Z woke up at noon. It felt like he's been sleeping for ages. He was feeling refreshed.
He didn't guilt trip him anymore about him not being able to follow his routine for some reason. He enjoyed the freshness and decided to do things his own way today. This didn't mean he'd slack off today, he would do at least a bare minimum of every routine today as well, to not lose his streak.
Z started the day by reading the manga of Kintetsu Yamada. The shorter one to be exact. It was his favorite and didn't need that much time to complete it. It was a good source of dopamine for him.
He read the chapters one by one, until he reached the end. The way the characters posed and their adult interactions made him yearn for a partner whom he could wibe with as well.
But, Z knew that his twenties were not the time to do this, if he were to reach at his peak on his thirties. Z felt joy after reading his favorite manga, and now was ready to start his day at noon.
His mom didn't wake him up today for some reason, and when he went to look for her in the kitchen, she had already made the lunch for him.
"Good Morning Sunshine! Took your time today huh...Well, go get freshen up and have lunch." Sati said with a smile.
"K" replied Z and went straight to bathroom.
He was contemplating whether to take his phone with him in the bathroom, but decided against it, as he was trying to reduce his screen time for a significant percentage this time around.
After freshening up, he took the bath before having the lunch. He shouted from the living room,
"Maa! Food!"
He sat at the table waiting for his dear mother to bring food in front of him as he turned on his television. Few moments later his mother, his mother brought his lunch in front of him and it smelled damn delicious. It was a simple Indian food, but it was his favorite one. In front of him was,
"Dal-Bhaat-Aalu Ka Bhujiya along with a mango pickle and curd."
He got salivated like that dog from that story of the dog and the bell experiment.He felt joy. And he ate the warm lunch with delicacy. He was a fast eater, so it didn't take him much time to eat his lunch.
**
After having his lunch, Z went to his room and lay down on his bed as he looked at the time. It was already 14:00, his dip hour was at it's peak. So he decided to lay down for an hour, and put a timer for that.
And Z started reading another web novel. He found about this web novel from the notification about it's manhwa adaptation. He was intrigued by the fact that so many people were hyped about the manhwas adaptation. And when he researched about it a bit more, he found out that the fan following for this one was crazy. He decided to not read the manhwa version and looked up the web novel. And decided to give it a try.
The web novel was Lotm. (EDITOR SAN, TAKE CARE OF ANY LEGAL STUFF THAT MAY ARISE DUE TO THE PETTINESS OF THE REAL MASTERS HERE.)
He realized that he would get really overwhelmed if he binged read it, so he decided to show up everyday and ready at max five chapters and at least one chapter. He realized that he could train his consistency by maintaining a streak without breaking any rules till he finished reading the web novel. And damn. He was right lol. Z felt glad that he made realistic decisions. Half an hour flew by, in the blink of an eye. and Z felt tired. He reset his timer to a half hour nap time, and took a nap, dreaming of getting a girlfriend one day.
****
Z woke up and his body felt strangely heavy. Did he sleep in a wrong position or something?
Well, anyways.. Z looked at the time.
"19:00". The clock in his room showed.
"What?"
Z was shocked by the fact that he slept in for nearly 5 hours. He regretted it, a bit, and decided to never sleep on afternoon unless absolutely necessary. Z quickly opened his AI and asked Cael about his routine of the day, He decided to do at least a 5 minute session of each thing, even though he may not be able to complete them today.
***
Time flew by, and it was dinner time before he realized it. He stopped everything he'd been doing as he now had barely been successful in maintaining his momentum. He took a break and awaited his mother's call for dinner.
On exact 21:00, Sati called.
"Dinner is ready, both of you."
Both father and son went to living room and started watching TV. Shiva was already watching the news, and Z causally sat on the sofa and Started watching the news too. After a moments later, Sati came with Shiva's share of food in her hand. and told Z that his food was ready, and to go pick it up from the kitchen.
Shiva casually began eating as Z went up to bring back his food, and sat near the dining table and ate. Sati just sat in the sofa watching the TV, waiting for them to eat their dinner.
After a while, both finished at almost the same time, Shiva a bit earlier to be exact and Z sooner after him. Sati stood up and took both of their plates and went back to kitchen to do the cleaning.
