hello

it was a dead mid-morning when you unexpectedly sent a short straightforward message saying "hello". i did not take heed of the quick short beeping of the mobile phone at first. the bed still invited a midmorning sleep, whereas the outside midmorning heat had too much in its hands even for just a short break for a cool breeze. on second thought, it was rare for me to receive messages from this side of the world, so hazily, i got up grabbed the phone, went back to bed while sleepily my fingers attempted to navigate their way to the short message saying "hello". and without much processing, my eyes gave away to a second mid-morning nap.

"hello."

"hello to you too," i managed to send back almost two hours after receiving the message.

"where in this place are you now? i might find myself somewhere there by next week."

"just here where my project is. where exactly are you going next week?" as vaguely as i could to bring an answer, realizing how certain fears began to take form inside.

"i am going to udtan. will you be near?"

"oh. that's quite far in the north."

"when do you plan to go home? do you plan to go north?"

"hmmm. i honestly don't know when yet but i'm sure to see myself going north before going home."

"that is good. please do tell me when."

"ok." a short non--committal reply i thought. it scared me.