It was a fairly quiet afternoon at the YMC boutique in London: the only noise coming in was the gust of wind every time the front door was opened. Daniel, a young and lanky part-time sales clerk, was tidying up a polo shirt on a display mannequin by the large front window. It was nearly the end of his shift but he was taking his time as his workmate, Ethan, was already attending to the one customer that was in the shop and there was nothing else that needed to be done. Satisfied that the polo shirt was not going to be any smoother than it already was, Daniel hopped off the podium and proceeded to the tiny staff room at the back of the store.
"Mind if I leave a little early? I'd fancy not racing to the Tube today if I can avoid it," he asked Ethan, who was handing a receipt to the customer.
Ethan chuckled, "No problem, mate, I've got it from here," he replied, turning to the customer and methodically saying 'Thank you, ma'am. You have a nice afternoon. Please come again!'
The customer smiled before turning around to exit the boutique.
In the staff room, Daniel quickly slipped on a grey coat and slung his messenger bag on his right shoulder. He stepped out to the cashier and took out a logbook to sign himself off.
"Have a good lecture," Ethan said as Daniel slid back the logbook in the drawer.
"Cheers, mate," Daniel grinned, about to turn for the door.
Just before he stepped out, Ethan yelled 'See ya!' and Daniel responded with a wave without looking behind.
~~~
Aside from the occasional breeze, it wasn't very cold outside the streets of London. However, the sky was beginning to darken as if it were already twilight: and it was barely two-thirty in the afternoon.
It's going to rain soon, Daniel thought whilst smiling to himself.
Daniel Kaito loved rainy days. And he loved the fact that he lived in a country where there was an abundance of rainy days - no matter what season it was. It did not matter that his straight dark brown hair would get wet, or his clothes or his books. The wet weather comforted him, and the damp smell made his insides feel as if they were being cleansed.
As he entered the subway, he found with relief that the train was to arrive in two short minutes. If he had stayed back in the shop until the end of his shift, he would've had to wait a lot longer for the next train after this one, which in turn would have made him really late for his three-thirty class. Perhaps today he'll make it without panting like a thirsty hyena.
Not that he was ever late for class. But it's been a habit drilled into him at a very young age by his own father:
"Either turn up on time, or don't turn up at all," he would say.
Daniel's father, Genji Kaito, was after all, Japanese and being Asian in general usually came with being brought up to strictly adhere to values like punctuality and obedience and being an all-around hard worker. So being on-time was second nature.
When the train arrived, Daniel hopped in and sat himself on one of the long empty row of seats adjacent to the side of the train, his back to the window.
He flung his bag onto his lap, opened it, and fished out a tattered copy of A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket. By the looks of the book it seemed like it had seen better days: the cover was frayed, the illustration discoloured; the pages had yellowed and made brittle sounds as you turned them, and; the words appeared to have been rained on and dried and rained on again and again but managed to still be decipherable.
Gingerly turning over from the last page he had read, Daniel started to read leisurely as the train began to gather speed.
Daniel loved reading just about as much as he loved the rain. It was a hobby he learned to enjoy as a child since it was the only type of entertainment he could afford. His family wasn't exactly the wealthiest folk in Britain: his Irish mother owned a very small pub in Lewes in East Essex that catered for about forty people on a good day; his father taught Maths at the local high school during the day and helped around the pub by nightfall, and; Daniel's already on his 10th part-time job only at 18 years of age although the only reason he has had so many was that he would quit out of boredom after staying for some several months and move on to the next job. They weren't really struggling as they made sure to pay their bills on-time, the only debt they had was their mortgage, and Daniel was on a full scholarship at Cambridge.
But Daniel was never spoiled, despite being an only child. After he turned twelve, he was told that if he wanted something, he had to pay for it himself. And so every week Daniel would be seen at the local flea markets browsing through stall after stall like a scavenger for cheap books he could add to the mountain he already has at home.
But books only occupied his time for so long that he had also developed a variety of other hobbies from learning languages and playing video games and watching all kinds of films to playing the piano, guitar, violin, and harmonica as well as Taekwondo lessons - all paid from his own pocket.
He was up to the part where the Beaudelaires were on a car ride with Mr. Poe to Olaf's house when on the third station to the last stop, a short girl with short brunette hair obviously blown to a mess by the wind outside got in whilst seemingly clutching on for dear life onto an unfolded sheet of paper that was mostly likely a map. Her eyes glued onto it as she sat down on the row of seats directly across from Daniel. He took very little notice of this but as he was about to resume to his book, a familiar logo stood out from the peripheral of his vision. He looked up again to glace at the map the girl was holding and alas, there it was:
The side of the map facing Daniel bored a University of Cambridge crest.
