Considerably Wicked: A Dark Romance

by Leigh Frankie

  Will’s lips formed a sheepish smile. “The future, huh.”

  Kate rolled her eyes. “Yes, Will. Our future. Together.”

  If there was anything Will had never really gotten around to understand, it was women and their desire to always talk and plan for the future. He tried to educate himself by listening to Glen, who proclaimed himself expert on the matter, but everything his friend told him just didn’t make any sense to him.

  “We’ll talk some more about the future soon. I’ll see you later, okay?” He awkwardly kissed his girlfriend on the forehead and hurriedly left the kitchen before her hands could stop him from doing so.

  He ran to Kate’s room and decided to just postpone his shower. He then grabbed his baseball cap and sunglasses from the messy counter. He frowned and shook his head.

  “Oh, Kate, how can someone as beautiful as you live like a pig.”

  Chapter 2

  Una

  Five minutes. Una Miller had been standing at the foot of the bed for five minutes in the room where Tyra, her housemate, was sleeping soundly with her guest.

  She still had a class to attend to, but she thought it could wait. To her, nothing was more pressing than her need to talk to Tyra and how deceived she felt that very moment.

  Tyra had broken the house rules Una had implemented when she agreed with her doctor to start opening up to people and begin accepting renters. She had explained to Tyra the importance of following rules, but no, the latter had repeatedly ignored and broken them. And just like her previous lessees, she could throw Tyra out of her house without batting an eye. After all, she owned the house.

  Una’s eyes surveyed her housemate’s bare back. Tyra brought another guy to her house again. After giving her sloppy roommate a few chances to bend the rules a little bit, she had decided to throw her out once and for all. Out of her life! And she couldn’t care less if Tyra had to stay on the street. She didn’t need a companion like her.

  Stupid girl never learned.

  Una’s patience was wearing thin now, and when the alarm clock on Tyra’s bedside table finally broke the silence in the room, she took a deep breath. Her jaw tightened when she heard a groan.

  Tyra slowly eased onto her side before lifting her hand to slam the annoying clock shut. Her eyes popped open as soon as she caught the sight of Una.

  “What the fuck, Una!” She grabbed the sheets to cover her breasts.

  Rule number 3: No swearing.

  “I want you to leave my house now,” Una ordered in her authoritative voice.

  “Excuse me?” Tyra glanced at the guy next to her whose hand had moved up her side, stroking the side of her breast. She quickly whacked his hand away and glanced up at her furious landlady.

  Rule number 2: Never bring your boyfriend/s or any random people into the house.

  “You violated the rules. You’re out,” Una said. “Pack your bags and leave.”

  “Are you insane? I just can’t leave. This has been my home for like forever! I just can’t leave like that. And we’ve been through a lot,” Tyra protested, outraged by the sudden turn of events.

  “Been through a lot? You just moved in a month ago. We barely talk to each other. We’re not even friends,” Una reminded her. “I own this house. You broke most of the rules you had agreed to before you moved in. I gave you two chances. You have to leave now.”

  Tyra jumped out of the bed and yanked the sheets to cover herself up, revealing the guy’s bare buttocks in front of Una as she did so.

  Una quickly looked away, appalled by the idea of a completely nude guy in her house.

  “You are a nutcase, you know? The only friends you have are your pathetic therapist and that opportunist floozy. You don’t even have a dog or a cat!” Tyra yelled at her. “You will die alone.”

  “Whatever you say will not change the fact that I own this house, Tyra. You should have thought twice before bringing a random stranger into my house and breaking my rules. This conversation wouldn’t be happening right now had you controlled your hormones. Now leave or I’ll call the police and have you and your naked friend arrested.” Una clenched her fists at her sides, trying desperately to control the anger that was rapidly building inside her.

  Her housemate walked up to her and stood so close that their faces were only an inch away from each other.

  “Oh really? Are you going to force me to leave, Una?” With a sleazy smile on her face, it was unmistakable that Tyra was mocking her.

