4 Corners: Listen

Anton leaned in closer, his eyes piercing her, gauging her.

"Honestly!" She remarked, "I just...sorry! I shot the vid of myself. I know it was a stupid thing to do. But that was all."

The man leaned back in his chair, his hands sliding off the table. Maylene frowned. Looking at the phone she sighed dejectedly and said, "I was only having a bit of a laugh. I just wanted...I only meant to leave you my number."

Anton was totally relaxed now, draping his arms across the back of his side of the booth.

"I don't normally do daft stuff like that," she said softly.

"Because you're not a stalker," Anton spoke.

Maylene blinked. She looked up at him. Squinting slightly, she thought she might have seen the ebb of a smile on his lips. Or maybe he was picking at something in his teeth with his tongue. She couldn't tell.

"I really didn't go through your phone," she stated bluntly.

Anton nodded slowly.

"So who are you? James Bond with your secret files?" Maylene said, a bit of a sting in her voice.

Anton just turned his head and looked out the window.

Maylene frowned. This wasn't as much fun anymore. With her confession, the man seemed content to just sit placidly in his seat and look past her. At least when he was agitated, she knew he was thinking about her. Now he was just another brooding, good-looking mute.

She gulped down her lukewarm coffee and began to contemplate leaving.

"So you're an interior designer?" Anton asked still gazing out the window.

"What?"

"You said you're here studying interior design," he reiterated.

She was kind of shocked that he had paid attention to what she had said earlier. Moreover however, she was annoyed. Maylene shook her head and grimaced. "Yes, but I don't..."

"Come on," Anton said as he slid out from the booth. He walked past Maylene still seated in her chair.

Her small lips were ajar as she stared at the now vacant seat across from her. She craned her neck around and watched as Anton made his way towards the exit. It was her turn to fume as she sat in the booth alone.

He was mad if he was thinking she was going to follow him around all night like a lovesick puppy.

Absolutely. Mad.

*********

During the ten minutes that they drove around in his minivan, Maylene and Anton were again silent. She somehow twisted the logic enough in her head to pretend that she was giving him the silent treatment. Truthfully she knew he didn't really care if she had staples across her lips or if she were belting out a tune.

After awhile, he finally parked on the street in front of a convenience store, Wang's Milk and Gifts, and got out. Of course he wasn't going to say why they were there or tell her to either wait in the car or not. Grudgingly, she stepped out of the minivan and followed Anton as he entered the store.

"Bad boys! Bad boys! What'cha gonna do? What'cha gonna do when dey come for you!" the man behind the counter sang out as Anton walked in.

"Told you I'm not a cop, Jimmy Dean," Anton grunted as he approached the counter. He added, "Not a narc either."

The black, slim like a stick of butter storekeeper winked. "Jimmy's got your back, Kojak! I won't blow your cover, Secret AYYYgent Man!"

Anton sighed and shook his head. Maylene, standing by the door, thought she actually caught him with a reluctant grin.

"Hey, hey pretty lady!" Jimmy Dean waved towards her.

Maylene waved back playfully. It was nice to see a warm smile tonight.

"She under some witness protection program?" Jimmy Dean asked Anton. "She some righteous damsel and you're her bodyguard? Kevin Costner to her Whitney Houston?"

Anton smirked. "She doesn't need protection. Trust me."

Maylene chuckled.

Anton bought a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Nodding towards Jimmy Dean, he made his way to the front door. As he and Maylene made their way out, they both stopped when they heard Jimmy Dean sing out from behind, "And I-EE-YAY-EE-I will always love YOU-WU-OO-WOOO!!!!"

Anton pushed past Maylene as she sputtered and laughed into the night air.

"What was that?" she giggled.

Anton simply shrugged and sighed.

Maylene took a couple of seconds to compose herself, wiping a tear at the edge of her eye, then headed for the minivan. It took her a moment to realize Anton wasn't walking in the same direction. He had walked a few steps to a door leading into the building above the convenience store.

"Uh, where are you going?" she asked.

Thumbing towards the entrance way, he replied, "My apartment."

"Oh," Maylene said. She stood motionless on the sidewalk as Anton entered the building.

Once again, he had simply left her behind.

And once again, after a moment's pause, Maylene followed.

