The soft beams of light brightened the room ever so slightly yet enough to make one unable to continue their slumber. Taking a deep breath of the cold air that surrounded me, I faced no difficulties in getting my senses back and fluttering my eyes open. Expecting to awaken to broad daylight, I was surprised to see my room still cloaked in darkness. The only lights infiltrating my room were those of the lanterns in the street. Turning on my side, I checked my clock whether it was time to get up yet. Only to come to the conclusion that I still had four hours of sleep ahead of me before I even had to think about leaving the warmth and comfiness of my bed. But I wasn’t tired anymore, my whole body was ready to get out of bed and head to the streets for a run. My heart was beating fairly quickly for someone who had just woken up, and I couldn’t help but wonder why this kept happening. Were my dreams the reason for these awakenings? If so, then why couldn’t I recall a mere second of any of them? 

A deep and frustrated sigh fled my lips as I closed my eyes in an attempt to head back to sleep.

 

 

“What are you thinking about?”

I snapped out of my thoughts and back to reality: me and my best friend Su-Ji enjoying a cup coffee. Every wednesday we’d meet up in a coffee shop either in her home town or mine to catch up on each other’s lives. We used to be inseparable in high school, but when we went to college we both moved to another city. It wasn’t hard on us, a new city meant discovering new things, meeting new people and becoming more and more independent. But to keep our friendship intact, we made a promise to each other that we’d spend at least one afternoon with each other - the wednesday afternoon.

I looked away from the window and back at Su-Ji, who was watching me curiously as she took a sip from her coffee.

I smiled at her and shook my head. “It’s nothing,” My thoughts had been going back and forth between our conversation and my own imagination. Wrapping my hands around the cup that held the warm liquid, I let myself get used to the heat a little - not risking to burn my tongue by drinking too soon. “So how’s-”

“Last time I saw you you were also this absent minded,” She raised an eyebrow and pouted her lips as she took another sip. “What are you hiding from me?”

Putting her cup back on the table, she glanced at me from underneath her eyelashes. “Guy trouble?”

I couldn’t control my laughter and shook my head again before lifting my cup and carefully taking a sip of my latte machiatto. If there was anything Su-Ji liked to talk about it would be guys. It used to be the only topic she’d talk about herself until she got a boyfriend six months ago. Six months, and the couple was still going strong whilst I had been single the whole time. Not that I really minded being single, but every once in a while I would get jealous of the ‘happy couple’ and felt like I was missing out on things. “No, but it really is nothing, I just have not been sleeping well the past weeks,”

Su-Ji cocked her eyebrow and took another sip of her coffee. “Unable to sleep, unable to concentrate, bad appetite, all the signs of being in-”

“I did not say I lost my appetite, Su-Ji,”

She send me a playful smirk and shrugged. “I’m just filling in the blanks,”

“There are no blanks,”

“Then create blanks,”

I furrowed my brows and tilted my head slightly, questioning her what she meant without using words. 

“Create your blanks. Go out, talk to guys on your way home, wink at the guy behind cash register, give your phone number to a stranger in a bar,” She leant back in her chair and finished her cup of coffee.

I sighed and with a sly smile denied to do what she told me. “You know I’m not like that,”

She raised her eyebrow and then gave a little nod in the direction of the male employee, who was preparing a drink for a customer. “Give him your number,” She added to her little gesture. I sighed and wanted to protest, I had my doubts, but still didn’t want to get up because it felt like it’d hurt my pride. 

“I dare you,”

I looked up from my cup of coffee and watched Su-Ji from underneath my eye lashes. She thought I wouldn’t do it, didn’t she? 

“Fine,” I agreed. “Give me a paper and a pen,”

Su-Ji squealed - too excited about her accomplishment to be able to hide it - and searched her purse in a hurry to find the necessary items. 

“I don’t have a pen, but-” She handed me the receipt of our coffees together with her liquid eye liner, “this will do,”

I snatched the items from her and quickly wrote down my number as well as my name on the receipt. After having it written down I stood up, sending Su-Ji one last glare - but she looked back at me with a huge grin plastered on her face.

I walked away from our table and to the barista, as I approached him I tried to clear my mind of thoughts that would guide me to - instead of the counter - to the toilet, where I’d flush the piece of paper and pretend like this never happened. An action I preferred doing much more. As I got closer to the bar, I felt my pace slow down. Why was I afraid? I mean, what was the worst that could happen? He could laugh at me. He could throw my number away. He could not send me a text. He could make fun of me with his friends. 

I heard a low cough behind me and quickly turned to see who it was. “Are you not going to order anything?” The guy behind me asked. The tone in his voice sounded slightly annoyed and by the way he glared at me I assumed he was indeed irritated.

“O, no,” I said and tried to send him an apologetic smile.

