The Cleaning Job

by Pea Jung

  I try to hide it, but I keep catching myself looking over at him as he gleefully chews. After a while, he holds the package out to me. When I hesitate, he leans a little further towards me, I reach once into the pack and thank him. He gives me another friendly smile and I smile back.

  Then the film begins at last. Although the film is exactly to my liking, I can’t focus on it. First Adam upset me, because he lied to me and even stood me up, and secondly, the man sitting next to me is irritating me. At least there is a space free between us. The man has deposited his box of popcorn there and, with one hand movement given me to understand that I should help myself. I reach into the pack and jerk back frightened because he reaches for a piece of popcorn at the same time. Our hands touch and we look at each other in the half dark.

  A cold feeling runs down my back. What’s wrong with me? Have I become a nymphomaniac, if every man can affect me so? I decide not to eat anymore. As the film finishes, I thank him for the popcorn. He just grins at me and I leave the theater as quickly as possible.

  I hear nothing from Adam all weekend and frankly, I’m not particularly bothered.

  On Monday morning, I go to my appointment at the waxing studio. Trying once can’t hurt. I cannot recommend this treatment to anyone. The leg waxing was ok, but the pubic area was quite painful. The woman who did it said that although the first treatment is uncomfortable, it would be less problematic if I came regularly.

  But I’m not going to check this, although I have to admit that I’m feeling incredibly sexy. And the short, narrow strip of pubic hair which I have left, looks very teasing. My skin feels tender, and it is still red after the treatment.

  Chapter 16

  Today, when all hell has broken loose at work, and both Henry and Herbert are sitting at their usual tables, I hear someone call my name quietly: “Josefine?”

  I turn around and see Adam standing behind me. At the same time, I notice that Henry has risen and is standing next to his table undecided. What’s that about?

  “Adam, I don’t want to talk with you. And I have work to do,” I swear, and continue.

  “Josefine, I’m so sorry, that I didn’t get in touch. Can I make it up somehow?”

  At this I stop and snap at Adam: “I could maybe forgive that. But why did you lie to me?”

  “Can I help you?” says Henry to Adam, which throws me completely.

  “Henry! What are you doing here?” asks Adam.

  “You know each other?” I don’t understand anything anymore.

  “Yes,” appeases Adam. He turns back to me and comes two steps closer.

  Henry makes a motion as if he wants to get between us. Finally, I hear Jörg’s voice behind me: “is there a problem?”

  “No,” I say and go back behind the counter. Jörg moves behind me. I watch Adam and Henry, who stand there a while holding a hushed conversation.

  Finally, Henry takes energetic steps towards the front door of the premises and pulls out his phone on his way out. Adam searches for an empty table and begins to study the menu.

  “This Henry is becoming a real stalker,” Jörg notes as he pushes the lever of the beer tap.

  I pour water into a large glass and nod. “Yes, I don’t know what to think of it. He is a nice guy, but sometimes I feel directly guarded by him. It’s not like with Herbert, but still kind of scary.”

  “I’ve spoken with Saskia as well. She almost didn’t know who Henry is. He is almost never here when she is.” I swallow hard and feel even worse than I did already.

  “And who’s the other guy?” asks Jörg.

  “I thought we could be friends. But he stood me up on the second date. Now, his guilty conscience is plaguing him.”

  Jörg looks at me thoughtfully. “What happened to your other friend?”

  “Which friend?”

  “The man who was with you when you were sick,” says Jörg quite casually. True!

  Jörg has seen my employer without the mask, which I completely forgot. Words burst out of me: “did he look good?”

  “What?”

  Jörg will think I’m completely crazy if I ask him about my visitor. Therefore I correct myself: “I mean, what was your impression of him?”

  Jörg thinks for a moment, takes another glass and fills it. “He was very worried about you, in any case, I noticed that. And I was slightly bent out of shape because he’s a lot better looking than I am.”

  Jörg grins cheekily and I punch him playfully in the side. “But he is definitely shorter than I am,” he adds.

  I laugh at the giant. “That’s not saying much compared to you.” I reach for the tray, where the finished drinks are now standing, and make a round through the room.

  I stop briefly by Adam. “What would you like to drink?”

  “Josefine, please, I …”

  “Would you like to order something?”

  “An apple juice,” says Adam quietly and I turn around. Behind the counter, I note that the apple juice is empty. “I’m going to the basement to get apple juice,” I say to Jörg, who nods. Fortunately, we’ve passed the discussions about the fact I should let a man carry the boxes up from the basement.

  When I finally find the right box, I hear Jörg on the stairs shouting excitedly: “Josi, come here!”

  I place the drinks crate on the floor and run. “What’s going on?”

  “Josi, quickly,” calls Jörg. “Your friend is here. He fighting with your other date. But how?!”

  “Henry and Adam are fighting?”

  “No, Josi. Your nurse is here.”

  “Oh shit,” I swear and storm up the basement stairs past Jörg.

  It’s quiet in the dining room. Adam is no longer there. But outside the door, I can hear men shouting loudly.

