Below Deck || C. Leclerc

ii

The past

"No..." Liliana felt her heartbeat rise, and she looked through her bag again. "I swear, I put it in my bag," she mumbled to herself.

Lip balm, pens, a notebook, sugar sticks, an empty package of a biscuit, deodorant, perfume, an empty bottle of water, chargers, earphones, mints, napkins, an emergency bag, and a spoolie.

She grabbed everything that was in the pocket  on the side and threw it on the coffee table in front of her.

Nothing.

Liliana grabbed her bag and turned it upside-down. Nothing fell out of her bag anymore; it was empty. All her stuff was on the coffee table in front of her now. And it was messy. It was stupid how a piece of plastic could be lost within seconds. She started to panic now. She got up from the sofa and walked to the hallway to check her coat.

Nothing again.

"Fuck," she whispered and ran her hand through her hair, thinking about the route she walked today. Liliana chewed on her lip and snapped her knuckles. "Uni, supermarket, home," she mumbled and sighed. "I paid for the groceries...with my phone, great. I checked my cardholder at the campus, I had it then. And I know I had the card in the hallway of this building. So where is it now?" Liliana grabbed her keys and left her apartment, running down the stairs to the lobby of the building.

Of course, there was nothing - not even outside of the street in front of the building.

Just got a new credit card, and I have already lost it. Liliana walked up the stairs again, calling the Helpdesk of the university. Maybe someone had found it. The concierge mentioned that no one had brought in a credit card, nor did they find something, but they would keep an eye on it. Liliana sat down on the sofa again and sighed. She was frustrated, annoyed, disappointed. A groan left her mouth.

Block the card.

Liliana grabbed her phone and opened the banking app. She checked the transactions, just to be sure no one took money from her. But to her surprise, someone had transferred some money. That was weird. Someone called C.M.H.P Leclerc transferred only one cent. A frown grew on her face, and she tapped on the transaction. Why would someone transfer just one cent?

'Hey, I found your card on the street. My phone number is +377 12 34 56 78. Call me.'

Her jaw dropped. "Oh, my god," she breathed and called the phone number. Her heart was racing in her chest; this was a relief. A hopeful feeling circulated through her body.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Liliana," she said. "I saw your transaction on my bank account with your message."

"Ah, yes. I found your credit card! You're L.L. Mundford, right? Just to double check it," the man chuckled.

"Yes, yes, that is me! I really can't thank you enough for finding my credit card. Where can I pick it up?" It was direct, but she wanted her credit card back. "If you have the time for it today."

"Yes, of course. Shall we meet up at the coffee corner?" The man named a coffee store. "If you are still in Monaco."

Liliana had no idea where it was, but she thought it was perfect. "Yes, please. And I am. I will be there in fifteen minutes? If it suits you?"

"I will see you then."

Liliana ended the call and got up from the couch right away. A smile was resting on her face. She grabbed her earphones, wallet and keys before she left her home. Good people still exist. At least, it looked good now. She typed in the name of the coffee corner and put Google Maps on for the route. It was pretty close to her apartment building, and she now noticed it was on the route to the university. However, it still made no sense to Liliana how she lost the card.