A chance encounter

Chapter 4

I was on my way to the shop to get some bread, but now I'm going to a café with a cute guy who I've only ever met once before tonight. On top of that, he saved me from some idiots and gave me his coat because he saw I was cold. What the hell is going on? This kind of knight-in-shining-armour stuff isn't actually suppose to happen.

His voice cut through my thoughts, bringing me back to reality "Do you usually walk around without a jacket in such cold weather? I noticed you didn't have one on the other day either".

"I haven't had the chance to buy a new one yet, and my old one doesn't fit." I explained. It wasn't a lie, I just neglected to say that I also didn't have the money to buy one - not a good quality one anyway.

He chuckled and said with a slight smile on his lips, "I see. Is mine keeping you warm?"

That question prompted another nervous laugh before I answered "Yes thank you, it's a really nice coat."

"I'm happy to hear it," he replied while holding open the café door for me, "this place is suppose to serve the best coffee in the city, so it's good we came here when it's late. It's much quieter than in the morning".

"Wow, I'm looking forward to trying it then. I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you regularly come to a city you don't live in and save someone from a bunch of thugs?" I asked. I could tell he was incredibly familiar with the city and I think he wants me to know that, but something's telling me that he doesn't actually live here.

His eyebrows twitched as if surprised by what I said but he played it off with a coy smile, "I do regularly come to this city, or at least I use to. As for the saviour complex, I certainly don't have one." He indicated for me to sit down at one of the small booths intended for two people and declared "I'll order yours as well, I'll just be a moment".

He then turned and walked up to the counter, "I'll have a large coffee, and the lady over there will have a medium latte - decaf." How did he know that's what I wanted? He paid, walked over to the booth and sat down "You look surprised, is everything okay?"

He knew exactly why I was surprised - I guess that was his way of teasing me. So, I decided to tease him back by not answering his question and asking him something in return, "How much did mine cost?"

"You don't have to worry about that," he then quickly changed the subject so I wouldn't demand to know, "how long ago did you move to the city?"

"I moved here in May so I've been here for about 5 months." I responded, but he nodded to himself as if my answer just confirmed what he already knew. "You must either have a dangerous job or social life, if you're so skilled with a knife. Well, that or you're just extremely paranoid which doesn't seem the case."

"You are correct, I'm an information broker - or info broker for short. But don't worry, I'm off duty." He said with a snigger.

"Much like a journalist or police officer, are info brokers ever truly 'off duty'?" I prodded.

He shrugged, "I suppose that's true in a sense, but I can promise you, no one paid me to get information about you."

"Oh I know that, it's certainly an intriguing job though. You must really enjoy your work."

The first part of my sentence seemed to interest him more than talking about his job, "You know? How do you know that with such certainty?"

He seemed genuinely curious, so much so that he unconsciously leant forward resting his elbows on the table. I mean, I could see that he's been curious since the beginning of the evening, but this time seemed different. Just then, the waitress came over to give us our drinks but he refused to break eye contact with me and thanked her without looking up.