Sun Upon Dark Clouds

13: Not a Normal Person?

Death—the worst memory that Coley had for her entire life, which made her grow hatred within her body against that thing. It was also one of the reasons why the brunette could never imagine herself causing someone death even though she was capable of doing so as she had seen her father and his gang kill plenty of people. It was not that she was afraid of blood or jail—it was because she thought about the fact that anyone could face death was totally unfair; that thought itself brought a huge impact to her hatred against her father. As much as Coley wanted to complete her mission of knocking Ghrae out in her sleep and stealing everything that she would need such as cash before disappearing into somewhere away from the town, she did not hesitate to cancel that plan after seeing Ghrae’s set plan on the 31st of July.

What’s that on your calendar? Are you actually planning on killing yourself in 31 days? Do you think that suicide is a joke? As much as Coley wanted to ask all of the questions that she had in her mind to Ghrae, she decided to seal her lips and pretend that she did not see anything since it might make Ghrae uncomfortable. A new plan was created in her head, which was to stay and do her best to make Ghrae cancel her plan on the 31st even though they were literally strangers to each other who initially never expected to meet each other for the next following days.

“You won’t mind if I sleep here, right?” Coley flashed a smile as she leaned on the doorframe in the bedroom with her arms crossed across her chest.

“I won’t,” Ghrae answered without any hesitation as she rolled down the floor her magenta sleeping bag.

Fortunately, the bedroom was spacious enough for the brunette to be able to sleep in the sleeping bag next to the bed. Coley looked around the room as she noticed how there were not really any decorations around. The dressing table only had perfumes, lip balms, and a hair dryer; the end table on the right side of the bed only had a phone, a charger, and a wireless earbuds case while the table on the opposite side had nothing on it. Not even paintings or any decorations were on the wall but just plain white paint. It was as if Ghrae really had no intention in living after staying in the apartment for a few weeks.

“I’ll go take a shower. Do whatever you want,” The raven walked toward the door to leave when the brunette suddenly blocked her way with her arm. “What?”

“Do you feel butterflies in your tummy right now?” Coley squinted at the shorter woman as she observed her.

“No,” Even though the question was super random, Ghrae decided to just answer her question first without filling satisfaction to her curiosity.

“You’re not denying it, aren’t you?” The taller woman suddenly pushed her face forward in attempt to see a reaction but Ghrae did not even twitch. “What the? You really aren’t.”

Coley slowly leaned back as she dropped her hand to her side and looked at Ghrae with a surprised face. Without uttering a word, the shorter woman just left as she headed straight to the bathroom to begin her bath. As for the surprised woman, well, she was still surprised as she leaned her back on the doorframe and stared at a blank space while cupping her chin. Her eyebrows were knitted together as she was in deep thought, trying to figure out the reason on how the raven woman would not even react to anything she does. At first, it was just a little thing that Coley thought it was for Ghrae to not fall for her charms that Coley believed could be solved easily by being extra flirty and romantic; but it was not it anymore, the playgirl was beginning to think that the mysterious woman could just be naturally emotionless.

Nah, there’s no way for a person to actually not feel any emotions. A normal person would slap a stranger in instinct if they abruptly pull them somewhere, Coley thought as she shook her head. Then she remembered that the strange woman did not slap her earlier at the park, which meant that she was basically saying that Ghrae was not a normal person.

“Stop it, Coley. Thinking about someone like that is mean,” Coley mumbled to herself as she lightly slapped her own cheek. She did not have to think about not being slapped by Ghrae when she deserved it now.

The brunette pushed her body off the doorframe as she went to the living room to wait for the stranger and turned the TV on. A role-playing show was on TV; there was a woman roleplaying as a wild werewolf chasing after a human girl holding a frying pan around the kitchen in a house. It looked pretty interesting and ridiculous at the same time, which was why it took Coley’s attention.

“You’re not going to bed yet?” Ghrae asked as she stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head.

“No,” Coley leaned back on her seat as she looked at the raven from head to toe.

Ghrae was wearing maroon pajama set with lavender home slippers. Coley was not sure whether it was the raven’s face that made her still look sexy even in pajamas or she was just being dirty-minded for not sleeping with anyone that night when she was supposed to if not for her father’s minions. The brunette briefly shut her eyes in annoyance as she remembered about what happened earlier and internally cursed her father for ruining her night.

“Okay, goodnight,” Ghrae immediately walked away to her bedroom, making Coley widen her eyes as she quickly turned the TV off and stood up from the sofa.

“Are you going to bed?” she asked.

“Yeah,” the latter replied without throwing a glance at her.

