When the Rain Stopped Falling

Chapter 7: What do You See

Chapter 7: What Do You See

"Excuse me? You're asking me out?" I stammered. It might be just me but this guy's spontaneity is unbelievable. Though I'm not sure yet if this is the fantastically unbelievable scenario or the is-this-a-joke-unbelievable one.

"Yes, I'm asking you out. I'm dead serious." Nikolas Yamazawa assured. I could hear a tone of warmness that resides in his voice. Nobody had asked me out like this ever before. In great honesty, nobody had asked me out since birth. Somebody asked me out to play, out in the garden, out in the classroom but never out in a date. And for the first time as well, I'm not sure what to feel and how to react. "Look Elois, I know this is quite out of the blue, me asking you out. I'm not messing up with you, I'm not a pervert and I'm especially not a criminal."

"How do I know that?" I mumbled interrupting him. He was quiet for a second then raise an eyebrow at me.

"I think I have here my I.D. See, we're in the same college," Nikolas handed me down a plastic card that came from his pocket. Nikolas S. Yamazawa. Age 18. Home Address: 1007 Dalton St. Makati City. I think I saw him before.

"You're the one I bumped into earlier this morning!" I recalled.

"Me? Well isn't that a good sign. Like destiny isn't it?"

"Destiny, I'm not a fan of that."

"Look, the point is, you have to know that you could trust me and you should because I have my purest of intention,"

"Intention?" I held his I.D. tighter.

"I'm very interested in you and I want to know all about you, everything."

I nearly gasped at his expression. Is he right on his mind? "Mr. Yamazawa, I seriously don't know what to say. I mean I'm flattered and all but," Noticeably, his face toned down. "I mean you look handsome, you look great," I honestly think so.

"But?" Nikolas interrupted anticipating what I would say next.

"But I have to say no. It's not that I don't trust you. You've been nice to me since the first five minutes we're together, the umbrella, the towel, and the jacket. But I'm a little new here. I don't still know where to place myself. You know, I'm still adjusting." I gave away my vulnerability to show I really trust him but still.

"I get it. Tell you what, here's the deal," The deal. There's always something in the deal that makes someone less trustworthy. Maybe because it limits one's choice. "I will help you adjust by showing you around town. You know, in a friendly stranger way. Then after that, I would ask you out again on a date. By that time, I hope you already have an answer and I'm definitely wishing that it would be a yes. Deal?"

"Where would we go?" I asked curious about the deal. Just curious, not exactly pro.

"Actually, I have a list." Once again, he raised his right eyebrow then he signaled me by raising one of his hand. As he searched for his backpack, I noticed that the rain is subsiding into a tamed drizzle. "Here, my top favorite place around this town. Some of the places there are really close right here," He gave me a piece of old paper that has writings on it. His handwriting looks eerily like mine. I skimmed through his list until I stumbled upon "POW Bookstore".

"Is the bookstore near here?"

"You mean POW bookstore? Yeah, it's right around the corner. Do you want to-"

"Yes!" I said too enthusiastically that I cupped my mouth to hide it. "I mean, could we?"

"Absolutely. I'll take you there,"

"Wait. If you're going to show me around and it's just the two of us, isn't that a date?"

"Well, it all depends on you." Nikolas sneered playfully. "Come with me to the Portal to Other Worlds," in an instant, he stood right up and waited for me to follow him so I did.

"Portal to the Other World?" I followed him as he started to walk in a specific direction.

"Portal to the Other World. POW. It's the meaning of the acronym,"

"Shouldn't that make it P-T-T-O-W?"

"Then that's no fun, isn't it?"

My heart skipped a beat. Maybe twice. I could tell, my guts could tell. I'm off for an adventure with a boy I just met and I'm more excited than scared. And that's what worry me.

Still protecting me from the rain, we walked together down the street. From time to time, I glance at him to study him, to scrutinize every detail of this man. His skin is very fair even pinkish when light shine on him on every angle. His eyes, by the way, is very slanted that's why I couldn't see it very well and also a bit of his wavy dark hair covers it. And everything about him is sharp. His nose, his cheekbones, his canine teeth, the way he stares at the street, the way he look. Basically, I'm beside a very sharp object and I could feel that if I got a little closer, I might burst into infinitesimal pieces that I couldn't place back together. I know this yet I continued to walk with him.

"You know Elois," he suddenly talked fast it made my chest ache in surprise. "I'm pretty nervous. I've never been nervous like this since- I mean, ever since"

"Why are you nervous?" For me, he doesn't look nervous at all. He looked cool and confident. He looked like he knows exactly what would happen next anytime soon. If he is nervous then I wonder what he looks like normally.

"You- you make me nervous," his breath from his words lingers. In a split second, I saw him look at me then looked straight back forward. I caught him in the act and quite weirdly I feel fuzzy. He's also checking me out. And he is nervous. It's on his eyes that I couldn't see in full detail.

"You make me nervous too," I admitted while I felt my cheeks going stiff as it curled into a smile.

"What do you see Elois?" he asked as we turned left into a corner of the street. Though it's only 6:30 p.m., lights coming from different stores already came into a view.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you catching a glance at me. You look at me the way no one looked at me before so I'm asking, what do you see?"

"I see um, a nice guy," I answered simply in candor.

