Project: Socialize (Chapters 1-197)

36. Driving in the Rain

At around 3:00 PM, Loriana knocked on the door to notify me that I should be readying myself for departure. She didn't enter my room like always, granting me the liberty to privacy. Instead, she just spoke in a soft voice from the other side of the door. In fact, I don't think I have ever heard her raise her voice. Maybe it's because I was never a troublemaker for her or it's just her nature to not be loud. Anyhow, she's always so reserved and calm, like the ideal adult that children had always fantasized about when confronted with the question of what an ideal adult is.

I began changing out of my indoor clothing. I opted to go with a simple gray T-shirt with a light black zip-up hoodie since it was raining and somewhat cold outdoors. I slipped my phone into the pockets of my black pants and then left my room.

Outside, I discovered that Loriana has already prepared herself for going out and was sitting in the living room, waiting for me. Her choice of color seemed to be pretty complementary to each piece of her clothing: a long sleeve white button-up blouse with a black skirt along with a light black jacket that complemented her clothing.

"You ready?" she asked as she saw me emerge into the living room and stood up.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Are we taking the trains or your car?" I recalled the scarlet sports car that was parked in the underground parking lot of our building.

"My car," she responded by showing me the keys that were in her hands.

The two of us then walked over towards the entrance area of our house, slipped on our foot wear, and proceeded to exit. I was quite nervous when leaving because I was afraid that the new neighbors might accidentally bump into us, which would then call for a further awkward introduction sequence for me. In simpler terms, it means that I don't wanna talk.

Lucky for me, when we exited the door opposite to ours did not seem to move a single bit and there were no one else in the proximity. With my hands in my pant pockets, I waited as Loriana locked the door with her finger print on the sensor before the two of us started for the elevators.

To accommodate for many families that reside in the building, there're five elevators in total. However, only two elevators are used for us residents on the higher floors with the remaining three reserved for those that reside on the lower floors since, as Emilia had informed me, the lower floors had multiple residential units on the same floor, meaning more people to use the elevators.

The two of us called the elevator to our floor by me touching the prompt to head down on the smart screen by the elevator doors. The screen displayed what floor the elevator was on and soon, it was on our floor. The metallic elevator doors slide open, revealing a clean and simple interior of the elevator. Once inside, I touched my finger on the floor for the underground parking lot and watched as the elevator door closed before us. While the elevator descended, elevator music played in the background with a screen that is built into the wall displaying the time and weather conditions of the outside world. According to that, it looks like it will be raining for the entire day and even into nighttime. Furthermore, it would appear that the temperature was actually quite low, so I was glad that I decided to wear my hoodie.

The elevator door opened when it arrived on the first floor of the underground parking lot, revealing a large concrete covered parking lot. Overhead, there exists numerous lights that provided illumination to the place. With these illuminations, one can see the assigned numbers for each person to park in. There were some spots open since not everybody opted to own in car since you really don't need a car if you live in Palisia.

I followed after Loriana as we walked over to her car that was parked in the parking spot assigned to us. It has been quite some time since I last seen this scarlet red sports car. It's paint was still sparkling and shining as ever as Loriana kept it in top condition and would clean the car at a drive through car wash whenever it would get too dirty. Although it was a sports car, it was still a four-seater with only two doors.