AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He thrust the bags of shopping in Dom’s direction before turning away and striding past Ashok and back into the coffee shop.
Wow, that guy could blow hot and cold.
“Ashok, this is Jacob. Jacob, Ashok. I said we’d drop him off at Hayden’s. Get in.”
Dom had mentioned it was date night, and he wasn’t hanging around. The journey back to the house passed quickly.
“I see Mr Grumpy was back again. What happened?” Dom asked, turning back to look at Ashok.
He had no idea and told Dom as much. He was thinking grumpy was Hayden’s default setting, but if this room was still available, he wouldn’t have to worry about him for much longer.
When they reached the house, Dom helped him to the door with his many bags before waving goodbye.
Hayden was right about the key. It needed a jiggle, but after a minute of cursing the stupid fucking lock, he opened the door, taking his bags upstairs and dropping the food bags on the kitchen counter. He unpacked the shopping and started preparing the food, turning on his music and dancing as he cooked.
He measured out his spices and chopped the onion and mushrooms. The smell filling the kitchen was mouth-watering, and he checked the time. If last night was anything to go by, Hayden would be home in about an hour, plenty of time for him to cook the rice and naan breads. He looked around the kitchen at the mess he’d made, remembering how tidy it had been before, and groaned. He barely knew Hayden, but he knew he liked spotless so he should make an effort to tidy it before he came home.
He did the best he could, and by the time Hayden came home, the curry was ready and the kitchen was relatively tidy. Well, as tidy as Ashok could make it, and he didn’t miss the look on Hayden’s face as he looked around. He said nothing as he washed his hands and mumbled a thank-you as Ashok placed the food in front of him.
“I should be out of your hair soon,” Ashok said, sitting at the table. “I think I’ve found a place to stay. You didn’t tell me about the card on the board in the coffee shop. It could be just what I’m looking for.”
Ashok had called the number while he was waiting for Hayden to return and had a video walk-through with the woman letting the room. The room looked OK, but more importantly, it was just in his price range. He’d arranged to go to see it in person when he could, and if all went well, he’d be moving out, hopefully within the week.
“It only went up today, but you do what you need to. This was never a permanent thing, anyway. Iwasgoing to check out where it was before telling you. Some areas are not so nice.” Hayden carried on eating.
Ashok waited, but he said nothing else, and they ate the rest of their meal in silence. It was nice of him to do that, he supposed, but he was glad to be moving out. You could cut the tension with a knife in this place, and he’d never last long without arguing every day.
“Well, thank you for helping me out of a tight spot. I appreciate it.” As soon as he was done eating, he was going upstairs to take a shower and go to bed. He couldn’t promise to be nice with how Hayden was acting.
“That was excellent, by the way,” Hayden said, finishing the last of his food. “You’ll have to leave me the recipe before you go. I didn’t think vegetarian food could be so good.”
“I’ll be sure to and yes, it can be. It’s not all nut roast and lentils.” Hayden had cleared his plate and was sitting back in his chair. “I’ll just get these and leave your kitchen the way I found it.”
Ashok collected the plates before Hayden could do or say anything about it and washed them as he’d done before, making sure everything was clean and the surfaces clear. He didn’t want to give him anything else to complain about. It was bad enough they were back to this tension-filled scenario.
He put it down to tiredness, both him and Hayden, and wished away the next week until he could leave, not sure how much more he could take. He’d been hoping for a fresh start, but this? It felt too much like the home he’d left.
Chapter Nine
Hayden
Haydenhaddefaultedtoarsehole mode after seeing Ashok note down the number from the board at the coffee shop. He knew exactly which one it was but couldn’t understand why that action had such an effect on him. Hayden didn’t know him. He didn’t want to know him, quite happy with his life as it was. Hayden needed to keep reminding himself of that. He was happy with his life, and this intrusion had caused him nothing but grief.
The past few days, he and Ashok had been like ships in the night. Ashok was often in his room when Hayden returned home from work or was at the studio teaching. He heard the occasional sound of music from his room, but it was never loud or intrusive and he actually quite liked some of what he played.
They shared the odd meal, Ashok cooking more of the delicious Indian food he liked, mostly vegetarian, and if he wasn’t around, he’d leave some for him to warm through when he returned from work. It was kind of him. He just wished he’d tidy the bloody kitchen when he was done.
After a few days of this, Hayden had had enough. How long were they going to continue with this, whatever it was? He decided to broach the subject that evening over dinner.
Ashok had cooked again, but this time it wasn’t Indian food, but sausage and mash covered in lashings of onion gravy.
“I didn’t think you ate meat?” Hayden had to admit, this was excellent.
“I don’t. The sausages are plant-based. They taste good, right?” Hayden watched as Ashok daintily placed a forkful of food in his mouth. Seemed everything he did was elegant and graceful.
“Not bad.” And they weren’t, but he wouldn’t want to eat them every time. “How goes it with the new room?”
Ashok stopped eating, placing his knife and fork on his plate. “I’m not sure. She’s delayed me again. Something to do with mould in the room? I’m starting to think it might have been a bad idea going for the first place I saw. I’ve not paid her anything, so I might tell her to forget it and look for something else.”
