Cassandra was feeling a little sad today as the rain had not stopped since the morning, and also since she woke up. She was literally trapped in her house for the rest of the day so she pulled up a chair by the fireplace and decided to read, hoping to kill time quicker.

Sadly it didn't do much for her enjoyment. She would much rather have a valuable conversation with someone rather than read pages of words that don't really interest her. If she just had someone here... to discuss with her - the day could go by quicker.

Time flies by when you're having fun. 

Even though it was raining, it didn't stop Cassandra from visiting Viscorio. Apparently he had a rented apartment in Chicago as well; Philly was his home but it was nice to know that he had someplace to stay when he was in Chi-town as well. It was especially convenient when Cassandra wanted to meet up with him. 

She also noted that he'd be staying in Chicago for a few more days too. She remembered him mentioning something about a business meeting. Well hopefully he'd appreciate the surprise visit, Cassandra thought excitedly to herself as she pulled up at his doorstep with a basket of jam donuts. It was important to know that Cassandra and Viscorio had a mutual bond, close relationship and a special connection. She had known him for months but it felt like a decade. Time really does fly when you're having fun. 

They always played this interesting game with each other. Well wouldn't you like to know? Every time Cassandra would visit him for a chat or something like that, the first thing she would bring up is an acronym in the form of a question. "Remember our WOTD?", she would say, which stands for word of the day. Cassandra always had a passion for words as they held so much meaning. The simplest of words could be turned into something much greater if associated with something else or placed in a phrase. 

It started ever since she had been noticing that Viscorio was not the BRIGHTEST when it came to choosing the right words to say ... She knew if she ever said that to him out loud, he would slap her, but this was all for his benefit. Thus, everyday she would have a new word for him. And if she couldn't see him face to face one day, she would send the WOTD to him in a telegram. Yep. That's how annoying she was. But she also wanted to help him because that's also what friends are for. 

Now that she was at his doorstep, she was going to test him on a new word. After that they would discuss it further. And probably make him write an essay on it. Cassandra knew for sure that in another life, she would be an english teacher. She got mad at the tiniest things, such as; someone misusing your for you're or their for they're. Oh, it made her nuts. And it didn't help that Tammy provoked this! 

Cassandra knocked frantically a few times on Viscorio's door, paused, then knocked again when she didn't hear the sound of footsteps approaching. "Oh Viscorio...! Open up!" 

Chicago, it’s a beautiful city was it not? The windy city felt like Viscorio's home away from home. He was in the kitchen preparing one of his father’s favourite recipes. It was a very simple spaghetti bolognese, but holds a lot of meaning to Viscorio. As a young boy, every Friday night his father would serve him spaghetti bolognese, a tradition passed down by his mother. Viscorio attempts to follow the tradition and hopefully one day he would be able to pass it down to his children.

Serving himself up a plate, wanting to breathe in the Chicago air, Viscorio takes a seat out on the verandah; these moments to himself gives Viscorio time to reflect on his day and the days to come. The next few days are quite eventful as he has a few business meetings spread out during the weekend, but needless to say, Viscorio was looking forward to seeing his close friend CassandraVilmont. It has been a long time coming. Cassandra was one of the brightest people he had ever met, she was even spending some time in her day to teach Viscorio proper grammar and punctuation.

“Read books,” this message in every telegram that Cassandra would send to Viscorio. She would mention that reading books would be the best way to learn, but books to Viscorio was like sharks to land - it just does not work. Viscorio might not be the brightest mobster on the block but all he could do is try, right? Cassandra enjoyed watching Viscorio suffer when they were face to face, like a predator playing with its prey.

As Viscorio was halfway through his dinner with a mouthful of spaghetti, he heard a faint knock. Viscorio curiously stood up and slowly walked towards the door when he heard, “Oh Viscorio…! Open up!” Viscorio recognized that voice, slowly stepping back as he raced for his bedroom cupboard and picked up a brown leather suitcase with a white piece of paper stuck on the front with clear writing, “Cassandra Emergency”, dragging the suitcase out to the living area and opening it up to find a notepads of previous lessons and books. Scattering the remains of the suitcase around on the floor to look like he has been working on it, then excitingly patting himself down eager to greet his close friend. He was definitely not dressed for visitors. It was only then that he realised he still had a mouthful of spaghetti. Finishing the mouthful before opening the door, Viscorio was greeted with a big smile and jam doughnuts.

Grabbing a jam doughnut out of the basket, “what the hell are you doing here?”

