Meribella (Dear Mermaid) Chapter 6

BY BLESSING SILVER

IF YOU MISS ANY EPISODE CLICK HERE

Bella are you okay, what’s wrong?” he questioned, giving her a concerned look.
Her brows narrowed at him, her lips still pouted. “I’m hungry and my stomach hurts a lot” she cried.
“Oh, didn’t you eat the pasta I left in the refrigerator”
“I did but it’s not enough, I still feel very hungry”
Seriously, he left two people lunch for her and she’s hungry. He didn’t forget the cookie pack and two soda cans which must’ve been eaten by her and she feels hungry after all that… That’s a weird freaking appetite and if he hadn’t spent two days with her he would’ve called her a voracious beast, even beasts don’t eat this way.
“Oh, I was about going to make dinner when I saw you” he said “I’ll make potato salad and peas since you’re really hungry”
“Potato?” her brows narrowed “What’s that?”
“It’s kind of a simple dish, I’ll make it for dinner. You have to try something new” he said and she nodded then moved aside for him to gain entrance out of his room “And oh, I got a coke pack on my way home. You can have one before dinner’s prepared”
“Really? The dark water?”
Dark water? weird!
“Yes and it’s called a coke”
“A coke,” she murmured, a smile forming across her lips “I’ll like a coke before dinner” she said.
“Good girl” he smiled and they moved to the kitchen, he pulled out the pack of coke from the grocery bag, tore it open and took out a coke can then gave it to her. She collected with smile and popped it open before jumping off happily to the sitting room. he put on an apron and set a medium sized pot on the gas ring the switched it on.
He took out five large potatoes, peeled off the brown skin and placed them on a large bowl, he turned the faucet and let the water almost get to the brim of the bowl, washed the potatoes carefully and fiercely, threw the stained water and got new one then re-washed the potatoes. He used a carving knife and chopped the potatoes into half equal parts then set them in the pot to boil. He diced the carrot, sliced the tomatoes and onions and chopped the spinach.
He check the softness of the potatoes with a fork and took down the pot when they were soft enough, he used a masher and mashed them until they were soggy and set a frying pan in the fire….
*
Dinner was ready and he set them out to cool on two ceramic plates then dropped them on the breakfast bar, he walked briskly to the fridge and got out a can of soda. He took a coke can from the pack and arranged the rest in the fridge the closed it. He set the soda beside his meal and the coke beside Bella’s, a brief tiring sigh passed through his lips as he turned to call Bella but saw her standing by the kitchen door staring at him with a smile.
“Dinner’s ready” he said and she walked into the kitchen, first disposing the empty coke can into the trash bin then settling beside her meal, she saw a fork resting close to her plate and she picked it up. scooping a spoonful of potato and green pea she blew air to cool it and dished it into her mouth.
Her countenance changed for awhile and he thought she didn’t like the meal since it was new, he was about asking if she didn’t like the potatoes when her lips suddenly twitched to a smile.
“It’s delicious,” her eyes filled with happiness glistened as she scooped another spoonful and gulped it up “Mmh,” she moaned “Yummy!”
That was a new word; she must’ve learnt it from the TV.
He chuckled inwardly with a smile on his lips, such a big funny eater.
She picked a pea and raised it up at him.. “I’ve seen this in the big box,..
“The big box?” he questioned, confused.
“Yes, Margaret and Alex had it for lunch in the big box”
“Ok-Ay” he drawled “First what’s the big box and who’s Margaret and Alex, did you make new friends while I was away?” he asked, sorta glad that they were having a real conversation.
“The big box’s on the wall in the sitting room, Maggie and Alex are in it. I saw them eating this,”
“It’s a green pea” he corrected and she nodded “And by big box do you mean the television?”
“Televi-sion” she pronounced slowly “What’s a TELEVISION?”
“The big box you mentioned is called a television and the people you saw in it are cast of movie or just some random entertainers”
“So they don’t live there?”
Huh.. live there?
“They don’t” he said and she nodded, a smile filling her lip
“A televi-sion and a Mo-vie” she murmured “I got it”
He chuckled inwardly and focused on his meal, realizing he was going against table manners.
🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭
They had the rest of dinner in silence and he cleared the dishes before washing the used plates and setting them on the drain board, he dished the leftover potato salad and Green pea in a plastic plate, covered it up and dumped them in The fridge. He unpacked the rest of the groceries and set them in the kitchen cupboard, tearing of a kitchen paper he wiped his hand before going to join Bella in the sitting room where she watched a movie with interest.
The big box? a smile curved on his lips when he remembered how she had fascinated him during dinner, he remembered how she kept quiet, staring gently like a shy timid bird on their first encounter, he assumed she was deaf and crazy but now she somehow amused him.
Talk about entertainment and comedy, she just proved to him she was good at it too.
“Maurice,” she called and he jerked up a bit before answering. This was actually the first time he had heard her pronounce his name and he liked it. It showed they were getting along even for a bit.
“What’s a lemonade?” she asked.
Talk about weird questions…
“Uh it’s a lemon juice made out of lemon extracts, sugar and water” he said.
“It’s sweet right?”
“Um, kinda. Where did you hear it from?”
“The television, That girl,” she pointed to a girl on TV “Says she’ll lick Gino like a lemonade and Gino said ‘sweet’ so I guessed lemonade are sweet” she said and his brows arched..
Huh… She actually didn’t know the real meaning.
“Do Humans taste like lemonade too?” she suddenly asked and he turned to her.
