It was thrilling moving to a new city. Not because it signalled wealth and sparked jealousy in anyone back home, but because it was a brand new start. Whatever problems came with the familiarity of home would automatically be put on hold for the time being. For Kiara, Los Angeles was an escape from the toxic group of friends she had back home and a respite from constantly bumping into her ex boyfriend in the tiny space that was Singapore.

As she stared out of the entrance of Verve right by Melrose, Kiara could finally breathe again. She was nestled into a little nook of the semi-outdoor cafe, surrounded by little pillows with coffee stains. Her knees were pulled up towards her chest, making a little makeshift table for her laptop. There was no fear of running into somebody she knew, only the excitement of meeting someone entirely new.

The girl across her had arrived shortly after she did, but had kept her head buried in her books and her ears under heavy headphones. Kiara thought she would have made an interesting first friend, letting herself fantasise about going shopping with her. But that daydream slowly slipped away when Kiara witnessed that same beautiful girl biting on the back of her pen. Then, the girl began biting on her nails, and Kiara's dream turned into a nightmare.

Ew. She had thought to herself. There was nothing more unhygienic and unsightly than peeling off the tip of your nails with your teeth. When she was 10, Kiara had sat beside a girl in class who spent majority of the day doing exactly that. Needless to say, Kiara would always find a stray crooked fingernail on her own table. She brushed anyone who committed that crime the same way she brushed those nails off her table - with a shudder.

Who needs a new friend anyway?

Kiara returned back to her laptop, scrolling through her brand new blog. She loved writing and journalling, enjoying the process of expressing her thoughts into written form. Growing up, she had kept the habit of writing in her diary until she realised her mom was reading anything. No, she never physically caught her mom reading the diary. It was even worse: she found the comments her mom left in red after reading her daily entries.

Hence, Kiara migrated her writing online, with the knowledge that her mom was terrible with the computer. Kiara would fill up her Tumblr with quotes, excerpts, and photos she liked. Yet, as more and more people caught wind of her blog and she gained a more active following, Kiara carried out the same protocol. She would shut down her old blog, hiding it deep within her archives, before setting up a brand new one.

Doing so kept her free, free from accountability to her own words, thoughts and feelings.

That's exactly how Kiara was as a person. While most people choose to face their issues head on in hopes of moving forward or growing from the adversity, Kiara was perfectly fine leaving her troubles stuck in time. Out of sight, out of mind. Moving to Los Angeles was exactly that for her, and she would only worry about the problems she left behind when she was on the plane back to Singapore.

Instead, she channelled all her energy into this brand new start. She had the opportunity to start from scratch all over again. The first aspect she was looking forward to tackling was her bedroom. Because for the very first time, she was the sole interior designer. Back home, it was Mrs Lee who determined the shade of her walls, the type of furniture and the layout of the room. Even at college, her parents had mostly controlled their purchases and influenced Kiara's decisions. Now, it was finally Kiara's turn to decide for herself.

She had spent her time documenting little anonymous anecdotes about her time in Los Angeles, but she had also curated photos of dream bedrooms from other users. Being mindful of the layout in her room, Kiara had started doing a little interior design sketch to elevate it. Of course, she knew exactly where everything was coming from. She opened a new tab on her web browser and pulled up Bed, Bath and Beyond.

The first time Kiara had heard of a Bed, Bath and Beyond, it was watching Click with her family and watching the male lead stumble into the Beyond and finding a magical remote control that helped him edit his life. As a child, you fall for the make belief that when you finally reach America, you would be able to seize the same opportunity for yourself.

Yet, the first time Kiara had been to a Bed, Bath and Beyond, she realised it was far from magical. As a freshman with one of those BBB shopping lists the school put out, Kiara and her parents had a ball of a time picking out things. One of her favourite buys was a massive comforter that would also prove to be a great buy in the winters to come. However, this online visit to Bed, Bath and Beyond had become an absolute nightmare.

Every single thing that Kiara needed or just really wanted was out of her reach. She had decided on a white and grey theme for her room, but everything white and grey here was pricey. Californians sure love their basics. The book shelf she wanted was not only beyond her budget but also had to be built by professionals. The study table she needed was cheaper in black than in white, but it would throw her entire room ambience off. With a limited allowance, Kiara made the executive decision to pool all her money together to get a luxurious bed.

Remembering the comfort her duck feather duvet brought her, Kiara splurged on a full size one, knowing that she never slept on the sides. Even though Los Angeles was far from the chilly winters of Providence, PTSD forced her hand on securing a thick wool UGG comforter and bed sheets. She even opted for the grey one instead of the red, paying a premium of 30% just for colour. What would her mom say?

Once that was settled, she spent a long time in the pillow section. Now she was faced with a new dilemma: should she get one pillow or a pair? There were a few factors she was considering. First, and the most pressing issue, was her mom's tales about ghosts in hotels. According to Mrs Lee, ghosts would occupy any space you leave for them, whether it was an empty chair or the unoccupied pillow beside you. This had led Kiara to breed the habit of always putting her spare pillow down on the floor, and it made her wonder now if $69.99 was worth it for the floor's comfort. Second, she considered that having an extra pillow would be nice as additional back support when she decided to have a night in reading a book or watching Netflix. But if the second pillow was for this very purpose, then a cheaper one should do. As her eyes wandered to the cheaper segment of the floor, a new consideration popped into her head.

What if someone slept over?

It is often said that women overthink things. In comparison to men, who mainly think about their immediate future (What should I have for lunch? Should I watch the Patriots game or the Lakers game?), women focus on the very very distant future. All women deal with this issue, not just fresh grad unemployed women with time on their hands. According to Sheryl Sandberg in 'Lean In', professional women overthink to the extent that they leave before they really leave their jobs. So this was a perfectly natural consideration for Kiara.

If she got an extra pillow now, when she found a partner, he could sleep comfortably when he happened to stay over. But if she did not get one, perhaps they would enjoy going to pick a pillow out together! What an experience that would be... although, it might send the wrong signals if neither of them were ready for a relationship. Ugh! What if she got a pillow and he didn't like it for some reason? Maybe he would prefer a firmer pillow.

Her mind kicked into overdrive and she was paralysed in the middle of online Disneyland for professional working adults with actual money. She would get everything else from Target.