Time is Cruel

2. Knowing Each Other

  On the weekends, I decided to gather up all the courage and call him, bzz bzz bzz, he picked up

"Hi, who is this?"

"It's me, Kiyeko, the girl who helped you with the printer?"

"Oh, no wonder I recognised that voice, hello! What are you doing right now?"

"Nothing special, just cleaning dishes and helping my mother with her chores and stuff, what about you?"

"Just doing some exercise and yeah nothing else, say, you still live with your mother?"

"Yeah, I can't really afford a house right now, so I'm working on buying one, what about you, do you still live with your mom?"

"Oh, no I don't, she died long long ago."

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear, when did she die if you don't mind me asking?"

"About a thou- I mean, 8 years ago, she died when I was 15."

"Oh, so your 23 now? I'm 20."

"Yeah, I'm going to sleep now, are you up to hangout tomorrow? If you're not busy of course."

"I'm not busy, sure, we can hangout tomorrow."

"Great, well good night! Sweet dreams."

"Night! You too."

  Oh. My. Lord, he asked me out, well technically not asking me out but still, I was a flustered mess right after that call, I could just burst of excitement. I was so damn ready for tomorrow.

  It's the next day, I got ready and put on a bit of makeup, you know, just for him. He told me to meet him at a cafe nearby our office we work at, he arrived earlier than expected but anyways, I sat in front of him as he asked for a waiter to come take our order, he noticed me staring at him, and then asked, "What's there to stare?" "Ah, nothing nothing! It's just my first time out with someone else than my colleague." "I get it, don't worry." I felt a bit flustered as he cupped my hands in his to make an attempt to calm me a bit, we started talking about our lives and got to know each other very well, he sounded like a very gentle and kind man and I started to fall in love more. It started to get dark and eventually rained, "Hey Kiyeko, do you need something to keep warm, I have a cardigan with me you can borrow it." "But you'll also get cold?" "Hey it's ok, your younger than me, you should be protected shouldn't you, hm?" "Yeah, I'm taking the cardigan, thank you, I'll be on my way now, bye bye!"

  I went home and immediately closed the door and sighed out relief, I was in love, I knew it, I wonder if he feels the same.