He Who Never Forgets 2 (HWNF2)

Chapter 4: Beautiful Coincidence

Leah:

"Venus stop! Don't leave me!" I was breathing heavily as if I'm joining a marathon, my pace slowed down before stopping, completely tired as fish. She turned around to look at me when she heard it, of course while still jogs in her spot.

"I'm not!" She then gracefully continue her jogs passed the wooden bridge leaving me, like always. I could only curse her for being too perfect in exercising and also curse myself for agreeing to join her earlier.

"Slow down!" I tried really hard dragging myself to follow her but failed miserably. We've done 9 laps right now, I don't think I could do another lap anymore.

"I'm not even that fast!" She screamed back despite the big gap between us, and of course, Venus would attract a few attentions for her loudness. When my body really had enough, it decided to stop right on the bridge. I was sweating, fricking exhausted and looked like an ugly flabby baboon. I used the back of my hand to wipe the sweat off from my forehead and then went to move to the side of the bridge to gain support because I could feel the bolts of my knees getting loose, I'm just saying duhhhh...

I saw Venus right now already stopped and was looking at me. She let out a heavy sigh, she knew I wouldn't be able to follow her any longer. So she began to walk towards my direction, when she reached near me, she stood there with her hands on her waist. "Wait for me here, I'm going for one last round then we'll go home." I nodded eagerly, really grateful for that. With that she then left me all alone on the bridge.

After I feel that I've rest enough, I did a few stretching to cool down myself. Then, I leaned myself on the side of the bridge to enjoy watching the small river running under the bridge, the light reflected onto the surface of the water makes it shimmering like a diamonds, I smiled, totally enthralled in the beauty of nature. Averting my eyes from the river, I started to look around the park to see a few people exercising like us, some of them were running, some were walking and some were jogging. I also noticed there's a group of young women enthusiastically doing aerobics. Each person with their own preference of exercising.

While I still watching aimlessly at my surrounding, I suddenly caught someone who's sitting alone on a bench not that far away from me. Instantly, I got curious to see what is he doing there when others were obviously enjoying their morning routine, but surprisingly the guy were doing nothing. He just sat there, doing absolutely nothing except staring into the space like he's thinking but is not. He looks so calm and collected but somehow to me, he seems in vain. By this time, my whole focus was all on him, it's like the people around us vanished. I was searching thoroughly for any reaction from him but none was found. A lonely stranger who wears all black from head to toe that looks so mysterious and sad, too sad for this beautiful morning. Watching him made me feel something overwhelming inside. Something weird is going on inside of me, I literally could hear the fast beating of my heart. I'm not supposed to creep on strangers let alone a man but I couldn't look away, I couldn't pull my eyes off him. I feel like I want to go to him, to stop his sorrow. I could feel the sudden urge to go and comfort him but I was so confused. There's something about him that attracts me, something unknown.

Leah.....

"KAREN!" The voice of Venus shouting from my left side made me snapped out. I swear I just felt something unusual or should I say 'heard'. I feel like I just woke up forcefully from a dream, I didn't realized that I've been holding my breath till I released it. I turned my head towards Venus who's just finished her last round while I still gasping for some air. She quickly ran to me when she noticed that's something's wrong, "hey, you okay? What happened?!" She asked me in surprise while her head turned to all directions looking for things that made me like this, and as for me, I was still baffled. I was looking intently at my panic bestfriend but my mind was elsewhere, my brain keeps on recalling that stranger's image, his worn out face and his lifeless eyes. Venus started to vigorously shaking my shoulders to get my attention and when she did it, I only could looked at her while still caught in confusion on why I myself could lost in my own thought of a stranger. "You're crying." She stated. Her worried face made me finally started to realize things around me. When I slowly grasp the reality, I felt that my eyes were watery. I went to touch my cheeks in response. I am crying. I stared at her quizically as she was too.