Faithful Saturday

When Saturday finally arrived I woke up and a new wave of panic washed over me. This was the day I was going to meet Sophia again and tell her what I wanted to tell her. That I loved her and that I wanted to be loved by her. Or, much worse, she wouldn't show up and I would never see her again, being rejected by the only woman I ever was in love with. I had woken up very early and of course with thoughts like these going around in my head there was no way I would go back to sleep and so I put on some clothes and sat on the balcony that parly explained why the rent was so high. I wished I was smoking for a second because it probably would have made for quite the atmospheric scene but as it was I was reduced to drinking coffee. I was thinking about what I should wear, but since I always had to put on a shirt for work and I liked how they looked on me I almost never wore anything else and it seemed formal enough for what I was about to do. Same went for some suit pants and leather shoes. Maybe I was really a grandpa already.

An hour before noon I finally couldn't take it anymore and left the house. I tried to look my best so I also put on the jacket of my suit, even though I didn't think it would matter, at least I wanted to make sure I could tell myself I tried my best for once. Of course I arrived really early and since I had nothing to do I sat down on the bench I collapsed on when I had given the letter to Daisuke. I hadn't looked into the shop yet and the bench was far away enough that I didn't think anyone in the shop could see me either. Since I didn't know whether Sophia was even working there on the weekend I didn't really know how things would play out. The most likely scenario to me seemed that I was going to the shop at noon and she was there working. Or not, depending on how cruel a fate I was facing. Her not showing up at all was the actually the most likely scenario in my head.

I checked my phone for the time and it was still half an hour until noon, but I was still feeling sick to my stomach as if I was to take an important exam. Only that these never really made me feel anything in the past. Also I never felt that way before any first date. It always seemed so business like to me that it seemed strange that I felt so overwhelmed by my emotions at this moment. Compared to Aoto I wasn't someone who believed in statistics and calculating things too much and I liked to decide on a whim, but Aoto also had described me as stoic before and I certainly understood his perspective, since on the outside I usually never gave away many emotions and frankly I rarely had strong ones I could convey. Telling Kaida that she was a good friend almost counted as an emotional outburst for me. But this girl I barely even knew was enough to bring it all down and make me want to say all sorts of sappy things to her.

When there were only five minutes left until noon I decided that now was the time and I stood up and walked to the flower shop as slowly as I could muster. When I was there I looked into the window and a feeling of disappointment flooded my body as I didn't see Sophia. I didn't even see Daisuke, instead it was a different girl working there I never had seen before. Now the possibility that it was all futile really reared its ugly head and I already didn't know how to process it let alone live with it forever. I must have looked pretty odd just standing there like a pillar of salt unable to move or even form coherent thoughts. When I finally could move again I still didn't know where to go or what to do so I just started to walk into a random direction and at that very moment I could feel something tugging on the sleeve of my jacket, pulling me in the other direction. When I turned around to see who it was I was in for another shock as it was no other then Sophia that had grabbed my sleeve and now started walking away at a brisk pace dragging me along in the process as I did not have the mental capacity to resist anything that was happening right now.

„W-What are you doing?“ was all I could offer as a greeting.

„Just come along. You wanted to talk, right? But not here.“ was her sharp answer.

I wondered how this scene must have looked like to any bystander as Sophia was actually pulling me with a surprising amount of strength whilst refusing to look at me at all. Maybe it gave the impression that she was a long suffering wife dragging home her useless husband from the brothel or gambling hell. Especially since I must have looked somewhat disheveled.

„Where are we going?“ Another attempt at trying to understand the situation.

„You will see when we get there.“ I decided to shut up for now.

We walked for a couple for minutes, me still in tow and I realised where she was taking me, there was a small park not too far from the shop that probably was a good spot to talk. And indeed she went straight to said park and when we entered through the small metal gate she went to one of the benches and sat down, telling me to do the same thing. Then we both sat there for a while in silent.

„So, what is your answer?“ she finally said, in a flat tone of voice.

I was weighing my options on to how to say it and had done so a lot over the past couple days, but I always came to the conclusion that I just had to give a straight forward answer if I had the opportunity to do so.

„Okay, I'm just going to say it. The reason I look at you all the time is because I think you are the prettiest girl I've ever seen and when I walk by the flower shop and see you I can't help but feel like I'm under a spell and I can't look anywhere else. In other words, I like you Sophia. I really do.“

After I said those words the embarassment of what I had just done hit me with full force and my face turned as red as it ever had in my life and I felt like wincing and just lay myself on the floor in a fetal position. The fact that it took her a while to answer didn't improve things. Then she finally answered, but it was in such a faint voice that I didn't think it was meant for me to hear.

„So it actually worked.“ As she said it she looked at the ground infront of her.

„What was that?“ was all I could say and that seemingly induced some panick into her, confirming to me that I wasn't meant to hear it at all.

„Oh, did I say that out loud. Please forget it. It's a secret. Oh, forget that I said that as well...“

Now she looked like she would rather lay on the floor in a fetal position.

Then she suddenly faced me and her flustered face actually looked cuter then ever before.

„I like you, too Sato. I liked you from the first moment I saw you walking by the shop.“

Those words hit me like a lightning strike and I didn't know that mere words could make you feel so happy, but here I was sitting with the girl I desired so much and she just confirmed that she liked me as well.

„That makes me so happy Sophia. I really didn't know how you felt about me after all that happened.“

„I didn't know what to do Sato. You were always just looking at me, but never approached me and I was too scared to do anything.“

„So was I actually. I never would have dared to enter the shop and talk to you. So you coming to the dance class actually made it all happen in the end. By the way, how did you know you would find me there?“

Now Sophia was getting flustered again and it was obvious that she didn't want to talk about it.

„T-that's a secret as well. I know that sounds very weird and I want to tell you the answer one day, but I don't know I can trust you yet, okay? Please don't hate me for it.“

„I don't think I could ever hate you Sophia. If you can't tell me now that's okay. I'm not in any kind of hurry about it.“ She seemed relived by my answer and so we kept sitting together for a while and I was just happy about how everything turned out. All in all it probably couldn't have gone much better.

„Eh Sato, I have to go for now. But I want to meet you again. Maybe we can exchange contact info and arrange something for next weekend? If you want to...“ She seemed to lose steam halfway through that sentence, but that only made it cuter.

„Of course I want to meet you again, next weekend is perfect.“

That suddenly made her smile and I realised that I've never had seen her smile before and it was so beautiful that I could barely comprehend it.

„Thank you so much Sato.“ she exclaimed and then she hugged me tightly and the feel of her warm and soft body was overwhelming. She also smelled really nice and I did think to myself if I would drop dead right now it probably would have all been worth it just for that moment. Then she seemed to realise what she was doing and released me.

„Sorry, I was just so happy right now. Here is my contact info.“ She seemed very flustered again as she held her phone infront of me with an QR code I could scan and as I did so I could see her profile picture was of a sunflower in full bloom.

„Don't worry about it, I'm happy as well. Very happy in fact.“

Then she stood up and smiled at me again.

„Okay Sato, I have to go now. I will text you soon, okay? Goodbye.“ and she waved at me as she walked away. I couldn't really do anything but smile and wave myself until she was finally gone and I just sat on the bench wondering what I just experienced once again.