Breathe, breathe, breathe!" shrieked a shrill voice. Lucinda woke up with a gasp, her lungs burned like it was filled up with water and the pressure was about to crush her windpipe. The pressure was about to compress her lungs, her chest rising in a crescendo. She couldn't control it. She woke up to another horrible dream, wondering why she keeps having them, longing for an ignorant, peaceful sleep.
Staring at the clock beside her bed, she realizes it's 7am, and she needs to hurry-up and get ready for work. She jumps out of bed but trips over the bedpost and falls to the floor with a loud thud. Wincing due to the impact she made with the ground, she sits up and massages her cheeks and knees, using her other hand to drag her towel off the chair beside the bed when her phone rang out, she stretched from where she was and managed to get her phone that was also on the chair.
Yuri's name was boldly flashing on the phone when she finally picked the call, "Don't tell me you're still in bed!" Yuri yelled from the other end of the phone.
Lucinda jerked back at Yuri's loud shout, "ease up! I was about to take a shower when your call came in," she grumbled, getting to her feet and rubbing her butt to ease the pain and shock….
Dashing out of the shower, Lucinda pulled on a pair of black pants, a white tee and black sneakers. Dragging her mini wallet, phone and her own spare key to the front door of the house. She scurried down the stairs without bothering if she tripped over anything; she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a fresh warm toast of her mother's plate. "Where are you heading?" her mother asked, puzzled, forgetting she was supposed to be at the bakery.
"Work," she uttered, draining the glass of juice and also trying to swallow what was left of the toast in her mouth.
"At least have breakfast before leaving."
"No, I can't, I'm already late, I need to go," she shouted out, with some toast still in her mouth, running out of the house to catch the 7:45 am bus.
This gesture made her remember when Lucinda was small and always talked and chewed back then. Mrs. Hayashi smiled softly, knowing she'd made the right choice. She knew she'd brought joy to her dull existence.
***
On the way to the train station, Yuri called Lucinda, " Babe, can you get me a coffee? I promise to pay you back when you get here and hurry before chubby Yasuke gets to work."
Lucinda giggled, "Don't let him hear you," then Yuri cut off the call, steering towards the coffee shop close to the train station. On getting the coffee, she got to the station on time. She was lucky to get the ticket. However, the line at the coffee shop was rather long, and she was the 13th person in the queue.
She made it in time to get on the train before the doors closed; she breathed out a sigh of relief, and sat on the nearest seat close to her, pulling on her earphones, scrolling through her phone to see what to listen to, trying to ignore some stares she felt uncomfortable with, due to her skin color…..
Lucinda walked in through the back door of the bakery. "where's He?" she asked, breathing fast, dropping the coffee she held on the table in the workers' break room.
"Did you run down? You're out of breath, Yuri said, stating the obvious, even if she was the one that sent Lucinda on a mini errand.
She threw an accusing glare at Yuri. "No, I flew down," she replied sarcastically, changing into her bakery uniform and packing her hair as well.
"I'm sorry and thank you and Yasuke hasn't come to work yet, so you're safe," she said, taking the coffee.
As she was about to walk out of the break room, she turned back. "I also checked in for you earlier, don't worry about it."
Lucinda was grateful. 'At least you did something meaningful,' she murmured, walking out at the same time Yuri did…..
The day had gone by so fast and the bakery looked less busy, like it had in the morning. This is because their bakery sold the most delicious pastries in town and it was always recommended to tourists, hence the crowd, during the morning and afternoon hours. They were about to round up when Kei walked in. He smiled and waved at Yuri, who tapped Lucinda in excitement.
"Your prince charming is here. Maybe I should jump in front of a truck to get mine," Yuri whispered excitedly, still tapping Lucinda's arm. She was well aware of Kei since he walked in, but Yuri was making it so obvious and she was trying to act chill without letting him know it.
He walked up to her. "Hi, can I get tiramisu with a milkshake?" He asked. Lucinda nodded her head and put down his order.
As he whispered to her, "Can I get a free yes to dinner when you close?" she paused for a moment, smiling to herself, and she wanted to say yes at once, but she had to calm her emotions before responding.
"Your order will soon be ready," she replied coolly, well aware she was still at work and couldn't let any emotions show through. He gave up trying to get her to talk to him. That's when he noticed a napkin she'd passed to him saying, 'I'll give you an answer when you've gotten your order.' Smiling at the message, he takes the napkin along and takes a sit at the table beside the glass…. Lucinda went over to him with his order and she replied, "Here you go sir, and I'll go, but it will have to wait until after work." She smiled as she said it, not wanting to cast off a poor impression, before she could walk- away, Kei quickly grabbed her right hand, remembering he never asked for her name.
She looked at him, wondering what's going on, "sorry I never got your name," he said, not trying to come off awkward.
She chuckled lightly, "Lucinda," she replied, he let her hand go, and she went back to work.
Kei had to wait for her outside while she was closing up with her fellow workers. He looked at his wristwatch. '8:30pm,' he muttered to himself, not wanting to make it look like he was eager to take her to dinner…. She'd finally walked out by 8:15. "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't keep you out for too long," she said, shivering due to the slight cold on a summer evening.
"No, it's okay. Are you ready?" he asked, making sure she was done. She nodded her head in response. They walked down to the place he had in mind in silence. It wasn't far from where Lucinda worked, but it was a couple of blocks away and it was walking distance.
Kei felt uncomfortable with the silence and wanted to get some information from her. He couldn't get carried away with the thought of having dinner with her. It would take time to gain her trust in the process, so he asked if she was okay, not wanting to sound awkward by asking about her mother.
Thanks to you, I'm still alive," she said, smiling at him with gratitude. They got to the restaurant, he'd already booked a space for them. The receptionist led them to their room and passed over the menus.
The receptionist left them, the silence still lingered on, the only thing to be heard was the pages of the menus being turned, it was mind bugging. "So, how have you been doing as well?" Lucinda asked, not wanting to let the silence linger on any longer.
Kei was about to answer when a knock came through the door. The assigned waiter walked in with a notepad, ready to take their orders. "I'll have some tonkatsu, miso soup and yakult," Lucinda replied, feeling hungry from all the work she'd done with no break today.
"I'll have what she's having," Kei said, chuckling at Lucinda's order, falling in love with her more. Unlike the other girls his mother introduced him to, he likes a woman who isn't afraid of her appetite. 'Dude, you're on a mission,' he calmly muttered to himself. The waiter took down their orders and left.
"Enormous appetite for a girl."
"Excuse me." Lucinda looked at him, slightly offended by what he'd said.
Kei had seen the hurt pass through her eyes. " Uh, no, that's not what I meant, I'm so sorry," he said, fumbling for the words, feeling guilty for making a statement like that. Lucinda still looked at him, waiting for an explanation.
He took a deep breath, looking for the right words. "I meant that I like girls who aren't scared to eat a lot of food and they have a nice appetite." He smiled awkwardly at her, hoping that she'd understand him. Lucinda was at a loss for words, but she smiled at him and laughed because of how guilty he looked.
"So, I'm safe?" he asked, just to be sure she understood.
"yes, yes, you're safe," she giggled out, breathed a sigh of relief. 'one point for him' he thought to himself for making her laugh.
****
As the evening progressed, the silence also disappeared. Kei had escorted her to her front door, not knowing what else to do, he patted her on the head, "Goodnight," he called behind him, as he walked down the street to get a taxi…..