ROMANCE: Romantic Comedy: Love in 30 Days - The Best Plans Don't Always Work! (Plus 19 FREE Books Book 13) (62 page)

Today, the man was almost thirty and held the rank of Sergeant with a number of men under his commandment, fighting against rebels and insurgents in the rocky terrains of Afghanistan. It had been almost two years since he had last visited his Motherland and the feeling inside him when Johan caught sight of his home was one that could not be put in words.

Chapter 3

Steve Walters looked up when he saw a cab pull up in front of the house. A man got down and stood there for a few seconds before starting to pull out a number of bags from the trunk. He was a little surprised for the man was not used to getting visitors. He put down the potted Bonsai he was tending to in his front yard and walked towards the main gate. The stranger had paid the cab driver who was pulling away with his vehicle, and was now preparing to enter the premises.

“Excuse me! May I help you?” Steve asked the man. He may have grown fifty-nine years old but there was a steely toughness about him.

“Oh sure, I could really do with some help here!” the man replied with a glee in his voice. “Boy, these bags are heavy.”

“Who are you? And why would you want me to help you with your bags?”

The man looked at him with a crestfallen expression on his face. “Eh? What are you talking about?”

“You heard me!” Steve almost growled.

“Dad! Can you quit fooling around now?” Johan asked, removing the dark shades he was wearing. “I told you I would be coming home today, remember?”

“Golly, no wonder you looked all too familiar!” his father said with a mix of embarrassment and surprise in his voice. “Of course I do remember, but…anyhow, forget it now! Come and give your old man a hug,” he said and embraced his son.

“I guess this is what happens when you don’t come home for almost two years,” Johan said and the two of them had a good laugh about the incident.

Steve helped his son move in to his room with all thebags and cases that he had brought along. It had been twenty one months since he had last held his son in his arms and it was a pretty amazing feeling for him to have Johan back in the house. The old man had given up his business dealings for quite some time now, unable to deal with the stress of the long-haul tours he often had to make to meet with prospective clients. Besides, his son had also insisted upon him staying at home and looking after his weakening health. “You have done your bit to support the family. I guess it is time for me to take up the reigns,” he had informed his father.

Instead, Steve had found a new hobby – gardening. There large property did not have a dearth of green open space and he had turned the front yard into his own private garden. In his spare time Steve would tend to the plants here and cherish their fulfilling presence in an otherwise empty life.

“Dinner will be ready in an hour,” he announced to his son who was busy unpacking his belongings. “Freshen up and come down, we can talk at the table.”

“Sure thing dad,” Johan remarked as he walked off towards the washroom with his towel and a fresh set of clothes to change into.

Soon he was with his father in their downstairs kitchen, enjoying a hearty meal of pork sausages, fresh salad, and cheese and smoked salmon sandwiches.

Steve Walters watched on as his son attacked the simple meal that he had prepared with gusto. From his behavior, he could well make out that the young man had not had a decent meal during his time in the war-torn country. “Life must be hard in Afghanistan right now?” he asked.

“Ummphh!” Johan gave a grunt in reply as he munched on a piece of celery.

“It’s quite evident the way you are eating!” his father said with a laugh. “Have some more, you really have lost a good deal of weight in all this time that you have been away.”

“Thank you dad!” the young soldier said as he helped himself to another sandwich and serving of pork sausages. “How have you been? And how is your gardening going?”

“I have been just the way you last saw me, son,” Steve replied. “As for the gardening, a marigold plant died last month in the frost and has been replaced with another marigold plant. That’s about all the update I have. I guess there is a lot for me to hear about you and your life in the East.”

“Hmm…”

“Have you planned about what you are going to do on your vacation? I take it your friends know of your visit and won’t be letting you sit around at home all day!”

“Yeah dad it will be the usual thing with the guys you know! Party hard, enjoy harder. And maybe get lucky with some chicks for a few nights.” Johan and Steve had a very friendly relation between them and Walters Junior was never scared to indulge in such loose talk with his father.

“May the Almighty be with you son!” his father said and made a blessing gesture towards him.

The father-son duo had a long conversation at the dinner table and before they knew it, the clock had struck ten. “Gosh, it’s night already! How time flies eh Johan?” Steve said. “I bet you are tired and would like to turn in for the day. Good night then, see you in the morning.”

“Aren’t you going to sleep as well?” his son asked.

“I’ll just stay up a little longer and finish this book I have been reading.”

“Okay, see you then,” Johan said and headed off towards his room. Just then his father called him. “Oh son, I almost forgot to ask! How long is your vacation this time round?”

“Ten weeks! Why?”

“Oh no reason, just asking!”

Chapter 4

A couple of weeks passed as Johan slowly settled back into his life in New York. His father was pleased to be in the company of his son once more and insisted on treating him to new delicacies every day. Little did the military Sergeant know that in his absence, Steve had picked up yet another hobby – that of wrecking havoc on the gastronomic system!

The Sergeant never protested to being pampered by his father, even though it was coming in after all these years. He had craved for this kind of attention way back in his childhood, a period that was slowly turning into a distant memory for him. Nevertheless, Johan felt that it was better late than never and bathed in all the love being showered upon his adult being.

