String Theory

by Daniel Kolade

  “Wow, you guys look great!” Kaori leaned in.

  “What are you talking about,” Nora said, with a wide smile. “Kaori, you’re stunning!”

  “Really? Thank you,” Kaori replied.

  “Yeah, it really suits you,” Mei affirmed, reaching out to touch her clothes.

  “Got anything else, ladies?” Nora grinned at the two girls.

  “I’ve got a whole lot more,” Kaori said, returning the smile.

  “Another!” Mei chanted signaling a change of clothes. “We’re just getting started girls!”

  They disappeared behind the curtains to their changing rooms again. Their outfit-trying frenzy began. One after another they tried different clothes, reappearing in front of the changing room curtains to show off their new apparel. The judges sighed at some and cheered at others, while some were rejected with zeal, almost resembling rage. The pile of clothes to try on quickly grew smaller and smaller as they burned through their options. Finally, when they finished their fashion show, came a moment, the hardest moment of all, the moment where they had to part with the items they had picked up.

  “I hate this so much,” Kaori grumbled with her shoulders sagging.

  “I know!” Mei said, refusing to let go of the clothing items that she really liked.

  “C’mon we have more to see,” Nora assured them.

  “But I really like these,” Kaori replied, trying not to part with the outfits of her design.

  “That’s why we won’t!” Mei chanted decisively.

  “And how will you do that?” Nora questioned, their pleas and their chosen action, with her eyes half-lidded.

  “We’ll buy them,” Kaori said, shying away from the sad truth that she tried to push out of her mind.

  “Exactly!” Mei agreed looking intently at her friend.

  “With what money?” Nora rolled her eyes, knowing that there was nothing they could possibly say to fix that issue of being a high school student.

  “Ladies,” Mei began, huddling up with her friends. “We’re robbing a bank!”

  “Great!” Kaori said quickly seconding that. “What’s the plan?”

  “C’mon, we’re leaving!” Nora said, without even hearing the grand scheme. “Now!” she added, dragging her friends towards the exit.

  “But… but…” the two girls grumbled, frowning at the hanging clothes they had left behind. “Nora, they’re calling out to us,” they said, trying their best to appeal to her good nature.

  “Yeah, yeah, there will be more clothes calling out to you,” Nora answered nonchalantly as she finally got them to leave the store with her. They quickly found themselves in another store and from there, after trying on another set of clothes that interested them, they went from shop to shop, stopping at nothing. Some had exotic and elegant jewelry on display, others were cute general stores with kitchen utensils, and some were small, cozy tea boutiques where one could smell a million scents mixing together as one walked in.

  “So, what do you guys want to do now?” Kaori said, sitting down by the iconic fountain as their small adventure reached a fitting end.

  “I’m starving,” Mei muttered, taking a seat next to Kaori.

  “Sounds good, I could use some food too,” Nora began. “There’s this French restaurant which is supposed to be amazing,” she added.

  “Wherever that place is, we’re going!” Mei jumped to her feet.

  “Kaori, any objections?” Nora asked.

  “Nope, none at all,” Kaori replied. “Let’s go!”

  They left the mall and quickly travelled through the city in search of the restaurant. Soon enough, they reached without any major problems or kinks on the way.

  “Wow,” Kaori uttered, standing in front of the huge well-designed building. “This place looks amazing,” she added, gazing inside. The architecture was a mixture of European-styled design and transparent windows to show off the brilliant interior.

  “C’mon, let’s go,” Nora said. They walked in and were quickly shown to a table, where a waiter came by and handed them the menu.

  Kaori and Mei glanced from left to right with parted lips, at the many lights, fans, plants, and the patterned ceiling and the floor as well as the set of tables, that helped create the warm atmosphere.

  “You guys, decided what you want yet?” Nora asked, looking across the small table they sat at.

  “Oh,” murmured Kaori and Mei as they realised that they were supposed to order something.

  “Everything sounds so good, I can’t decide,” Kaori grumbled.

