cycle ride

I lay on my bed, almost feeling ecstatic. The whole house was clean and it took me just two days.

I decided to play some Lo-fi but was interrupted by some very loud noise.

Of course, that annoying piece of-

"Hey, can you turn down that noise?!" I screamed, smashing my neighbour's bell.

"What do you mean by noise?! This is called music." He opened the door, simultaneously stopping the 'music'. "Stray Kids everywhere all around the world." He showed a thumbs up and winked.

"Stop speaking gibberish and please stay sane." I started walking away.

"Hey, what about our date?"

I halted and turned around, with a stop-right-now-or-else look.

"Oh, I meant cycling. When are we gonna go cycling?"

I rolled my eyes and continued to walk.

"I really don't like being ignored!"

"After dinner." I shut my door with an impact.

~~~

I scrolled through Pinterest, with full knowledge I should be doing something productive instead.

Ding~

I didn't bother to get up.

Ding~

I rolled my eyes.

Ding~ ding~ ding~

After a flurry of bells, I opened the door with anger.

"Fine! Fine! Let's go!" I tied my hair and wore a jacket.

~~~

"So like, tell me more about yourself," Yukio asked while pedalling, while I tried to keep up with him.

"I'm Hiroka."

"Yeah, I think I already know that." He chuckled, "How old are you?"

"Twenty-two."

"Wait, so I'm two years younger than you?!"

"Seriously?" It was my turn to laugh.

We silently cycled for a while, letting the cool breeze take over the better of us.

"Do you have a job?" He randomly asked.

My whole life until this point flashed through my mind, with a deep shade of red on my cheeks.

Yukio looked at me when I took too long to answer and realised, "Oh! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that, right?"

"I'm an online tutor for middle schoolers. For now." I muttered.

"Oh, teaching? That's nice. I'm a sophomore pursuing product designing."

I didn't ask though. He probably wasn't trying to, but I felt as if he was bragging. And that might have made me a bit angry. Or maybe… jealous? Jealous of this guy who was able to do what he wants in life. While I was stuck with this stupid inju-

"Anyways, would you like me to introduce you to some of the people here? You know, just so you don't feel lonely or left out."

Yeah with this guy nagging me all day, I definitely didn't feel lonely.

"Sure."

"Wait, really? I didn't expect you to agree." He furrowed his brows. "I mean alright, let's start with our floor."

We went back to our tower and he rang the bell of a random house. What a foolish man.

A girl peeked through the slightly opened door and waved, "Hi, Hiroka."

I blankly stared at her.

Yukio stepped between, waving his hands frantically, "This is my sister! I… told her about you yesterday."

"Oh, hi."

I think I was a bit angry with this guy.

I realised we were just standing awkwardly so I struck up a conversation, "Soooo, you live alone? Why not with your brother?"

She looked over at Yukio with a tinge of hatred in her eyes, "I might end up killing him, so we live separately. Besides, I live with my-"

"Hiroka?"

I turned around and immediately regretted being here. I wish I wasn't momentarily alive. Why did I even agree to this stupid neighbour guy?

Interacting with humans is dangerous, you end up meeting people you've tried to avoid for four years, don't do it.