Both went up to the basin to wash their hands respectively and then gradually ended up in their rooms, leaving the TV on...just like that. After a while, Sati came to the living room, with her own dinner and sat at the place where Shiva sat earlier, It was a perfect place to have food, right in front of the tv.
She switched the news and opened an Indian Serial. Recently, she was invested in this particular serial. It aired one episode a day with a duration of about 30 mins. Today was the time for the 1406th episode. It aired at 21:30. and the time was just right. She watched the serial as she dined.
****
It was now time for Z to sleep, so he took out his phone and wrote his journal.
" Today was oddly good. It was normal. I messed up here and there, but have no big regrets. Mom made my fav food today, and damn, it was great. it was the literal definition of joy.
I won't ponder over today that much. It was fun, for some reason. I'll end it with just this today. Dear Me from tomorrow, You must wake up during the golden hour, or I'm seriously gonna mess you up. Good night, Cael."
He had a journal app, and he had named it Cael. The same name given to his AI chatbot. It was 22:00 now, but he wasn't able to sleep that much. He knew he shouldn't sleep at noon now. He took out his phone, connected the Bluetooth with the earbuds, and played binaural beats for sleeping with a timer in it to stop.He laid still for sometime and focused on his breath.
And, at 22: 12, He slept.
****
Alarm rings*
Z woke up, and saw that it's 4:30. He sighed and sat down for 10 minutes doing nothing. After that, he moved from his bed, and cleaned his bed first, then splashed some water on his face and sat down on his chair in front of his study table.
"Yawn!!!"
Z yawned, still trying to remember the dream he had last night, which he can barely remember anymore. All he remember is that, he felt nice, a bit tired, but nice.
After sitting idol for around 5 minutes more, Z took out his phone from the bed, and asked Cael about today's plan. Even though he knew it word to word now, he still preferred to use the AI as he was too lazy to use his brain at this time.
Cael showed him his routine and he started preparing himself for the meditation. That's how, our protagonist(?), came back to his old routine after a break of one day.
***
Altzar, who was sitting beside the author, in a chair, both legs on the chair, totally invested in the screen as the author was writing the new chapter after a break of 8 days, smiled.
"This chapter ain't half bad." said Altzar.
Author: "Yeah? Thank goodness. Well, as long as I can maintain my consistency with it, It's all good. I'll leave the missing points to the future me who's gonna refine this. My sole job is to bring one chapter per week, and I was this close to procrastinating again."
Altzar: I feel ya dude. Well, as long as you didn't delay it that longer.
Author : Yeah! Won't say anything to defend my delay though, Everything I say, would likely be an excuse coming from me. So well, all's well the ends well.
Altzar: Wanna eat ice-cream?
Author: I'm broke dude.
Altzar: Who said anything about buying it? You forgot who I am?
(Altzar snaps his fingers and suddenly two types of cone ice-cream appears in front of author. One is Vanilla and the latter is strawberry. The strawberry flew towards Altzar's hands and Vanilla came towards the author.)
Damn! Still can't believe when you do that.
ME: HEY!!!! WHAT ABOUT ME? HEY! I'M HUNGRY TOO YOU KNOW? I'M DOING THIS THE SAME LIKE HIM, Y'KNOW? HEY, ALTZAR... GIVE ME SOME TOO...
Author: Haha, Be envious. I was kind of disappointed when I realized I was just another character in your novel. But, now...who cares. I'm alive for me. and due to you making me a character in your novel, I now have things that weren't realistic before.. Thnx bro.
Altzar: Come on dude. I'm just one of your creation. There's no way I can provide you with Ice cream or anything else.. atlease not yet.
Me: Yet? Damn.. srsly … It means you can????? You can?????? Damn! Damn! Thnx...Damn!!!!1
Altzar: Who know? Maybe it's a possibility, maybe it's your own delusion. But, well, Nothing is impossible in this strange world, right? So, well.. continue with your stuff, and who knows, but some chapter I could? or idk... got it?
Author: Damn Altzar, are you that OP?
Altzar: (Smiles proudly) HmHm.. Who do you think I am? I am the great Altzar. Ofc, I'd be Op.
Me: Guys, the word count is reaching and It's noon and I still haven't had breakfast, so I'll be going then.
Both Author and Altzar: K! See ya next week.