Chapter 1: Love At First Sight
Keira covered her mouth and yawned for the umpteenth time.
She was bored to death, listening to one long speech after another. She hated ceremonies like this that felt endless and inescapable.
Her father insisted on her attending the honoring ceremony for the soldiers, who had lost their lives during the terrorist bombing of a military base: the very same terrorists, responsible for the continuous bombing in their region.
"Stop yawning," her mother whispered into her ear. She sat beside Keira, to make sure that she would behave properly.
Keira rolled her eyes. It was impossible to stop yawning. If these speeches continued, she was worried that she would fall asleep. Would her mother ask to stop snoring, too?
Her face was stiff the whole time she followed her mom as she resisted the urge to yawn. Her parents were quite clear: no more black card for a month if she tried to run away. She couldn’t live without those black card!
With a hidden, wireless earphone she turned the Bluetooth of her phone on and scrolled through her song playlist, trying to find a song to fight her boredom. But before she could find a good-enough song to play, her stomach grumbled, catching her mother’s attention.
Her mother rolled her eyes at her and gave her a nod. Keira just smiled with great appreciation in response.
She quickly stood up and happily went to look for the nearest restroom.
Her eyes furrowed at the sight of the ’Cleaning in Progress’ sign on the women’s restroom door.
Below the sign, a crumpled placard hung, which said to use the bathroom upstairs: a bathroom that seemed a bit too far for Keira to reach in her current state.