Chapter 12

I was supposed to start my work on Monday morning, which was the next day. Somehow this thought did not comfort me much, nor did it fill me with any enthusiasm, but a few pennies will always come in handy, especially in these difficult times.

As agreed, I was supposed to clean the entire house, wash the dishes, wash the windows and floors, and make dinner. All in all, a task for the whole day. We also agreed that Alex should leave the front door open so that I could quietly enter his apartment and not wake him up.

I started with dusting, although to be honest I had nothing to wipe. The Swede's apartment was relatively orderly, which did not require my intervention too much. However, if they insisted, I will clean up the whole apartment properly.

I was in the process of wiping down the taller cabinets in the kitchen. I was standing on the kitchen counter, otherwise I couldn't reach them because I was too short. Suddenly my leg flicked off the table top and I flew down. I thought I was about to have a close encounter with the floor and it would be dark around me, but it didn't. I landed in the arms of a sleepy Alex who must have woken up by now. We looked at each other, both surprised, but then he brightened up and smiled apologetically. He set me down on the floor and I still couldn't take my eyes off him. In those few seconds, a whole range of emotions flashed across his face. Surprise, fear, anxiety, relief, joy, intimidation, embarrassment. All one by one.

Finally, I managed to get my voice out.

"T-Thank you ." I thanked timidly, my body was still shuddering from the excess adrenaline.

"You're welcome ." He replied equally embarrassed. "Are you alright?"  He asked after a  while.

"Yes, yes." I nodded quickly and started wiping down the countertops to end our short conversation. I had no intention of, much less wanting, to climb the countertop again and risk my life to dry the dust. I was supposed to come back here in a week anyway ...

However, our conversation started to go on and, to my surprise,  it was thanks to me.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" I asked him out of curiosity.

"I can't." He confessed, pouring water into a glass from the tap.

"You can't sleep?"

"Yes." He nodded, sitting down at the table.

"You should be tired after you night shift."

"I am, but ..." He hesitated for a moment. I guess he didn't want to tell me about something.

"Are you hungry?" I asked quickly. He didn't have to tell me about his problems, because I had enough of my own problems and I wasn't going to worry about his affairs ...