Finding X

Chapter One

A year. It had been a whole effing year.

She was surprised to find herself seated in the coffee shop of a swanky hotel, reading a book and having a Zen moment. A year ago she didn’t even think she’d actually be content to sit alone like this—much less be alive.

Carlisle took a sip of her now-lukewarm tea as she looked out the large glass windows that reached from floor to ceiling. She returned to Tagaytay every now and then with her family since this was her mother’s hometown, but she never actually stayed away from the matriarchal house and enjoyed being a tourist by herself. Until now.

And quite frankly, she was enjoying it.

After resting her eyes, she looked down at her open page. But she wasn’t be able to go back to reading just yet, not when she heard someone clear his throat and address her.

“Mind if I sit here?”

She looked up to see the voice coming from a tall, lanky guy with glasses. And cute. Very cute. But what really surprised her was the shock of blue hair that covered his head. So surprised that she could only answer with a confused frown.

“Um,” he began again, pushing the wire-frame glasses up his nose. “Would you mind if I sit here? Every other table is taken and it seemed you didn’t have any company.” He gestured to the seat across her place at the table.

She looked around the room quickly, and indeed the hotel cafe had become full. She must have been too engrossed with her book to notice that the other guests had already filled the space.

“Of course.” She nodded, gesturing to the empty chair. There was something pleasant about his mouth when he spoke, about how his eyes squinted when he asked his question. He seemed harmless enough. But before her guest could actually take a seat, her curiosity got the best of her.

“Are you a cosplayer?” she asked. She felt herself go pale as soon as the words had left her. Surely she could’ve waited for him to sit down before asking that intrusive question.

“It’s the hair, isn’t it?” He cringed as soon as he sat down. “It’s my little sister’s failed science experiment, a side effect. Long story. Now I have to live with it.”

In spite of herself, she laughed, her voice carrying over the din of the shop. She cleared her throat quickly, a hand over her mouth before looking back up at him. “Little sisters: can’t live with them, can’t live without them,” she said, amused.

“You have a younger sister, too?” he asked, curious. Other people who asked to share seats from strangers normally turned their bodies away to keep some privacy. Not him; he sat there facing her.

“Yes.” She surprised herself that she supplied a straightforward answer to a stranger. “And she’s a bundle of energy all her own.” She grinned at him.

“Ah,” was all he could comment as he sat there, suddenly looking awkward before he turned his head to look around elsewhere in the room.

“Sorry, I won’t keep you. You seem to be waiting for someone?” she asked, already closing the book she’d been reading and picking up her bag from the floor.

“No, please.” His reply was quick, gesturing for her to stay. “I’m just actually waiting for my aforementioned sister so I can pick her up. She said she’d be out already but it’s already been thirty minutes and I wanted to sit—” he looked up at her meekly, “and find someone to talk to.”

She laughed haughtily. “I assure you, I am terrible company. I’m just going to bore you.”

“You haven’t been boring so far,” he muttered, before looking down at the menu she had discarded to his side of the table earlier.