DROWSINESS

It’s been a couple days since we came back from the island resort. Reina is no longer working at Cafe Million, so it’s back to me, Erika, and Hana hanging out at Erika’s table like before.

Though really, we’re now just bothering Erika as she actually has an assignment to do. Hana was on her summer break, but Erika is on a short term to accumulate credits.

It has been bothering me how Erika actually seems to be doing really well with her assignments. She isn’t a genius, but she should have no problem getting excellent grades. Yet she still has to spend her summer break attending short term classes to accumulate credits.

“Say, Erika. How is your grade?” I decided to just ask her.

She pondered the question for a while before signing something to Hana.

“Erika is doing great in her classes. She’s not acing everything, but she’s still doing great. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I mean don’t people usually accumulate credits over summer break if they’re failing classes and have to retake them?”

“Oh. That's what you meant.” She and Erika exchanged glances before answering me. “You know how some classes have way more people compared to others? Erika’s taking those classes over summer break to avoid the crowd.”

So instead of failing, she’s actually doing well enough to take classes before she actually needs to. I was too lazy to pick up extra classes over break, so I just take classes when I need to, so I can’t really relate. But I guess this is what’s best for her.

“You took the same major as Erika right, Oliver? How was your grade?”

“It’s been a while, and the curriculum has most likely changed. So, I don’t think a very fair comparison can be made here.”

As the conversation went on, with me continuing to try to hide my grades, our conversation got interrupted by a loud laugh, accompanied by the sound of the front door opening, signaling a new customer walking into the cafe. Our attention was drawn to the loud laugh, and I noticed that the customer that just walked in was a family with a couple small kids.

Can’t really complain when I’m in a public place, but I don’t really like little kids, including how loud they usually are. They like to run all around the place, causing chaos everywhere. I guess I’m just not very fond of kids in general.

“Don’t get that kind of customer often around this time of day.” Hana said whilst we’re all still looking at the family.

“Really? I’d guess you’d get all sorts of people here.” I asked.

Hana shrugged her shoulders. “The type that we get the most are teenagers and young adults who hang out with their friends. We do get some family during the lunch and dinner rush, though.”

I took a look around the cafe and noticed that most people sitting in groups are indeed teenagers and young adults, most likely still on their summer break. It’s way past lunch hour, and still a while before dinner too. I also never felt bothered with any particular loudness in this Cafe.

We continued our conversation with Erika still working on her assignment. Or we tried to, at least. I kind of space out every now and then because my focus sometimes wanders towards the family with the loud kids. As this obviously stalled the conversation somewhat, Hana called me out on it.

“Oliver, you like kids?”

“Hm? Oh, no. I’m not good with kids because they’re kinda loud.”

“I see. Not very fond of loud noises, huh?”

I shook my head a little when Hana signed something which Erika translated. “Are you not good with loud noises or with kids?”

“Well.. I like loud music, but not loud obnoxious sounds. I also like calm kids, but not obnoxious kids. I guess I just don't like obnoxious stuff.”

“Don’t everyone?”

Even as we speak, the kids are still laughing and screaming very loudly and would sometimes run around the cafe. Instead of doing anything about it, it seems like the parents actually encourage the kid’s behavior. They told the kids to play around the cafe while they put an order in with the waitress.

I want to tell the parents to calm their kid down, but as the staff working here isn’t saying anything about it, I guess it’s not my place. Even more so as I don’t want to cause a scene in a place owned by someone I know.

But this is really ticking me off.

“Hey, sorry. It’s a little earlier than usual, but I’ll be heading back now.”

Usually, I’d stay until a little before dinner rush when Erika usually leaves. But the obnoxious kids are really irritating me, and I don’t want to cause problems for Hana and Erika. So, it would be better for me to just leave now.

“Wha-? Oliver?” Hana tried to stop me, but I just got up and tried to make my way towards the register.

But right after I got out of my seat, the owner approached me from behind the counter. “Young man, I can take your payment here.”
This is much appreciated as it means I don’t have to wait for the register to work. And as I already know the price of my drink, I just took the cash out of my wallet and handed it to the owner for him to process after I take my leave.

“Thanks, owner.”

As I walked to leave, the kid from earlier turned around the partition behind where I usually sit on Erika’s table whilst running. Startled, I jumped back a little before he bumped into me, throwing my hand a little to the sides as I tried to avoid him, but he bumped into me still, and even worse, I bumped into a waiter carrying a plate of drinks behind me.

