Page 5 of Genie's Boy
“Yes, sorry.” I spun around. “Why are you following me?”
He took his time and kept me on edge as a million reasons scattered through my brain. I was being watched and he was waiting for the opportune moment to collect me. I’d somehow pissed him off and he was waiting for me to make what would be my final mistake. Or he waited to pounce, attack his prey, and haul me off to his lair.
Why did that last option bring me so much enjoyment? And another round of counting to ten began…
“I wonder…” Genie paused and tapped his finger against the chipped tabletop. “If you could handle the truth.”
Gulp.
“Would you believe me if I said our running into each other was purely coincidental?”
I shook my head, there was no way. As it was, it had become a daily occurrence.
“I thought not. Well then, here's the truth, I only hope you can handle it.”
Mentally, I prepared myself for what was to come.Don’t show emotion, Raj, no matter what he says.
“I'm enamored by you. I've watched over you since your parents…” His voice stopped.
Our eyes met again. I didn't dare let my mind wander to that horrific event. I’d been young, yet there wasn't a day gone by that I didn't recall how their lifeless bodies were left there, purposely put on display by our morbid leader. It was more than I could bear.
“Let's just say, I've kept a keen eye on you and I’m never far from your side. I will always ensure you’re safe and taken care of.”
“That was you?” My mind darted to all the instances where things appeared over the years. Extra coins I knewI hadn't had and more blankets when I got cold. New clothes when I outgrew the old and food when the cupboards were bare.
“Because, my dear boy, I care a great deal for you. Probably more than I should, but I can't tell my heart how it should feel.”
Genie’s eyes never left mine as his deep words sank in. He bared his soul to me, yet I couldn’t grasp that another felt so deeply for me. And one I knew nothing about.
“How you feel? What do you mean? Like I'm the son you never had, or was it born from guilt? I don't understand.” My head dropped, my stuttered words choppy and incomplete. “Did you know my parents?” Some days it was harder than others to remember what they looked like, let alone hear any happy stories about them. I longed for that connection, but with no photographs it was hard.
Feeling loved wasn’t a concept I grasped. Very few took the time to so much as say hi to me. Most scoffed and made snide comments about my parents as they passed me by. No one spoke of how hard my parents had worked, sowing the fields for mere penance, taking on odds and ends jobs for those very same people who uttered unkind words about them. No, it only mattered that they’d broken the law, even though it was to keep their family alive.
“Guilt led me to you, but fate had other plans, it would seem. Trust me, I wish I could have prevented your parents’ deaths, but that unfortunately was out of my control. I spoke with them, your parents, before their execution and promised to keep you safe.”
“You spoke to them?” My legs weakened and I collapsed onto the bed as my mind replayed his words.
Maybe he was right, if he were indeed telling the truth, and it was more than I could handle. But I was willing to listen and judge for myself. My parents had been wonderful, loving members of this community.
Genie sighed. “I did, sweet boy, and know I have and always will keep my promise to them. Though I must confess, over time my feelings for you have strengthened as I watched you grow and become the man you are today. What once may have been meant as more of a guardian role has become much more. My feelings for you are those of a lover, knowing you’re the one I want beside me as we move through this life.”
Genie leaned forward and rested his face upon his hands. An action of a man I believed spoke the truth and feared my reaction to his words.
“What does any of this mean? I don’t understand.”
“That, my dear boy, depends on you.”
“This is too much, too fast.” My head spun. He’d sprung so much on me at an alarming speed I had no way to digest it. Did I find him attractive? Yes. Had I ever found another attractive or been attracted to them? No, but I also avoided eye contact when walking through the marketplace. But I wouldn’t deny there was something about Genie, though what it was, I had no clue. Possibly spending more time together would help, but wouldn't that be frowned upon? A member of the Maharajah's security with a commoner. Surely, that would never be allowed, especially with one who has a tainted past such as mine.
“There's much to show you and many things to share before we could even begin to consider anything between us. Things that will be hard for you to hear, let alone believe, but trust in this—I would never lie to you. I didn't lie when I told you the Maharajah didn't ask me to watch you, as he hadn't. I did so of my own choice.”
This was all too surreal. He used words like us, between talk of secrets. Not trusting, that I knew how to do. What Genie wanted was a far reach for me, but in my head, albeit faintly, I heard my mother’s voice pressing me to believe his words. For her, I would do anything.
“I'm drawn to you and no matter how hard I’ve tried to walk away from you, I can’t. It’s come to the point whereI refuse to fight it any longer. I will always take care of you, but I cannot force you to feel the same way as I do. Though I hope in time you'll learn to love me as I do you.”
“You-you—” I shook my head to clear the stutter. “You love me? You don't even know me.”
Shunned. That action I was familiar with. Love and attraction, neither of those had crossed my mind, nor did I have a single clue how to react to them.
