Amor, tam pulcher | KTH

03| The exploratory stage

— Now playing: Her Dreams by Luca D'Alberto ✫

Summer mornings are always fresh. You won't find icy leaves and wet grass like in spring, but you'll surely take a hoodie with you to then discard it for the rest of the day. September falls partly in this season and is known to be warm. It's not as hot as July or as rainy as June. It's just warm.

It was early in the morning, very early for anyone to be awake if not for work reasons, especially if the person is a student who'd gladly sleep till late in the morning. Daphne knew that too as she turned in her bed, left to right and vice-versa. She wanted to stay in bed some more but simply couldn't. Sleep had left her lying awake under her newly washed blanket.

It was around six in the morning. Already bright, bright enough to shine through the windows and into her room. Daphne loved it. Loved the look her room has on an early summer morning. The ambience made her want to be active—like the scent of brewing coffee in the morning. The light didn't bother her in the slightest—it was the main reason she'd wake up early, but that was the sole point back then. Now that she was used to it, she moved her attention to the room's look rather than the eye-slashing feeling of light immediately awake.

At the end of the bed was Luke peacefully sleeping. Outside branches waved along with the soft breeze. On the bed, Daphne had just sat up and was adjusting her hair, and the movement caused the dog to wake up alert. "Ooh! You're here too," Daphne cooed, playing with Luke and Loki simultaneously. Immediately, the latter, who had slept on the ground, hopped on the bed to place his muzzle on her knee and be cuddled more. The owner obliged and spent the following moments cuddling her dogs and going on about how she found them adorable but soon enough, the early morning urge to pee settled in and she had to leave the dogs to ease herself.

Outside her room, she noticed how silent the house was, so she checked the time that didn't spark any surprise in her. It was like her body was set to wake up this early, even when it was not needed. The latest she'd woken up was a quarter past six.

Once she had settled herself, hushing the dogs to keep quiet and make no noise, she tiptoed downstairs. Like her bedroom, the place was well-lit—curtains would wave with the breeze, and light would shine more. She first helped herself with a glass of water from the sink, and after downing that, she opened the little window above it. She intended to open it wide, but the strong wind immediately changed her idea.

Like she had suspected earlier, outside was chilly. Once she had rinsed the glass off, she prepared herself a cup of latte, starting with prepping the coffee machine. Soon enough, the machine was on, and while the coffee brewed, she returned to her room to take a hoodie, book, and agenda.

In the meantime, the dogs had calmed down—Luke went back to sleeping, and Loki was on the couch. Once her drink was ready and she was dressed accordingly, she entered the backyard and sat on the swing on the veranda.

Since school wasn't on yet, her agenda was quite empty, all pages pretty blank but she had things she had to take care of before it began again: she had to go shopping for school supplies. She had already prepared the list back when she was in the city, but she'd managed to tick off very few things before she moved. That day, she hoped to go shopping with Cleo's help since she'd offered to give her a town tour.

Checked her phone, and it was close to half past six. Since she didn't know exactly when her friend normally woke up, she decided to wait till seven before texting her.

Looking at Cleo's contact in her phone caused her to smile, recalling their hang-out the previous day. She didn't know if to classify Cleo's hatred for books as funnier than their debate on cats and dogs.