Not Another Broken Doll

She woke up and the clarity of the morning reached her eyes. Ruth looked out of the window trying to ignore Ingrid’s morning cacophony: several alarms, the phone going off and the radio announcing that it is just going to be another grey day in Hamburg. It had been six months since she came here, and she definitely missed the sun. It is not like that had ever been something she thought she would miss, of all the things to miss from Barcelona, but it was the one realistic thing that everyone could relate to.   “Ruth! Get up, lovely, you need to grab some breakfast before you head to class” Ingrid shouted through the loud noise of her morning routine.   “Yeah, coming” Ruth reluctantly left the bed and got into the jeans and black turtle neck she had laid out of the wardrobe the night before after she bathed. As every day, she did not even look at herself in the mirror until she was cladded in black yarn.   She was feeling a bit anxious today. It was her going to be a normal day working at the University of Hamburg as a student researcher, but she had been assigned a new project which involved teaching hours. She had a degree and a masters in linguistics after all, so it felt good to finally have a chance to put her brain to use. And a PhD would look just perfect in her CV. She let her mind wander through all the ideas she had on how to make voice recognition more efficient for people with speech issues as she put on some green earrings and she applied some makeup to hide the dark rings under her eyes.   “Ruuuth! Come on coffee’s ready!” Ingrid insisted. She gasped when she saw her little cousin finally come off the room. “O-M-G Ruth you look great! You can really pull of anything you throw on, can’t you girl?”   “You said coffee?”   “Ever the grumpy morning star, ain’t you?” Ingrid was radiant with her inexplicable morning energy. Her long black hair tied back in a ponytail, and already dressed to impress. Ruth thought to herself that for being the head fundraiser officer at a well-known charity, her cousin coped really well with working long nights and having intensely stressful days. Maybe that’s why she was single. Kick-ass successful women had little time for making mistakes.   After breakfast, Ruth left Ingrid typing furiously at her laptop after she found out that the headliner for her music festival was becoming rather obnoxious with conditions, and she rode her bicycle enjoying the glorious start of the autumn. Hamburg had painted its trees in gold and red, and the leaves were moving softly as they fell to the ground. The ride wasn’t long, and she was glad for her turtleneck as it was a bit windy. She looked at the clock on her phone and realised that she was almost forty minutes early, so she locked up her bike and walked down to that little café she always went to with her colleagues. She thought it’d be nice to be alone there for a bit.   She came in and the guy behind the bar greeted her as always “Frau Spain, good morning!” He was blond and light eyed, though Ruth had never looked at him for long enough to figure out the actual shade.   “Good morning to you too, Chris.” She said, reading one more time the tag in his apron. “You know I have a name, right?”   “I know, but I thought that was our thing. I never learn your name so we can keep this mystery thing going on” he smiled from behind his black reading glasses. “No, don’t tell me. It’s going to be a latte to go with soya milk – because you’re not a calf, and a salted caramel cookie. On it” Chris continued to smile as he set the coffee machine on.   “Actually” said Ruth looking at the counter. She took a quiet look at the cake display, where every day she would find delicious-looking items covered with impossible chocolate dressings. “I think it’s about time I take on your recommendation of a slice of one of these” she pointed at the cakes. “But no dairy.”   “Because you’re not a calf. Got it.” Chris joked. “You should try this one then, one hundred percent vegan. Chocolate and fudge.” Ruth nodded and waited for her order to be ready.   As the café started getting busy with students and professors, Matthias, Chris’s partner, came out of the kitchen and started taking the orders. In only a few minutes Ruth realised that her coffee was ready, and her cake was in front of her. Chris gave her a small fork and she tried the cake. Chris looked in her direction discreetly and smiled to himself, looking at her reaction. Ruth took a little look around. There were only eight tables at the café, plus two stools by the bar, and the place was decorated in an elegant way, with tones of green and blue. There were metro tiles on the wall behind the counter, and a small window allowed to spy on the kitchen behind the wall.   “Ruth! Moin!” greeted Hannah, as she walked in “You’re early” Her bracelets clicking on her wrist as she waved her hand. “Wait, cake?! Who are you and what have you done with Ruth Marquez?”   Ruth laughed at the comment and started chatting away with her friend. She paid the bill and they both walked out of there together. If only then, for that split second, she had turned back to wave good-bye, she would have seen that now those intense blue eyes were sparkling at her every move, hiding in the business of the morning. If only then she had stopped and listened, she would have heard a quivering motion, ever so slight, but so meaningful, coming from the chest of the owner of those blue eyes.