The glass full of cold tea got thrown to the side, and I caught it before it fell down. But since it was thrown, I caught the glass while it was tilted sideways, which caused the content to still spill out onto Erika’s table, splashing on her laptop.

Some of the content also spilled on Erika’s hand which caused her to jump back in surprise. It’s a good thing that the content isn’t hot as it’d have burned her hand. But what’s not good is that her laptop is probably now dead from water damage.

I quickly angled the glass upright, and put it back on the waiter’s plate, and tried to check on Erika, but the kid that bumped to my legs is now hugging my leg tightly. Because of that, I can’t move to reach out to Erika.

“Erika, you okay?”

She’s still very much startled, but she still looked at me and gave me a nod. That was a relief.

“You okay, Hana? I hadn’t noticed any, but did the drink spill on you?”

“Oh, no. I’m good.”

“Good. I’m really sorry for bumping into you. Are you okay?” I promptly apologized to the waiter that I had bumped into. He assured me that it was fine, and he apologized instead. But this was really my fault. I overreacted with just a kid running towards me.

I looked down to the kid still hugging my legs, and he’s looking up at me, grinning from ear to ear.

That was my fault, but I’ve come to really hate this kid.

Not long after, the kid’s father walked towards us, giggling all the while.

“I’m so sorry. My kid is really active, you see.” he said while chuckling as he picked up his kid, who was still hugging my leg until a moment ago. “You like playing don’t you?” he asked his kid, pressing the kid’s nose playfully which prompted the kid to giggle.

“You can’t let your kid-”

“Sir, please tell your kid to stay with you on your table, or I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” I tried to speak up, but the owner interjected me.
“What? He’s just a kid!” the father complained. But that’s really not an excuse. I’ve seen kids the same age behaves properly. This is definitely a problem with how the kid is brought up.

“Be as it may, your child has been disturbing everyone ever since you came in. So, if your kid will not behave, then for everyone else in my establishment, I’m going to have to ask you to leave, sir.”

The father kept on arguing with the owner, and I can see the mother coming too. As I’m not a part of Cafe Million, I decide to leave this for the owner to handle.

I asked the waiter that I bumped into to get me a towel, and he promptly went towards the back to grab a towel, and I took a seat across from Erika as I had before.

“Sorry, Erika, Hana.”
“That wasn’t your fault.” Hana said while glaring at the couple with their kid still arguing with the owner.

I can see that Erika is still somewhat startled, but she seems to be at a loss of what to do, what with a drink still on a part of her arm, and her laptop being broken with water damage.

“Erika, can I take a look?” I asked while extending my arms towards her laptop.

She nodded and reached for her laptop. Maybe to push it or to grab it, but I immediately told her not to.

Laptops have low voltage so they usually can’t shock you, but it’s still an electronic device that had short circuited due to water damage. I didn't want to take any chances, so I immediately grabbed it from behind, and pulled it towards me.

I spun the laptop around to look at its screen. I know that you should turn the laptop off immediately after it comes into contact with water, but some time has already passed, and the laptop is already dead. I don’t know whether pressing the power button would shut it down or would make it try to turn on again, which could cause further damage. So, I decided not to press the power button.

That said, there’s a little burnt smell coming from the laptop, so I could tell that it is definitely fried inside.

When the waiter came back with a towel, I took it from him, and wiped Erika’s arm still on the table. I had startled her when I suddenly did so, and immediately pulled my arm back, but she extended her wet arm to me after I pulled mine back. I finished wiping the part of her arm where the drink had spilled, then wiped the wet part of the laptop with a dry part of the towel and put the towel down on the wet spot on the table so it can soak up the spilled drink.

“Sorry, Erika. But this is definitely fried now. I don’t know how bad it is, but chances are you might have to get a new-”

“In the first place, it’s all because of this guy!” The father from earlier suddenly shouted out loud, turning around and quickly swung his arm to point at me.

As I turned just in time to see his arm swinging towards me, I reflexively raised both my arms to cover my head, and I jumped back towards the partitioning. I closed my eyes, and I couldn’t hear anything as my mind went blank, and my ears started ringing.

After a while, I felt someone grabbing my arms, and I tried pulling away, but my back was already against the partition, and I couldn’t go anywhere else. I opened my eyes and saw that it was Hana grabbing my arm. The family from earlier was already nowhere to be seen.

I saw Hana’s mouth moving while she’s saying something while looking worried, and I could see some other staff around, along with the owner looking at me worriedly. But my mind was still blank, and my ears were still ringing, so I didn’t catch anything they had said. I looked at my side and noticed Erika also looking at me worriedly.

