Music To My Ears Ch. 02

Her presence had become such a familiar sight at the factory that the workers that used to make lewd remarks at her had stopped doing so. They roughly knew who she was but were afraid to ask Eric more about her. They decided to call her EJ's chick. Nicky took all this in stride, giving the other workers a 'haha...very funny' smile.

Nicky would leave Eric occasionally to go back to the office and attend to her other cases. In the evening, she would be back waiting for Eric again to finish his work. Then, she would follow him back to his apartment or to the little eatery he frequented for dinner. To discourage Nicky from following him, he would sometimes stop by some sleazy and rowdy pubs for a few drinks. Nicky remain undaunted by his action and followed him in, despite her receiving catcalls and obscene proposals from the unruly patrons.

Nothing seemed to deter her from her objective. As long as he did not call the police to report her for harassment she would follow him - sometimes walking next to him and trying to start a conversation with him. Eric usually ignored her, pretending she wasn't there at all. Once in a while, he would tell her to get out of his sight or shouted at her on the street. Nicky was stubborn and always continued to follow him.

Eric was very angry and annoyed with Nicky's persistence. He had to get rid of her so he could be left in peace. He didn't want to call the police and blow things out of proportion. That would mean interacting with people, which he didn't want to do. Nobody, nobody would understand the pain he was suffering and he believe nobody would be able to help him.

Sometimes he would see Peter and Katrina in the news. Whenever he did, he would feel their betrayal all over again. Never once in the past four years had Peter or Katrina tried to contact him. It was always Robert or sometimes John, his former mentor. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Robert or John. It just hurt too much. Seeing them reminded him of his glorious past, a past he knew he could not possibly get back, and that was the last thing he wanted - to be reminded of his former life.

Eric went to work, as usual, but was in an even fouler mood than normal. Earlier in the morning he had been reading the newspaper. He came across the entertainment section, which featured and interview with Peter. He was about to launch his latest album called the 'Dawn of the Day Sonata'. It was Eric's composition!

He remembered he had composed it when he had won his first piano competition. He had presented it to Peter for winning the second place. Now Peter was claiming he composed it! He hadn't even bothered to change the title of the music! This was the first time Peter had used his music. I suppose he thought I would've forgotten about it or maybe I was dead! He thought angrily.

To make matters worse, that damn social worker was already outside the factory. He walked over to where she was standing. She gave him a cheeky smile. Oh, he would show her alright!

"Don't you have anything else to do other than following me around?" He hissed at her.

"Oh, I don't have any appointments until 11.00am. So, I thought I'd come by to see how you were doing. You don't look that happy this morning. Do you want to talk about it?" Nicky offered.

"You know I can call the police and have you arrested for harassment?" Eric threatened.

Nicky knew he was bluffing. Drawing attention to himself was the last thing he wanted to do.

"I wasn't harassing you. I don't see any sign that says I can't stand here do you? Besides, you approached me. I didn't," said Nicky casually.

"What can I do to make you go away?" Eric hissed at her again.

"If you can give me an hour of your time, every day, I promise I'll leave you alone for the rest of the day."

Eric was about to reply when some of his coworkers remarked laughingly, "Having a lover's spat?"

Eric was really mad now. He turned back to Nicky, "Get out!"

"Now, there is no reason to be...WOAH!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Nicky screamed as Eric scooped her up, handbag and all. He walked to the edge of the dock, where he ceremoniously dumped her down into the water.

Nicky fell into the water with a splash. She felt the water close in on her and began to struggle frantically. She never learned how to swim. She went under, then bobbed up again and coughed, "Help!" before going under again. Her fully soaked clothing weighed her down even further. She was in a state of panic. Eric was still up at the dock, looking down at her with a smug look in his eyes. She thought she was drowning as she gulped more seawater into her lungs. She started to lose consciousness. She felt like she was sinking slowly down when she dimly felt someone grab her and pull her upwards.

At first Eric felt extremely pleased for dunking the smart ass of a social worker into the water. After awhile of seeing her flailing about got him worried. She didn't look like she knew how to swim. She struggled a few more times and then went under completely. Eric was panicking now. Did she do that on purpose to scare him?

By now the rest of his coworkers had gathered to look down at the water. At first they laughed, but soon no one was even making a sound as they watched until someone said, "She is not surfacing!" That brought Eric to his sense. Without wasting anymore time, he threw off his shoes and windbreaker, jumped in the water, and dove under to try and search for her. He could vaguely make out her figure in the murky depths. He swam towards her, grabbed her then pulled her upwards. They burst out of the water. Nicky felt clear, cold air rushing into her waterlogged lungs. She immediately went into a spasmodic cough fit spewing out the water.

