CONDEMNED TO BE SINGLE

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ANNA'S PERSPECTIVE

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Spending a night alone by candlelight with a cute guy sounds great, especially when we're staring at each other as we sit in a moonlit chair while the dim candlelight illuminates our faces.

I'm blushing as I try not to look said boy directly in the eyes.

And that boy looks at me with a comforting smile, and although it is not exactly the pinnacle of masculinity, that smile could charm any woman.

Just to make the situation more interesting, the guy is dressed in a classic black suit, making him look like a classic gentleman. If we combine this with his soft and calm tone, it would be any lady's dream.

I find myself dressed in a red party dress, with my hair still wet while drinking a glass of red wine.

But the situation doesn't seem so romantic when I remember what it really is. The reality is that the events that brought us to this moment and place were many things, but not romantic.

Well, first of all, this so-called candlelight dinner was caused by a massive power outage, which, according to what I heard from the neighbors, was due to a traffic accident, which shouldn't be a problem for the electricity.

But it turns out that the driver of a bus crashed into an electrical transformer, causing several deaths in the process. To make matters worse, it turns out that the vehicle was carrying "dusty joy."

It all ended in a huge mess, as the power company, the traffic police, the forensic experts, and the anti-drug unit all arrived on the scene, each trying to solve their own part of the problem, which obviously made the situation much more inefficient.

Since the problem was not on such a major street, none of them had enough pressure to try to solve the problem quickly without arguing about authority, procedures, and contaminating the crime scene.

And all that was happening was a lie. I was trying to fix some plumbing problems in the house when Kaden came back from doing who knows what with who knows what people. The long and short of it is that he arrived in an expensive designer suit and with a bouquet of roses.

But it turns out he was just looking for a good tailor. The tailor suggested he get an expensive suit until the custom-made one was ready, and he ended up liking the suit so much that he decided to keep it.

And it turns out that the roses weren't roses, they were a rather rare type of flower that is very hard to find, but they belonged to Kaden's father's homeland, and upon finding them he decided that he would buy them and take them when he visited his father's grave, but when he was at the cemetery he discovered that the place was already closed and he couldn't visit at such a late hour, so he ended up deciding to bring the flowers to put them in water and be able to take them the next day, because he didn't know if he could find them again.

I remember that when I arrived I asked her:

– Kaden, since you should know about this topic, could you help me with this, I have been working on this for hours and the problem is still not solved.

And without even hiding it, he gave me a strange look and said.

– Do you expect me to help you and risk getting my new suit dirty?

At that very moment, I was planning to give him a massive reprimand. Since we live in the same house, the problems at home affect both of us, and he should at least be concerned about our problems.

But before he could speak, either to his good fortune or out of pure instinct, he continued his words.

—Don't you think it's a bad idea to do this without having much knowledge on the subject? Spending so much time trying to solve a single problem should tell you that you don't have the qualifications to solve it. How about you get out of there, clean yourself up, and call a plumber to fix the problem?

The truth is that for a moment I wanted to listen to him and accept his suggestion, but his first words stung my pride a little, so impulsively and stubbornly I decided that I had to prove that I could do it alone and I continued with my work.

—If you are not willing to help me, don't get in my way. Instead, go and prepare some food since I can't do anything because of this problem.

It was not my best moment, as it simply caused me more problems.

– Ok, anything our plumber lady would like, turtle soup or maybe a delicious mushroom pizza.

While I give him a look of contempt, I answer him something that I know he won't like.

– Nothing like that, I just want a good pasta with meatballs.

Well, oddly enough, Kaden doesn't like pasta, because according to him, in the past he was forced to eat this type of food every day for more than a month and that's why he dislikes the taste, although he is strangely good at cooking this type of food.

Anyway, this date kept going on for a while, it's Kaden in the kitchen preparing our very late dinner and me struggling to fix this drain pipe.

– ahhhhhhhhh

Suddenly the light went out, and in a start I ended up hitting the pipe with a wrench, which ended up breaking it, which caused me to end up wet with a liquid of which I did not want to know the origin

In the end Kaden arrived almost instantly at the place after hearing my screams, and although he helped me when I looked at his face, he had an I-told-you-so smile plastered on his face, which made me seriously consider using violence.

But the guy suddenly decided to be nice and helped me get a functional bathroom, using his skills to take me to a far away hotel where I could clean myself of the dirt and the smell that was frankly not flattering.

However, when it finally came time to get dressed, it turned out that I had no clean clothes, as I, a responsible adult, had almost no clean clothes to wear, and in the end Kaden had to solve this in his way by buying some clothes at the only place he said he found open at this hour.

And so I ended up with an over-the-top party dress.

But when we got home, our dogs were still there, so we decided. Because of the broken pipe, almost the entire house stank, so it was not feasible to eat inside, and we ended up having dinner in the backyard on a small porch that the house had from before I moved here.

Since there was no light and, therefore, no public fencing, they ended up having to use candles for lighting.

That brings us back to the current situation, where I find myself quite uncomfortable. Lying Kaden has a cheerful smile that I obviously know is actually a mocking smile.

While speaking in an incredibly formal and cordial manner that only makes this situation even more awkward.

The truth is that in this situation, I really feel like it would be wrong to respond in the usual way, with sarcasm or physically, because no matter how I look at it, he hasn't done anything wrong and has, in fact, been extremely helpful and kind.

And even though because of our friendship I know he's doing this on purpose to annoy me, I know I shouldn't react aggressively in this situation, even though it's obvious to anyone who knows Kaden that he's annoying me with his attitude.

But I know him well and at any moment he will do something stupid, and when the time comes I will be able to take revenge, and this time maybe I will be able to keep images and videos of what I plan to make him do.

– … You're thinking about something in particular.

Instead of answering him I choose to look at him with an extremely cheerful smile that I know will make him uncomfortable.

– …

Kaden tries to intensify his gaze, but I simply choose to keep my smile.

– …

For a long moment, Kaden stares at me as if he suspects me, but I notice that nothing is really happening. After a while, he gives up and looks away, as if he has given up. I have to admit that he has very good survival instincts, but they are certainly far from being precious and sharp enough.

– Then good night, see you tomorrow morning.

Kaden disappears from my sight almost as if he's escaping, and although he's become quite open since he confessed to me about his abilities, I'm still not used to an annoying guy who can appear and disappear from my field of vision on a whim.

– I'm sure if that guy was a stalker he would be more than terrifying.

And although I didn't know it at the time my mutterings were too close to the truth, but that's a story for another day.

***

– Kaden, you little bastard, you'll pay for this one day.

It may seem like I'm insulting one of my friends for no reason, but on this occasion I am more than justified in doing so, because after eating that idiot decided to escape to the hotel on his own, and left me alone in the house that stinks, and to make matters worse he didn't even bother to clear the table or help me with the dishes.

Which is why I'm cursing him for abandoning me while I clean a table in the middle of the night in a dirty house, wearing a perfume-soaked mask to avoid the stench.

But I'm not really that worried about the cleaning issue, as I've already requested a plumber and a cleaning company to take care of this problem first thing tomorrow while I'm at work.

Well, even though I sometimes forget, I have a lot of responsibilities and people who trust me.

What bothers me is the bad smell that seems to have permeated the entire house, so I don't know how I'm going to sleep in this place in these kinds of conditions...

It's because of things like this that this guy is still single.