I took deep breaths and calmed down after a bit. After I did, my mind cleared, and I could hear Hana asking if I was fine.

“I’m Okay. Sorry.”

“Are you sure? Oliver, you look really pale.”

“I’m fine. Sorry.” I grabbed her hand, and removed it from my hand, and I quickly made my way outside.

“Oliver, wait!”

Once outside, I quickly made my way back to my apartment. But not long after I stepped out, I felt someone grab my arm again, pulling me back. I looked back and saw Erika looking extremely worried. She’s grabbing my arm so tightly that it actually hurts somewhat.

“Erika, sorry. Can you let go?” She loosened her grip, but as I pulled my arm away, she immediately grabbed the hem of my shirt, refusing to let me go. I sighed. “I didn’t mean to just let go of my arm.”

Behind Erika, I could see Hana and the owner outside Cafe Million’s doors, also looking worried. I tried to reach for her hand to have her let go of the hem of my shirt, but stopped mid way, remembering that she’s not very fond of men. Her other hand then tapped the pockets on her jeans, and she looked back towards her table from outside the window. She seems to have forgotten her phone.

I only walked out for a little before Erika caught up, but I had tried to run, so I was able to get a little distance, which meant Hana was a little far to translate as she’s still right outside the door.

I sighed again and fished my phone out of my pocket. After opening the chatting application, we usually use, I handed it to Erika.

She then took it from me, with her free hand. She took a quick look at the screen, and typed something on it, before showing me the screen.

“Are you okay?” she had typed unto the chat.

“I’m.. fine. Sorry.” I looked away for a while, before she tugged on my shirt.

I looked back at her and noticed she had changed the message typed on unto the chat. “Are you going back?”

I nodded slightly, and she typed something else onto the screen. “Wait.” It says.

Erika then ran back towards Hana and the Owner, signing something to them. I could barely hear what Hana’s saying, so I don’t know what they’re talking about.

After they finished talking, Erika then went back inside the restaurant, and I could see her packing her stuff from outside the window.

As I watched her, Hana came up to me. “Oliver, you okay?” She asked, clearly worried.

“I’m fine. Sorry for rushing out.”

“That’s fine, but..” It seemed like she wanted to say something but had decided against it with a shake of her head. “Erika wants to go with you.”

“Wha-? I’m going back to my place, you know? I told her I’m going back.”

“She wants to walk you to your place I guess.”

“Isn’t she scared to go to a man’s place?”

“I know you won’t do anything to her. She does too.”

Not long after, Erika came outside again. With her things packed, she immediately walked up to me and handed me my phone.

I sighed as she’s already looking ready to go. “Are you coming too?” I asked Hana.

She gave me a nod, and I turned around and started walking back to my place, with the two following closely behind me.

The walk back to my place was silent. They hadn’t tried to get my attention for anything either. They just walked close by, behind me.

I really appreciate that they aren’t asking about what had happened. But it honestly feels a little unnecessary for them to walk me back.

A short while later, we arrived in front of my apartment building. Hana and Erika looked up to the building when I stopped right in front of it. It’s an apartment by the main road in the more bustling part of town, so even from outside, it looks more up-scale.

I opened the front entrance to walk inside but stopped when I noticed that the two of them were still standing there looking up at the apartment building. “You two coming in?”

“O-oh. Yes, coming.” Hana then grabbed Erika’s arm and dragged her towards the front entrance where I was still holding the door.

We walked inside and made a beeline for the elevator. I greeted the security and the receptionist on the way and opened the door for an elevator already on the ground floor. I stepped in, followed by Hana and Erika, and pressed the button for the floor my room is on.

Once the doors opened, I walked out, followed by the two close behind me. My room isn’t far from the elevator, and once outside the door, I pressed my thumb on the fingerprint reader and typed in my passcode to unlock the door.

I held the door, and the two walked inside.

“You can take a seat on the couch.” I said, pointing towards the couch as I made way behind the kitchen counter.

Erika and Hana both nodded and made their way to the couch, looking all around the room.

I took out a few bags of tea, along with three cups for the three of us. After putting some water in an electric pot, and setting it to boil, I took out the contents of my pockets to make myself comfortable and put them down on the counter.

I then noticed Hana whispering to Erika, and Erika signing something back. I usually could understand what they’re talking about by listening to what Hana says in response, but she’s whispering so I can’t tell what they’re currently talking about.

Once the water had come to a boil, I poured it into the three cups and dipped a tea bag on each of the cups. I put one cup on the dining table and brought two to the coffee table in front of the two girls.

