Enchantè

A Long While

"Ah..." she said while thinking. The two were quiet for a while after Bryle said his answer, when Vienne suddenly remembered something important. "If you don't mind, may I ask what time is it?"

"Nine," he answered and she started to take her leave. "Hey, where are you going?"

Vienne surprisingly looked at him when he held her hand just before she could stand. She felt the unfamiliar volt inside her body.

"Yes, that," she said as she recalled. "I'm actually going to the Children's Literature House, I am going to read this to them," she explained as showed the book she was holding.

Children's Literature House? Bryle began thinking. "I know that place."

Vienne slightly frowned, "of course you do-well, I must go now." As she told him those, she slowly took back her hand from him.

"May I accompany you then?" he stood up too and requested her. Bewilder was printed on her innocent face.

"Uhm..." she trailed off. You don't know him that much, why go with him?

Bryle softly chuckled as he read what the young lady was thinking. "What I mean is, can I atleast take you to the cab's waiting area?"

She looked to the near waiting area, knowing that it has a safe angle from the café, she simply nodded. She immediately took her things and placed the important stuffs inside her small red sling bag, carrying the book with her left hand.

They left the café side-by-side, apart only by few inches. Vienne's heart beat was unstoppable. Bryle's pulse quickened. It was as if the space between them was never there.

The two finally stopped at the waiting area, just then when the sun's rays stroke very harshly. The waiting area didn't provide shade, only a bench and sign which said Cab's Waiting Area. Make sense, Vienne instantly remarked.

She looked at him to say thank you and good bye, but the words didn't come out when she saw his flustered face. "Are you okay?" she asked when she thought that the sun might be making him nauseous.

His cheeks are burning up, hands trying to cover the harsh rays, sweat dripping down his temple. "Are you fine here?" he asked too, like he didn't hear her question it first.

She looked around the area, seems safe. "Yes, I am."

"Do you have an umbrella?"

Her eyes widened at his question, all she remembered bringing was the book and money. She shook and lowered her head in embarrassment. A girl not bringing an umbrella, how unladylike.

He didn't speak, but shuffled inside his sling bag. "Wait," he said pulling something out of the bag, "here."

He opened his umbrella and lend it to her. Vienne hesitated, but still, the young man insisted. In the end she used it. "You know we can share this umbrella, right?" she said, but as she pondered the words she used, she realized that the umbrella wasn't really that big for two people. She looked at his state, red sweaty cheeks as the sun struck harder.

He declined her request, but seeing him look so sickly. She didn't mind Bryle's answer and shared the umbrella with him, stretching her hands higher, trying her best to give shade to his tall slender body.

The two waited, covered, underneath the sun for almost thirty minutes. Still, no sign of any cab closing.

"What time is it?" Vienne asked Bryle.

He glanced at his wristwatch, "nine thirty-five."

"I should better be going now," she said.

"What?" he abrupted, "there's no cab."