Unsavable

.6.

My weekend was uneventful. I spent most of my time snuggled up in bed eating some food that I had delivered. I barely moved around my apartment and fortunately this allowed my body to get better.

By the time my irritating alarm went off on Monday morning, I again lacked the motivation to move. After a minute or two of listening to its frustrating tune I finally gave up and reached an arm out to turn it off.

I left my apartment about 45 minutes later and as I was leaving the building, I got a phone call from my boss.

"Debra, I'm not going into the office today. Please clear my schedule." He hung up. Rude as usual.

The day suddenly got a little better for me. If Kyle Jones was not going to be in, it meant I myself could get away with not being in. I could work from elsewhere.

Thinking this, I realised that I had put far to much effort in to get out of bed this morning and it would be pointless for it to go to waste. I decided to go to one of the more outer, quieter areas of the busy city, catching a lift on the subway to get there.

I found my favourite breakfast café and seated myself in my usual spot tucked away quietly in the corner. It was not awfully busy, with only a few customers and the strong smell of coffee and tea prominent in the air.

I ordered myself something and pulled out my laptop to begin doing some work. It was work that was actually Kyle's which he was not bothered the slightest in even attempting it so dumped it with me.

I sat comfortably for a good two hours or so completing my work in silence, undisturbed. Unbeknownst to me, the entire time someone had been watching me.

As I was getting ready to leave I was approached. She was a lot shorter than me, had big fashionable nerdy glasses and shoulder length brown hair tucked partially under a beanie.

"Excuse me, sorry to bother you but I wanted to give you this."

She held out an A4 piece of paper, slightly torn on the side as if to show it had been gently ripped out of a book.

A little confused, I slowly took it from her and gazed at its contents only there was no content. It was a sketch.

Rough pencil lines outlined by a black fine liner. Subtle cross hatching was evident in the form of shading. The style was a type of unique realism yet for some reason I felt like I had seen this type of style somewhere before.

What took me by surprise was that the sketch was of a girl staring blankly at her laptop that sat on the table before her. A lot of detail was on the face particularly the eyes. The sketch was of me.

I looked up from the sketch to the girl. She gave a small almost sad smile.

"It was your eyes, they reminded me of someone. You both give off a similar feeling. I'm sorry if I offended you or anything by drawing you but I thought it would be at least right to give it to you."

"Thank you. You are really talented. How much do I owe you for this?" I expressed my gratitude. I had never been drawn by someone before, I felt honoured that someone had taken their time do this.

Her eyes widened. Her hands waved about slightly in front of her chest as if to say no. "Please, I do not wish for any payment. Take it as a gift."

I gave her a small smile and looked down at the once picture again. I noticed that she had signed the bottom right corner of the page. Azu. That seems familiar.

I looked up to ask the girl who she is but unfortunately she had already left. She had silently slipped away as if she was never here.

I slightly frowned before grabbing my things and leaving the café. I slowly made my way back to the underground station.

On the train I glanced at the sketch again. I could not seem to put my finger on why something about its style and the artist's name was so familiar. It was starting to become irritating to say the least.

I decided to pull out my phone and search up the artist's name, unfortunately that moment the train arrived at its destination.

I started making my way out of the station but did not put my phone down as at that moment the results came through.

Azu

Famous unidentified artist. Their unique style is often displayed in art galleries throughout the world...

Blah blah blahh.

"Lost in the crowd" - painting sold for 250 thousand.

"Crying sky" - pastel sketch valued at 325 thousand.

"Hidden Pride" - pastel sketch sold for 562 thousand.

...

My eyes widened. Of course. I have seen one of her artworks on hanging in Kyle's office. He was bragging about it for a good week. I was well aware that it had cost an absolute fortune. I never really understood that part about art.

Now that I had done some research, I could not believe that I had met the artist behind the success, even more unbelievable was that she had drawn me.

Not concentrating, I walked right into someone. My phone was knocked out my hand and hit the pavement below me.

The person who I had bumped into unfortunately was holding a few documents which also hit the ground and began to scatter.

Immediately I crouched down to help gather the pages that the wind was attempting to carry away.

"I am so sorry." I apologised.

The person had crouched down with me and was trying to save their lost documents.

"No, it was my fault. I was not concentrating." Upon hearing their awfully famillar voice I looked up.

"William?" I voiced in confusion.

"Andrea." He simply acknowledged my presence seemingly unbothered.

I handed him the last page and he stood up offering a hand to help me rise back up which I took.

"I think this is yours." He handed me my phone.

"Thank you." I gently took it from him, our fingers slightly brushing with the exchange, a weird feeling.

Upon a quick inspection, I concluded that luck was on my side since my phone was not cracked the slightest, thank goodness.

"How are you feeling?" William asked.

"Much better, thank you. I'm so sorry for causing all the trouble that I seem to around you." I gave him a small regretful look.

"That's good to hear," a sly playful smile formed on his lips, "and if you really want to apologise for all the emotional and physical pain and financial debt you have caused this poor soul-"

I could not help but roll my eyes and give a blank stare at his overly dramatic yet teasing speech.

"- then join me for lunch since I'm free right now."