Impromptu

Matchmaker.

“How was your meeting?” A familiar soothing voice floated from the receivers end to Anwar’s ear. He sighed in relief as he heard his mother and it seemed to wrap around him, giving him a homely atmosphere. 

“It was rather horrible I’d say.” His finger traced the rim of his empty glass of lemonade as he continued, “I don’t want to talk about it mum. I miss you.” 

An attractive man slouched around the corner of the bar; sitting alone and talking to someone on the phone made a lot of the females take notice of him. It almost seemed unusual for them to take in such an event and they whispered and giggled about the man. 

But Anwar had withdrew from his surroundings again. He never was keen to observe an environment that seemed to give no purpose. Of course this one did give him some amount of it but he didn’t seem interested to grab an opportunity. 

“Miss you too Anwar. So when are you coming back?” His mum asked and after a short pause she said, “You said your flight is still due two months.” 

To say Anwar was confident that he would be handed over the project was putting it mildly. He had not only worked hard for it but also sacrificed a lot of his other projects to focus solely on this. He had pre-booked his return ticket to home as well, as he would have stayed for a few months if he was successful, before heading back to London. 

“I want to return as soon as possible but I cannot.” He combed his dark hair with his fingers and slightly tugged at them in annoyance. 

“That statement is too self-conflicting isn’t it? And it is okay dear. Take your time.” 

“Yeah mum. I have to finish a piece of work as well. Now I don’t know what I’ll be doing for two whole months after I am—“ 

Anwar stopped himself from speaking further as he noticed the girl from yesterday that made him forget about his sunken mood. 

Emilia. 

His mind instantly drew her name from his still fresh memory and he silently mouthed the word before he could even realise. 

“You’re talking about work again.” His mothers voice brought him back to his senses and she continued not quite knowing that her son was already distracted, “You are in one of your favourite cities. Go out and explore alright?” 

“Yes you’re right mum. I should go out and explore. I got to go. But I’ll call again.” 

“Okay take care of yourself.” 

“You too.”

Anwar had occupied a booth that was situated to the right of the bar counter. Emilia and her friend had settled onto the table for two which was placed in front of it.

He considered then reconsidered to approach her, and after much inner turmoil, he ultimately abandoned his seat and walked up to the bar and sat on the stool facing the counter. It almost felt like positioning himself near Emilia was better than sitting far away from her. 

He had attained a sense of comfort around her and thus placing himself inside her radius made him feel a bit better. 

Even when his rational part of mind was clueless and dumbfounded of his actions, somewhere deep down he knew that would have been the reason. 

He looked down at his now ordered glass of lime and soda and he was drinking as he sat there, questioning his former act when he heard her speak. 

“It was terrible! I mean I thought it was going all well and that God loves me but then.....Wait you remember Sheila?” Her voice went from wobbly to interrogative in an instant. It belonged to the one Anwar had just vacated his seat for. 

“The blonde who said she’d send her boyfriend instead?” The hazel-eyed girl who sat across Emilia asked to clear her doubts. 

“Right, her.” Her friend confirmed. 

“I mistook this British dude for her boyfriend and he didn’t even correct me until the actual guy showed up and to make it worse he threw these history questions at me.” She spoke in a complaining tone, expecting a response full of amenity and warmth. 

When her friend raised a brow at her instead, Emilia understood what she wanted to hear and to eliminate her doubt, she continued, “Fine, I didn’t have the proper answers or whatever to his questions about ‘Brokay’ architecture but I did respond to him anyways I promise. It’s just, why is it so bothering?” She questioned as she quaffed a can of Schwechater. 

Emilia wasn’t one to sit around and talk about men. Sure she did build castles in the air back in her hometown but none of them included a prince charming. And yet here she was, bothered by and brooding over this for the thousandth time. 

“I mean if he knew the facts then why did he...” Emilia could not seem to register the conduct of the dark-haired man as much as she could not fathom her own. 

“What was his name?” Her friend with hazel eyes inquired. 

“Don’t know. Never asked.” Emilia shrugged nonchalantly but deep down she had speculations about his identity. 

“Way to go Emilia. You can’t even put this guy to rest. So how will you even report him to the cops?” Her friend asked sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. 

“Shut up. Maybe I should get you locked up for ‘being the cause of trouble and humiliation for a friend’ right Stace?” Emilia shot a comeback at her friend’s remark. 

“It would’ve saved you the trouble if you didn’t talk s**t to my tourists. I mean what in the world is ‘Brokay’? I thought you were smarter than that!” Stace, as denoted by Emilia earlier, snickered at her friend’s comical story. 

“Bro, okay. It wasn’t my best day.” Emilia responded , noticing the empty beer cans, she continued, “I’ll get us some more drinks and then enlighten you with my knowledge.” 

She stood up and walked towards the bar counter. The sound of her heels going louder made Anwar realise that she was walking towards him. He stooped down into his freshly ordered glass of bitter lemon to keep him subtly unnoticeable. 

