15th entry

Season: Summer

Weather: Fine weather with an ongoing heatwave. Top of 40 degrees Celsius again.

Day of the week: Saturday

Date: 28th January, 2024

I got up groggily to prepare to go to work and screamed when I saw a tall figure sit up from the couch to peer at me after I had turned on the lights. My heart jumped so hard with the fright that I had fallen back onto the floor.

"Miss Brown? Where are you going?"

Stony Boss got up to touch my face and head and confirm my temperature was back to normal, helping me back up off the floor.

"Work," I had told him.

"You work Saturdays?" he asked and I had nodded, feeling dazed.

"What are you still doing here?" I asked him.

"I apologise, but I didn't feel comfortable leaving you alone in the state you were in last night," Stony Boss told me. "I wiped your face and hands down a few times overnight to help you cool down. You were calling for your parents and someone called Bezel, sounding very distressed."

"Bezel is my younger sister," I said.

"I see. I don't think you should be going to work today. Do you think you can call in sick?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"I'll lose my job. I've already lost one job during the weekdays," I told him, "because I was in hospital. I'm only a casual worker. If I can't turn up for my shifts, I get dropped."

"Miss Brown, don't you work full time? You've worked so many extra hours overtime. Where do you have time for another job during the weekdays?"

"Early mornings," I waved a hand. "Excuse me. I have to finish getting ready."

"They can't fire you because you were in hospital. That's unfair work dismissal."

"Not getting shifts means being fired," I shrugged. "It's how it is for casuals."

"No it's not," Anthony Duin protested. "It's not right. That workplace needs to be reported."

"Do that and I'll never find a replacement job," I rolled my eyes at the man, opening my fridge only to be stunned by the sight of the food that had miraculously appeared out of no where. "Where did all this come from?"

"I bought it for you," Anthony Duin told me. "I was worried you'd skip meals too easily with an empty fridge and pantry."

"I'll have to pay you back," I replied in a faint voice, trying to calculate how much all these groceries must have cost.

"No need," Anthony Duin said, getting up to put a pan on the stove and take some eggs and bread out of the fridge. "It wasn't much. What do you mean by a replacement job? Are you still planning on working early mornings before your usual day work when you aren't feeling well?"

"I should be fine by the time I find a new job and can start," I shrugged, pouring myself a glass of milk and sculling it with satisfaction. It had been such a long time since I had been able to drink a whole glass of milk like this. I took out the loaf of bread and started making a ham and cheese sandwich with lettuce using the ingredients in the fridge. My lunch today was going to be awesome.

"I really don't think you should work today," Anthony Duin repeated himself, putting a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of me. "Regardless, eat something please."

"You shouldn't trouble yourself," I flapped helpless arms at him and his adamant insistence. "Eat it yourself. I have to get ready."

"Miss Brown. Sit down and eat."

The order he gave in that tone of voice was such a boss-like tone that I had sat down and started eating before realized what I was doing. It was so delicious that I scarfed it down. Glancing at the time, I had to run to my room to finish getting ready or I was going to be late. Late by my reckoning, mind you. Not late by most other people's reckoning. I like to get to work a minimum of half an hour early.

"You should go," I called to him from my bedroom, feeling uncomfortable that he had stayed the night, taken care of me overnight and cooked breakfast for me.

"I'll be back to check on you tonight," he told me with a deep frown.

"I'll only be back after eight," I told him, making him jump with surprise.

"Miss Brown, it's barely five in the morning," Anthony Duin said.

"Yes. The morning job starts early," I replied and emerged from my room with my things, ushering him out the door. "Sorry I can't be more hospitable but I'm late for work. No need to visit in the evening. I'll be fine."

Morning work was fine. I barely survived it. It was my afternoon job that I lost after fainting at work and being sent to the hospital. In the message, my conduct was deemed unreliable and untrustworthy, and therefore no more work would be given to me.

Anthony Duin, for some reason, was my emergency contact. He found me in the Emergency Department and peered over my shoulder to see what message I was scowling at on my phone. Nosy parker.

"I told you that you shouldn't have gone to work today."

I pouted and turned my head away while he went to tell the doctor how I had been since I was last discharged. Annoying. So annoying.

"How many jobs do you have, anyway?" he asked me, but I turned my head aside and didn't answer him. "You're not working tomorrow as well are you?"

He seemed relieved when I shook my head.

I was discharged with the warning that my health was more important than work and Anthony Duin drove me home again. Unfortunately, I fell asleep in the car and didn't even realise when he carried me up to my apartment and put me to bed. When I woke up later during the night, I crept out to the lounge to discover him sleeping on my couch again.

I found a spare blanket to cover him with, despite feeling annoyed and uncomfortable with his presence. He was being kind enough to help me out, even though I didn't want his help. He had gone beyond the duty of a boss to take care of me. Regardless of my feelings, it was true that I had needed the help.

But now that he saw me as an irresponsible adult who didn't care properly for her own health, I didn't know how I was going to shake that from his mind and show him that there was no need to keep such a close eye on me. I also needed to think of a way to thank him, much as I wanted to put this all behind me and forget all about it.

Ah. What to do? What to do?