C4: Megan

"Megan. Megan! Get up! We're late for school!" my older brother Jiro called as he pulls my feet to the edge of my bed and shook it intentionally to wake me up from being stuck in my dreamland.

"Mhn … Let go of me, let go!" I complained as I get into my senses from my slumber. "It's Monday! No school! You're the only one who has Monday classes so shut up and leave me alone!"

Jiro finally let go of my feet and I laid back to my bed, facing my body to the opposite direction from where he stands. Finally, he gave it up. I mean, it's Monday and it is the independence day from school, for I have no Sunday and Monday classes. What's wrong with oversleeping? My guess is, it's probably only around 7 am.

"If I can't convince you, then probably he can." Jiro finally got my attention as he said the last words, leaving me the curiosity on who on earth 'he' is.

"Hey, Megan. So this is how you look like … perhaps every morning?" the only way how I can describe the guy's reaction is using the emoji with a smiling face, open mouth, and a cold sweat. Probably embarrassment and surprised are the best words – he's surprised how awful I look like every morning and embarrassed on my behalf knowing how awkward this scenario is.

I rubbed my eyes to see if I'm really seeing the person that I thought I saw, and I'm definitely not dreaming. It's him. It's Arthur.

"W-What are you doing here?" I asked as I pulled myself to sit down from laying down.

"Well, I'll leave the two of you. I don't want to be late," Jiro said without bothering to look but waving his hand as he walks out of my room.

I still can't believe why Arthur is here. All this time, Jiro has been an over-protective brother, yet he's letting him enter my room just like that? Not to mention, leaving us alone. That guy totally lost his head. I'll talk to him about this later. Not that I'm not happy that Arthur's here, but it feels wrong for him to leave just the two of us here at home.

"I have something for you, by the way," Arthur said with a warm smile across his face as he sits down next to me on my bed. "Happy 20th birthday."

"Wait, it's my birthday?" I looked at the small calendar placed on my bedside table. Today is Monday, January 20th. Good riddance, how long have I left this world and I completely forgot about today? "You're right. Thanks, though. I'm sorry I was a big mess right now. Up to this point, I'm processing everything – how my brother woke me up brutally, then suddenly you had this grand entrance, and now it's my birthday."

Arthur chuckled, amused at what he's seeing. "You don't seem to look forward to your birthday. I think at this point, you're curious why I'm here, right?"

"Yeah, thanks that you brought that up. I was about to ask that. Because see, this is so embarrassing. I'm a big mess every morning."

"I don't mind. At first, I couldn't believe what I was seeing but knowing this side of you makes me feel like I know you better now. You have no idea how funny you were earlier. Anyways, I teamed up with your brother so I planned all these so don't get mad at him. I'm here to surprise you and ask you out. The plan is, we're going to eat breakfast downstairs, go for a stroll wherever you want, then eat lunch. After that, your brother requested that we should spend time with him and his girlfriend until dinner. Like, a double date."

Up to this point, the idea of Arthur and I dating feels like a joke. It doesn't feel real. I mean, I'm not complaining about anything because I can see his efforts, but him truly loving me is still a big question to me. Only if I'm confident enough to ask – and even if I will, I'm sure that he won't give me the right answer.

"I see. Sounds great," I commented, trying to go along with his plans. They aren't completely bad, after all. "Let's go eat breakfast then."

When we went downstairs, we on the opposite sides of the table. The table isn't that big, so it's just enough for us to pass the food around. Jiro prepared my favorite breakfast combination: toasted bread with butter and sugar on top, fried rice, and fried egg. The only thing lacking is coffee. Dang,

I can't imagine mornings without that one.

"I'll prepare coffee for both of us," but before I walk further, he pulled me by the wrist and insisted that he will, so I should just sit down.

As I let him prepare the coffee, I turned on my phone and looked at my Messenger app where the first unread message I saw was from Evangeline, 'Eve,' as I call her, greeting me a happy birthday.

///

Evangeline:

Hey there, sweet sugar cake. Happy birthday! God bless you. ❤😊 What are your plans for today? Did your boyfriend plan anything? What's his name again?

Me:

It's Arthur. Yeah, surprisingly he came over this morning and witnessed how Jiro woke me up. It was embarrassing. We're heading out later, we're just eating breakfast. Thanks for the early greeting. We're exactly 12 hours away from each other and it's evening there, January 19th, 8:03 pm.

Evangeline is typing …

Evangeline:

Which is why it's easy to know what time it is there! Anyways, have a nice day. I'll talk to you later. I went to church this morning with Justin. Last Saturday we went to the beach. I'll drop the details later. Enjoy your day! 

///

"You're smiling," Arthur commented, as he put down the cup of coffee next to me. "I suppose someone greeted you?"

"My best friend Eve did. It's not yet 20th in her country, though. We're 12 hours away from each other."