  Quickly, I cross the room and am about to tear open the door. But Henry moves suddenly to block my way.

  “Henry, I want to go outside. Now!”

  “Sorry, but you shouldn’t interfere,” he says quietly, but strictly.

  I have no chance of getting past him. What should I do? The guests are watching me intently. Still, two men are fighting in front of the building.

  Instantly, I turn around and run to the kitchen. There’s a second exit. I dash onto the road. At that moment, a silver car drives away screeching. Was that a Mercedes? I do not see the license plate. But what would that have brought me? There is no trace of Adam.

  Now Henry rushes out of the building. He probably noticed my escape. Without looking at him, I walk past him back to my workplace. For the rest of the day, I treat him like air.

  After I’ve spilled several glasses and confused two orders, Jörg says to me: “Josi, I’m getting worried about you. There’s something going on you’re not telling me about. I can’t help you, can I?”

  “Yes, you can hold me, just for awhile,” crying I throw myself into his arms. He catches me, wraps his arms around me and puts his face in my hair. Jörg just holds me as I let a few tears fall, exactly what I need at this moment.

  Then he says: “Josi, I think that’s enough for today. Go home. I can handle it myself.”

  Thankfully I say goodbye. Outside, I take a deep breath. Then I turn on my phone and it immediately begins to vibrate. Who is calling me so late?

  “Yes?” I say with a husky voice.

  “Adam is not the nice guy he plays with you.”

  It’s him. “You know him then?”

  “Yes.”

  “Maybe you’re not a nice guy either.”

  “I never claimed that I was. You know me as I really am.”

  “I don’t know you at all,” I reproach him.

  “Ms. Wagner, I ask you kindly not to yell at me!”

  “Why not? You deserve it. Bursting into the restaurant an
d taking away a customer.”

  “I only did that for you. But with all the men that flock around you, it’s slowly getting more and more difficult to keep track. And after what I’ve just seen, I have to wonder whether I shouldn’t have had a crack at your boss instead.”

  All of a sudden, I feel scared. I look around the parking lot frantically and search for my car keys. Where is Henry when you need him?

  At the other end of the line, someone quietly laughs: “you’re not still afraid of me, are you? If I wanted to do something to you, I would have done it already.”

  “Where are you?” I whisper softly.

  “Why so quiet all of a sudden. Didn’t you want to shout in my face?”

  “No,” I mutter, quieter still, while I unlock my car and immediately get into it. My car is so old that I can push a button to lock it from the inside.

  On the screen of my phone, I can see that he has hung up. I breathe in.

  “Please don’t be scared!” I hear a voice behind me and jump screaming. I bury my face in my hands and drop the keychain in my lap. Shouldn’t I flee?

  But instead, I lift my head and look in the rearview mirror. A mask stares back at me.

  “Hey Kitty, don’t be afraid. I’m just here because I want to talk to you. Don’t we want to talk about earlier?”

  “No, Sir,” I say without thinking and am surprised when he laughs out loud.

  “Ms. Wagner, I am not here officially. Please drive, before your boss wonders why your car is still in the parking lot.”

  I need a moment before I put my car keys in the ignition.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Your home, of course.” He replies quietly.

  This is the worst trip of my life. What if we’re pulled over by a traffic cop and the police find a masked man in my back seat?

  After a while he starts talking softly in my ear: “You redeemed your voucher today.”

  “Yes.”

  “And you opted for the Brazilian landing strip?”

  “If you already know everything, why are you asking me at all?”

  “Because I find your embarrassment bewitching” his voice smiles. “Even more than your costumed body.”

  I am terrified by the electrifying pulsing that his words trigger in me.

  “Will you agree to wear a thong tomorrow night?”

  “Oh God, I don’t know.”

  “You are so beautiful. Do me this favor. Why do you have such inhibitions?”

  I can not answer, so he asks: “Do you feel humiliated by me?”

  “No!” I respond spontaneously and steer into the free car park in front of my block of flats. With my small car, reverse parking is not a problem. I manage it in one go this time too, even though I am confronted by the man in the back seat every time I look around.

  He waits patiently until I turn off the engine. Then, he leans towards me in the front. “Why no thong, Josefine?”

  This is the first time that he has called me by my first name, and it makes me weak. “I don’t want you to laugh at me.”

  “Laugh at you? Why should I laugh at you Kitten?”

  I don’t answer and he thinks out loud: “please, the incident with the panty liner was a completely different situation. And you’ve taken care of the wild growth today.”

  That’s enough. I burst out: “Wild growth? It’s natural. Besides… Ah, what the heck.”

  Angry, I make a move to open my car door. But his fingers are holding the lock button down and I can’t leave the car.

  “Can we talk about this calmly Josefine?”

  “No, I don’t want you to make fun of me behind my back.”

  “That is not my intention. Your body elicits from me completely different feelings. So far, I have not felt the need to laugh,” he murmurs in my ear and takes his finger off the button. “So, no thong. Well, then, I’ll figure out something else,” he hums and after a short pause, he adds: “Would you wait in your car a moment, I want to check whether this slacker is on your doorstep waiting for you?”

