“Faster! You’re going to be late for your first class!”

With Al’s shout, I rushed towards the bathroom and quickly turned the shower valve on. With a bar of soap in my right hand and shampoo on the left, I used both of my hands to multitask in washing myself.

After doing that and some rinsing, I yanked the towel from the rack and quickly wiped myself dry before I ran out of the bathroom as if the place was on fire.

“Brush your teeth! Don’t go out without brushing your teeth! Bad breath is a no go!”

But, I stopped just before I could make it into my room, and quickly turned heels and went straight back into the bathroom. I quickly grabbed my toothbrush and the toothpaste tube, and then squeezing some of the white paste onto my toothbrush. This day’s already starting on a great note, hmm~.

I sigh while brushing my teeth, as my hands moved from side to side and up and down. It wasn’t my fault, I was dead tired and I couldn’t quite hear the alarm clock when it rang. A good thing that Al woke me up by yelling straight at my ear. Although, his yells startled me awake--making me fall into the cold and hard wooden floor. It wasn’t the best wake up call out there, but at least he did the job.

Gargling and spitting out the contents of my mouth—I wipe my face with the towel before I went out. Also, I feel slightly better now. Unlike the walking zombie that I was from yesterday. Now that, that was the very image of someone that’s about to collapse from exhaustion. I’m even amazed that I somehow managed to walk up towards the third floor and make it into my room without collapsing. Who knew that doing something like calling your body double into existence would take a lot out of you.

“Grab something to eat before you go. You still haven’t eaten anything since yesterday noon”

Ah, right, I still haven’t eaten anything yet. I quickly dressed myself without even choosing what type of clothes I should wear today, and then rushed towards the fridge where a few packs of sandwiches and milk cartons occupied it. There wasn’t any sort of junk food or carbonated drinks in sight, and I was slightly craving for either of those right now. I know that it isn’t good to be eating those sort of things in the morning, but I’ve been depraved of it since last month. Which is a long time already for a teenager like me. A healthy lifestyle is good and all, but give me at least a few things to snack on. I’m getting tired of eating sandwiches with cold meat, veggies, and a little bit of mayonnaise every time I get hungry in the afternoon. I’m not complaining, though, but… yeah, I’m complaining.

“Hurry now. The walk to school takes ten minutes, and if you run, maybe you could still make it there before the bell rings” Al pestered me, as I quickly grabbed one sandwich pack and a carton of milk. Gobbling the two pieces of bread with meat and veggies in between them, and downing the remaining milk to wash it down. I then threw the empty milk carton and plastic wrapper into the waste bin, and rushed out.

I only have ten minutes left before the school bell rings, and I might not be able to make it there on time with all the traffic and people on the way. Maybe I should take a cab… no, it’s too wasteful, and the traffic would likely slow me down more than if I just ran. And also, as much as possible I’d like to save up the money that I have right now, just in case if dad takes his time in coming back. You can never be too sure about this sort of things.

“Mornin’” The landlord greets me while he was busy watering the plants outside. He had a small garden in the front that was lined up on the side of the building now. It added a little bit of life to the shabby looking outer appearance of it, so, it was kind of a nice thing if you ask me.

“Uhmm, good morning” I stop and said my morning greetings in return.

“Aren’t you runnin’ a little late?” He asked, and I nodded my head. “Well, get goin' then. Don’t want to be tardy first thing in the mornin'”

After he said that, I nodded again and started to run. The sun was shining it’s rays upon me, as I work up a sweat towards my way to school. The hustle and bustle of the city was preeminent because the streets came to life with people and cars that come and go.

“Ah…” As I was about to cross the street, the green light that signaled if you can walk in the pedestrian crosswalk turned red, and I had to stop. While I waited for it to turn green again, I thought of the reason why the school isn't located in the suburbs. Why is it that it’s in the middle of the busy city? Wouldn’t a quiet and not so much populated place be a better learning environment for students than here?

I stood there for a few minutes before the light finally turned green. I immediately exerted power on my legs to move as fast as they could towards my destination. That waiting wasted a lot of time already, so, I needed to give it my all if I wanted to get there in time. I didn’t care so much about the eyes that were lingering on me when I passed people by… that was a lie. I’m still conscious that people were looking at me when I quickly ran past them. I just hope…

“Hey, you!”

I don’t bump into anyone.

“Look here! Can’t you see that you ruined my fucking suit!?” He yelled, as he showed me his gray suit that was stained with the coffee that he was holding. It got spilled on him when we bumped into each other.