Why am I hiding ? 

His rational part kept questioning his actions but he didn’t seem to find any answer to it. 

“Hey, two Schwechaters please! Tonight’s party night.” Emilia smiled at the bartender as she handed him a credit card. 

“You seem in a very pleasant mood Miss.” The bartender spoke from behind the counter as he swiped the card through the PDQ machine. 

“Of course I am Sherlock. My friend’s treating me. Actually, I don’t drink too much on weekdays but I met this really snotty, know-it-all British bloke yesterday and you know what,” she added as an afterthought, “make it three.” 

“Three it is.” The bartender turned around to get his customer’s drinks. 

Emilia turned smilingly to the mysterious guy sitting on the stool right next to where she stood. 

“Isn’t it fun when you aren’t the one paying for the drinks?” Her voice diminished as she took in the mans face and her smile vanished. 

Even when Anwar didn’t really expect her to notice him, he tried to sound nonchalant about them crossing paths again and act like he did not walk all the way from his booth to take a seat near her. 

“Well, I’ll have to pay for mine tonight so I wouldn’t know.” As he saw the bartender appear with drinks he added “Cheers!”

“What’re you doing here?” Emilia was perplexed when she came face to face with the man she had been complaining about all evening. 

“Was listening to an interesting conversation about, who was the guy,” Anwar tapped his chin with his index finger in mock thinking and added, “oh right, me.” 

She doubted whether he heard everything so she quickly calculated the proximity between their table and his stool. 

“Nice choice of adjectives there.” Anwar said sarcastically. 

“Wait, so you heard everything?” Emilia still tried to reassure herself if he had really heard everything. Not realising that her snarkiest comment was delivered when she stood right next to him. 

“Everything.” He stated matter-of-factory, “and it is crystal clear that you don’t exactly fancy me.” Anwar wasn’t offended but he rather found it amusing. 

“Oh no no, actually the thing is, what happened was..” Emilia found herself searching for words which was unlike her. She always knew what to say. 

“Loss of verbal fluency? It’s alright take your time. I’m all ears.” Anwar playfully teased the damsel in distress. He wasn’t completely sure of the ‘why’ or the ‘what’ he was doing but internally he had felt a sense of relief when saw her again at the bar earlier. 

“It wasn’t my job okay. I was doing it as a favour to a friend.” Anwar quirked his eyebrow at her response, “Don’t believe me? Fine, but let me tell you that she’s right here.” 

Emilia narrowed her eyes at the dark-haired man and before he could respond, she grabbed his hand and dragged him towards her table, “Come with me.”

“I don’t think I have a choice.” Anwar muttered to himself as he looked down at her hand encased around his wrist. 

“Stace, this is Mr...” Emilia introduced the man to her friend and looked over at him, awaiting his response.

“Anwar. Anwar Yousuf.” He brought his hand forward for a handshake. 

“Right. Mr. Anwar Yousuf.” Emilia repeated as she registered his name. 

She even subtly mouthed to her friend, “This is him.”

“Stacy Wagner.” Stacy replied as she brought her hand forward as well for the handshake. 

“No way!” Stacy mouthed back and took a good look at him, making sure he wasn’t looking, “He’s so hot!” 

“So you guys met just now? At the counter?” Stacy asked deliberately only to receive a questioning look from her green-eyed friend. 

“No we happened to have met at the tour yesterday where Emilia was throwing some shocking historical facts that I’d doubt anyone has ever heard.” Anwar explained as he stuffed his hands in his jean pockets and gradually turned his face to Emilia.

“Was she really? I’m sure she must’ve been great. After all, she did that as a favour to me.” Stacy smiled at Emilia.

Stacy wasn’t entirely joyous about the fact that Emilia gave comical responses to serious questions asked by one of her tourists, but she knew this wasn’t Emilia’s preferred field of work and she only took it up to ease Stacy’s stress.

“Sure.” Anwar slowly said as he doubted whether Stacy got the sarcasm in his statement. 

“Join us.” Stacy straightened herself on her chair subconsciously as she invited Anwar to sit with them. 

“Is that okay?” He asked and after getting an affirmative nod from both the girls he took a chair from the adjacent empty table and took a seat. 

“You aren’t having anything?” Emilia questioned as she looked at his empty glass of lime that he didn’t forget to bring with him as he was dragged by her. 

“I’m good. I have had too many.” 

They spoke for awhile; Emilia being the most talkative and bringing up a new subject the moment everyone went silent on the table. As she spoke, Stacy noticed the way Anwar looked at her and mentally smacked her friend for being oblivious about a man who was seemingly interested in her. 

Even when Anwar himself was yet to realise that he was indeed attracted to Emilia, his unconscious movements and postures gave away the very fact about it. 

“Oh is that the time already?” Stacy spoke as she looked at the time illuminating from her phone. 