  “Kaori?” Mei began in a serious tone.

  “Yes?” Kaori answered, leaning back, with her eyebrows drawing closer.

  “We’ll come back,” the spoken words quickly removed the weight on Kaori’s shoulders.

  “Okay, I’m going with this then,” Kaori said, putting down the menu, with her body propped up and her chin upwards.

  The waiter came back and took their orders.

  “Kaori,” Nora uttered, gazing across the table at the girl in question.

  “Yes?” the reply came swiftly.

  “I need to ask you for a favour,” Nora said, keeping strong eye contact.

  “Okay, sure, what is it?” Kaori answered, smiling.

  “Our pianist bailed on us so—” before she could even finish, she was interrupted.

  “I refuse,” Kaori stated with a hardened gaze.

  “You didn’t even hear what I had to say,” Nora muttered, with her shoulders sinking.

  “I’m sure I didn’t need to,” Kaori affirmed, keeping her resolve.

  “Wait, Aiza isn’t going to play for the school festival?” Mei said, interrupting the current negotiations.

  “Nope, something came up, so he can’t,” Nora explained.

  “Ugh… that sucks,” Mei sighed. “Um…” she uttered, turning to Kaori innocently.

  “Not happening,” Kaori said, knowing the words that were about to come out of her mouth.

  “Kaori, please, you’re the only one I can ask,” Nora pleaded.

  “You’re the best pianist we know,” Mei added.

  “Everyone in class is working so hard too,” Nora explained, trying to appeal to her.

  “But, I—” Kaori began, feeling weak in her knees.

  “Please,” Mei and Nora begged.

  “Umm—uhh, I’m going to get some water, anybody wants some?” Kaori said, snapping herself up from the chair, trying to escape.

  “Don’t worry about that, the waiter will come by with some,” Nora countered. “Kaori—”

  “They seem busy, this is faster,” Kaori said, swiftly marching off towards the bar. Before her friends could respond she had already gone.

  She slowed down, when enough distance had been established. She took a deep breath and tried to replenish her nearly crumbling resolve. However, as she approached the bar, she saw a boy who seemed strangely familiar.

  ChapteR 10

  Their eyes met. Ren’s and Kaori’s. They stood completely paralysed, unable to look away. The casted spell, petrifying them, broke as they realised that they were staring. In a single jerky move, they averted their eyes from the other.

  Her frozen feet began to move again, carrying her towards the bar. She looked down trying avoiding eye contact, but she reached a point where it became inevitable.

  “Um… what can I get you, miss?” Ren asked, cleverly trying to occupy himself with other things, keeping his eyes low.

  “A glass of water, please,” Kaori said, standing at the bar.

  “Coming right up,” he replied, quickly getting to work on her request as an excuse to avoid her eyes.

  Is he—

  Is she—

  She stood at bar trying not to make her glances at him too obvious.

  The boy in my dreams? She thought, peeking at Ren.

  The girl in my dreams? He thought, subtly looking at her with a jug of water in his hand, which he had forgotten about until the glass overflowed and spill
ed water on the ground.

  Their eyes met, only for a split second, before they awkwardly turned away.

  I can’t ask that, that’s so weird! She debated with herself while trying to occupy her eyes with other things.

  How do you even ask that? ‘Oh hey, are you the girl in my dreams?’ he wondered, quickly wiping up the mess and then garnishing the filled glass with a slice of lime.

  That’s so embarrassing, she admitted, hiding her flustered face with her hands.

  That just sounds stupid, he affirmed, lowering his face into his palm.

  They returned attentively to reality, shooing away their invading thoughts. Ren finished garnishing the glass of water with a single sprig of mint and said, “Here’s your water, miss.”

  “Oh thank you,” she answered, taking the ice cold glass, with a rather shallow smile.

  As they parted ways their thoughts awoke for a second wind. Ren looked across the room at the girl who had left with her order of water.

  What if she is—he thought, looking at her.

