Yuna Inspired: Our Virtual Family

070

Logan batted his eyes open, still a bit tired. He yawned and tossed to his side to reach for his cell phone that was placed on top of the bedside drawer. He entered his pin code, and his eyes beamed when he caught the time.

"2:21 p.m.!" He jolted up and glanced behind him and saw no one sleeping beside him. Why didn't she wake me up? He ruffled his hair and sighed. I couldn't go to sleep until five in the morning with her not moving an inch from me. He touched where she had held him tight all night long, and uttered, "Her trace hasn't left me at all."

After a while, he got up and cleaned himself and headed downstairs to search for her. He found her sitting at the dining table and writing something in a mini notebook. When he got closer, there were plenty of ripped, crumbled, and unwanted balls of papers around her.

When she looked up from her notebook to think, she spotted him and hastily closed her notebook and gathered her paper balls, even the ones on the floor. "Y-you awake already?"

He sent her a smile. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

She picked up the unwanted paper balls and threw them in the trash. "Sorry. I figured you'd want to sleep in." She pointed to the crockpot on the stove. "I made chicken stew for breakfast."

"You did?" He went to check. "You did!"

She laughed. "I know you've been craving it." She picked up her notebook and pen. "I'll be over there."

"You're not eating with me?" He took off the lid of the crockpot, grabbed the nearby ladle, and took a ladle-full of the chicken stew onto his plate.

"I'm still full."

"You don't want to sit with me then?"

"I..." Her grasp on her notebook tightened, and she broke eye contact with her friend. "I have to do something."

He inquiringly glanced at her materials. "What?"

"You know, writing."

"Writing what?" He put the ladle away and placed the lid back onto the crockpot.

"Stuff."

He arched a brow. "Is it like a planner for what we're going to do?" He went to sit on the seat she had sat.

"Something like that." She took a good look at him taking a bite of his food. "Well, I'll just be over there. If you choke, be loud enough for me to hear so I can save you on time." Usually, she'd be smiling as she said it. But she wasn't. It was as if saving him was something she would miss doing. Like it would be the last thing she'd get to do.

He nodded as food occupied his mouth. As he watched her leave, he caught her gloomy expression. Did she not get a good sleep? I guess that makes both of us. He disregarded their weird night together and focused on his breakfast.

*

"You finished?" Hana said with a half-smile.

She's in a better mood now? Logan went to sit next to her with his pants slightly pulled down to accommodate his bulging stomach. He had eaten too much for breakfast and needed a breather. Slouching, he said, "I think...I'm having digestion problems."

She laughed as she covered her mouth. "Who told you to eat so much?"

He curled his fingers in front of her. "It was tempting me. It said, 'Eat me! Eat me!' and so I did. I don't think I can do anything today."

"We've got one more thing to do." She closed her notebook and placed it down with the pen resting on top. "We should play Hide and Seek Tag."

Hide and Seek Tag was an upgraded version among the friends. It had a seeker and the hiders, but the upgrade was that the Seeker had to tag the hiders for the hiders to be out.