*********

Maylene followed behind Anton up the stairs slowly but not reluctantly. The apartment stairs and halls were a little dim but not dingy. It was a well-kept kind of classic style, she observed, with waxed wooden floors and handrail moldings.

Paying attention to the details of the building distracted her from thinking about why she was following a veritable stranger into his apartment. Yet she barely paused as he opened the door to his second floor apartment, #201, and followed him in silently.

Anton walked in, flipping on a lamp, and tossed his keys on a table.

Maylene took a few steps in from the door and shut it carefully behind her. She stood steady on her spot, rolling her eyes and tilting her head to take a look at the apartment. It was a surprisingly spacious single-room studio. The apartment complex was appropriately named "4 Corners" since all four corners of this flat were clearly visible.

"Not much into furniture, are we?" Maylene joked as she took off her coat. She noted the simple furnishings: table, couple of chairs, futon, and desk.

It looked like the set up of a man who could move on a moment's notice.

Anton stood with his back to her at the desk. He was sifting around the clutter, piles of electronic bits and equipment. Maylene recalled that he was in the surveillance business.

Dropping her bag and coat on a chair, Maylene did a quick self-guided tour of the apartment then joined Anton at the desk. She stood beside him, pursing her lips and puffing her cheeks waiting for some sort of comment from the man. He continued shuffling through his gear as if she wasn't there.

"No telee?" She asked, glancing around the room.

"Not into watching anything," Anton replied.

Maylene nodded. She pointed at his laptop. "At least you've got internet," she commented.

"Mostly use that for work."

"Oh right," she said, "You do security and surveillance at that guy Patrick's place."

"And other places," Anton added, "That's my day work. This stuff here is for my side jobs."

Maylene smiled. She finally found a topic he seemed willing to discuss. "Side jobs?" she said casting a playfully suspicious brow towards him, "The undercover sort? Are you up to no good?"

Anton was examining something that looked like a circuit-board. "Not me who's up to no good," he remarked dryly.

"Sounds dangerous," Maylene remarked, "Sure you're not James Bond?"

Anton remained silent.

Maylene grinned. Now this was interesting. "So then," she nodded towards his computer, "You've got some juicy stuff on this?"

The man smirked. "Not unless I want people to find out what I'm doing," he said, "I test equipment on this."

"Oh," she replied. Her enthusiasm dropped.

Anton paused and looked at the young woman staring aimlessly at the clutter on his desk. He put down the board and walked over to the fridge. With two cans of beer in hand, he returned to the desk. He popped them open and offered one to Maylene.

"Thanks," she said.

After a long sip, Anton turned to his computer and typed something into the keyboard. The screen remained static, a small number displaying on the top left corner of a window, but sounds began to play through the speakers.

Maylene swallowed then tilted her head as she listened. She heard voices: a man, a woman, and in the background maybe something from a television or stereo judging from the tinny sound.

She grimaced and pointed at the computer. "Is that...is somebody talking right now?" she asked.

Anton was staring at the screen. His head bobbed up and down.

"This is from a mic in a room somewhere?" she said trying to clarify.

A hint of a smile curled on Anton's lips.

Maylene listened with an incredulous look on her face. The conversation she heard was innocuous enough, nothing seedy like a drug deal or such. Yet it was obvious that the people in the room weren't aware that they were being listened in upon.

"Who are these people?" she finally asked.

"Apartment 302," Anton replied, "Upstairs."

Maylene's mouth dropped. She wasn't sure what answer she had been expecting. Certainly it wasn't that one, however.

"You've bugged your neighbours?" she asked, amazed, "Why? What are they up to?"

"Mostly watching porn videos from the sounds of it," Anton replied.

Maylene blinked. She allowed a moment to think about her next question then asked, "Are they doing something illegal?"

Anton shook his head.

"Are you doing a private investigation? Did somebody pay you? Is it like a wife cheating on her husband?"

Anton continued to shake his head.

"Then why...?"

"Just to test some equipment," Anton said bluntly. He tapped the F7 key. The window on the screen which had been displaying the number 302 now switched to 401.

Maylene listened. Again voices came through on the speakers, but different from the previous ones. Music was playing in the background as voices talked about things like 'positions' and 'holds' and 'watching your lines'. They were breathing heavily as if they were in the middle of a workout. She could also hear footfalls like they were briskly moving across the floors.