  What if he is—Kaori thought, glancing back at the boy.

  For a moment, their eyes fell onto the other, and everything else was forgotten, the restaurant, the spilled water, the chattering sound of the cutlery on the plates; it all vanished.

  My soulmate.

  ChapteR 11

  Could he really be my soulmate? Kaori thought, walking across the patterned floor with the glass of water as a token from him. Questions and wonders swirled in her mind, echoing one after another. Her steps were slow and distracted, however her dreamy thoughts were quickly forced to take a backseat when she reached the table, or more precisely, her friends.

  Seeing their faces brought the thought of performing on stage back into focus. Worry seeped in as she saw their grinning faces.

  “Welcome back,” Mei said, greeting her.

  “Thanks,” Kaori said, sitting down. For a moment they acted like the request never happened, like she hadn’t been asked to do something she thought was impossible.

  “So…” Nora uttered. It was clear that the forgotten request, was fresh in their minds, even after Kaori’s, seemingly endless, quest to the bar. “Um… what do you think?” Nora asked, trying her best not to look directly at Kaori.

  “About what?” Kaori said, cunningly avoiding the question and taking a sip of water.

  “About helping friends in need,” Mei said, cleverly trying to appeal to her better nature and sympathy.

  “That, I would have no problem with,” Kaori began, leaning in. “But, exposing myself in front of a crowd of people like that has nothing to do with the former,” she leaned back, lowering her brow.

  “Why do you have to say it like that?” Mei's shoulders dropped. “You won’t be exposing yourself, just performing.”

  “Exactly,” Nora added. “You can think of it as a learning experience.”

  “Precisely,” Mei said, picking up the baton where Nora left off. “You won’t get over your fear if you don’t try,” the pair of negotiators nodded in agreement, trying to subtly usher Kaori into the same accepting mood.

  “I don’t know,” Kaori answered. Her voice suggested that her renewed resolve had crumbled to the pleas of her friends.

  “Kaori, you don’t need to worry about it,” Nora began, trying to reassure her. “There won’t be many people there.”

  “Exactly, our school isn’t that big and I doubt people will actually come for our festival,” Mei said, sweetening the deal a little more.

  “But there will still be people, right?” Kaori noted, clearly highlighting the problem at hand.

  “Yeah, but not many,” Nora explained, bowing her head. “Please Kaori.”

  “Please,” Mei joined the begging and together with Nora formed a little choir.

  “Okay…” Kaori murmured with her eyebrows squeezing together.

  “Okay?” Mei repeated, looking up with a glimmer in her eyes.

  “Yes, okay…” Kaori repeated, avoiding eye contact.

  “That means that you’ll play, right?” Nora asked, leaning in.

  “I guess,” Kaori replied.

  “Thank you, Kaori!” they chanted, with their faces lit up. “You’re the best!”

  “Okay, okay, calm down,” Kaori said trying to get them to lower their voices. As the pair of girls basked in their victory and glory, the waiter came by with a series of plates, placing one in front of each of them.

  Kaori was a served a plate of mille-feuille composed of finely sliced potatoes, artichokes, neatly diced tomatoes and salmon which was served with jus de persil that put the final touches on the dish named, Pomme de terre Anna. In front of Mei was a plate of Chicken Marengo, neatly put up and garnished with olives and parsley; next to it was a flat-roofed pyramid of rice. Lastly, Nora ordered, Ratatouille which was delicately presented to show off the thin slices of squash, zucchini, eggplant and tomato.

  They really appreciated their food, which meant their phones were involved and photographs were taken. After the short distraction, they quickly dug in, savouring the flawless flavours.

  Their ordered dishes soon disappeared as they enjoyed their feast. “That was great,” Kaori smiled, letting out a sigh.

  “Yeah, we need to come here again,” Mei said.

  “Definitely,” Nora affirmed. “Should we take the next train home?”

  “Sure, what’s the time?” Kaori asked. “It’s already that late,” she added, after looking down at her phone.

