On a seemingly ordinary summer day, timid Alice Gardner crosses paths with Kai Anderson, a notorious figure in their small town. As serendipitous encounters bring them together, they find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other, driven by a mutu...
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Who would've guessed that Kai and Alice would, once again, meet at the convenience store?
It was as if their meetings were planned—with how frequent they have been bumping unto each other in certain places—when they actually weren't.
Kai was slurping his extra spicy noodles when he caught sight of her bending over the ice cream fridge. She was wearing a large white hoodie with her hair in a ponytail.
"Peanut!"
Being the jumpy person she was, Alice flinched when she heard of the pet name. She searched for the origin of the voice with a chocolate-flavored popsicle in her hand.
Kai gestured her to come to him. She immediately did after paying for her treat.
"What's with all the nicknames?" She sat at her usual spot—the stools with the long table by the window overlooking the empty parking lot outside.
"Is it starting to get annoying?"
She shook her head and opened the popsicle's packaging, "Not really, I'm just, uh . . . W–Why peanut exactly?"
Kai grinned widely, "'Cause you look like one."
Alice still didn't get what he meant. Is it the same with the tangerine one before?
After slurping some of the hot orange-colored spicy soup of his instant noodles, Kai drank from his bottled water. Alice was watching his every move carefully, waiting for him to speak.
"You're a small living creature. You're like the size of a peanut."
Alice barely considered herself a short person since she's like, what, five feet five inches? There were other people out there who are way shorter than she was.
But of course, for someone like Kai who was probably five feet eleven inches, she's considered short.
Alice just shrugged it off and proceeded to eat her ice cream.
"Wanna play a game?" The guy beside her suggested.
"Game?"
"Twenty questions."
"Pfft!"
Alice isn't exactly the type of person who's into small talk or sharing bits of her life to people she only had recently known—even those she's close with for that matter—but she figured that the game with Kai would be harmless. He doesn't seem like the sort to stick his nose into other people's businesses, even if he babbles a lot. Besides, he might forget about it soon anyway.
"You start."
"What? Why me?" Alice furrowed her brows, "You suggested it!"
"Come on! Just tell me the first thing that pops in your mind."
"Fine." She grumbled, "Favorite color?"
"Wow." Kai almost choked on his food, "Now that's unexpected."
Alice frowned, embarrassed. "Just answer!"
"Blue. You?"
"Yellow."
"Okay." Kai sat up straight, almost finishing his ramen. "My turn. What kind of person are you attracted to?"
The girl blinked at him, not expecting the specific question he threw at her.
"Hmm . . . Someone who feels genuine. Your turn."
"Hey! That's too vague!"
Alice bore her eyes on Kai, not willing to make her answer any clearer.
"Someone with substance, I guess?" Kai drank his water again, "That's two down."
"Okay. Favorite movie?"
Kai scratched his head, "'Catch Me If You Can'. You know, you should ask actual questions. 'What is your favorite' questions are crap!"
"That's too hard!" She complained, halfway through finishing her delicacy.
"The hell? It's not! Just take your time to think. No one's chasing after you."
Alice pouted with her shoulders slouching. She looked around the place for some kind of inspiration.
"Do you believe in an alternate universe?" Alice never thought she'd think of something like that for a game of 'twenty questions'.
"Now that's more like it!" Kai laughed, "No I don't. YOLO." He raised his hand and did the shaka sign, waving it in front of her face.
"Well, I do." Alice mumbled, "Your turn."
"What is one thing you fear the most?"
Once again, Alice was taken aback. She appeared to be conflicted on what to do. Joke about it as some sort of defense mechanism or answer truthfully?
She took a quick look at his dark, brown eyes, as if searching for an answer. They were determined and unwavering; like a storm that shall ravish anything that comes its way.
Something about it felt so nostalgic for her—like a vivid, split-second memory of dark mahogany furniture and a woman's laughter.
Laughter that seemed to have descended from the heavens.
Before Kai could even discern the moment her eyes started to falter, Alice diverted them back at her ice cream and what's left of it.
" . . . Not being accepted." She answered hesitantly, noticing how Kai looked intently at her after she responded.
It was one of the many things that frightened her.
"How about you? What are you afraid of?"
Kai regretted asking the instant it came out of his mouth.
He should've known better not to come up with things he himself was reluctant of answering. He didn't even know why he said it in the first place when he was trying his best avoiding those sorts of questions.
Maybe, just maybe, some part of him wanted to.
Non! Rien de rien . . .
The noises were starting to come.
"That question, and what proceeds right after."
"What do you mean?"
Non! Jeneregretterien
"Nothing." His fingertips turned cold, lips trembling. "It's . . . It's getting late. For now, it's a secret."
