Aesthete | Luxiem

👟 ┃ I Met A Stranger Today (🥀)

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I Met A Stranger Today
-angst-

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Settings
Public Library | 4:03PM

Characters
This chapter is in first person. You can imagine that the narrator is you and you met Shu, but consider him as a stranger.

Status
Edited | Published

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I met a stranger today.

He was sitting on the steps of the library, slightly slouched, legs stretched out in front of him, like he’d been waiting for something or someone but wasn’t quite sure who. It was one of those dim days when the clouds felt just heavy enough to bring rain but never did. A haze lingered in the air, making everything feel more muffled, more private.

His eyes met mine as I passed, and instead of looking away, he held the gaze. It felt like an unspoken invitation. I sat down on the step beside him, a little hesitant, but he didn’t seem surprised. He glanced down at the book I was holding 一 a worn paperback copy of Normal People by Sally Rooney 一 and smiled, saying nothing. We sat there, looking ahead, watching as people streamed in and out of the library, like actors moving through scenes that didn’t quite belong to us.

He reached into his bag and pulled out a pen and a small notebook, flipping open to a page already filled with words. “Do you ever feel like you’re waiting for something to happen but have no idea what?” he asked, his voice almost a whisper, like he didn’t fully trust the words he was saying.

I nodded. I wanted to tell him all the things I’d felt, all the tiny hopes and fears I hadn’t been able to share with anyone, but instead, I stayed quiet. I didn’t even know his name, but there was something comforting in his silence 一 something that felt deeply familiar 一 like I’d known him in a different life.

He scribbled something on the page, then tore it out and folding it neatly before handing it to me. “It’s strange, isn’t it?” he said softly, almost to himself. “How sometimes, just sitting next to someone can make you feel like you’re finally understood.”

I looked down at the folded paper in my hand, resisting the urge to open it right away, feeling like doing so would somehow break whatever was happening here. We sat in silence a little longer, not needing to fill the space with words. The world continued around us, people brushing past, lost in their own lives, but for a moment, everything else felt like background noise.

After a while, he stood up, nodded once, and walked away without looking back. I sat there for a moment, still holding the paper, feeling oddly alone in a way I hadn’t felt just minutes before. When I unfolded it, the words on the page were simple but somehow weighty.

“Thank you for being here.”

I don’t know why those words affected me so much, why they felt like they’d carved a place somewhere inside me. But they did. And for the rest of the day, I carried that note with me, feeling like I’d met someone important, even if I didn’t know his name 一 A mere stranger.

I met a stranger today.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE
I know I said I'd stop writing but I can't seem to get this out of my head. Hence, hello. I'm back. Just here to publish some one-shots. Enjoy!

Also, Mysta 一 my oshi 一 has unfortunately graduated from Luxiem. Farewell fox-boy. You will be missed.

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