The rain was relentless; it fell in soft sheets. It blurred the world outside into a watercolor of motion and sound as it slid down the glass walls of The Velvet Bean, in silver ribbons. Outside was a blur of headlights and umbrellas. The kind of night when people hurried to shelter and forgot how to look up.
Inside the Velvet Bean café, a small café tucked at the corner of Rosewood Street; the air felt warm with the scent of roasted coffee and cinnamon. The hum of quiet conversation mixed with the low jazz playing; which left a welcoming warmth in the atmosphere.
Half-listening and half-lost in thought, Ava Morgan sat in the far corner by the counter. Her coffee gone cold beside her laptop. She'd been here for hours, staring at the same paragraph. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as the cursor blinked on the half-written sentence:
"Love is only beautiful until it begins to consume."
She frowned, pressing the backspace key. The line felt too personal and close. The cursor continued to blink, taunting her with the half-finished article she no longer cared to complete. The city had been relentless lately: deadlines, loneliness, and the slow ache of wanting something more than routine, got her worked out for some reasons.
Deep down in thoughts, her eyes seemingly scanned through the café. And for the first time, she noticed the place was rather packed with couples; sharing great moments together than singles. That's when she saw him; black shirt. His sleeves rolled to his elbows, his dark hair damp from the rain. They seem to be the odd nut among them.
He was alone by the window, three tables away. He didn't take out a phone or a book; just sat with one hand around his cup, watching the rain slide down the glass.
Ava tried to return to her work, but her focus was gone. She found herself stealing glances at him every few seconds. His reflection shimmered in the windowpane; a silhouette carved from light and shadow. Something about him felt cinematic. Quite unreal.
His gaze remained fixed outside, but his stillness drew her in even more. His presence felt magnetic and quite cloaked in calm. There and then, their eyes suddenly fell into each other's gaze as he spun.
Ava blinked, her heart skipped once and then twice. He didn't look away. There was no arrogance in his stare, no smirk but only a strange unspoken pull, like recognition wrapped in silence. It felt absurd to react this way to a stranger but then something in those grey eyes stripped her defenses bare.
It felt accidental, yet it wasn't. The moment stretched longer than it should have and the air seemed to hum between them.
Ava's breath hitched and her pulse tripped over itself. She quickly looked away, pulse racing. It wasn't his clothes that froze her but his eyes. They seem cold but sharp. Yet when they met hers, they warmed like a flame coaxing her closer.
What was wrong with her? - She mumbled. He was just another stranger. She feigned but then, they both felt something electric pass between them; curiosity, recognition, danger, she couldn't tell.
With a faint and knowing smile, he returned to his coffee. Ava managed to keep her composure as well even though she felt nervous. She tried to leave it at the until the waitress returned with a refill she hadn't ordered.
"From the gentleman by the window," the waitress said, placing the cup down with a small, knowing smile. Ava's eyes widened, tracing back to where he sat but when she turned to look, his table was empty.
"Where did he go?" She said, almost in a whisper but had no answers. "Thanks…" Ava mumbled, returning her gaze to the waitress.
Soon after, the waitress dropped off her drink. She noticed a folded napkin beside it. The handwriting was neater than she had ever seen. "You look like someone who sees the rain differently and understand silence." – E. The note read.
Her lips spontaneously parted with her gaze darting toward the door. The bell above it was still swaying slightly which let a chill crept down her spine. She slipped the napkin into her notebook, trying not to overthink it, but her thoughts betrayed her.
"Who leaves a note like that?" She wondered. But was instinctively interrupted by the faint thunder roll outside.
Ava quickly packed up her things and headed home, convincing herself it was nothing. Just a stranger being poetic. But then, halfway down the street, she felt it again—eyes on her. She intuitively stopped under a flickering streetlamp as she carefully scanned the rain-slicked road but found no one. Only the echo of her footsteps, her shadow and the hum of the storm.
She panicked for a moment but quickly took up her pace as she made it to the subway.
Ava safely made it to her apartment. Her hands trembled slightly as she unlocked the door. The air inside was still and untouched. Exhausted by the all the loads of the day, she heaved a sigh as she hung her coat. She turned on the light but then froze in her tracks.
For a moment, she thought she heard the faintest creak behind her; the sound of weight shifting, barely there. Her breath shallowed. Every instinct screamed to move, but she couldn't. Then she saw it — the coffee."
On the small table near her window sat a cup of coffee. Her favorite order, actually. Steam still and curled faintly from the surface. And beside it, on a familiar napkin read:
"Fate has an odd way of finding those who try to hide."
Her throat tightened, shaken by the whole scene. It felt like a horror film replaying to her. She looked to the window and opened just a crack. The rain dripped from the sill. Her heart pounded.
Just then, her curtains fluttered once and somewhere across the street, she noticed a figure stood by a lamppost with a black umbrella which was tilted toward her building. Watching.
Ava took a step back, her pulse thundering in her ears. But when she blinked; he was gone.