It was Saturday—the day when I could sleep in as late as I wanted, and no one would get mad at me.
I loved sleeping. I’d heard classmates say things like, “Don’t you feel like sleeping is a waste of time?” but I could never think that.
I loved that feeling right before I fell asleep when I could feel my body grow heavy and sink into the bed as I drifted off toward a warm drowsiness. And I loved the comfortable calm when I woke up naturally without an alarm and blinked the sleep away, checking where I was, unsure if I was still dreaming.
That’s why I loved weekend mornings, when no one would disturb me.
And yet for some reason, that day, my mom interrupted my favorite time of the week.
“Yuu! Wake up. I said, wake up!”
“Hmm…? What…?” I groaned grumpily as my mom shook me awake. “Were we going somewhere today?” Please don’t wake me up unless I have somewhere to be. My eyes were still glued shut, but they flew open at the next thing Mom said.
“Your ex-girlfriend is here.”
“What?!” My body shot up like a rocket. “What?!” I said again, looking at Mom. Helplessly, she gestured with her chin toward the window next to my bed. On autopilot, I threw the curtains back. Looking down from my second-story bedroom, I saw Ai there outside of my house. She must’ve seen the curtains open out of the corner of her eye, because she looked up. We made eye contact.
The moment our eyes met, her face lit up, and she waved at me.
I hastily closed the curtains. Unconsciously, I reached up to touch my head. My hair wasn’t mussed up from sleeping, was it?
“What should we do? Should I let her in?” Mom asked, but I shook my head.
“No! I’ll get dressed and go out there!”
Mom watched, chuckling with amusement, as I scrambled out of bed.
“What were you thinking, showing up here out of the blue?!”
I’d taken a quick shower and gotten dressed—the bare minimum—before I stepped out the front door. Seeing her waiting there, the first thing I did was complain.
But when she saw I was mad, she only chuckled. “I thought I’d surprise you.”
“Well, you sure did!” I said.
She chuckled again, adding as an afterthought, “Plus, I knew if I asked permission, you’d just say no.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond, because she was right. But did that mean she’d felt like I was rejecting her lately?
“So? What are you doing here?” I changed the subject.
“Well, it’s Saturday, so I wanted to hang out with you!” she said airily.
“Hang out and do what?”
“Show me around town! I’m sure it’s changed in the past two years.”
I sighed and shook my head. “It’s pretty much the same.”
“Oh, come on! You don’t have anything else to do, right?”
“I guess I don’t have any plans…”