Cassandra’s face twisted into a happy one, with a grin highlighting her features. She held the basket up high for Viscorio to see the donuts she had brought from a nearby market, and she waited for him to stick his hand in it. “Okay, okay. Calm down. There’s enough for the two of us!” She exclaimed playfully as she sensed the wave of excitement flowing through his veins. Needless to say, he also seemed pretty shocked to see her at his doorstep, which was weird because he should be used to this by now. Anyways, she invites herself in and pushes the basket towards his chest without saying a word, hoping that he gets the signal to take it from her hands.

“And don’t act surprised. You know why I’m here.” She said with a blank face. Her smile was wiped off and replaced with her mouth shut tight in a thin line; unfazed and unbothered. Papers from their last tutoring session could be seen on the floor, a messy facade that didn’t seem to fool her and so she turned around to look at him then rolled her eyes. “Stop doing that everytime I visit! You already know that I won’t fall for that.” She sighed heavily then shrugged, and decided to clean the mess again for him. When everything was finally placed back in its original place, she took out her own materials from her cream coloured box bag.

She urged Viscorio to take the seat on the couch across from her so she could place the materials on the table that was standing in between them. “Alrighty roo, lets go. Get ready,” she looked at him intently and felt like holding her own breath from the satisfaction she got from teaching him, “the WOTD is- commercial! Also I'm not talking the commercials you would see on TV.” She took out two sheets of blank lined paper and slid them in his direction. “Alright, I want you to write the word down on the paper followed by the definition -in your own words- and sentence examples. Synonyms would be great too, but don’t go overboard with it. 4 or 6 would be fine. Choose the best synonyms you think would get stuck in your mind easily.”

Cassandra leaned her back towards the soft touch of the couch, and proceeded to watch Viscorio jumble his thoughts in his brain. It was somehow a pleasing sight because Cassandra had always wanted to help him out with his vocabulary. Some people would call Cassandra too overbearing in these situations, but she just had a passion for words. It made her unable to take her obsession down a peg. But words, to her, were to taken for granted that we only settle with the ones that were learnt when we were way younger. When we don’t realize that there are more words out there that can be used even better!

She knew Viscorio’s place like her own home since she’d visited so many times previously before. In fact, she’d given this place the label of being a ‘safe house’ since being given a spare key to use, just in case she felt lonely or paranoid in her own home. Cassandra would usually only come to his house when he wasn’t here though, since his presence was SO unbearable. Anyways, she stood up and made herself a cup of coffee then went back into the living room, expecting results!

“I want to have my share before you scoff it all down!”

Viscorio was confused, he did not know what he was more excited for; visit from his best friend or jam doughnuts. It was a matter of fact he was expecting somewhat of a “surprise visit” from Cassandra, but the knocks on the door were unlike her. On multiple occasions when she came to visit, she would pick his lock to frighten the living hell out of Viscorio, and a lot of those moments were when Viscorio was butt naked. Cassandra should’ve known he wouldn’t wear clothes around the house when he would presume he was alone. You would think Cassandra had learnt her lesson the first “awkward” encounter, but she continued otherwise, and now it had become the new norm.

Happily grabbing the basket as Cassandra invited herself in, Viscorio was always intrigued about the way Cassandra’s perfume smelt, as he could smell it on her when she pushed herself past him. The books on the floor did not usually work with Cassandra, but it was the only game plan he had. Maybe she would see the books and notepads scattered around the floor, and would think, “let us have a break from this torture”, then would actually want to relax and have some fun with him. Maybe some drinks and singing, or even just to sit out on the verandah and watch the civilians try and escape the rain. But Viscorio guessed it, “and don’t act surprised. You know why I’m here.” That gut-wrenching sentence. What was Viscorio expecting though, it would be like asking your mother if you could have dessert before dinner or asking the gods for the rainbow without the storm?

Closing the door behind Cassandra, he let go a small sigh, “yes...of course”, heading for the kitchen bench to place the basket of doughnuts, Viscorio sneakily swallows down another and wipes his lips with his dirty shirt. Heading back to the living room he saw the eye roll, it was at this moment he knew, he fucked up - the old trick failed once again. Viscorio enjoyed messing with Cassandra, one of his favourite things to do when they were together, for her not so much. Viscorio had a history with Cassandra, so he knew he could get away with a lot more than any other regular friend.

“One day you will fall for it, and I will be here with a bottle of wine and roses.”

