It had been a lovely day and night indeed with Cay. The perfect roman weather and night sky reflected his mood, but every dream-like episode must end with the waking of reality.
Cay soothed Tanya to sleep by stroking her long slender neck. He wanted to do so much more than just to feel her lightly sun-burnt dark skin and stare into those green gems with a hint of yellow on around their pupils. However, they both knew that time was short, feelings were usually not worth investing too much, especially when they would be half a world apart soon.
After she fell asleep, soundlessly until Cay realized ten minutes later, he went into the kitchen with his pack of Pall Mall. He kept the only window near the laundry machine as widely opened as possible for fear the smoke from his cigarette might fill the spacious kitchen with hazy tobacco air. He exhaled while half-leaning over the window but to no avail, the wind was blowing from the opposite direction. His effort fruitless but not meaningless.
The temporary boost of nicotine that was absorbed into his bloodstream gave him the thought of reading his Sebastian Faulk’s novel. Luckily, he brought it with him, or else the slumber in his room would be interrupted by the sound of the creaking door and light footsteps. He certainly did not want to wake up the woman. He imagined her green eyes would be the only light coming within the room, preying on whatever movement that prompted them to open.
After a few pages, he got up from the kitchen chair and made some tea using the cheap tea leaves and metal kettle provided to guests. The provisions and amenities supplied by Romangero Hostel had proven to be well worth the cost, but any higher he and Judas could have been living in a cheap hotel. There was a carton of long shelf-life milk on the kitchen table, he poured some, not wanting to ruin the already bland taste of the black tea from a brand unknown to him.
With soundless footsteps and minimum light exposure from the yellow hallway light, he treaded back into the room, later slipping between the mattress and blanket with practiced ease. He slept relatively quickly that night, perhaps it was due to the aid of the sauvignon he drank earlier. Perhaps not.
The next day when most of the people awoke (“I’ll be with you all later”, said Yoshi as he turned his back facing the top bunk bed), Cay and the rest joined with some of the other temporary inhabitants of the hostel for breakfast: cereal with strong, black coffee. Cay used up the rest of the milk, there had only been so much left.
Tanya told Cay to have breakfast with her outside of the hostel, she had always hated eating in the somehow stuffy kitchen, particularly when all the seats were taken. Cay finished the rest of his pasta and gulped his coffee before going back to pack everything. He has not been with Judas for two days and felt like he should inform his companion from England about him and Tanya’s later plan. Judas nodded when he finished his explanation and continued with his cereal, while Cay tried to catch up with Tanya’s packing back in the room. Only a few people knew that Judas’s silence equaled to his absolute acknowledgement, his nod meant that everything was fine. Cay interpreted it quickly only having to meet him within a few weeks’ time.
He joined Tanya shortly after leaving his bulging backpack filled with half dirty clothing. The two opened the door leading to the streets. And off to breakfast they went. Yoshi sleeping like an upturned mummy with not belief of its’ afterlife. The time distortion has dispersed within the hostel.
*
Jenna had owned a cotton green hoodie, it came with her packing on the first day of arriving at her halls of students. It was what Cay remembered vividly about her, green had no associations with her, she never mentioned her appreciation for the colour as well. Yet, she wore it on the day they met, it was a piece on her since her GCSE years.
She unpacked her uncountable luggage she brought with her, even though her original residence was no more than a fifteen-minute journey by train. She had not disclosed her dislike of living with her parents at that time the two met. They were just merely acquaintances.
Cay saw her twice on the first day, along with her fading green hoodie had barely clung onto her shoulders, it would have fallen if not for her arms worn through the sleeves. Both hands holding smaller bags compared to the ones pilled in the corner of the small hallwayy, perhaps done by Dylan whom Cay have not met yet. He tried saying hello but was distracted by her tired aura, she had no makeup on other than hints of mascara on her eyelashes.
She yawned and took her bags with her into her room, somehow not knowing Cay was standing between its’ door door and his. The awkwardness whether she noticed him but chose to ignore confused Cay.
Was she a rude person? Maybe. Cay could not conclude a brief encounter with a person.
That night, he absent-mindedly stumbled upon Jenna in the kitchen. Dinner time for Malaysian was equivalent to the United Kingdom, seven in the evening. She saw him and tried to greet, but the pitch at the start of the call caused a high pitch echo in the spacious kitchen. Cay was caught by surprised and was fully woken up by the sharpness of her voice from a short nap. The awkwardness came back suddenly in his mind and he tried to atone the embarrassment by greeting as formally as possible, forgetting he was in his comfort overalls. Jenna smirked, her green hoodie barely clinging on her bare shoulders
‘You have a bit of a strange accent, I’m not trying to offend or anything. Where are you from?”
‘Malaysia, you? I can tell you’re British, but from which part?”
“Frome, it’s literally just South of Bath. Small town, not interesting at all.”.
Jenna snivelled when she mentioned Frome but laughed a little afterwards. Cay was not much of a talker, especially when he barely spoke English back in his hometown. He could not keep up with the conversations and thought he might embarrass himself more if the depth of the talk went any lower.
“So, what are you having for dinner?”, he thought this was the best option to continue.
“Pasta, convenient food. Are you making dinner as well?”
“Yeah.”
Knowing that they would be spending at least five minutes preparing dinner made Cay uncomfortable. More foreign language must be spoken. However, Jenna was Asian. he thought perhaps she could speak another language.
“I speak a bit of Cantonese, learnt it from my family, but not Mandarin.”
“Yeah, we get assumed a lot about it. Stereotypes.”, people always thought he could speak Mandarin.
“May I cook?”, he continued.
“Oh! Sorry, didn’t know you needed the hob.”
She moved aside for him to start preparing food. Their elbows were near each other, nearly scraping the tips of each other.
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