Coffee with Love by Jet (Chapter Eleven: April Snow)

Early morning breeze which flew in throw tiny hole of Yong's window made his naked body freeze. Not being able to stand the coldness, Yong woke up even he was still slightly drunk. Hangover hadn't attacked him as yet. Not when he was fully awake. With his hands as support, Yong tried to stand up and walked toward the window to stop the chilly morning breeze coming in. Step by step, unsteadily, here and there, he got to the window, still with his eyes closed. Left hand on window sill, Yong directed his right hand to shut his glass-framed window.

"It is not supposed to be that cold, not in this particular place and in particular month," Yong told himself when his hand felt the coldness of the breeze. "It is truly bone-chilling cold. It is like in the winter. What the hell is that!" Yong tried to open his eyes to observe what was really going on right now. What changed that made the weather this cold. Yong blinked his eyes for a few times so as to signal his brain that he was about to look at something. With both of his hands on the window sill and still naked, Yong looked through the window to see a field of white snow covering on top of everything. Cars in the parking lots. Buildings. Houses. Kid's playgrounds. Trees. The bridge. The far-reached mountains. And every single object.

"It is unbelievable," Yong exclaimed. "I don't believe it's snow outside. At least not in this tropical and volcanic area, and not in April. Hawaii has no winter to begin with. Hawaii's weather is mild all year round, though there are rains, but not snow." Yong shook his hand several times, and opened his eyes again to make sure he was not tricked. Again, the field of snow appeared in front of him remained unchanged. The sun was nowhere to be seen. The thick cloud kept the sun away, which made the snowy ice pleasant from not being melted away by the sun. A flock of Hawaiian goose, about 13 of them, flew pass Yong to somewhere he did not know to get away from this madness. This 360 degree change of weather.

Still there was no traffic outside. Neither cars nor buses. It seemed this place had been abandoned the night earlier before the snow came. And only Yong did remain in this town. Hands around his freezing body, Yong turned back to his closet to look for a warm clothes.

"This is unacceptable," Yong whispered to himself when he was scanning through his closet's items to seek for something warm that fitted this cold weather. "This isn't real. Totally an illusion. April snow! Who is going to believe it? If I tell someone in my home country about it, they would laugh their teeth out." Searching back and forth, there was no warm clothes to be found. There were only short pants, light weight trousers, summer shirts, t-shirts, flip-flops, suits, boots, hats and summer scarves in the closet. That's all of what he possessed. In this nice and warm place, how could anyone store warm and heavy clothes in their closet. This idea had never come to everyone's mind. Plus it was a waste of money to have spent on those items when they were not necessary. No gloves, no winter jacket, no heat wears, no hat, no winter boots.

Leaving no choice, Yong put on two trousers, one grey one black, one t-shirt, one long sleeve shirt, and one light weight sweater. After having himself stocked and warm enough, Yong walked toward the sofa and took the air-conditioning remote control on the table to adjust the temperature in the room up to 77 degree Fahrenheit (25 degree Celsius). After a moment of thought, Yong took another remote control on the table to turn on his Samsung LED Flat Screen television to check if there was news about this changing weather. No weather record news on this. Not in CNN nor BCC. Giving up, Yong turned off the telly and walked to the kitchen to make himself a cup of hot and bitter black coffee. He turned on the heat to boil water, placed a Gorilla coffee cup on the kitchen table, put three spoonful of coffee into the cup, and stood there waiting the water to boil.

As if awake, Yong thought about what he did last night that made him so miserable. The whisky bottle and the glass were on the floor. He asked himself if he had to drink so much alcohol? What made him do this? Sudden headache attacked him. There was like something inside his head was jumping. The more he concentrated on the jump the more it hit him hard in his head. At this point, he decided to quit thinking for a bit. He told himself he would think about what bothered him again when his head was clear.

The water was boiling in the kettle. The steam flew the spout, hot and burnt. Yong pored the bubbling water into his coffee cup, stirred his coffee, and sipped it. The warmth of the coffee made its way through his mouth to his throat and onto his stomach, which warmed him up a bit. And now, he felt hungry when the phone on the floor was ringing…

"Hello," Yong reaches out to his phone and answers.

"Good morning, son!" Yong mother's voice is on the other line, normal and pleasant. "Are you awake?"

"Yes," Yong opens his eyes.

"Is it a sunny day over there?" his mother inquires.

"Y…," Yong hesitates a few second, only after he see the eastern sun outside of his window. "Yes…! Oh--"

"What is it?" His mother demands an answer to his exclamation.

"No. That was nothing."

"Are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine, at most."
"Look, let me get you straight to the point then," Yong mother suddenly changes her tone of voice.
"Alright, fire it out then," Yong interrupted.
"What did you say to Monica that made her really upset?"
"That was nothing." And he drops the line.

Yong is now sitting on his sofa, and still, naked. He shakes his head for realising that it was just a dream. The dream that seems almost true. Yet, it is just a dream, which is good. Thanks to his mom who woke him from dreaming. If it was not her, maybe he would fall deep into the dream and being lost.

He is thinking about getting a hot shower to shake of the headache left by hangover. In the shower room, Yong tries to recall what he said to Monika. He told her to stop messing around with him and telling everyone that she was his girlfriend. Of course, she was, but it was a few years ago. He also told her to go back and find her other half that is not him because he is eyeing on someone else now at the moment. Monika asked him who, he did not answer, but told her to accept the truth. The truth is he has no affection for her, and even the truth is hard to accept she has to take it no matter what. She has to move on and start a new and happy life.

Getting out of the restroom, Yong looks at the mirror to see his face pale and dead. The face doesn't look like his face. He touches his face over and over again to make sure he feels its shape. True, it is his face though it was not very fresh. He looks deep into the mirror now, and the scene in his dream appears in front of him. The white snow outside his window. The April snow that come out of nowhere. The April snow that should not be here at all in warm tropical place like Hawaii. But who cares! Who can direct the dream the way it wanted? People dream of anything all the time, strange and indigestible. People even dream of somebody they have never seen before, and in fact, that person does really exist on human earth. Anything can happen in the dream one can't expect.

"Where are you now?" Yong asks the other him in the mirror. "Are you there in the April snow?"

Headache attacks him as he leaves the restroom for the kitchen for a cup of hot coffee to freshen himself. He quits thinking by now. No matter how hard he keeps thinking about her whereabouts, he still can't get the answer to it. She is so mysterious. She shows up when she wants to show up, and disappears up in the air in no time when she sets her mind into it.

to be continued...