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It had been the day of Boxer’s 34th birthday and the others on the Animal Farm commune just don’t get it. They watched as he went around his house, greeting and thanking everyone who took the time to come visit his party. He seemed glad, yet, they felt something was missing for their aging friend.
They all collectively thought in their minds, though, he’s a hard worker, has a soft soul, is not too bad on the eyes, and most importantly, had practically countless women lined up to date him . What they don’t understand, however, is why he has yet to find a girlfriend!
“He’s nearly midway through his thirties! He should be settling down with a fine lady by now,” the ladies gossiped as they watched him listen amicably to Moses’ rants from across the room.
Boxer was no doubt a wonderful host. Even with the seemingly never-ending array of people coming up to talk to him, he managed to make sure that he greeted and talked to everyone who attended his party. It’s in his nature, he always made sure to be a polite and respectable man. God, it confused them even more, how is it that he’s still single?!
Clover asked the man as he approached her group of friends from across the room, “Boxer, don’t you think it’s about time for you to settle down?”
The twinge of concern in her voice was evident. She wasn’t asking this out of hostility, she wasn’t the type to do that. She was always the type to care for the people around her, so Boxer knew that when she asked this, she asked it out of concern; even when she may be pushing her boundaries a little bit.
“You’re getting old, Boxer, and it doesn’t seem like you’ve shown any interest in settling down with anyone,” Clover emphasized, furrowing her brow with concern. She placed her hand on the younger man’s shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze. “And I’m sure you know that Mollie is single and very much interested in you. I really think you should consider settling down with her.”
It’s funny, though, that Boxer didn’t seem to mind having the older lady call him out in front of their friends so abruptly. Instead of fighting back, or giving any response, really, he just shrugged and gave them a small smile, showing that he understood where they were coming from, he just didn’t mind how he was right now.
It wasn’t unusual for the man to occasionally be met with his friends asking him when he’d be settling down. However, since his birthday, the rate of these interactions seemingly increased significantly.
In the days following his birthday, he was actively met with his friends asking him when he was going to settle down; while he worked, while he was on break, while he was eating his dinner, and hell , even when he was taking his time in the bathroom.
“Oh, hey there, Boxer! When are you going to get a girlfriend?”
“Woah, Boxer, is that a meal for two? Did you finally decide to find a woman to have dinner with?”
“Who’s in the bathroom? Wait, Boxer, is that you? I’ve been meaning to ask, when do you think you’re going to get a girlfriend?”
The pestering was never-ending.
For the first week of this increasingly common occurrence, he would shrug it off as he did with Clover and carry on with whatever he was doing. However, it was noticeably slowing him down at work and he did not like that .
However, on this day, Boxer was tired. The summer sun was a blazing 110°, he slipped and fell into manure while cleaning the stables, and he cut himself on a sickle while harvesting the crops. It just seemed like the world was against him for some apparent reason today.
As he was heading back to his house, all sweaty, wounded, and covered in manure, he was met by Moses and the others who were gathering in front of the community house for a little chat.
On any other day, he wouldn’t mind. On any other day, he would’ve shrugged it off. On any other day, he would’ve been just fine. But today, after hearing the “When will you be settling down?” be asked of him for what feels like the 100th time today, he snapped.
“It’s none of your darn business!” Boxer shouted, clearly exasperated and frustrated after having the same intrusive question asked of him again and again like an annoying parrot he can’t run away from. “I put in so much work on this farm. The very least you all can do for me is respect me enough to stop asking me this!”
The others around the pair were shocked at the scene Boxer was making. It was rare to hear him talk, let alone have a complete meltdown in front of everyone. They were not used to this sight and they didn’t even know how to begin approaching the issue; all they knew was that they would not like to see this happen again anytime soon.
His hair was ruffled, his voice was shaking, his hands were trembling, Boxer was slowly losing grip of the calm demeanor he kept for himself for so long. As he glanced around, he noticed all the shocked faces of his friends staring at him, faces he’d never seen before and wished to never see again.
Boxer always kept a quiet and stoic demeanor to himself; that’s what always worked for him. He wouldn’t cause any unnecessary trouble by saying things he shouldn’t have and in turn, people would respect him more, for some reason. Having this protective veil he held up — slip away from his grasp — it was a scary, foreign feeling. The only thing he knew what to do now was to go back to being quiet and silent to everyone, just like how things always were.
There was one person he could talk nonstop with, however.
“It was just so hot ! And people just kept asking ! And I… just… couldn’t hold back!” Boxer ranted to the senior.
The two sat at their usual spot on the garden bench, overlooking the lake. Somedays, Benjamin would be the one ranting to Boxer about how frustrating Napoleon had been. On other days, Boxer would be the one chatting about the hard work he had been doing on the farm. But more often than not, the two would just sit together in comfortable silence, watching as the moonlight would glimmer in the water, a short and comfortable peace to end every day they would have to face.
