Words

Ichi|go ichi|e [一期一会]

 - "one opportunity, one encounter "/ The terms is often translated as "for this time only," "never again," or "one chance in a life time."  

"Do you want anything else, Sir?" "No, thank you. I'm fine for now." He said in a friendly tone, looking away from his book to see the waitress. This cafe was his new favorite, the young boy discovered it during his nightly walks. Well.. the word cafe wasn't quite the right term. It's more of a library. You pay a dollar per hour, and then you look for the books you want, read them for as long as you want and they serve coffee and tea. 

The young boy loved reading, it was all he did. And music.. his passion. When he was here, he read and wrote lyrics, he got inspirated by the books he read, by the stories elder people told him. Or even just by talking to the workers. Everyone here was so nice to him. Today, he had no ideas, nothing. And that wasn't the first time. The writers block he had, got worse with every day passing and even if he had ideas he would just throw them away because he didn't like them. He Hated this. The young boy hated not having ideas. And he hoped, he really did, to get inspired by anything. No matter what. The book he was reading, was quite old, korean literature. But no, nothing even after sitting here for an hour, no ideas no nothing. 

"Are you still reading this?" "Hm?...- I don't know." He giggled and scratched the back of his head. "You don't know?" Wow. Her smile was so pretty. It filled to room with warmth. "Uhm... I'm just reading through a couple of things. But you can have that if you want." She nodded and sat on the chair cair next to you. Of course, the cafe was full by now. "Oh you're here again. Do you want something to drink?" The waitress looked at the girl with a bright smile. "A cup of tea please." And then she started reading and the boy... well he looked at her. Something made him stare, either the voice of hers, her smile or the way she looked at the book. He didn't know. 

The book he had in his hands wasn't interesting enough, he put it aside, leaned back and looked at the cafe he was in. He didn't know if it made sense to stay longer but he didn't want to leave either. The Cafe wasn't that big, it had enough space for around 20-30 people. They had armchairs as chairs, but a couch as well between two armchairs they had little wooden tables. For the drinks and books of course. The lights were off during day time but with the night coming in they dimmed the lights and the chimney was on. A quite nice atmosphere so to speak. With every hour passing by the cafe got emptier, the people were leaving and the boy didn't know how much time he had before the cafe was closing. Though staying without reading wasn't quite smart anyways since he had to pay. So he decided to get another book.

Slowly he walked back to his seat, looking through the cafe again. "Do you want something to drink now? You've been here for so long." "Yes, please-" he started to say while sitting back down. "-Can I get a black coffee, please?" "Sure." The elderly women said. They changed shifts, he thought to himself. She wasn't here before. "You don't really know what you're doing right?" The girl from before said with a bright smile. "You've been looking around and starting several books since I'm here." Everything she said was meant to be friendly... at least it sounded like that. "Oh.. uhm no. Well. Yeah... what" "Are you alright? Do you want water?" She asked sounding more worried this time. "No no, I'm fine thanks. I'm just not really here in mind." The brown haired boy said with a light chuckle. "Ohh so you're just here to get your senses back together I see.-" The girl had long loght brown hair, blue eyes and now she also had a pinkish tone on her cheeks. "-I'm Ally by the way." She gave him her hand, which he slowly shook. "Nice to meet you Ally."

Ally... A really pretty name. "And if you're looking for a really got book. The first one of this series is really good." Ally pointed at the book in her hand, holding it so the boy could see the cover. "Oh what is it about?" "It's about everything I guess. That's my second time reading this, and if I'm not wrong the series has fours books...yea I'm reading the fourth now and that's the ending. And trust me, the story of the books changed whenever I read them." Wait what? How does that work? Ally saw your confused expression and laughed. "Sorry, the books are written like that. The story is always the same but it's the state of your mind that changes is. When I first started to read them, as a teenager - yes the books are quiet old - I felt down. I wasn't depressed I just had that phase almost everyone has. I didn't know what to do, what I wanted to be in the future I tried... to find a reason why we are living I guess. Back then, for me, the book was about finding the true self, the person one is. When I read the book a second time.. I was doing way better. I was happy and then the book just told me to enjoy my life and do whatever is good for me. But it also told me to be careful and to watch out for others to look after them. But in generel the books talk about a lot of different people. There is no main character, and that's the original message. You're not alone. You're never alone."

He watched her talking, he was fascinated by the way she told the story. And the last sentence... just sounded like something she wanted to tell him without being to obvious and nosy. "I really recommend that book." She got up. Looked for the book and gave it to him. And then... She just smiled and left the cafe. Probably because it was late already. But he... Well. He wasn't moving. And a smile was overtaking his face when he was thinking about what just happened. 

But he suddenly realized something.. he put the book aside without even looking at it. Left his things in the cafe and ran. He ran down the street the girl walked on just a couple minutes ago. "ALLY. WAIT." He screamed as he saw her waiting for the bus. "I didn't tell you my name. I'm...." but it was too late. She was already in the bus. And as the bus drove away, he saw her walking to the back window and waving to him. Still laughing at his actions. 

The boy walked back to the cafe. Insanely happy now and got his stuff. He was now motiaved enough to go home and write something. Lyrics, lyrics about how you're never alone. 

Before he left, though, he looked at the book she gave him. So he could read it the next time he'd come. He turned to book around to see the front cover, he just needed the name. "Ichigo Ichie..."