AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She was bald. Bald as an egg. Her head was completely and utterly hairless.
With a flash, it all came back to her. How she’d gone down to reception to collect an electric razor. How she’d stood in the bathroom and resolutely shaved off every single hair without shedding a single tear. No wonder she felt so much lighter; she’d lost half a kilogram of hair. Reeva stared at her reflection in horror. It had felt like such a good idea at the time. But now every single inch of her being knew it was a very, very bad idea.
What had she done? She did not have a tiny face that could look surprisingly pretty with no hair. Nor did she have a striking face that could pull off such a bold (bald!) look. She had a very strange-shaped face—something she was only now becoming aware of—with oddly angular features and unusually fat cheeks. She looked like a chipmunk. And not the cute kind.
Reeva got up and slowly walked toward the mirror, breathing erratically. She couldn’t believe she’d done this. What had she been thinking? It had been far too early to take such a radical measure. She’d had enough hair to cover her bald patches. She could have gone to see a specialist to add in extensions to cover them. There were so many options. Why had she opted for the most extreme and irrevocable of them all? She looked like a cancer patient. She lookedworsethan a cancer patient; she looked like a fraud. Reeva reached out a hand to steady herself against the mirror and then stumbled as the cheap mirror swayed to the side. A few small bald patches were one thing, but her whole head was now anentirebald patch. She’d never need to use her ruler again. She already knew exactly what the measurement would be:∞.
—
Reeva snuck furtivelyout of her car in a pair of oversized sunglasses, making sure no one was looking at her. She felt like a celeb trying not to get papped—probably how Hot Lips had felt leaving Nick’s place. But unlike Hot Lips, Reeva had no hair. Nor did anyone on her leafy street bother to look at her, let alone try and take photos. No one even gave the black T-shirt clumsily wrapped around her head a second glance. Reeva liked to think it was because she’d succeeded in her goal of making it look like a chic silk scarf, but deep down, she knew it was because nobody wanted to make eye contact with the crazy woman with a T-shirt on her head.
She made her way into her building and unlocked the front door to her flat. Lakshmi had messaged earlier to say she’d left, having given FP breakfast but no lunch (that was all she’d written; no kiss, no question, no mention of the drama that had passed between them), but Reeva was still cautious as she crept into her home.
“Hello? Fluffy Panda? Oh, hello, baby!”
The cat stalked up toward Reeva. “I’ve missed you,” she cried, reaching out to stroke her. But Fluffy Panda instantly retreated with a loud meow and ran into the next room. Reeva sighed. FP’s rejection wasn’t surprising, but given recent events, she couldn’t help but view it as symbolic. She tried to distract herself by unpacking her bag, chucking everything into the washing machine to erase the memories of the last week. And then she saw it: a handwritten note on the table.
Reeva dropped the dirty knickers she was holding and raced over to pick it up. Lakshmi had left her a note; an olive branch that would repair their friendship. She read it eagerly.
Instructions for FP:
She now likes the Chicken Princess sachets for breakfast and dinner. But if she doesn’t eat it immediately, leave it out and stick dry food on top. She’ll eventually finish it.
We’ve gotten into a routine of me giving her a full body massage every night—normally around 11 p.m.
She sleeps on the bed through the night. She likes to be on the right side, so you’ll have to swap to the left.
The vibrator is her new favorite toy. If I were you, I wouldn’t use it for intimate purposes again.
It’s best if you leave the radio on Classic FM. She’s not a fan of anything contemporary.
She likes to watch birds on YouTube every morning. You’ll find it under “Cat TV.”
Reeva stared at the list in growing fury. This was ridiculous. To think she’d thought Lakshmi had written an apology note. Her cheeks flooded red. She couldn’t believe Lakshmi had calledhersanctimonious when this was the most know-it-all advice she’d ever seen. Who was she to give Reeva instructions for her own cat? She’d only taken care of her for nine days. Reeva had taken care of her for weeks; she already knew her cat loved a massage! Well, on the few occasions she’d let Reeva touch her. And she could have easily had her eating Chicken Princess if she’d had a few more days of trying. In fact, it was obviously down to the groundwork she’d already done that Lakshmi had got her onto organic.
