As we hugged each other to sleep with only the blanket covering our bare flesh, I felt I had the best sleep for almost seventeen years of my life. The warmth from his body was just sufficient to make me cosy in his arms and seemed like an invisible protection around me with that occasional chilly breeze which came through my bedroom window……
I woke up by the slow touches of Kenneth. As his left hand was around my waist and my right hand was on my shoulder, my smooth back greeted him. As his right hand moved slowly down from my shoulder to my neck, two of his fingers went past my cleavage and his right hand met his left hand. As his right hand briefly brushed past my left breast, I felt ticklish and I breathed a little harder. I looked down at his both hands and smiled. I did not know whether it was love or not. It was hard to define or describe.
“It’s seven in the morning. You had better get prepared to go to work. I can fetch you to your workplace,” Kenneth offered and I nodded my head with a child-like glee.
“Who is he? The one who fetched you in his car. Your new boyfriend?” Jocelyn passed by as I dropped off at the pavement by the building that I worked at.
“He is my neighbour,” I wanted to elaborate but I stopped short to tell her more details.
It was work again and I could not help but think of Kenneth. He was someone whom seemed to be a caring person but I was a single mother who had a child. I would not know whether he can even accept me if we could be together. I brushed those thoughts aside after looking at the intimidating amount of work that I had on my desk.
Time passed very fast as it was nearly six in the evening. I did not have a chance to look at my phone since lunch time and I glanced at my phone. There were a few messages but I skipped those and looked at what Kenneth had sent to me.
“Would you want to go out with me at night at around ten after my lessons had ended?” Kenneth’s short message read.
I agreed readily, wondering where he is going to bring me to. As we arranged for the meet up, I felt like as if two big weights had been lifted off from my shoulders. I did not know why. I just felt comfortable and happy to see him and I looked forward to seeing him tonight.
When I went home, I took a short nap as I felt very tired. It became a deep slumber and I was rudely woken up by the doorbell.
“Kenneth!” It was the only word I said as I opened the door and hugged him, but looking around making sure that the neighbours were not looking at my direction.
“Come in, Kenneth. I would get prepared in a short while. You just take a seat in the living room,” I beamed at him as I went into my room, not giving him a chance to talk.
As I came out of the bathroom with just a big towel wrapped around just below my shoulders to barely around my thighs, Kenneth was inside my room. My face was flushed with embarrassment in that instance.
“Sorry for intruding in, but I just want to…” Kenneth paused momentarily as he put his hands around my waist and kissed my lips.
I felt I had melted in his embrace. I did not care whether how I was presented in front of him. I just felt secured but yet vulnerable. As our mouths locked into each other, our passion rose up again as we caressed each other once again. I seemed to feel the touch of his warm hands even through the fabric of my towel. As his hands went to my thighs, they seemed to be going up to my bare flesh but he stopped short of doing anything else.
“..express my feelings for you, Clara,” Kenneth continued as our lips broke free from each other.
I smiled, not knowing how to react.
“I need to get dressed, before we go out,” I pointed at my towel and Kenneth gave the cheeky innocent look at me as he went out of the room.
“How’s work?” I broke the silence as the humming sounds of the engine were barely audible.
“Well, everything is fine. What about yourself?” Kenneth asked.
“Work has been hectic. Everyday from Monday to Wednesday, I would just go home and sometimes I would just talk to my son or just watch television. Andy is quite obedient but he is always busy with his schoolwork and such. I would not want to disturb him or invade into his privacy,” I did not know why I blabber on even though he was not asking about Andy.
“I got to agree with you. Andy does not argue much with me although he is a little lazy. He just needs a little motivation and something to make him start his engine to do his work. It must be hard on you all these years,” Kenneth punctuated his statement as his hand held my hand tightly.
I did not know how to react but I just let him hold my hand for as long as possible. The silence was deafening as Kenneth turned into the road leading to Telok Blangah hill park.
“I always come here to look into the trees when I am vexed, bored or stress with work,” Kenneth pointed in front as he parked his car.
“So why do you bring me here?” I was curious.
Kenneth just smiled at me without answering the question. As we stepped out of the car, I felt an air of natural calmness surrounding me. As he held my hand, I felt my soul was lifted with a sense of belonging to this man, Kenneth. I stole glances at him while he was looking away from me and beamed to myself.
“It’s good to forget your worries for a while and look at nature in front of you right now. When you get back to work the next day, you would be more refreshed and perform better in your job,” I am not sure whether Kenneth was answering my question with deliberate delay or not.
“When I broke off with my girlfriend two years ago, I did not know when would be the next time I would find someone special. When I first saw you while teaching your son, I just had a strange feeling that I would get to know you more. That intuition that I had was right eventually,” Kenneth continued as he looked at my direction.
I acted shy as I looked away from him. At the corner of my left eye, I could see that he was still looking at my direction, as if trying to anticipate what I am going to say next.
“Well, last night, you already know me very well,” I answered with a concoction of happy complacence and embarrassment.
There was not a single soul around us. No vehicles parked in there. The place seemed to just fill the two of us looking out at the vast greenery. The time seemed to tick very slowly as we looked in random directions, occasionally looking at each other.
We went back into the car. Kenneth started to start the engine and switched on the air-conditioning but the car did not move an inch. As it was still engaged in the parking gear, the air between us was an awkward one. I did not know what to do next and I had no idea what he was thinking of.