“Is everything okay, Stacy?” Emilia stopped talking and looked at her friend with concern. 

“Yes yes everything is fine. I just need to make an urgent call.” She said as she got up, “You guys continue. I’ll join your later.” 

Before Emilia could say anything, Stacy turned around and walked out of the restaurant, a smug smile plastered on her face. 

Let them get some alone time. 

She thought as she walked out with no hurry to call anyone. 

“Well...” Anwar trailed off. 

“Well what?” Emilia asked with a leftover smile on her face. 

Anwar shrugged in response so Emilia began, “So...small world huh?” 

“Small world.” Anwar agreed and after a few seconds of quietness he spoke again, “So what do you do Emilia? Other than your generous contribution of your precious time by helping out your friends with their jobs?” 

“That is quite a mouthful.” Emilia laughed as she continued, “How do you even say that without getting your tongue bruised?” 

Anwar let out an amused laugh at her response and replied, “Okay well, I take that your main job is to be a witty commentator.” He nodded as he added, “Suits you well Miss Johnson.” 

“I’m not sure if that was sarcasm or not.” She shrugged as she added, “But I guess that’s just me.” 

“Of course.” He added with a hint of admiration for her and asked, “So do you work or not?”

“As a matter of fact I do.” She said a bit taken aback, “I work for a designing company?” 

“Designing company. That’s interesting. Which one is it?” He asked leaning forward with interest. 

“Enough about me already.” She rolled her eyes, the beer kicking her guard down gradually, “What do you do other than being a history professor?” 

He grinned at her which displayed his dimples on his clean shaved face. He shook his head as he replied, “Let’s not talk about me.” 

“Why so?” 

“You might zone out as soon as I say that I’m an architect.” He added with a sigh. As much as he loved talking about his work, there weren’t many people who fancied to listen to him. He had quite a lot of experiences to learn and keep quiet about it. 

“Oh. No wonder you knew almost everything about the Baroque architecture.” She said in awe. 

“Wow you’re a first to seem interested about my work.” He muttered to himself and which is why Emilia didn’t hear him the first time. 

“Come again?” 

“Nothing.” Anwar shook his head and looked around the bar. To his surprise, the place was now empty except the two of them and the bartender who was busy cleaning the glasses. He inwardly felt jovial about the fact that he had lost track of time as he talked to Emilia. 

It had been quite a while since he had a conversation with someone for hours. 

Her friend too never came back which EmilIa realised later but didn’t say anything about it. 

Anwar glanced at his watch which read 3

AM and even when Emilia was sober enough to walk back home alone, he still offered to drop her.

“Oh no. It’s just a 5 minute walk from here.” She smiled as she got up from her seat. She stumbled a bit in her heels and Anwar instinctively grabbed her waist to steady her. 

“You’re okay?” 

“Yes yes.” She waved her hand dismissively. She tried not to pay attention to her heart beating rapidly at Anwar’s touch. 

Anwar himself slowly but unwillingly released her and still insisted to accompany her on her way home. 

“Alright.” She responded and they both made their way out of the restaurant. 

“What are you doing in Vienna?” Emilia asked as they walked at a slow pace. 

“I had come here for a project.” Anwar audibly sighed as he thought about his downfall again. 

“That’s nice.” Emilia replied not pushing him further to say anything more about it and he mentally thanked her. 

“Thanks” He said after a comfortable silence stretched around them. 

“For what?” 

“I was feeling low the other day.” He gazed down not knowing why he was sharing this with her exactly, “I lost the project which I thought I was going to ace. But you just came with a wand and said some spells and suddenly I wasn’t sad anymore.” 

Emilia grinned at him as she playfully replied, “My historical facts are extraordinary. See they did wonders.” 

He laughed at her response and looked at her smiling side profile with a smile on his own face; their arms brushing each other with every step they took. 

“Indeed.” He said.

“That’s me.” They came to a stop as Emilia projected her thumb to an entrance that was surrounded by plants. 

“My my,” Stacy appeared from the window as she said, “Am I a brilliant matchmaker or what?” 

“You.” Emilia narrowed her eyes at her friend as she unlocked her front door and rushed inside. Anwar could hear her voice from outside as she screamed, “You ditched me!” with a flying pillow coming in view after every few seconds from the window. 

“Ouch Emilia! I thought I was just being a good friend!” 

Anwar shook his head at Emilia’s childishness but his smile gave away that he admired it. He slowly walked backwards as he was about to take a turn and return back to his hotel when Emilia’s head slid out of the window.

“Hey! Come in.” She beckoned him inside. 

“Maybe next time.” He replied as he smiled at her politeness. 

“You have come all the way to drop me. The least I can do is invite you in.” 

“I should head back.” 

“Okay. Thanks for keeping me company!” 

He waved goodbye and started walking with a smile which didn’t leave his face as he made his way back to the hotel.