  She took one step closer and returned Tyra’s smile with a creepy smirk. “Don’t try me, Tyra. There’s a reason why I still visit Dr. Larson all these years.”

  “You are a sick woman,” Tyra hissed.

  “So don’t try me. Now leave. I don’t want to see you here when I get back this afternoon,” Una said firmly and immediately walked out of the room.

  “Fuck you and fuck this house!” Tyra yelled.

  ***

  “How come I’m not hearing Tyra’s foghorn voice? Is she out again?” Liezel rose to her feet and grabbed two plates from the cupboard.

  Una had met Liezel three years ago when they were both students at university in Boston. Liezel was about to finish college while Una had just started. Liezel came from a family of engineers and doctors who moved from the Philippines. When she finished college, her parents decided to move back to their country while she opted to stay behind. Taking Una’s deadpan and solemn personality, which slowly improved after years of talking with her therapist, Dr. Larson, their friendship wasn’t instant, and it certainly didn’t grow overnight. Liezel’s patience had a lot to do with it, although it all actually started with a rumor that had gone around campus of an alleged affair that she was having with a professor who happened to be friends with Una’s therapist.

  Given that Una had become acquainted with the professor through Dr. Larson, people had assumed she knew a lot and probably the truth. They asked her and she unwittingly cleared Liezel from the campus gossip by telling them that the professor was actually dating her therapist, adding that Liezel couldn’t be the professor’s type.

  Liezel learned of this and Una accidentally earned herself a friend. However, Una wouldn’t have if it were up to her. But since Dr. Larson insisted that a friend would be something good for her, she slightly opened up her life to Liezel.

  “I kicked her out this morning,” Una casually replied, setting up their orders on the wooden table in her kitchen.

  “Really? Tyra was like your fourth tenant this year!”

  It was a reaction she had already anticipated. “She broke the rules.” She loudly inhaled the smell of chicken tikka wafting as soon as she opened the lid of the food container.

  “Ah, of course. Your rules! So, you have to find another tenant again then.”

  Una shook her head. “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “They just stress me out.”

  Liezel made a face. “Una, you told me how Dr. Larson encouraged you to try to talk to people. When you agreed to put your house forward for college students who want to live off-campus, you knew that it wasn’t primarily to earn extra, but for you to actually socialize; grow your connection, your friends…”

  “People have a hard time following rules.”

  “Not everyone,” she argued. “Lighten up. No doubt you will find the perfect housemate soon: Someone who doesn’t like pets, doesn’t swear, smoke, drink, doesn’t date, hates music and everything fun. I’m pretty positive you will find someone who checks all the boxes, so don’t close yourself off again. Not yet.”

  Since college, Liezel knew that Una was different from everyone else. Early on in their friendship, Liezel had discovered how quick-tempered and impatient her friend was, yet she assured her that she was okay with it.

  “I don’t hate music. I just don’t think people should play it at a high volume to actually enjoy it.” Una sighed at Liezel’s seeming lack of comprehension.

  “Well, all things considered, we’d have to look for
prudes. I think an old maid would be perfect for you. Or maybe a nun,” Liezel kidded dryly.

  A brief smile graced Una’s lips, looking like she should perhaps consider taking Liezel’s joke seriously.

  “On second thought,” Liezel added, “Nuns like pets and they sing praises aloud.”

  Una started munching on her order of fish pakora in silence. She couldn’t argue since Liezel may have a point.

  Liezel opened her food container and grinned at the tomato and coconut soup inside. “Wait, I think I know someone. My friend, Will, is looking—”

  “Liezel, I’m done talking about it,” Una cut in. “It’s time to eat.”

  She had a busy day at the university and she was more than relieved to see that Tyra had already left. She wasn’t up for another confrontation, and she was both hungry and tired when she came home that afternoon, so the quest for the perfect housemate had to wait because all she really cared about now was the delicious food laid on her table.