On this day, Benjamin just listened as the younger man ranted to no end about how frustrating putting up with the others had been the past few days. He knew that right now, what Benjamin needed was someone to listen and understand how he was feeling. So that’s exactly what he did.
***
The days following Boxer’s outburst were not what he had expected, though. No one was treating him rudely because of how he reacted. Rather, it seemed like everyone just… listened.
No more pestering, no more interruptions, no more intrusive questions, it seemed like everything went back to normal — how it was before his birthday.
However, it wasn’t just Boxer who was put at ease with this sudden halt of annoying questions, Mollie also felt as if a foggy cloud of frustration had finally cleared her mind after so long. As the only bachelorette in the commune, her name kept getting brought up when Boxer was being asked when he was going to settle down. She also started to get asked if she was thinking about going on a date with Boxer a couple of times, albeit significantly less than what Boxer had been going through.
She never wanted any of this, she was an unwilling victim of the relentless pestering too!
Recently, she’d taken to destressing all this frustration by making ribbons whilst strolling through the garden. The atmosphere was nice and barely anyone would ever go there during the day so she’d have her peace as she’d mindlessly craft little ribbons for later use.
However, when she came back to her room after strolling through the garden the whole afternoon, she came to find that one of her ribbons was missing. Dedicated to finding the stray ribbon, she decided to venture out to the garden in the evening all by herself.
A shiver went down her spine as she headed through the dimly lit farm. Goosebumps rose all throughout her skin as the evening breeze blew through her hair, billowing her dress — she muttered to herself that she should’ve brought a jacket before leaving her house.
She didn’t know what she was expecting when she headed for the garden late at night. Her ribbon? Maybe. A ghost to pop up out of nowhere and chase her away? Honestly, not that unlikely. But what she saw? No, she could not have possibly expected that.
The lake glimmered under the moonlight, the evening breeze rippling the often-calm waters. There was minimal light lighting up the garden in the evenings — if any at all. Thankfully, her ribbon was brightly colored, so even in the dark garden, she’d still be able to spot it amongst the plants.
However, instead of her bow, she spotted two silhouettes on the garden bench. She could make out the first person — it was Boxer. But for the second person, she had to squint to make out the figure. It was… Benjamin? Boxer and Benjamin… holding hands?
It felt intrusive, like all the questions both Mollie and Boxer had been facing the past few weeks. She came to find her missing ribbon yet now she feels as if she walked into a very private moment between the two men.
She didn’t know what to think, not that she was given much time to do so as she was caught off guard when Boxer heard a snapping branch — man , she should’ve been more careful — and turned around to find her standing near the entrance of the garden.
Benjamin didn’t seem to notice, though. He just kept on rambling about, from what Mollie could make out from the distance, Napoleon leading the farm to doom. Weird , she thought to herself. He never talks this much to anyone else .
Boxer and Mollie locked eyes from a distance, an awkward air befalling between them. She didn’t know what to do; but before she could speak up, ask anything, say anything , to make this awkward tension dissipate, Boxer just gave her a small affirming nod.
Even without words, without any clarification, she felt she knew what he wanted to say. And again, before allowing her to speak, Boxer turned his head back and went back to giving his full attention to the older man.
She stood there near the garden entrance for a while longer. It felt wrong to be there while the two men shared this personal moment. She watched as the younger man slowly caressed the other’s hand with his thumb whilst the older man used his free hand to make erratic hand gestures. How the younger man would nod and hum whilst the older man kept on talking and talking .
She didn’t need any confirmation, she already knew the answer to what she wanted to say the moment she stepped foot in the garden.
***
“I just don’t believe that such a fine young man would do that!” Moses rebutted.
Mollie tried telling the others about what she saw last evening, but no one seemed to believe her story! She just doesn’t understand it, why would anyone be so quick to dismiss her about what she saw with her own two eyes?
“I swear, it felt like I was intruding on the two! There was no way what I saw was just nothing !” she exclaimed, exasperated after being met with claim after claim of how she was making everything up.
It felt like nothing was working. Every time she’d try to connect her story with past occurrences, like how Boxer would mysteriously disappear every evening, or how Benjamin would yell at everyone but Boxer, they’d just brush off her claims as mere lies!
She jumped up off her seat and stomped her feet on the ground, “Oh my god! You all are just so blind!”
She gestured to the others to follow her as she stomped to a room on the other side of the house. The others didn’t know why they were following her, they just felt as if she was going to show them something.
The room they followed her in was small. It was an old storage room no one ever went into, only ever filled with old furniture and baby stuff that the kids of the farm already grew out of. With everyone in the room, the small space and the dusty furniture made it all the more cramped and uncomfortable.
At the edge of the room, Mollie stood pointing out of a window. The window was small, barely two people could look out of it at a time. However, it had a decent view of the lake and the garden that overlooked it. Like Mollie just last night, they didn’t know what they were expecting to find when they looked out the window.
But surely, surely , no one had even come to think that what they would see outside the window was the two men, just as Mollie described, hand in hand, strolling through the moonlit garden.