The Old Bullmastiff (Ch-2)

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“You look really tired, you can rest in the guest room if you want”, she said as she brought him tea. “I’m… I’m sorry, I’m fine. How rude of me to fall asleep on someone’s sofa”, he responded, embarrassed for falling asleep while she brought tea. “It is fine, you must be working really hard. Here’s your tea, I hope it is not bad.”, she said as she passed him the cup of tea. She somehow knew that he was diabetic but loved tea. This wasn’t her first time making tea either, as she added some ginger and basil leaves to it, just that coffee had been her more prominent guest lately, suggested her kitchen. 

“Oh it is lovely, it has been some time since I drank such amazing tea” he exclaimed as if trying to make up for sleeping on her sofa. He took another sip from the light grey cup which had white spots spread evenly across it. “Are you not having anything?” he asked, placing the cup on the glass table. “I just had my lunch so I am full.” “Don’t tell me you are dieting.” he tried again, unsuccessfully, to get the conversation going. “Nothing like that,” she responded, a bit embarrassed.  

With the conversation going nowhere, it again needed something special to break the tension. What happened then was really something special. The Bullmastiff finally started barking. Moved by the voice outside, the two decided to go and see what was happening. It was the little friend of the old fellow, the cat, that made it happen again. “Snow, what are you doing, come back right here”, she shouted, as the cat sat on the fence, licking her paws, undisturbed by the barking of the dog or the calling of the owner. 

“Let me try”, he said, as he walked towards the cat and slowly picked her up. “She is as elegant as you, needs to be handled calmly”, he said smiling as she blushed, she blushed for the first time. The cat was surely working for him. Who says that cats are symbols of bad luck? For him, the cat was all he could thank. As things calmed down, they went back inside. After all, the tea was getting cold. “You’ve always been good with animals, haven’t you. She doesn’t get going with everyone that easily.” 

“I’d rather say, she is a good girl. Animals often grow up to be similar to whom they are raised by.” Not the first such instance. Was it the cat or the sweet sugar-free tea made by her? Something was surely helping as the conversation was finally looking a bit better.  At that moment, as if the cat remembered her purpose on earth, she jumped from the sofa to the table and then onto the wall with the beautiful wall clock that struck forty past one at that time. This was followed by a loud scream. A scream that would scare the mightiest, including the lizard that quickly ran behind the clock. 

“I am really sorry, I am just really scared of…” 

“Shain? What happened, are you fine?”

“I can’t believe it. This guy is sleeping here beyond the tea break. Wake up you fool, or I’ll throw your ass out of the company, along with that useless brain of yours”, shouted someone. This surely wasn’t the sweet cozy voice as the last time. “I’m really sorry sir, I wasn’t sleeping, I was just planning about the project that…”

“Shut up! Shut the hell up and go back to work because if you don’t complete the project by the end of the day, consider yourself fired.”


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