Faking Robin

Chapter 12 - Orange and Third Impression

Chapter 12 - Oranges and Third Impression

I spent the day trying to find the answer to that ‘order’. Was it something straight-forward like the ‘star’? I only had 3 days left. Days passed by just like that, as if time had been fast forwarded.

 My hand went along the texture of the book in the library, my eyes wandering along the titles. I found nothing that felt like it could help. 

“Got anything?” 

Kate’s soft, cheerful voice surprised me. I stopped my actions and snapped my head toward the direction of the voice, behind me. She stood there in her white dress with floral patterns at the bottom, holding a book in her hand. 

“So?” she asked once again, inquiring me whether I’d found anything to read from her huge collection of books. Her family sure had a good habit of reading books in varied genres. She had asked me if I had time to visit her house since it was the weekend and that I needed some good relaxation time before tomorrow’s maths competition.

I shook my head, showing a bitter smile. “I don’t think so,” I replied, my eyes wandering around the shelves that towered above me. My nose was starting to get used to the thick paper smell that had seemed stronger when I had entered the room. 

Kate grabbed my hand; she sure had soft hands as well and I wondered how she managed to have such beautiful appearance and heart.

We both took a seat on the white coloured chairs lined at one side of the library. She was sitting in front of me, opening the book she had found. “You don’t always get what you want, anyway,” she stated. She said it casually but it felt like she meant something deeper. 

She flipped the pages, seeming to find something. The way she was quickly scanning the page told me that it was a book she had read more than once. “This,” she turned the book towards me, opening it to a page with colourful doodle-like illustrations and some paragraphs beside them. 

“What is this?” I asked as my eyes skimmed down the page and observed the cover before I continued to read what was on the page.

Kate shrugged, “Well, I think it is fun. Knowing people through those,” she pointed at one of the points: Personality according to one’s sleeping position. My lips curved upwards, I did have some interest in this kind of thing. 

“Wow, let me see.” My smile grew wider, and so did Kate’s, she seemed happy that I was excited. I turned the page to see what it had to say about my sleeping position. As far as I knew, I slept hugging my knees. 

Tough exterior but are still sensitive and may appear to be shy but warm up quickly, it said. I thought it was quite true. I nodded in agreement as I read the lines. “What’s yours?” I asked her. Kate pulled the book a bit so she could see it clearly before pointing at one of the pictures at the bottom right.

“Starfish,” I read. “Good listener, helpful but are uncomfortable being the centre of attention,” I continued reading aloud. “Fits you well,” I commented. Apparentlyonly 5% of people slept in that position, so she was even rarer that way. Kind, beautiful, helpful; in conclusion, perfect. 

We were silent after that, only the humming sound of the air conditioner could be heard in the room. Kate stared blankly at the table, as if she was deep in thought. It kind of reminded me of how Luke would get quiet when he was thinking. 

I didn’t want to disturb her; she would tell me when she wanted to. I observed my surrounding, there was no one beside us in the room, and I think if there was some accident and we tried to scream for help, no one would be able to hear us. The silence was broken by the vibrating sound of Kate’s floral-cased phone.