How The Heat Touches My Skin

Chapter 1

The crimson rays coming through the reddish-colored curtains of my window hit my cheeks shamelessly. It felt like a warm touch on my aimless heart.

I laughed in realization thinking it must be still early in the sunrise since I'm having an emotional outburst. I do tend to get mood swings at certain times. Sometimes early in the morning if I had something on my mind. But these days there's nothing that fazes me, to be honest. So I wonder why I am perplexed today.

A thought randomly hit me and I found myself questioning while I jerked up from my bed, my right palm touching my forehead. "Is something bad gonna happen to me anytime soon?" I whispered to myself.

My intuitions are very accurate at times like this, maybe because having foresight on things is a part of my job. It's gonna drive me crazy.

Stretching my arms, I humphed in disbelief thinking of waking up in white sheets, dark-colored pillows, sun rays peeking on the mattress through the curtains, and lastly being on the 65th floor all alone does make you feel somewhat aesthetic. Too rich and sublime, I guess.

The clock on the side table stands at 6:30 am. I got up from bed yawning a few times. Moved the curtains and opened the large glass windows. Are they windows? Or doors? They are hitting the ground as well as the ceiling. I still can't figure that out. I only slept 2 hours or less anyways.

I went towards the switchboard, turned off the main lights which were still on. I am not into wasting any energy-related electronics but nyctophobia grew on me more and more in my elder years due to staying alone mostly.

[Nyctophobia is the extreme fear of darkness and night.]

For me, sleeping peacefully without any lights meant sleeping with someone by my side. If not, lights are always turned on and barely any sleep would come to me during nighttime, which meant sleeping throughout the day was more of my style. Technically, I am a batman who is afraid of nights or being a knight. I fail at both purposes. But on a positive note, I'm still the best even when I'm the only one who's failing. As long as it's me, I'm satisfied even if I lose or win.

I dropped randomly on the floor thinking it's time for better sleep. Sleeping on the cold floor is the most blissful thing ever.

Today is the 5th of January. The day my classmate slash an annoying piece of my current life gets married. Finally, she found someone else to be pissed off. I didn't think she's gonna be knotted so early. She's just 25. Thank God. I'm saved though.

I still remember the day she called me at 8:30 am, last week on Sunday, to be exact. She was like, "Darling, I know you're still sleeping but I've got good news for you."

I replied with a bitter tone, "Nothing good can come after getting your sleep ruined on weekdays." To say, 8:30 in the morning is considered midnight to me. I probably slept for like an hour prior. "Please continue with what you have to say and let me sleep in peace," I told her.

"I am getting married!" she announced gleefully.

I choked on my breath after that and exclaimed. "Wait, what?!"

She replied in Chinese that she's getting married this week. We converse in Chinese at times, like it's on and off between English-Chinese, with no certainty.

She told me the story that her parents referred her to go on a date with some guy and she ended up liking him in the first five minutes. She said it was love at first sight. Meanwhile, I thought, "Isn't that way too dynamic for falling in love?" Then she ranted about this for the next 45 minutes. I was busy digesting the whole situation in awe. She went home for vacation on December 15th, then she met the guy on 23rd and she's getting married on 5th. Isn't it too fast? Or, am I the only one who's slow at stuff like this? Maybe I stayed in the lab for way too long. These days are getting weird and weirder, I thought.