The Bench Did Not Expect to Become the Heroine of Story

The first thing he saw was her gaze, full of emptiness. Then that young man felt something strange, like a sudden desire to take an interest in life and other people again. He couldn't remember when, after leaving the office, he cared about something other than a meal, a shower, and going to bed. If only falling asleep weren't so difficult for him and he didn't have to worry about not oversleeping for work the next day. Maybe a routine that he hated more and more with each passing day wouldn’t absorb all of his energy.

He was roused from a lethargy by a light thud from passing coworkers. A quick apology, and a glance to see if she had noticed the small commotion just a few meters away. The girl actually peeked before staring into space again. He looked around, because of a sudden thought that her image was a hallucination caused by exhaustion, or maybe it was the beginning signs of some illness. But passing people pointed at her and made poor attempts to hide their comments about her behavior. It was then that he noticed that the girl had one hand tightly clenched around the handle of a medium-sized suitcase and was dressed too lightly for this time of year.

A foreigner, no wonder she aroused interest. He took a step towards her, and then realized that even if he wanted to help her, he didn't even know if Japanese would work. English! Hope died as quickly as it had appeared. A blankness in his head, all the words forgotten, grammar ceased to exist, and yet legs carried him on by themselves. That man tried to force himself to think, to open a dictionary tab in his brain. He regretted that he hadn't simply turned around and gone home; normally he would have ignored such a situation, but here it was as if he had lost control of himself.

“I'm sorry,” he began timidly in English, but she didn't react. “I'm sorry.” The repetition was needed so that she would look at him at all. “Do you need help?” He found no understanding in her reaction, so he began to nervously blurt out random words that were suddenly remembered by his brain. “Food? Taxi? Hotel? Lost? Hungry? Cold?”

As he spoke, he could see her gaze initially filled with shock, which, with each subsequent word he tried so hard to recall, changed to fear. Normally, he would be proud of himself; after all, he had started a conversation in a foreign language with a stranger. The man considered himself an introvert and incapable of such actions, and spontaneous ones at that.

The girl stood up, forcing him to take a step back, and began to walk away at a brisk pace, almost running. He reached out his hand to stop her, still lamely explaining that he only wanted to help. He had the impression that she would start running, just to get as far away from him as possible, and he felt that curious glances were starting to slide over him as well. That kind, young man hung his head, wanting to blend in and pretend that he wasn't involved in this awkward situation at all.

After a few steps, he turned around, certain that he would never see her again, but they almost collided. The young woman did indeed run away at first. However, when she realized that the man who had spoken to her was not following her with evil intentions, she decided that it might be worth taking him up on the offer. Still, she was afraid to shout after the man, lest she draw additional attention, so she started following him, trying to catch up and accost him from a shorter distance.

She almost fell over in surprise, but managed to keep her balance, inwardly thanking for the flats. He reached out to catch her, then pulled his hand back, cursing silently for making a fool of himself. They stared at each other for a moment, each convinced that all the decisions they had made in the last few minutes had been a manifestation of a mental blackout.

“Hotel?” Her voice was quiet, but it seemed loud enough to drown out everything else. “Do you know where the nearest hotel is?”

It took him a moment to realize that firstly he understood the question in English, and secondly that he knew the answer. He nodded enthusiastically and pointed in the direction he was heading anyway. He asked her to follow him, because he was afraid that even if he explained the way to her, she wouldn't find the right one. The road to the hotel and a train station corresponded in greater part, so he would follow the girl for a while anyway, and that would only arouse her suspicions.

She didn't fully trust him anyway; she kept a few steps behind him, looking around for any danger or signs that he was leading her somewhere unpleasant. He even liked that, because it wasn't as awkward as if they were walking arm in arm, and he would be struggling with finding the right words to start and then continue the conversation.

A lot of questions were going through his mind. From the important, like What happened that she found herself in such a situation, to the completely trivial, as What is your name? He didn't need information, considering that they were probably seeing each other for the first and last time in their lives, but curiosity was not easy to ignore. After all, he turned around several times with the intention of starting a conversation, but her restless aura made him not gather the courage. At that moment, she did not want to make any interpersonal contact.

The ten-minute walk that separated them from their destination had a strange atmosphere. The wheels of the suitcase rattled rhythmically and caused no problems, as if they did not want to cause more trouble for their owner. The city, on the other hand, did not care about the concerns of ordinary people; it had its own rhythm and did not intend to change it. It lent an ear to the steps of people dreaming of returning home, their sighs filled with tiredness, thoughts full of duties and daily small plans, making sure that they did not lack light. After all, it also lived to the fullest in the evenings and never fell asleep completely.

“This is it,” he announced proudly as his companion caught up with him.

“Thank you.” A faint but grateful smile appeared on the girl's face after she had taken a few seconds to examine the building.

Awkwardness laced with fear, heated with intrigue in the haze of the randomness of the meeting of these two people, rendered that no words of farewell were spoken, because there were none in greeting either. Each went their separate ways, although neither wanted to part in such silence. And just as the city refused to fall asleep, so did their minds.