BRRT!! BRRT!!

BRRT!! BRRT!!

 

My finger blindly swipes across the blinding blue light generated by my phone’s screen to turn the blaring alarm notification shut. The room was dark, and so was the city outside my curtains. 

Ugh.

I internally groan, my head aching a bit. It's 4:30 am, an hour earlier than my usual waking hours. I rub my eyes groggily, and rise from my messily-slept bed, dragging my reluctant feet towards the bathroom. Switching the lights open,

.

I dimly mutter, seeing dark circles under my eyes and too-bloated cheeks staring back at me through the mirror. I chuckle at myself. 

I can catch some sleep later.

I squeeze a generous amount of toothpaste onto my damp toothbrush. After spitting the gargled mouth wash down the sink, I stripped off my pajamas and readied myself to a necessitated sudden rush of cold water.

And that's a good morning to me I guess. 

 

~~~~~~~

 

After following through the basic, though hectic, regime of skin care products to preserve what's left of my appearance, I amble towards the living room for my daily dose of caffeine. While waiting for the water to boil, I unlocked my phone and checked for any recent messages.

From: Ma

"Safe flight, hun! Have a good night sleep and don't forget your passport and ticket. I'll miss you so much so call me as soon as you get there or you'll be seeing headlines of a reported missing child!"

 

From: xxCoWorkerxx

"We'll miss you, have a safe trip! Do visit us when your schedule allows. >.<"

 

From: xxCoWorkerxx12

"Don't drown yourself with work, you ! Your new boss better treat you well or I'm forcing you to come back to our hospital."

 

The bittersweet aroma seeps into my nose. I take a sip of my steaming black coffee. 

That's the shot.

From: Avery Chu

"Of course, Ma! I just woke up, hehe. Thanks for the reminder, I'll try not to instigate a manhunt by a childless frantic mother. I'll miss you so much and I love you guys. Tell Pa the same thing!"

 

After hearing the swoosh audio which implies my reply has been sent, I placed my phone in the jeans of my back-pocket and decided to scan my belongings.

Okay, so passport check.

Plane ticket, check.

Money, check.

2 luggage, check.

 

I whisper a short gratitude to my drunk self for deciding to finish packing last night despite coming home late at 2 am. Travelling light, I suppose. After having everything sorted out, I lock the door to my apartment and pull my luggage towards the elevator. As I reached the reception counter, I opened my phone and checked the time.

 

To: Olivia

"Where the hell are you? It's 6:25. You promised to be here by 6."

 

Not long after, I felt my phone tediously buzzing within my pant suit. I answered the call.

", the audacity? Do I get a thank you? You're welcome when you're supposed to be compensating me for disrupting my beauty sleep."

Olivia snorts through her phone. A quick background, she's my non-biological sister since we became roommates in our freshmen year. We initially cultivated indifference towards each other that turned sour until we became inseparable. I mean, what would you expect between two complete strangers forced to adjust with each other's hygiene habits that had to empathize with the mental fatigue college is known for.

"Yea, cause you definitely need it with your impeccable ugliness. My eyes already hurt knowing it would be graced by your presence a few minutes from now."

I retort, laughing. Friendly squabbles have always been our thing. If a day goes by without our daily fix of teasings, it would be an obvious evidence that our friendship's falling apart. 

"Whatever," She replies, "Give me 10 minutes, I'm just right around the corner, but I better be greeted a good morning by a doughnut."

And before I could fire back, she abruptly ends the call. Typical Olivia. While waiting, I asks the concierge to watch my stuffs. I walked across the street towards the humble bakery Olivia and I used to treat as our refuge before we ultimately became busy with our respective careers. As the bell chimed by my opening of the wooden door, the aroma of freshly baked pastries wafted into my nostrils.

"Hello dear! You're up earl-- oh wait, is it today?"

Mrs. Lee beams surprised. She's no taller than 4 feet and 8 inches, with powder-white hair and a pair of rounded bespectacled eyes evident with wisdom curated by old age.

"Yes, Mrs. Lee. I actually came here to buy a doughnut as my bid of farewell."

She smiles at me with her gummy teeth and teeter towards the back of her shop. After waiting for a short while as my order was being prepared, she hands me a brown bag, 

"Here's your coffee and doughnut. And tut-tut, these are on the house. My gosh, it truly never gets old witnessing kids growing right before your eyes. It speaks so much about my age too."

She insists as I was about to pay for the meal.

"You're not that old, ma'am. And thank you for these, no one in South Korea is going to top yours!"

"You better know it, or I'll have to fly over there and whip your arse!!"

After sharing a short but meaningful laughter, I waved goodbye, exited the bakery, and saw Olivia within the driver's seat of a car I've never seen before parked in front of the apartment. When she saw me walking towards her, she pressed the horn continuously despite my desperate gestures indicating her to stop.

The lengths this mad woman will go to piss me off. It's good I asked her to fetch me at this ungodly early hour with the streets almost deserted.

I gave her the finger from the window and she finally steps off her car to help me load my luggage onto her trunk.

"New car?" I asked as I handed her the doughnut. The coffee is for me, obviously. Olivia's more of the  decaf type of person. 

She pats her car, pride emanating from her stance. "Thanks. Yep, I borrowed a loan for this baby. To educate your lack of taste, this is a Chevrolet Bolt which has a 258-mile driving range at full cha--"

"Okay, okay car nerd--"

"For your information, or in your case lack thereof, 'nerd' is a compliment in our field of work, in case you forgot."

 

She's not wrong. Olivia handles a law firm, while I'm a medical doctor. Knowledge is of essence in our careers. 

 

"As I always say, 'you do you,' but if you need any help paying it off, don't hesitate to call me, okay?"

I tell her, knowing her tendency to impulsively buy. One clear evidence is our drunk endeavor last night. Knowing that today I'll be flying to Seoul, South Korea, Olivia decided to treat the entire hospital staff as a celebratory sign-off to me to the nearest bar which mind you, is one of the priciest in town. Hence, also why I barely got 2 hours of sleep to fuel me today and I was surprised to to discover that my drunk self already packed all my things. But with the recent expansion of her firm, I doubt it made a scratch on her bank account.

The entire car ride was a nostalgic reminisce of our college years and how we had each other's back to reach where we are now. Yes, Olivia did have her parents' financial support while I climbed through scholarships, but these differences never was an element for comparison. Through thick and thin, we helped bear each other's crosses.

After helping me check-in all my luggage at the airport's counter,

"Guess this is it, huh?" Olivia says, both her hands tucked within her jean pockets, " Gosh, it will finally be relief not seeing your face 24/7."

"I'll miss you too ugly," I roll my eyes, punching her lightly at her arm, "I'll still call you every night, okay? Unless of course you're in the middle of a shag, so do text me first when you'll be," I shudder, "unavailable."

"Yea, yea." She laughs, "I'll fill you in on all my ual escapades and gruesome kinks some of they may have that I'll thoroughly enjoy."

"You better, or I'll block you in all my social media accounts." I joke back.

We wrap each other in an embrace. "Don't change too much that I won't know you anymore, okay? Or if you have to, for the better and always bring me up to date about anything and everything." Olivia whispers to my ear.

I twist my neck at the side to look at her, "I won't." I place a light kiss on her cheek to seal my promise. "By the way, can you return to my apartment to check if I have everything unplugged? Wouldn't want to be welcomed by a catastrophe when I return." I added.

"Of course. I'll be the one burning your house down so you could live with me again instead." We bid our goodbyes after taking a selfie with our respective phones as the last memento we’d be holding onto until we meet again. I walked past security and into the part of the airport where non-flying clients weren’t allowed.

---

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