INTROVERT

KATH

Lincoln was the one who do the talking all their way to Kath's home. Mostly, he talked about Bernard Harrison who worked as a security guard in the library where Kath worked as a librarian; how Bernard moved to the city over 20 years ago, how Bernard did odd jobs for years until he got the security-guard job, how Bernard married his childhood  friend, how Bernard's son has just won the 2nd grade spelling bee last weekend, and how Bernard prefer the nickname Bernie Harris, just because Bernard Harrison sounds like somebody else's name; like someone who could afford anything he want at the time he want it.

And Kath liked to hear Lincoln talks, although she's still struggling to look straight into his eyes when she thought she should say something back. Kath liked the fact that he is much taller than her and he stands close to Kath without violating her personal space; it's like having your own pillar of cloud, which is nice; like however awkward she turns-out, she couldn't hurt him accidentally because he is much bigger than she is. The knowledge of that makes her feel more comfy with herself.

And Lincoln is cute. To quote Rick Riordan from one of his Percy Jackson books, He was cute in a sort of oversized-cuddly-panda-bear way. Except that Rick Riordan use that line to describe a character named Frank Zhang, who he described as a Chinese teenager. So the description of the panda bear make sense. Kath thought Lincoln was cute in a sort of oversized-cuddly-teddy-bear way. And that thought make her nervous; like, she should have owned the cloak of invisibility, wear it everywhere she go, and never expose herself around him. Except that cloak didn't exist in real life. Except the thought that even if the cloak do exist, the idea that strangers might constantly bump onto her is definitely scarier to Kath.

She has always been afraid of attractive people. She thought they could easily stole her heart and make her want to lower her guard, only to disappoint her at the end. Kath normally dread the idea of wanting to open herself up to people.  Especially attractive people. Especially ones looking like Lincoln.

It's around 10 PM now as Kath lie down on her mattress. Lincoln probably is already inside his office, his shift should have started some minutes ago, as he work as a night-time IT guy at a social network company. Kath sighed.

Only about 30 minutes until Kath should be asleep, according to her daily routines.She pull the the blanket over her head; try not to think about those 30 minutes which she could spend thinking about Lincoln. Or the fact that he just 'walked' her home.