From a normal perspective it would look like that Viscorio and Cassandra were in a relationship, but in fact, this was just how they were together. They were strictly friends! Smiling as Viscorio watched Cassandra clean up his mess that he had deliberately made, it gave him some sort of satisfaction to watch her clean up after him. After all they will be moving in together sometime in the future, it gave Viscorio opportunity to cause havoc.

It was a short-lived win for Viscorio as he let go a small sigh when Cassandra motioned for him to take a seat across from her. “WOTD is- commercial!” Commercial was not too difficult of a word, grabbing the pencil and paper he wrote down the first 3 synonyms he could think of; business, trading and merchandising. Tapping the pencil along his temple of the skull, he wrote under the list of synonyms in big block writing, “Definition”. Viscorio struggled to put thoughts to words so he responded the best way he can; a business intending to make a profit. Fatigue was starting to strike Viscorio as he completed his task, but he had to carry on as he had not much time left. After the definition was given, it was followed by a sentence that commercial could be used in - these boats were built for commercial purposes.

Relieved that he had finally finished, he looked up at Cassandra who seemed to become of one with the couch. Viscorio could not be happier to throw the pencil on the table, and gave Cassandra a smirk.

“Alright done, drinks?”

When Cassandra had sensed that he was done with his paper, by the smug expression on his face, she straightened her posture again and took a sneak peak at what he wrote. “That was fast.” She was certainly impressed because usually their sessions would take more than an hour, but this time he did it in less than twenty minutes. It was a record! She could tell that he had prepared himself up to this moment. Cassandra’s hopeful expectation were not let down as she could clearly see an easy-to-understand definition next to the big words that read, “commercial”. After all those previous sessions and stressful moments where Cassandra once had to stay the night in order to help him understand something, this was a revolution. It was obvious that he had been doing his homework.

“Alright, well I don’t think I even need to explain any further. You get the picture.” She gave a short nod showing her approval of his paper, and pushed it back towards him so she could see how great of a job it was. This called for a celebration. It was a shame that she didn’t have any red wine to go with the jam donuts, but this would have to do for now, and not to mention she noticed Viscorio still had some tea bags left in his pantry so she grabbed the remaining packets to her use.

She emerged from the kitchen into the living room with a tray of two cups of tea and a plate of jam donuts to accompany it. Cassandra wanted the both of them to cherish this moment. Even though she wasn’t the student, she still felt accomplished - that her teaching abilities allowed him to improve in his vocabulary. As time would go on, she only hoped that by the end of the year - she could finally halt the tutoring sessions, and put an end to this madness. For now, she wanted him to improve on specific things.

“Alright, next session I want you to focus on past and present tense. Like I know you want to ‘live’ in the moment, but let's focus on present, okay?” Cassandra spoke while she munched on a donut, her words sounding riddled due to the chewing. But she felt comfortable with him enough to pee with the door open, it was no big deal. Next time, Cassandra would harden the challenge a little bit by giving him five words to do at a time. One word a day just wasn’t enough - especially considering that the vocabulary of English words roughly includes one million.

As the day was about to end, Cassandra took this as her signal to leave and she grabbed her box bag on her way out. “Keep the basket. You could place it somewhere for decoration as a remembrance of today.” She smiled wholeheartedly and waved in his direction while heading back to her car.

Exciting things were ahead. Cassandra was about to superimpose her dreams onto reality. She didn't want to shock Viscorio too much with the news she was excited to give, but she'd have to mince her words to soften the blow of them. After the previous day, that jam donut day, she returned the next morning, but this time she brought more materials. More papers and pens. And apparently with more determination than before. The past few days had admittedly been made easy for Viscorio and so Cassandra decided to bring out the big guns. She knocked at his door again, impatient and unwavering in her confidence. 

When the door finally opened wide, she greeted Viscorio with a devious smile. Cassandra walked herself in without a word and sat on her usual spot at the couch. It was comfortable here, she thought to herself. And it gave her a great view of her outstanding pupil. She gestured towards his spot, patting it lightly. "Sit." Cassandra said sternly, but her mouth was somehow still turned up into a smile. "Our WOTD-.. well. There'll be more than one word. Don't panic. If we keep doing this, you'll think 5 words a day are way too easy." 

In front of him now was a stack of blank lined paper, and a mass amount of black and blue pens on the side in order to give him an opportunity to write. "We'll do our session as usual. It's just five words instead of one." She had a big vocabulary journal that she took around with her everywhere. Even mid-conversation, she could be seen taking this big pink journal out and hurriedly scribbling down a word she thought she found interesting, but didn't know the definition of. Cassandra scanned the list of words to find the ones she picked out for today, and said them out loud in a light, cheery voice. Full of energy. 

