The soft sheets hugged his body, making it all the more difficult to get up. Streaming through the windows were rays from the early sunrise, and to his bewilderment, no one woke him up. He also missed his dinner last night. For when his twin ended the call, he still felt sleepy to cook his food, causing him to go back to slumber.

"Une, why didn't you wake me up??" Nil shouted, upon laying his eyes on his brother's bed tidied neatly.

But despite calling out to his twin, there was no response. He must've been out, jogging, he thought.

Dragging his limping body off of his bed, Nil stood up and picked up his phone. The screen lit up, showing his aunt had 30 missed calls, but his phone, unfortunately, was on mute.

“Shit,” he can only mutter.

Immediately, he called back to his aunt. She should be mad, he thought, but that doesn’t matter now. It must have been an urgent matter for her to call him during the wee hours.

When the ringtone finally stopped, his aunt’s voice, hoarse and shrill, lashed out without warning from the other line.

“What’s wrong with the two of you?!” she shrieked out. “Not one answered any of my calls, and you even promised to come visit your grandpa last night! And now,…” her voice trailed off, and the only thing Nil could hear now was his aunt’s sobs.

Tuut… tuut… tuut… tuut…

She hung up.

Nil stared at his phone blankly. And the first thing that struck his empty mind was the hospital.

Dashing all the way from the eighth floor to the car lot, his ragged breaths mercilessly assaulted his chest while he mounted his motorcycle. He took off right on the spot, speeding past a hundred on the highway.

It was like a do or die.

While his long locks fluttered midair, tears were busy welling up in his eyes that his vision started to blur. Yet he only accelerated even more. And with clenched jaws, he swiveled past through other vehicles to get into his destination.

And about twelve minutes later, he arrived.

Sprinting through the seemingly endless corridors, Nil then spotted his grandfather’s room number. He swung open the door hastily, almost hitting the nurse’s face. Luckily, the man has quick reflexes.

“Ooo,... that was close,” the nurse jested good-naturedly.

“Where’s my grandpa?” Nil queried as it struck him that the bed in the room was empty.

“I’m sorry, man. He’s already moved into a viewing room. Let me help you get there, in a second.” When the nurse laid down the oxygen tank he was carrying, both of them walked into an obscured wing, where every sound gradually softened.

The nurse opened the door for him, and when Nil entered, he saw all those familiar faces drowning in sorrow. His eyes immediately sought to see his grandpa’s face, and there he was, lying on a bed. He seemed alive to him as though he was just sleeping.

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Not stepping further, his eyes lingered at the motionless body under the soft yellow lights. The familiar wrinkles triggered in him a nostalgic feeling, causing tears to stream down his cheeks uncontrollably. He looked up to stop them from flowing, but the weight on his chest grew heavier and heavier, until his hands covered both of his eyes in a vain attempt to stop crying.

And just right then, a heavy arm fell on his shoulders. Their huge uncle, Vitz, squeezed and hugged him from his side. “It’s alright. Everyone has their own turn,” he whispered.

Nil lifted his left arm, patting his uncle’s back as he wiped his own tears away. He could hear some occasional sobbing, but his grandpa’s friends were mostly silent. His aunt, on the other hand, cannot be spotted inside the small room. And Une! He realized; he wasn't there either.

Fishing for the phone in his pajamas, he tried to contact Une's number. His phone vibrated for a while, but the call dropped, leaving him with no option but to contact him again. Mindlessly tapping on ‘redial’, he kept on calling his twin’s phone number repeatedly.

What is he doing?

"Where's your twin?" Vitz asked him.

"I thought… no- he didn't come home last night?" his brows furrowed in confusion.

"What?" his uncle replied, just as bewildered as he was.

"I'm not sure - I was waiting for him, and when I woke up, it’s already morning. We’re supposed to be here at 9pm last night.” Une mumbled, trying to keep his voice down.

“Call him then.”

Nil didn’t utter any more words and showed how many missed calls Une had. 11 missed calls.

“Where could he possibly be?”

Nil only shrugged as weariness started to catch up to him.

While staring on the ground, he bit his lips in an unconscious restraint of asking too many questions, for his grandfather had already passed away. Questioning ‘how and why so sudden’ was no more useful than trivial.

The others who were there were absorbed in their own musings and grief that they were all silent. With another glance to his inanimate ‘papa’, Nil left bidding his uncle no farewell other than a gentle pat on his back and stepped out.

Back in his apartment, he found himself alone again. His twin hasn't called or messaged as of yet, but he didn't bother himself anymore and threw his body on a couch.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Nil's otherwise timid body turned panicky when he heard someone banging at his door.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Upon unlocking it, he frowned, “There's an intercom."

An out-of-breath and sweaty BJ (short for Brento Jesse) sat on the floor near the doorway. "Here… I brought mourning pizzas to the feast."

Grabbing the four boxes of pizzas their friend brought, Nil laid them on the elevated counter and took a slice. "BJ! I'm eating all of this if you don't come in." Nil demanded while he munched on the cheesy bread.

Sauntering like an old turtle, BJ shut the door behind him and sat on a stool near the kitchen counter.

"I was so tired, man! Where's Une?" He grabbed two slices and smashed them on top of each other.

"I don't know," Nil dismissed as he took another slice.

Chewing his pineapple-y pizza with great vigor, BJ commented, "That motherfucker is always going wherever he likes-”

ding!

Nil’s phone screen lit up, and he read his twin brother’s message:

I'm sorry, Nil, I'll never be able to cook for you again.

“Huh?”