Love In The Night Sky

VII. Here

⪼ vii.  here

THE ALARM rings out, as my brother groans and turns to the opposite side. I groan too, but I wake up and squint my eyes. I turn off my alarm and try to stay in bed, hugging my now soft cloud called pillow. I try to bring my body from the bed, groaning as I look for my slippers. 

I slip away from the room, my head spinning from the lack of iron in my body. I really should've listened to the doctor and eat some veggies.

"You're awake?" 

I flinch at the sudden noise, though I expected mum to be awake at this hour. I grip the shawl closer to wrap around my shoulders. It's always so cold in the morning. 

"Yeah... I want to exercise."

"Exercise? Are you sure? At this time?"

"I mean, I can't really sleep." 

"Are you sure?" My mum asks, slowly closing the bible in her hands. "You look like you would fall asleep any second."

"Yes, I made a promise. To myself." I whisper, flinching at the slightest raise of sounds. I really need to catch up on some sleep later. My mum chuckles, but nods and goes back to reading. 

I groggily march to the shoe rack, and get my walking shoes. I lazily wear my ankle socks and shoes, gathering myself and wrapping the shawl even closer as I near the terrace stairs. I reach to the top and look around for any type of people. It's still early, the sun is still raising. I need to go down in 15 minutes so that I can get ready for my college bus. 

According to my research, KNK college serves breakfast at 7 am. Students need to be in the campus by 6:55 am, and eat the breakfast provided by the college. The bus in our area, picks up at 6:18 am. The college ends at 3:45 pm, and the college bus reach here by 4:30 pm. Let's assume that the terrace guy is going to take a rest. He will be starting to walk at 5:00 pm. 

It's currently 5:45 am, the sun is beginning to rise. I will wait for 15 minutes because there will be no way a college student will stall till the last minute for a mere walk, also considering if the student is 'passionate' in their studies. And getting late for college is not on of them.

And if he still doesn't come, then I he will come after 4 pm. And I will be waiting for the moment to catch his silhouette... and maybe even his face. 

His face... oh my gosh. His face. 

My heart beats faster when I imagine his expression. Mine, too. But, is it early to see him? No, no it's not. I am just going to see his face. It's not like I'm going to introduce my parents to him.

Even though I wish to. 

I sigh and shiver at the cold weather. This will be the first and last time I would ever take the decision to take a walk early in the morning. Not even a psycho wakes up like this. 

"Please... please just, do something!" 

I stand under the cold weather. I take a walk for 5 minutes, in case someone sees me, but he still doesn't come. Seconds pass and the minutes fly; it's already pass 15 minutes. The sun has risen up, and a lot of aunties started sweeping in front of their houses. I stand there, rigid. My mum calls me from the door, and I take one glance before stepping inside the house. 

ᯓ★

I take a deep breath, Esther is right behind me sipping tea as I slip into my favorite biker jacket. It's currently 4 pm, and I just arrived from my college. 

"Are you sure you wanna go? Like we just arrived 15 minutes ago." Esther enquires, keeping her chai on the the table. 

"I'm sure. That guy is avoiding me for ages. I don't even know why."

"Are you sure he is avoiding you, or just caretaking his girlfriend?" My brother enters, not looking from his book that he is reading. I sigh and the two of them start to bicker. I don't even have to try to roast my brother. Esther does it for me. She not only roasts, but she grills. That's how good she is.

"Alright," I say to myself, and arrive at the terrace. There are some people, but suitably far from me, and whom I don't know. They all were women getting their clothes back, or just hanging them. 

I shrug and start walking, and when I turn, my eyes turn to expect the silhouette again. But there wasn't anyone. 

My shoulders shrug, and my heart nearly drops. Nearly. I'm still determined to wait 2 hours for him. 

"Man, if I showed this much of passion in my studies, I would've gotten into Harvard."

30 minutes pass by like water, and the guy is still yet to arrive. I feel like I've made a mistake by wasting my time here. What if he never comes? What if that was his last walk here and he won't be walking for next to years or something?

I'm walking faster now, the drag of my feet feels like it can calm me down from this anxiety. It's not like I'll lose my mind by not having him in my life. I can finally move on, and maybe concentrate on more important things like my future. But...

"Damn, calm down Lisa." 

I look behind to see Esther approaching me. I halt on my steps, surprised to see her. 

"You said you didn't want to come to the terrace." I ask, feeling a little confused.

"I did, but your mother noticed how long you took to come down, so your brother spewed a lie that I was with you. I was afraid that she will come to notice that I wasn't with you on the terrace." Esther says, looking around her surroundings, clearly trying to find the guy I like.

I scoff. I knew my brother is novel prize bullshitter. 

"Anyways, where is this guy's house?"

I point to the cream colored house, and she whistles. 

"Perfect view, huh?" She teases. I'm sure I blushed, because I pushed Esther while she laughs out loud. 

"He is so breathtaking..." I say to myself.

"He gave you asthma?!"

I slap Esther's arm as we both chuckle.

"Invite me to your wedding, okay? I'll be sure to leave a nice present." She smiles cheekily and my mind reels to what kind of nice present she is referring to. We banter for a while and maybe, it's the nice atmosphere that I created with Esther. But, it seems like I summoned the terrace guy because he is literally standing in his terrace, staring into space.

"OH MY GOSH!" 

Esther almost falls, before she looks around for potential threats. When she looks in the direction where I'm pointing, she shakes her head and places her hand on my shoulder.

"You did it, my soldier." She says and leaves before I can scream into oblivion. 

I don't know what came into my mind,

but I waved. 

And he looks at me, looks around, and then back at me, as if asking if it's him that I'm waving at. I still can't see his face properly because of the lighting of the sun, but he lifts his hand, and waves too.

I'm so ecstatic right now. Can he see me? Does he think I'm okay? Does he also have this anxious feeling like I do when I look at him? Does he also feel ecstatic?

But it doesn't matter because I'm happily skipping into my house as I smile brightly. 

☁︎

# a . n  :  We are nearing the end! (-﹏-)