"Your words are agenda, disingenuous, conspiracy, impoverish and echelon. Do what you always do. The definition, synonyms, sentence examples. All in your own words though. How you learn is how you mimic the things you read, see and hear. When you add your little flourishes to your interpretations, that's real learning."

She thought she saw a flicker of fear flash through his eyes, but she believed in him too much. Cassandra hoped he did too. 

“That was easy… 30 mins. Not even that. Where is the challenge?"

Viscorio was impressed with himself, there were a few times in the past where it was quite stressful for both of them, so they would have to take multiple breaks which end up taking up the whole night, and that mean no interesting fun stuff. One of the main reasons as to why Viscorio was so reluctant about doing these lessons was due to the fact that Viscorio was self-conscious about the way he presented himself in front of others. If it became apparent to Viscorio that if someone were to have a problem with the way Viscorio presented himself in the public eye, for an example; poor grammar or vocabulary. Viscorio would get quite timid and shy when his faults would be addressed, especially around friends and family. But at the same time, Viscorio was grateful for CassandraVilmont and her brilliant mind, and almost certain that she could train a fish to breathe out of the water, or a dog to speak the human language. So how hard could it be to train a human to speak the language he has been speaking for almost 22 years a little better?

It was music to Viscorio's ears as he heard the approval from Cassandra. She pushed the piece of paper back to him, "hey, I do not want to look at that piece of paper again till next time, enough is enough", he gave Cassandra a disgusting face that he had regretted. Viscorio was not much of a tea drinker, he was unsure how old those tea bags were, but Viscorio did not object to a cup of tea. Grabbing the cup of tea off the tray, Viscorio could not lay his eyes off those wonderful jam doughnuts, knowing he may already be two doughnuts ahead of Cassandra, but it was only a matter time before she demolished the plate. Grabbing two more jam doughnuts, he gently placed the doughnuts on the table, feeling wary that the flour on top would spill onto the beautiful carpet.

Viscorio was unsure of how long these tutoring sessions would go for, but he was for sure keen for it to end, as he would love to hang out with his best friend again. One of Cassandra’s pet peeves was the way Viscorio used his past and present tenses so it was not a surprise when she brought it up as the next lesson. Viscorio recognized that he had trouble so he happily accepted the challenge, and was intrigued with the lesson to come. It was a normal tradition for when the lesson finished that the two would have a glass of wine or two with pizza, and talk about their day and normal crap, but tonight’s lesson took a lot out of Viscorio. Maybe he pushed himself too hard hence the record timing. Quite possibly it might have been Cassandra’s voice as she spoke to him; her voice does tend to tire him out more often than not.

Noticing Cassandra getting ready to leave, he happily accepted the basket that she offered, not for the decoration but for the smell. Viscorio was disappointed to see his friend leave. He was going to offer Cassandra if she wanted to stay over, he was even going to clean the living room area so she could sleep on the couch. Their sleepovers would usually entail them sleeping on the same bed, nine times out of ten there would be a little brawl for the sheets, which usually ended with Viscorio being sheetless. CassandraVilmont loved the idea of sleeping on the couch, so he had the idea that if he gave her the choice to sleep on the couch, she may be enticed to stick around.



“Well thanks, I guess I will see you tomorrow morning?”

With CassandraVilmont gone, Viscorio was not bothered about cleaning up for the night as he knew Cassandra would be back in the morning with another lesson. Instead, Viscorio’s clothes were removed moments after the door closed behind Cassandra, but what would happen if she had forgotten something? Quite possibly time might tell. Viscorio headed into his bedroom and rested for the night.

Exciting things were definitely not ahead for the day, most nights Viscorio headed to bed excited for the upcoming day and its adventures. But definitely that night, Viscorio enjoyed sleeping in and feeling free, but not only was he not free but he had to wake up early and prepare for the war to come. Viscorio opened up his eyes and rolled over, which took less than 10 seconds before Viscorio came to his senses and muttered the word, “fuck.” Gathering up the courage to get out of bed and prepare, Viscorio surprised himself by jumping straight out of bed, strange. Walking to the kitchen with his eyes half shut and urges to use the toilet, almost like a morning ritual, but Viscorio had a rule that he would always eat before he used the toilet in the morning.