  Chapter 3

  Will

  “It’s good that you’re straightforward, Una. And, again, try not to overthink. You didn’t do anything bad. You asked Tyra to leave because she broke the rules. But you have to keep in mind that not all people are like Tyra. Or Mindy. Or Karen. Or Susan.”

  Una had been seeing Dr. Tinna Larson every week for the past few years. The visit had started as something mandatory for her. But as the years went by, and even after a remarkable progress on her end, she continued to see the good doctor once a week for a chat. It may sound sad to some people, but Dr. Larson had become more than her therapist; she was the closest thing Una had to a family now.

  “Yes, Dr. Larson,” Una said, balancing her phone between her ear and shoulder as she put her key into the doorknob that Monday afternoon.

  Mindy, Karen, and Susan were the people who lived with her before Tyra, and just like the latter, they all broke the rules Una asked them to follow. Mindy sneaked in a pet hamster; Karen couldn’t keep her loud music down; and Susan, just like Tyra, couldn’t seem to control her hormones. In the end, they all had to go.

  Una continued to listen to her doctor as she closed the door behind her, locking the door twice—a habit she picked up a few years back after leaving Aishcliff.

  “It is important that you have someone to talk to…” Dr. Larson went on when the doorbell suddenly rang.

  Una sighed. “Okay, Dr. Larson. I have to go. Someone’s at the door.”

  “Alright, see you on Wednesday,” Dr. Larson said before hanging up.

  She put her phone in her pocket and peeked behind the curtain and saw a man standing outside her door.

  What does he want?

  She hurried into the kitchen and pulled a knife from the cutlery drawer. She had to find out what he wanted, but she knew from experience that she had to be very careful. She walked back to the living room, straightened up her poor posture, and hid the knife behind her back as she unlocked the door and opened it.

  “Hi.” The guy smiled right away. His gunmetal blue eyes immediately caught her brown ones.

  “Um, what do you want?” she asked and moved to side, hiding the knife in her right hand behind the door.

  “Hi, Ms. Miller. I’m William Thomas. But you can call me Will.” Will offered his hand. But Una just glanced at it for a brief moment, her own way of acknowledging his friendly gesture. He pulled his hand back, not taken aback at all.

  “What do you want?” Una asked him again.

  “I work with Ms. Liezel Anne Blanco. She mentioned you’re renting out one of your rooms. I’m here to check…have a look,” Will briefly explained his surprise visit, giving Una a grin that oddly didn’t reach his eyes. “Is the room still available?”

  “Yes.” Una opened the door wider.

  Will eyed the knife she cautiously placed on the side table but decided not to make any fuss about it. Somehow, he understood. He was a stranger after all.

  Una led him inside and motioned him to sit on the couch across from her. She was supposed to dive straight into the interview and dig into Will’s background, be done with it, dismiss him, and then prepare for dinner. She was hungry. But there was something interesting about this guy that she decided to study him first.

  The house wasn’t as splendid as Will had expected, and his nose wrinkled at the stench that must have traveled in the air from the kitchen; it smelled like stale coffee and burnt toast. He looked around and thought that the living room could use a serious cleaning because when he looked down at the carpet, it was crying for a vacuum. And he had never seen a room with so little furniture and character that the entire place felt so… sad. He even felt sorry just by being there.

  His eyes surveyed the living room that led into the kitchen and observed how remarkably white the walls were as if Una had only cared about cleaning it to maintain its appearance and nothing else.

  “Mr. Thomas, tell me, how long have you known Liezel?” Una spoke again after giving him a once-over.

  “Since about a few months back. She is the assistant to our company’s CEO,” he answered. He smiled, revealing two cute, pointy molars.

  “I am aware of what she does,” she said curtly, looking unaffected by the nice-looking smile plastered on Will’s face. “Tell me a few things about yourself, Mr. Thomas. How old are you? What do you do for a living?”

  “I’m twenty-six years old. I went to MIT. I work as a senior app developer for an application development company. I don’t have any pets but I respect animals and try to leave them alone in peace.”