Eric grabbed her under her chin to tilt her face up before swimming to the steps by the dock. His fellow workers helped him to haul Nicky up while he dove under again to retrieve her handbag. When he finally came up, she was still coughing and throwing out the dirty water. Someone draped a blanket over her shivering body; yet another was handing her a mug of hot coffee.

"Sorry," Eric muttered under his breath, trying to avoid her glaring gaze. He threw on his windbreaker again.

She looked like a drowned rat. Her mascara was streaking down her face. Her silk blouse was ruined. She took a few more lungs full of air before looking at Eric. Her golden brown eyes were blazing with fury. She burst out at him in vulgarity, forgetting her manners, and forgetting that she was surrounded with men.

"What the fuck did you do that for?! I can't swim! You damn, bloody asshole! I could've drowned! Have you no brains? Don't you realize how immature your behaviour was?!" She was seething in anger.

"Look, I'm really sorry. I won't do it again." He promised as he downed the coffee that one of his coworkers had handed him.

"You won't do it again? There won't be a second time you moron!" She yelled at him some more.

Some of the workers were sniggering away. Eric's supervisor came and broke up the crowds, telling them to go back to work. This left Eric and Nicky sitting alone. After two years of working with Eric, his supervisor was used to Eric's eccentric behaviour and didn't urge him back to work. Eric had let her continue to yell at him until she simmered down.

She was still huffing when Eric asked her, "So what do you want me to do? I already said I'm sorry," said Eric grimly.

Nicky was about to scream at him some more when she realized her chance had come to force him into accepting her counseling. "Well, at least you can compensate me!"

Eric narrowed his eyes. Before he could stop himself, he had asked, "Compensate you? How?" Too late, he just realized she had him trapped.

"Let me counsel you everyday for the next six months," she said and added quickly, "Two hours each day after work or I'll press charges!"

When she threatened him about pressing charges, it worried Eric. He didn't want to get into trouble with the law. What if the media found out what he looked like now, instead of the former handsome talented pianist he had been four years ago? Suddenly he was confused with himself. Why was he so concerned with what people thought of him now? The public wouldn't have remembered him. They now have Peter Selleck.

Eric glared at her. Damn bloody persistent woman! He had put himself into a tight corner. He could not back out now. Eric glared at her again and then he noticed something; something he thought he would never do anymore - admiring. He was actually noticing her and admiring her. In her bedraggled state she looked alluring. Her wet short curls plastered to her scalp. Her golden brown eyes were spitting with fire. Damn! He must've been without a woman for far too long! He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Well?" asked Nicky in a non-too friendly tone.

Eric gave a sigh of resignation, but he wasn't going to give up so easily. He would definitely make her life a living hell until she gave up on her own accord.

"One hour on alternate week days. Take it or leave it!" Eric growled.

"You're in no position to bargain with me!" Nicky argued.

"Forget it then! Go ahead and call the police. You'll know where to find me when they get here," Eric made a move to stand up.

Nicky stood up, too. The blanket slid off her body. Her wet silk blouse stuck to her skin, revealing a lacy white bra. Eric could only gawk at her, feeling a rush of desire. Nicky looked down at herself and felt her face turned flush. Thank goodness the rest of the factory workers were not with them.

"Fine! I'll see you tomorrow then, after your work." She said angrily, walking quickly off to catch a cab back to her apartment to change.

Later that night, she had wrote in her file:'Client has accepted counseling and will start the session tomorrow. Client seemed to be warring with his emotions. At crucial moment, Client forgot his own disability and has attended to another's problem.'

Nicky omitted the part about her being thrown into the water, even though it is what ultimately got Eric to accept her counseling.

* * * * *

The next day, Nicky went back to the office to attend to her other cases. By 5.30pm she was back at the dock waiting for Eric.

Eric knew she would be back. He had taken longer than usual to finish his shift. Let her wait, he thought. He made her wait for him for at least an hour and a half before he emerged from the factory. That didn't seem to deter her at all. She greeted Eric with her usual smile, seemingly forgotten about what happened yesterday.

"Hi," Nicky greeted. She wrinkled up her nose in disgust. Eww! He stank.

"Get on with your counseling," growled Eric, but there was a gleamed of satisfaction in those ocean deep blue-green eyes of his, knowing the smell on him was getting to her.

"Why don't we find a restaurant and have something to eat while we talk? You know, counseling is not just you listening to me blabbering how life is worth living and blah, blah, blah. It's a two-way thing. Besides, you need to eat dinner, too. Oh, you can pay for the dinner. It's the least you can do for what you did to me yesterday." Nicky reminded him.

