Crushes Fade, Love Stays

A Blur of Drunken Memories

Wrapping his arms around Saifah's waist, Zon snuggled closer and breathed in his scent. He smells so good, thought Zon in a daze before something clicked in his mind. Wait a minute... Saifah?

Opening his eyes and sitting up with a start, Zon looked around panicked only to find he was in his bedroom, alone. It had just been a dream. His head throbbed from sitting up so suddenly, and he felt a bit sick.

"Ugh, how much did I drink last night to feel this bad?" He groaned. His head was heavy and mind foggy. "I don't even remember coming home."

Zon picked up his phone hesitantly. He hoped he hadn't done anything stupid last night. Expecting to find mocking messages with embarrassing videos and photos flooding his phone, he was surprised to see only two notifications. Opening the app, his whole body tensed and his heart jumped. There was a message from Saifah. How? When did they exchange contacts? And why would Saifah message him?

Biting his lower lip nervously, Zon opened the chat. "What the...!!" He couldn't believe it when he saw there were previous exchanges between them last night. He scrolled up through them, attempting to make sense of the seemingly nonsense conversation. It was when Zon saw the photos Saifah had sent of food, him eating it, and then the empty bowl, that memories from last night began to emerge from the fog in his mind.

"Aaaahhhh!!! Nooo! Why? Why Zon?" howled Zon as he whacked the bed with his pillow.

His bedroom door swung open. "Why are you yelling? Be quiet!" snapped his mother. She scowled at him with her hands on her hips. "After being carried home drunk on a week night, have some consideration for others."

"Mom," whined Zon, and he looked over at her with pleading eyes. "Just kill me. Please! Just end my pathetic existence! I'm begging you."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Don't be so dramatic. But it's good you're embarrassed. Maybe you will think twice before drinking so much again. We didn't agree to you pursuing your dream so you could clown around drinking on weekdays. I know your friends own a bar, but that doesn't mean you need to spend so much time there."

Zon buried his face in his pillow. Oh how he wanted to claw out the memories flooding his head right now.

"By the way, who was the nice young man who brought you home last night? I don't remember seeing him before. At first, since he was sober, I thought maybe he was just a driver, but you were so clingy and telling him to message you when he tried to leave."

"Aaaahhhh!" Zon screamed into his pillow before lifting his head to meet his mother's eyes. "If you're not going to kill me, please stop mentioning my embarrassing behaviour. You're making me want to go bury myself in the garden."

"It wasn't that bad, at least you waited for him to leave before vomiting everywhere. Although I don't know who he was, I don't think he was bothered or annoyed by your ridiculous drunken state. He seemed to find it funny," she told him with slight disbelief in her voice, as she hadn't found her adult son acting like a drunk teenager amusing at all. "Anyway, hurry and get up. I'm going out, and I expect all the floors and toilet to be sparkling when I return."

He dropped his face back down into his pillow once she left the room. "Why Zon? Why do you do such stupid things? Why?" he asked, his voice muffled by the pillow. His chest ached and his head hurt, but he decided he needed to go over what he remembered about last night.

Zon recalled feeling dizzy and sick after learning about Saifah's accident, and he'd closed his eyes to rest for awhile. He vaguely remembered being shaken awake and his cheeks smacked by Tutor at some point, but he couldn't recall what was said. His next memory was being in a taxi with Saifah.