It was already 5 in the morning when I finished jotting everything down, it’s a lot harder than expected since I’m right handed and my right elbow is still killing me. I decided to be faithful to Nana. She never played games with me without reasonable bargains. I know I will benefit from this too I just need to be more tolerant than before.

The smell of freshly brewed coffee made my stomach cry for hunger. My body instantly rose from my bed and followed its calling aroma. I opened the door and moved rushing with the lightest foot-steps that I can come up with.

I walked past the inviting sofa that welcomed me last night and went on the left wing of the house to savour my fondness to that desirable beverage which in my case – a quenching reliable source of extra energy. I found Laura stirring a cup of coffee on the kitchen’s counter. She got surprised as she turned around and discovered my presence invading her silent morning ritual.

“Good morning Kris! Did you have a good sleep? I hope I didn’t wake you up.” She said as she put down the teaspoon on a resting plate beside the cup.

“Oh. No you did not. No worries. But to tell you honestly I did not sleep very well too. I had a very odd dream so I woke up sooner than I have expected. Can you probably give me a cup of coffee?” I asked her which almost sounded like I am so deprived from having caffeine. I just need it so badly.

She laughed at the sight of my weird craving. It was always amusing to a lot of people. I looked like a kid wanting it for the first time every morning no – almost all the time. I needed it in my circulation to be fully functional. Without it I think I will be a zombie.

I sat on the chair and pulled myself nearer to the table’s edge. I rested my back and looked at the ceiling of the kitchen’s neatly painted light yellow surface. It was so relaxing and the caffeine overdose is yet to come since Laura’s still preparing one for me. I folded my leg up and hugged my knees rocking back and forth while watching her put sugar in it and finally the creamer.

As I took a sip from my cup and watched the moisture occupy the surface of my eyeglasses since I decided to give up wearing my contacts by the time I broke up with them last night. I suddenly remembered something that I should ask Laura.

“Excuse me Aunt Laura; is there any place here where I can buy clothes? I did not expect that the nights were so cold here. I only brought one jacket with me.” I said hoping that she’ll say yes.

“Didn’t Minah tell you anything about Sylfaen?” she smirked at the fact that my grand-mother missed to inform me.

“Nights here at Sylfaen are colder than other places. I guess the city’s temperature during night time is incomparable here that is why you’re still adjusting.” she sat to the seat opposite to me to take a drink on her cup as well and continued – “There is only one store which I can think of that will fit with your taste. It’s located a few blocks away from the town’s hospital. You’ll find it quickly since its design is one of a kind compared to other stores. The store’s name is M Apparel. It’s owned by our town’s international designer. The clothes there will suit you or you may ask the designer to design personalized clothes for you.”

“You said international designer? But why is he still based here? I mean shouldn’t he be somewhere else?” I asked confused with the irony of the facts that she told me.

“Well, I am amused by his reason of staying. When I said international, all of his clients visit him personally and he provides his service only within the perimeters of this town. He said he cannot leave this place for a personal reason. They don’t have any other choice but to adjust on his preference since there is no one better than him at what he does.” She continued – “His designs were all over international magazines and broadcasts. He is not just fond of getting people’s attention and being proud of his fame.” Laura stood up to get something inside the fridge.

I think I would need to visit that store. I hope it’s not expensive either since she mentioned its designer clothes.

I went back to my room after finishing my coffee and rested a bit on my bed for a nap. Music became a temporary remedy for my body clock’s unpredictable nocturnal sleeping habit.

I woke up with the sound of a dog barking near my window. With one of my eyes peeking through the small open space of my blanket I tried to take a glimpse but I can’t see anything. I needed to get up to figure out where’s the sound coming from. I lazily removed the comforter and lifted the hoodie to cover my head like I used to do at home. A hoodie is not a hoodie if you’re not going to use its hood.

I saw a full grown black labrador barking outside my window running back and forth. It was not just barking randomly, as soon as it saw me it stopped and started wagging its tail like its waiting for something. It then hopped on the ornamental fence and run closer towards my window and started its glass. It’s wearing a black tag around its neck with a mini bell on it. It’s fascinating.

I heard a knock on my door and Laura’s voice is calling outside. I hurriedly opened it and with such relief the dog stopped after seeing her and just sat still in front of my window.

“Yaku is very friendly. Our neighbour owns him. I don’t know why he always comes here whenever he escapes from his owner.” She explained. “Don’t worry; he is a very gentle dog and protective too. I think he is also intelligent in so many ways. I need to introduce you to him.”

