Lovely Writer [English Translation]

Zero

"This story begins with..."

My poised fingers freeze over the keyboard. I can feel the words escaping through my fingertips as the sound of a loud engine, approaching the otherwise silent road, echoes in my ears.

This is a very quiet neighborhood, so any sound louder than birds chirping, easily breaks my concentration.

I stand my ground, fingers hovering over the keyboard, my back straight, not moving an inch on my seat at the round table near the window. My eyebrow twitches as I pray that the noise will fade down the road, allowing me to keep the momentum and return to pressing the keys in front of me.

But, alas... Ding Dong ...no such luck.

With a loud exhale, I try to relax my posture, contracting and extending my stiff fingers to help blood circulation. Leaning back, I allow my head to fall backwards, my eyes closed as I loudly slap my cheeks with both hands.

I never really learned how to properly vent out my frustration.

"Phi Gene!"

T/N: The genderless honorifics 'phi' ('older sibling') and 'nong' ('younger sibling') are usually used between people who are close to one another. They are sometimes also written as "P' First Name" and "N' First Name".

"..."

"Phi Gene! Are you home? Please open the door Phi!"

Fuck.

With a huge sigh I remove my glasses before jumping down from the tall chair. I bought it from a local pub, specifically because it fit the height of the table. Dragging my feet to the door, I unlock the many locks one by one, ending with a loud twist of the door knob.

When the heavy wooden door finally swings open, the small figure, who decided it was a good idea to bother me this morning, appears on the other side. A bright smile on his face.

"Hin..."

"Good morning Phi!"

"Why are you here? Didn't I warn you, I didn't want to be disturbed this week?!"

The nuisance shamelessly keeps on smiling brightly as he puts his hands together in an apology.

"I'm sorry Phi, but it's urgent. Like, really urgent."

"No matter how urgent it is, I'm sure it's not more urgent than me only having 5 months to put this story together! I only finished research yesterday. I was finally about to start writing when you came knocking!"

"Hey! Don't get angry yet Phi! This is truly urgent!"

"..."

"I swear."

"Spit it out then! If it turns out not to be urgent, I'll stab you."

"Well...For me, it's urgent."

I felt the emerging compulsion to poke his eyes out with my fingers. Kids these days have serious respect issues!

But in the end, I conceded that if he had come, even though he knew he would not escape my wrath due to the strict deadline I was in, it was probably because he had a good reason.

I opened the door wider, resulting in him quickly jumping inside and taking his shoes off as if he was afraid I would change my mind.

I let myself sink into the sofa. The low table in front of me was littered with stacks upon stacks of books, handwritten notes strewed amongst them, some still intact, others completely messed up, all crumpled, or torn apart. There were also some plates with bread crumbs and empty mugs stained with coffee, precariously balanced on top of the books.