Homecoming
The metal door gave way for her to reenter her home as she passed the hedges and the modest gate of their house. A blue-shirted male fitted with a black windbreaker stands up from the sofa to welcome her, as his hands move to remove said jacket.
“Hey, Alex.” She greeted the boy whose face flooded with warmth when he caught sight of her.
“Hey, syrup,” they shared a brief kiss and a gentle hug, “Aren’t you supposed to come home earlier today?”
“Had to go pick up something for Max.” Her head nodded in the direction of her younger brother, also on the couch. “That store was, like, seven minutes away from here.”
Angel got out of the embrace and dug one hand into her sack.
“Max.” She kneeled down to look at her younger brother. “Is this what you wanted? I, um, bought it from somewhere.”
He looked up from the floor, and the puzzlement turned to a small frown. He takes the figure from her hand, and placed it on the small table by the couch. It sprung itself upright.
“Mm hmm.” He shoved the tumbler a few more times, and laughed at its reaction.
The sister smiled with approval, and rose to meet with her boyfriend again. His combed dark chestnut hair was barely hinted as the shade was camouflaged in normal light.
“Why don’t you go upstairs? Go lounge around in your own room.”
“Thank you, Angel!” Max snatched the tumbler off the table and ran for the stairs.
The boyfriend waited until he disappeared around the corner.
“Irene wanted me to tell you about a potential scheduling change.” Alex Fritz looked at her while he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Her re-assignment to San Francisco won’t be on the original date, I’ve been told.”
“She called. I got it.”
“Great.” His voice turned into a hush. “So about this, dinner—“
“I— I don’t know. It sounded like it could be a big project, she may or may not be going— what’s going to happen to our positions? We can’t run this branch ourselves.“
“San Francisco will tell us, I’m sure. There won’t be sweeping personnel changes without the announcement. That, and, she has to provide consent for the transfer. Some remaining duties in Irvine for her still.”
“I know I wouldn’t turn down the promotion. As much as she loves us, and we love them.” She held him. “It’s the money, right? Financial freedom. We—“
“It’s going to be fine. We are going to be fine.”
“Mmm.” It was between confusion and unconvinced.
“Heh,” Alex distracted himself by pushing a rogue bang back so it sits on the edge of her face. The rightmost three-quarters of her hair was pushed to cover her forehead and the shadows sliced against her right eye. The rest flowed according to the shape of the left side of her cheek and strands curled outwards where it ended, covering her ear but not her other facial features. The width of hair visible outside her head never exceeded his ring finger. He always thought that the elongated tail at the back that floated an inch above her shoulder was a nice touch.
”We have this house per our employee benefits. We have the ballast and stability of Irene as our director. Friends, family… We have our savings, Max is living with us well and he never turns off his air-con. We had been fine, we had always been fine. We will be fine. This is my personal guarantee to you, syrup. We will be fine.”
She moaned a little at the answer. Her boyfriend had always been verbose, but most of the time he would come up with something profound and truly interesting. Other times it gave her something to think about.