After finally managing to calm his feelings and instincts down, Victor grabbed the doorknob, thinking about the nice hot shower he would enjoy soon, but the second he opened the door, a gust of morning cold air came rushing toward him.
"Urgh! It's cold!" Victor groaned, involuntarily crossing his hands against each other before quickly stepping inside and turning on the switch nearby. The ventilation fan made a soft hum, and the bathroom lit up.
Huumm Huuumm
"Let's hope I didn't drop the soap in the shower last night," he jokingly said, heading to the sink, trying to adapt himself to the morning cold as much as he could by doing light stretches.
As Victor took his shirt, he casually glanced at the neatly folded towels on the rack and a couple of skincare products on the sink before noticing an empty face mask packet beside the sink. "Hmmm?"
"Oh! Right, I forgot," Victor blurted out. He just remembered that it was the last pack he had forgotten to throw from yesterday, and as he picked that empty face mask and threw it into the trash can, Victor quickly made a mental note in his mind. "Note to self: Remember to add Aloe Vera Face masks into next week's shopping list."
After fully undressing himself, Victor then casually tossed his clothes into a laundry hamper located in between the rack and sink while uttering, "He shoots and…"
"He scoresssss," He yells, celebrating with an air fist pump, seeing that all his clothes successfully landed into the laundry hamper in a single throw before immediately walking toward the shower.
Standing near the shower, he immediately grabbed the shower knob and turned the water on at full volume. As steam began to rise gradually and envelop the shower with a warm embrace, Victor carefully tested the water temperature with his hand.
"Just a bit more," he uttered, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. He then carefully adjusted the water temperature until it reached the right temperature that he liked, and then he carefully yet gradually stepped into the hot shower.
"Ah, that's the stuff," Victor uttered, after letting out a low moan of relief as the tension in his muscles started to melt away due to the water cascading down his body. "A hot shower is really the best."
As he reached for the shelf in the shower, his fingers brushed against the familiar selection of cool shampoo bottles and body wash before he paused and picked up the sleek, lavender-scented body wash.
"Haha…" A soft chuckle soon escaped his lips.
"Lavender Fields," he murmured, reading the name on the bottle. For a moment, in his mind, he was transported back several years ago when the product was first introduced to him by her.
"Honey, are you serious?" A voice, unmistakably Amelia's, echoed in his memory. "You're telling me you've never used anything other than that generic stuff?"
"It cleans me, doesn't it?" He replied, rolling his eyes at the time. Shaking her head, Amelia retorted, "Barely, from what I can see."
"Hey!" Victor yelled as Amelia suddenly shoved him into the bathroom, almost causing him to lose his balance. As he turned around, Amelia thrust a lavender-scented body wash bottle into his hand and said, " Please try this instead of those cheap generics."
"You won't regret it. Trust me." Amelia confidently said, her eyes sparkling with amusement. Feeling sceptical, Victor eyed the shampoo bottle suspiciously, saying, "And what if I do regret it? The last time I trusted you, I almost had a tattoo that said 'anal' near my butt."
Victor winced, the memory of that disastrous tattoo experience still fresh in his mind, while Amelia burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. "You still remember that? You know damn well I was joking about that!"
"And besides, it was just a misunderstanding!" she gasped between chuckles. "It was supposed to be 'animal'! Remember? That tattoo artist was clearly drunk!"
It took a while, but she finally calmed down, wiping a tear from her eye, and said, "Okay, okay. I admit it was a bad idea at that time. But this lavender body wash is amazing—trust me on that. It smells incredible, and it leaves your body with an incredibly nice smell that will make you feel like a million bucks."
"And I hate to admit it, but you're right," He muttered, feeling a little nostalgic but quickly shaking his head, freeing himself from his reverie and said, "Enough with these sappy feelings"
After squeezing a generous amount of lavender body wash into his hand, he began to lather himself up after placing the soap, with suds gradually forming around his body.
"Like usual, what a nice scent," he blurted out, taking in the aroma, a soothing blend of lavender and something floral, filling the air and offering a pleasant contrast to the warm steam swirling around him. The tiled enclosure echoed with the sound of water droplets as he rinsed away the suds.
Next in line was the shampoo, its scent a harmonious blend of pine and citrus that filled the air with a fragrant freshness as he lathered his hair after Victor had grabbed the bottle and squeezed the right amount into his hand.
As he enjoyed the moment, he was suddenly startled when the water pressure suddenly dropped out of nowhere, and the hot stream turned lukewarm.
"Ugh, no! Not now!" he yelled, immediately switching the handle back and forth between hot and cold, trying to coax some heat back into the water. "This is the third time this happened this month!"
"Come on, people! work with me here!" He imagined someone downstairs taking a long shower, stealing all the hot water. "Share some of the wealth with me!"
Just like he had wished, a moment later, a scalding wave of water slammed into him.
Hisss~
"Oh, fuck!" he yelped, hopping back with his hands upward, shielding his face. "Geez! Fine! Guess lukewarm, it is then."