"That'll do," he softly whispered and all at once I felt his warm hand onto mine. He grabbed it quickly before I could react and then he started to run dragging me along. "Come on," he said shouting now. We ran across the street filled with puddles of rain of different sizes. He even stomped on one puddle so hard it splashed all over on us and some irritated unlucky bystander. At a distance, I could see a building with a huge sign that says "Portal" in a streak of convoluted neon lights. It looked more of a resto-bar than a bookstore outside, I thought.

"We're here," Nikolas claimed, catching his breath while I can only look at him estranged. This guy is totally crazy.

"You're crazy," I told him directly.

"Did you see that man's face when we splashed rain water on his foot? Oh man, he looked cross like we just disgraced his whole individuality."

My heart pounded so hard and my stomach ached but I bothered myself to laugh and Nikolas laughed with me.

"Whew, I never ran like that since I was young," he beamed. "It's good to be young right? With good and strong body, I'll never be bothered by back aches. I look well, don't I?"

"Yeah,"

"Come on, let's enter the Portal," he tugged my hand which he's suspiciously still holding. His hand feels warm and it drives me crazy. "I always like to say that. Let's enter the Portal. It sounds so cool like I'm in a movie."

"Yeah, like we're in a movie? What kind of movie?"

"A sci-fi movie with a little romance in it," Nikolas opened the door of the Portal and it is not what I have expected. It is actually beyond what I expected. It has a wooden floor with wooden shelves giving the impression of a classic library. Warm ambient lights from it legitimate grand chandelier and cascade tones and shadows around the whole room that gives it a comforting vibe. The strangest thing though was the appetizing smell that wafts all over the place, the distinct aroma of coffee and freshly baked bread. "You know, I didn't know this place before. Someone showed me this place and in just five seconds of realization, I knew this place is ultramundane," Nikolas shared.

"Maybe that's why it's called-"

"Portal to the Other Worlds?" Nikolas completed. We looked at each for a moment then we laughed at ourselves.

"You know," I said opening up to him, "I hate-"

"Being interrupted?" he cut me off again. I rolled my eyes at him and he just snickered. "Okay, I promise, I won't interrupt you anymore," he raised his right hand to promise, letting my hand go. I think it's just me, but I feel that my hand got a little lighter.

"Hey look at this," he stepped along the aisle and went in between two bookshelves as I follow along. He scanned through the books and after which he picked up one and gave it to me quite excitedly. "to be Continued" the title of the book says. "It was written by Karen Berg. It holds a lot of intriguing thoughts revolving around reincarnation and how life is fair. It's a good philosophy." Nikolas explained. I was about to say something but he went back scouting the shelves and gave me a book then another. Whilst his search, I noticed the number of desks scattered around the room. I noticed a few people reading while drinking some coffee, hence it explains the exhilarating scent of freshly brewed caffeine.

"Oh, I forgot one important detail about this place," Nikolas regained my attention.

"What is it?"

"This is not exactly a bookstore. It's a coffee shop too,"

"What?" I asked again, stumped.

"Most of the books here are property of the owner while some came from their loyal customers,"

"So the books here are not for sale?"

"No, I'm afraid it's not. But you could read it here or even borrow it like in a library for every purchase you make,"

"Huh, this place is incredible," I conclude nod. That's the only time that the portraits posted on the walls made sense to me like "A Well-Brewed Coffee is for the Stomach while a Good Book is food for the Mind."

"So shall we eat?" Nikolas walked past me and talked to a guy on a desk. Then the guy on the desk showed us a table and gave us a menu. As soon as the guy took off, I gave Nikolas the stink eye.

"What, is there something on my face?" Nikolas checked on his face.

"You tricked me,"

"What do you mean?"

"You said that this is not a date,"

"No, I said it all depends on you,"

"I think you planned this all along. First you said that you'll show me around the place and you conditioned my brain by showing me a list of the venues you love. This list gives me options hence I would think I have the authority to choose. By statistical probability and by mere luck I guess, you're aiming me to choose a place that is least likely to be a venue for a date such a bookstore. So I did choose a bookstore and here we are surprising me that it is actually a restaurant and now we're on..."

"We're on what?" Nikolas smiled slyly at me. I bit my lip.

"And now we're on a date." I rolled my eyes at him. "You manipulative dog," I softly mumbled.

"So this is a date, huh? You finally agreed to have with me,"

"Only because you tricked me," I can't believe I'm spending my first day in college this way- on a date. What would dad think of me?

"No, I said it all depends on you. You’re the one who claimed that we're dating, not me. I think you're making your moves on me woman!"

"My moves,"

"Yeah, your moves. Lucky for you, your moves worked on me," I laughed because I can't hold it anymore. Then he laughed. We both laughed. "There's one more thing, though,"

"What's that?"

"Shh, just listen,"

Then I heard it. It's the tune I heard from my apartment. It's the tune I know somewhere. Nikolas for yet another surprise sang softly.

"I hope you don't mind

I hope you don't mind

That I put down in words

How wonderful life is while you're in the world"

"That song is from Moulin Rouge, isn't it? I loved it when I was a kid,"

"The song is called Your Song. How about now, do you still love it?"

"Oh, I think I do. I still love it,"

Nickolas grinned widely. "You know Nikolas, I have to tell you. I was having a bad day until you came. Thanks for randomly bumping into me,"

"So when will I see you again?"

"Maybe we'll bump into each other again soon,"

"Well Elois, soon is not enough,"