She pointed at the screen again. "Don't tell me that's another apartment, then?" she asked.

"401," Anton acknowledged. He tapped the key again. "402."

Maylene heard a soft female voice, almost child-like, humming a tune. There were the sounds of skittering on wooden floors, then a couple of quick barks -- a dog.

"Oh my god," Maylene covered her mouth, everything finally sinking in. "You've wire tapped the entire building? All the apartments?"

Anton drank deeply from his can.

"How did you...they don't know? Is this legal?" she asked, looking up at him. Her amazement didn't stop her from asking the obvious.

The man didn't bother to answer.

Maylene stared at the screen, her dark eyes wide. "This..." she thought to herself, "...is so very cool."

As the sounds filled her head, she thought of the possibilities, the fun, the illicitness, of eavesdropping. It made her giddy. The thought of Anton sitting here by alone, listening intently, privy to possibly private conversations and intimate moments was also intriguing.

"Any video?" she asked, barely able to contain her excitement.

Shaking his head, Anton replied, "Just sound. I listen. That's all I do."

"Ah." Maylene said.

Anton could see her enthusiasm waning a bit again. "There's a lot you can figure out from just listening," he said.

She looked up at the man. He was staring intently at the computer. She thought she saw the ebb of a pleased smile on his lips. She was hearing the same sounds he was hearing yet it was so obvious he was getting much more out of them. Leaning closer to the screen, her face glowing from the light, she asked, "Have you ever caught someone being...you know...naughty?"

Anton also moved closer towards the screen, brushing up against her. "Mm-hmm," he replied, "I have."

"Wow," she said softly, smiling crookedly. Her heart felt a little weak when he spoke. She was curious about what he heard.

"Lots of heavy breathing, raspy and quick," he said as if reading her mind. He spoke with a smooth deep voice, "Bodies coming together. Different gasps and moans...everyone sounds different, like a signature. It's amazing how much people talk while they're..."

"Having a bit of kit?" Maylene broke in with a hushed voice.

Anton smirked. "I was going to say something else, but yeah," he said.

Blinking at the screen, Maylene turned her head. Her eyes widened when she realized Anton was looking back at her -- a cool, stoic expression on his face. She suddenly noticed how close he was, his arm up against hers. She watched as his green eyes scanned her face from her eyes, down to her mouth and then back up again. Her lips quivered apart slightly as she felt her nerves race. Now she was fully aware of where she was, who she was with...how damn hot this mysterious man made her.

"So...we good? You want to get started?" Anton asked.

She hadn't been expecting this...at least not so quickly. Not after the curious time they had spent together so far this night. Yet, as she looked at his serious and handsome face, she couldn't find it in her voice to say "no".

"Wh-what?" Maylene replied dreamily.

Her lips drifted towards his as if pulled in by a magnet.

A loud digital ring filled the air. Immediately, Anton stepped away from Maylene and pulled out his cell phone leaving the young woman frozen and staring across to the corner of the desk.

"Yeah," he spoke into the handset, "What are they up to?"

The words didn't register with Maylene. Like some lounge room statuette, she remained bent over on the desk, blinking. What was she about to do just now and why the hell wasn't she doing it?

Anton droned a few more short sentences to the party on the other end before saying "Okay. 20 minutes."

As he pocketed his phone and reached for his jacket, Maylene finally shook her head and stood away from the desk. "You're going?" she asked.

"Got to check on a job."

Maylene looked around the room anxiously. She pointed to his computer and said, "What about this? Uh...wait. Should I go with you?"

Anton adjusted his collar and shrugged. "You can stay if you want," he replied.

"I...but..."

"I gotta go," he said and he strode out the door leaving the young woman standing alone in his apartment.

The voices from the computer continued to flow through the room. She didn't hear them.

As Anton made his way down the stairs, he paused and looked back up to his apartment. His face softened as he grinned, then turned and exited the building.

*********

"He just left?" Genevieve asked as she leaned over the empty glasses on the pub table.

Maylene pouted her lower lip and nodded.

"So what did you do?"

"Nothing," the Chinese woman shrugged, "I just stood there for a few minutes then left."

Genevieve rolled her eyes. It was as if she was expecting Maylene to say that she had trashed the place.

Maylene thought about how odd the whole night turned out. She should have been pissed that she had to take a cab back home after she left Anton's place, but she wasn't. That was the least troublesome thought she had to contend with.

