Disclaimer: Sunrise

Sitting in front of his bathroom door, Alex buried his face deep into his hands, prompting them onto his knees.

"Shit, shit shit shit! Why the heck did I do that?" Was the strings of swears he repeated in his head over and over.

Never, ever get drunk again.

But no matter how much of that mantra he played over and over in his head, the mortification just wouldn't leave him. How could you just spit out water to a stranger's face?

But she was the one at fault! What were you supposed to do to someone who stopped at your door unexpectedly, and suddenly said 'we are gonna get married!'?

'Oh yeah, sure. Let's go to the city office right now to get the paper, get the marriage registered, then we'll live happily ever after, I'm sure.'

Yeah, right.

Alex somehow knew he might find the reason if he checked his phone, but somehow he was still afraid of what he might find there.

Suddenly he heard the sound of the door being opened, but before he could react, someone walked straight into his back, making him loose his balance. And it left a stinging pain there.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Alex heard a response from behind him after he let out a pained grunt. Putting his hand on his back to relieve the sore spot, Alex stood and turned around, to see the blonde woman standing in front of him, with a clear guilty expression on her face; her two hands were right in front of her mouth. Dang, her knee felt like it was made of steel, he thought.

"Nah, it was my fault for sitting there. Shall we go to another room, so we can… sort… whatever it is…?" Alex put one hand-palm side up-to stop her from apologizing. When she just nodded at him, he walked to the living room and gestured to her to sit at the long coach, while he took the other smaller one.

Still massaging his back, he watched her walking slowly and hesitantly sat at the couch. He racked his brain to decide what to ask first. He had decided to invite her inside since he felt bad for so rudely sprouting water straight into her face. But now he didn't know what to do with her.

And so, he tried with the simplest question. "So… what's your name again?"

"Cagalli Yula Athha."

"And… why did you say that we're gonna… get married…?" The words, even the concept of him marrying someone sounded like a foreign thing to him. He hadn't given it any serious thought yet, but he had been hoping to marry Lacus, before she announced her own marriage.

"Because you said so, last night, in your chat."

"What chat?" he sounded alerted.

"We talked last night, via the dating app," the woman said and held out her phone.

Alex bowed down, prompting his elbows on his legs. He just knew it; that was the source of this disaster. "Do I even want to know?"

"You mean, you don't remember anything at all? From our chat last night?"

"Sorry, but actually last night, I was drunk, drunk hard, and that chat was… clearly I wasn't sober, so it wasn't my true intentions… so, I can't marry you." He said slowly as he watched her face fall down with each word.

Assessing her appearance, Alex thought that she might be around his age. Other than her blonde hair and golden eyes that he had noticed earlier, she had a slightly sun-kissed skin, compared to his fair skin. Her height too, wasn't that much different from him, just a few inches shorter.

"But why do you want to marry in the first place, though? Through a dating app, no less? Have you ever thought that it might be dangerous? What if you end up with a psycho or a scammer or…" Alex's voice trailed off as her face grew paler at his words.

Her reaction confused him at first, but as soon as he recalled what he said, something clicked on his head. "Were you trying to scam me into a marriage…?"

"No, it's not like that!" The woman—Cagalli—answered panickly as she was almost on her feet. "I'm not scamming, and I don't intend to lie to you about anything. I told you everything in the chat. You agree with all my current conditions, so that's why I chose you and agreed to come here. Please don't report me to the authorities!" She bowed deep at him after her hurried explanation.

Authorities?

Ah, yes she was trying to scam him, so she might be thinking that Alex would report her so she wouldn't do any scamming again.

But there were still many things he didn't remember, so Alex tried to open the app he was dreading, and looked at the chat history, preparing himself for what he might send to her in the chat.

Looking at her profile picture, Alex wasn't sure why he chose this woman. She wasn't his type at all. He was more into an elegant woman like Lacus Cl—okay stop right there, he thought. She's a wife now, another man's wife, Alex added bitterly.

And when he saw the earlier history of their chat, he paled.

-My heart hurts so much I wish for you to heal it :'((((((

-Can you come over? I don't wanna be alone tonight, thinking about her. I only have my Romane Conti with me and it wasn't nearly enough.

-I need someone to hug me and kiss my pain away.

Who the heck wrote all that? And what was with those emoticons?

Alex groaned loudly; he wanted to bury himself in a hole. How could he seek consolation to a stranger about his broken heart just like that? He was practically sobbing his story to her, Cagalli, that it was the wedding night of his crush, and he was so shattered he needed someone to fix his broken heart.