“This is all I got. Sorry if you don’t like it.”
Erika shook her head, and Hana just said “Don’t mind it. Thank you.”

I pulled back a dining chair and took a seat there.

“Sorry for causing a scene at the cafe earlier.” I said after I took my seat.

“It’s not your fault, Oliver. The other party was definitely at fault.” Erika nodded along to what Hana was saying.

“Maybe so, but I was overreacting the whole time.”

“Well..” Hana trailed off without finishing her sentence, looking at the tea in her hand.

After some time in silence, Erika grabbed her phone from her bag, got up, and made her way towards me. She took a seat on the chair across from me, and started typing something before showing me her phone screen.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

I stayed silent for a while. I don’t really know if I want to talk about it.

But Erika had opened up to me about her fear of men. Since I even directly confronted her about it, maybe it’s unfair if I don’t open up here.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out. It feels like they’re stuck in my throat, blocking my airway, and making it a little harder to breathe.

I tried to push the words out, but my mouth just ended up opening and closing, without saying anything.

Eventually, Erika showed me her phone again. “It’s okay if you don’t want to.”

I shifted my gaze from her phone towards her eyes, and found the genuine look of worry in her eyes. Her eyes are saying that she actually cares, in her mouth’s stead, and it felt very calming.

After swallowing, my throat felt like it had flushed the words that were stuck just now, and opened up to make way for new sentences to come out. “My father is abusive.”

Erika put her phone down on the table, and leaned in, maybe so that she wouldn’t miss a word. And Hana got up from the couch to take a seat next to Erika on the same chair.

“He wasn’t always that way, though. It was only after my mother passed that he started becoming abusive. He says that it’s my fault that his wife died.”

‘Why?’ It seemed like Hana wanted to voice that question, but immediately closed her mouth after opening it slightly.

“You know that I used to write books right?” They both nodded to my question. “When I just started, I obviously didn’t make that much. It was somewhat better than your average office job, but not by a lot. That was when my mother got sick.”

“If she’s sick then it’s not your fault.” Hana said to interrupt me.

I looked up to her, but didn’t say anything in response. Those are words that’s always been said to me, and I actually already went past that. So I just nodded in response. “That’s what my brother always says, and I believe him.”

“Then why did your father..?”

“Because she could have been cured. It was just really expensive. So expensive that we couldn’t even lend enough money to get her treated. We tried pretty much everything, but we couldn’t save her.”

“I’m.. sorry for your loss.”

I smiled a little in response. “After my mother’s passing, my career as an author started to pick up. For some reason the books I wrote started getting more and more popular. That’s when my father started blaming me.”

“But that doesn’t make sense..”

“He thinks that I purposefully held back from writing any good story before my mother passed, so that I didn’t have to pay to get her treated.”

“What the..” Hana said as she clutched her hands thigh. Her face makes a mix of anger and frustration.

In contrast, Erika’s face is still the same as it was when she started listening. She seems to be just listening for the sake of listening, with a gentle, and empathic look on her eyes that feels like it’s consoling me.

“After that, he started to hate me. That was when he started being abusive towards me, and to my brother who tried to protect me.”

“Is that why you moved here?”

“Not quite.. I previously moved to another city just to get away from my father. I asked my brother to come with me, but he said he needs to take care of our father who’s having some.. issues.” I then paused for a while, as the words started to get stuck in my throat as it did earlier. The part that comes after this is the part that keeps me up at night before I moved here.

Hana and Erika didn’t pressure me to continue, and I thought about leaving things there. But the words kept piling up in my throat, as if begging to be let out. So I swallowed again, and continued. “Some time after, the police told me that my father had killed my brother.” I could hear Hana gasp, and saw Erika straighten her back with wide eyes. “The police obviously caught him, since they were the ones that told me about it. But the court judged that he’s mentally unstable, and only gave him a light punishment that was basically the same as letting him go.”

“But that’s unfair!” Hana said, suddenly raising her voice.

“I thought so too. I felt betrayed by the law in my country, and my therapist at the time told me that it might help for me to move to another country. That’s when I moved.”

Things went awkwardly silent after that, with me having finished saying everything, Hana holding back every word that she seemed to think up, and Erika only giving me the same gentle, calming look.

As the awkwardness started becoming unbearable, I then remembered about Erika’s laptop. “If you two don't have anywhere to be, I could take a look at your laptop, Erika.”

Erika then promptly went to the couch followed by Hana. She took her laptop out of her bag, and got up to hand it to me, but I stopped her.

