TWO LESS LONELY PEOPLE || myg au

4.

A throbbing pain echoed in her head, but she painstakingly lifted her head to look at the clock on her bedroom wall. It was about eight in the morning and surprisingly, she was awake with a stupid hangover that ached her whole being. She rubbed the sleep off her eyelids and a few stars momentarily appeared, but faded immediately.

Pulling the phone off her bedside table, she checked for any notifications and she had two; one message from Jimin and a notification about her data usage last night. She groaned that she forgot to shut her data connection last night and it would lead to a high payment at the end of the month. She opened the message from Jimin and it read:

Hey! Last night was a blast, except the fact you almost cried when your favorite song played. Don't forget to drink lots of water! I'll be visiting you later and I expect you doing something productive!

Rafaela rolled her eyes at the last sentence of the message. Jimin was treating her like a baby. She admitted that there were instances that Jimin was really needed to appear like the incident where she almost burned the house down because she forgot to turn off the stove and went to the bathroom, crying her eyes out because she remember he loved the way she cooked the eggs, but it wasn't really necessary for him to check on her every minute. That day, Jimin was luckily passing by to check on her and was greeted by a small flame starting in the kitchen stove.

She was a bit carried away and promised that it would never happen again, although, Jimin thought otherwise. His friend was grieving and he wanted to be there to give her space, but he needed to reassure that she wasn't doing anything that she would regret like hurting herself.

I'm fine, Jimin. I don't think it's necessary for you to visit me. I'm not going to set the house on fire, alright?

Well, there's nothing that would change my mind for me not to visit you, so it's final. I'm visiting you. You can't change my mind.

She knew best not to fight Jimin's decision because even if she did, Rafaela would except a loud knock on the door and if she doesn't answer, the door would open immediately. Huh, I should steal my spare key from Jimin, she thought, while making her way to the bathroom.

After a warm and soothing bath to let the hangover to simmer down, she walked downstairs and drank lots of water. Eating a bowl of newly cooked macaroni and cheese, while scanning the television for any shows that would be worth watching should be a nice start to start a day, but eventually failed because she didn't find any good shows to settle on. She decided to shut the television off and stared off in space. She found herself staring at the piano pressed on the far back of the wall, dust-free because she still cleaned it even though she hasn't played it for years. She doesn't even remember how the smooth keys felt under her fingertips, but she didn't want to because haunting memories came washing through if she did.

Rafaela learned to play the piano since she was young and surprisingly, she was incredibly skilled at it. She had the capacity to play a piano piece after hearing a song for a few times. She knew how to played it with her eyes closed and today, she, somehow, was sure that she couldn't do it anymore. Playing the piano was once her escape and she would only play it in front of special people. She didn't dare to play for other people because it was an intimate act for her to do, thus, taking her for granted by the boy she loved, through special compositions dedicated to him, they were thrown into the trash, scarring her for life to play the piano.

But, her mind drifted off somewhere else.

She found herself back in the room, memories fresh from last night. The memory was pure and still intact about the boy who played the piano. She loved how his fingers danced all over the keys, as if it was his last piece to play. It was harsh and it sent a message that he was going through something, and she was damn curious to discover what was he hiding. She loved the way he was dedicated on playing the piano, but there was something sad floating around the aura.

Usually when the thought of pianos were implanted on her brain, a horrible memory crept up her mind, but it was a surprise that the mere memory of last night was the thing that she remembered.

A sharp knock on the wooden door made Rafaela's eyes flick on the door. She heard the knocking once again and she placed her empty bowl on the table in front of her. Standing up, she treaded herself to open the front door, revealing a smiling Jimin behind the door. He made himself enter the house uninvited, removing his shoes in the way, and plopped down on the couch. Rafaela rolled her eyes and shut the door, and made her way back to her previous seat.

"I told you," Rafaela sighed, pulling her legs to her body. "I'm fine."

"I was just making sure," Jimin mumbled, crossing his arms in front of him. "Hey! Do you want to watch a movie?"

"Sure," she replied, grabbing the remote, but once she touched it, the lights immediately went out. The fan stopped spinning and everything was quiet. "Shit."

The power was out.

"Aigoo, did you pay your electric bill?" Jimin asked and Rafaela sighed, replying, "Of course! I'm not in my mind these few months, but, Jesus Christ, Jimin, I'm not going to forgot to pay my bills!"

"I was just asking! Chill, woman!" Jimin said, pushing her away. Rafaela sent him a glare and smacked his hand away. "Well, I'm sure we would melt in here. Would you like to visit our house again? Everybody's at work, so we have the television and the house on our own because I know you aren't in the mood to interact."

"You know I don't want to go out," Rafaela groaned, pushing Jimin away. "You spent your one chance last night!"

Jimin made a deal to Rafaela. Since the heartbreak began, she started to lock herself indoors and her only chance to go out was on every Tuesday and Saturday to babysit little Sun Hee and that was it. She didn't go out to restaurants or even shopping malls because she was busy pitying herself and regretting every single thing that she has done.

Jimin promised to pull Rafaela out of her house only once on every month, where they usually go out to the theater and watch a movie, eating at a restaurant afterwards, thus, ending the night with a cup of hot chocolate at Rafaela's balcony until they watch the sun come up. They've done those things since they were little and Rafaela didn't have the heart to say no just so she could relieve her childhood once again.

"Are you sure that you're allowing yourself to melt in this hell hole?" Jimin said, pouting and putting on his best puppy dog eyes. "Please? You can pick the movie, just please come with me."

Rafaela rolled her eyes and pushed Jimin off the couch, which he landed on the floor with a small thud.

"Alright," she said, earning a triumphant grin from the boy on the floor. "Just give me a minute to change."