  “Then we should definitely get going,” Mei said and with those words, they left the restaurant and made their way to the train station where they had started their escapade. Upon their arrival to the iconic building, Mei said, “I feel sad leaving Trine.”

  “Yeah we had so much fun today,” Nora affirmed and took one last look, for the night, at the Trine skyline.

  “We did,” Kaori said, admiring the many lights that lit up the urban towers.

  “Somewhere in this city is my soulmate,” Mei claimed with a curt nod. “I’m sure of it.”

  “I like how you just decided that,” Nora said, giggling.

  I wonder if that boy was mine, Kaori thought, hoping that the night sky would hold the answer.

  ChapteR 12

  Was she the girl in my dreams? Ren thought, while vacuum cleaning the restaurant floor. The black haired girl, who had asked for water remained fresh in his mind as he tried to cross reference his memory of her and his drawing of the girl in his dreams. However, it seemed impossible without either in front of him at hand.

  “Thinking about the cute raven girl at the bar?” Quist asked, noticing his hard face.

  “What? No!” he exclaimed, frowning.

  “C’mon, you’re totally thinking about her!” she persisted with raised eyebrows, taking a break from wiping the tables.

  “I’m not,” he said, trying to keep his thoughts private.

  “What’s her name?” she asked, gazing at him with sly, squinting eyes.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Really?” Her pitch rose. “You don’t know her?”

  “No,” he answered with a blank expression.

  “Oh, because you two were looking at each other like you’d met before,” she explained.

  “What? Really!” he leaned closer.

  “Yeah, it was like the innocent version of leering at one another,” she said. “It was quite a romantic spectacle if you ask me,” she added, grinning.

  Maybe she is—he thought.

  “You at least got her number, right?” Quist asked, gently nodding.

  “I was at the bar the entire time, how could I have gotten her number?” Ren replied.

  “Ren—” before she began, another voice interrupted and asked them to continue working and so they did. Ren resumed his cleaning and so did Quist. The remaining workers finished their duties and closed the restaurant.

  Ren and Quist left together for the train station and got into the next train that arrived. They s
tood by the windowed doors, facing each other.

  “Ren, you’re so cute,” she smiled, glancing at his stern expression.

  He cleared his throat. “What? Why?”

  “Because you’re still thinking about that girl,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

  “I’m not,” he averted his gaze.

  “You’re so easy to read,” she chuckled.

  “Shut up,” he muttered

  “Tell me about her.”

  “Her?” he asked. “I don’t know anything about her.”

  “Then tell me about what you’re thinking,” she insisted.

  “Do you believe in soulmates?” he asked, looking out of the window, watching the urban scenery pass by.

  “Sure, why?” she replied, raising her brows. “You’re at that age, aren’t you?” she added, realising the relevance of his words.

  “I guess you could say that,” he softly smiled.

  “Was that the girl?” she quickly asked, demanding an answer from him.

  “I don’t know,” he replied, unable to give a sure response. “I’ve been having these extremely vivid dreams though.”

  “And?”

  “In every one, there is this girl, I can’t completely remember anything about her,” he explained. “Sometimes I can recall bits and pieces—her hair, her eyes, and sometimes it feels like the words, I know she spoke, are on the tip of my tongue,” he continued. “When I wake up, and try to draw what I can remember, I realise something is off, something doesn’t sit right,” he said, taking out his notebook from his bag. “All I’m wondering is if, that girl at the bar who asked for water, was the girl from my dreams…” he said, opening his notebook at the page encapsulating his first dream. “It goes on for a couple of pages,” he said, handing the book to Quist.

  “Ren… these are amazing,” she said, looking at his drawings. “If it’s her, I don’t know, but I can tell you from personal experience, don’t let the fear of being stringless bring you down. You’ll find her, just stop trying…” she said, returning his notebook.

  How can I—I want to find her. He thought, looking down at the sweet pair of eyes that so bashfully glanced back. And if I stop looking—what then?