UNCHANGEABLE - TIAOM

13

kim opens her eyes at the sound of her apartment door getting unlocked.

the light footsteps that follow after the door shut tell her it's pie who came in, and she's alone.

it's probably around six in the morning, kim thinks, as pie always comes in around this time whenever she comes from working night shift in the hospital.

not wanting to get up yet, kim shifts her eyes to the window, seeing pure greyness outside.

it is raining.

she inhales, getting calmer by the second. pie would go to her anytime now to wake her up and to help her clean up and change.

she decides to continue her sleep while waiting for that.

---

the rain is still pouring outside the second time she opens her eyes. the time stamp on her phone says it's past ten in the morning.

there was no movement in the apartment.

did pie leave without waking her up?

kim gets up and went out of her room to check. there's food on the table but pie's not around. she ventures more around the apartment and smiles when she finally finds pie sprawled on the couch, asleep, still in her baby pink scrub suit.

poor pie. she must be tired from work.

the sleeping nurse moves, turning to the side, and curling up into a fetal position.

kim melts at the sight, wondering how this woman can still give her these funny unexplainable feelings up until now.

sighing at how whipped she still is, kim grabs a blanket from her room and covers pie with it. she plops down on the couch under pie's feet and stares at the other woman in silence.

kim doesn't want to wake her up yet, knowing pie would leave by then. it always breaks kim to see the woman leave. yes, she understands now how pie felt before.

instead, she fixes the blanket to make sure pie's properly covered. once done, she leans back on the couch and looks up at the ceiling.

she closes her eyes and listens to the rain.

---

she wakes up for the third time that day.

how long has it been? an hour? two? three?

she can still hear the rain outside.

a movement on the couch made kim look, and she's greeted by the sight of pie who's wide awake now, staring at her with that adorable face of hers.

"morning," says pie, blinking her sleepiness away and covering her yawn with a hand.

still disoriented, kim tilts her head up and rubs her eyes. "what time is it?"

"it's past noon."

kim internally groans, thinking how she wasted her time sleeping instead of just staring and appreciating pie in silence.

"what time is your work later?" she asks pie.

"it's my off today."

"oh."

"why do you ask?"

"nothing. just curious."

pie examines the blanket over her. "sorry. i didn't notice i dosed off here. a lot happened in the hospital last night. i was running from ward to ward the entire shift."

"you can still sleep," kim suggests. "i won't be noisy."

pie's body relaxes. she stretches her legs out until they are fully resting on kim's lap. she pulls the blanket over her body. "thank you."