“Th-ey don’t, That was actually an exaggeration” he said and she nodded.
“Can we have lemonade with uh, what’s the word, breakfast! tomorrow”
“I ran out of lemonades and there are no lemons here and besides I have to go to work early tomorrow but we can have them some other time”
“Okay” she said and turned back to the television and he turned to go to his room but stopped when Bella said “Can I taste you?”
“Taste me?” he questioned and she nodded.
“I want to know if you taste like lemonade, just like Gino”
“I don’t Bella, I told you no human taste like lemonade except they’re bathed in one”
“Can you bath in lemonade?”
“Why will I do that?”
“So I can lick it, I guess it’d be sweeter when lemonade is licked from the body”
Really Bella..
“There’s no such thing like that Bella, lemonades can’t be licked from the body. They are taken in a cup”
“But Gino said it’s sweet and Sia liked it too”
“Bella that’s–
he paused, thinking of the right word to use “They’re just dirty words, You shouldn’t say it”
“It’s bad?”
“Y-yes”
“Okay, I won’t say it again” she shook her head and he breathed out in relief… such a Blabber beak..
He went to his room and received a call from Jolie, they spoke for few minutes and he didn’t mention Bella. He wanted her to meet Bella and then he’d tell her about him and besides he and Bella are just beginning to get along.
He read a little from his notes before going back to the sitting room with his laptop, his brows narrowed when he saw Bella intently staring at a kissing scene on TV and pouting her lips. He shook his head as the scene ended and a new sinless one was displayed. He moved to a couch and settled, switching on his laptop to work on some files he had saved earlier in his document.
“Maurice,” she called him and he turned.
“Yes”
“Do friends live together?”
“Not all but some do”
“So since we’re living together, does that makes us friends?” he smiled.
“Do you want to be my friend?” he asked and she nodded “Will you let me?” she asked with a smile.
“Not yet, my friends pay a dollar before I accept them” he said and her face twitched.
“Is that money?” she asked.
“Yes, it’s big money” he teased.
Bella frowned, she remembered she had picked some on the shore back in Tarania when she was looking at him from the river and her mother had explained to her that it was called money and only humans use it. She had lost it carelessly since she was a mermaid and was oblivious of its use but now she wished she had kept it. She would’ve given it in exchange for Maurice friendship and now she couldn’t have him as a friend since she had no idea how to get money unless she found luck on the shore.
“You don’t have it right?” he said, his face serious but his mind laughing.
Bella wished luck would shine on her if she visited the shore.
“I don’t but–
“Here,” she stretched a dollar bill to her “You can earn my friendship with this”
“But it’s yours,”
“I know and I’m giving it to you to buy my friendship”
“But if I take it and pay you then it won’t worth it, I want to pay with my own money”
“Really?” she nodded “do you have money?” She shook her head.
“I don’t have now but I will in the future”
“Okay, but I can loan you mine and you can pay it back when you have money of your own”
“It’s same thing as paying me with your money directly”
“Really?” she asked and he nodded, she took the money, examined it then gave it back to him.
“We’re friends now” he said and she shook her head.
“I’ll accept when I payback” she said and his lips went flat. His ringing phone stopped anymore conversation and he stood to pick Diane’s call, his laptop clutched between his arm he sat on his bed and clicked answer.
Bella smiled, she have to get a dollar to be his friend.
living together was one thing and being friend another, it was like a fulfilment. She had never envisioned standing one on one with Maurice, the guy she loved so much, let alone being his friend, talking to him and eating with him on the same table.. she was sure heading closer bit by bit.
She stood up and switched off the TV before going to her room, she needed an early sleep if she wanted to go early to the shore.
She’ll be Maurice’s friend soon..
Her dream was beautiful that night.
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Maurice poured the hot water gently into the flask. He was fully dressed for work in a white long sleeve, a black jacket suit on top and a long black trouser. His hair was styled in a way they almost touched his right eyes, and his feet had black work shoes.
Bella walked into the kitchen, yawning sleeping and rubbing her eyes.
“Bella,” her eyes flew up to him at his call, her brain fully awake. “I have to hurry to work. I already boiled some water, it’s in the flask and it’s hot so you have to be careful when transferring it to the teacup. There’s milk, sugar and chocolate in the upper fridge, you pour little of all in the hot water to make tea. There’s bread in the fridge too, you can have it with the tea or you can take the cookies, anyone you prefer.” she nodded and he continues “For lunch, you can heat up the leftover potato salad in the fridge, do you still remember how to use a microwave?”
“Yes” she responded.
“Heat up the salad for lunch, I’ll make dinner when I come back, okay?”
“Okay,”
“I have to hurry now, take care”
“I will,” before she bat her eyelids he had dashed out of the house..
she wondered why he was in such a hurry..
Her stomach grumbled in hunger but she pushed the thought aside.. she needed to get money first, being Maurice friend was far more important than any meal.. OK scratch that. being Maurice friend was as important as having a plate of pasta and sauce, potatoes salad and twenty cokes right in front of you.
She hurried to Maurice, slipped her feet into what she always saw him and other humans on the street wear then hurry out of the house, properly locking the door on her way..
She had to get to the sea before humans fill up the place and ruin her search,
She had to get a dollar; she had to be Maurice friend.
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