Emotional Decorum

CHAPTER FIVE

A fine young man seemed to be In between his late and mid-thirties, a bit of Arabian and a bit of American. It was confusing and a lot she had never imagined, she was overwhelmed by every strike of perfection in the face that now wearily stared at her. Viyora wasn’t sure she was staring and she wasn’t sure she was being looked at. She appeared like she had seen a ghost or mistakenly been transitioned into another realm. She was asking herself just so many questions at the same time; Who is this Man, is he real, is he human or an AI, could Man be this perfectly structured?

He had black hair that was either overdue for a cut or was just there for the aesthetics. His eyes were so narrow that it looked cold and deadly, yet his gaze was somewhat calm and troubled at the same time. Everything about this stranger was conflicting. He was impossible to read. The bridge of his nose was so narrow like it would disappear, his lips thin and firm that when he smirked, his eyebrow formed an arch.

Viyora has severely warned herself after her last relationship that she was never going to let herself judge the physical look of any man again and that included imagining a life with a man she had just seen for the first time because he looked stunning. But Viyora wasn’t paying attention to her mind; she was just staring into this face and imagining being his wife.

She was still lost in gaze when she felt a hand gently rest on her upper arm, she almost jumped out of her skin, he smiled and said “you got pretty eyes.” Viyora struggled for the right words she was to reply so she bit her lower lip and smiled faintly looking down like a twelve years old… This stranger now seemed to shift his gaze to her lips and this made her even more uncomfortable, she started to move in her sit but didn’t want to appear so detached so she looked down and muttered something to herself. What was that? He asked searchingly, and then she looked up and said, “My name is Viyora.” He took her hands in his; looking even deeper into her eyes he said “call me Cooper...”

Feeling ashamed she withdrew her hands and struggled to keep a normal composition. Has he been staring at her all these while she struggled with her shoes? He must have been aware that she wore shoes that clearly aren’t hers. She became worried, what else did her see? He must have heard when she cussed out and tore more sheets of papers to make her shoes fit. Viyora flushed, this was way out of the lane. It was first class embarrassment,

Cooper was smiling now it was obvious he had read her mind, he enjoyed how she struggled with herself. It was a fascinating look, he had watched her since she got on the train and was excited when she sat next to him, he had observed how nothing else in the world mattered to her aside from the shoe she tried so hard to fit into. She was an open book, it was obvious that many other things aside from the shoe like where she was going and what she was wearing made her uncomfortable, it was a view for him so he watched her navigate through the thoughts of embarrassing herself.

Viyora was beginning to feel uncomfortable. She wasn’t sure she was overthinking things but it appears this stranger had watched her do all those things since she got on the train and he had fun watching her make a fool of herself. Now how was she going to cover up for this mess? He looked educated and brilliant. His suit seemed to be tailored from a not-so-regular material he was a fine young man and seemed totally out of her league, more like Klein’s men.

Throwing her neck back she sized him through the corner of her eyes. She was convinced she dared not wish so she gave up on fixing things. They will probably never see each other again so it didn’t matter what he thought of her.

Are you a native? Cooper asked. Viyora got out of her deep thoughts just in time to hear the question thrown at her, she turned, but he was still gazing. “No... What about you? “Yeah, Cooper answered. The conversation had begun and he was trying to find out all about her thirty years of existence in a 3hrs journey. Why Viyora talked he stared at her lips not taking his eye off for a second. He loved listening to her talk, he loved the way she made frantic gestures with her hands and how she told stories with so much passion. It made him excited; she was dramatic and her blue eyes made him think of the ocean, made him want to swim.

She was telling him about how she met Klein and her years as a child. He was keen, he was enjoying her story, she loved how he asked her questions, and how he was so keen on knowing who she was. While she talked it gave her the autonomy to evaluate his entire body. She noticed his hands were tender, hands that had never seen the dust. His fingers were neat, too neat for a man his age. He looked like he wasn’t in charge of his body.

The train stopped at the station. It was still morning, Cooper asked Viyora to grab coffee with him. They talked more and Cooper asked if she would love to come and work for him. Viyora was shocked and excited first, and then she was pissed, really pissed. She hadn’t even told him she was unemployed; she couldn’t possibly carry a tag on her head that read her employment status so the offer didn’t sit well with her. Is he not possibly suggesting that she appeareCalltiful? Insane!