going to look back and think of your fondly as my lifesaver. You, Tobias are fucking nuts!