“I, uh…I… uh… ” Okay, so, what’s the best course of action that I should probably take right now? Let’s put them all on the table and see. Or maybe, just list them all in my head before the situation gets worse because time won’t stop for me to think. Starting off, the first option is to apologize and say that it was all just an accident. Hopefully, he’d be a kind and understanding person.

“I-I, apo-pology, you…” I said, very much flustered. Well, that didn’t come out right.

“Do you know how much this thing cost me!? Do you!?”

I guess that’s out. The second option is to run away. Leaving the problem behind and pray that he doesn’t come after me. Which is rude, and an irresponsible thing to do to someone. But, still, it’s an option.

“Are you even listening to me!?”

Or the third and final option…

“I-I'm sorry… all an accident!” I said, and then quickly faced the opposite direction and ran away.

All of the above.

I heard the man yelling at me from behind, as I look back to see that he was right behind me. Great, I could use some more motivation to go to school sooner. Not like being late is a good enough one. Or maybe, I’d just skip out today, and try to get as far away from him as possible. There’s nothing much to do there anyway since the finals are over. I think Al would understand… right?

“I-I’m sorry!” I yelled another apology at the man who was chasing after me with a passion. He may be wearing an attire that was for formal meetings and clearly wasn’t meant for any laborious work or exercise, but he was almost keeping up with me. Almost.

“You’re sorry!? If you’re sorry, then stop running!”

“I-I can’t! Please, stop chasing me!”

We were gathering quite a crowd from our loud exchanges, as we ran through the busy streets. I can already feel my face flushing red from the embarrassment and attention. It might also be from the heat of the sun and the effort that I was exerting when I run, or it could be all of them.

I went from corner to corner, alley to alley, and across the pedestrian crosswalks towards another district just to lose him. But, even though I’ve been running away from him for a few minutes now, he was still right behind me, like a shadow that would follow you anywhere under the sun.

“At this rate, he’ll eventually catch up to you” Al said.

“H-help?” I asked for assistance since I was getting tired now.

“Okay. Uh, let’s see… take a right turn on the third street straight ahead from here. If I remember correctly, there should be a lot of shops in that area to hide in. Just make a large enough gap between the two of you before you turn, so that he wouldn’t find out where you're going to hide”

“O-okay” I then did as Al had told and increased my speed by a lot. Which equates to not so much, but still, I was gaining some distance from him when I looked behind. Just goes to show you what jogging everyday for a month can do to some wimpy guy like me. I’m quite happy about my endurance and speed now, but there’s still a long way to go if I want to outrun danger.

The third street that Al had said was coming closer and closer each second, and as I was about to make the turn, I bumped into someone again. The impact wasn’t quite that hard because I slowed down towards the corner. It only made the both of us fall slightly back when our shoulders hit each other, but… this is just not my day.

“Oh? Hey, it’s been a while” A familiar petite female greeted me, as she saw who I was.

“Uhmm… hello” I greeted Miel back while I caught my breadth. “I-I, uh, I need to go” And immediately said farewell after it.

“Why the rush?” She asked, as she fixes the knee-length orange one piece dress that she was wearing. It paired quite nicely with her short and wavy brown hair and petite height. Making her overall appearance look as if she was a lively and youthful girl. Although, she should already be an adult in her early twenty’s. But, with that appearance, I think anyone that doesn’t know her would assume otherwise.

“Uhmm… school” I said, as I was about ready to run. I can’t really tell her that someone was chasing after me because of a mistake that I did. That would be embarrassing… I think. I don’t know about other people, but when I make a mistake, I definitely don’t want other people to know about it. Except on some serious occasions, then, I would tell them.

“Oh, yeah, school. I forgot that it’s monda-“

“You, stop… there… shit” The man that was chasing after me managed to catch up. He was panting heavily and wheezing when he arrived to where I was. Just goes to show how hard it was to run while wearing a suit.

“Uhmm… uh…” I think that’s my queue to start running again. But, before I could do so, Miel grabs my arm tightly.

“What’s happening here?” She asked with a smile that was directed towards the both us.

“… Nothing?”

“This doesn’t look like nothing to me, though”

“Should you just give up and tell her what happened?” Al asked, but I couldn’t make a quick decision on it. On one hand, if I did make a break for it, I’d be gone before she knew what happened. While, if I did tell her about it, she’d reprimand me… wait, will she help me out? From how she acted back then, I think she would. But, what if she doesn’t.

…

Am I overthinking things again?

