1.6 Bumping into her, AGAIN!

Charles’ business was going great. He was making profit on a daily basis. The townies loved his work and he returned the love by offering them amazing discounts. One Sunday evening as he was busy attending some customers he spotted the officer standing near the entrance of his store with a few other girls, probably her friends, he thought. Though she wasn’t in her uniform, he recognized her voice as he heard her say to them,

That night, he couldn’t fall asleep because her words kept echoing in his ears.

Precisely a week after that incident, he bumped into her again at a coffee shop in his hometown Windenburg. Here’s what exactly happened-

Charles was standing in the queue waiting for his turn to order coffee, when he noticed, from the corner of his eye, a woman walking in. As she made her way to the queue, he immediately offered her his place, because he’s a gentleman and knows his manners. That’s when the woman yelled, “You again! What, are you stalking me or something?”

Realizing it’s the officer he replied, “I can say the same to you!”

“I’m on patrol. You can’t question me if you spot me in three different places in the same day. That’s my job, you know.”

“Oh so you’re saying I can’t go where I want to? What about freedom of movement, huh? First you say I can’t go to the nightclub because I’m too young and now I can’t even have coffee? Why am I too young for that too?”

“No you’re just too… never mind.” She took her coffee and headed out.

He followed her with his own cup, “I know you’re scared I’ll cause trouble because I’m Mr. Troubleseeker, right?”

She smiled at him awkwardly, “yeah Mr. Troubleseeker” and then laughed.

She sat at a table and he joined her. “Can I ask you something?” He continued when she nodded,

“Yeah I did. And what you said has been eating me up alive ever since! I keep wondering if the furniture that I craft really sucks that much!”

“No… it’s not about the furniture. I didn’t really look around at all to be honest. The moment I saw you I panicked because you know… I don’t wanna give the impression that I’m a stalker. So I told my girlfriends to move outta there ASAP!”

He looked at her for a moment in sheer disbelief, then smiled and went on to say,

She laughed, “I’m sorry. I seriously had no intentions of hurting your feelings!” then she paused, breathed in, exhaled and continued,

“Deal” he replied.

And then they smiled at each other, for the first time ever since they’d met.