Juliette has always been uncomfortable around her landlord Ah Poh. A woman’s sixth sense tells her Poh is a pervert, a weird man that always feast his eyes on her body in a inappropriate manner. She just never expect to find out how perverted he really is.
My boyfriend James and I rents a room in Jurong right a stone throw away from the interchange.
We love the location, there’re food places nearby and everything we possibly need as a young couple is within easy reach. We’re both from Malaysia and being in close proximity to Jurong Interchange meant that on weekends that we want to head back to our hometown in Johore, it’s just a short bus ride away.
I work in retail, selling jewelry in one of those chain outlets. The basic pay is nothing to shout about but with commission, I can get almost 2k to 2.3k on most months.
During festive periods or valentine’s day, I might even hit the 3k mark for my take home pay.
I know this is not a lot compared to what the locals are getting but after converting them to RM, I am getting a lot compared to some of my friends who chose to work in Malaysia.
My boyfriend works in a production plant as a supervisor. He gets a stable 2.5k every month and his work place is just a 20 minutes bus ride away from where we stay.
We have our plans all worked out.
We’re going to work in Singapore for 5 years, save up enough money for a house back in Malaysia and start a small business back home.
It’s definitely doable and many of my cousins and relatives have done it before.
Since I work in retail, my off-days are usually during weekdays, James does shift work so his off days are not regular too. However, we still make it a point to try and plan our schedule together so our leaves coincide.
We do what all couples do during our rest days. We date, watch a movie, have sex and simply just chill at home sometimes.
Our room faces this large open field. There is always this nice cooling breeze coming into our bedroom since we’re on the top floor.
There is only one complain.
My landlord Ah Poh.
Poh makes me uncomfortable.
Poh is a 50 year old uncle who stays with us in the same flat. He takes the master bedroom with the attached bath, while James and I takes the common room.
We try to avoid the living area because Poh will always laze around on the sofa while topless.
He’s about the same height as my boyfriend, 1.65m but he’s got to be at least 1.5 times his weight.
I’m guessing he’s at least 90kg.
I don’t like the way Poh looks at me, especially the way his eyes linger on my body.
The jewelry store I work in has a work uniform requirement, and I always noticed Poh staring at my black stockings when I come home from work.
He would greet me when I enter but beneath that friendly hello, lies a perverted intent. I only have a pair of black work heels and I always bring it into the flat for fear of it getting stolen.
Upon reaching home, I will unlock the gate, step out of my heels and enter the flat. Then I will turn around and bend forward to pick up the heels from outside the gate. This ensures I don’t need to step onto the dusty corridor.
During this time, Poh will feast unbashful on my body while dressed in his old white singlet and those light blue grandfather shorts.
I will give an awkward smile to his greeting before quickly bringing my heels with me into the bedroom.
Poh’s eyes will track my every move, following my legs right up until I shut the room door.
I feel especially uncomfortable when it’s just me alone at home with Poh.
You may think all is over when I get into my room but it’s not. I still have to bath, brush my teeth, use the bathroom before I can safely retreat behind the lock doors of my room.
I will head to the bathroom in the kitchen and I could always see Poh’s head turn when I walk deeper to the back of the house.
The old aluminum door for the bathroom has so many possible peeping crevices that I don’t even know where to start covering. The space between the hinges and the door is at least 1.5cm wide. Then there is that 10 cm gap beneath the door.
Not to forget the door doesn’t go all the way up to the ceiling.
Bathing while alone with Poh is a stressful affair.
I need to quickly remove my clothes, my black panty hose, my lingerie. I set those aside as I lamented the low water pressure, making me spend longer than necessary in the toilet.
I barely had time to dry my hair properly after each shower. All I want to is to quickly get dressed.
And without fail, each time I came out of the shower, Poh will be in the kitchen milling about.
He will smile at me. It irks me that he is so close by while I shower.
He may have his own bathroom in the master bedroom but he always wants to use the toilet after I’m done. It’s like he wants to stand in the bathroom while surrounding himself with the scent from my freshly showered body.
I have told my boyfriend James about Poh’s behaviour many times but he brushes me off, saying that he’s just a old man.
All old men have a bit of peculiar behaviour.
“$550 rent for both of us, including utilities and internet. We get to use aircon as and when we want. Where to find this kind of deal?” James will always give the same reply.
I know where he is coming from, we can always move but the money can be better spent on our dream home and business back in Malaysia.
So I continued to bite the bullet and put up with Poh.
Then Covid happened.
It struck so suddenly that we didn’t know what to do.
James was laid off from his job while I was asked to stay home during the lockdown. My basic salary was cut in half and with zero sales, I got zero commission.
James immediately pivoted and took up food delivery, leaving me alone at home with Poh.
I keep myself locked in the room most of the time, leaving only to get food.
I thought we will be able to ride pass this difficult time but things got worse.
James fell off his bicycle and fractured his hand and foot.
Then Poh decided to raise the rent at the same time.
We were hit by this triple whammy of rent, hospitalization bill and having next to zero income.
The pressure build up and I find myself crying in the room one evening after visiting James in the hospital.
Suddenly, my sobbing was disrupted by a knock on the door.
Wiping my tears dry, I opened the door to see Poh holding onto my bra.
He was rubbing the bra cups in between his fingers as he gave me his signature perverted smile.
“Juliette… you bra…dropped downstairs… the wind blow…” Poh said.
I was too shocked to say anything.
Seeing Poh holding and stroking my bra is disturbing enough but I noticed the raging erection in his loose pants as well.
“thank…thank you…” I replied and quickly took the bra from Poh.
My heart was thumping really fast after I shut the door.
I know Poh has been fiddling around my laundry bucket for the longest time. I suspect that the likes to smell my worn lingerie, especially my underwear and worn pantyhose.
I turn a blind eye to all of it because of the rent but now with James not around, I began to get the feeling that he’s going to try something.
Especially when it’s just me and him alone at home.
When it’s close to dinner time, I opened the bedroom door softly and stepped out.
I can’t tell if Poh is around because the lights are off in the house.
Heading to the kitchen, I wanted to drop the bra into my laundry bucket in the toilet when I saw Poh holding onto it at the kitchen sink.
I felt a chill in my spine when I look at Poh reaching inside my pail and retrieving a worn underwear. He didn’t know I was staring at him.
He didn’t know I came out of the room.
And he didn’t know I was staring at him with my jaws apart as he brought my underwear to his nose.
Poh took a deep whiff of my worn underwear before sticking out his tongue, licking the spot where my privates would have been in constant contact with when I wore that panty.
Suddenly he snapped his head around and looked at me.
I froze.
I didn’t know what to do.
I was expecting Poh to apologise, to quickly put it back down. Perhaps pretend that nothing has happened or something.
What Poh did however, was the total opposite of what I expected.
Poh smiled at me. He used his tongue, twirled and pulled my panty into his mouth, sucking onto the piece of innocent cotton as I felt a shiver shoot through my spine.
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