The Winter Project

38. Minoru

One of Minoru's only few weaknesses was that he did not know how to swim. He was sure that he could not float, for he had failed no matter how many times friends or teachers had tried to teach him the technique. He would panic in the water and find his limbs flailing around without order from his brain, unable to keep his head above the water. He had spent two entire months on the land that surrounded this large and beautiful lake and not once had he even touched the water with his toes.

Of course, he did not care. He was happy to cycle the roads every morning, admiring the lake from afar. He had climbed mountains and tried every restaurant in the vicinity. He had met strangers and created friendships.

He had spent a solid week supporting Ricco from his break-up to the woman he had called his one true love. Maria had fallen in love during her trip to South America with a man who was able to conceive children. Ricco, as it turned out, was impotent. He was sure that they were going to live full lives without children, or maybe even adopt a child in need of a loving home. Maria had not seen through the same lens as Ricco, and had not returned home to Italy to be with him.

Minoru was disappointed to see the happiest man on earth crumble into nothing because of one woman, but he had been there himself when he was eighteen years old and so his empathy was able to hold out until Ricco was ready to smile again. Luckily, it only took a few months before Ricco was back to his usual self, shouting joyfully at any small thing that pleased him.

As the summer approached, Minoru knew that he only had one month left of his six-month trip before he was to return home and have his life go back to normal. He did not feel ready yet, and he toyed with the idea of quitting his job. Sadly, he knew that this was a plan with no discernible purpose and knew that he couldn't make such a drastic decision without a good reason. He still had enough money to keep going for several more months, but after that he knew he would have to start thinking rationally.

As another day had begun, he decided to finally commit to his goal of cycling the entirety of Lake Garda in one day. He did not plan how long it would take, for that would take the fun out of the challenge. He would chase the sun in the morning, and he would chase it back home in the evening. For the first time in months, he was happy to be able to cycle in the early morning with just a t-shirt, his bare arms comforted by the heat of the sun. Minoru hated the cold, and he had suffered in the winter by not being able to walk around freely without stopping for coffee every hour to warm him up.

As he cycled, his mind was always blank. Stephanie used to hate it when she would ask him what he was thinking, and he would always reply with 'nothing', but it was true. Minoru believed that one of the important tricks of happiness was not to overthink and to just enjoy the moment. He had met too many people who thought constantly and drove themselves to madness over things that weren't worth more than a moments thought. He had also met too many people who angered too quickly by the tiniest inconveniences, and people who were saddened too quickly by things that were not sad.

Sometimes, his ability to zone out of his surroundings was a dangerous one, and he was only aware that he had crashed into somebody when it was far too late. He had knocked a young woman over onto the wooden pavement that encroached over the lake, knocking a small tin of paint all over her shirt and into the plaits of her hair.

'I am so sorry!' he shouted as he climbed off his bike and helped her up. He took one look at her and felt instantly nervous and embarrassed. She was beautiful in the most natural sense. Her hair was long and plaited, with blonde hair for most of the way but the roots were brown all the way down to her eyes. Both her hair and face were dotted with specks of pastel yellow paint. Her eyes were the exact same colour as the lake, blue in the sun but green away from direct light, yet all the while mesmerising. Across her cheeks and nose were freckles upon tanned skin. Minoru barely registered any of this because he was most infatuated with the way in which she laughed. Her teeth were straight and white as if they had come straight from a toothpaste commercial, and her laugh was loud and by natural standards many would call it unattractive, but Minoru found it infectious. He laughed along with her, amazed that she wasn't angry with him for knocking her straight onto her back and causing a bleeding wound on her elbow.

'Don't worry about it,' she said through a more reserved laugh as she composed herself. She picked up the paint pot and grabbed a cloth to clean up the spilled paint that was now covering the wooden slats.

'Let me help you,' Minoru insisted, climbing down to his knees so that they were eye length. He did not notice that his knee was bleeding heavily from the fall, nor did he notice that he was kneeling in paint.

'You are a walking disaster,' she laughed, even harder this time. Her denim overalls worn over a plain green t-shirt were coated in paint, and he felt terrible for ruining an outfit that probably did not hold any special value to her, but made her look amazing all the same.

'Are you from London?' he asked curiously, noticing that for the first time in nearly five months he was hearing the sound of a London accent.

'Guilty,' she said. 'I almost forgot about that place.'

Minoru was curious about a number of things. Mainly, he was curious as to how such a beautiful woman was spending her time alone in a secluded town when she should be paraded to the world like a magnificent piece of art. On a more realistic note, he was curious as to how she had come to paint this pier in the middle of March, as from what Minoru had noticed so far; older tourists or Italian nationals mainly inhabited the town.

He felt that the socially acceptable order of conversation had been established; he had apologised, they had joked, she had resolved the mess and he was now free to leave. The problem was that didn't want to leave, for he was unsure if he could accidentally on purpose bump into her again, and so he took a deep breath and asked her if she wanted to have lunch with him. It was the most terrifying thing he had done since he had left London five months ago.