“You can put it down on the table” I said, pointing at the coffee table, on which she then placed her laptop.

I made my way around the kitchen counter, opened one of the cabinets and took out a set of screwdrivers. With that in hand, I walked towards the girls, and sat on the floor by the coffee table, placing the set of screwdrivers on the table.

I flipped the laptop on its back, and unscrewed the back panel. After taking off the panel, I took a look, and noticed that there’s still some liquid inside. The drink had poured on top of it, so that means quite a lot of liquid must have gone in as the back part also had stain on it.

That said, some part of it still looks like it could be saved.

I unscrewed one of the storage drives, which is the part that stores the laptop’s data, and took it out. It seemed to be fine.

I put the storage drive on the table, closer to Erika. “This still seems fine. If you have your assignments here, you should be able to pick up where you left off if you get a new laptop.”

Erika nodded, and took her phone out of her bag. She started typing, and I reached into my pocket when my phone rang on the kitchen counter. I left my phone there.

When I tried to stand up, Erika showed me her phone, with the screen facing towards me. I took a look at the message she had sent. “Thankyou.” She said.

“Don’t be. It was my fault in the first place that your laptop got broken.”

Erika quickly shook her head. “It’s not your fault, Oliver. The kid that ran into you was at fault here. He hugged your legs after that, so he must’ve meant to actually run into you.”

“That may be so, but I still overreacted which caused me to bump into the waiter behind me.”

“Goosh. That’s called being surprised. It’s not your fault, Oliver.”

“There’s no way it’s not. Anyway, Erika. Is there any model you like? I’ll get you a new one.”

Erika promptly froze up.

“You don’t have to do that, Oliver. It’s not your fault to begin with.” Hana said, to which Erika quickly nodded along.

“Let me do at least this much. You have assignments to do, right? And summer break is ending soon.”

“Buying her a new laptop is not ‘at least this much’ it’s ‘much’.” Hana said, to which Erika quickly nodded along.

Erika then started typing something on her phone. After a little while, she showed me the screen. “Please don’t mind it. I don’t think it’s your fault. I will get one myself soon.”

I sighed. “Okay. But let me at least go with you when you get one. I could at least carry it for you.”

I said that, but I actually haven’t conceded yet. This was definitely my fault because I had overreacted. My plan is to pay for it before Erika could, like I did with the jacket when we were at the island resort. Now that I think about it, it seems like Erika is wearing that jacket now.

Erika looked at Hana for a while before looking back at me and nodded.

“Okay. When would you like to go?” I asked Erika.

“You need to finish an assignment soon, right?” Hana added.

Erika nodded to Hana, and signed something to her.

“I can’t tomorrow..” Hana replied to her.

Erika then signed something in reply to Hana, which prompted her to fall into deep thought. Or she seems to be in deep thought at least.

“Oliver, can you go along with Erika tomorrow morning? I have a circle get-together tomorrow, so I can’t go with you.”

“I don’t mind, but..” It seems like Erika has frozen up at the mention of this idea. “Can’t we go after you’re done?” I asked Hana.

“I don’t think I’ll be done before night time. We can’t go the next day either, because Erika has to finish her assignment.”

“I see.. I could just grab one for you and take it to Cafe Million for you if you don’t want to go, Erika.”

Erika looked at me, and shook her head lightly. She then reached for her phone and typed something in before showing me the screen. “I’ll go with you.” She said.

“Alright.” We then settled on a time and place for the meet up to go to a mall. We would meet up at 9 in the morning at the station near Erika’s place. Then we’ll take the train to go to a mall to get a laptop. After we get a laptop, we’ll head back to Cafe Million where I’ll install her storage drive so she can continue working on her assignment as soon as noon.

“While you’re there, why don’t you pick up a few things, Oliver?” Hana asked.

“What stuff?”

“Stuff to put in your place.” She takes a quick look around. “You got a really spacious room, but you got nothing in it.”

Well I’m mostly only using what little furniture Alan had asked the real estate agent to prepare, and I haven’t felt the need to get anything else.

Hana then pointed to an angled, large dish plate-like thing behind the couch. “The only decoration you have here is that plate thing with three legs. You could at least get some potted plants or paintings. What is that anyway? Some expensive art?”

“Oh that? That’s a speaker.”

“What? What kind of speaker looks like that?”

Hana and Erika then both stared at my speaker behind them. It does look somewhat weird for a speaker, but I actually bought it for that very reason. It’s also a high-end product. It’s one of my prized possessions.

“You could try it if you want. Just connect to the speaker with bluetooth.” I offered both of them.

