Love’s Gamble

“I’m not trying to say anything,” said Ken in the same even and quiet tone of voice. He was looking at her intensely, and Freema was confused for she saw absolutely no sign of malice in his eyes. What was he playing at? What was his game here? What was he trying to do? For the life of her, she simply couldn’t tell what was going on right now. He seemed to be making a power play, at least in her eyes, but it didn’t seem that way from the way he was looking at her. In his eyes she saw only genuineness. In his eyes she saw only kindness, and this confused and unsettled her for it was something that she was not at all used to getting.

“I’m guessing this means that you do not have anywhere else to go,” said Ken. Freema was silent. She was sure that he was just torturing her, that he was just rubbing it in that he was her only hope for now. She didn’t know that he was genuinely concerned, because that was just the kind of person that Ken was. He always wanted the other person to know that he cared about them, he always wanted the other person to be comfortable and get what they wanted.

“Alright,” said Ken. “You guys can use my basement.”

Freema was once again taken aback. She had been expecting him to squeeze her some more, make her feel like he was doing her a real favor. She had expected him to haggle a bit more, make her give him a bigger cut just like the Kim’s had. She had not at all, however, expected him to agree to these terms and conditions so readily. He could have gotten ten percent easily. The Kims had managed to get twelve percent from them. He was settling for five percent, and maybe that was because he wasn’t smart enough to know any better but Freema was starting to feel that there was something different about this man. She was starting to feel like he had a lot more to offer than he let on.

“That’s it?” asked Freema. “That’s all?”

“Yes,” said Ken. “Just let me know what time you are going to start and what time you will finish. I will come down and collect my cut and you guys can be on your way. It’s as simple as that, doesn’t have to get any more complicated.”

“That’s… thank you,” said Freema, and she suddenly realized what she had just said. She never thanked people. It was not because she was ungrateful, it was because she was the type of person that did not know how to express herself properly. She just didn’t know how to say the words that other people managed to speak so easily and so clearly. She didn’t know how to express any positive emotions, because she had had to toughen up from such a young age. And yet, with Ken she did not need to think of that at all. She had not felt the need to change the way she felt or the way she spoke. She thanked him in the same voice that she said everything else, she was still the same person. She just felt like she was… more able of expressing herself somehow. She felt like she was more comfortable in front of Ken, which was odd considering she had literally just met the guy.

“Do not worry about it,” smiled Ken. “Now, if you do not mind, it’s quite late and I am going to have to get home if I want to catch the late movie. They are showing the Titanic tonight, one of my favorite movies!”

Freema stepped out of Ken’s way and he walked by, humming as he moved. She looked at him with a rather bemused expression. She had never seen someone so… gentle. Someone so emotional and yet simultaneously so comfortable with all of the emotions that they felt. She had never known anyone to be so kind, or to at least suggest kindness so strongly with each and every thing that they did. She felt like she was looking at a character out of a story book.

He turned around before exiting, saying, “You guys lock up the basement. I know that you are not going to steal anything, because you know that I will call the police if you do. And I know all of your faces.”

He smiled at her again and then left. Freema burst out laughing. Even when he threatened people he was so peaceable, so… nice. She put her hands in her pockets, thought about his parting words, chuckled a bit more and then headed down. There was going to be a lot more gambling that would go on tonight, and she had a feeling that she was going to win big. She felt like things might just end up working out after all.