Day 17

Day 17

I slept for six hours again…

My mind belatedly realized as I took a glance at my cellphone. It is funny how I don’t carry a watch anymore – I couldn’t even remember the last time I ever wore one.

Five months before maybe… the strap on my Bench watch finally broke… and me being here in another country made the replacing of it almost impossible.

But that realization was more of a stray thought, a fleeting moment of images that flashed across my mind’s eye as I woke up. It was soon replaced by other images…

Her dimples… her smile… Prince’s laughter… the faint hint of her touch on my skin…

I smiled at the thought. In fact, I can’t help but smile. Somebody seeing me now would probably call me crazy, smiling at nothing and staring into the distance with a stupid grin on my face.

Except, it was not stupid… nor were my eyes staring at a distance.

I was looking inwardly at the pictures of a life that still remains to be seen… a life that is so full of promises… and beautiful possibilities…

I’ve never felt so alive.

And that is an understatement.

Six hours.

It seems normal now. Burning the phone lines until midnight just talking to each other. Sleeping at 1 AM or 2 AM, smiling from ear to ear.

‘We are like teenagers again’ She says.

‘I know’ I answer back.

There was a time, I would have been quite moody if I slept for less than seven hours, with my mouth dry and tasting of bile, and my head throbbing silently with the remnant of interrupted sleep… but those are for now, like a bad memory.

Six hours is my normal now. And I wake up refreshed and fully wakened.

Maybe that is what love does.

And I grin again.

And the alarm sounds.

It is a shrill cry that pierces the early morning silence. I grab for my phone and fumble with the snooze button.

6:50 AM.

Time to get up.

And its supercold. There is an uneven distribution of heat in the house we are renting. The main floor gets too hot while the basement gets supercold.

I gingerly sit at the side of the bed, my feet barely touching the cold floor.

A sigh.

Time to get up.

The cold hits me like a bat as my soles get full contact with the floor. Adrenaline pulses and my body starts to warm up.

I am awake.

I smile once more and reach for my phone.

A few swipes and I reach the texting area.

‘Morning sleepyhead.’ I text.

She’s probably still sleeping, I know, that is why I resist the urge to push the dial button.

I take my morning shower, change clothes, bundle myself up for the winter chill waiting for me. I take another glance at my phone. No answer yet… she’s still asleep… good, I muse. I want her to have a good sleep.

It is a sign of real love when you care about the other person, people say. When you are selfish and just think about yourself, it is not real love.

I smile at that thought.

I pick up my phone and dismiss the alarm.

‘Good morning luv…’ I whisper.

I know somewhere out there, she lies sleeping, her phone probably beside her, and she is smiling…