Chapter 578

Chapter 578: An Impossible Desire

I was just slogging through the hours.

It was just one of those days, y’know? Spending more time staring at the clock than actually serving customers. These kinds of days, I dread... where a single hour seems to just triple in length, and the vacant tables were your only source of company.

Not even the regulars were in today. That lone detective always silently scribbling away at unending piles of papers was absent from her usual corner, and the lively blonde gal always squandering the seat closest to me was nowhere to be seen either... which just further exacerbated the feeling of monotony.

I’ve taken inventory twice now, polished the coffee brewer to the point where its shine was almost hazardous to the eyes, and even had time to rearrange the books on the shelves to alphabetical order – yes, at this point, I’d even jam a fork in my eyes just to stave off the boredom.

Doesn’t help that St. Nick over here was staring down at me from the office like a hawk. Unlike the owner, who was the literal embodiment of lax and lenient, the manager would chastise me just for breathing wrong or something.

“Hayley not coming in today?” I asked, the one rare instance Nick actually left his man-cave... to go to the bathroom of all things.

“No, just me and you,” He responded, adding a little embellishment at the end of his sentence. “She’s preoccupied at the moment.”

.....

“With?”

“With something that has absolutely nothing to do with your work.”

I scoffed, trailing a glazed gaze at his giant ambling figure passing by me. “That’s a funny way of saying you don’t know.”

“You’re free to ask her yourself, after your shift that is,” He sniped back. “Till then, why don’t you go take inventory again?”

“It’s like every other day, she has somewhere else to be...” I said, merely wondering aloud. “Meanwhile you’re here sometimes from dawn till dusk, and never seem to be rushing for something else. Interesting... ”

“Do you have a point to make?” He asked, halting. “Or am I just holding my piss here for nothing?”

“Just the meaningless rambles of a concerned part-timer, don’t mind me...” I said, then let out a quick breath. “In all seriousness though, I saw your on shift during Christmas Eve... don’t remember seeing you there before my day-off. Seriously, no Christmas plans? No special outings with the family, uh... your dad maybe?”

“No,” Nick replied, finally running his patience to depletion, his floppy Santa hat disappearing around the corner. “Canceled.”

“Who canceled? Your Dad? You?” I tried prying further, but I guess I must have exhausted his entire dialogue cycle for the day.

To be fair, I too wouldn’t see any reason as well to be all privy and juicy with my family details to some random dude I stalked in a convention that one time. Can’t blame him for keeping mum.

For the rest of my uneventful, dreary shift the only words he had for me were ‘stop fiddling with your phone’ and ‘could you make me a mocha’, last but most certainly not least being ‘see you’ as I walked out the front door as the clock ticked finally to two.

And Amanda must be secretly psychic too, because at the exact moment I pulled out my phone, it was ringing and blaring for my immediate undivided attention.

“Be there in five!” She declared, giggling giddy.

I hissed in the cold of the outside, allowing the numbing chill to wake me fully... because if outings with Amanda had taught me anything, it was that there were anything but brief.

Definitely was in for a long day ahead of me, and as for extra precaution – I stashed my back at the back of the cafe so that may retrieve later in the evening, or the middle of the night, or perhaps sometime next morning, hell, I might return only next year for all I know.

With what little free time I still had, I promptly resumed my phone-fiddling business before Nick had rudely, yet rightfully, interrupted me. The harsh glare of the clear blue sky made the webpage a little difficult to discern, but squinting just slightly, and I could somewhat make out the words again, spelling out a single name.

<> or <> as she was officially known in English.

A little bit further down was a picture of her. The resemblance was uncanny. It’s as if someone had just shrunk Ash, and as well as branded her with an entirely different name.

Seriously, the same silk-like snowy locks cascading in curls, the same emerald colors pooling over the kindness in her sparkling gaze. Just younger, way younger, a bubbly face still retaining the pure innocence of youth. A budding flower just yet to blossom. Even the way her wide smile was shaped... the same soft curves of affection that Ash would show to me.

All I had was a name, an image... and a date.

<>

That was all I allowed myself to be privy to, the rest... the rest, well, I didn’t feel like it was a story to be told through an unfeeling, apathetic giant wall of text. If I was going to know, if I was ever going to find out... it certainly would be in this form.

Honestly, I don’t even know why I was doing this, what precisely this thing was that’s urging me to find out... no, I do know... it’s because I heard her say so... a whispered whim... a yearning murmured... anything her heart desires...

And her heart desired her...

How the hell was I ever going to grant something like that?

Simple answer was I couldn’t. I knew that. If we take it in literal terms, it just wasn’t possible in any way shape or form... and it’s not as if I had to fulfill this wish anyway.

No one said I had to.

So why do I want to?

In any case, if I wanted to straighten my thoughts... then I was going to need some help thinking this through. And who better to aid me in my plight, then one of the only folks that knows fantasy better than even the natives do?

In the corner of my eye, I saw Amanda’s car gradually approaching, a loud horn honking in eager glee to see me.

And I was glad to see her too.