Story 1 - The Guy Who Sat There.

Even since I started my writing career, I always visited this café around the corner of neighbourhood. This café had a very unique interior. The owner was a travel enthusiast and decorated the café with different souvenirs and biking gears. They were such a help for my novels at times. Especially the café owner. I used to sit on a window seat. I paid a visit everyday and stayed there till the closing hours.

I loved their iced and hot americano with ham sandwich. I practically lived on that. They provided free wifi and a good view of the bustling city life during the peak hours of traffic. The view was the source of my inspiration.

Like me, there was another guy who came to this café everyday. He was somewhat tall, dark hair and had good proportions. He used to take the same old seat - near the corner seat of the café, listened to music and did something on the laptop with the beat maker.

I always found my eyes travelling to him, glancing at him and wondering what he was doing.

He always ordered something different from his previous order. For example, if he order espresso, next thing he would order would be cappuccino.

He lived somewhere else. He either traveled by bus or ordered a taxi.

He usually wore the same attire everyday - a black hoody, a pair of ripped sky jeans, accessories on his ears and black mask.

'Snap out of it, Rita. You don't have time to think about thing that's not related to the novel You are behind the deadline.' I slapped on my face to wake up from my unwanted thoughts and started to write the fifteenth chapter of my new novel.

A worker called Leo came with my 2nd cup of hot americano. He said, "Woah, that's some intense stuff there, Rita."

"Thanks. I hope this one goes well." I smiled and took the cup of coffee. Leo took away the old cup.

"I surely will help you promote your new novel among my friends." He said and left to return the tray.

"That would be wonderful." I exclaimed. Leo had a lot of friends, both real life and in social media. He would be the best person to advertise my novel.

The guy at the corner said, "Leo, I want a cup of espresso please."

"Sure, Dimitri!" Leo said and left to the kitchen.

'Ah, so his name is Dimitri? Nice name. Reminds me of Dimi. ' I thought and used his name to introduce one of my characters.

Time flew quite quickly. Dimitri and I visited the café everyday but never spoke. We had some eye contacts but it was limited to that much.

One day, while packing my stuff, I realised that it started to rain. I took out my umbrella and was going to leave when I saw Dimitri was looking at the sky depressingly. I said, "If you are brooding on the fact that you don't have an umbrella, then I can share. Mine is big enough to hold three people."

"Thanks for the offer." He replied. His voice was deep and husky.

'Wow, he's completely my type. Even he looks really good from near.' I thought.

I opened the umbrella and looked at him. My umbrella had extensions of beads and trinkets on the body. I could see him holding his laughter. He joined in.

'Laugh all you want. In the end you have to use this to go to the bus stop.' I thought.

He spoke, " Never thought I would find an umbrella like this. Did you make this?"

"No, when I was a teenager, a guy confessed to me and gave this. He left the country the next day. I miss him." I replied.

"The umbrella, it's... different. Out of the box." He said.

"Thanks." I said.

We reached the bus stop. He said," Thanks for the help. See you tomorrow, I guess?"

"See you tomorrow. " I smiled politely and left.

The next day, I met him again. He smiled under his mask and smiled back. A small improvement from before.

A month later, I didn't go to the café. I had a fan-sign meeting. It may have been small but I had to do it.

While signing the books, I heard a few girls chatting among themselves. I eavesdropped.

"You heard the new song of Dimitri? It's awesome, right?"

"Of course I did. I watched the livestream of the music video in YouTube. The song and the mv is so mysterious and seductive."

"I know, right? I am so interested on knowing who in the world is this 'Rita' woman. She is such a mystery."

"Yeah. Even in the mv, her face was not visible. Only her unique umbrella was the highlight. The woman in umbrella who repeatedly helped him in the rain."

I thought, 'Rita? Dimitri? Unusual umbrella? Help in rain? Is this about me? Is this even possible? Ai, no way it's the same 'Rita' here. My rich imagination has taken over me now.'

"Ladies." I sweetly called those girls. "You are making other people wait in line for a long time."

"Sorry Ms. Rita." They chimed and quickly got their signed autographs.

Immediately, I got another book for signing. I asked without looking up, "What should I write for you? "

"That I love you, Dimitri." said the familiar low and husky voice.

I looked up. "Dimitri?" I said.

The girls who were discussing about the song screamed at the top of their voice, "Dimitri. Dimitri is here!"

I blushed and wrote. He came near my ears ad whispered, "I will wait outside for you."

I quickly finished the signing event and ran outside. Dimitri held my hand, took me to his car and drove away in full speed.

"What the hell just happened? "I screamed in panic.

"I confessed to you in-front of the world. Don't you remember me, Ri?" He smiled. His smile was so charming.

"Dimi?" I asked and held the door tighter as I was scared of the risky speed driving.

"So, have I compensated enough for leaving you back then, after confessing?" He asked.

"Oh god, yes. So, all this while, I was one sided crushing on a guy who already confessed me?" I looked at him and he roared of laughter.

"You were crushing on me? This is so hilarious." He said.

"You have changed so much! You were so... girly before." I said and laughed.

"You too." He laughed with me.

And we drove to the school where we first met, our love story's starting point.