The next day, Nora stared at the door of her ward without blinking her eyes.
"Looks like he's not coming, he might be held up by work or traffic" a lady said her child was brought to the same ward as Nora a day after Nora was hospitalized and she often saw Ian when she came to visit her daughter. Nora had been looking after her when her mum was not around because of her work, and today they were both going to be discharged.
Nora had been waiting for more than an hour and she was beginning to lose hope.
Few hours later the woman and the little girl left waving at Nora and she waved back.
"Well I guess I should be on my way too" she sighed. She became furious "Stupid Ian, it's not like we will meet again anyways and yet he could not come and say his final good bye, he's such a fool, he's not handsome at all" she fumed though she did not agree with what she said herself. "I'm a bigger fool for not collecting his number" she muttered.
She finally left the ward and went out of the hospital in her clothes that had been dry-cleaned in the hospital.
The sun was hot and scorchy, she had to close her eyes before adjusting her vision. She called a taxi and headed to her house in Savannah estate. She knew the maids would have called her mom to tell her she had not been at home for a few days so she called her mom to tell her that she went to visit a friend of hers that she knew in this country though she had not idea if her mom believed her because she had no friends.
When she entered the maids looked at her curiously as they greeted her and she mumbled some response before going up to her room. Nora sat on the bed looking dazed, thinking of the boy that stayed with her on the hospital for the past few days before disappearing completely from her sight. She shook her head as if doing that will wipe off the image of Ian in her head.
"I wonder if we will ever meet again." She muttered as she lay on her bed to sleep.
A week before resumption, Nora was walking around the Estate looking for the nearest cafe she could find instead of going out of the Estate when she saw a familiar figure, coming out of a big house, like the rest of the houses in the Estate, not too far from her. The figure turned to face her, their eyes met and they both stood still in shock. Nora looked the person with curiosity she felt like she knew the person but the person was wearing a mask and hoodie so she wasn't so sure if it was really Ian so she marched up to the him while the boy seemed to be contemplating whether to go back inside or not but he still stayed as if unable to move.
Nora stretched her hand and pulled the hoodie back and she knew immediately that it was Ian.
"Wow what a pleasant surprise to see you here," she said sweetly and though she talked calmly, her expression was the opposite as she glared at him as if to accuse him of something he had done.
Ian cleared his throat while he rubbed his neck, he was surprised to see her here. He was not even expecting to ever meet her again, that was why he did not come the day she would be discharged, the probability that she would have asked for his number was high. Frankly speaking he had no idea why she never asked for it when he used to visit her in the hospital.
Where are you heading to?" She asked after glaring at him for some time.
" Uhhh...do you know me?" He asked
Nora looked puzzled, "was she wrong then... No there's no way that's she was wrong, she knew he was the one, he probably just wanted her to go away,"
"Do you think you can fool me into thinking I'm wrong, I know it's you Ian just because you are wearing a mask doesn't mean I won't recognize you" she blurted her eyes raging.
Ian sighed, "Fine you caught me, I just did not think I would be seeing you so soon."
"Wow, more like you did not want to appear in my life again, I thought it was all a dream you know but the faint scar on my forehead reminded me that it was real" she remarked
Ian just stared at her without saying anything. If he said he did not think of her during the little period that passed he would be lying but here she was again in front of him her scent driving him to the edge.
"So.. where are you headed?" Nora asked again.
"I'm going to my part time job," he replied
"Great, let's go together, I was looking for a nearby cafe anyways," she said hopping happily and he followed her quietly. He wanted to tell her it was not really near when someone walked but he decided to just keep his mouth shut.
After some minutes the happy girl became tired as she started complaining like he had predicted.
"Ugh! My legs are aching me so much, we have been walking for the past twenty minutes, where the hell is the cafe," Nora groaned.
"Well I did not ask you to tag along," he muttered under his breath. "Did you say something?" She asked a little breathless.
"No, nothing, we are almost there," he replied
"You said that ten minutes ago," she said grumpily
Ian shrugged his shoulders while he tried to hide his smile, "she's cute," he thought and the smile froze on his face before it fell. What was he thinking, he always knew this girl would be trouble.
Finally they got to the cafe where Ian worked, the sign written on the too of the cafe building spelt MGL cafe in bold writing and a cup of hot brewed coffee was designed beside it. "At last" she sighed as they went in,who would have thought that the Estate was so massive that they had to turn a lot.
Ian immediately went to the counter to start his work while Nora observed the cafe, most of the people in the cafe where couples. She saw some girls whispering to each other while looking at Ian and they giggled. "I get why he would want to wear a mask outside, the amount of people that will fall for him is something to worry about." She thought. Nora looked at Ian whao had removed the mask he was wearing and now he was wearing a customized shirt and an apron with the cafe logo on it as he smiled at the customers that entered.
"Now that I think about it I have never seen him smile to notice his faint dimples, gosh this boy is so damn cute," she said as she went to the a seat close to the counter and she continued to admire the figure in front of her like the other girls.
A while later, he came to her side and asked of she needed anything. "Yeah, I would like to have a cappuccino," she responded. "Alright " he returned back to the counter to make her a cappuccino then he came back and handed it to her.
Nora sipped on her coffee as she continued looking around when she noticed two girls enter the cafe and walked up to Ian, her back immediately straightened and her ears perked up to listen to their conversation.
"Hi boo," one of the girls with blonde hair and hazel eyes said smiling seductively at Ian but he barely exchanged a faint smile.
"Hi Vanessa," he said trying to smile through gritted teeth. His work required him to smile and he hated it especially when these girls decide to talk to him about irrelevant things that had nothing to do with his work.
"You look ravishing as usual," Vanessa said while the other girl with long jet black hair and brown eyes nodded in agreement.
"What would you like to have Vanessa and Tori?" He asked trying to be calm.
"Are you on the menu baby boo?" Vanessa asked biting her lips while giggling with Tori.
Nora who head this could feel the hair on her hand standing, "Geez I got goosebumps, what in the actual hell was that girl spouting from her mouth, it's so irritating, does he have to go through this everyday? Wow he's amazing , I'll give him that." She continued to look at the girls with a little disgust. "They looked so weird with pancaked faces," she thought
Vanessa who noticed Nora looking at her looked back at her with a raised eyebrow as if trying to tell her to get lost. Ian who noticed this quickly spoke to gain Vanessa attention back. "I'm not on the menu, Vanessa, so kindly go and sit." "Or you leave," he mumbled under his breath.
"We would like two cups of iced Americano," Vanessa replied and he went to get their order.
"I know I'm pretty but I don't like the way you are looking at me, who are you?" Vanessa who noticed that Nora was still staring asked. Nora blinked at her, she turned to check if there was someone else at her back before looking at Vanessa. She opened her mouth to answer but Ian came back and their attention was on him again. After some time the girls left with the promise that they will come again.
Nora looked at Ian hoping he would give an explanation for that display but he just shrugged and commented, "Strange girls right?" Then he went back to his work. Nora just stared at him not really knowing what to say...