। Patience Is The Key।
With a loud push on the sticker bearing this quote, Juro opened the door of his room.
"All of them are fools! What do they even know about novel writing? Who are they to judge my novel?" he exclaimed, giving a furious punch to the wall.
"Ahh!" His hand hurt. But not like his agony.
"Tch!" letting a sound out of his mouth, he picked a water bottle from the fridge.
He drank it. A little, then threw it at the fridge.
"I want cold water, not this. You five-year-old metal piece"
With this much noise the landlord exclaimed from the ground floor. "I will force you to compensate! If the walls or floor get any kind of damage!"
Juro's expressions darkened.Though his agony didn't fade. He held back his anger.
Throwing his bag onto the desk he lied on bed trying to calm himself.
Slowly he started feeling sleepy. Today was really tough for him.
Thud!
A loud noise broke his slumber.
Juro jolted awake from the bed."What happened?"
Instinctively he ran toward the door and came out of his room, nearly tripping. But outside, he only found darkness.
So He came downstairs. Only to be surprised, as there was nothing which could've made that kind of sound.
Astonished by the scene, he exhaled.
"I should sleep or this drowsiness will make me hear unreal things." he said to himself.
He walked to the stairs convincing himself that the sound was his imagination.
As he stepped on the staircase. Something touched his feet. A substance.
"Huh?!" Juro picked it up. He saw it was a book. "Is it dropped by someone?" he questioned.
After coming back into room he looked at the book. "Strange?" The cover was purely white. Both sides of the cover were empty.
"What the heck is this?" he questioned while observing it from every angle.
In curiosity he opened it. A white light came from it and flooded surroundings. It was enough to make him close his eyes for few seconds.
Then the light gone.
Opening his eyes Juro found. It was~
Blank. Totally Empty.
Juro frowned as he turned the pages,
"Damn Book!! What the heck was that light show?" he threw the book on the desk.
"Is it a joke!" he exclaimed at someone even he didn't know.
He exhaled."Maybe taking a bath is the best option for me" he said to himself while scratching his head. Then, walked toward the bathroom.
In the bathtub. He sat folding his legs and looked at the mirror, front of him which shows a person whose novel got rejected.
He pointed his finger at the mirror and laughed."Hey!, how it felt when only your novel got rejected in trial round?" he asked while laughing.
His laugh continued but slowly sounded like sobbing.
Then he silenced his emotions by splashing
a whole bucket of water on his head.
A little flood came, and then gone, washing away his emotions.
"Hachchuh!" he sneezed.
Later, he came out from bathroom still rubbing his head with towel.
"Let's see" he opened the fridge.
A Cup-noodles, only one left there. He brought that out of the fridge. He boiled some water and opened the Cup, then poured hot water into it.
Supper was ready. He gave a faint look at it."At least better than nothing" he said before start eating.
"Does this tastes good?" a voice asked him.
Juro replied while trying to find the taste of the noodles in his mouth"Better than starving."
Then something struck Juro's mind. He coughed while eating.
"Here. Drink it" that voice said. Juro grabbed the water bottle and drank that. "Gh.. Thank you!"
Then reality hit him hard.
His eyes widended as he remembered he lived alone in his room. "Whose voice it is?" his mind questioned him.
A beat of sweat appeared on his head. Holding his fear inside his heart he looked at the direction from where the voice was coming.
His eyes got still. More accurately, he was witnessing something unreal. A figure who was known to him.
It was a girl. Pleasantly beautiful, warmth cheeks, wearing normal household clothes
like a 16-year-old who was holding a glowing book.
It was the same book that he threw at the desk, a while ago.
She smiled warmly."Don't talk while eating. It could be dangerous" her sweet advising tone chimed the whole room.
Yet Juro's expression of shock remained unchanged. As he started to recognise the girl from the city which never existed. It looked like the girl came from his incompleted story.
Then with a stuttering tone, Juro asked the girl "Who.. are.. you?"
To Be Continued....