I looked at her blankly as soon as she said that. I am not an animal lover. I can take care of them but without the affection. This is one of my glitches. I will definitely dodge this one.

“Oh, really? Aunt Laura, I think I need to go to shop for clothes first” I said right away and began organizing my back pack.

She’s sensitive enough to feel that I am not interested at that moment for the abrupt meet and greet with a neighbour’s dog. She smiled and simply said, “Okay, don’t worry I understand. But later on, you don’t have any other choice but to know him. He comes here almost every day. Hahaha. I hope Yaku doesn’t bother you.”

I’m glad that she is not a nagger, she just smirked at me. I thought she will stereotype me but why with all this amusement? Am I the only person in this town who acts awkward with a dog?

“No, of course not. His presence does not bother me at all. I am just not well acquainted with dogs.” I tried my best not to sound like a complete hater but seriously, I don’t hate them. I just don’t like them as much as I like cats.

She said good-bye with a soft pat on my shoulder and all of a sudden I heard a sharp whistle which came from nowhere that alerted the bright Labrador, I am sure that’s not Laura. The dog ran off somewhere near the entrance wagging its tail. I think the owner might have called the dog.

My bag contained the black journal that Nana gave me with the fountain pen, my wallet, my lip balm and my mp3 player. Where’s my phone? I almost panicked and I remembered Nana took it too. She said it is not necessary here. I let out a deep sigh trying to erase what I left behind, all the work, all the planned schedules – everything. Thinking about it will just ruin my day.

I pressed hard on my head as soon as I thought of Junjin’s map. I can’t remember where I put it. I might have forgotten it in the hospital or probably at the restaurant last night. It made me feel a little bit disappointed with myself. I hope I’ll be able to find it again. Sigh.

I asked Laura for more distinct directions before I head outside. I haven’t done any shopping for a long time since my secretary will get everything ready for me. This kind of thing is something that I need to figure out once again. Andy’s scarf matched with my jeans so I wore it along with my hoodie. Summer here at Sylfaen is the oddest summer of all. The sun is why up the horizon but the wind blows like melted ice from an open refrigerator. I can almost think that this town has centralized air-conditioning system somewhere.

Laura called someone to drive me to the town proper since the Villa is located on a secluded area; a cab-like transportation that specialized for their place was available. There came a side car with a bicycle aiding for its travel. Base from how it looks, only two passengers can fit in and the back of the driver can also be free for anyone who would also like to hop in. It’s more like a tri-cycle to me since another wheel is attached to its sidecar.

The polite driver greeted me with a kind smile. Laura directed him to let me down somewhere near the shop that she talked about and we started to move as soon as he saw me appropriately seated. The travel distance is fairly near but it’s not walking distance at all. He safely took turns on the narrow road and stopped on a waiting shed. He said I can walk from there.

I walked like a real tourist in Sylfaen, reading all the road signs and all the names of the shop that I can see. I tried to avoid eye-contact from random strangers. It’s a good thing they ignored my awkward existence in their place. So this is how it feels like when nobody knows about you. This gave me a lesser responsibility for unsolicited conversations and a lesser requirement to act nice. This is a whole new world compared to my corporate life where I did my best to put up a good image for the company. My limitations are all gone and now I am here to act naturally as how I would.

The mini streets belonged to moving bicycles, no traffic and no commotion at all. Life here is so simple and serene. People here seem to know each other very well. They will greet one another like they were relatives asking about how they’ve been or just plainly waving their hands once they see an acquaintance. I felt like I’d like to belong here but I cannot give up all my responsibilities that easy.

I just noticed that I am already getting near where the M Store was. I can see a huge letter M almost 20 steps away from where I am. I queued together with the people who’s about to cross the street and reached the front door of the shop right after I turned at a corner of a flower shop. I tried to peek on its translucent window but my eyes failed me. I twisted the shop’s golden handle and pushed the purple painted door to enter.

The walls were painted white matched with abstract paintings hanging from different directions putting up a minimalist distinct abstract concept. The clothes are grouped per their colour’s shade and randomly mixed with different designs. Men and women’s section were separated on opposite directions and white rounded fluorescent lights were pinned even on the walls divided by random braided linen with contrasting colours which looks like colourful ropes.

I walked with such fascination on the columns of the shop sandwiched in between of mirrors stretching from the floor up to the edge of the ceiling. The space of the shop was widely used and filled with stand-alone ladders with different pastel colours. All of which have random items from shoes, caps, ties, hats and other interesting accessories resting on it.

“What a surprise! I was planning to visit you at the Villa this afternoon but you went all the way here already. How have you been my princess?” a homey voice spoke behind my back, I can even hear his smile through his unexpected greeting.

