BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

The alarm from the digital clock echoed in the whole house. The annoying sound rang through Sora’s ears and she wished she had the strength to at least turn it off before it went off. She lifelessly searched for the digital alarm clock, which was placed somewhere on the floor, along with her strewn clothes. She was half-asleep and sprung awake when she stepped on something sharp. It was a small Lego block. And in bloody red, something appropriate for something so sneaky and dangerous.

Where the hell did this Lego piece come from? Sora thought as she finally found the annoying digital alarm clock and turned it off. She checked the time and it showed 5:47am. Forty-seven minutes late. I just missed my time to go out and workout.

She stood up and stretched, ran her hands over face to ultimately wake herself up, and she scanned the place. Scattered clothes lined up from the door. Wet clothes, Sora, she reminded herself and picked the clothes and placed them immediately in the washing machine. She wasn’t stupid enough to leave it in the laundry bin. She’s not stupid enough to ruin good clothes.

And out of habit, she went over to her sound system and checked her playlist. When she has finally decided, she pressed the play button, and Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit in the Sky started blaring out of the surround speakers. She needed music to start her day and it didn’t matter what time it was.

Thank you, God, for my neighbours who kindly tolerate my loud music, she prayed gratefully. One of the reasons why Sora’s playing of loud music was tolerated was because even her neighbours enjoyed the music, and well, they appreciated her good taste in music. They sometimes found it annoying though that she plays songs on repeat and most of the times, Sora would be playing one song for one whole week until she grows sick of it.

Sora checked her planner and tried to remember what she did the day before. She looked out her window and the sun was up and bright but there were signs that rain poured overnight. Rain. Rain... Train... Train station, Sora remembered. She buried her face in her hands and fell on the bed as she muffled a scream.

She stopped and sat up on her bed as she slapped herself—once, twice, and then some more. It wasn’t a dream. It happened. But what was that? No, you’re overthinking again, Sora. It just happened. Whatever happened yesterday between you and Chanyeol just happened. And it is what it is. Nothing else. You don’t need to read between the lines or give any meaning to his actions. He was just being nice. Sora sighed dreamily at the thought of Chanyeol being nice to her—too nice for her, actually. STOP IT. Do not get your hopes up. So what? So what if he got soaked in the rain trying to get to you so he can give you an umbrella and so what if he tried to keep you from dying from cold last night and who cares... who cares if it made your heart flutter and butterflies dance in your stomach? You’re the only one who thinks that way, the only one who feels that way.

“I hate the voices in my head,” Sora said aloud. She returned to her planner and checked that tonight she had to cover for a co-worker’s shift at the live cafe. She didn’t mind since that means more money for her and well... more reason to stalk Chanyeol.

You are not a stalker, Sora. Do not stoop to that level. You are working. You are just working at a place that just happens to be live cafe that Chanyeol’s dad owns. It wasn’t her fault they were hiring the moment she applied at the place. It just happened.

Sora still had a lot of time left to dilly-dally before work so she took a long bath and made kimchi fried rice for brunch afterwards. She realized she was hungry as she actually skipped lunch and slept through dinner yesterday. I was that exhausted from all that drama.

After finishing her meal, she made tea, turned off her sound system, and sat in front of her laptop to check on emails or anything worthwhile on the internet. She logged into her account at The Coffee Club site and there were some notifications. One was a personal message from Xiumin. The message said:

“Sora, were you able to go home alright? I told you it would rain yesterday. Chanyeol got home soaking wet and I don’t know why. He did say though that you decided not to go the music store and ditched him. He said you forgot something. Were you able to get whatever it is you left? Anyway, reply as soon as you get this message.”

Sora stared at the screen as she absent-mindedly reread the message, especially the part where it says where Chanyeol didn’t say why he was soaking wet when he got home. See, I told you, Sora. It was nothing. You’re the only one who’s making it into something special. Chanyeol didn’t even care to tell others. Sora frowned and let out a loud disappointed sigh. Sora looked so miserable at that moment that even the gods pitied her and wished there was something they could do for her. The voices in her head opted to stay silent.

