RELAPSE - Arthur Fleck | Joker FANFIC/LOVE STORY

Chapter 4: Fate

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Anon's POV

I decided it would be best to continue my conversation with Arthur out in the hallway. Surely all of this commotion would make it hard for Sophie's daughter to get to sleep. I had noticed that the walls here were thin. All day I had been hearing everything that the neighbors were doing. Everything. In fact, as Arthur and I stood there, I could hear an argument in an apartment that was directly across the hall.

I took a few steps forward to exit the apartment and gently closed the door behind me. I expected Arthur to take a few steps back as I moved out into the hallway, but he didn't; he just stood there, looking directly into my eyes. Now, I was just inches away from him and the scent of cigarettes took over my senses. It made me crave a smoke. It had been forever since I had one. Having absolutely no money sucks.

He pulled me out of my cigarette thoughts by bringing up his right hand to my face and caressing my left cheek with his thumb, right below my eye. My thoughts and whole body froze by the unwarranted touch. His hand felt much softer than it looked, and I felt the conflicted feelings of enjoying the small action of affection and being horrified that this was coming from someone I didn't know. He couldn't actually think that this was an okay thing to do to a stranger, could he? "I thought your eyes looked different. I didn't know for sure until now," he said with amazement.

"What?" I asked, as if I had completely forgotten that I had one green eye and one blue eye.

"Well, I didn't notice it all the night we first met. Then today, when I saw you in front of Kenny's Music...."

I raised up my hands to stop him from talking, placed them on his chest and gently pushed him back. This forced him to take a few steps back from me so that there was actually a little bit of distance between us, "Wait, what are you talking about? You saw me today? How exactly did that happen? For real, are you following me?" I tried not to sound annoyed, but this was just getting kind of crazy.

He shook his head at me as his hands gently cut through the air in a diagonal, downward motion as if to dash away my last question, "No, ma'am. I'm not following you. You see, I work at Ha Ha's," he paused, "as a clown-for-hire. I do different things depending on the job, but I was the one advertising the sale that Kenny's Music was having." He flashed a huge grin, "Remember?"

It took me about half of a second to remember: This was the clown that was dancing in the busy sidewalk. The one that I laughed for and threw imaginary flowers to. The one I wish I had money for so that I could tip him for his cute little show. Now his clothes looked familiar and his red lips made sense. But why did this man just happen to keep reappearing in my life? Three times in the time span of little over 24 hours...that had to be a record. "So, you are saying we go to the same counseling office, you happened to work on the same street I was walking down and now we are neighbors?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

He placed his hands into his pockets, raised his shoulders, cocked his head to the side and gave me a one-sided smile, "I guess so, yes, that sounds about right."

I stood there for a moment, not sure what else to say. He just kind of stood there, like he was waiting for me to say something else. So, I changed the subject back to what he originally came over for. "Look, Arthur, it was no problem, helping your mother. She is very sweet. But listen to me, Arthur, your mother was freaking out about you and the door was unlocked. I would say that you are lucky that I walked in...and not someone else. Who knows what could have happened."