A few soft breaths at her ear and a murmur, but Lola wakes up with a slap. Her pleasant dream ruined by the sight of the kid who sits on the other side of the bed and stares at her.

     “Show me your training,” he says. Her eyes still struggle to open to the nightmare. Maybe she hasn’t woken up yet, and all that happened yesterday was part of it too. Lola glances at the clock to see the hour she hasn’t seen in a long time- 9 a.m.

     This definitely is a nightmare.

     Containing her urge to scream, she rolls around under her blanket to hide from the boy. What has she done to deserve this? 

     Su peeks under the blanket, worried that he failed to wake her up. He was always taught that time is of most importance. So he always makes sure to be awake from the early hours. “Lola?”

     With a grunt, she manages just to mumble, “Five more minutes.”. Which of course is a lie; she never wants to wake up ever again.

     Su straightens up to look in the room. What can he do for five minutes?

     Lola hears his small footsteps leaving the bedroom so she crawls out to hug her pillow in victory. She thinks the boy got bored so she can resume her precious sleep. But the footsteps are back again. Lola’s sleepy gaze follows Su who holds a cup in his hands and waddles to the plant that sits at her window.

     “What are you doing?”

     Su does not answer and pours the water into the pot. You can see the two remaining leaves tremble and bless the kid for his kindness. One that Lola always forgets to have.

     Why are you betraying me, Billy? We have to ignore this kid until he has enough and goes back to the Agency!

     “I’ve been taught at the labs about plants, and that we have to water them. I’ve never seen one before.” For someone who has an emotionless face, Su’s eyes sparkle when he looks at the plant. So Lola doesn’t respond. She, in fact, doesn’t know how to talk with the kid. In all the years she retired from the field, she spends most of the time inside the apartment. Conversations with people are not part of her daily routine. What does her life turn out to be? She lost the track of it a long time ago.

     A stomach rumble makes her look at the kid. Maybe he woke her up because he is hungry. The fridge is, of course, empty. Lola remembers to go to the store when she runs out of beer. So you have to understand Billy’s struggle for life when she barely eats herself.

     His stomach makes a sound again, and Lola sighs. “Are you hungry?”

     Su looks at the floor and nods. Great, now she has to wake up for real. And she has to take the kid to the store too. 

     The walk is going to be awkward.