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How embarrassing is that?

   I woke up with my neck, arms, and back aching because I fell asleep on my table. At first, I was trying to remember why the heck I was on my table then I realized that I was chatting with the bubble tea prince last night. I suddenly bolted up and groaned at the pain in my back because goddamnit, I will never get used to sleeping on the table with my arms folded above it and head resting on my arms even if I do that in school most of the time.

   You see, being engrossed with movies, and bands, and stories online drain my energy that even when I woke up the next day, I still feel tired so I end up sleeping in school when I find the class boring. Thankfully, Suji and Jiyoung would wake me up before the teacher catches me then I’d pretend that I’m taking notes while I’m resting my head on my arm.

   I looked at the screen to see if the prince disconnected already but much to my delight, he didn’t . . . and there’s a blue dot beside his name meaning he’s still online! We were talking about how I couldn’t spazz with my friends because they couldn’t relate to what I was spazzing about and actually, I’m just the only one who kept talking (and spazzing). Sometimes, I think he’s not interested anymore because he’s not replying. I would ask if he’s still there and his reply would be: “yes, I’m reading everything. Keep going.” And it would strangely make my heart flutter like why are you being like this?!

   Anyway, I filled our chat box with just me spazzing and fan-girling and his last reply was:

bubbletea_prince: alright, good night princess

   Because I stopped filling our chat box with spazzes and keyboard smashes and stuff. I looked at the digital clock beside my laptop and saw that it was just quarter to eight in the morning. What time did I fall asleep? How do I know the time I sent my last reply if it’s not displayed on the screen? Heol . . .

   I hovered my cursor on my last “spazz” and the time popped up. 2:10am. The prince’s last reply was 2:55am.

princess_ssul: good morning prince! I am sooooo sorry I fell asleep last night. TT A TT sadgkjsdf.

   Well, as expected, he didn’t reply. I don’t know if he’s sleeping or what; I don’t even know where he’s from. This chatemall.com is an English site and I’m just thankful that I was able to learn English at an early age. But if it’s nighttime on his side then . . .

   I shrugged and stood up to stretch. I can wait and even if he’s on my list already, I will never disconnect. I decided to gather up my stuff so I can take a bath already. I know it’s too early but I’m not sleepy anymore and I don’t think I can still sleep. I was about to head to the bathroom when I heard my laptop ding.

   A reply!

   I ran towards my table and bent down on the screen’s level.

bubbletea_prince: it’s fine. Go back to sleep, it’s still early.

princess_ssul: I can’t sleep anymore. TT TT what time is it there? Maybe you should go back to sleep.

bubbletea_prince: uh . . . hold on

bubbletea_prince: it’s already 8 in the morning.

   I squealed. I practically squealed like a fan-girl and jumped around and yeah. We have the same time zone! I can’t even with this! Alright, keep calm, Choi Jinri. Even if you’ve chatted with this prince, he’s still a stranger. Why are you feeling all giddy?!

princess_ssul: same here! * ^ * well, anyway, you should go back to sleep! If I were to estimate, you only had five hours of sleep. I’m so sorry. TT TT

bubbletea_prince: you don’t have to say sorry, idiot. It’s fine. But I still am sleepy. You woke me up.

princess­_ssul: OTL I’m sorryyyyy! I didn’t know. Just go back to sleep! -_-

bubbletea_prince: okay. I’ll chat with you later.

   Feels. He’ll chat with me later!

princess_ssul: aren’t you going to disconnect?

bubbletea_prince: do you want me to?

princess_ssul: nooo! TT TT Talk to you later! Sweet dreams!

   And he didn’t reply anymore. I went on to my usual routine with a smile on my face. It’s a beautiful Sunday! Who would have thought that a stranger I’ve chatted online for more than ten hours would have this effect on me? While I kept on talking and talking, he never once complained. There are some strangers—under the random category—who would disconnect while you’re in the middle of typing a long reply but the bubble tea prince didn’t. Well, after all, he doesn’t fall on the random category.

   He’s already in the “unique strangers” category: strangers you rarely encounter but if you did, you’d never want to disconnect because they keep you from doing so. I don’t know in what ways but you just couldn’t.

   I just hope bubble tea prince feels the same way I do.

   My parents didn’t come home last night. I can tell because the dining table is empty. I wonder if they still remember that they have a daughter. They’re too engrossed with business, going to different places and countries and wherever. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were also required to visit planet Mars or something.