Arthur pulled the chair and sat down. He took a sip of his coffee before saying anything. "Where is she again?"

"North Carolina. That aside, where are we going after this?"

"Your choice. It's your birthday," he said, putting down his coffee to the table.

"How about … an art gallery? Museum? I'll be cool with that. Not to mention, it's free."

"Nerd," he chuckled. "You really love history, culture, and art, don't you?"

Dang. That smile. That sound of his chuckle. They sound music to my ears. I hate the fact that I keep on falling for him over and over every day, but I always get the feeling that it's one-sided.

My phone beeped once again, and I saw a text message from Vincent, greeting me Happy birthday just like Eve did. Vincent is Arthur's twin brother – I'm not sure if it's a good idea to tell him, but my instincts are telling me to keep it safe. It's not like there's anything between us. Vincent and I are classmates in Algebra, though.

"Yes. I love those things. I like going to places where I can learn something. We can go to the park after. It's not far from the museum, anyways."

Right after breakfast, I took a bath and wore my most comfortable clothes – a shirt, jeans, and rubber shoes. It's not even that girly, but not that it matters.

"Shall we go?" Arthur asked as he sees me going downstairs. "Yeah," I replied.

I hopped on Arthur's motorcycle and placed my hand on his shoulder like I always do, my other hand on my bag. For some reason, this date feels like a good and a bad thing. Part of me keeps on asking why, but deep inside, I know the answer, yet, I don't want to believe it. There's the fact that I want to believe that miracles can happen – that Arthur is serious about us, but at the same time, I can't help but consider what his brother told me months ago which is about Arthur who got dumped by his ex-girlfriend, Euphemia.

"Hey, you okay back there?" Arthur asked, though the beeping cars in the traffic are much louder.

"Yes, I'm fine. Still alive at least," I replied. They say that gut feeling should never be ignored, but I don't even know what that gut is saying. Or to take it simply, I'm just denying the truth that finding another girl right after a breakup is questionable. Though Evangeline warned me about the idea that something feels off, I still said yes.

I'm such an idiot. I think.

Half an hour later, we arrived at the art gallery that is … closed.

"I thought it's open today," I said in disappointment. "It's Monday."

"I'm sorry, I had no idea that it's closed on Mondays, but open from Tuesdays to Sundays. Maybe we should go somewhere else. It's not like it's the only option we've got, right?

"I know. We're going to a cat café."

Cats aren't Arthur's thing, but I know he can manage. There's always this thing about cat lovers vs. dog lovers. "Don't worry, my treat! It's my birthday!"

"But I have allergies," He blinked, looking at me with hints of disbelief. "Have you forgotten? I like cats, but I can't keep or play with them."

"I … I didn't know, I'm sorry. All I know was, you're more of a dog person." Now I feel stupid for not knowing about that. How can I not know? What else should I know about him?

"I can manage if I have some face mask, I'll live." He encouraged. "We can just buy one somewhere."

"No, let's not risk it. The park isn't far from here, right?" Oh c'mon. What was I thinking? It's a sunny day. I don't want to be under the sun myself. "Forget it. I mean, it's hot. Maybe we should just eat somewhere?" I'm getting embarrassed about my spontaneous proposals. I should really learn how to plan things just like Evangeline's boyfriend does. She once mentioned that he plans everything whenever they go out. I wonder what's up with them now. Eve hasn't mentioned a thing about him recently.

"We can do that, yes." With that answer from Arthur, we headed to the mall and went to an Italian restaurant, since he knows that I love pizza and anything with pasta. As we wait for our orders, he pulled out a box from his pocket and looked at me with a gentle smile.

"I want to give this to you, as my gift for your birthday. Happy 20th birthday, Megan." He pulled out a rose gold-strapped steel watch with a blue dial, adorned with rhinestone markers and two-separated blue stars outside the watch's face. Bracelet watch. It's so chic and it will certainly fit casual and formal clothes. I can't help but think HOW MUCH this is because its elegance made it look expensive. However, I don't think it's a wise reaction to ask, 'How much is this?' knowing that

Arthur is from a well-off family.

"Oh wow, it's beautiful. Thank you. It means a lot," I know that even if I can't see my face, the hint of embarrassment and a childish smile is there.

"You're welcome," he replied, as he wrapped the bracelet watch around my wrist. "It suits you well."

"That's true. At first, I thought that it's my 20th birthday, my parents would come home and throw a party. You know, a fancy party where everyone's invited. But I thought, maybe it's not a good idea. After all, it's hard to pretend that our family is a united one because we're pretty much strangers to each other." I bit my lip and held myself back from crying, but they still came. "You … you don't know how much this little celebration means to me. Thank you for being here, Arthur. I'm more than thankful that you're here to celebrate this with me."