Erika looked very excited at my offer and she immediately reached for her phone. Seems like she’s an audiophile of sorts, as she’s looking very excited just to try out a speaker.

Not long after Erika grabbed her phone, the bluetooth connection sound ringed from my speaker. Erika went to play a song, but stopped. She placed her phone close to her mouth, covering it while looking at me with puppy-like eyes.

“Go ahead.” I said while walking back to the dining table and taking my previous seat. Erike then played a song, and we all listened for a while before restarting our conversation with a new random topic.

Some hours later, I walked both of them to the lobby, and saw them off outside. It’s not sun down yet, but it’s about the time Erika usually goes back from Cafe Million. I waved them goodbye and went back to my room.

Later that night, I was woken up from a nightmare. It was about my family. What had happened before I came to this country.

The family that came into Cafe Million must have reminded me. More specifically, the father might have reminded me of mine. Putting aside how his kid was acting, I could tell that the father must’ve loved his kid. But that wasn’t what had jolted my memory of my father. The aggressive way he had acted towards the end was what had reminded me.

I got up and stepped out of my room to get a glass of water.

Before I moved, I had the same nightmare basically every night. They always woke me up in the middle of the night, but I was prescribed medicine back in my home country.

I hadn’t got a prescription for the same medicine here because I was told not to get them if I can sleep fine without them.

Guess it’s time to get prescribed.

I took a quick look at the clock and saw that it’s still a little past one. I only got two hours of sleep, but I’m wide awake now.

I know that I won’t be able to fall back to sleep, so I took a seat on the couch and turned the tv on. I’m hoping that if I can focus on what’s on the tv, maybe I can get sleepy and fall asleep. Or maybe the tv would bore me to sleep.

But alas, I couldn’t fall asleep until dawn. I didn’t even feel the least bit sleepy.

Since it’s morning already, I changed into my sportswear, and stepped outside my apartment building. I went for a jog for about an hour when I looped around and came back to where I started.

Once back in my room, I took a shower and got into some proper clothes to meet up with Erika.

We were supposed to meet up at 9, and it’s still a little less than a couple hours before then, but I don’t want to stay home without anything to do, so I left as soon as I had grabbed my wallet and keys.

The train in this country charges you the moment you walk inside the station, and by the hour, so I’m actually paying for an hour of doing nothing in the station. But walking out of the station and walking back in later would cost more compared to staying in here for an hour.

I’m already at the station close to Erika's place, where we were supposed to meet about an hour and a half before our meeting time.

I sat on a bench, while sipping my drink that I got from a nearby vending machine, and watching people and trains come and go every few minutes.

Eventually, a girl walked up to me. I hadn’t noticed her until she was right by my side, but when she stopped there, I looked up and saw that it’s Erika.

Once I realised who it was, I stood up to greet her. “Morning, Eri-.. hoooaaammnn” But I yawned instead. “Sorry. Morning.” I’ve been wide awake since waking up, and just have to feel sleepy now.

Erika gave me a slight smile, and started typing into her phone that was already in her hands. I reached into my pocket to grab mine, but before I could, Erika had shown me her screen. “Good morning, Oliver” She had typed in. But above the message she just showed me, I see that she had sent me a few messages before.

“Sorry, Erika. I must have missed your messages.”

She shook her head slightly and typed something into her phone. “Are you Okay? Didn’t get enough sleep?”

I responded with a slight smile. “Say, how do you sign ‘good morning’?” I have been wanting to pick up sign language as I always watch Hana and Erika use it. But more than that, I don’t really want to go into the topic she had asked.

Erika pondered for a while, and put her phone inside her bag. She then signed ‘good morning’ to me, which I imitated.

I had to give it a couple tries before getting it right. Erika would point out my mistakes and show me how to do the part I had messed up.

After I finally got it right, Erika beamed at me, and clapped a little for me. I chuckled lightly at the sight before letting out another yawn.

I’m not a kid, you know.

Just then, the train had arrived, and we went to board it. It’s still the rush hour, so the train is still very much packed. But it’s nearing the end of it, so there’s still some room between each person in the train. It’s not a squeeze fit as it would have been during the peak of rush hour.

Once we arrived at our destination station, I pushed past the few people standing between me and the train door with Erika following close behind me, going through the path that I had opened.

Once outside the train, I took a step to the side, and once I saw that Erika had also stepped out of the train, walked towards the exit gate of the station.

The station we’re currently at is located in the basement of the mall where we’ll be looking for a laptop. Because of this, not many people are actually at the station, especially at this time of day and week.

