Seven

"A friend!" 

"Ah, it's just friends? Really, just a friend?" asked Cassandra. 

"Yeah, she's an old friend of mine."

"Oh yeah... what's a friend?" 

Marc turned his vehicle and stopped at the park near the gate of the housing estate. After parking his car, he stared at Cassandra with a questioning face.

"So you think that Ms. Viona and I have more than a friendship?" he asked. "And if our relationship is more than just friends, what's wrong with it?"

"Yeah, there's nothing wrong with it," Cassandra said. "But ...."

Cassandra halted her sentence. She was hesitant to reveal her feelings. She didn't like it when Marc had a relationship with a lecturer as annoying as Ms. Viona. 

"But why? Ms. Viona is beautiful, doesn't she match with your handsome uncle Marc?" 

"Who said you're handsome?"

"Ms. Viona," Marc replied quickly. 

Cassandra's eyes rounded up. She really didn't expect that her lecturer had even seduced her uncle. This time, the answer left her completely speechless.

Marc furrowed his forehead. He noticed the rapid change in Cassandra's expression. The cheerful face and spoiled voice suddenly became expressionless. 

"Why, is there something wrong?" Marc asked. 

"Nothing," Cassandra replied briefly while looking away from the window. 

Seeing his niece's change of mood, Marc lost his appetite for teasing her. He drove back to their home.

Cassandra immediately got off the car. The girl stepped quickly into the house, ignoring Marc's yelling. There was only one thing she wanted to do right now, shut herself in her room. She didn't want to see her uncle's face or imagine him and Ms. Viona making out.

Somehow Sandra's hunch clearly says that the relationship between the two is not just a friend. And that hunch made her feel uncomfortable. She even regretted asking Marc for help to solve her problem with Mrs. Viona.

"Sandra! Listen to me!" Marc shouted. His pair of legs moved quickly following Cassandra's steps. The tapping sound of his steps as he climbed the stairs could be heard in a fast rhythm.

"There's nothing to explain. From your body language, I can tell the extent of your relationship with Ms. Viona," Cassandra said. 

The girl stopped her steps and turned to stare at Marc in front of her bedroom door. "I know I'm just a snot-nosed kid who means nothing to you. And I realize that... Ms. Viona is much better than me." 

"Cassandra!" snapped Marc in exasperation. "What the hell are you saying? Do you think you can read my mind? Do you think you're a psychic who can understand without even listening to me?"

This time Cassandra was speechless. She stood stunned with uncertain feelings. Meanwhile, Marco stepped slowly closer to her. 

Marco flicked Cassandra's forehead. "Stupid girl! Who do you think is more precious than my niece?" 

Cassandra stroked her forehead, which was sore from the flick. Her lips twisted into a grimace, irritated. But she also felt like she was soaring to the heavens because of Marco's admission. 

"No matter how beautiful she is, to me you are my only pearl," Marco continued. 

"So... will you stay with me for the rest of your life?" she asked. 

"No," Marco replied. "I can't promise you that. But... I'll be there whenever you need me." 

Cassandra pulled the corners of her lips, framing a beautiful smile. 

***

That night was so rough for Cassandra. She was still struggling in front of her computer. Her eyes stared at the still-clean screen without a single word.

"Ah... I have no ideas at all," she lamented. "How's this? What do I write?" 

The girl pushed her keyboard away and rested her head on the table in frustration. She had been sitting at the computer for hours, but not a single topic for the language assignment came to mind. 

"Ah... maybe Uncle Marc has an acquaintance who used to do assignments like this." Cassandra snapped her fingers as if it was a great idea. The girl hurried up and looked for her uncle.

She knocked on his door without hesitation. "Uncle Marc," she called as she opened the knob of the door, which was unlocked. 

The sound of gurgling water could be heard from the bathroom. Through the icy glass, the silhouette of the man's body could be seen as he enjoyed the water pouring down from the shower. 

Instead of going back into her room, Cassandra waited for him. She approached the audio player in the room. Her hands searched for a disc of her favorite song and inserted it into the device. 

The soft sound of the music made Marc immediately turn off the shower faucet. Someone was in the room. He couldn't rashly just walk out of the small room that was already filled with water vapor. But … what if he hadn't brought a single piece of clothing to wear. 

Marc wrapped a towel around his waist. At least to cover up his intimate parts from his niece. He had to warn Cassandra not to just come into his room and ask her to wait outside.

Marc opened the bathroom door. That's when he saw Cassandra busy looking through the remaining items in his suitcase. And to his dismay, Cassandra was cradling a valuable item that he usually kept. It was his safety rubber. 

"What is this, it smells sweet, but how does it look like a balloon?" Cassandra innocently asked. 

Realizing that his possession was in his niece's hands made Marc suddenly nervous. He ran to grab the object that should be kept in a safe place.

"Sandra, next time don't carelessly enter my room," he said while inserting the safety rubber that had come out of the foil into the trash can. 

Sandra observes her uncle's behavior. "Well, how come you threw it away? It's chewing gum, right?" 

Marc tapped his forehead. "And one more thing, you are forbidden to touch my belongings in this room." 

"Huh! How stingy. That weird gum cost the most," she protested. 

Marc let out a sigh. He didn't want to continue the argument. The man turned and strode towards his wardrobe, still with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"What brings you here?" asked Marc. The man grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of shorts from his closet, before turning back to look at his niece. 

"Were you busy? I needs a little help," said the girl. 

"Help? What kind of favor?" asked Marc curiously. 

Hearing that challenging sentence, a big smile broke out on Cassandra's lips. 

"Come, Sandra wants to show you something!" said Cassandra.

Without caring that her uncle hadn't even put on his clothes, the girl grabbed his hand and pulled him into her own room. 

Marc, who thought Sandra was in trouble, couldn't refuse. The man obediently followed Cassandra's footsteps. 

He just realized when he was inside Cassandra's room. The room with the scent of jasmine in the typical style of today's teenage girls suddenly made his heart beat. 

Plus, he saw his niece's skimpy fashion style. As a normal man, his masculinity was immediately aroused. His shaft hardened beneath the white towel. 

"Uncle Marco! Please, make it for me. And, I will give you whatever you ask for.”