Tearing Paper

Starlight Shower

“One more cup of espresso, please.”

She watched silently as a waiter served the coffee to the table in front of hers. She had been in that café everyday, but today, it was nearly sunset. That table would have been empty by now—but for some reason she didn’t know, the guy had not left. He thanked the waiter without shifting his eyes off the laptop screen he was working on. Slowly, she smiled.

Wondering what he was busy with.

But then she turned her eyes to the notebook she was writing on. She could not write much today—if not, at all—and she was feeling unproductive either. She saw the man stretch his body backwards as he sighed hardly, facing her.

“Rough day?” she asked with an almost flat tone.

“Wow, you cared,” the guy smiled. It was as if every crease that was previously formed on his tired forehead was gone and he had just gotten a starlight shower. “Kinda. I got extra work. Namari Island, have you ever heard of that?”

Namari… Island?

The girl made sure her face did not show any sign of shock or surprise. She nodded unnaturally. “I-I’ve heard of it.”

“I’m a journalist. It’s not my forte to write for the travel section, but they give me this place to write about and I’m totally stressed out. It’s a beautiful place, actually. Too bad they chose the wrong person to write about it. I… should stop talking now,” the guy looked away awkwardly, realising his voice was heard by the whole café and the girl did not even respond. He shrugged and went back to his laptop.

The girl kept her notebook in the deepest part of her bag, collecting herself to stand up. She did not need to look closer to know that the new document page on the guy’s laptop was totally blank. He seemed taken aback finding her standing by his table.

“Thanks for the latte… yesterday,” she said with a much friendlier voice. “Namari Island is… romantic. I’m sure you can write an amazing article about it.”

The guy stared at her unbelievingly, as if he was dreaming. He did not say a word, so she continued, “You can’t possibly miss the sunset. Most places would turn dull and boring after that spectacular scene has passed, but Namari wouldn’t. The trick is to stay just a few moments after sunset.”

“Wow, hold on,” the guy typed Namari Island sunset on Google Images and leaned back to his seat as he browsed through the pictures. “You’re right.”

“It’s much better than what you see there,” the girl smiled. “When the sky darkens and you just lay there by the beach, hearing the gentle waves crashing and gaze at the stars—it’s as if you were having a starlight shower. It feels so close to you.”

Talking was clearly not the girl’s favorite thing to do, because she gasped at herself, not believing that she had actually said so much to a stranger. She placed her hand over her mouth as the guy noted down all the details she had said.

“Thank you. Miss Scribbler,” he joked.

“It’s… Dianne,” she corrected in a much softer voice—almost a whisper.

“Nathan—Nate, actually. And—“

“I should get going now,” Dianne nodded as she tidied her pale blond hair to the back of her ears. Nate watched as Dianne left the café, pulled her red beanie lower over her face before hailing a bus that took her to who knew where.

How did she know so much about Namari Island?