Sprinting to the underside of the dim pavement. It's getting cold, but Lia didn't have a jacket for now. The reason was that she was in too much of a hurry to get out of her flat this morning, so she had forgotten some of the things she usually carried with her.
Beside her the car drove by, the light flashed brightly, then the horn sounded now and then. The road looked a bit wet, there were some puddles in several places, after being drenched by rain for an hour non-stop.
Still being rained by a light but steady drizzle, Lia finally chose to pull over and take shelter in a convenience store not far from where she was currently walking. Her flat was only a few kilometers away, not too far away. However, if she remembered who she would meet later, it made Lia's head spin in a very short time.
"I'd better spin out the time first until Cindy wants to reply to my message," Lia muttered in a very low voice. Hugging her body with her arms, she entered the convenience store, pushed the handle of the fairly wide and cold glass door.
"Welcome." The cashier on duty greeted Lia, giving her warmth. "Oh, did you get rained on? I recommend warming yourself by drinking hot tea in our shop. There are several new flavors. There are also the latest flavored instant noodles. Then there are umbrellas with various modes. Everything just restocked."
A nod appeared on Lia's head. While smiling a little and a bit heavy, she immediately went to several food shelves to look for drinks and cup instant noodles. She would make these right here while warming her body.
Occasionally looking at her cell phone screen to check if there was a reply message from Cindy, Lia struggled to choose several instant noodle menus and instant drinks. Several shelves of food had been passed, Lia had an argument with herself about what flavor she would choose from the new instant cup noodles.
After scooping up some instant noodles and instant drinks, Lia rushed to the cashier and paid for her groceries. Her face began to worry when it was half-past eleven and Cindy still hadn't replied to her messages. Lia considered whether she should call Cindy, to make sure that her friend didn't read her message, was busy, or even wanted to avoid her.
But that's not Cindy's style. If she had any objections about something then he would say it directly.
"How was your day? Is everything going well?" asked the convenience store cashier, who had a smile on her face all day long, and provided a lot of very friendly service. That's why Lia liked to shop at the store because all the cashiers who worked there were people who seemed to have no flaws in the form of explosive emotions. From sometimes, Lia had seen a gloomy look on the faces of the cashiers at the shop, but everything was very subtle and rarely seen.
"Ah, I hope my day always goes well," Lia answered modestly, but in a very sincere tone. After paying for her groceries, she hurriedly took a seat in a comfortable and somewhat hidden corner. The goal was that if Prince Aerus looked for her, then he would have a hard time finding her.
After they did 'that' in the goods storage room at Mr. Sony's cafe, and after Lia ran away to go to Doni, Prince Aerus never appeared in front of her again. And she didn't know if he had been stalking her from a distance or something.
For Lia now, she must directly get out of the cafe area, calm down, while waiting for news from Cindy. She didn't want to be within reach of Prince Aerus, who this morning had followed Lia when she went to work.
Lia waited while contemplating. Instant cup noodles had to wait a few minutes for them to cook. Several additional menus could be baked, but her money was not enough for that 'luxury' thing.
"Oh, but I can save money by frying eggs in the flat. It's all because of…" Lia stopped her speech, too tired to even mention Prince Aerus' name.
Outside the air seemed colder and humid. Some shady trees dropped a lot of water and also held a lot of water. When some riders wanted to put a raincoat on their body then they would stop and take cover under a tree.
It reminded Lia of her gloomy childhood. But even so, Lia had never felt as bad as recently, after Prince Aerus came into her life.
Her cell phone rang. Lia hastily opened her cellphone to check notifications. She had high hopes that it was a reply from Cindy, who said that she didn't mind Lia sleeping in her flat at all. However, what came in was a spam message, which said that Lia won 1 billion rupiahs.
"I would live a more relaxed life if I earned this much money. Why is my life completely useless." Lia complained all the time while sipping her instant noodles. Now and then she blows the gravy, so as not to hurt her throat and mouth.
She was so lost in sadness that she didn't notice who was around her, and who was watching her.
Within a few breaths, someone tapped Lia's shoulder and made her gasp in surprise. She could never have imagined who it was, who tapped her on the shoulder, who had brought her from the strange and lonely world to the suffocating world of reality.
"Lia? Is that you? Really? Wow, you scared me!"
Lia was still dragged into her deep and frightening daydreams, about her untraceable and bleak future. But when she forced her head up, her eyes lit up with a beaming smile. She had fallen from a gloomy world, into a warmer place, where the sun was shining endlessly in its natural way.
"Neil!" Lia almost jumped with joy. She couldn't remember the last time she saw Neil, even though it was only yesterday morning, because all the nightmares about Prince Aerus seemed to have been suffocating her for thousands of years. Lia had been waiting for the appearance of Neil, who was like a white horse prince with a soft heart and a knight. Lia waited for Neil to become her savior.
Neil looked dazzling, dressed in a dark, very neat casual suit. His hair was slightly damp, combed to the side, revealing his warm and extraordinary facial features. He couldn't stop smiling at Lia, as if Lia's feelings had never been a one-sided love story.
"You vanished from my room yesterday. Gosh, and you're here! I almost called the police, you know, but I don't have a photo and a clear ID of yours myself. You're worrying me, you know." Neil slumped in the chair, right in front of Lia, perched sweetly while clutching a smoking cup of coffee.
In Lia's eyes, she was seeing perfection.
With her heart beating fast, Lia asked shyly, "Are you worried about me?"
Lia waited expectantly. Would Neil say that he was worried about Lia once again? Without needing to think again, and without needing to regret every sweet word he had said to Lia? Lia was curious about that, she wanted to repeat those cool moments with Neil who was in front of her at the moment.
"Of course!" Neil answered, and he didn't seem to need to think twice about saying it directly!
***