Homeless Vain

16

Every human being will be tasting the bitterness of life. Only the time differs for each.

Sighing, I locked my phone after jotting my random thought down in the Notes application on my home screen like it was a reminder I had to constantly tell myself of.

That quote just popping up in my head few minutes ago, while I was questioning 'why must life get so hard'.

Or maybe only mine was hard.

Shoving my phone into my sling bag placed on the passenger seat of my car, I collected all of my stuffs before I shut my eyes off.

"Everything's gonna be fine, Ivy", I assured myself, almost like I was hypnotising myself or actually I was gaslighting myself. "Just like before".

I pursed my lips, bopping my head before I climbed down the car, 2 bags with me. One for my stuffs and another for my laptop.

Today was weird. I felt nothing other than discouragement creeping in from every corner of my body. I wasn't sure either why must I feel this way but one thing I knew, it was all started from home.

My home didn't feel like actual home. It was once my favourite spot, but everything had changed recently. I was being pressured about certain things about myself and also other people that I never thought to care about.

Was everyone's home also felt like this?

The only thing that had me survived my day at home was a distraction I didn't know was helping. It was when Kevin talked to me - either phone calls or texts.

Maybe I should thank him later for that.

Pushing the door of the cafe, I was greeted by the ringing bell that I'd grown fond with. It was addictive, like I would like to shake the door back and forth just to hear the ringing.

Only if I'd got mad.

"Hey", Jacob greeted with an empty tray in his hands for what it seemed like he just delivered the order to one of the tables.

"Hi", I greeted back, trying to masking my sadness from being seen.

But maybe, Jacob noticed. The angelic smile on his face faded in real quick, his worried eyes under the scrunching brows were looking for mine.

"Have you been crying, Ivy?" he asked, sounding too worried. "Chanhee is by the bookshelf. Go sit first with him and I'll let Evelyn know you're here".

I tried to flash a genuine sweet smile but honestly I couldn't. I might be bursting into tears anytime soon since he had noticed my emotion.

So I did the beeline between the tables towards the said corner where a boy was seen smiling alone as he smashed his phone screen. The book on the table wasn't moving at all.

"Hi Chanhee", I'd recovered from the sadness as I planted in my head that this boy knew nothing about myself. I shouldn't let that cheeky smile on his face fade.

"Oh hey!" he beamed, beckoning me to sit next to him. As soon as I did, he pulled his chair closer to mine. "If I want to buy a girl, a present, what should I buy?"

I blinked confusingly, looking at his face that somehow was glowing. He always glow but today the portion was extra.

"For who?" I questioned, head pondered.

"My crush", his glows had been replaced with annoyance. "Can you please just answer instead of asking?"

"Excuse me!" I blew up, my personal problem was now gone thanks to this distraction. "You're the one who's asking! And some more, not every girls are the same. Evelyn likes food, Faye likes physical gifts and Daisy just loves anything".