With his morning ritual out of the way, Viscorio was expecting a visit from CassandraVilmont anytime soon. He was not expecting a knock from her so he had to keep an eye out for any pervert girls, trying to catch a potential naked young man. Surprised again, when he heard the knocks of the surprising Cassandra, he opened up the door and was instantly disappointed to see no treats held by Cassandra, but was still delighted to see his best friend. Stepping aside allowing her to walk past, Viscorio followed her towards the couch, Definitely not excited for the moments to come, but he was keen to learn and ready to impress his teacher. Sitting down in the same seat as the previous night, opposite of Cassandra, baffled as he listened to her speak. He was going from one word to five words, seems a bit harsh, but also Viscorio was not surprised.

“Five? Five words!? Well, be prepared to spend the rest of your day here with me.”

Viscorio certainly was not feeling like he wanted to be pushed as hard as he was now, and so he reluctantly grabbed the pieces of paper and was ready to hear the multiple WOTD’s, which turned out to be; agenda, disingenuous, conspiracy, impoverish and echelon. This was going to be a long day, but an eager Viscorio was determined to impress Cassandra with his newly acquired skills. With pen and paper in hand, Viscorio went to work with the first word, “agenda” writing down in big block letters, “definition” taking a few moments to think about his answer, tapping his pencil on the table as he struggled. Finally, he puts thoughts to paper; a list of items that are to be discussed at a meeting or activity. Looking back at Cassandra to see her smiling like a couple days ago like she had just won the lottery, and she still had not come off the “high”.  The definition had been written, and what followed was a sentence that, “agenda” could be used in. Thinking about times in his past where he would have to work off a list of topics to be brought up while in a meeting with his family; the talks of gun management had been removed from the agenda. Viscorio let go a small sigh as he prepared to write the synonyms for the first WOTD. He was familiar with the word so the synonyms came quickly to mind. Writing down on the first piece of paper; schedule, timetable, list, plan, menu. Viscorio had successfully completed the first WOTD and was ready to face the following four.

He grabbed a new piece of paper as he did not want to confuse the WOTD’s with each other. Disingenuous was the next word Viscorio had to focus on, so as before Viscorio wrote in big letters, “definition”. Certainly was a bigger word than the previous, but hanging around someone whose vocabulary was every word in the dictionary, Viscorio was familiar how Cassandra used “disingenuous” in her sentence. Writing down under “definition”, Viscorio struggled to write; not candid or sincere, by pretending that someone knows less about something that they really do. Simple, Viscorio was motivated to finish off the rest, same as before. Viscorio wrote down a sentence that, “disingenuous” can be used in; While CassandraVilmont pretended to be trustworthy, she was, in reality, a disingenuous woman who would do whatever it took to get her way. Finishing that sentence, Viscorio was on a roll as he finished off the second WOTD with the synonyms, focusing on the piece of paper as he wrote; dishonest, deceitful, two-faced, lying, false. Viscorio was quite happy to be done with the second word, as he took a glance at an impressed Cassandra. Maybe at this rate they might be drunk at midday.

“Cass, are you not entertained?!”

Prepared for the next word, “conspiracy”, Viscorio grabbed a new piece of paper. He was delighted that two of the five WOTD”s were done. He was certainly improving on his abilities. As usual, the first order of business was the “definition”, which was a much easier word for Viscorio. He could write this in his sleep. In bold letters, Viscorio wrote “definition” on the top of the page, taking a little time to contemplate and think as he did not want to make himself into a fool, he slowly wrote; a secret plan by a group of people to do something unlawful or harmful. Like clockwork, Viscorio wrote down a sentence, “conspiracy” could be used in; Cassandra was the leader of a group that was involved in to destroy the government. Taking a quick peek at Cassandra it certainly looked like she was going to fall over in amazement. She has to be proud of her pupil. Once the definition and sentence were finished, it was time for the synonyms. Viscorio with ease, wrote down the following words with confidence to show Cassandra the man he was about to become, he put pen to paper - plot, scheme, plan, strategy. Three words out of five down, Viscorio was on a roll and he could not be any happier.

