[What are you having for dinner?]
"I haven't decided yet. What do you want to eat?
[I think lasagna would be a good idea.]
"Then let's go for it." A tall woman, with her silky long white hair done into a low messy bun, conversed with a recording dated 5 years ago. She still remembered the conversation as if it was yesterday. Why wouldn't she? Of course, it was with her first and only love of her life, whom she craved to meet again since the day they parted.
With no one else at her table, she sat at the far right end of the restaurant on a table which could be termed as the most secluded spot compared to others.
Not many noticed the girl until she stood up and joined the queue at the counter. Removing the ear buds from her ears, she examined the fancy menu which hung from the ceiling. Soon, the remaining two closed counters opened for business and the long line split like beans into three almost equal lines.
The woman stepped forward in the same queue and waited for her turn.
"What would you like to order, Ma'am?," The cashier asked with a plastered smile.
"One of today's special Lasagna, please." A familiar voice from her right snatched these words right out of her mouth before she could speak them out.
Astonished, she immediately turned to her right, eyeballing at the man who uttered those words.
"That's it. Also, it's a takeaway." That man lifted his wrist to pay the bill via his smartwatch. Ignoring the woman on his left, he typed the pin and got out of the line to wait for his order.
Her heart thumped aloud and her breath deepened. As if she had seen a ghost, not even her eye batted until the man, who was shorter than her, vanished out of sight. Unknowingly, her lips, and eyes stretched wide, unlike the fake smile of the man behind the counter. After all, she found the person she starved for.
People behind the woman started hinting her to get done with her order, but she ignored them. She needed time to calm her heart and think rationally. Right now, all she wanted to do, was jump straight onto that man's arms and never let go of him.
But her conflicted mind held her back. Now, she was afraid to meet him. Being sure that the man still remembered and hated her, even after all these years.
Stepping out of the line without ordering anything, she saw him sitting at her table spot. Taking out her phone, she took a picture of him and sent it to someone, who replied back with his details in a minute. Still standing in his blind spot, she read the message.
"Lynn Cook" She raised her eyebrows at the name she knew definitely was made up.
"Raging Fried Frog, wut?" Chuckling softly, trying not to attract his attention, she went through all the information there was about him on the internet. But none of it could satisfy her hunger. The only one who could fulfill it, sat there, surfing through the internet.
Sitting in a chair beside her, she ravaged him with her eyes. That poor man who read the headlines of the day didn't have the slightest idea of what was happening to him in her imagination.
Her hands itched to touch him, but she held herself with all her might. She can't lose it now. A plan is what she needs the most at this moment, but she couldn't think straight as long as he was within her sight. Every time she thought of a plan, it ended up with him somehow leaving her at the end, only to get locked up somewhere with her, and, he is unhappy at the end.
"All I want is to make you happy, my happiness is in your happiness." This wasn't the first time she uttered these words, but, it was the first time not facing him. And she meant each and every word she said.
She took one more picture of him and sent a message to someone with the location attached and some text instructions.
Being as beautiful as she was, people started to gather around her, trying to steal glances without her knowing. Some people interrupted by coming in front of her sight, but she shooed them away with her finger mercilessly.
The order was ready, and the man's name was called aloud, to which he stood up and walked towards the takeaway counter to receive his order packed in a paper bag. He didn't even at least once glance at the woman who watched each and every movement of his.
'Now' she whispered to her watch and a screeching sound was audible from outside, followed by loud sounds of people yelling, running and objects crashing. There was a mini havoc for a minute before, things calmed down, and the woman stepped outside the empty restaurant before the police could arrive.
"He is knocked out in the back seat, just as you instructed, ma'am." A rough looking man from the 'Bad beavers' asked, opening the car door to show a wounded but knocked out man.
"Why is he bleeding?"
"He was a struggler, I had a hard time getting a hold of him. Things went a bit out of control, and he might have killed the other..." He tried to explain the situation to her, but stopped mid-way when he felt her finger against his stomach.
"I know you didn't do anything wrong, but you hurt him and I don't like it." As soon as she completed this sentence, he dropped dead on the pavement like a fly.
The expensive looking car moved as soon as she sat in the backseat, passionately stroking the head of an unconscious man in her lap.
------------------
--Did he wake up?
-Not yet ma'am.
The branch leader of the bad beavers typed as soon as he received her message.
"one. two. three.......twelve. This is the sixteenth time in the past hour." he whispered to his right-hand woman with a stressed expression.
"Shall I just wake him up?" the stout woman standing on his right asked.
"Yes.... No wait, he is moving." As soon as he saw a movement in the unconscious Lynn, he texted back to the woman who stressed him out at that moment.
--You remember what to say, right?
-Yes ma'am.
--If you mess this up, you are dead.
Even the strongest among the Siris city's 'Bad Beaver' branch sweated at her words.
-Ok ma'am
--Turn the light off when I count down to 0
-Ok ma'am
Gino knelt on the bloodied ground asking questions which nobody answered, while a woman in long white hair wearing a white gown jumped behind the curtains in excitement and anxiety.
--3
--2
--From the starting again
--3
--2
--From 10 this time, 3 is too short. I have to ready my heart. After all I am getting married today.
--10
--9
--8
--I am starting fresh from 14, since it was the date we first met.
--14
--13
--I think starting the countdown from 16 would be better, because it was the date we had our first meal together.
--16
--15
This went on for an hour until she finally typed 0 and the leader handed his phone to the woman to his right.
--------------
Everyone laughed at the name of their small group, everyone except for that one woman who was about to be married this day.
With her hands behind her back, she held a case with a pair of simple looking wedding rings, which she bought from a known seller who went by the name 'Gino' and lived in the neighboring 'Hiris City'.
The small jerk on Lynn's knees caught the woman's attention, and she bolted towards his direction, appearing in front of Lynn before anyone realized she had vanished from the stage.
As Lynn looked up towards the woman's face, their eyes meeting each other at a close distance, she felt truly happy. All her restraints broke loose, and she went for it.
Lifting him up onto his toes, she kissed him.