Tisha,
December 2nd, 2021.

The last time I was here in the heavenly hill station called Royo, surrounded by the grandeur of tall, elite mountains, a beautiful scenic view for the eyes, and the meadows covered in shimmering snow, I felt very welcomed.

The hills were making way for our car to enter Royo town and be their guest, and the weather was pleasant. It was cold because of the winter, but it was a beautiful cold, still filled with warmth and tenderness.

Even though there was still snow everywhere and we had to cover ourselves with sweaters and trench coats, the cold wasn't brutal. Even the sun was slowly peeking at us from the sky.

But this time things were so different.

The weather was worse than I could imagine. I knew it was raining here, but I didn't know that several landslides had occurred over the week. The cold, too, had worsened, and now, even if you wore three coats on top of three sweaters, your teeth would still rattle.

"Two trucks have come under the landslide in the morning," our cab driver detailed the complete situation to me and the other two male passengers while we waited in the long chain of traffic, passing through the very steep hillside road.

The landslide was the reason for our delay. Authorities were trying to clear the road, but things were not so easy. Ours was amongst the few travel cabs that occupied the route. The rest were all either trucks or official vehicles.

"No one chooses to travel here during this time," the man sitting next to me glanced to my side. "It is risky, and you're traveling alone too."

He probably noticed how stressed I was, constantly turning to look around and see if the traffic was moving or not.

"I really didn't know it was so bad," I shivered, tucking my ears under my white, wooly beanie.

"You don't watch the news?" The driver retorted while the other man in the front seat chuckled.

"Last year, things were so good around this time," I felt very embarrassed admitting. "I really should have checked beforehand."

But I could not. "It was urgent, you know."

My fingers twitched, and I felt like caving in somewhere.

"Not to worry, what's the worst that will happen?" The driver sneered again. "Our car will fall down the hillside, and we will be smashed to the underside."

Everyone started laughing again, so I did too. Even though my stomach was twisted in apprehension.

There was no signal in my phone either, so I couldn't even call Nenna or receive hers.

It took us three extra hours, so seven hours in total until we finally reached Royo. And unlike last year, I couldn't cherish the journey or observe the beautiful scenery or the lovely town coming into view, the small villas on the corners of the road, or anything. Fuck! I didn't even have any idea that we had entered the town because I was exhausted, hungry, and irritated, all at once.

"Hey, Mam."

I was awakened by the man to my left.

"You're here safe and sound," he smiled at me, and I smiled back.

I looked over my wristwatch while getting my two suitcases out from the rear end of the car.

7:30 p.m.

And my phone finally found the signal.

"I'm waiting by the Royo Special dumpling stall," I told Nenna on the call. She had already been waiting at the cab stop for the last half an hour, and she found me within five minutes of our call.

"Tisha," she wrapped me in a cozy bear hug, "I have missed you– would be an understatement."

"Same here," I patted her back while reclining my shoulders to get to hers.

Nenna, in her white sweater top, briefly tucked, her light blue, Mom jeans, a cute pair of white boots, and a black woolen scarf around her neck, looked delightful. At around four feet six to seven inches, and considering how she was petite and had a small and adorable face, one could mistake her for a couple of years younger than her actual age of twenty-two. Having a super sweet and high-pitched voice on top of everything was an added reason, too.

"You look taller than last year," she sweetly nudged my arm while walking me to her red car parked by the entrance of the cab stop.

"Really? I'm only five-five."

"Still as tall to me as the Clock tower," she smiled, pointing at the tower across from us with a huge clock ticking away the hours, a gesture to welcome everyone to the town of Royo.

We got in the car, and she took the driver's seat while I sat beside her.

As the car moved through the beautiful but water-soaked town under the starry night sky, I looked out, feeling my heart sink and my belly grumble.

"You are hungry," Nenna pointed. "Don't worry, I've got dinner ready."

"No, it's just that– " I kind of fell short of words, and the silence engulfed me.

She probably comprehended my uneasiness and patted my chin with one of her hands while holding the steering with the other.

"I get it. The journey must have been so harsh on you, and you're traveling alone," Nenna noted. "Not to forget what you're going through inside. You didn't deserve all this drama."

I quietly agreed. My body was aching so much, and my back was dying from having to sit in the cab for so long. I was starving. Because of the bad situation of the roads and the extreme delay, our cab didn't even stop for three hours straight, and my bladder was crying to pee, but I waited and finally used the washroom after getting into the town.

"He will be here, right?" A tiny cry left my mouth. "I'm here to apologize. I've got to make things right, and I only have this winter break."

"He's not here tonight, as I told you. He has gone trekking but will be back. In two days, fingers crossed."

I looked out of the window again and observed that there were fewer people on the streets because of the rainy weather. The town had changed. There were more stores and malls now, and there were more lights everywhere too, but it still somehow appeared more gloomy to me than last year.

"Never come here ever again." Words from a year back, from last December echoed in my ears as I scooched to the farthest edge of the speeding car.

Last December, by this time on this day, we were already here, enjoying our winter break.

Vicky, Shyla, Monnie, and I– on our winter break to the ethereal hill station of Royo, to spend a whole month here on Vicky's family-owned resort in a town she had spent her first seventeen years in, before moving to the city.

I was so happy to be here for the first time. I had grown up desiring to travel to the hills and to see snow since my family never let me take a trip before. I was happy to be here with my best friends, and when I met Kei, I was happier.

He was the perfect guy for me. Before him, I thought 'perfect' was a dysfunctional word. But not after meeting him.

We built the best memories in this town, in these hills that cover Royo from all sides, and I believed we had a perfect chance to have a perfect love story.

Maybe it was my obsession with perfection that things soured like it was all a fever dream.

"I think I'm in love with him," I said the last few words before our car came to a halt. "Maybe that's why I wanna convince him so bad."

"I don't doubt," she wrapped me in a hug. "I'll be there with you on this mission, now Cheer up, Queen."

"Queen?" I softly laughed. "Okay, I'm on it. Mission Kei, what's say?"

"Mission Kei!" Nenna cheered.