It was coming near to the end. Viscorio was on the home stretch with only two more words and he would be a free man. Viscorio might not have red wine in the fridge, but he had something better; two bottles of champagne. Viscorio was more of a whiskey type of guy, but he had bought the bottles for special occasions such as today. A focused Viscorio was ready to finish what he started with the next WOTD being, “impoverish”. In big letters he wrote on the top of the page, “definition”. Viscorio for a second thought Cassandra had beaten him. Viscorio was not familiar with the word, but he took a few extra minutes to think what it could mean and he took a wild guess as he wrote down what he thought it might mean; making one poor, or making a certain area poorer. Unsure of the answer he had to stick with it, afraid to ask for help as he was doing so well. He wanted Cassandra to believe that he had no need for support and she could end this misery. After the definition, Viscorio wrote down a sentence that could possibly make sense with the word, “impoverish”, knowing that every answer regarding this word would be a guess. So he gave it a wild guess as he wrote down - after receiving his mother’s debt after she passed, he could not keep up with the repayments and it eventually Impoverished him. After giving the sentence it made sense what the synonyms would be, so without thought, Viscorio wrote down; bankrupt, broke, ruin, make poor. Viscorio was now on the final stretch one more word, he could not believe it.

“Echelon” it was a simple WOTD as it sort of resembled himself, Viscorio was not even going to waste time writing “definition” on the top of the paper. Viscorio wrote underneath; a level or rank in an organization or society. Viscorio was too excited to finish this assignment that he almost forgot to give a sentence, this was a little bit harder because it was not normally used these days, but he gave it a shot, thinking while he slowly wrote: the upper echelons of Viscorio’s family decided they would celebrate. Giving a quick thought to the synonyms, it was quite obvious what they were. With ease Viscorio quickly wrote; level, rank, grade and tier. As soon as Viscorio finished the last word of the synonyms, Viscorio lifted his hand that was holding the pen and released his grip, letting the pen drop onto the table.

With a massive sigh of relief, Viscorio slowly relaxed into the couch ready to pass out. Relaxing for a few moments, Viscorio lifted himself up out of the couch and headed for the kitchen as Cassandra marked his work. Looking at the clock on the wall that read 11:46, It was close enough to midday and opened up the fridge to grab one of his bottles of champagne.

“This calls for celebration I reckon.”

Opening the bottle of Champagne, Viscorio’s hands shook as he poured a glass for both him and Cassandra. It may have been because all the writing he just completed, but nonetheless he felt joyous otherwise. Walking over to where Cassandra sat, marking his work, he handed Cassandra her glass and sat down on the seat next to her.

“So, how did your man go?”

Cassandra swore that just a minute ago she had entered the house, but now she was here celebrating with Viscorio over champagne and pizza. What was the world coming to!?

Needless to say, she was proud of her pupil, but also he really did give her a big job to do with all that editing and proofreading afterwards. Luckily, Cassandra was way too nice and proud to yell at him for that. She couldn’t help but feel a little pride in teaching him. It was obvious that Viscorio was needing less and less of her support and advice, evident through the four pages of writing that he had produced. With just the power of ink, and a brain that exceeded the limits.

As she raised her glass and clinked it with his own, she smiled warmly at his efforts that they were celebrating. Viscorio, no longer needed to be pulled up by any strings like a marionette, had now proved to Cassandra that he was capable of much more than she knew.

“Uh, man? What do you mean man? I don’t have one of those.” She raised an eyebrow after taking a sip of her champagne. Confused as to what she was talking about since Cassandra had never expressed her interest in wanting one. However, many times she would contemplate settling down. But being single was nice too, and she kept herself company with her Chicago family. “How’s life for you in Philly anyway? When are you going back there? You’ve been here for like, what, few days now. I’m sure your boss is getting worried.”

If she was given the chance to fly with him over to Philadelphia, she would, but unfortunately Cassandra still had some bad blood brewing in that city. Not knowing when her ban would expire, she would have to decline the offer if Viscorio ever brought it up. Regular visits to Chicago were good enough and she didn’t want to cause any more trouble. As she took the remaining champagne down the hatch, Cassandra walked over the sink to give her glass a wash. With all the celebrations done and dusted, she felt like sitting back and kicking her legs up.

Some days she was completely unmotivated to get up from bed, but in contrast there was those days that she had the same qualities of a nut job - wanting to do everything and anything. Unstoppable. Cassandra felt like that. She smiled at Viscorio one last time before heading out of his house again, mentioning something about needing to ‘head to the market for some more fruits and veggies’.

“Keep the essay papers this time. For safekeeping. And remembrance. Of how far you’ve come from our first tutoring session!” With a final nod and wave, she drove away - smiling passionately. From the steady courage that Viscorio was now showing, she could tell he was slowly on the road of being an elite speaker and writer.

You can do anything, as long as you put your mind to it.

