Two weeks had passed since that very emotional night, and everything had gone back to normal. They had not mentioned it again, except once, when Karim encouraged him to go seek another therapist. Ben had also dragged Julian to all sorts of music shows, from concertos to jazz nights, and Julian happily followed along and gladly enjoyed as a music lover. The three of them had always been music fans.

The few times they’d tried to ask him again about it, he would remain evasive. He would claim that the side effects were the reason why he was against pharmaceutical drugs. That was the only answer he’d provided, but they’d gotten the memo: He did not want to discuss it, as he’d rather keep it to himself. He had always been the introvert of the group, and he’d always tried to keep his feelings and emotions as private as possible.

This desire for privacy was another reason why he was not keen on using social media, unlike Ben, who could not spend a minute without looking at his phone and uploading his whereabouts. Karim, as usual, was somewhere in the middle: uploading pictures of himself at the temple, sharing daily inspiring quotes, sharing posts from the vegan community that he was actively a part of . . . but also pictures of him modeling for a vegan clothing brand, which was owned by an acquaintance. The three of them had gotten to model once for the same fashion designer. Ben had loved the experience for the attention, and he’d spent the whole night uploading videos of the event, while Julian had only done it because Karim had asked him to, but he could not have cared less.

“She kept calling and texting me, asking about you . . . I had to mute her notifications,” Karim said as they made their way inside the veterinary clinic located downstairs in their building.

They could hear the noises made by the small colourful birds near the entrance, flying inside a big cage.

“Alika? Come here, Theo.” Julian let his dog in and removed his blue leash.

“Of course her! Apparently, she is back in town, and since she could not get a hold of you, she contacted Ben. They had dinner together and also went clubbing with other model friends,” Karim explained.

They both sat down with the dog between them, happily playing with a plush toy. Theo was a young Labrador retriever whom they had adopted a year ago. He had been the perfect companion for Julian in his moments of loneliness. Taking care of the animal, who had also lost its mom to a car hitting her by accident, had been a true emotional support for him.

“Well . . . who knows, maybe she will fall in love with Ben and finally move on.”

“There’s no chance that will happen. Ben would never date a girl you had first, and she is infatuated with you. By the way, she is cute, so why you—”

“Way too young.”

“She is twenty-three, and you are twenty-seven. Not a big difference.”

“She is young . . . in her head. Way too loud, way too immature, way too excited . . . She lives in this fantasy world where I somehow represent her prince charming. She does not even understand why I wanted to write after I explained it more than twice to her.”

“Really? I heard being a full-time model was difficult.”

“Not when you are surrounded by yes men . . . I don’t consider it working.”

“Are you saying that you are too complex for her?”

“It might sound arrogant on my part, but I guess we’re just . . . not compatible. Don’t get me wrong, I love fashion, I love travelling, but there is more to life than that. Just like how you’ve introduced me to meditation and to not always having to be on the run somewhere. She is like that, always out to meet new people, fake laughing and smiling at strangers . . . She only exists through other people’s eyes . . . She is self-absorbed.” Julian stopped talking, realizing how rude he must have sounded to speak about her in that way. He only sighed, tilting his head back. Just thinking of her had the effect of draining him. He kept quiet.

Karim noticed Julian’s silence and decided to lighten up the mood. “Well, regarding the part about me having a good impact on your life, you are very welcome. I didn’t know I was such an influencer.” Karim grinned at him.

“Don’t let it get to your head.” Julian rolled his eyes.

“But if I didn’t know you that well, I would think that you were not into girls . . . She is hot!”

“Would it be a problem if I weren’t into girls?” He raised an eyebrow.

“That would be perfect for me.” Karim winked at him.

“Stop playing around. You already got a girl. A smart and hot girlfriend,” Julian replied, chuckling.

“A girlfriend who almost punched Alika in the face . . . I have to say, this was the first time I saw her like that. Alika really knows what button to press to get people to snap.”

“God bless your girlfriend, Athena. Thanks to her and her lawyer of a father, Alika can’t approach our building anymore. You need to marry that girl.”

“Yeah . . . That restraining order is a blessing for you. But their fight, that was such a scene, and how did it even start? Also, I never found out which of our neighbours called the cops.”

“All I know is that Alika arrived with Ben, saw me making kombucha tea with Athena, misunderstood the situation, and exploded. We became too loud . . . If it was not for her father, we would have been kicked out of the building.”

“Did Alika ever apologize?”

“Of course she didn’t! The last time she was in town, we went to eat, and she just wanted to talk. I was listening to her, and something . . . really struck me.”

Julian kept quiet after that, his eyes now focused on the short-haired girl who had appeared at the counter, registering an old lady and her chubby ginger cat. The girl had short black hair, smokey eyes, no lipstick, and the most beautiful and confident smile he had ever seen.

“What exactly?” Julian heard Karim asking him.

“What? Sorry . . . you were saying?”

“About Alika.”

“Oh yeah, she . . . It is as if she fears the silence. She always feels the need to fill that silence with the sound of her voice, the buzz coming from her phone notifications, the music in the car . . . I can’t picture myself with someone like that.”

Karim only nodded before looking at the counter. “Almost our turn . . . Hey, she looks familiar,” he whispered.

“Yeah . . . We met her once. She’s the visual artist whom Lucas suggested for the coffee shop project.”

“Does she also work here? Interesting.”

“Most of the people in this city are slashers, combining multiple jobs. Not surprising.”

“Inflation is at its highest, so I guess people need a second job to make ends meet.”

Julian only nodded, not that they were being affected by it. Even without booking any contracts, they could always rely on their wealthy families to support them. Unlike many in their social circle, he did not take it for granted.

The girl finally called them. Julian watched while she washed her hands with the sanitizer gel before petting Theo, who seemed very excited to see her. He noticed two silver rings on her fingers, which looked stunning on her dark skin and with her dark brown nail polish. She had several tattoos—a tribal flower on her hand, an armband made of three circles, and when she turned to bring the dog in the door behind her, he noticed a barcode tattoo on the back of her neck. How many does she have underneath her blue pale tunic? he wondered. The first time he had seen her, he had not paid much attention to her since it had been on a screen during a video call she was having with Ben. But now that he was seeing her in real life, he found her to be stunning.

“The checkup will take about twenty minutes. In the meantime, please fill out that form,” she spoke with a monotone voice.