Sour Seeds

Chapter 9

Senpai tied his hair back with an old handkerchief as he prepared to take on the task of cleaning the house. He was able to find cleaning supplies shoved in one of the closets along with torn rags. It was in his best interest to not question where those rags came from. As he stood up to analyze what work needed to be done he pushed a loose hair behind his ear.

Of all the places to end up after getting out of the game he couldn't believe it was this dump of a place. Not only that, he could not believe he had become a maid to a monster. He wasn't even a sexy-looking monster, like a vampire or a hairy werewolf. He still wondered what the hell Lem was. Sen couldn't recall any fable or legend that mentioned a lemon-headed monster.

What made matters worse was Lem wasn't that much help. Sure he was grateful that he cleaned the kitchen but more work needed to be done. Sen shoved a broom in his hand and motioned him to clean. It didn't help because he caught him multiple times sneaking to look at his phone instead. As Sen scrubbed away the dust it only seemed to settle back down on the surfaces. Some of the areas were stained beyond repair.

"Why couldn't you threaten the landlord to clean this place?" Sen finally commented after a few minutes of work. The silence before was eerie.

"He is a busy man," Lem explained. This resulted in a grumble from Sen. "Why are you so passionate about this? It isn't that dirty and I actually like it."

"Really now. What do you like about it? The smell of loneliness and desperation?" Sen glanced over to see Lem glancing at his phone unsure what to do.  Sen's eyebrows furrowed. "Well, guess what? Lila wouldn't like it and no one else would either. You cleaned the whole kitchen, why can't you help me with this?"

"The kitchen was for you. This living room is mine. We don't even eat in the living room," Lem reasoned.

"We could," Sen turned around again to see Lem wasn't looking at him.

"Maybe you should put your phone down for once, it is unbecoming to be on it all the time! Practice social skills."

"I am! I am talking to her," He grinned.

"Please I haven't heard that she has texted you," The sound of Lila's text notification burned into his brain.

"I like rereading her text."

"Well, I need you to lift and move a-," the sound of a phone beeping made him pause. His mouth fell into a frown.

"Haha she is so funny," Lem looked up. "What were you saying?" Sen pointed at a large painting that was laying face down on the floor.

"Ah yes. Sure thing, pretty boy. I'll do it in a bit," Lem looked down again as he sat down on the couch.

Pretty boy. God.

"Lem please!" He scoffed. "Just put the phone down for ten minutes. We will get so much more done if you help me!" 

"But her message makes me feel less alone," The monster curled up in a ball, not taking his eyes off the phone. Sen's eyes narrowed. How could he feel alone when he was right there? He was a person too.

"She probably thinks you insane with how instantly you text back..," Sen hissed. Lem looked up, his head tilting in confusion. He finally sat up and looked around, setting the phone down on the table.

"It looks pretty clean in here though!"

"Are you kidding me!? What is this?" Senpai pointed at a vase resting on a table.

"A vahz?"

"First of all, it is a vase, not vahz. NO! There is dust!"

"Do you know that dust is dead skin particles? We are in that dust mixed together. It's kind of beautiful."