I'm not rich," he growled.

"Relax, I won't burn a hole in your pocket. I know your factory supplies the stock to the restaurants further down the dock. I know you guys get a discount, come on!" said Nicky cheerily as she led the way.

Eric could only glared at her. Unreasonable bitch! He cursed silently. Further along the dock were some fast food restaurants and small inexpensive eateries. Nicky decided to pick a small self-service fish and chips restaurant with open-air seating. They found some seats after getting their food. Nicky didn't say anything; instead she seemed to be evaluating him. Eric felt very uncomfortable with her stares. He didn't like feeling like she was dissecting him.

"Look, are you going to start your counseling or to stare at me? I don't have much time," said Eric grumpily.

"Oh? You've an appointment?" said Nicky as she tucked in a large piece of dory.

Eric noticed she had ordered an extremely large portion of food for herself and he wondered briefly where she stored all of that food in her small body. "That's none of your business," growled Eric.

"Are your manners always this impeccable or was it acquired?" Nicky laughed inwardly knowing she had scored a home run with that sentence. He was fuming at her now for that sarcastic remark. Nicky munched on some fries now.

Nicky had decided not to push him to talk about himself yet. She had to take it slow with him. He looked like a coiled spring. She was afraid that one of these days, he would wind himself tight and snap in two when he let himself lose. He was hovering between sanity and insanity. She could sense part of him wanted to change yet another part of him simply refused to. It was amazing feat that he could last four years without completely blowing up from the occasional outbursts that Robert had described.

She noticed he had donned a pair of brown cotton gloves today when he took his hands out of his pocket to carry the food tray. She decided to push just a little bit to see what his reaction was.

"Nice gloves," Nicky commented. He stopped what he was doing for a second then resumed his eating as though he didn't hear her remark.

"So how was your day?" asked Nicky as she dug into the bowl of salad now. Nicky never observed table etiquette. It didn't matter to her if she was supposed to eat her salad first. She would eat as the way she saw fit. If she wanted to eat the dessert first, she would do just that.

"Fine," came the short answer.

"So, you like your job?"

"Fine," came the same answer.

"I understand you only work part time. How do I know if you won't skip our session?"

"You don't," he mumbled.

He wasn't going to let her know which day he was suppose to be at work and which day he wasn't. He wanted her to run around. Fine. She'll call his factory everyday to see if he worked that day before coming down.

"So what kind of fish do you sort out?"

"All kinds."

"What else do you do other than sorting them out?"

Eric looked at her and slowly brought up his knife, making a gesture of cutting an imaginary fish. "Gut them," said Eric in a low voice. He then continued to wolf down his dinner.

"Sounds exciting," said Nicky airily. "How's your food?" Nicky decided to change the subject.

"Fine," yet another short answer.

Once more, they ate in silence. Nicky kept looking at him. She knew he was getting very annoyed with her for staring at him. She was about to start on her soup when Eric abruptly stood up and threw his napkin on the table.

"Wh...what?" asked a baffled Nicky.

Eric pointed to his wrist and without another word left Nicky sitting there and walked off. Nicky looked at her wristwatch. Dang. Times up. She didn't realize the time past so quickly. She still hadn't finished her dinner. Oh well, I guess I'll finish it alone.

Later that night, she had gone back to type her report. She sent a copy to Robert by fax.'Even though Client had accepted counseling session, he however was still unwilling to communicate. Outwardly, Client had portrayed an uncaring manner about his appearance, however inwardly he was very affected by how he looked. Client often had a pair of gloves on to hide his scars when in the presence of others. Client had appeared fidgety and unwilling to have eye-to-eye contact. Will continue to monitor Client progress the day after tomorrow.'

* * * * *

Eric hated the dinner cum counseling session. It was humiliating enough to be counseled; it was even more humiliating to be counseled by a small woman at that! And yesterday he had even lusted after her. He must be really out of his mind. He was glad he was out of there when the time came.

He passed by the small pub he used to patronize and stood outside the pub with that gnawing feeling in his stomach. He needed a drink. He was debating with himself whether to have a drink or not. Then his thoughts drifted back to the pesky, nosy,alluring social worker.

God! Why did he keep thinking of her as alluring? What was wrong with him? She was there because Robert paid her agency to counsel him! She was no different from the shrinks. If he took off his gloves she would probably cringe away just like Katrina.

Arrggh! Why did he let Katrina into his mind again? I don't want to think about her! I don't want to think about her! I need a drink to make me forget! He told himself silently and pushed open the pub door.

An hour later he staggered home. He didn't even change out of his clothing before he fell on his unmade bed, falling fast asleep.