I opened my eyes and my blue ceiling greeted me. I was lying in bed, meaning the reset happened. This was a brand new day.

I edged off the bed and swung my legs out. I stuck my feet inside the slippers we use at home and trudged to the door. I liked keeping the door to my room closed at all times to drive away any children's noise from outside.

Just like everyday, the moment I opened the door, Mindy's face swept into my field of vision.

"Rom, have you seen Mr. Duddles?" she asked, like she does every morning. I sighed. He's in the washer as Mom stole it from Mindy when the girl was sleeping. Mindy hated seeing Mr. Duddles spinning in the washer so every morning, I skirt around Mindy's hawk gaze to retrieve her favorite toy without her knowing that it has been in the washer.

I smoothed Mindy's bad case of bedhead. "I'll look for him, okay?" I said. "Go and get ready for school."

Mindy nodded with an enthusiasm fit for a child and bounded off in the hallway, tackling the stairs one step at a time. I sighed. Perhaps I should follow her down. She might fall.

I paused. Wait, Mindy didn't fall down from the stairs, ever. If this was a repeat of yesterday, then I needn't worry. Mindy was good. I could just...look for Mr. Duddles now.

I grinned to myself as I took the opposite direction Mindy had gone. I tackled the stairs leading to the back part of the house where the laundry, the kitchen, and the dining room were located. That's the quickest route to Mr. Duddles.

I was almost to the last step when Chris zipped in my view to yank the fridge doors open. On a normal day, I wouldn't see him doing this because I was accompanying Mindy down the other stairs. I watched as Chris fished out a carton of ice cream I left for myself to eat. I always wondered where my ice cream disappeared to.

Ha, caught you, thief.

"Hey, no ice cream before breakfast," I said, tackling the last of the steps and crossing the space between Chris and I in two short strides. I plucked the carton from his grip while he's looking at me like I just grew horns.

"Rom! I wasn't—"

"Save it, young man," I chided, even though I, myself, was still a young man. "Prepare the table while I cook breakfast."

Chris deflated like a balloon.

"Where's Fisher?" I asked, noting that Chris was always the one wearing the green dinosaur pajamas and Fisher will wear a Monster Parade band t-shirt to school.

Chris shrugged. "Hoarding the hot water to himself," he muttered. "Can you tell him to hurry it up? We're going to be late."

I returned Chris' gesture back to him. "I still have to fix up your breakfasts and your lunches," I said. "Can you take care of Mindy for me?"

"Yeah, sure," Chris said, casting one last doleful look at the fridge.

I watched his green-dinosaur-clad body disappear to the living room to meet Mindy going down the stairs.

If remembering has its perks, it's this. Somehow, I've become calmer every day when I realized that this day was just going to happen over and over again. The fact that I know everything that happens in this house by the second proves that I could take it easy. It's a normal day for us. Nothing could be wrong.

After fixing up the kids and sending them off to their schools, I was thinking of going back to school since I haven't been in there for a while with me spending every minute I could with Jule.

I turned the stove on, relishing the smell of the gas that escaped. I prepped the materials like a professional chef. The oil sizzled as I dropped the first strips of bacon into the pan.

My thoughts wandered off to Jule again. After what happened yesterday, I don't think that she's going to talk to me for quite a while.

I admit that had been too harsh of me to say that. I knew I'd hurt her but just the thought of her ditching me just to achieve her dreams still sent my gut churning.

It's not that I hate her, no. It just made me think that everything I did, every moment I spent with her had been a waste. She still wanted to chase her dream and somehow she couldn't do it while having what we have. She even thinks everything we've done was a mistake she needed to shed like snakeskin. It felt unfair and wicked. I couldn't imagine Jule, a person so selfless and bright, have motives like that.

I'm not a good person.

Her voice leaped back to my thoughts. I refused to believe her then. I'm not so sure about it now.

Still, I couldn't forget how Jule looked like she wanted to say something more. It's like she wanted to reach out but I drew back because I was hurt. Am I wrong back then? Should I go back and apologize? I feel like I should.

Perhaps I should hear what Jule wanted to explain to me.

I scooped the fried bacon strips into a separate plate and set it gingerly on the center of the table. Fisher had come out of the bathroom wearing, yep, his Monster Parade band shirt. He was drying his hair with his towel.

"Fisher, go back in there," I said. "You'll get your hair all over the living room. Was Chris already inside?"

Fisher shrugged. "He's in a hurry," he said.

I sighed. I remember being annoyed at my brother for plopping onto the couch while drying his hair. I used to think that I would have to spend after school hours vacuuming the hell out of the carpet. But now, I know that the hair Fisher litter everywhere would fly back to his head as soon as the reset happens and that the same ones would fall the next day.

I saw it all happen before. It made me understand why Jule was so grumpy all the time. There's simply nothing new in our lives.

Well, except for each other.

Every morning, I'll admit that I looked forward to our conversations and I often try to anticipate what we'll talk about. It always amused me how I was wrong every time. I couldn't help but wonder if Jule's thinking about those things as well.

Does she wonder what tomorrow would look like with me or did she imagine it only for herself? It's a question I was scared to ask because I always felt that her answer was going to be the one without me in it.

