Territorial Instinct

“Ughhh relaxing, refreshing, anything re except rearranging schedules and papers.”

You have been dreaming about taking a vacation at the beach, drinking watermelon juice while the sun casts enough light over the sea, a paradise, as they call it.

It feels nice, and you don’t want to wake up. It’s a nice dream; you rarely get one except for nightmares.

“Wait— people said that if you realized you’re in a dream… it’s either you’ll wake up, or it will turn into a nightmare.” You’re aware.

And nightmares? There you go.

Ring! Ring!

You woke up to the sound of endless messages, more like continuous bell chimes.

“Ughh—” Your face crunched; anyone would if they got interrupted in a deep sleep.

Your phone was sitting at the top of your nightstand; reaching it a few seconds after waking up feels like reaching for heaven.

Heaven? There you go.

“AHHH! Shit…” Heaven’s gate greeted you. You just got flash-banged by your phone the moment you turned it on.

“Fuck. I should’ve toned it a little bit before going to sleep– ughh…” You watched a drama last night about a female secretary, played by Park Minyoung, and a narcissistic boss, played by Park Seojoon. You set the brightness to 100% for a blinding experience, yet you forgot to set it low before going to sleep.

“...”

You took a deep breath for a moment.

You were in a paradise a few moments ago; now you’re back to reality. The hell.

“Now… who’s sending messages like an earthquake warning all of a sudden?” You carefully toned down the brightness, checked the clock, and it said 5:30 a.m. Then, on the notifications, you saw her name.

Ms Lee.

You had nothing to say. You wanted to rant about her messaging you so early, off work. However, considering you saw 8 messages within a minute, you can’t help but worry instead.

“Something must’ve happened.” You didn’t stretch your stiff and still sleeping body; instead, you sat up straight, focused.

You read her messages.

Ms Lee

I’ll be with my friends today.

I won’t go to the office; tell them I’m gone.

I saw the forecast; it said that it will rain.

I’ll take a taxi; pick me up later on.

I wanted you to see that I’m meeting up with my friends and not on a date.

Don’t worry, they’re all girls.

No need to be jealous.

See you later.

“...”

Did you say you’re jealous? Did you say you’re worried about her meeting some other man?

“Why doesn’t she bring her own car? She knew it was going to rain.” You looked at her message once again.

“Wait, is this some kind of weird hobby that needs my presence?”

You shook your head; you still couldn’t believe what was happening. You should tell her to stop it…

“I should tell her to… what perfume smells manly these days? The trendy one.” Your mind changed in just a second; is it her influence? Or your heart?

“Where is it… is it here? Nope.” You drive through tight alleyways, looking for the place she texted you.

She meets with some of her friends, and every time she does, she goes alone. But the rain started to pour; the forecast was accurate. She might be thinking that if she’s stranded, it’s better to be with someone she knows really well, and it’s you.

“Stop fooling yourself, there’s no logic to it.” You muttered as you thought about the low chances of flooding since you already knew she was asking you to fetch her on purpose.

“...”

“The rain… it stopped.” You turned the wiper off and took a look at the sky. Looks like being stranded with her is now really out of the question. The sun had shown up, brighter than ever.

“Too waste of a nice weather if I keep driving and looking for that resto… so, where is it?” After a few more minutes of driving, you found the place she told you.

A white Greek architecture facade, voluted columns are emphasized for aesthetic purposes, and greenery garden on the sides with vines twirling on support framing all over. It looks refreshing; no wonder they chose it as their meeting place.

“...”

“Is this the right place?” You already messaged her, and you didn’t receive any response from her. “Greek, huh? They’re not eating while one of their sides lay in abedstead, using their fingers to feed themselves like royalty, right?”

Just the thought of her laugh during their conversations was enough to entertain you. You’ve been waiting for her for about thirty minutes.

“They’re too immersed in how ancient Greeks eat.” They’re slow; you’ve heard that ancient Greeks are slow eaters since they value social gatherings and conversations.