Marian shot up straight when he heard distant thunder roaring in the sky. He was afraid of thunder, while the momentary flash of white that masked his room gave him an odd comfort. Oxymorons and ironies of the world relieved Marian of the chaos which permeated his mind and reflected in his character. Leaning over the side of the bed, Marian picked up his laptop and sat it atop his pillow. Wrapping himself in his thick blanket, he turned on the laptop and started working on his part of a last minute project his team was putting together. Marian majored in Computer Science, although he wasn’t very fond of it. In fact, he hated it. He simply did it for the presumed financial stability the degree brought in case he wanted to (which he desperately did) stray away from the tech field into something more dear to him. Like becoming an artist or owning a small cafe or bakery on a street corner. There were some more creative sides to Computer Science that fancied him, like web design and development. The instant gratification he received from seeing his code come to life before his eyes in the form of a website was unmatched to any of the mundane, low-grade clerical assignments he was made to do at school. All for a grade, which proxied as the determining factor to whether or not he graduated from a school that would land him a job in the future. “Ah, it’s all such a drag,” he thought.

His mother opened the door, breaking his deep contemplation. “Breakfast is ready Marian. Marwa insists you come downstairs to eat with her. You know she finds cold tea to be abysmal.”

“Yes mother, I’ll be right down,” Marian replied without turning his head, half focused on his assignment and half thinking about the girl from earlier this morning.

His mother made a slight scowl, knowing her son would not budge for the next several hours. She cast her gaze on his laptop and tapped her thigh once, hard. Hearing this, Marian reflexively retracted his hands from the keyboard and watched the laptop’s lid slam shut. “...Mother, this is a new laptop. If you break it, I’ll be broke,” Marian spoke annoyed, turning to his smiling mother.

She twirled on her heels and triumphantly walked towards the stairs, turning again to look into her son’s room, watching him change his clothes with the usual displeasure. She adored him.