When she confessed her motives, that's when I realized that I was nothing but an instrument, a bridge between her and her dreams.

Am I supposed to swallow all that and pretend like everything we did was as real as I thought they were?

I blew a breath, setting up the table with Chris didn't bother doing. I raised my voice and called their names. Chris, accompanied by a newly bathed Mindy, strolled into the dining room. Fisher came in soon after.

Like what's been happening every day.

The children took their seats while I strode to the fridge to get the bread out. These children loved bread so much they started fighting for the last piece, every damned morning. The fight would take up about thirty minutes of screaming and hair pulling that I have to break up else they would crash against the table and make a bigger mess.

I set the pack of bread in front of them, frowning at the fact that Dad ate half of the loaf by himself before leaving for work.

I watch the children eat—Mindy with oil dribbling down her wrists for grasping the bacon with her hands, and Chris and Fisher almost eating the same way except for how Fisher spreads butter on his bread even though it's a solid block straight from the fridge.

"You're not eating, Rom?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

I shook my head. "No, I'm good," I said. "I'll eat on the way to school."

"You sure?" Chris prodded.

I smiled at him before winking. "Yeah, I am," I said. "Eat up."

And they did. Thirty minutes went by uneventfully. Soon, the three of them stood up simultaneously, heading straight to the sink to wash their oily hands. Chris helped Mindy up the sink as she let the water rinse her hands clean. Fisher waited idly, his foot tapping lightly against the tiles.

I looked back at the table and took note that they left all but one slice of bread. Yay, I guess?

I cleared the plates and went to the backdoor to dump it in the sink. I'd do it as soon as I got back from school and picked Mindy up, I thought.

I shrugged. The day will reset and along with it the dirt on the plates, so eh.

Soon we're all ready to go out of the house with me taking the quickest bath in the history of mankind. I passed Chris and Fisher their lunches and I tucked Mindy's in her school bag. I glanced at my watch. Good, still enough time to walk relaxed.

I saw Chris and Fisher out the door while Mindy and I took the opposite road.

I dreaded dropping Mindy off to school, knowing that I'll pass by the street where Jule's house was. Everything reminded me of yesterday.

I don't want to remember yesterday.

I dug my hand on my jeans pocket, keeping the other tightly on Mindy's hand. I walked fast enough that Mindy had to jog to catch up. She didn't complain, though.

Instead, I stopped to let her catch up. She looked up at me with her big, brown eyes.

"Are you alright, Rom?" Mindy asked, panting.

Oh. Is it that obvious? Mindy never asked me that question before.

I picked her up from the ground and held her close to me. She was still not heavy enough to give me a back sprain from carrying her all the way to the Primary School so I could do it.

"Rom's okay," I said, walking so fast I barely registered the houses we passed. "Why would you think that I'm not okay?"

Mindy played with the string of my hood. "You didn't eat bread at breakfast," she said, pouting. "You like bread."

I chuckled, ignoring the fact that one slice of bread wasn't enough breakfast from me. "It's alright. You, Chris, and Fisher come first," I said. "I'll get breakfast at school."

Mindy pursed her lips. "You promise?" she said.

I smiled. "I promise."

"Say it one more time," Mindy said, sticking her lower lip out.

I kissed her cheek and looked at her eyes. "I promise to get breakfast at school," I said. "Happy?"

Mindy nodded and I set her down. The Primary School loomed ahead of us, students wearing uniforms like Mindy's skipped and walked. Some boarded yellow buses. Teachers dressed in blue uniforms paraded at the gate, welcoming children inside. Parents waved at their children from the fence.

I took a deep breath and trudged past the gate. I braved the stares that I got from walking inside the premise but I pressed on. I know she would fall down if I let her fall in line with the other kids. I just shrug and say that Mindy's not feeling well today and the teachers believe it like crazy.

Once I was content to see Mindy inside her room, I waved goodbye and began the long trek to school with my stomach growling. I reached the Campus at around 9:00, thirty minutes earlier than first period. Jule's still not here, good.

I strode through the gravelly path, pushed the emergency doors open, and headed straight for the cafeteria. They serve scones there and I think I could live with that. Jule will come through the door at exactly fifteen minutes later, doing her weird dance of avoiding people.

I think we first met in this corridor when I accidentally bumped into her on my way from the cafeteria to my classroom, which was the first room from the emergency doors.

If I think about that right now, I feel a sense of awe. Just because I began choosing to not eat bread with my siblings just so that they wouldn't get into a fight so early in the morning, I ended up meeting a friend and my whole world changed.

Completely.

Did it start with me? I don't think so.

I shoved the last of the scone into my mouth, glancing at my watch. Great, Jule would come any time now.

I bumped into her. That never happened for such a long time.

"Oh, sorry," Jule said, her voice small and unsure. "I didn't see you there."

"Jule," I blurted. Already I could see that something's wrong.

She looked up at me, her eyes full of questions and confusion. "How do you know my name?"

I took a step back, my gut feeling like it was just punched. This couldn't be happening. How...?

"Is this some sort of game you're playing?" I asked. "Stop it. You're scaring me."

Jule knitted her eyebrows. "What game?" she said. "And who are you?"