As had been his plan all along, Johan had informed his friends of his homecoming; rather, they had picked up that snippet of information from his posts on one of the popular social networking platforms. They were the same friends he had made during his early days in college. Though he had moved out and joined the military training institute, their friendship had remained. The gang was more than pleased to know of his return back to the country after a gap of almost two years – for them the wait had almost seemed like an eternity!

Christmas was just a couple of days away when Johan received a call from Matt, his best friend in college. Matt Ryan was an assistant manager at one of the finance houses on Wall Street and a very busy man. So he was a little surprised to get a call from him.

“Hey Matty boy! How’ve you been?” Johan said, answering the call.

“As good as these bloodsuckers at office allow me to stay!” Matt said with a sigh. “Anyhow, leave all that aside right now. It is Christmas time and I hope you don’t have any plans?”

“So far as I know, I am staying home with dad! Is anything cooking up with you and the boys?”

“Just the usual, night at the Reindeer Bar! The four of us guys…” Matt said and tailed off his last words to create an air of suspense.

“What about the girls?” Johan asked. Christmas never seemed fun without having a girl to get laid in bed for the night.

“Some lucky bird this time round,” his friend answered with the sarcasm clear in his voice. “When do I pick you up?”

“Your call!”

“Will nine after dark be fine?”

“Sure! See you then. Oh and by the way…dress code?”

Matt gave a snigger. “Don’t act stupid serge! Anything that comes off easy, you know that,” he said and cut off the call.

That evening, Johan informed his father of his plans to hang out with his friends. “Oh, no worries son! It’s Christmas and I think you have every right to enjoy. Go out there and revel in the Yuletide spirit. And yes,” his father continued with a wink, “Don’t come home until you get laid!”

Chapter 5

Matt was his usual punctual best, arriving just after the clock had struck nine. He was dressed in a black woolen t-shirt with a brown jacket casually thrown on top. His hair was done up in its usual mop style and he wore some fancy glasses to complete his ‘funky’ look. Matt was always the one in college who stood out for his weird fashion sense. Johan would always wonder how he managed to carry himself through this way in his professional life.

“Sergeant Walters!” Matt said and gave Johan a mock salute as he walked out to the car. “Your tank is ready! Let’s go out to war.”

“Shut up you old fool,” Johan said as he got into the car. “Else I’ll make sure you get blown up by a hand grenade!”

“Oohhh….I’m scared! Do you people really blow up civilians?” he asked mockingly.

“Can you please start this damn thing and drive?” Johan asked, a little irritated with his friend’s childish attitude and eager to dive into the festive mood.

“Okay okay, let’s save you a hand grenade!” Matt said as he powered up the engine and drove off. They rode through the relatively dense evening traffic and reached the Reindeer Bar after around half an hour. The third member of their group, Noel Martins, was already present and waiting for them. There were a couple of girls with him whom Johan had never seen before.

“Hey Serge Walters, great to see you out here man!” he began as he spotted Johan and Matt entering the place. The two of them walked up to Noel and embraced him. “Been a long while, eh? How’s the old boy been?” he asked addressing the military man.

“Just about keeping body and soul together in Afghanistan,” he said. Then he turned towards the girls who were eyeing him with a ravishing look in their eyes. “And who are these wonderful ladies may I ask?”

Noel looked at them. “Them? Well this one here is Anna and this is Jesse. We go back a long way and you can regard them as your Christmas present!” he winked. Noel was the ‘supplier’ as the guys called him in college. He always seemed to find a girl to hook up with a guy though he always maintained that he was “above getting into something as trivial as a relationship.”

“You work with them you say?” Matt asked. “Hmm, interesting! The last I remember, you were getting kicked out of your job at the Walmart store.”

“That was six months back,” Noel retorted. “I have got another job. Besides, what do you care?”

Johan stepped in. “Cut it the two of you! It is Christmas night and look at the two of you fighting like little kids.”

Soon, the group was chatting among themselves, catching up on all the interesting things they had gone through in life over the last couple of years. To be precise, it was the men who were doing all the talking while the two girls simply sat around and downed one drink after another. They wore a bored expression on their faces and it did not look like they were enjoying their time very much. The men on the other hand seemed to be totally ignorant of their presence and carried on in their own world.

Finally, one of them decided to speak up. “Guys are you planning to just chat through the whole night or are we going to do something else as well?”

“Yeah I’m bored,” the other one said. Then she looked at Johan with a flirty look in her eyes. “And I bet the little soldier here is craving for attention just as much,” she said, rubbing her hands over his crotch.

He was taken aback by her straightforward behavior. “Noel, who exactly are these women?”

“Ah, Johan just forget it! You want to enjoy the night don’t you?” he asked, trying to change the context.

“Yeah but where –,”

“I have booked us a couple of rooms at the back. Jesse, do you mind taking our Sergeant along with you?”

“No problem! Come on big daddy, it’s time for my big Christmas present,” Jesse said as she lured Johan down a shady corridor towards the back of the bar. There were a number of doors on either side of the corridor and every one of them was closed. The military man thought he could hear screams and moans coming from the inside but he was not at all bothered. He wanted to enjoy himself and enjoy was what this unknown woman was taking him to do.

They entered a small room at the far end of the passage and Jesse immediately shut the door. It was a shabby looking place and had no more than a simple double bed in the middle of the room. There was a small sofa on one side and a table stood beside it. The place was pretty warm thanks to being connected to the central heating system.