Cassandra couldn’t help but think of Tara Byrne as that afterthought entered her brain.

Viscorio was self-conscious of his work, especially when he noticed CassandraVilmont spending an incredible amount of time fixing his mistakes. There were clearly fewer mistakes than his previous lessons, it would be wishful thinking to think that possibly one day in the future that he would be on Cassandra's level. Viscorio was told to have a goal that was achievable, not some dream that could never come true. It certainly was a big day for Viscorio, but he knew that there would be more to come, so he would enjoy the short-lived celebrations while he can. Viscorio was originally here in Chicago for business, but he had made arrangements with his boss to spend some more time in the windy city for some pleasure. Cassandra was still under the assumption that he would only be here for only a couple more days. 

Raising his glass to clink with Cassandra's, they both share a warm smile, Viscorio was extremely happy with his efforts and was hoping Cassandra would focus on being best friends with Viscorio rather than being his teacher. "Life in Philly has been great, I have finally been accepted into the family as one of their own"Relaxing into the couch as he takes a sip of his champagne, Viscorio smirks and was excited to reveal the news, but he thought it may be best to reveal later on. 

Viscorio finishes the rest of his champagne as he shows Cassandra the way out, fruit and veggies was a lame excuse to use but Viscorio had heard worse. Viscorio had a notepad with all the weird and silly excuses Cassandra would pull to get out of hanging with Viscorio, "sweaty palms" was one of Viscorio's favourite "Cassandra's notepad of excuses."

As Cassandra gets in her car, Viscorio reaches into the car "you know exactly where those papers are going, in the suitcase. Oh and by the way, I may have  spoken to Adonis about some leave, and looks like your boy is staying a little bit longer." 

Watching Cassandra drive off, Viscorio heads into the apartment to open up the 2nd bottle of champagne, the party has not even started.

As Cassandra was driving away, she didn’t forget about Viscorio’s playful side remarks when she was stepping out of his door. Something about putting the papers back in the suitcase, and she started to smirk. Little did he know, it was quite handy to look back and refer to. Even though Cassandra felt like she knew the whole dictionary, she brought around her vocabulary journal everywhere she went. When she was shopping, at the local pub, or even the strip club downtown. The point was - wherever she was, her vocabulary journal was also.

Such as now. She stood by a fruit stand, eyeing the glossy red apples that stood out from the other fruits. It was her favourite. And it also reminded her of the quote, “the apple to my eye.” Cassandra was a sucker for romantic, cheesy lines like that. Although the bananas look particularly delicious, she decided to stay faithful to her initial decision and brought the apples instead.

“Thank you ma’am. Have a good one.” The person tending to the stall gave a short nod in her direction accompanied with a soft smile. Cassandra arrived back to her home, only to find out that she had forgotten her house keys at Viscorio’s place. “Fuck!” She hissed to herself, probing around in her purse for the familiar metal device.

This must be karma for all those tutoring sessions that Cassandra was making Viscorio sit through. But she didn’t want to sugarcoat her own faults. Truthfully, she was getting more forgetful as the days would go by, and it seemed now, there was no other choice but to go back to him. So off she went, drove in her little car all the way to Viscorio. But she thought she’d get there and be out in a quick second, apparently her visit didn’t suffice.

Just as she was about to escape his invitation, her eyes landed at the mess his place now held. There was food over the floor, pairs of socks lying around and vinyl records stacked upon each other on the couch. Cassandra, being the neat-freak she was, began to rant at the sight she was seeing.

“Geezus. Viscorio. Have I taught you anything!!” Just like last time, she invited herself in. But there a hint of aggressiveness in her step. Cassandra would even freak out her mother, even though Mrs. Vilmont was a prim lady in her fifties, had seen her daughter grow up to be even more obsessed with making everything proper and in order than her. “Were you having a party by yourself after I left?” Cassandra was stoic. She grabbed some kitchen tongs and lifted a pair of boxers that had a grotesque, disturbing and unforgettable smell.

“Viscorio… if you don’t clean up your belongings right now I’m going to call the germ busters.”

It has been quite a while since Viscorio has had a drink, maybe that was why he was overly keen to celebrate his win with a bottle of champagne. Opening and slamming the front door behind him, Viscorio ignored the messy state his apartment was in and walked over to the empty bottle of champagne that he and Cassandra left on the coffee table in the living room. Viscorio Picked up the bottle of champagne as he made his way to the verandah, no one was around so he had no need for glasses as he enjoyed drinking from the bottle. Swigging the champagne as Viscorio enjoys the view of the windy city, he felt like a free man that was released from a ten-year sentence. 