Right outside the exit gates is already part of the mall where shops are already open, but only few customers are around.

I tapped my train card, and stepped out of the exit gate, and waited for Erika to do the same.

“You know where the store is?” I asked Erika after she had exited the station gate.

She replied with a nod, and she pointed towards the escalator.

She started walking towards the escalator, and I followed close behind her. On the way to the store, I let out a couple yawns, and noticed Erika looking back a little every time I did so.

The electronics store was on the top floor of the mall. Once we had climbed all the way to the top floor of the mall, we walked a little to the electronics store, and looked for the laptop section in the store.

An employee had noticed us before we could find the laptop section, so I asked him for directions, and he led us to the laptop section.

“Do you know what model you’d like to get?” I asked Erika once we’re at the laptop section.

She shook her head slightly in response.

Seeing this, the employee went ahead and gave us a few recommendations.

We were mostly shown the newer models that the store offers. Although the employee also went through a few older and cheaper models, the time spent talking about it was considerably shorter compared to the pricier new models.

It’s really showing that he wants us to get the newer model.

Since I’m a computer science graduate, I know quite a lot about computers, including laptops, so I wasn’t really listening to most of the things he’s saying. Though I also didn’t stop him from explaining, as Erika seemed quite intent on listening.

Once the employee finished all his recommendations, it was my turn to appeal to Erika about what I think she should get.

I walked towards one of the models that had caught my interest, and told Erika about it. “Since you’re going to use it for programming, this one is the minimum you should get.” Erika walked over to the model, and inspected its specification with a closer look. I let out a yawn as she does so.

I then asked her about her previous laptop. Although I had opened it before, I wasn’t paying much attention to its entire specification, so I asked Erika about the laptop’s specs.

She answered my questions with her fingers, as most of the computer specs could be answered with numbers. It was easy for me to understand her without her needing to use her phone.

Once I got the specs of her previous laptop, I asked if she had any inconvenience while using it.

She answered with a shake of her head, and I pondered a little over the choices available here.

I pointed to the same laptop as before. “This one’s got specs that’s basically the same as your previous one. Must have come out the same time yours did.”

I then pointed to another model on the row behind the one we’re lookin at. “That one is the latest model of the same type, so it’s considerably better.”

The two of us walked around the row to reach the one I just pointed at, with the store employee following behind us.

Once we reached the model, Erica took a closer look to inspect it better.

“Since you’re getting a new one anyway, you might as well get a newer model.”

She ponders over what I said for a while, before looking my way and giving me a slight nod.

I nodded back, then pointed at another model. “That one has the same specs as this one. Newer model, but you can flip the screen around.”

She already seems interested enough in the model I just pointed out, but it would be better if she knew all the options available to her. That was also part of the reason why I let the employee explain most of the product to her before.

She then walked towards the flip model I just pointed to, and I followed behind her. She tried flipping the screen, and using the touch screen feature on it. Once done, she looked my way and shook her head a little. She doesn’t seem to like this one, as she also didn’t look at the spec sheet next to the laptop as she did the previous two.

Well, the only thing that sets this model different from the previous one is that the screen could be flipped around, and that isn’t a feature that would come in handy for a programmer. It would have been just wasted money for an unnecessary feature.

Then I pointed to another laptop on the other end of this row. This one is the last recommendation I have. It’s also the latest model, the same as the one Erika is interested in, but it’s thinner and lighter.

We then walked towards the laptop in question, with the store employee still following after us.

She tried picking the laptop up after I mentioned that it was lighter. After putting it back down, she walked over to the laptop from before, and tried picking that one up too. After she put that one down, she walked back over to the thinner model, with a little spring to her step.

She seems somewhat excited about this, that it seems cute. I can’t help but let out a small chuckle before letting out a yawn.

After picking up the thinner model one more time, she puts it back down and inspects the specs sheet closer. She takes a look at it for a short while, before looking somewhat disappointed.

She then stood back upright, looked at me and shook her head a little. The price must’ve been over her budget. The difference you had to pay to get the thinner model was about a tenth of its price, which, considering the price of a laptop, is quite significant.

I picked up the specs sheet and took a look at it. “You like this one better don’t you?”

She gave me a slight nod, and went to reach for her phone in her bag. While she does so, I turn to face the store employee still following us. “We’ll take this one.”

“Thank you very much!” The employee replied.

I turned back around to look at Erika and saw her, hand in her bag, with a shocked look on her face. She then quickly shook her head while waving both her hands.

