Don’t Trust Black Overcoats

Liam was still thinking about that day from almost three years ago when he placed the book that he had between his hands again on the black shelf that belonged to the thriller genre. Right after doing so, his coworker called him from downstairs with a cold but strong voice. The big vintage clock that was hanging on the wall made of wood with gold details showed it was almost 6:00 p.m. This meant it was time to close the store. Liam went downstairs and read the note that his coworker —who probably got tired of waiting for him to come down and simply left after his round was done— had left behind.

"Please arrange the store before you leave. Don't forget to lock everything and to turn the lights off."

It was almost like a bad joke since Liam had been working there for way much longer than this guy. They even offered Liam that job before this guy appeared, but he rejected it cause he didn't want to get more money from the place that worked for him as a shelter —he still did everything that was meant to do by his coworker, since Liam believed that if you wanted something to be perfect, you should do it by yourself—.

After a long hour of cleaning some of the dust that covered the shelves and taking the trash out, Liam finally was able to relax and study. The store was meant to close at 6:00 p.m, but Liam was used to staying there until almost 11:00 p.m. His house wasn't far away from there —or not as far as Liam would like it to be—. If you're clever enough, you can already imagine why he avoided his house that much. Well, let's say that he would rather stay there, studying in the darkness of an old and silent bookstore than having dinner with the rest of his family. Not because he was annoying or a troublemaker. He actually was, most of the time, the smartest guy in the room. But when it came to empathy and feelings, he could be pretty rough around the edges. Not on purpose, of course. But his family just didn't get him. Perhaps the fact of him being a genius placed an invisible wall between him and his sisters, which is why he wasn't even acquainted with talking to girls despite growing surrounded by three sisters. His mother wasn't any better. She usually excluded him from family activities, dinners, events, and so on. It hurt Liam during his first teen years until he started to care less about it and more about books. Maybe that was the reason why he was so obsessed with novels.

After a while, Liam got a call on his phone. There was an actual reason why he liked that time of the day, and it was the same reason why he hadn't yet locked the store completely. He immediately grabbed his phone with his right hand while he was still typing on his laptop with his left one.

—What do you wanna eat tonight? —it was Alina on the other side of the phone, with a smiley and happy tone, as always.

—Are you too bored of Chinese food? Or should we order Japanese this time?

—I'm in ramen mood right now, to be honest.

—There's your answer then.

—Okay! I'll get there in half an hour, try not to fall asleep this time —she said while she hung up.

After the conversation, Liam kept writing and thinking about this exhausting hopeless romantic condition. He thought he was smart enough to do proper research about it, with science that could endorse his hypothesis. However, almost nothing popped up when you typed "hopeless romantic condition" in your web browser. The only results were a couple of old PDF's files that didn't have enough strong information nor data, and something about an artist called Lauv. This was pretty exasperating. Most of the time, he was able to come up with a well-prepared college-level essay of around two hundred pages. And still, the document that he had created a few weeks ago named How Not to Fall in Love, was blank, like it was when it had just been created. Liam was still thinking about this when he heard someone knocking the door of the store. Immediately, he walked downstairs to check who it was. When he opened the door that showed a blurry silhouette behind its glass, instead of Alina —who was the one Liam was actually expecting— was a man in a deep blue suit, with a black overcoat and a crimson scarf. He was taller than Liam by just a couple of centimeters but had a strong aura that was easy to fear. Without even introducing himself, the man put his hand in his overcoat's inside pocket and took out a gray envelope.

—Is the store owner here? —he asked with a monotone and serious voice.

—Who's asking? —don't misunderstand this. Liam being emotionally awkward didn't mean that he wasn't clever or crafty; it just meant that his relationships were usually in danger. But he wasn't someone who would let himself get intimidated by a black overcoat and a fancy watch. In the end, he was wealthy too.

—I represent a buyer that's really interested in this establishment and wants to offer your boss a good amount for it. I would like to discuss the details with the owner if you don't mind.

—Mr. Lockwood isn't here. He barely appears here during regular days, to be honest. And if you don't mind me being honest with you, I don't think he'll take any of your money.

—And why are you so sure about that?

—Because he has received bigger offers from more kind men and still rejected them.

—And I'm pretty sure he usually lets his employees run the place as they want. Anyways. Thanks for your time, please give him the envelope as soon as possible to know his true opinion about it.

Right after saying this, the man turned around and, while he was about to get inside a black car parked in front of the store, he said:

—I wouldn't get so comfortable on that second floor if I were you.

Immediately, he closed the car's door and left. Almost at the same time, Liam felt a warm hand touching his arm to call his attention.

—Hey there —it was Alina— Are you okay?

—I think so —Liam replied between teeth.

—Who was that creepy guy?

—I don't know, but he gave me a bad vibe.

—Well, he's gone now, so let's eat! —she said while she raised the food that she was holding inside a plastic bag from the restaurant they usually liked to eat from. With his right hand, almost instinctively, Liam held the door so that Alina could come in. Meanwhile, his sight was stood on the car that this guy had just approached a few seconds ago. He then saw, thanks to the yellow light of a nearby lamppost, the car's plate. It was unforgettable now. He didn't even have to force his sight to remember it. It was enough, just in case he needed to get information about it. Liam knew perfectly well that these people don't like to get a "no" for an answer.

Once they were back inside, Liam told Alina to go upstairs while he called someone. He grabbed his phone right away and opened the envelope. The offer actually was bigger than the ones Mr. Lockwood had ever received. But Liam just couldn't get it. Why would someone offer such a huge amount for an old bookstore that doesn't even reach half of the value that's on the table? With a fast hand movement —no need of a contacts list—, Liam dialed Mr. Lockwood's phone number and press the green button to call. Mr. Lockwood was a mysterious man. He never went to the store despite its popularity or sales increase. Spending most of his time inside his mansion over the hill, you would only see him during special meetings or an author's signing event. And even then, he would only talk to one person. That person was Liam.

None of his employees could understand why this happened. Why would an old man close to his 80s, who had more money than he could ever spend during the rest of his life, get along with a 17 years old guy with eidetic memory? There wasn't a clear explanation, but Liam was almost like a son to him, which was often seen with envy eyes by his coworkers. But what would happen if Mr. Lockwood decided to sell? Well, despite being improbable, selling would mean that the store would close and all the employees —including Liam— would be fired. Mr. Lockwood probably knew this, just as he knew that Liam needed the bookstore just as much as it needed him. His marketing strategies and his great money management made him someone important for the bookstore. But the main characteristic that made Liam such a good employee was that, no matter what happened, he always asked for permission from his boss before doing an important call.

The only difference this time was that, holding an offer of almost 1 million dollars, Liam could tell that his boss was taking way too long to pick up the phone.