  “Are you a vegetarian?” Una wondered, narrowing her eyes slightly.

  Will smiled briefly. “I’m not really sure. I just think that those creatures deserve to be here just as much as we do.”

  “What about your family?” Una asked.

  “My family?”

  She nodded. “Yes, your family.”

  Will’s previous landlord didn’t bother to ask him about his family. Todd, his old landlord, who was a drunkard, accidentally started a fire that forced Will to stay with Kate.

  Rest in peace, Todd,

  “I don’t have any family left. I am an only child and my parents died when I was a kid. I was too young when they died. I don’t remember a thing.”

  It was true. He was an only child. His parents were gone by the time he turned eighteen years old. But he had no intention of telling her that boring part of his life. People didn’t have to know his backstory, and he didn’t need them to tell him how sorry they were. He had worked so hard for the happy and good life he had now; he didn’t need them to pity him.

  “How about your relatives?”

  He shook his head. “Most of them are now living outside the country.” He took a deep breath and gave a tight-lipped smile. “I grew up in a foster home.”

  Una looked at him for a moment. There was something in her eyes that he couldn’t quite figure out. Could it be fear? Sadness? Pity?

  “To be honest with you…” Una trailed off and looked at the door on her left. “I thought Tyra sent you to taunt me.”

  “Tyra?”

  “She used to rent the other room. She broke the house rules which left me no choice. I kicked her out. I even thought she sent you to kill me.”

  Woah!

  Will pulled back, now taken aback by the lack of subtlety in her thought. “Kill you? No! I don’t know Tyra. And there are stupid things in my life that I want to do but hurting my potential landlady is absolutely not one of them!”

  “I know that now, and even if she did send you just to mock me, it would still have been a mistake nonetheless. That woman didn’t understand my rules. The presence of male companions isn’t my issue. It’s the loud sex that I hate so much.”

  Will cleared his throat. “Um, I understand your point, Ms. Miller. So…what are the rules?”

  “Rule no. 1—You can’t bring in your boyfriend, or girlfriend, or anyone you could potentially have sex with. Rule no. 2— No swearing, shouting or making any
loud noises. Rule no. 3—Drugs and alcohol are strictly not allowed. Rule no. 4—No dogs or any animals inside the house. Rule no. 5…”

  Will waited and noticed how Una balled her hands into fists and rested them in her lap. It was obvious that, whatever the fifth rule was, it was the one thing that she didn’t want to be crossed the most.

  “Ms. Miller?”

  Una clasped her fingers together to try calming the shaking that had quickly taken over her hands. Her head hung low as terrifying memories drifted through her mind.

  Was she like this when she told her previous tenants about her house rules? Will thought.

  “Ms. Miller…” he called to her again, softer this time. “What’s the fifth rule?”

  “Never ever turn the lights off at night.” Una’s bottom lip quivered with every word that left her lips. “The front porch light, the living room, and the kitchen. That’s non-negotiable.”

  “Okay. I don’t think we’d have a problem then. I don’t curse. I don’t smoke, and I definitely don’t do drugs. I follow the rules, Ms. Miller. I love rules. I think the world will be a chaotic place without rules. We need rules.” It wasn’t a lie. Will had lived all his life following rules he had set for himself.

  Una arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms. She met his gaze steadily. “You don’t have to say that to impress me, Mr. Thomas.”

  An awkward silence enveloped them for a second before Will’s mouth moved into a lopsided smile. “I know it’s pointless to convince you that I’m a good guy with no skeletons in my closet, Ms. Miller. With the absence of any parental guidance, love, and care, I could be a psychopath for all you know. So, I would understand if you wouldn’t want me under the same roof with you.”

  Una was staring at him again, like reading a very strong-worded book. “Alright, I will show you to your room and the rest of the house.”

  “Actually…I think—”

  “—I grew up without my parents, just like you. I could also be a psychopath for all you know,” she cut in and left the living room.