Melaine

Chapter 4

A dead body of an unidentified woman was found at town's motel .Police source has confirmed it as a work of a serial killer linked with other homicidal cases. According to the police report,the woman's body was brutally murdered and chopped into pieces before being stuffed into a bag...

Rohan switched off the TV, tossing the remote aside on the couch and stalked inside the kitchen shirtless. He had dumped his bag and jacket on the floor, kicking off his shoes the soon he came back from school, and removed his shirt throwing it at the foot of couch. The conversation with Melaine had left him aggravated, curting his mood and he punched the wall scraping his knuckles to release his anger towards her.
'Is she really stupid?' He sighed resting his forehead on the wall and closed his hand into fist. Blood trickled down his knuckles, and dripped down staining the white tiled floor. If the girl had death wish that badly, next time, he wouldn't say anything for her goodwill. He went inside the kitchen, washing the blood off his hand under the tap of sink made his hungry stomach Mac n Cheese. He carried the bowl to the living room flopping down on the sofa. He turned on the tv and passed out on the sofa halfway of watching the Football match.
Rohan opened the refrigerator, grabbing a can of coke and squished it open. He brought the can near to his mouth and his Adam apple bobbed as gulped down the bubbly liquid. He flexed his bad hand, opening and closing his fingers checking their movement, 'no damage' , he thought and made a mental note to wipe the stains on the floor. Rohan went upstairs to his bedroom that was mess from the last night and dirty laundry of two weeks, that he had forgotten to do, was lying in the corner of his room. He passed his window and stopped dead in his track when he saw her carrying a petrol canister and playing with the flame of lighter. He frantically looked around his room and grabbed a clean shirt, throwing it on himself and ran down to her house not bothering to put on his shoes. He banged at the door, slamming his shoulder into it and broke the lock of the door barging inside her house.

"Melanie!" She stood by the stove holding the transparent white canister in her hand and stared at him dumbstruck. She must have read his expression of horror as she looked back from him to the canister and put it down.
"It's to be put in the basement". She told him briskly and took in his appearance of messy hair, undone buttons of his white shirt and jeans that were hanging low on his pelvis revealing the sharp V of his abdomen, and to his embarrassment bare feet.
"Er... I thought you're setting house on fire".Rohan rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and immediately hid his scraped knuckles that didn't go unnoticed in her periphery.
'Shit!' He mentally cursed himself for not being careful.
"No one is dying here so you can leave now." Melaine turned her back to him frowning and gave him her usual cold shoulder. She turned on and off the gas of stove; playing with the burner knobs and grimaced at the sound of him breathing, and eyed the matchbox placed on the shelf next to stove. His mere presence in her house, as if he was some unholy entity, added much to her stress and fear and she stopped herself from reaching out for the matchbox as she turned on the gas. She restrained herself, did all in her willpower to keep her cool act rather than losing her composure. But when she didn't hear him leave her house she turned around and finally snapped at him, "What's it you want?"
"You"
"What?" She was taken aback by his words and crossed her arms at him silently asking him what's his deal.
"I mean I want to apologize ...", he corrected himself
"You're giving an apology after venting your anger at me?" She gestured towards his injured hand that put him at the loss of words.
"Who knew you could have a snarky tongue." He chuckled. Normally, she didn't talk but when she did, it's always insult to injury and he laughed at the irony of his own words, 'Insult to injury', given his bleeding knuckles.
"Can you leave?" Melaine finally asked him before she could lose herself and looked over his shoulder to the opened door behind him signaling him to leave.

"I can lend you hand in moving furniture", Rohan suggested shrugging nonchalantly at her. Melaine at first stared at him but looked at his build up frame, and reminded herself of the heavy bed and other furniture to set in her newly bought house which she obviously couldn't move all by herself. Since he's offering it himself, she can accept it for good sake and hold herself back.
"Alright I'll show you my room". She led him upstairs showing him his room. Rohan rolled his sleeves up and helped her to move her bed, and setting couch in place, from desk to her old PC. They set the dining area carrying table and chairs, and adjusted the refrigerator in right place in the kitchen.
"What else?" He wiped the sweat off his face with the back of his sleeve and sat down on the chair to catch his breath. But, he soon regretted his words when she made him move heavy sofas in the drawing room.
"Here?"
"A little to right", she instructed him enjoying the trouble he had put himself into.
"Now?"
"No, I think shift it to window", she smirked when he groaned pushing the couch to the other corner of room and looked up at her silently asking 'Is it set now?'
"It looks...", she eyed his helpless tired face, "...fine".

He released a breath that he didn't he had been holding and crashed down on her couch massaging his aching neck. Melaine shook her head at him and disappeared into the kitchen.
"Are you making us a tea?" Rohan asked from his sprawled position on the couch when he saw her filling the kettle from tap and put tea leaves in it. She came back to him with kettle in hand and offered to give it to him.
"You can make tea at your own house, Goodnight."
"What?" Rohan shot up from the sofa and looked back and forth between kettle and her. He couldn't get this woman at all, one moment she was being sarcastic to him and next, she was back in her hard shell of being cold towards him.
 "I'll pass without tea", he bid her goodbye and Melaine closed the door on him locking it immediately. She sighed, resting her forehead on the door and slumped against it with head in her hands.

'What's he supposed to do?'