I put a hand on top of her head to stop her from further complaining, and she immediately stopped doing so. I pull my arm back, and the store employee proceeds to grab a sealed box of the model I asked for.

I followed the employee to the cashier for a few steps, when I noticed Erika still standing in the same place. “Erika, let’s go.” I called out to her, which prompted her to nod and walk closer to me, looking in a little of a daze.

Once we were at the register, the store employee handed the item to the cashier. After the cashier scanned the tag on the product, the employee that previously showed us around the store bagged it along with a free backpack as a bonus.

Once done, the bag was placed back on the counter, to the edge closer to us. I gave my card to the cashier to pay when Erika grabbed the bag and took a look inside.

She’s still looking at the bag, but I could see her lips curling a little into a smile.

Once the payment had come through, I took the receipt, just in case there’s a need to return the product, and placed it inside my empty pocket. “I’ll carry that for you.” I said as I extended an arm to Erika to grab the bag.

She looked up at me, and once she noticed my arm, she hugged the bag tightly and twisted her upper body to the side, keeping the bag away from me. She pouted at me before shaking her head quickly. She looked cute doing so, which prompted a chuckle from me.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go to Cafe Million?”

She nodded before lowering the bag to her side, grabbing both straps in one hand. Once she did so, I grabbed one of the straps closer to me, took it outside of her grasp, and held it closer to my side. I then proceed to walk towards the elevator, pulling on Erika a little as we are both holding different straps of the same bag.

She was shocked at first, and let out another pout, but I just smiled in response.

We were holding different parts of the same bag, so the weight was supposed to be distributed equally between the two of us. Erika hadn’t noticed, but as I slowed my pace to walk by her side, I actually raised my arm slightly so that the weight of the bag would shift further towards me instead of being distributed evenly between the two of us.

When we were going down the elevator, I noticed an ad for a concert on a billboard screen inside the mall.

I’m trying to see the lineup of performers that would be showing up, and Erika seems to have noticed as I would look back when we were moving away from the billboard.

She pulled the bag strap she’s holding lightly to get my attention and showed me her phone screen.

“Do you like music?” She asked through her phone.

I nodded and pointed towards the billboard. An artist is currently being shown on it. “I like the music that guy composes.”

He’s not very popular, but I really like his music. Alan had previously offered to introduce me to him, but I refused as I would likely just bother the guy.

Erika looked at the billboard until the person shown on it changed, and typed something on her phone. She then showed me the screen. “I like his music too, It’s somewhat calming.”

I smiled at her, happy to know that someone else likes what I like. Especially because the artist in question isn’t very popular, so most people I know hadn’t even heard of him. Feeling excited, I asked if she wanted to watch the show with me.

After I did, Erika looked away for a while, bringing her phone closer to her chest. Maybe she’s typing something? She seems to be taking quite a while to do so though.

After a while, Erika turned back to look at me and showed me her phone screen. “When is the show?”

I forgot to look for the date before as I was trying to figure out who will be on the show instead, and the billboard is now showing another ad. I know the show will be held at this mall, so I tried to look it up on my phone. But when I reached into my pocket to grab my phone, I only found the receipt for the laptop. I tapped my other pocket and could only feel my keys in it.

I left my phone back home.

“Sorry, Erika. I didn't notice your messages this morning because I forgot my phone back home.” I said as I let out a sigh and yawned a little. “I’m a little.. slow when I’m sleepy.”

Erika brought her phone to cover her mouth in response. She seems to be silently chuckling as I notice her body slightly shaking while her face seems somewhat joyous. I smiled back at her, and she started looking up the show using her phone.

I wanted to see too, so I scooted close to her, still raising my arm a little.

She had finished typing and started searching when I’m right behind her, a little to the side to look at her screen over her shoulder. Once the searching was done, she took a while to, I assume, read all the articles that had first popped up. Because she stayed still for a while before pressing on the article on top of the search result.

The article said that the show will be held at noon, about a week from now.

“Next week, huh? You want to go?”

Erika was looking down at her phone, which caused her hair to block my vision of her face, but she seems like she wants to go, as I noticed her nodding her head lightly. We then continued walking towards the station and boarded our train as soon as it arrived.

It has been sometimes since rush hour, and it’s a weekday so the train is basically empty right now. Erika and I got a seat side by side, and we put the laptop down between our legs.

It’s still quite hot outside as we’re just leaving summer, but the inside of the train is air conditioned, so it feels quite nice. Once I leaned back against the train seat, I felt my sleepiness hit, and my eyes started growing heavier and heavier. Before long, I could feel my head fall to the side, before falling asleep.