  “Adam?”

  “Yes, Adam.”

  “Why… I’ll wait” I sigh loudly and he gets out. While I’m waiting for his return, another parked car strikes me and I recognize Henry, sitting at the wheel of the car.

  “Shit, what is going on here?” I curse to myself. I don’t trust myself to get out of the car, although I would love nothing more than to bawl out Henry.

  My thong friend turns and pulls the mask over his head as he leaves the house. It’s actually a miracle that he doesn’t attract attention with this thing. It seems like it’s almost a hobby to him. He sits down again on my back seat and says: “He’s not there.”

  “HE is there,” I say, and indicate the car in which Henry is sitting with my chin.

  “Henry?”

  “Tell me, you know him too?”

  “He works for me.”

  “What?” I cry out, stunned. I turn around, and give the masked guy and evil look.

  He laughs at this. “I knew you’d like that.”

  “You’re sick,” I scream hysterically and point a finger at him. “You are totally sick.”

  Then he grabs my arm and pulls me roughly through between the seats into the back of the car. I have no idea how he’s done it, but to my surprise, I’m suddenly on his lap and he’s holding me. He hisses in my ear: “I already told you, that I do not like to be yelled at.”

  “And I do not like to be held,” I spit back.

  “You gave a totally different impression earlier.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “With Jörg.”

  Immediately, my defenses go limp. As a result, he holds me somewhat more loosely.

  “What now?” I ask simply.

  “Yes, what now, Kitten?”

  He lets go of my arms. Why do I not leave this man’s lap immediately?

  “You have such beautiful hair,” he mutters. His right-hand finds my shoulder and travels across my neck and gently through my hair.

  “Please…,” I beg because I would actually prefer to escape this situation.

  “You can leave at any time, Kitten. I will lock your car when I go,” he whispers, completely unflappable.

  The undersides of my thighs are so hot that I fear that the fabric of our trousers will soon start to melt together.

  His second hand now strokes through my hair – carefully and tenderly. It is not unpleasant, on the contrary. Goosebumps spread to my back.

  After some time, he stokes all of my hair to one side and begins to caress my neck and throat. When I turn my face a little in his direction, he begins to trace my nose, mouth, and eyebrows, almost as I did with him.

  In order to see him better, I turn my face even more towards him and realize that he has closed his eyes. He runs his fingers over my features and I watch his eyelids tremble.

  For whatever reason, a tear forms in my left eye and slowly travels down my face. It is only a matter of time before he strokes it with his finger. As he does so he seems to realize, because he opens his eyes immediately. His gaze overwhelms me because I’m so close to him, and his eyes, even in the darkness of the car, seem to look deep into my soul. He rubs the tear from my face but doesn’t say a word to me, only looks at me with those eyes.

  “Who are you?” I whisper almost silently.

  When he doesn’t respond, I take his face, still covered in the mask, in both hands and place a short kiss on each eye. Then I jump out of the car.

  Because I don’t have a window on that side of my apartment, I can’t see what the two men are doing down there. My fear that my thong friend would follow me into the apartment comes to nothing. Emotionally stirred up I finally go to bed, but cannot fall aslee
p for a very long time.

  Chapter 17

  I am completely restless and tired as I open the restaurant the next morning. Henry comes in immediately. He seems a bit insecure and it looks really funny due to his huge body.

  “Good morning,” he hums and I take a deep breath before I answer out loud: “Good morning.”

  I have decided not to be annoyed with him. After all, he can do just as little as I can about the fact that he has accepted a job with the masked man.

  “Cup of coffee as always?” I, therefore, ask him with emphasized friendliness and his facial features immediately relax.

  He smiles easily. “Yes, thank you.”

  When I serve him the coffee, he looks at me with a wistful look in his eyes. “Josi, I didn’t actually want you to learn about my work here like that.”

  “You probably didn’t want me to know about it at all.”

  “Right.”

  “Now it is too late in any case. Your boss is a little crazy. Today is my last time with him,” I enlighten Henry.

  His eyebrows move upwards. “Oh, does he know that?”

  “I have made my intentions clear. Why?”

  Henry laughs cynically. “Well, he’s not used to other people making the decisions.”

  “Then it’s about time!” I smile confidently even though I can hardly imagine not visiting my mysterious employer anymore.

  Without further ado, I sit down at Henry’s table and ask: “did he have the other cleaners monitored as well…” I break off because I don’t like Henry’s facial expression. “Umm, I mean… protected?”

  “Yes,” Henry explains briefly. “But not on this scale.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, with the others I just checked them out briefly in advance and then did occasional spot checks. He’s particularly concerned about whether there are any efforts being made to find out his identity. He does not like that.”

  “I can imagine that. So you are deployed to observe people?”

  “That’s me. Yes. With you it was different though.” In response to my quizzical look, he adds: “He explicitly told me that I should look out for you, in particular, because of Herbert.”