She walked around the kitchen, cleaning up from the light lunch she and her boyfriend had. The light from the large subtly stained windows in the sitting room illuminated the monochromatic grey kitchen in a very eye catching way, turning the grey walls into flashes of light pink and blue which made Marina stare on multiple occasions. She was about to go into a daze, watching the light dance upon the walls once again, when Naveen spoke up from across the house. "Um, babe?"
"Yeah?" Marina asked, snapping out of her small daydream.
"You know that boy, the blond one?" She watched as Naveen approached the kitchen, sticking his head into the doorway hesitantly, as if Marina might lash out.
"Yes… What about him?" Marina squinted her eyes questioningly, and Naveen scratched the back of his head, a small habit he did when he was nervous.
"He's back," Naveen stated, and ducked his head, like he was getting in trouble. "And he's taking your flowers again."
Marina suddenly understood why Naveen was so nervous. "Not the ones Ella brought me from Europe, right?"
"Those would be the ones." He grimaced, and Marina started jogging to the windows that gave a view of the front yard. Sure enough, the tall, blond boy was hunched over in her yard, taking only a few flowers, yes, but still taking flowers from her garden.
"Please don't yell at him! I hate it when you yell," Naveen called out as she whipped open the front door. Don't yell at him! Marina thought. She chuckled to herself, and continued outside. Sorry babe, I'm going to have to ignore you today.
"Hey!" She barked, and the boy jerked up and attempted to hide the flowers he had picked behind his back. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Uh, I was just, um, walking by, and I, uh, saw your garden." He paused to take a breath, and Marina finally stopped to take a look at the boy. His blue eyes were surrounded by puffy red skin, as if he had been crying recently. His clothes seemed carelessly thrown together and his posture drooping. Marina started to feel bad for the guy, until she remembered why she was out here. He was stealing her flowers, and this wasn't the first time. At least once a week she would find flowers missing, and a few weeks ago Marina had seen the boy running down the sidewalk. She almost caught him then, but he was fast and quickly lost her. This time, however, she caught him red-handed. He would not be getting away anytime soon.
"Okay, you saw my garden. Lots of people see my garden. You, however, have been taking flowers from my garden. Care to tell me why?"
"Um, well, uh," the boy stuttered, and avoided her glare.
"Maybe we should start with an easier question," Marina said slowly, talking like she would to a kindergartner. "What's your name." Her tone made it seem that she was stating the question, not asking.
"John. John Smith."
"Okay, so you can answer a question. Now, why have you been taking my flowers?" John looked away and scratched his neck, the same habit Naveen had when he got nervous. Marina didn't like having this boy have anything in common with her boyfriend, but she couldn't help making comparisons.
"For a girl," he replied hesitantly, giving off the feeling that he was holding back information. What Marina said next she hadn't planned on doing - it happened out of nowhere, but once she said it she felt it was a good idea.
"Okay, let's go see this girl."
She could hear Naveen suck in air from somewhere behind her. John's eyes widened, and Marina could see clearly they were brimmed with tears. Jeez, this guy does not like getting caught, Marina thought. "Wh-what?" He managed out.
"I said, let's go see this girl! I want to see this girl who deserves my beautiful flowers," Marina smiled sarcastically, and walked down the walkway, straight past him. "Well, I don't have all day! Where are we going, captain?" John stared at her in disbelief for a few moments, then walked to where she was standing and took a right.
"Uh, this way," John finally said, and the two of them left the walkway, and Naveen, behind.