First she had to face her friends and explain to them why she had just up and left them that night. She managed to quell their annoyance when they found out she left with a man. Not any man, either. The man -- cool, quiet Anton. They immediately wheedled her for more details, as explicit as possible right down to whose name she cried out more that night: Anton's or God's.

The only way to convince them that nothing happened was to explain the weird details of the entire night. She was a little surprised by her friends' aloof reaction to Anton's informal surveillance setup. Unless she had caught someone in the throes of ecstasy, they didn't really seem to care.

Her 15 minutes of fame used up for the evening, Maylene had time to sit back, chug her beer and think about Anton.

"He hasn't called you since?" Genevieve asked.

Maylene shook her head.

"Why don't you call him?"

"I don't know his number," Maylene said, "It's blocked."

"Bastard," her friend clucked her tongue.

"A right bastard," Maylene concurred.

"Fuck him and all his faux Mr.Coolness," Genevieve spat, "You can do better!"

"God yes!" she declared.

"We'll find you a nice guy!"

"A nice..." Maylene sighed, "Yeah, a nice guy."

Suddenly her head was tilted low and staring into her glass again. She thought about the night over and over. There was one particular moment...Anton seemed almost glad to tell someone about what he was doing. That someone was her.

Not that it really meant anything. From what she gathered, a possible reason he hadn't called again was that he could have just packed up his things and left the city altogether. He had that certain vibe about him. Any moment could be the last time she saw him.

Lost in thought, it took two sharp nudges against her arm from Genevieve to look up from her drink.

Maylene rubbed her arm and said, "Ow! What the bloody...?"

A little unbalanced from her imbibing, Maylene scanned the table with droopy eyes. Everyone was silent and looking up in one direction. She squinted and turned her head. Her eyes widened.

"Anton."

The man in the leather coat loomed over the table in front of her. He squinted back.

The shock dispelled the effects of the beer pretty quickly as Maylene sat up in her chair and tried to compose herself. First she had to swallow her heart as it thumped up her throat before she could speak.

"Ah, Anton!" she blurted, "What are you...? I haven't...uh...do you want to sit? These are...um...these are my friends."

The other people around the table shifted their glances between Anton and Maylene but said nothing. Anton's attention never waivered from her, though.

He reached into his coat pocket then held out his hand in a clenched fist.

"Uh," Maylene eked as she held out her hand. She watched as he dropped a key onto her palm. Taking a moment to examine it, she looked up and asked, "What's this?"

"You're going to do some redesign of my place?" he asked, "That's why I had you come over the other night, right?"

Maylene looked at each of her friends around the table. Their lips were sealed. She was on her own here.

"Come by tomorrow," he added, "Can't say when I'll be there but if I'm not, just let yourself in."

"But," Maylene spoke slowly, still taken aback, "Aren't you concerned about your stuff?"

Anton smirked. "Why? Are you going to steal my things?"

"No, I'm not going to steal...," Maylene felt herself rising out of her seat and stopped herself. Was he actually kidding with her?

"Go ahead and help yourself," he said with a shrug. Then he turned and walked off.

Maylene watched him leave the pub then frowned at the little key resting in her palm. She looked up hesitantly. Her friends were all staring back, different levels of bemusement on their faces.

"Um...I'm not...I'm not gonna steal his stuff," she said softly as she looked away. She was sure her face looked like a ripe tomato right at that moment.

*********

Maylene stood outside the front entrance to the 4 Corners residences. A chilly gust of autumn air blew her long black hair across her face and she had to sweep it away from her mouth a few times. She had been pacing back and forth in front of the door for about 5 minutes lugging her school bag and portfolio with her. Now standing motionless for a moment, she took a deep sigh and moved hesitantly towards the door.

"Coming in?" A female voice chirped off to her side.

Maylene blinked and turned her head. She looked at a diminutive Asian woman, even shorter than she was. Maybe in her mid-30's, the small woman's apple cheeks rounded into form as she beamed a bunny-rabbit smile.

"I can get the door for you," the little woman in the white faux-fur short coat offered.

Maylene stepped to the side and nodded. As her head tilted downward, she finally noticed the miniature dog, a dour looking pug, straining at the leash the woman was holding. It had a polka-dot bow wrapped around its orange-sized head.