That's it. He's not going to drink alcohol ever again.

Scrolling down, he found that after his confession, Cagalli began to explain about her situation, which was…

"You are a refugee…?" Alex looked up to see her face.

"Yes… From Orb…" Cagalli said in a low voice.

Well that explains her appearance, Alex though, and also her being here, in Plant.

Orb was a country near Solomon Island, around the equator; quite far away from Plants which was in a rather cold area. Plant was a bit lacking in natural resources, but the technology was pretty advanced, their education was one of the best, a country where people set their eyes off of when they were thinking about studying abroad or pursuing careers. People from many other countries could be seen anywhere in Plants, be it for study, work, or just for sightseeing.

On the other hand, Orb was a country much richer—resource-wise—than Plant, but a few years back, the country was a famous topic on the news for the civil war between the ruling government and the separatism group that made the country fall into chaos. After that, many civilian refugees seek help from many different countries. Seemed like Cagalli was one of them, and she ended up here in Plant.

"Were you involved in the civil war?" Alex asked out of sympathy, and also a little bit of curiosity.

Cagalli didn't answer immediately. Instead, her face fell down and with a forlorn voice she finally replied, "I don't have anyone else there… And I don't want to go back to that place… I want freedom and a new life, and being there just tied me to the past I want to forget.

Alex couldn't say anything in reply to that since he didn't know one thing about a war.

But he at least knew about being in a place where you had to do things to stay alive.

For a few seconds, his eyes glazed as his mind flew years back, a grimace on his face. But before he was completely taken by the memory, Cagalli opened her mouth again, begging him. "I know I might be asking for too much, but I just want permanent residence status so I can stay here permanently. If I'm bothering you too much, then we don't have to stay together like a married couple, just in paper. I'll stay away from you, you can have your freedom, and after I get the green card, we can have a divorce."

"Now, Miss, let's calm down a little bit. Do you really think that is an easy task to do? The immigration, firstly, would be suspicious of us and would do some kind of background check, I'm almost sure. Second, they would surely check on you from time to time, to make sure what we do is not fraudulent marriage. And that right there—is exactly why we can't marry. This… thing you proposed could be considered a crime, and if we were to be found out, not only I'm... going to jail," he paused there, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "But you, you'll get no second chance and would be immediately deported back to Orb, and maybe you can't go anywhere else for a while because of that. There is too much to risk, be it on your side or even my own."

Seeing her forlorn face with each of his words, Alex felt a little bit sympathy for her. The war must have taken a toll on everyone involved, be it for soldiers, or the civilians. He didn't know what her experience with war was; maybe her family was killed in the war. But … whatever he could do to help her?

"Maybe I can do something for you, like be your sponsor so you can get your permanent status by other legal means, but I'm sorry I can't marry you, Miss."

Cagalli was contemplating on how she should respond, what he said was right. Her being here was risky enough, and a green card via marriage was surely the fastest way, but, like he said—she should be considering what the immigration officers and judges would think of her when she applied for the permanent residence. It was not like she was in a hurry—her refugee visa would still be valid for more than half a year—but she thought that the sooner she got her green card, the safer she would be, and her place in Plant would be more secure.

Anything, as long as she didn't have to go back to Orb.

But as Cagalli repeated the words Alex had said, she sighed. She knew she wouldn't be as lucky as her fellow refugee friend who got her permanent status already via marriage, and that was actually where she got the idea. She even used the same measures as her, fishing for willing men through dating apps. Though her friend offered more with the marriage, Cagalli couldn't do that, so she decided to be open about her situation.

At least, the one she met wasn't a psycho or a criminal.

Looking up, Cagalli saw him walking to her with a piece of paper in hand. "Here, you can contact me anytime. Just promise me to not do anything reckless like this again," Alex said.

Slowly, Cagalli reached out to the hand and took the paper; inside, she could see the phone number he wrote.

"Why are you doing this?" She looked up to see his face, "I mean… you… don't exactly have any responsibility over me. I admit that was reckless of me for choosing a random person on a dating app. But you could have just sent me away after hearing my story..."

"Well… I've actually been in a difficult situation myself… So I can kinda relate to you, even though it was nothing to compare with being in a conflicted warzone. It must be a thousand times scarier for you. And I feel bad for making you come all the way here," Alex said. He did mention at the chat for her to come here the next day—which was today—and assumed she took it seriously seeing at the large bag she had with her. "Where are you from?"

