Café, Rain, and Umbrella - May Flash Fiction Contest: 280-Word Romance!

It was fun to write this one. I love OLxOL Yuri and always wanted to write this kind of story, but with only 280 words, it was challenging. If I have time, I will try to record an audio, but I cannot promise it.

Café, Rain and Umbrella

We met by chance when you joined our company. You were so different, and the desk that separated us felt like a shoreless sea. Why did you never care about your appearance, fashion, and chitchat during the lunch break? Why did you never tried to fit in?

You made me angry when you sat alone, but deep inside, I admired your courage. I wished that just for once I could stop caring too, but I am a coward. I was so afraid of being alone. Even if all those people just fill the emptiness around me, I cannot imagine my world without them. It is a fair deal. We are "friends." With them, my phone and TV, I managed to push my loneliness away. And I knew they do the same… but you were different… and I hated it.

I was busy that day, too busy for lunch. I let my "friends" go without me. I just had too much to do… You came to my desk with a cup of coffee, a sandwich, and a smile. For a long time, I wondered why you did this. I never believed your "you looked hungry." Why then? You never cared about those unspoken contracts that bound people to be nice. You weren't like this… then why?

It was a rainy day. I took my courage and shared my umbrella with you. Now your daughter calls me "mom."

Published on https://neobook.org/book/FmLeHz7V/

You make me want to live in a house 

Where the front door needs an extra little push to open,

And the windows creak, 

Where the floor is coming up a little bit next to the fireplaces, 

And the wallpaper is peeling in a million places. 

A place where the sink in the bathroom leaks a little,

And one lightbulb won’t turn on, no matter how many times it’s changed.

Somewhere where the door frame is too skinny and I constantly hit my shoulder on it. 

A place where the tile is slightly cracked, 

And the heat always escapes in the winter. 

A place that’s always covered in paint and soil, 

Coats hung by the door because they’re constantly used

Somewhere when we always keep the fireplace burning 

And we sit under a  million quilted blankets 

That I made one day when I was bored, 

Not knowing how much we would use them. 

A place that is perfectly us, a place that I would hate to live in alone, 

But it becomes home when you are there. 

A place that is completely you.