Loving Dazai

BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL BOY

The art gallery buzzed with quiet admiration, the chattering voices blending with the faint sound of classical music in the background. Emily stood in front of an oil painting, tilting her head slightly to understand whatever was on the canvas. She didn’t want to be here and Miranda had forced her to.

"This one is breathtaking," she murmured, folding her arms as she pretended to admire the depth of emotion captured in the piece. She was so tempted to say it was ugly.

"Mmmhmm," came Miranda's distracted response. Emily turned to see her friend flipping through a clipboard, making notes. Miranda, after all, worked at the gallery and had been the one to drag Emily here in the first place. "Told you this would be worth your time," Miranda added smugly.

“Yeah, right.”

“I know that you’re bored out of your wits. But you’ll be fine. You need to meet new people aside from your regular customers at your bookstore. Miranda dusted an invisible dust on her skirt and adjusted it.

Emily was about to retort when something—or rather, someone—caught her attention.

Her jaw nearly hit the floor.

The guy from the bookstore.

He was standing near the farthest end of the gallery, dressed in a black turtle neck and long coat. He looked effortlessly elegant like always.

Beautiful, beautiful, boy. Emily looked at him with dreamy eyes.

Emily immediately grabbed Miranda’s wrist and squeezed.

"Ow—Emily! What—"

"That's him!" Emily whispered frantically, eyes wide with excitement. "The one I told you about!" She pulled her closer “That’s him over there. Look straight. You see that woman with wide pink hat?”

“Uh—huh”

“Yeah, the guy beside her.”

“Beside….” Miranda gasped and her eyes widened as she saw him. "Wait. him? The bookstore guy you told me about? The mysterious and broody bookstore guy?"

"Yes, yes, shh, keep your voice down!" Emily hushed, though she could barely contain her giddiness.

Miranda grabbed Emily’s shoulders, shaking her lightly. "Okay, okay, we need a plan. You can't just stare at him like he's an exhibit. How do you approach him? We need a strategy!"

“Wait what? I can’t just approach him.”

“What if he never goes to the bookstore again and this is heavens way of giving you an opportunity.”

"Right?! What do I do?” Emily stared at her wide eyed “Should I pretend to bump into him? Or maybe ask him about a painting?"

"No, no, no, we need to be subtle. We could pretend there's an issue with one of the paintings nearby and lure him over!"

"Miranda, that's ridiculous!" Emily laughed “That’s ridiculously stupid”

"Oh, like bumping into him isn’t?" Miranda scoffed. "Okay, what about this—I'll drop my pen near his feet, and you pick it up so he sees you!"

"That is so obvious! Miranda I am being serious. This is really, really important.”

"You’re right. Okay, new plan. We act like we're talking about something super interesting, and he just has to join the conversation. Like—like—oh! Like arguing about whether cats are better than dogs!"

Emily groaned, but she was laughing too. "Miranda, I—"

Before she could finish, he was looking at their direction and ever slowly—slowly he looked at them, then his gaze fell on her.

Emily froze, her stomach doing somersaults as their eyes met. For a split second, her mind went blank. Then, to her utter shock—

He gave her a little smile.

He recognized her?

Miranda gasped dramatically. "Oh my gosh, he is looking at you!" she whispered, smacking Emily's arm repeatedly “f*****g hell, he is so handsome!”

Emily barely had time to process before another figure approached him a tall man, dressed in a crisp black suit. The man placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned in to his ear. He nodded his head and followed the man.

Emily blinked. And just like that, he was gone.

Miranda groaned, throwing her head back dramatically. "Noooo! We were this close!" She looked at Emily “Why didn’t you approach him?”

“I mean even if I wanted to…I wouldn’t have made it far because of that man” Emily let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Who was that guy?" Miranda asked, narrowing her eyes. "He looked intense….and hot"

“Oh, please Miranda. Now you’re into Asian men?”

“Exactly, ‘men’. Don’t hate on me because I like d***s”

“Ewww, could you stop saying that”

“Say what? d**k?”

Emily looked around to see if anyone heard her before giving Miranda a light slap on her shoulder “Stop!” she whispered

“Hellooo, we are no longer in kindergarten” Miranda rolled her eyes “Whatever, well you guys might see again”

“Yeah hopefully. Well, he went to the bookstore last two weeks” Emily groaned “Why do I feel that this was the perfect opportunity.”