Rainy Days and Memories (1)

Source: www.papemelroti.com

Renee makes her usual trip to that old novelty shop. Every Friday, she picks up something that catches her eye; it can be a bookmark, a keychain, or a pin. She just loves how the items look old but smell new, like history repeating itself. She already has a box of knick-knacks from the said shop, and she barely uses them.

She is sort of collecting them for someone: her history that never repeated even if she wanted to.

She remembers meeting Paula a few years back in the very same shop. It was a rainy afternoon.

Paula had a lithe frame and a shock of spiky pink hair. Her eyes looked eager as she was perusing the designs of the journals in the shelves. Renee tried her best not to stare, but she was too beautiful a girl.

She was a girl, as she looked too young to be called a woman or even a lady.

She focused her sight on Paula’s fingers instead. They were slim and white and they gently turned the pages of that insignificant-looking notebook. Renee had to shake off the feeling of being hypnotized by the beauty of this stranger. She grabbed a couple of trinkets she didn’t even like and walked towards the cashier.

“Hey! You dropped your keys.”

Renee turned around and looked straight into the girl’s ochre eyes, then at the outstretched arm up to the hand that cradled the keys. They were just standing and staring at each other for a moment.

“Thank…you.”

Renee slowly took the keys and put them inside her pocket, still staring at Paula. The latter broke into a small, shy smile.

We shall see each other again, she thought.