Pencil

Smile: Chapter II: Pencil

Dainty's Point of View

"It's tiring!" I said to myself while I took off my shoes and went inside. I turned on the light switch and saw on the wall clock that it was already nine o'clock at night. I immediately sat down on the couch and leaned my head back. "Goodness. My head hurts." I complain. When I closed my eyes, I felt someone walk by my side, but I ignored it. I'm so sleepy, this is the place where I want to sleep.

"Did you overtime again?"

I opened my eyes and I saw RD standing next to me holding a mug. I think it was coffee because I could smell its strong aroma. "Yes, I'm currently taking care of the project that Sir Adrian and I will do for the next few days. I haven't finished it yet because our client is still busy right now. My head is aching!" I answered and covered my face with a pillow.

"Don't sleep there, you always make that couch your bed. I told you to sleep in your room." RD said but I ignored him. I have not had a good night's sleep for days and I feel like my brain will finally give up if it continues. Then I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I saw RD who was still busy with what he was doing here in the living room. Maybe he was doing something earlier, I just didn't notice because I was so tired and drowsy. I look at the wall clock and it is already around 2:30 in the morning. I think I slept long!

"Where are you going?" RD asked as he noticed I stood up. How unfortunate this man is always awake! "I'm thirsty," I answered and walked to the kitchen. "After that, you go straight to your room. Do you understand?" He added. Oh, I know him, like duh! I knew he was going to sleep on that couch tonight instead of me.

When I came out of the kitchen I received a chat message from Sir Adrian, who is my partner in my second project that we are currently working on.

Adrian: Dainty, have you revised the other designs for our project? We have a meet-up with our client tomorrow.

I replied first before brewing coffee. Sir Adrian is always in a hurry. I haven't even met our client today. I guess I will accompany RD tonight on the vigil again. I sat down next to RD's table here in the living room and took out my laptop. I noticed that RD looked at me and frowned.

"You're not going to sleep yet?" He asked. I put down the coffee I was carrying on the table and frowned. "I just woke up, didn't I?" I replied. He did not answer and he just turned his attention back to his laptop. Even though I was still very sleepy, I just continued what I was doing. I don't even know if my way of revising is still okay. I just laid out the draft blueprint of our project and started revising it.

"A restaurant?" I heard a question from behind me. I raised my head and I saw RD holding coffee again and looking at the paper I was making. "Yes. Wow huh? I didn't notice you getting up and going to the kitchen. Well, maybe I'm still in a bad mood, otherwise, I would have thought earlier that I have a ghost with me here." I answered.

He returned to his seat and sat down. "You're just so focused on what you're doing," he replied. "You too hahaha. You don't like coffee but. How many mugs did you have tonight?" I teased and looked at the mug he was holding.

"Shut up. I'm just fighting drowsiness."

I just laughed. I don't want to feel sorry for our situation now but I feel like in a few days we will turn into zombies. The company where we work welcomes many upcoming projects. I want to relax.

"Adrian is your partner, isn't he?" RD asked again while he is busy with what he was doing. Maybe he was just so sleepy that's why he chatted with me. He wants to fight his sleepiness. "Yes. For the first time, I am designing a restaurant and I am new to this." I answered.

"You can do it."

"Thank you. Sir Adrian is fine working with. It's just, it's always a bit urgent for him. It's frustrating at times." I ranted and I heard RD laugh. "That's really how it is. Every second is important." He answered. RD has also joined Sir Adrian in a project. And like Sir Adrian, RD is also a civil engineer. We work under the same company. The only reason why I went and applied there is that RD was there. I also thought he was going to guide me, but he didn't.

"By the way, why isn't the door locked?" I asked out the context.

"Don't you live here? And as I walked here, I already saw you lying on the couch." He answered without looking at me. RD and I are friends. We considered ourselves as siblings. We only live on the same roof and this is his house, he said that there is no problem for him that I am here with him so yeah, I am always here.

"12 inches is equivalent to 1 ft. Yes, yes." I whispered while continuing with what I was doing.

"I'll sleep on the couch," RD said so I look at him.

"Wow! I should!" I exclaimed.

"Just let me. I need to sleep on the couch. It's not allowed to be late tomorrow, is it? Boss Gigi said that she has an announcement hahaha." RD added and laughed once again. This one is often annoying! I could do nothing but hurry as I was sleepy.

"Can you still do that self? You are ambitious so of course, you can!" I lost count of many times I said that to myself. RD and I are still in the living room and continuing to fight drowsiness to finish what we are doing. "Fighting, Dainty!" I comforted myself again. At such times or situations when I am in a hurry, such words like this help. "You look like a fool." I heard RD speak in front of me. I simply rolled my eyes at him. He was so busy and all, yet he even got to say bad things to me? Wow, what a talent he has! "I don't know what to do with you, RD. You should have supported me instead of throwing a bad word!" I pretended to be sulking and even sniffed to pretend that I was crying too.

I deserved an Oscar award for this brilliant acting of mine, kidding!

"I don't know what to do with you either, Dainty. Just finish that and you look like you're turning into a zombie now." He was still teasing me so I almost threw the pencil I was using at him but I did not continue to throw my beloved pencil at him because this pencil is expensive as hell and I have not been paid this month so I don't have enough money to buy.

"You always tease me all the time that I can't understand why I spend so much time with you and even living with you here." At the same time, I rolled my eyes at him again and his mood seemed to change because he was serious now and was shaken to continue what he was doing.

He did not say or add anything to what he was saying after I said that so I was a little surprised but I did not focus my attention on him because the more important thing right now is to finish what Sir Adrian asked me to do. I admit that Sir Adrian is kind but when it comes to working, he is very scary. I am even more afraid of him than this serious RD today.

Speaking of RD, he seems to be done because he left me here in the living room without uttering a single word and slept in his room.

Tsk, tsk. I really can't understand that person's behavior, he just told me to sleep in the room a while ago, and right, he will be the one who will sleep there? He's always weird.

I didn't think about RD's sudden sulkiness anymore and just finished what I am doing. I'll just talk to him tomorrow because I know that we will go to work together. "You’re almost finished self, you're really good!" I said excitedly and smirked as I looked at my work nearing completion. And before I could finish it, I reviewed it first and checked it to see if there were any errors and there were none so I jumped due to happiness. All that I need to think about now is whether my client will like my design. I hope she likes it because I will slap her with this design of mine if not. But of course, I am kidding! I won't do that, I'm professional, you know.

I stopped jumping and catch my breath. I also put my belongings in my bag and cleaned the table that I used. After I sorted out my things, I smiled widely as I lay down on the sofa and immediately fell asleep due to the tiredness and sleepiness that I am feeling for how many days now.

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Hawaiianpizzapie

Montero Anthology