As he looked at me intensely into my eyes, he suddenly tilted himself towards me and grabbed my shoulders to kiss my lips. As our lips were engaged, I resisted and pushed him away forcefully, almost causing him to go back to his seat.
“What are you doing?” my fierce tone caused his head to tilt backwards in surprise.
Without even giving him a chance to reply and stealing a quick glance around the surroundings to make sure there was no single soul, it was my turn to tilt towards him and I grabbed his shoulders causing him to move away from his seat. As I initiated the kiss, his lips gave me the impression at those few seconds that he was confused at what was going on just now but his passion and intensity in his kiss overtook the confusion.
As I pulled out my lips away from him, I looked at him with my half-closed eyes. It was as if I was still in a dream.
“Do you love me?” my words seemed to come emerging from the iceberg of sub consciousness.
“Yes I do,” his reply was barely audible as if afraid of letting other people hear.
“I am a single mother, you don’t mind?” I did not know why I said that as it seemed to be a redundant statement.
“I do not mind, but we need to spend more time together to know each other better. I was hoping to settle down and get married if I could,” Kenneth’s words seemed to massage every corner and contours of my ears as they were so soothing to my eardrums.
“I felt touched by how you really felt towards me. I am happy to what you have mentioned but I do not want what happened last night to affect your decision making or in any sense to make you feel committed towards me,” I touched Kenneth’s hands with assurance.
“It’s getting late. You have to work at night too right tomorrow?” Kenneth’s diversion of the topic struck me that the next day was Wednesday and I had to work at night.
“Could you tell me which pub you work at? Maybe I might pop by,” Kenneth’s question was replied instantaneously with a note I scribbled on a rough piece of paper and I just stuffed it into the pocket, not knowing why I did such a silly thing towards him.
It was a brand new day. The manager of the pub I was working at told me about the schedule for the week. For this week, I had to work everyday at night from today till Saturday. I feel that it would be sleepless nights for the next few days.
“Can I have a jug of beer please?” Mr. Chen grinned at me as I acknowledged him immediately so as to avoid him.
Mr. Chen was one of our regular customers. He was forty over years old and he came here sometimes alone or with one or two of his colleagues. His oval-shaped face with a mop of curls on top of his head always wore a puckish grin and his debauched eyes never failed to wink at every girl or waitress which was in the pub. When I poured the beer into his mug, his left hand grabbed the lower part of my wrist.
“Hey Clara, would you be free after work? I would like to have supper with you, can I?” his stare at me made me feel very uneasy as his stare was aimed just below my neck.
“I have a date with someone. I thought you are always talking to Ann and you wanted to ask her out?” I maintained my calmness as my smile was maintained in his direction and I discreetly took my hand away from his grasp.
“Well, she is always not free. So I ask you instead,” his words were not only tactless but it made me wonder whether any woman would want to go out with him.
I ignored him as I went busy with my work. Although the pub was slightly more than half-filled, some customers would make small chats with me and I would just entertain them for a short while before taking orders from other tables.
“You even bothered to talk to Mr. Chen for a while. I cannot stand him, he always like to touch me whenever he has the chance to. There was one time I had to swallow a stomach full of anger and tell him nicely when he touched my buttocks,” Ann looked at Mr. Chen as she spoke to me with an irritation mounting into quivering indignation.
I just laughed at Ann’s remarks. At the age of twenty eight, her petite frame boasted of a good figure that I do envy how she could maintain even though she had a huge appetite.
As the night progressed, there were no signs of Kenneth. I thought to myself that he might not be coming. As I was busy taking the drinks from the bar, a pair of hands suddenly caressed briefly on my shoulder. I turned around and was surprised to see Kenneth.
“Kenneth!” I shouted out loud not caring about the surroundings.
As I looked around, there were no customers who needed to be tended to. I pulled him to the back near to the toilet. As he leaned against the wall, I held his hands and kissed his lips. My eyes darted from left to right, hoping nobody would be walking by and spotting us.
As our kisses were deep and short, Kenneth grabbed my hands as he pushed me slightly for me to lean against the opposite wall.
As we looked at each other, a male customer smiled at me and walked into the toilet.
“I have to get back to work. I shall get you a drink,” I slipped my hands out of his as I walked out to the main area.
After I served Kenneth his drink, I talked to him briefly before going around to other tables.
It was finally two in the morning. It was time to close the pub. As I drank the last few rounds with my regular customers, I was abit tipsy as I did my closing.
“Let me send you back home,” Kenneth offered.
As we reached home, Kenneth helped me to open the door. I was a bit giddy due to my excess alcohol consumption. As he went past Andy’s door, it was close. Andy was in his room fast asleep.
As Kenneth helped me lie down on the bed, I cheekily pulled him down together with me to the bed.
“Andy is just next door. I better get going,” Kenneth’s whisper was hardly audible as he did not want to wake Andy up as my bedroom door was still ajar.
“Who cares? I am his mother. He is not my father. Why do you bother?” my crazy laughter in between my words that I was trying to mince out of my mouth was briefly covered by his hand.
My soul seemed to go out towards Kenneth wholeheartedly with my eyes almost closed. As I quivered slightly, my bare shoulders moved up and down rhythmically with my heavy breathing. My chest heaved, fell and heaved again. In short sharp spurs of breath, my eyes could not help but stare at Kenneth through the wild mass of hair on my face. Kenneth’s eyes reciprocated.
“Do I look wild in front of you?” my voice was lowered deliberately as I was not afraid to behave like a slut in front of him.