   I opened the cupboard and took a cup of instant ramyeon. This house is too big for me. I think it would have been better if we live in an apartment. But what difference does it make if you can’t feel at home. Funny how awhile ago, I’m smiling like an idiot and now, with the thought of my parents not being here on a freaking Sunday, I just want to cry.

   Aish! I puffed my cheeks as I poured hot water inside the cup. I’m just going to eat this out! I can’t just let my parents ruin my day when it started off so great!

   I walked up to my room, holding the cup of ramyeon, and went to open the door to the balcony. The morning breeze greeted me and I grinned, the wind and the hot ramyeon complimenting each other perfectly. I placed the cup down on the glassed table and went inside to retrieve my laptop. Once I’m comfortable on my seat, I lifted my knees to my chest and ate my instant ramyeon while the laptop rested on the table, facing me.

   A little while later, I heard a ding from my laptop and saw a reply from the prince. It hadn’t even been two hours when I last talked to him.

bubbletea_prince: are you there?

princess_ssul: yup! How was sleep? :3

bubbletea_prince: keeps getting disturbed

princess_ssul: meaning?

bubbletea_prince: meaning I sleep then wake up then sleep then wake up and yeah

princess_ssul: if only I didn’t keep you up last night TT TT

bubbletea_prince: stop blaming yourself idiot

princess_ssul: sdfkljgds yes your highness. –n–;

bubbletea_prince: so . . . what’s up?

princess_ssul: I’m here at the balcony, eating ramyeon :D are you up? The weather’s really nice!

bubbletea_prince: my computer isn’t really portable, you know

princess_ssul: bleh how would I know?

princess_ssul: so you’re still in your room?

bubbletea_prince: yeah

princess_ssul: have you eaten breakfast?

bubbletea_prince: not yet

princess_ssul: then go eat already! TT A TT

bubbletea_prince: fine, talk to you later.

   Wow. Did he really listen to me? I was kind of expecting he’d say something like . . . “maybe later, I still want to talk to you” but who am I kidding? It’s impossible. We barely even know each other. And I know that I will feel guilty if I kept him in his room just to chat with me. He wasn’t able to sleep early last night because of me, why would I want him to miss out on breakfast because of me too?

   After an hour, he came back. An hour! Who can eat for a whole hour?!

bubbletea_prince: I’m back.

princess_ssul: what took you so long? O_O

bubbletea_prince: waited for me? ;)

princess_ssul: . . . shut up –w–

bubbletea_prince: haha I ate then took a bath so I wouldn’t have to keep you waiting

princess_ssul: I wasn’t waiting sldkgjsdg

bubbletea_prince: whatever you say

princess_ssul: so you didn’t do anything yesterday than to chat with me?

bubbletea_prince: obviously. If I did, our conversation would have cut short stupid

princess_ssul: stop calling me idiot or stupid alkjdshsdfkljh ugh

bubbletea_prince: haha

princess_ssul: -w- well, anyway. Didn’t you have anything to do yesterday?

bubbletea_prince: none

princess_ssul: why?

bubbletea_prince: because my friends and I went out last Friday night and they had hangover lol

bubbletea_prince: they woke up and called me, complaining of how their head hurts and all like the hell I care, it’s their fault

bubbletea_prince: so I’m stuck at home because they’re stuck at their homes too

   Is it wrong to find it cute when he’s finally sending me more than one reply and is actually already opening up to me? Sobbing.

princess_ssul: do you go to parties?

bubbletea_prince: sometimes

princess_ssul: are you fond of them?

bubbletea_prince: not really. I’m often just dragged by my friends

princess_ssul: but do you drink?

bubbletea_prince: nope. I’m a minor so . . .

bubbletea_prince: and if I were to drink anything, I’d choose bubble tea haha

princess_ssul: ha, figured :P

princess_ssul: so wait, you said you’re a minor

princess_ssul: may I ask . . . how old you are then? I mean if it isn’t . . . too personal or anything

bubbletea_prince: it’s okay. I’m 17

   Babump. My heart just suddenly pounded like that. So he’s seventeen like me, so what? I bet there are a lot of seventeen-year-old guys out there using chatemall too, psh. Weird heart.

princess_ssul: we’re the saaaaame!

