It was weekend.
And Daphne had been waiting.
The plan was that Kendrick would come over when her brothers were gone for their classes, to begin the tutoring they had discussed. He was already an hour behind the scheduled time and he still hadn't shown up. Impatiently, Daphne stood from the canopy and moved towards the fence that separated their houses, yet, there was still no sight of him.
Tired of just waiting, she packed her books and writing materials into her arms, and made her way to the gate of his house. She didn't bother the door bell, she pushed the gate and she wasn't surprised it opened easily as if it was expecting her. She mentally prepared herself for whatever scene she might encounter and entered the house.
As far as she knew, four men lived in the house. Entering uninvited wasn't exactly the safest idea but Daphne had interacted with them enough over the past few days, especially after her previous unannounced visit, that she felt confident enough to take the risk.
She nearly collided with the shortest of the quartet, Bernard, in the corridor leading to the sitting room. He was holding a heavy garbage bag, pink gloves on his hands. Daphne's heart skipped a beat, and she silently thanked God she hadn't walked straight into him.
"Oh hi." He lighted up immediately he regained balance, waving as if they were close friends.
Daphne waved back putting on a small apologetic smile.
"If you're here to see Kendrick, you can do us all a favor and wake him up. I'm worried he might be dead. He's been sleeping since he came back from the club last night."
Daphne checked her phone for the time, and looked back at Bernard. "It's twelve pm."
"Exactly." Beneard said, giving her a playful grin before leaving to throw out the trash.
She hesitated in the corridor, trying to recall the way to Kendrick's room, when she heard the noises of the other guys as went up the stairs. She approached the door she was certain was his. She knocked only once, then she entered.
She didn't pay much attention the last time she was in his room to notice how tidy his place was, every single piece was well organized. Even his bed, though currently occupied by Kendrick himself, looked deliberately neat.
Her eyes went to him on the bed, he was sleeping so peacefully, wrapped in a blanket, his hair slightly tousled and eyes closed, the afternoon light catching the sharp angles of his face , looking effortlessly handsome. For a moment, Daphne didn't want to wake him anymore. It suddenly felt like a wicked thing to do.
Maybe he hadn't told a lie, Her gaze shifted to the display cabinet, where a collection of gold medals gleamed under the sun, not a single silver medal or bronze medal. And the awards indicated him being the best at almost every subject, year after year.
How can he be so good at everything?
She felt a twinge of envy, looking at all his achievements made her feel like she was unserious. She would be at the top of the moon if she had just one award dedicated to her. She barely managed to top one person in her class. And Daphne wasn't lenient with her studies, she attended all her classes, did all her assignments, burned the night candle, only to get less intelligent. So, she concluded she had been cursed, because how could she only get more dumb after reading? What scientific theory was that supposed to be?
But Daphne accepted her fate, after trying several tutorials, only to have her report sheet covered in a flood of red.
She moved to his desk, covered in papers and textbooks, she flipped through a few pages, barely grasping the words she was reading, it could as well have been written in an alien language. She was so absorbed she didn't hear him stir until a soft voice broke the quiet.
"Are we snooping around now?"
The books in her hands fell to the the floor. She wondered why she was so startled when she hadn't done anything wrong. She faced him, and Daphne could swear she hadn't known anyone to be cute expect Max. But Kendrick wrapped in blanket with just his head sticking out, his hair ruffled and eyes still dreamy was the new cutest thing she had seen in the week. And if felt wrong, felt like a crime to look that cute.
She managed to look away from him, bend to the ¹floor the retrieve her things. And she could tell he was watching her every move.
"So you club?" She asked casually, trying to mask the blush rising to her cheek.
"Who doesn't?." he replied stretching, letting out a lazy yawn.
"My mom told me you'll end up bad if you go to the club."
Kendrick laughed helplessly.
Daphne stoned him a side look.
" Sorry" he said, raising his hands in mock surrender, finally swinging his legs off the bed.
" I'll wait downstairs," she said, getting on her feet, "be with me in twenty minutes."
" Yes boss," he replied with a grin.
With that, Daphne finished packing her materials and went out.
Kendrick caught his reflection in the mirror grinning in the mirror like an idiot. He clasped his face in his palms, shaking his head." Get a grip man!"
But he couldn't stop grinning.
Daphne met Raymond on the staircase, and they both went down stairs together. Apparently, they had just finished making breakfast at almost one pm. Raymond invited her into the kitchen, David, the last guy in the house, scooped some spaghetti with a fork , gesturing for her to taste as soon as she entered. She stared from the fork to David's face, his encouraging smile paved her mouth open. And if it was poison, that was how she would have died.
" How is it?" Bernard asked, hands on his hip.
" It's actually better than I expected." She remarked honestly.
"That's all I need." Bernard looked satisfied, peeling off his apron, David joined him at the sink to help with the dishes.
"So… I see books. Kendrick's tutoring you?" Raymond directed to her, moving to pull out stools from a corner and placing them before the slab at the center of the kitchen.
"Yes" she replied, wanting to help, but Raymond declined the offer. He patted the top of a stool, telling her to sit, then he went to the plate rack to take out dishes.
Daphne hands felt itchy, she didn't feel comfortable sitting around doing nothing especially when it seemed they had a lot to do. She wasn't used to this at all. Seeing boys in the kitchen. Her mother had emphasized thousands of times that boys weren't meant for the kitchen. But what was this? The last time her brothers assisted her in the cooking, her mother almost pulled her ears off, calling her lazy and telling her how the husband she hadn't even seen yet wouldn't like to marry a lazy woman.
She tried to leave the stool, maybe at least do something, but one glance from Raymond made her sit still.
"Ah.. Did you manage to wake Kendrick up?" Bernard turned to her.
"He was about to take his bath when I left his room." Daphne answered, picking up an apple from the plate before her, and Bernard kindly passed her a knife.
"You guys don't seem surprised or even mind that I'm here." She found herself saying, Raymond passing her a bowl for put the apple peels.
"We're absolutely okay with it." David spoke, taking a slice of apple from the plate as he sat on one of the stool, leaving Bernard to do the rest of the dishes.