Jog, jog, jog....

       It was Saturday morning and Andrea began his regular morning jogging. He had worn his tracksuit and his kicks and set off early in the morning.

       Jogging on a road that so many people passed, yet feeling all alone. That was his regular feeling each day. Even when he walked.

     It was 7am and he was jogging back home from his destination which was always the pine tree planted along the way to the Cirisi, the lake that stopped right in front of the city. He had to jog to his destination and jog back to the house. He never joked with physical fitness.

     "What a fit body he has! He must be a very good player and will definitely do well in my team," a soccer coach said, "but I'm not taking chances with the lives of my team."

      "Look at that fair skin. He'd definitely be perfect for the soap opera," said a model, "but I'm not taking chances with my brand."

      "From the way those muscles move, this boy must be acquainted to regular exercise. He'd make a great body if I train him," said a gym instructor, "but I'm not gonna take such a risk with my life."

      "Those eyes... Those rippling muscles... Those biceps that flex themselves... That flat tommy... Those broad shoulders... Aaargh, he's definitely the type of guy I've been dreaming of," said a count's daughter, "but I can't mingle with him. I don't want his curse transfered to me."

       These were just a few compared to the number of people who talk about Andrea every morning. Going out to the streets in the day, he'd have more of those comments. He was used to hearing them and had trained himself not to care about what people say about him.

       He had done a lot of weird things when he was little till he got traumatized by the way people rejected him, most especially parents who took their children away whenever they found them playing with him. Those parents even went to the extent of warning their kids to stay away from him. As a little boy of three, Andrea was weighed down by all those spiteful acts of people towards him. He grew up not expecting love from anybody except his mum who was always ready to talk to him and his father who was busy on business trips trying to provide for the family.

      "Aaah... It's almost time for work!" he said as he looked at his wristwatch. The time was 7:24am.

       Andrea jogged faster and got back to the house.

       "Good morning, mum," he greeted his mum who was making breakfast in the kitchen as he passed the corridor.

Mrs Sylvia, Andrea's mum, was a nurse and she often had shifts in the morning. She was married to an archaeologist who rarely stayed at home. She could barely endure the loneliness from his regular absence, so most times she drank.

      "Good morning, Andrea!" she replied with a raised voice cause he had passed the corridor almost in an instant.

       Andrea ran into the bathroom and turned on the shower. The water drizzled down on his skin, washing away the sweats on his skin. He loved to bathe while the sweats were still on, just so they could be washed away by the shower. Leaving them to dry on their own made him feel like they had gone back into his body and that was irritating to him.

       After bathing, Andrea took his breakfast of sandwich and coffee and then mounted his bike and rode off to work. He had to take two turns left and pass through two districts before getting to his workplace.

      "You came so early!" his boss marvelled, "today's just for cleanup, so there's no need for the rush."

      "I just happened to get done with things at home real fast. I didn't have anything to do there and I didn't want to seat idle and bored at home," Andrea said.

     "We've been buying so much this week, barely sold something reasonable," his boss sighed.

     "I noticed that too! The market might be on our own side next week," Andrea said.

     "I just hope so," his boss said.

     He was really bothered about how he could make enough money to pay  Andrea's salary. He owed Andrea part of the previous month's salary and had promised to pay it together with the current month's.

       Andrea had earned the liking of his boss and that was why his boss was really bothered to pay him fully. He was the only person in the whole city willing to let someone like Andrea work with him. Other people were giving Andrea different excuses not to offer him a job, but Mr Chuck was different. He welcomed Andrea despite knowing the story behind his existence and that was why Andrea always puts in a hundred percent to make sure Mr Chuck's business was going well.