“Looking at your face right now, I already know what you’re thinking. And my response to that look is that I think you should just come clean about it. Besides, this is a good turn of events because I think she’ll help you out. Judging from what she did in the past, of course”

What sort of face am I even making right now if he could tell what was on my mind? No, the real question that needs to be answered is, am I really that easy to read?

“Come on now, the sooner you could get this over with, the sooner you can make it to school. Although, I think classes has already begun, but it’s fine even if you’re a little bit late”

...

Ah, what the heck.

I then told Miel of what had transpired a few minutes ago. She listened attentively while I talked, and at some parts she even shook her head and sighed at my actions. Well… I can’t help it. It’s fight or flight, and most often than not, I’d choose flight over fight any day.

She then had a long talk with the man that chased after me. He was furious at first, but when the other party talks politely without losing composure, it soon transitioned into a more mild and well-mannered one. And after they finished, they exchanged contact info regarding the cleaning of his suit. I should discuss about it with her later since I can’t have her pay for something that I did.

“Once again, I apologize on behalf of him” She said. “Rei, you apologize, too”

“Uhmm, ah... I'm sorry” I bowed my head while I apologized. I saw in a magazine article back then that people tend to forgive others more easily when you use body gestures to convey how sincere you are, like bowing your head along with a verbal apology. Why didn’t I do this before, though? Oh, right, flustered and can’t think properly.

He sighs when he saw me bow, and quickly shrugs it off by saying that it’s fine. And he said that the only reason why he was fuming about it was because of the important business meeting that he had half an hour from now. Most likely, he would’ve brushed it off if it were any other day. But, now that I know the full story, I realized that I’ve done something really bad.

I apologized more while bowing continuously that I’ve lost count of how many times that I did it already. It’s somehow disorienting when I do that motion in quick succession, but I really do need to apologize. So, I just kept on doing that until the other party was satisfied. I couldn’t hear them clearly even if they did say anything, though. My ears were rattling, and I was getting extremely dizzy now.

Miel quickly stopped me because I was attracting a large crowd again. A good thing that I was disoriented and dizzy, otherwise, I would’ve… I don’t feel too good. It’s like I was having a sudden severe headache that made the breakfast that I had from earlier to rise up. Lesson learned, bowing too much and too fast isn’t good for you.

“Hey! Let’s go sit down for a moment. Come on” She says goodbye to the man, as she takes me to a local fast-food joint.

“Ugh…” I rubbed my temples while I reclined back on the chair. Miel was sitting across from me, where a rectangular table was in-between us.

“You know, you should’ve just apologized, instead of running away”

“… I’m sorry”

“Well, if you know what you did wrong, then it’s fine”

Yup, now I know. So, apologize first and foremost until they forgive you, and if that doesn’t work, then it’s high time to turn the other way and run. I may have twisted it to suite me better, but what can I do? I’m not good when I’m under pressure, and my most likely response is to escape and hide.

“Really now, if you had just talked it out, then you wouldn’t have to run away” She sighed, as she said so.

“… Okay”

“But, enough about that. Have you had breakfast yet?”

…

“… No” I replied. “I haven’t had anything yet”

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“Wonderful, I haven’t eaten anything yet, too” She said, as she claps lightly. “Come on, let’s go buy something. My treat”

“Hey hey hey, no no no. Stop, that isn’t good for you! And what about your attendance!”

Yeah, but I’m in a fast food joint with the smell of heavenly goodness wafting in the air in a delightful and hunger inducing way. I can’t pass on something like that, not when I haven’t eaten something like it for over a month. Also, I would’ve declined her offer if it were anything else, but… it’s free burgers and fries. Who can say no to that?

“Here you go” She said, as she lays down the tray that’s filled with what people would normally call junk food.

“Don’t eat that!”

I grab a few pieces of French fries and put them all in my mouth. I savored the vertical pieces of potatoes that were coated in grease and flavor. The taste is as I remembered. Perfection.

“Noooooo!”

I think Al is over exaggerating way too much about it. It’s just a few pieces of fries, what’s there to be afraid about besides the chalories? Maybe I should do it some more and see Al’s over the top reaction.

“Stop that this instant!”

I wasn’t fond of seeing other people suffer because I’m not a sadist, but it’s funny when I hear Al getting frustrated over something as trivial as junk food. And hey, while I’m at it, I could skip school for the day.

“Listen! There’s nothing good about…”

Well, I think ignoring Al for a while and doing something that I want for once wouldn’t be that bad. I’ll apologize and make it up to him later on, but for now, I guess it’s time for some good ol' relaxation.

“Tastes good?” Miel asked, as she looked at me.

What can I say?

“It’s heavenly”