“Then I’m going to bed too.”

“It’s all right. I don’t mind you staying up all night,” Ghrae removed the towel from her head, making her damp hair fall to her shoulders. “You won’t be able to sleep because of your bike anyway, right?”

“I don’t like the channels on tonight anyway,” Coley flashed a convincing smile on her face.

“Okay,” As simple as that and Ghrae entered the room.

Coley sat on the end of the bed for a while as she watched Ghrae dry her hair with a hairdryer in front of the dressing table. Watching the raven from behind, Coley imagined how much the latter was going to change in the following days that she would hang out with her; would she succeed in making the stranger cancel her suicide plan in less than 31 days? Would the stranger ever warm up to her in less than 31 days? Such questions were what the brunette thought.

When the raven was done drying her hair, she lied down the bed while the brunette slipped her body in the thick sleeping bag. Fortunately, the sleeping bag was thick and comfortable that could possibly bring Coley into a good slumber even though she was just sleeping on the floor. With the light off, the brunette stared at the dark ceiling with her motorcycle staying the night at the club’s parking lot in her mind. The silence was starting to bore Coley who did not want to sleep yet as she thought of striking up a conversation with the stranger.

“How old are you?” The voice of Coley filled the room, which made the eyes of Ghrae instantly shot open.

“23,” Ghrae simply answered as she shifted to lie on her back and stare at the same ceiling.

“Whoa, I’m 23 too!” An amused smile appeared on the brunette’s face. “How long are you living here?”

“Hadn’t been five days yet.”

“Is this fate? Me neither!” Even though she could not see Ghrae, Coley glanced at the bed with a grin on her face.

“Really? Why are you here then? I heard Peace Town isn’t very known,” Ghrae said.

“That’s exactly why. I need a place to hide, remember?” Coley replied as she thought of changing the topic instantly before they could go even deeper to her life. “How about you? How did you know about this town?”

Ghrae hummed as she thought about her question. Now that she thought about it, she was not exactly different from Coley.

“We’re kind of the same; I don’t want anyone to find me. The different thing between us is that I’m not being chased by gangsters,” the raven deadpanned, causing the brunette from the floor to let out a laugh.

“Right, right,” A smile of amusement stayed on Coley’s face as she stared at the ceiling, thinking of what to say next. “Are you single?”

“Legally, no. But I’d still say yes,” Coley raised her eyebrow as she sat up on the floor with the hood of the sleeping bag hanging on her head and turned to the woman who was lying on bed.

“What does that mean?” It made her curiosity about the mysterious woman grow even more.

“I got married before being here, but it’s an arranged marriage,” Ghrae spoke without throwing her a glance. “The companies are now merged to one, so my job is done now.”

Everything that the raven said was taken down in Coley’s head as she listened intently while staring at her. A sigh of relief left her lips as she lied back down on the floor. She did not have to worry about flirting with a married woman then. Suddenly, her eyelids started to be heavy, which was unexpected since she was supposed to be the one who was going to keep the latter awake.

“I’m sleepy already,” Coley spoke in a sleepy voice. “Goodnight, Ghrae.”

“Goodnight.”

***

The delicious aroma of bacon entered the bedroom to the nostrils of the brunette in the sleeping bag, which woke the woman’s system up. It was always food that would make Coley wake up as she slowly opened her eyes with the black curtain hung on the window being the first thing that she saw; she just noticed that there was a black curtain in the bedroom window. Back to breakfast, Coley blinked multiple times as she sat up and leaned her back on the bed while yawning.

“That smells damn good,” Coley uttered in a husky voice as she pulled her arms out to rub her eyes.

The brunette noticed that the bed was already cold as she assumed that the raven could have gotten up since a while ago. Not wanting to be a nuisance by sleeping for a long time, Coley forced herself out of the sleeping bag as she stood up and stretched her arms while still yawning. She did not know what time it was though she thought that it was better to get up early.

The smell of bacons and eggs became closer as Coley stepped out of the bedroom. The back of Ghrae who was still in her pajamas, greeted Coley as she unconsciously thought that she could be the person that Ghrae got married with to wake up to a morning like this. Suddenly, an idea appeared in the brunette’s head after shrugging the marriage imagination off her head.

Coley sneaked toward Ghrae in tiptoe with hope that she would not notice her existence and just focus on cooking. After Ghrae cracked an egg on the frying pan, Coley went to her back and abruptly held her shoulders in attempt to startle the latter. But like her previous plans, her plan did not go as planned as Ghrae turned her neck to look at her grinning face with a poker face.