Just A Car Insurance #Part2

I ran into my bedroom and rummaged through my ex-wife's stuff. I had kept all of it, because you never know when it might come in handy. Just like it did today. I finally found a necklace with a flower on it. It seemed suitable for my plan. I put it in a tissue and placed it into my pocked on the inside of my suit. All I had to do now, was to wait for morning to come. I sat at my dining table and observed the glass of the stairway, expecting the clock to hit 6 a.m. for Layla to head out to work again. I didn’t sleep that night. It was too much of a risk to take to miss her going to work that morning.

At 6 a.m. sharp I saw her walking down the stairs. I grabbed my keys and my briefcase and left my house, to walk by her door slowly and inconspicuously. She opened the door of her building and walked to her bike. I bent over with the necklace in my hand. Then I unbent again and took a deep breath to be able to speak to her.

“Excuse me, Miss”, I said. “Is this yours?” I asked and showed her the necklace.

She turned away from her bike to face me. Her eyes pointed straight at my hand.

“No, it isn’t mine”, she finally replied. “Did you just find it here?”

“Yes. Beautiful, isn’t it? What flower do you think this is? I have no knowledge on flowers.”

“A calla Lilly, I believe.”
“Are you a florist, Miss?”

“Call me Layla. No, I just had this event last week. They had calla Lillies everywhere, to symbolize eternal peace.”

“You should have this, Layla.”

“No, it probably belongs to someone who misses it now.”

“It was next to your bike. I believe in fate, don’t you?”

“Then I should definitely not take it. That event I mentioned. Calla Lillies are not for me.”

“Superstition is cowardice in face of fate.”
“Meaning...”
“Take it”, I said to her in a stern tone and a frozen look in my eyes. I would not take no for an answer, not today, not after five years of waiting.

She hesitantly touched the flower with her fingertips and took the necklace from my hand. My chest was tight and my tie was chocking me. I put on one last brief polite smile for her, wished her a nice day, and just left her standing there to go back into my house.

I was finally able to breathe again, when I was back at my dining table. From behind my curtains I could see her standing there, stone-still and startled. And then I saw her walk towards the garbage bin and toss the necklace in it. Like nothing had happened on that day, she climbed on her bike and took off. I was left behind at my dining table, wearing yesterdays suit and having had no sleep. But it was time for work again. The car insurances would not sell themselves.

A week later I found some courage within me once again, to attempt to speak to Layla. I was standing in front of the door of her building, to summon the courage to ring her doorbell. But something was just not letting me press that little plastic button. A neighbour of hers came by and looked at me, while opening the door to the building.

“Are you lost?” the woman asked me.

“No, I just want to see someone, but I am not sure if I can.”
“Those roses in your hands and those cookies... what did you do?”

“Pardon?”
“You are already here now. You may just as well go to her door now. With such gifts, she might take that apology of yours. Do you want to come in then?”

“Sure.”

She let me get into the building just after her. I thanked her politely and began walking up the stairs to the third floor.

And there it was, her home sweet home door. I just stood there for a while and asked myself if I should ring her doorbell. I was so close. She was just behind that door. While I was thinking, the hallway light shut down and I was standing in the dark. I could see the light in her home under the gap of her door. I got on my knees and tried to look into that gap, hoping to see her. And there it was, that astonishing moment I had been waiting for! I saw her feet pass by the door. It was quick, but I saw it. And I was happy. I sat down on the ground next to her door and began chewing on my cookies with such satisfaction and the feeling of success. After having eaten the last of the cookies, I walked down the stairs and placed my roses on her bike. I attached a piece of paper saying: “Fate cannot be returned”.

Continue Reading Part 3 .....

Posted in: Creative,Short Story