CH2.03: Astronomical Odds (III)

The moment Vi walked out of the bookstore, he rushed towards the first street alley he could find to get away from the busy street. He willed his brain to calm down as he slid into the narrow space, his back slamming against the stone and mortar walls and his knees nearly buckling. Taking a deep breath, he slammed his hand onto his face, letting his thoughts whirl.

It was her. Statistically, it was most probably her.

He didn’t care if she were one of the daughters, or a random staff member at the store. All that mattered to him at the moment was the fact that her handwriting and word-choice seemed to fall in line with everything he’d read in his little book. If the science of Probability had hands, one hand would be pointing at her furiously while the other one would be flipping him off like a punk trying to pick a fight.

A slow smirk spread across his face, which turned into a grin, and before he knew it, he was laughing his face off into his hands. He couldn’t remember the last time he cried, but here he was, tears stinging his eyes with each wheeze. Here he was, face-to-face with the astronomical odds of finding the author behind his little book. He screwed his eyes shut and began to chant in his head.

She could be a nut-case.

She doesn’t owe me anything.

We’re strangers, I don’t know her.

And we should probably stay that way.

Because it’s kind of creepy that I have her uuh, ex-notebook.

Thats right, ‘her’ little book. Screwing his eyes tighter, he clenched his teeth at the memory of her. Beyond the surface-level allure of a pretty appearance that he undeniably liked; and beyond her polite behavior that he was sure she put on for every customer, there was very little he either knew or liked about her.

But he couldn’t stop thinking about the way she’d met his gaze and held it strong. It was as if she’d been looking right through him with those alert, cat-like eyes. And for the first time in years, he’d felt genuinely peaceful around a stranger.

Pressing down hard against his face, he couldn’t stop the miserable smile that tugged at his cheeks. Cat-Eyes, the nickname flashed in his mind as he bit back a laugh.

He hadn’t expected the author of the little book to be a woman. Or an actual human-being, for that matter. A hollow mannequin full of spiked-out lab-animals would’ve made more sense, in hindsight. Going by the contents of the book anyway.

Suddenly, he wondered how old she was. Either my age or a little older, he reasoned, but there was no way to tell. Going by the book, he guessed a little younger than him.

What does it matter, he screamed inside. I’m getting way too invested in a stranger.

While he never had a name, face, or gender to attach to the former owner of his book, reality proved to be way, way off. By several thousand yards, in fact. It felt like a joke for Gods’ sake. Still, none of this meant anything at the end of the day.

It meant nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Vi reminded himself that he hated most people. People who put on fake smiles just to turn around and treat others like dogsh*t whenever the chance arose. The same people who sucked up to those they deemed superior. It was a big, greasy rat-race, and there was little to look forward to in his life. Beyond the crushing weight of responsibilities and terrible memories, it was him and his little book, against the world; as silly as that sounded.

But now she was in here. Out of no where, like a cute stray cat who didn’t give two sh*ts about him.

And rightfully so, since she doesn’t know me, he reminded himself. There’s no reason to feel anything about her.

Sucking his teeth in with a low hiss, he straightened himself up and poked out of the alley to get a good look at the sky. Hoping that the vast, bright blue above him would remind him of how minute his problems were.

But there, once again, an unbelievable sight met his gaze, making his eyebrows rise. As if today hasn’t been crazy enough.

Surely there was a limit on bizarre events for one day, but Mother Nature was clearly out to smack him. And she was headed right his way. For the first time in two long torrid months, dark bands of clouds began to fester from the west, in tight contrast to the bright blue sky. Eyeing the incoming monsoon, Vi pushed out of the alley to join the stream of people walking down the street, several of them cheering at the faraway clouds.

Did he need a long, cold shower so he could freeze his mind over? Sure, but he didn’t need it pouring down on him straight from the sky. As relieved as he was to see rainclouds come his way, he for sure didn’t want to stand in the rain like a wet cat, yowling his feelings away. It didn’t help that the universe had given him enough problems to yowl about for the foreseeable future. His eyebrows rose at the sound of a distant crash of thunder; and he began to stride past the stream of people.

Nut-case, he repeated in his mind. She could be a total nut-case. Highly likely that, if we’re going by the book. Calm down.

Sucking his teeth again, he exhaled hard and clutched his rucksack.

I must be going crazy from working too much, he reasoned in his mind as he headed home. I just need to sleep this off.

And all the way home, he pushed down the uncomfortable fact that he couldn’t wait to see her again.