Feigning Affection

Chapter Six

Namika Acyrille's Point of View

Sleeping is so hard for me in this house. I can hear noises from the outside.

It's five in the morning, and I'm wide awake because people here are early birds. I can hear some people talking, walking, rushing things, etcetera. I wonder how they fall asleep with all the noise. Aside from the noises, the temperature is also killing me. It's so hot in here. I have an electric fan, but it's still hot.

Another thing that prevents me from having a good night's sleep is the mosquitoes and other insects I cannot even name. They keep on flying around me. It's disgusting. Taking a bath is not as relaxing as before. This house doesn't even have a shower or a bath tub. I need to use a pail and a dipper to pour water on my hair and body. That's new to me, and it really feels weird at first, but I'm getting a little used to it now that I've been doing it for almost half a month.

The toilet doesn't have a flush, so I need to manually pour water when I use it. I never imagined I would experience these things.

After minutes of complaining in my head, I finally dozed off.

It was already nine o'clock when I woke up. I still want to sleep more, but my mind is wide awake already. Maybe I got used to getting up early. My body clock changed. I get up from my bed and go to the comfort room to brush my teeth. I also cleaned my face. Then, I go to the kitchen to get maybe a cup of coffee. I am welcomed by a lot of waste and a bad smell coming from the stale food that has been left unattended for days on the counter.

Ewww.

I don't know what to do.

Garbage is everywhere, and my house doesn't look like a house either. My clothes are scattered around the floor. Food containers from take-outs and empty bottles are also everywhere. That explains the bad smell.

Ugh, what should I do?

I have never cleaned anything before and have never done laundry before.

I walked to the sofa and lazily sat down. My butt hit a hard thing. I moved a little and saw my hair iron that had been missing for a while now. It is under one of my dirty shirts. I take a deep breath and get my phone. I go to YouTube and search for

"HOW TO CLEAN A HOUSE"

It's ironic for a human being to search for this obvious thing. I just realized how lucky I am to have had whatever it is I had in my life. There were a lot of tutorials that appeared on my screen. Oh, I didn't expect that. I tap a video and watch it. I get some ideas, and it’s not that hard. I will start cleaning my room first. I picked up every piece of clothing and put it in my laundry bin. I fixed my bed. I mean, I tried to make it look a little nicer. I suck at folding things like blankets and clothes. I need to remind myself to watch another tutorial about that.

Since I am poor and didn't have a vacuum cleaner, I never thought a broom and dustpan would ever save my day. The dust is making my skin itchy and it makes me sneeze a lot. I am a bit satisfied with the outcome, though.

The next mission is the living room. I picked up everything and got a garbage bag to put all the waste in there. I organized everything, or should I say I tried to, because I'm not sure if it is really clean and organized. And the last battleground is the kitchen. This place is so messy and stinks. I am scratching my head because I don't know where to start. After looking around and staring at the dirt, I heaved a sigh and started taking all the open cups of the instant noodles that were piled up on the counter.

I don't have a trash can in the kitchen, and I always told myself that I'd buy one, but it never happened. I put all the dirty dishes together in the sink. By the way, I am holding everything with just the tip of my thumb and index finger because it's gross. The smell is horrible. I am trying to hold my breath. Maybe I should wash the dishes more often to prevent situations like this. I threw away every piece of trash and immediately put the garbage bag outside my flat. Whooo, that's so so so disgusting. I swept the floor and mopped it because there were some stains. And it is hard to remove. So, irritating.

I needed to use a lot of force and energy. It's time-consuming and energy-draining.

After that, everything is clean. I proudly looked around, smiling like a fool. I'm just proud of myself. But oh, the dirty dishes caught my eyes. Holy Cow, I almost forgot about that. I get the sponge and the dishwashing liquid Joe bought for me. So, what am I going to do with this? It's not my first time seeing these things, but it's actually my first time using them. I got my phone and, yeah, I went to YouTube to watch tutorials again. I am following whatever is being said. Hmmm, it's easy peasy.

After the tiring cleaning, I sat for a while. I am sweating and exhausted. I think I'll have body pain tomorrow. I am also scratching nonstop. I keep on sneezing too. My eyes are itchy. I mean, my whole body is. I need to take a bath.

I am feeling a little better after cleaning myself. I am looking at all my dirty clothes. Gosh, I don't want to deal with it today. I'm tired enough. I just took a bath, but I'm still feeling hot.

I tiredly lay on my bed, scratching my body. It's still itchy. The bed is not that comfortable, but it's a little helpful. I was about to doze off when I heard a loud knock.

Damn.

I ignored it and planned to continue my journey to dreamland, but the knock just got louder and louder, like whoever is at that door is planning to destroy it. I took a deep breath and angrily walked to the door. I am so irritated that I'm ready to spit fire once I see who it is.