He put his hands in his pockets and slightly raised an eyebrow as he gave a slight nod to the right. “Then get out of the line,”

I felt myself cringe and quickly distanced myself from the counter. But the moment I had stepped to the side I noticed I had dropped the receipt with my number on it and of course, with my luck, the annoyed guy saw this and reached for the small piece of paper on the ground.

His brows furrowed together as he read the note on it. “A phone number, huh,” He crumpled the receipt in his hand. “Shouldn’t hand this out to strangers,” His tone sounded serious, but by the way he was looking at me I knew he was judging me. “Makes you seem desperate,”

There you had it - his judgement. I felt my anger rise and wanted to say something to him. He did not know me. This was not desperate - I was not desperate!

But instead of opening my mouth and calling him names I my heel and rushed out of the coffee shop - because not only did this anger me it also embarrassed me. 

Su-Ji - who quickly got the hint - rushed after me.

“Who was that guy?” Su-ji asked underneath her breath when she finally caught up with me.

“I don’t know and I don’t want to know - All I do know is that I’m never doing something like that again!”

“But ___-”

“No,”

Su-Ji huffed in defeat and looked over her shoulder one last time. “He’s still looking at you,”

I furrowed my brows together in anger, but simultaneously I felt my curiosity strike -  only there was no way that I was going to check if Su-Ji was lying or not.

“That’s called mocking me,”

Su-Ji sighed heavily. “But ___!” She whined.

 

“So, should I drop you off at the station?” Su-Ji asked when she stopped the car for a red light.

“Yes,” I agreed as I send my parents a text. It was the end of our finals week at university and since it was only wednesday I had decided to visit my parents for the weekend. After months of not having seen them I figured it would be nice to visit them again - even if it was just for a couple of days.

“How long does the train ride last again?” Su-Ji asked as I hopped out of the car. 

“About four hours,” I answered whilst taking my luggage from the back seat. 

“Dang,” She swore. “I keep forgetting you’re not from around here,”

I smiled. “I’ve adapted well to the big city, haven’t I?”

Su-Ji raised an eyebrow. “That depends on what you define as well,” She answered in a mocking tone. I figured it was best to just ignore her remark. 

“Anyway, thanks for the ride,” I said with a big smile as I closed the door. 

Su-Ji rolled down the window and bent towards the open window. “Don’t forget to text me when you arrive and sent me some pictures from your home town, I’d love to know what the country side looks like!” She mocked me.

I shook my head. To Su-Ji all smaller cities and villages were the country side. According to her they existed of only farmers. “Sure,” I answered in an sarcastic tone as I turned around and headed towards the train station. “I’ll see you in a few days!”

 

As I entered the train it was already quite crowded - for some reason men actually wanted to travel away from the city. Something I didn’t understand. Ever since I moved to the big city for college I loved it. Coming from a small village where everyone knew each other, I found it nice to start my own life somewhere else. Even though I was just for college. I used to love my home town when I was young and told my parents every year that I never wanted to leave. That was until a few years back, when I took a gap year between high school and college. Suddenly it felt like I was missing out on something by living there, which quickly resulted in me moving away and barely coming back through the whole year.

I put nearly exploding backpack on the seat next to me and turned to look out the window, to catch a last glimpse of the city I was going to miss for a few days straight.

“Mind if I join you?”

I turned to see a guy from approximately my age, maybe a bit older, point at the still empty chairs in front of me. 

“O, no, sure,”

He nodded slightly, a small gesture to say thank you, and sat down in the chair across of me. I narrowed my eyes and studied the guy a bit better. Short dark brown hair, dark eyes - I didn’t recall knowing someone who looked like that. Yet, there was something - in the expressions he made - that seemed familiar. 

He seemed to notice me observing him since he turned to look at me. “Is something wrong?”

I quickly averted my gaze and shook my head. “No, nothing’s wrong, sorry,”

He smiled. “It’s okay,”

There it was again. I recognised that smile.

“Well, actually, I have a question,”

He crossed his arms over his chest and sat back in his chair. “Ask away,”

I my lips and tried to fight the frown that was forming on my countenance. “Have we met before?”

His eyes immediately met mine and for a few moments his expression was dead serious. But soon that expression was replaced with a breathtaking smile that emerged on his lips. “That depends,” He said, keeping his voice low. “Do you remember meeting me?”

 

 

 

Yes! The first chapter is finally up, and you still don't know what this story is about. (It's also very very short... sorry about that) Oh well, guess you'll just have to stick around to find out about that.

A BIG THANK YOU to the few subscribers who decided to press that subscribe button just because of the foreword, it means a lot! I will try to update faster and regularly with this story from now on.

I hope you all will enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it.

Lots of love, Muffins