HER POV
He was there today again. And, again I caught him staring. That man! Pardon me, I'll start from the start, from the very start. -This way you'll be better placed to understand whatever it is I am talking about. --
It all started yesterday, I left the office at my usual time and decided to walk home. A few minutes into my Walk, the first drop of rain hit. Yes, I had seen the clouds and the weather man had said it would rain later today and that's why I left the house with an umbrella. I popped it open and continued with my Walk but the rain grew and I had to find cover to wait it out. I saw a tiny cafe sign a few steps ahead, I quickened my steps and Walked in. An old man by the door pulled the door open and offered to shakes my umbrella. --What a kind man he was--
I had never been to this cafe, it is a fine establishment. --I do not want to bore you with the details of how fine this establishment is. --
Soon as I walked in, my eyes shot to the corner booth of the cafe because I like corner booths. Whenever I go into any establishment, I pray to find the corner booth empty. But not today, today I found it occupied by a man. By God's grace, I found another table, two tables away from the corner booth where the man sat alone. --How sad he must be to be sitting alone in such a fine booth reading a book with a cup of coffee I presume. How terribly sad he must be. --
I sit at the unoccupied table and decide to finish some work from the office as I wait out this rain. The kind waiter suggested that I try their house coffee, I order just that.
As I work, I get a feeling that someone is watching me. --Do not ask me to explain that feeling. --
I look up and to my surprise the man sitting in the corner booth is looking at me. --Or maybe he is just looking at my general direction and not at me. --
Soon as our eyes meet, he quickly shifts his gaze and now I am sure he was looking at me. --I wonder why this sad man was looking at me. Whatever reason could he possibly have for looking at me? --
I watch him for a bit longer, he looks troubled. Mayhap it is because I caught him staring at me. --I am sorry sir, it was never my intention to trouble you. --
I get back to my work and after a while, I get the same feeling that someone is watching me. I look up and just as I had guessed, the sad man is looking at me. This time he doesn't immediately look away, I hold my gaze and after a few seconds he quickly looks away. He looks very uneasy. He intrigues me, this man, and so I look at him for a bit longer. I notice his hand is shaking and I feel horrible for him. He hurriedly gets some money from his wallet which he leaves next to the coffee cup. He collects his book from the table and his bag and he hastily heads for the door, he almost bumped into the waiter who served me. They exchange a few words in French before the sad man makes his way out of the café.
I wonder why he left in such an abrupt manner, although something tells me it is because I caught him staring at me for the second time in one evening. I think about him for a minute longer before he fades from my thoughts and I get back to my work.
The rain completely ceases about half an hour later, after which I pay what I owed and made my way to the door where I thanked the doorman as he handed me my umbrella with a pleasant smile.
PRESENT DAY.
I had no intention of coming back to the café. Mind you, I had no intention of ever going there in the first place, I was forced by the circumstances at the time.
I left the office pretty late today, and on my walk home, I see the café's sign and a voice inside my head tells me to just go in for a cup of coffee. I start walking towards the cozy café and I grow uneasy the closer I get. I do not know what could possibly be the reason of this feeling for I have been to many cafés and not once have I ever had this feeling.
The doorman seems to remember me from the day before because he gives me a smile, such that are given to those whom you are familiar with. He holds the door and I walk in. Immediately, my eyes look at the corner booth. -I don't know if I look to see if the sad man is there or to check if the booth is unoccupied because I like corner booths. –
The sad man is there, with a cup of coffee and a what looks to be like a croissant in front of him, just like yesterday, his head is buried in a book. To my surprise, the table I sat at yesterday is unoccupied, as I begin to walk towards it, the waiter from the day before joins me and greets me in French. I manage a reply in the little French that I know and he chuckles to himself, probably because of how silly I must sound speaking broken French. -Forgive me sir, I am not a French lady. –
I sit and make the same order as I did yesterday. I can't help but look up at the sad man sitting alone in the booth. -Mind you I don't know for certain if he is sad or not. Mayhap he is the happiest man in the world who just enjoys his own company. –
I meet his eyes and he holds my gaze for a little over a second before he turns and looks outside the window next to him. I keep watching him, and I notice he doesn't seem too troubled that I caught him looking at me, unlike yesterday. He is calm and relaxed. I wonder what changed.
This sad man, -please allow me to call him a sad man- puzzles me, genuinely. I keep looking at him thinking… or maybe hoping that he would look at me once again, but he doesn't. Instead, he shifts his gaze from outside the window to his wrist watch, he then retrieves some money from his wallet and places it under his coffee cup. There is a certain sense of calm with him today, yesterday, he fumbled with his wallet and seemed unsettled but not today. Again, I wonder what changed.
I turn my face from his direction to face my cup on the table but watch him from the corner of my eye. I watch as he gets up and starts walking towards and past me. I can tell he wants to look at me as he walks by and this amuses me and forces a smile which I think he might have caught.
After the sad man leaves, the waiter walked to his table and I notice him sorting out the cash from under the cup. He then takes a portion of it and places it inside his pocket and I assume that was a tip left by the sad man because the waiter did the same with the tip I gave him yesterday. Now I know that the man who sits at the corner booth is a kind man.
A sad, kind man.
Following the intrigue sparked by this stranger man, I have decided I will come back to this café tomorrow and the day after and the day after that, just so I can see what he is about. I hope he comes, how sad and unfortunate it would be for me to come and he doesn't.