"I'm currently living in November City," she said sheepishly. Alex grimaced again, remembering his hometown, in the next city after that.

And then something came to his mind. "You came all the way here from November City?" as they were currently in his house in Junius City.

"Because you said—"

"Okay, I get it!" Alex stopped her, remembering his insistence for her to come all the way here. He heaved a deep sigh, and turned to the lady. "Once again, I apologized for all the things I've said in the chat. But no, I don't mean any of those words that I wrote last night. I'm sorry for the inconvenience I've caused you. If you'll let me, I'll take you home now."

It was not like he wanted to shove her away, but to him, they had nothing more to say, he was devastated enough by his own actions, and her being here was not helping at all.

And Cagalli too, could see that there were no more things to explain, and it was best for them to just forget and say goodbye. "I understand. But you don't have to send me home, it's so far away and you have no—"

"No, it's all my fault you end up here with nothing to accomplish, moreover with the thing I did to you at the entrance... The least I can do is take you back home. How long did it take you, two hours?" he asked as he walked away to his drawer and pulled something to tie up his dark hair into a simple low ponytail, his usual hairdo.

"Well, close," Cagalli replied. "Is it really okay? I don't mind going back with the train again. It's a Sunday, don't you have any plans with your friends?"

"Nah, I already went all out yesterday. I just want to rest today," as if on cue, he let out a big yawn while looking for his car key.

"All the more reasons you should just stay here. I can go back on my own," Cagalli pushed herself with her hand to get up slowly, and walked toward him.

"Just let me make it up to you, okay?"

"This is so unnecessary," Cagalli complained as Alex put the tray on her table.

"Like I said, just deal with it," he replied as he put his own tray and sat across her. "It's paid already. Are you gonna waste the food or dig it in?"

Still pouting, Cagalli halfheartedly muttered a thanks, took the coffee on her tray, sipping it after she mixed in one small pack of milk. Seeing that Cagalli wouldn't be that difficult, Alex followed suit, adding two milk and four sugars into it. When he saw Cagalli raised one brow at that, he only muttered, "Don't ask."

Now, they were sitting in the outer side of a café in November city that served breakfast, and having a late one since it was almost ten, after Alex insisted since he hadn't had anything this morning other than a few glasses of water. Cagalli declined, of course, since he had done more than enough for her by giving her a lift. But Alex persuaded her by telling that if he was alone, his mind would go back to thinking about Lacus and he needed distraction. Cagalli, having heard most of the story of him with Lacus from their chat last night, could only nod in defeat. She hadn't thought anything when Alex casually asked what she would be having, but when she stood behind him as he ordered the two exact same things of what she mentioned, she flipped out. But all he said was "Don't make a scene and just accept."

"Why did you order the exact same thing as me for yourself?" Cagalli asked as she put butter on her plain croissant.

"It's faster," Alex replied shortly, but Cagalli could see him staring at the plain bread after he took a bite, as if he wished there was more inside. Maybe he was more used to sandwiches. She sighed; he should've ordered that, Cagalli thought.

"Do you have any work today?"

"I have a night shift at the convenience store tonight," Cagalli answered.

Along the ride from Alex's house to November city, they played twenty questions at Cagalli's request. She said if Alex was really willing to be her sponsor, Cagalli must know about him so the immigrations staff wouldn't be suspicious. If she didn't know anything about him, they might accuse her of scamming him and paid him to be her sponsor, something that came up as the result of their conversation this morning. And now, they practically knew the basics about each other.

Cagalli now knew Alex had been working at a food chain company Shiranui Inc as a marketing staff for three years, and that he was 26 years old. The company was where he first met Lacus, became a partner, and fell head over heels for her. He also talked about a few of his friends, Miriallia and Tolle, from the accounting department, and that he had been living by himself since college. Oddly, he avoided talking about any family members.

And likewise, Alex now knew about her staying in November city and her balancing between three workplaces, a bed-maker at a hotel, clerking at the convenience store, and cleaning at the local library. Well, she wouldn't get much job offer with her current visa. She only went to high school and no further education than that. Other than those facts, she seemed reluctant to open up about her times at Orb, and mostly talked about her times after her arrival to Plant. Oh, and she was only a year younger than him.

Just as Alex was about to take a bite of his second croissant, he heard the voice that—as for now—was the least one he would like to hear.

"Alex, is that you?"

I'm using US words 'green card' for the permanent residence status. Hope it was okay tho.

Are you still with me? I hope I'm not letting you down with this one.

See you next chapter,

Cheers