Despite that small mishap, Victor continued enjoying his blissful shower, and after a while, he reluctantly turned off the water.
"Oh, man," he uttered, shivering as he stepped out and quickly grabbed the nearby towel. "That was really refreshing."
While carefully wiping his hair and entire body, he relished the release of tension in his muscles but didn't expect to hear a satisfying pop coming from his body. "Huh...?"
"I didn't expect my body to be this stiff," Victor said, looking at himself while wrapping the towel around his waist. The damp cotton clung pleasantly to his skin, but soon, a slight inconvenience appeared. "My balls are so itchy right now."
Shuffling along the cool tile floor beneath his bare feet while lightly scratching his balls, he went toward the sink, and as he was about to reach for his toothbrush, his hand stopped midway in the air when he noticed a nearly empty toothpaste tube near it. "Huh…?"
"Oh right, I forgot to buy a new toothpaste tube," he muttered, picking up his toothbrush and the nearly empty toothpaste tube with both hands before giving the toothpaste tube a gentle squeeze. A meager dollop of white and green stripes soon emerged, barely enough for one last brush.
"Another note to self, add toothpaste to the damn shopping list," Victor sighed, making a mental note in his mind as he applied the meager amount of toothpaste as much as he could onto the brush head and threw the toothpaste tube into the trash can after making sure it was completely empty out.
"I should probably also buy a new toothbrush as well, considering that I've been using this one for almost two years now," he muttered, looking at the toothbrush before bringing it to his mouth and starting his usual routine while his internal monologue continued in his mind.
"In that case, maybe I should invest in an electric toothbrush," he mused, picturing those fancy models with all the bells and whistles while meticulously brushing each quadrant of his teeth. "But then I gotta deal with charging stations and replacement heads. Oh man, that would be a hassle."
Halfway through, he soon realised he was zoning out again and quickly shook his head while groaning, "Focus, you idiot."
"Stop daydreaming about the pros and cons of electric toothbrushes," he scolded himself before switching the direction of his brushing to the backs of his teeth, with the bristles scraping slightly against his gums, causing him to wince slightly.
"Gotta be gentle there," he muttered, involuntarily recalling that one time he had accidently brushed a little too hard. It didn't take long before he spat out the minty residue into the sink and rinsed his mouth, with the minty taste momentarily refreshing his sleep-addled brain. "That was refreshing."
"Now, for the finishing touch," Victor muttered, grabbing a small bottle of mouthwash and pouring a small amount into his mouth. After gargling and swirling the blue liquid a few times, he dramatically spit it out into the sink and rinsed his mouth once again.
Leaning toward the sink, he stared at the reflection of his teeth in the mirror, and a wide smile soon appeared on his lips. "A job well done."
However, his expression soon changed when he stared at his own face, especially at his damp and unruly hair that clung to his forehead, and the sleep lines etched around his eyes made him look rougher than usual.
"I think it is time to hold off with the alcohol for a while," Victor said, feeling a little complicated about his current appearance before glancing toward a fresh towel hanging beside the sink. Unlike the one used for his body, this one was a little smaller.
After grabbing it, Victor wrapped the small towel around his head and roughly rubbed the damp strands before tossing the wet towel onto the rack when he felt he had wiped his hair dry enough.
"Ugh, I'll deal with that later," he groaned, feeling a little lazy after seeing that the small towel landed haphazardly, snagged on a corner of another towel instead where he wanted before turning his sight toward mirror once again and a thought soon came into his mind as he fiddling a bit of his already mussed hair. "Yeah…"
"This messy mop on top definitely needs a trim," he muttered, running a hand through it with the damp strands clumped together, the ends looking split and unruly. "But not today. Maybe next weekend."
As a soft chuckle escaped his mouth, Victor approached the door, and as he turned the door open, a sudden jarring trill pierced the air, causing Victor to freeze on the spot.
"Huh? Who the hell is calling me this early?" Victor blurted, feeling confused as he quickly recognised the sound came from his own phone. "As far as I can remember, I have dealt with everything that needed to be done before my vacation."
With confusion in his mind, Victor pushed the door fully open and walked across the room. After picking up his phone, he stared at the screen and became instantly dumbfounded. It was an…unknown number?
"Who the hell is calling me?" He groaned, squinting his eyes against the phone screen with his brow furrowed. "And more importantly, how the hell did this bastard manage to gain my personal number?"
He hated random calls, especially ones that came on his personal number. He had a strict policy – his private number was a privilege, not a party favour, especially after that horrible incident.
"Who in the world has the balls to do it…" he muttered, pinching both sides of his nose with his voice beginning to rise in frustration. He reminded everyone he knew – his friends, his family, even the pizza place down the street with almost religious zeal that they needed to ask him first before casually handing it out.
Feeling the annoyance build up within him with each passing second, he quickly sat on the edge of his bed and rubbed his temple, trying to calm his emotions. "Fucking hell, what should I do now?"
To Be Continued