After a few minutes of drowning in senseless misery, Sora got over it and tried to think of a feasible reply to Xiumin’s message. As she was about to type the reply she has finally conjured in her mind, her mobile phone rang. Chanyeol’s beautiful manly voice was ringing in the room. She had made Chanyeol’s part from EXO’s song Baby Don’t Cry as her default ringtone. She hesitated answering it but whoever’s calling at this time of the day must be calling for an urgent reason so she literally ran to her mobile phone, which was on her couch in the living room, to answer the call before it was too late. She also did it on purpose to answer the call later because she wanted to listen to her ringtone. She answered the call from an unregistered number and it was her co-worker from the live cafe. He called to remind Sora about the shift and she assured him that she remembered and she didn’t mind covering for her. He then thanked her and ended the call.

Sora carefully threw the phone back on the couch and headed back to her laptop. Just as she plopped down on the desk, her phone rang again. Who? What is it this time? Can’t I get some peace and quiet? This time, she dragged her feet to where her phone was and wished she’d miss the call. And she did miss the call as soon as she got a hold of her phone. She checked the caller and it was another unregistered number. She dismissed and as she was about to let go of her mobile, it rang again. She immediately answered it.

“Hello?” Sora said. She didn’t get any response. It was silent on the other line as if the caller was checking out who was answering the call.

“Hello?” Sora repeated. Well, if you don’t have any plans of answering back then please don’t waste my time, Sora thought and without hesitation ended the call. She shook her head with dismay. Then her phone rang again. It was the mysterious unregistered caller.

“Hello? Who is this? If you’re going to...” Sora started off sternly but she was cut off when she heard a voice on the other line.

“Noona,” a familiar voice said. It was too familiar that she knew exactly who it was. Sora’s heart started beating so fast again; she strained to calm herself down.

“Sora-noona, it’s me, Chanyeol,” the voice on the other line said. Sora felt her soul flying away from sheer bliss. Hearing Chanyeol’s voice was enough to make her knees grow weak. Somehow, she had difficulty responding so as if on cue, Chanyeol continued, “I just called to see if you got home fine.”

Sora cleared and tried to sound calm. Too calm actually that still no words would come out of . She reckoned her brain flew away along with her soul.

“Noona? Are you okay? Are you mad over last night?” Chanyeol said suddenly.

“No, I’m not,” Sora finally said.

“You’re not okay?” Chanyeol asked.

“No, I’m fine. When I said I’m not, I meant I’m not mad. I mean why would I be mad? I’m fine. See? I mean you can’t see me but well you can hear me doing fine, I mean sounding fine. So yeah, I’m fine,” Sora blabbered on. Chanyeol laughed at her that the awkwardness between them went away.

“Ok, I’m glad you’re fine. Minseok-hyung wanted to know so I called,” Chanyeol said.

“Aaah, I see. Tell Minseok, i mean Xiumin, I said hi and that I’ll be replying to his message after this phonecall,” Sora said.

“Ok, Soora-noona. Good-bye then,” Chanyeol said.

“Yeah, good-bye to...” Sora said but Chanyeol ended the call that she didn’t finish. “Good-bye to you, too. Why’d you have to call if you wanted to get off the phone quickly?” Sora said to her phone and rolled her eyes as she threw the phone back to the couch. She shook off the familiar emotions creeping back at her—she felt them when she and Chanyeol were under the umbrella.

“He’s asking if I’m mad? YES, I’M MAD! I’m mad crazy because I wouldn’t be where I am right now if I was sane enough to be contented with just what ifs and regrets. But no, I’m mad because I have to prove to myself and to the people who actually cares that nothing is impossible, that we can do things if we actually try. Things like this—stalking a celebrity you like and then becoming friends with them. Yes, that’s so doable. So normal. So... mad,” Sora ranted. She let out a loud sigh and went back to her laptop to finally send her reply to Xiumin’s message.