Chapter Two: The new landlady

 

“All day breakfast for you honey?” Freda asked in her sweet voice.

“Yes please. And I’ll have my tea with cream and without sugar please.” Toby answered in his booming voice. He was combing his hair with full gusto, applying layers and layers of hair cream on his already greasy hair. A round face with hair parted in the middle, he was not much of a looker. The buttons on his carefully ironed white shirt looked like as if they were about to burst. Being the overtly confident person he is, he couldn’t help admiring himself in the mirror.

 

“ You are such a sexy thing, you are” he said.

 

“Honey! Breakfast is ready!” called Freda

“Ok I am coming.”

Totally oblivious to the rotund built of her fiancé, Freda whipped up a hearty breakfast which was enough to feed three grown men. 10 Cumberland sausages grilled to perfection, 6 pieces of smoked bacon pieces, a hearty helping of fried mushrooms, baked beans, scrambled eggs and 5 pieces of heavily buttered toast. One could literally squeeze enough melted butter to fry three eggs.

 

“Oh honey you are spoiling me,” chuckled Toby. “Doctor says I should really cut down on my calories.”

“No worries honey, you can always munch on the carrot sticks I have prepared for you here.”

 

Oh you are such a darling.. come here and give me a kiss, you sexy thing.” Freda obligingly gives him a peck on his rounder-than-a-melon- cheek.

 

“And that’s a wrap!” Shouted Kenden, a burly fellow in his forties, a freelance photographer and director. As soon as they made the director’s cut, Freda and Toby disengaged themselves from each other as if they both had contagious diseases.

 

As descendents of the Kelp and Gee empire, it was compulsory for them to do this ritual every year since they were engaged- Kenden would come to their house, do a short interview with Freda and Toby on life after engagement, take a few videos of their daily lives (albeit grotesquely boring) and have the videos on air every year in January. Kenden did it for the money, of course, the Kelps and Gees were generous providers and did not require him to produce something of Oscar award quality. Of course there were times when he wished he was the one who was pampered in the videos instead ( oh but who wouldn’t? Given Freda’s assets and ethereal looks, one could not help but drool over her), he always persevered from the beginning of the shoots to the end. Money was the only motivation in his life.

 

“Right then Kenden, when do we expect to see the finished product?” Toby, in a businesslike tone, casually asked.

“It won’t be too long, trust me. This year we didn’t have to do outdoor photography, so it should be fine. But I need the both of you to pick out some photographs for the covers though.”

“Oh you mean for Kelp Digest? Anyone with us grinning like monkeys will do. That’s what Dad wants anyway. A public display of affection.”

Freda gave him the death stare. How many times does he have to be reminded that some things are not meant to be said out loud?

 

Kenden shrugged. “Well, I’ll come by sometime on the 15^th, and hopefully we can sort something out. Olive says we need to finalise everything by the end of this month before they send it for printing.

 

“Whatever.”

 

Toby swallows the food instantly and wipes his mouth. He took a glance at his watch and exclaims: “Oh! I am going to be late. See you later tonight hon. I have to go now.”

And he grabs his briefcase.

“Kenden, I’ll leave you here then. Freda’s going to be around today so you can like.. work out the details with her. I got to go.

 

On his way out he threw a stack of papers into Freda’s face.

 

“By the way, have a look at the pre-nup I drafted ok?” he shouted as his banged the door close.

“Pre-Nup?”

Freda stood rooted on the spot as she flipped through the pages and pages of words, none of which made much sense.

 

Kenden sighed as he cleared up his equipment.

 

“Honestly Freda, I don’t know how you can stand him. Its been five years.. each year the both of you do the same thing. Last year it was dinner at Ivy’s/ The year before that you were both at Legoland Windsor. Does it not bother you that you are engaged to a man who doesn’t love you at all?”

 

Freda smiled. “Ken, I don’t have a choice. You know that. You’ve worked with us for so many years. You ask the same question every year. And you know that every year, the answer will be the same. As long as our families are strategic alliances, there is no way I am going to run away from all this. It may be crap to you but at least, this mere façade is keeping the legend of the two empires alive. It gives people hope. And it keeps the stock market alive. That’s all I need to know.”

