Situationship

8. Dog trouble

Mary felt terribly lonely. The hours in the house wouldn't pass. Although she enjoyed her vast freedom, she wanted nothing more than just a little company, someone to talk to or even fight with.

Her best friend, Sophia, suggested that she adopt a pet. She believed that, by taking care of a pet, Mary would gain self-confidence and become more responsible. "When you have much to offer but no one to offer to, the easiest solution is this," she had told her. "The alternative would be to have a baby, but you have neither a husband nor money."

The idea of ​​getting a puppy was coming to Mary's mind more and more often. For a moment, she imagined herself taking care of a dog and laughed. "I'm so irresponsible that the poor dog will die within a week!" she joked with Sophia. "On the other hand, every Tom, Dick and Harry has a dog nowadays. For God's sake, I can't be so useless!"

Throughout her life, Mary had never behaved as an animal lover. She did respect ani­mals but she wasn't super-excited about them. An old friend of hers, Theophanis, had a wild German shepherd, for which Mary had very negative feelings because it bit her in the thigh when she was thirteen. She still remembered it as if it were yesterday, as she could recall the scream into which she burst out of horror. Of course, it was more psy­chologically shocking than painful. She was also so hypochondriac that she got herself vaccinated for rabies, just in case.

After thinking about it for a month, Mary made up her mind. She would become a dog mum. But first, she had to discuss it with her father. Fortunately, he accepted to keep helping her financially, so that she could support the nurture of a pet. Her friend Sophia brought her into contact with a guy she knew, Alex, who was giving away the newborn puppies of his dog. All that was left now was to contact him in order to re­ceive her "baby".

Alex had both male and female Maltese dogs (small white dogs for home). Mary pre­ferred to get a female one. She should get male in human, not dog. In fact, she spent all the second week of November thinking of a proper name for her new companion. The first idea that crossed her mind was a variation of her own name, such as Myra, Mariah or Malu. Another name stuck in her head was Lexie, which sounded very doggish. She decided that she would reach a decision about the dog's name after seeing it.

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As she was heading for Alex's home, Mary for the first time realised how excited she felt about becoming a dog mamma. She reached her destination sooner than planned. The truth was that she was about to explode out of anxiety. The moment she rang the bell, she was feeling like fainting. When the door was finally opened, Mary was speechless when confronted with the person coming into view. The man before her was the unknown man who had stumbled upon her at the Aristotle Square. It was the man about whom she had been fantasising since. And he smiled broadly at the sight of her.

"You must be Mary," he said, examining her head to toe.

"Yes, I am", she replied hesitantly. "And you must be Alex, am I right?" she asked.

"Alex?" he laughed. "Hell, no! I'm just a buddy. Sotiris", he introduced himself and stretched out his hand.

"Pleasure," Mary responded, shaking it.

His palm was rough and strong. Sotiris appeared to be a wild man. Even the view of his fist seemed hypermasculine to Mary. Suddenly she sensed desire taking over her body. She liked masculine men so much that she was already drooling over him.

"So, will you step inside?" Sotiris asked her, ending the handshake. "Alex is in the bathroom." As soon as he uttered these words, he began to realise that Mary's eyes were all over his body.