Romano hummed while cleaning the table that had just been vacated not long ago. He was sure Lucile would give him a call sooner or later. He caught a glimpse of his face in the glass door of the cafe. Yes, I am hot, he assured himself, and he didn't try to look this handsome for nothing.
Everyone he met here in this Manhattan city thought he was Korean. And he never bothered to correct them. True he looked like Korean but Romano was actually from Japan. After a horrible childhood and even worse teenage years he decided to change the way he looked. It was just cosmetic surgery. Crazier things had been done in this superficial world.
It had been a week and Lucile hadn't called or even texted him. Did he possibly jolt down the wrong number? Was Lucile sick? He tried visiting the library but she was not there. In her place was a voluptuous middle aged lady with too much cleavage on display.
Romano didn't know where Lucile lived. It was only three weeks ago that he first saw Lucile. She was walking to the library, hands fiddling with the hem of her sweater. At first he thought nothing of her. On that same day he spent his lunch time in the library taking notes for his upcoming exams. He saw Lucile having lunch on her own in her desk. It looked like she was having a sandwich. He wanted to sit by her but knew better than that. It would have been weird if he had just sat atop her desk and tried chatting her up.
For three weeks he had watched her, not in a stalkerish way by all means. He simply visited the library every chance he got and observe her when she was not looking. Not that she ever looked his way. She reserved her sight for the books in the library and the people who came to her to borrow them.
He wanted to reach out to her. Something about her attracted him. He was no chubby chaser as some of his friends thought. Though he did feel a tad bit sympathetic and protective when it came to overweight people. He just wanted them to know that they were beautiful the way they were.