She had trained herself to answer without a hint of doubt, whenever she was questioned by close friends on her engagement to Toby. Putting on an act was the least she could do now. Her father had left behind a legacy of bad debts hidden behind a good name. And Toby’s father was responsible for keeping that good name alive. She was the price that her father had to pay.

 

She called her friend, Hillary.

 

“Hiya. I need a favour.”

 

“Sure, shoot away!”

 

“I’ve been thinking… perhaps I should rent out the spare room in my house. Toby’s hardly around, and I could do with some company.”

 

“Well… I do have somebody whose looking for a room. A music student. Young girl, in her early twenties. What do you say?”

 

“Cool. I’ll be around today. Why don’t you ask her to come over then. We could grab a drink later.”

 

“Sure. Call me after the viewing then.”

 

Lynette was overjoyed that she could view a room. Never did she expect to get a reply that soon…

She looked in awe at the apartment before her. It was beautiful.

Gingerly she went up to the door and pressed the doorbell. She was greeted by a lady so beautiful, she thought she had knocked on the doors of heaven.

“Errr… Miss Fred,.. I mean Freda Gee?”

 

“Yes, Its Freda Gee, not Fred. You must be Lynette. Come on in.”

 

Lynette looked around the apartment with great interest. It was very tastefully decorated, with cream coloured drapes for the windows, white leather sofas, a Victorian style armchair and most importantly, a Wagner piano.

 

“You play the piano Fred? I mean Miss Gee?”

 

Freda looked at her sharply.

 

“Yes I do actually. This was an engagement gift. You may only touch it with my permission.”

 

Lynette gulped. Had she entered the Ice Queen’s chambers?

 

Following Freda, they entered a smaller room, with a single bed, a wardrobe and a working desk.

 

“This will be your room. You are not allowed to refurnish this room as I will not tolerate banging on the walls. Duvets and pillows will be provided. There will be a separate meter in your room so that I can monitor electricity usage, which of course will be borne by you. Any questions?”

 

“Errmm..”

 

“No? Good. Let’s go to the kitchen.”

 

“Now this is the kitchen. You can use everything here, provided that you wash up and dry everything. I won’t be cooking for you though, I assume you are capable of cooking yourself.”

 

“Yes Ma’am.”

 

Oh my God, this is the torture chambers. Should I even stay here?

 

And Freda turned around and smiled at her.

 

“I don’t like it when you call me Fred, but I think we’ll get along great. You don’t seem to be much of a talker. That’s good. You shall pay 1 month’s rental in advance.”

 

“But…”

 

“And,” Freda looked at her with a glint in her eye, “ If I like you enough, I might just let you play on my piano.

 

“Who else stays here?” Lynette finally managed to blurt out a sentence amidst Freda’s non-stop chatter.

 

“Oh. My fiancé. Toby. You may get to meet him, you may not. But that’s not important.”

 

“Oh, alright then.”

 

“You may move in tomorrow if you wish. Here is my phone. Go back and think about it. I shall be here tomorrow after 11am, when my classes are over. Remember to bring along the one month deposit with you.”

 

And before she could say anything else, Lynette was ushered to the front door where Freda slammed it shut right in front of her.

 

“What was that all about?” Lynette wondered to herself. Although…the wagner piano was very very tempting….

 

She started thinking…

Hmmm I won’t have to take the bus anymore, and I get a nice room. Plus, this lady is interesting. It’d be good to see what she’s really made of.”

 

As she walked on the streets, thinking of how she was going to dig the dark secrets of her landlady to be, she bumped head on into a man.

 

“Watch where you are going freak!” Lynette screamed.

 

And it was no other than Andrew, the freaky guy who touched her hair a few weeks back.

 

“You! Why do I keep on bumping into you? You’re a plague!”

 

“I am sorry . I really did not mean to bump..”

 

“JUST SHUT UP!”

 

And again she left in a huff, not realizing that she had dropped her umbrella in her haste.

 

Before Andrew could call her to give her her umbrella back, she had disappeared into the sea of people…

 

Andrew shrugged, took the umbrella with him and walked off.