I wasn’t able to identify where the person was until I accidentally shifted my view and faced one of the mirrors. I saw his reflection behind me as we made eye contact through the huge glass. He’s hair was bronze-brown and it was waxed on a tight tousled manner. His cute smiling eyes where matched with that kid like grin behind his iconic round framed glasses. His fashion sense is of a professional, I can see him wearing almost simple well matched complimenting clothes but he made it look classier for his box type body built. His height is almost the same to that handsome doctor who treated me but this person looked exceptionally taller from a distance because of the illusion made by his right choice of apparel.

Now I see were all the pride from Laura’s explanation is coming from. He looked like he’s someone who can set a trend even in the city and I can’t help to think that his face can almost make every girl fall for him because of his easy –going charisma and boy next door kind of smile.

“It’s a shame I was not able to welcome you yesterday Kris.” And he suddenly jumped right next to me to take a closer look. I flushed red with this immediate boundary disruption. I can almost tell he smelled like chocolate mint as he swayed closer to my shoulder.

He held out his hand and said nonchalantly, “I’m Minwoo. You may call me Oppa (older brother in Korean) if that’ll make you more comfortable around me.” I awkwardly moved a step away from him to gain my composure.

“Oh Hi.” are the only words that I can come up with at that time. Now, I just accidentally met the fourth knight of Nana. “I’m wondering if you have hoodies here? I am not familiar with this place and unfortunately I just brought normal clothes for my vacation.”

“In that case, I can see why Andy lent you his scarf.” He said while pointing at the navy blue scarf which is hugging my neck. “Don’t be surprised if I know it was his, I gave it to him. Hahaha. It’s a good thing to know that he was able to put it in good use too.” Minwoo laughed like he is teasing Andy in front of us.

“Looking at your hoodie it seemed like you never changed your preference since the last time we saw each other huh?” and his hands began playing with the hanged clothes on different levels. “I know that you loved baby blue the most but will only wear black stuff in the end. Let us check that section.” Then he stopped running through in the middle of blue shaded clothes and jumped to the section which was tinted with black.

He was so fast and precise in picking them. It looked like he is confident that all the items in his hands will fall to my category of keenness. Minwoo directed me to follow him to the counter to double check the jackets and I can’t even say more. He moved swiftly behind the counter and rested all of the apparels on the white side-table. I noticed a panda stuffed toy sticking behind his laptop with a bundle of different coloured pencils standing alternately inside a clear jar beside it.

“I picked sizes larger than your original size. You never wore anything that’s fitted. You are also unlike to become a fan of body hugging clothes so I designed these inspired from your preference. I can say that my profession is something that materialized because of your unique preference.” He said as he rested his chin on both of his hands acting all cute and that - but he is really cute.

I adjusted my eyes on the clothes that he got for me and it is definitely my style. I take a look on all 5 jackets that he got for me and all were patterned with great simplicity and proper edged portions for mini classy details.

“How much for all of these?” I didn’t hesitate to get all of it even if I haven’t seen the prices yet. I can strongly feel that I won’t regret buying all of it.

Minwoo looked at me with a serious face. His smile unexpectedly vanished in a split second and gave me a long awkward silence. He tilted his head on one side and he spoke with a low voice asking me “Did I ask you to pay for them?” squinting his eyes, criticizing what I said.

I was about to answer back but his smile appeared again on his face and he immediately said “I was joking. Why are you so serious? Hahaha.. Hey, you don’t need to pay for them. Treat them as a gift from your Oppa. I owe you a lot of presents since we haven’t seen each other for a long time.” And he started taking them away from my hands and got a big black paper bag under the table compartment.

“You don’t fit your clothes when you buy them right? Let me know if they suit you well or if not, you may come back to switch it anytime” he said while finishes wrapping it and tied an orange ribbon to seal my clothes.

I watched him lock his computer then he nodded towards me gesturing us to go out. He carried the paper bag swaying on his right hand and randomly throws his keys up and down on the open palm of his left hand. I went out naturally and he did too. He stopped in front of the shop’s door to lock it up.

I felt a sudden jolt on my stomach when a food-cart happened to pass in front of me selling deep fried quail eggs coated with an orange recipe flour. I knew I tasted this somewhere before but I cannot remember. The sour smell of vinegar together with some chopped onions and bits of pepper also saturated the air and I followed it with my head. Citizens standing by the side walk rushed to buy some. I was caught off guard and I didn’t even have any breakfast yet.

My feet moved by themselves towards the food cart but something grabbed the scarf that I am wearing and stopped me.