#14 STAY ANOTHER DAY
He arranged to meet her between the Christmas Holidays and the New Year. As always they met in the teahouse. He wanted to wait for her there, so he already arrived an hour too early. He was surprised seeing her there, sitting and reading a book. She noticed him right in the moment he came in, when he hasn't noticed her yet. He didn't have any work for her, so he brought some pages from the Internet. This job was just an excuse to meet her.
She was sitting at the table she was always sitting at. A book was lying next to her hands. It was one of Agatha Christi’s crime stories. He approached her slowly and before he asked whether he might take a seat, he bowed a little in front of her. Like a real gentleman.
-Yes, please. – Mia answered politely. She was looking wonderful in her normal clothes.
She wore a white plain cardigan beneath a simple modern deep blue cotton jerkin.
-You’re an hour too early. – He noticed.
-You too.
She was her old self again, just like the first time and the memory of this first meeting crawled into his mind just like a bad illusion. They didn't talk much; he gave her the prepared text and apparently wanted to leave the teahouse.
Sebastian risked an action and caught her wrist while she was standing and stretched her hand to him for a goodbye.
-Anna, please don’t go. We can use the hour we have.
He looked at her with a spaniel’s eyes. She wasn't prepared for it. Sebastian used her moment of doubts and stood up as well. He didn't let her hand and instead he took his jacket.
Together they left the teahouse. The streets were snow covered and it was cold. Sebastian was trembling a little, but he didn't let go of her because he was afraid she would turn around and walk away. The sky was grey and cloudy. The alleys were almost empty. Just the rumour of the main streets echoing around the corners remembered them that they were in a big city.
-You’re cold; I don’t want you to get cold. – said Mia and smiled faintly.
Sebastian moved his shoulder in a meaningless gesture. He wore only his chocolate brown pullover and kept his black leather jacket in the left hand. Mia shook her hand while she smiled.
-You’re unbelievable. – She said.
-Why? The weather is fine! A real Polish winter! – He smiled back and pointed with his left hand towards the sky.
There wasn't enough snow on the streets to have a snowball fight, but it was enough to be a winter wonderland. The buildings around them were as grey as the sky was and big, fat, black birds picked on naked trees, which were rather rare in this part of the town. It wasn't the romantic atmosphere, Sebastian wished for. If it would be up to him, he would take her to a dinner or to a theatre. Now he had less than an hour with her and no plan what to do. Finally, he wanted to impress her and not to be ridiculous.
-What do you do in your free time? – He asked after a while.
Mia looked at him cautiously. She had always something watchful in her eyes, even if she was cool and in a good mood like now.
-I go running, I read books, I go running...
-It is a short list. – Sebastian smiled and she smiled back. Indeed the list wasn't the longest one.
There were no more things she could name. She thought about what else she was doing. She was working, translating, typing, listening to music, but finally her life was limited to books and running.
-And where do you run?
-It doesn't matter. The most important thing is just to run.
As she was speaking, her eyes became bigger and sparkling.
-I run, too.
-Really? – She asked politely, but she didn't catch his thought and didn't ask any further about it.
It was quite hard to have a conversation with her. Sebastian wanted to ask her thousands of questions, but somehow there seemed to be a border and he was afraid he wouldn't manage to cut through. Deep down inside, he felt that she didn't want to be asked about anything. She carried a secret she didn't want to share. With every question he would just scratch at the surface. Sebastian didn't intend to make her step two steps back when he had already forced her to make one step forward.
Finally, the silence was visibly comfortable for them both, it wasn't embarrassing. They were enjoying the silence and for the first time Sebastian understood what the songwriters wrote: you can enjoy the silence. Mia perceptibly liked his company.
He was holding her wrist delicately and although he was freezing internally, he remained relaxed outside. They just walked. It gave them much joy and allowed them to take a deep breath and to enjoy the moment. If you would ask Sebastian, they could end the day with a trip to the moon and back or with a journey along the sunset.