It was a quiet Tuesday evening in my small, slightly cramped apartment kitchen, just after dinner when I decided to clean out under the oven. The drawer, smaller than I’d remembered, was oddly shaped and made of cold, unwelcoming metal.
Mark was in the living room, his presence a faint shadow in my peripheral vision. The clatter of his typing filled the space between us, a wall of sound that seemed to grow thicker with each tap of the keys.
I’d always assumed the drawer was for pots or pans, but I’d never opened it. Now, it felt like a mystery I needed to solve, an itch I couldn’t quite reach.
“Mark,” I called out, my voice barely cutting through the room, “have you ever thought about what’s in this drawer?”
He didn’t look up, just grunted. That was his style—noncommittal, dismissive.
I let the silence stretch, feeling its weight settle over my shoulders like a heavy blanket. His lack of response was a familiar refrain, one that spoke volumes without a single word.
The drawer nagged at me, a tiny rebellion against the mundane routine of my life. But it was more than that—it was a reflection of the widening gap between Mark and me.
Our living arrangement had become a delicate balance of avoidance and silent power plays. Mark had a way of asserting control over shared spaces, like the kitchen, without ever saying a word.
The tension had been building quietly—last week, he started locking the kitchen cabinet where I kept my spices; three days ago, he rearranged the furniture so that my chair in the common room was pushed to the corner.
Yesterday, he suddenly turned off the internet “to save bandwidth” without telling me. And tonight, when I asked again about the oven drawer, he just grunted and walked away.
Tomorrow, the landlord is coming over for a routine inspection, and I dread it. Mark promised to clean, but knowing how he operates, he probably ignored it.
I’m bracing for the inevitable awkwardness when the landlord points out the mess or something broken. I’m also avoiding another showdown with Mark, who I can tell is just waiting for me to pick a fight or complain.
Meanwhile, I keep glancing at that stubborn little drawer—the one thing I thought might be harmless but now feels like a symbol of everything I don’t understand and can’t control in this place.
And somehow, it’s about to get worse.
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