bubbletea_prince: lol seriously?

princess_ssul: . . . why? TT TT

bubbletea_prince: because with the way you type, I thought you were younger

princess_ssul: I don’t know if I should take that as an insult or a compliment . . . –w–

bubbletea_prince: you should take it as a compliment

   So that’s how I spent my Sunday, chatting with the prince for the whole day again, talking about how his friends go hangover every time they went to parties and how he still couldn’t believe I’m the same age as him. One of the things why he thought I was younger was because of my username; he said it was something a kid would use when she’s on the internet for the first time. I didn’t back down though; I retaliated that his username sounded just as much too. “bubbletea_prince”? Seriously? Why would a seventeen-year-old guy even use a username like that? I mean, okay, so he loves bubble tea, but really? That’s like . . . er.

   I even suggested usernames like rockstar_94 or swaggy or whatsupketchup or anything “guy-like” but he just laughed it off and said “your suggestions are stupid. Just like you.”

   Our conversation sort of died down by the time the night came. It isn’t as active as earlier. Our current conversation went something like this:

princess_ssul: are you still there?

bubbletea_prince: yeah

princess_ssul: are you still alive?

bubbletea_prince: yeah

bubbletea_prince: oi

princess_ssul: I’m heeeeeere

   And those replies have intervals of fifteen to thirty minutes and sometimes, more than that. I’m still amazed that neither of us still wouldn’t disconnect even though we’re already on each other’s list.

princess_ssul: okay, I’m done with my homework

bubbletea_prince: so am I

princess_ssul: why didn’t you tell me you were doing your homework sdlkjgsdfg

bubbletea_prince: you didn’t tell me you were doing your homework too

princess_ssul: well I just thought I’d do it while we’re having this weird conversation :P

bubbletea_prince: well, your highness, you’re not the only one

princess_ssul: . . . but am I the only one who found this funny?

princess_ssul: that yeah we’re still here but we’re doing our homework and we’re not talking much but neither of us would disconnect? :D

bubbletea_prince: you’re not the only one :)

   That was the first time he ever used a smiling emoticon and I couldn’t help but feel somewhat giddy about it. I didn’t even realize that I wasn’t able to reply to him because my fingers were frozen and my heart was beating really fast. How could this stranger have this effect on me?!

bubbletea_prince: uh hey

   I don’t know why but I cleared my throat before typing in my reply.

princess_ssul: yeaaaaaap?

bubbletea_prince: well, you see, I have to go because tomorrow’s a school day and yeah

bubbletea_prince: but can I ask you something?

princess_ssul: okay :D

   Yeah, that was my reply but deep deep down, I’m feeling really nervous.

bubbletea_prince: where are you from?

princess_ssul: Korea ^^ Seoul. :D

   It was taking him time to reply and I really prayed he won’t fall on the “whatever-ist category” and would really disconnect—and worse, remove me on his list—this time. How could he just do that as if we didn’t have these conversations at all? Yeah, he’s a stranger. Yeah, we’ve only chatted for like two days but he got me anticipating for his reply every single time! He couldn’t just . . . ditch me, right? He couldn’t just destroy the hopes I have of him possibly being like . . . my virtual best friend or something, right?

   I mean he has this aura that even though he’s a stranger, I can tell him anything I want and he wouldn’t judge. He was able to tolerate my spazzes and fan-girlings and he actually read every single thing I said so he couldn’t just leave as in leave literally, off from my life or something, right?

bubbletea_prince: Wow.

   Wait, what? Wow?

bubbletea_prince: that’s great. I’m from Seoul too. :)

   Okay, that’s it. STOP BEING LIKE THIS, STRANGER! I’m flipping out; I’m totally flipping out. I can’t—

bubbletea_prince: well, if you don’t mind then, can I have your number? I mentioned that I don’t really go here in chatemall often, right? So . . .

bubbletea_prince: I mean if you still want to communicate with me or something, I just . . .

bubbletea_prince: you know . . .

bubbletea_prince: yeah.

   And breathlessly, I typed:

princess_ssul: syre!

princess_ssul: sure*

princess_ssul: stupid typo

princess_ssul: sprry

princess_ssul: sorry* ugh

   STUPID FINGERS, CAN YOU PLEASE STOP SHAKING—I took a deep breath.

princess_ssul: anyway, here you go ^^”

   And I gave him my number.