Onira

Accidental Meet

"Everything's going to be fine, Claire" A man whispers.

Claire startles awake, there it was again. The same man and the same words every single dream. This has been happening for the past 3 months or so, it was weird, admittedly. The man in her dreams whom she can't pinpoint bothers her. Believe it or not she always seems to forget his face, sure, he had a great physique, and he always had a button down on. But what if that person's face is like a blank canvas? It was up to her who she wanted it to be. To be honest, with these dreams being the same for the past months, she doubts she'll ever forget it. Though in a 2016 article in the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences, researchers posit that people forget their dreams due to changing levels of acetylcholine and norepinephrine during sleep.

Claire grabs her phone which was on her nightstand and looked at the time, 6:00 am. She had work by 8:00 am in a small café which was across a hospital. Having a mother, if she would still like to call Breeze that, who never really took care of her was hard. Claire really wants to pursue medicine and finish med school and of course, find a decent hospital for her residency program. She took her time getting prepared and double checking all she had, laptop, a bunch of files, etc.

She had reached the café by 7:15 am, well, it wasn't opened yet. It wouldn't hurt to open earlier she thought and so she did. When she got inside, she started cleaning all the machines and prepared the ingredients to be used. She had until 1:00 pm to work, good thing she had picked afternoon classes. Being a student who'd be finishing med school in a couple of months was harder. She certainly thinks that their work doubled, she was stressed with their finals and the extra research as well as her work had added to that.

Meanwhile, Neil had just woken up. It was 7:00 am, just the usual time he wakes up other than the times he had to stay in the hospital the whole night. He did his typical routine, bath, shave, pick a button-down shirt to pair with his slacks. It was really just another day for him. He had 3 surgeries scheduled for today and to be honest, they were all pretty boring.

He got out of his house and went to the garage to his precious Tesla. On his way to Bonaventure, he had noticed a café opened just across them. He hadn't really notice it until now, it seems like it was open earlier than usual.

"Onira" he muttered under his breath. What a nice name for a café, and though they had their cafeteria in the hospital, it wouldn't hurt to try a new one. He stops his car just in front of the café and got his wallet.

Claire hears a 'ding' from the café's door indicating there might be someone by it.

"Good morning, welcome to Onira." She greeted enthusiastically. She shifted her gaze to the person and well it was a man. Just the typical one or maybe not, he was definitely her type.

"Hey good morning, I wasn't sure if you'd be serving since it says you open at 8:00?" The man answered her.

"Oh yes, I decided to open earlier. I can serve you now, what would you like?" She asked the man.

"Just an Americano, thank you." The man answered.

"Okay, would that be iced or not?" She asked, not wanting to mess up his order.

"Hot, please." The man politely said.

"Okay, that would be $3 sir." She told him.

Neil gave her the 5 dollars and deciding he'd give her a tip for serving him though it wasn't technically open yet. He turns to sit on an empty chair to wait for his order.

"Oh wait your change!" He hears the woman in the counter

"Keep it, it's a tip" He replies and receives a thank you.

After a few minutes, he receives his order then went out and left.

"Thank you for ordering, please come again!" Claire said and receives a nod from the man.

Oddly familiar she thought.

Meanwhile Neil reaches the hospital. He settles in his office, coffee in hand. He drank a little of it and thought, not so bad, maybe better than the one here. He opened his computer and checked his emails for something important.

His day practically flowed the same way other than some emergencies and meetings here and there.

Meanwhile Claire had finished her shift in the café and couldn't seem to stop thinking about the first customer who entered. Suddenly while outside her class, Claire was startled. It was Kayla, her best friend.

"You're so deep in thought" She hears Kayla say.

"Oh this one's nothing, just 'ya know stressed, but I can manage." She answers but then adds...

"Wait... your class is farther than mine, why are you here?"

"Can't I visit my best friend?" Claire looks at her funny, not believing.

"Kidding, well Dash and I found this new bar just wanted to ask if you could come?" So that's why she thought.

"I'm gonna try, but I'm not sure so don't expect" she replies.

"Alright" Kayla says understanding.

Claire looks at her watch and sees she has 10 minutes left before class, so she tells Kayla she has to go and the other has to go back since her building is obviously far.

Same things happened in class other than more assigned works from the professors and of course, limited time before submission. She knew she couldn't come to that bar later. Then again, her mind flies to the man in the café and she thought, oh well she would probably never meet that guy again given how many people visit the café and she only has morning shifts.

That is what Claire was most certainly wrong.