Chapter 1

I spent the whole evening lying on my bed, holding her phone and wondering why she had sneaked it into my bag when I left for the bathroom. I stared at it, overwhelmed by the fact that someone I had just met actually wanted to speak to me in the first place.

Of course, it was all my fault. I shouldn’t have bumped into her to begin with, but when I did, and with rising panic started to apologise, she just smiled and invited me to a nearby café.

Why couldn't she just have left me alone? The idea of spending time with a stranger almost gave me a panic attack, but my inability to say no was even worse than my social skills, so I somehow agreed to come with her despite my wish to disappear or at least become invisible.

Even if we worked in the same company, she was still a total stranger, and I had no idea what she did or even what her name was. Hence, there was no reason for us to socialise at all. An accidental bump wasn’t a strong enough excuse, especially considering the fact that it was I who had hit the floor while she was fine.

At least she was the quiet type, so she didn’t overwhelm me in the first 10 seconds of us sitting down by the table. For some bizarre reason, she even seemed amused when, terrified by the silence, I started to babble about the custom integration I was currently working on.

When we finally left the café and went our separate ways, I was so stressed out that I didn't even remember her name, which sometimes happened to me. That didn’t bother me too much, though. We worked in different departments, so the chances of ever meeting her again were slim, and even if I did, I could just say “Hi” and be on my way.

It was late in the evening when, while searching for something in my bag, I found her phone. I instantly knew it was hers, I had seen it lying next to her teacup as we sat in the café. It was an older model, and it really didn’t fit her outfit or position, so it caught my attention.

I couldn’t figure out why she had done it, and in the end, I must have fallen asleep still holding it in my hand because the next thing I remembered was being woken up by its ringing.

I sat up with rising panic and stared at the screen.

What should I do? What should I do? I started to fiddle with the ringing machine, hoping it would stop. But it didn’t, and flooded with anxiety, I dropped it on my pillow. Somehow, that made it accept the incoming call, and the next thing I heard was her voice booming through the speaker.

“Hi, Amy… How are you?”

My mind froze, and I just stared at the device lying on the bed.

“Amy..? Are you there…? Amy…?”

I hoped she would give up and end the call, but she didn’t, and I began to wonder if she maybe had put her phone into my bag by mistake after all, and now she called to get it back. I could see myself committing such a mistake if I interacted with more people around me. The thought was so embarrassing that she immediately got my sympathy.

I really didn’t want anyone to go through such an experience longer than necessary. With a pang of fear, I took the phone into my hands.

“H-hi”, I whispered.

“Are you okay…?”, she asked.

“Y-yes… I-I have your phone...”

My mind began to spin, trying to remember her name. It would be so awkward if she noticed that I had forgotten it.

“I know ”, I could hear her chuckle. “I slipped it into your bag.”

“What?... Why?...”

So, my trying to be nice and trying to save her some embarrassment had been in vain after all? If I had known that, I would never have answered her call and just brought her phone to work and given it to someone else to deal with it. Dealing with stuff like this wasn’t part of my job description.

“Would you have called me if I gave you my number?”, she asked.

Of course not, but that was no reason for slipping the phone into my bag. She must take my silence as confirmation because she said,

“You see, I didn’t have any other choice.”

I sighed. She was even weirder than I was.

“D-don't worry, I will bring it with me to work tomorrow and leave it at the security desk so you can have it back whenever you want.”

I said it all in one breath and then gasped for air, my anxiety skyrocketing through the roof. I was sure that if this conversation went on any longer, I would have a stroke.

I hung up on her and collapsed on my bed. Having a chat with some random weirdo was the last thing I needed tonight. I pulled the blanket over my head and tried to relax when the phone rang again. I covered it with my pillow, but it didn’t help, and I still could hear the soft melody ringing in the air.

“Ugh… Why?”

What else did she want from me? The ringing soon began to drive me insane, and I considered throwing her phone through the window. But no. If I were to do that, I would need to explain to her what had happened to it. Thinking about that conversation made me so anxious that I discarded the idea immediately.

I sighed. What other choices did I have than to answer it and have some weird conversation until she felt satisfied? I only hoped it would not be a long one. I took a deep breath and picked up the phone..

“Hi…”

“Amy… What happened? You just disappeared, are you okay?”

“Y-yeah…”, I managed to whisper.

“So.. Shall we go out somewhere at the weekend?”

It was so unexpected that I responded with “Y-yeah” rather than with any of the excuses I had prepared for this kind of situation. Getting invited somewhere was so rare that I had probably gotten a bit rusty with those answers.

Crap, what had I said yes to?