As Viscorio drank the last remains of the champagne, the bottle breaks into tiny little pieces as he dropped it on the floor. "Time for some music" Viscorio was known to talk to himself when he was drunk, in fact, he talked to himself when he was not. Grabbing another bottle of champagne out of the fridge, Viscorio pulled out his favourite Vinyl's from his cupboard and brushed over them as it had not used them for a very long time and placed them on the couch. It was no surprise to Visocorio that his hunger crept in, it was a big day, after all, forgetting about the music Viscorio took a swig of the champagne as he looked in the fridge for food. His options were limited to only leftover takeaway from previous nights, it may not be safe to eat but Viscorio did not care as he was a rebel. While Viscorio waited for the food to heat up, he had forgotten that he had needed to go to the toilet a while ago, and then he started to come to his senses that his lower region was soaked. "For fuck sake, not again" Removing all of his clothes and leaving them on the floor, he heads for the bedroom to find some more clothes to put on. Coming out of the bedroom with only underwear on and drinking from his champagne, the food was ready. Grabbing the leftover takeaway, Viscorio had forgotten teatowels as he went to pick up the food, it did not register to Viscorio that his hands were burning until he reached the living room. "OWW, FUCK" Dropping the food onto the ground, Viscorio drunkenly raced for the sink knocking everything in his path, his hands were bright red. 

The only solution  Viscorio could find was the coldness of the bottle of champagne, holding onto the bottle for dear life Viscorio was at peace momentarily. He was not at peace for much longer as the front door opened, Viscorio saw the disgust in CassandraVilmont eyes as she surveyed his room. "H-H-H-Hey beautiful, d-d-don't mind me I am just singing some F-F-Frank...." Shocked to see his friend, even if he could answer her questions, he was too ashamed and dismissed them. "I a-am having fun, come here and give me a h-h-hug" Viscorio spread his arms out wide hoping his best friend would embrace him.

Cassandra was shocked to see his place in such a mess. Well, there were other days just as bad - but this day crossed the line. She shook her head vigorously when he tried to embrace her with open arms. “Don’t take one step near me or I will bust your balls.” She crossed her eyebrows as her eyes narrowed, before taking the kitchen tongs back to their place in the sink. Then she came back out into the living room, but this time, on her was a bucket of water mixed with soap and a sponge.

“I’m not doing this alone. Come and help me.” She huffed and puffed her way over to Viscorio. But only gave it to him once he would put some damn clothes on. There was food all over the floor, and the smells were cramping the style of this once-pretentious apartment. Cassandra got to work with him, scrubbing on the floors and making sure everything was put back in its place. Not only was she tutoring him with words, but she wanted him to discipline himself. What was he thinking? He was a made man. And you need to MAKE your bed. “Now I don’t care how tired or drunk you are, you always need to have a clean space. They say the mess reflects your state of mind. If it’s messy, you’ll notice that you feel lost and stressed in the heap. When it’s clean like this,” she says as she spreads her arms out wide gesturing to the cleanliness of the home, “you probably notice that you feel more relaxed and carefree.”

Her statements didn’t stop there. Cassandra was initially going back home after helping Viscorio clean, but she wanted to cater to her predilection for words. Again. This could be his homework for the night. Now that she kept thinking of it, she never really gave him homework. It could be added pressure, but he seemed to do those five words so easily. As if he was just taking a huge breath in then out.

“I’m here now. Might as well assign you the next five words. I’ll come by tomorrow morning to see how you’re going.” She softened her features in a forceful way, not wanting to come across as harsh or bossy. It worked most of the time. Especially when she wanted to get cheap bargains at the market.

“Alright. These are the ones I want you to do: libertine, uncouth, debouched, aphrodisiac and aristocracy.”

What felt like weeks of tutoring were only just two days. Cassandra had not even gone through the whole first page in her journal of vocab words, but she had to be patient. She had to stop herself from wanting to rush or else she’d never be able to help Viscorio turn into a savant. People can absorb the information they’ve learnt better if its consumed at a slow pace. At the beginning it should be like that, at least.

With a final goodbye, she headed out of the door and left Viscorio to his own thoughts.

While she was heading out of the door, she cursed at herself for doing a silly mistake. She retreated back into his house and popped her head out of the doorway. Just enough so Viscorio could hear her. 

"Fuck. Spelt one of the words wrong. It's debauched not debouched. K bye."