The Stranger
Soren sat in the quiet bookshop, watching people. He took a deep breath as an elderly miss in a dark coat approached him with a smile and a stack of books in her hands. Soren scanned them. “That would be 15 taka, ma’am,” he told her. The woman handed him 15 heavy silver coins and smiled, “Rough day, young man?” she asked him. Soren shook his head. “No, I like my job.” he smiled. The woman nodded. “Goodbye then, have a nice day,” she waved and left. “You too,” he answered. He actually liked his job. He liked the atmosphere in the shop, enjoyed the smell of books and books in general. He sipped a little bit of the tea he had in his cup. The sweet mint and orange taste reminded him of the times, when he had nothing to worry about. Some people would say that he didn’t have much to worry about, but Soren was an overthinker. He would often think too much, and eventually, even the slightest problems seemed like a big issue.
The shop was closed. It was lunch break. Soren got up and slowly walked around the shop, fixing the books in their places. He stopped in front of the mirror to look at his lanky reflection. Soren looked at his pale face. Dark circles again, he said to himself as he reached them and caressed his tired eyes with his fingers. No wonder the woman thought he was having a harsh day. He adjusted a few lost strands of hair. His hair was a bit longer than usual and was regularly falling into his eyes. It was dark brown and straight, not even with a single curl, but it still managed to be messy, for some reason. He returned to the counter and reached for his coat. He got it on as he stepped out of the door. After some searching in his pockets, he found the lighter and lit up the cigarette in his hand. He knew it was a bad habit but he couldn’t help himself. He finished the cigarette and threw it in the bin outside the door. Then he ate his lunch consisting of rice and chicken with vegetables. Soren sat, reading a book while waiting for his lunch break to end and listening to music. He particularly liked one song named The Wolf. He could listen to it again and again and never get tired of it.
He was sitting behind the counter scrolling through his phone. There wasn’t much to do anyway. Sometimes a person interrupted him, but after all, he is selling books.
He was spacing out when a soft male voice snapped him out of it. “Hey,” a young man with messy blond hair and a weird scar on his left jaw stood in front of the counter. “Oh, hi. How can I help you?” Soren asked the stranger. The stranger smiled and put a stack of five books on the counter. As he scanned them, Soren noticed which books the stranger was buying. “Good choices” he turned to him, and the blonde man smiled wide. “Thanks!” he answered. “Yeah, no problem, I guess,” Soren said. “Do you want me to wrap them?” he then asked the stranger. “Yes please,” the stranger answered. Soren wrapped the books in brown paper as the stranger was watching him do so with a strange interest. At last, he put them in a bag. “That would be 18 taka and 5 aera” he announced and the stranger handed him the coins. Then he took the bag and left the shop with childish excitement in his eyes. Soren couldn’t help but smile at the happiness of the stranger that he had just met.
He was just thinking that he had missed an opportunity to make a friend when the door bursted open and the blonde man rushed inside. He stopped when he saw Soren staring at him, and breathlessly told him that he forgot his phone in the shop. Soren just nodded, and the man dashed to find his phone. In just a few seconds, he was back with his phone and left again, smiling at him. …
