The wreckage that he had caused while Ayesha had been away was substantial—monetarily and, for her, sentimentally.

She sighed and got around to cleaning the mess. It was cushions and rugs all strewn around, a broken vase her best friend had gifted her on her twenty-fifth birthday, a handmade windchime she had left out for the glue to dry, and a brand-new pair of shoes she had left out by mistake. Add to that everything that was on the bathroom countertop. How the hell had he managed to access the high countertop, Ayesha wondered.

She walked back to the living room, with full intentions of giving him a dressing down. She set her bag down purposefully and walked over to the corner where he had slunk off. Looking down at him, Ayesha ticked him off nicely. Ayesha looked down at the big, brown eyes and from the guilty look in his eyes, her heart melted. She couldn’t possibly reprimand him anymore, she decided.

Her only consolation was that he had respected the rule of the kitchen being off-limits. Setting everything back in its place, Ayesha surveyed the damage done.

The curtains would have to be replaced. The shoes had gotten away with some lenience and no visible damage was evident. The vase could be salvaged and so could the windchime. She arranged the living room to its original state of perfection and sat down to repair the vase.

She heard a crash and went racing to the kitchen. The jar of his favourite cookies lay on the floor. With large brown eyes that spoke more than his bark could have and his tail tucked between his hind legs, Sandy quietly exited the kitchen and slunk off back into his corner.