November 21, 2015

 

‘Agnetha Chui?’

No, it’s Patrick. I spun around.

A guy around my age was leaning against the table. He had piercing blue eyes and unruly jet black hair. He could pull it off, though.

He was in a formal grey suit with a blue tie. Slightly too formal, considering the occasion. The guy was also 5 foot 11, making me feel incredibly self-conscious about my height.

‘Achilles, right?’ I asked.

‘Yeah,’ he said, grinning. I can’t help smiling as well. I had no problem whatsoever remembering his name as it was so eccentric.

I chose to overlook the fact that he was half an hour late, since from what I’ve heard from Sandra, Americans are known to be late. It’s ‘in their culture’ or something. ‘Take a seat,’ I said, motioning to the chair opposite.

He sat down opposite me. After we ordered, he said, ‘So you just moved to New York, eh?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Where’re you from?’

‘Hong Kong.’

‘That’s awfully far. Why did you suddenly move to America?’

‘My dad had to work here, so he thought it would be a good idea to bring the entire family with him.’

‘Oh. Wow.’

It was at this moment that the waiter decided to bring our food over. It was quite fancy. Why Sandra chose The Immigrant, I have no idea. We ate in silence. After a while, I grew tired of the awkwardness and said, ‘Let’s try to get to know each other, okay? You know quite a bit about me already, but I only know your first name.’

‘Sure,’ he said, shrugging.‘So my full name is Achilles Nannini.’

I couldn’t help laughing.

‘Hey, that’s not as weird as “Agnetha Chui”!’

‘Touché. Hey, why not let’s do this – we can take turns to ask questions, and both of us can answer them!’

‘Sounds great! Me first – if you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or ability, what would it be?’

‘I’d love to be able to sing. I’m pretty terrible.’

‘Boring.’

‘What about you, then?’

‘Hmm… teleporting would be sweet.’

‘True. Flying is expensive.’

‘Yeah.’

We continued to chat like this until the end of dinner. I found out a lot of things about him, and likewise. As we stepped out into the cold street, we just stood there awkwardly.

‘Do you think we should exchange e-mails? So we can become penpals as well,’ he said suddenly.

‘Oh, yeah! I almost forgot,’ I said as we exchanged our phones to input our e-mail addresses.

‘Well, bye then,’ he said, walking away.

‘Bye!’ I said as I left as well.

Achilles and I did exchange e-mails for a while, but we lost touch after about a year. I eventually forgot about him.

…………………………

One day, I received another e-mail from Sandra.

Dear A,

Have you still not found a boyfriend yet? As your best friend, I feel like I need to take action, so I’ve decided to set you up with one of my old friends, Achilles. You will meet him at The Immigrant at 18:00 on Saturday. Have fun!

Regards,

S. :*

Achilles. Sounds familiar, but I don’t remember who he is. It’s probably someone else anyway.

On Saturday evening, I arrived around 5 minutes late. Got caught up in traffic. I peered inside the shop. There, sitting at a table, waiting, was an abnormally tall man with black hair and piercing blue eyes.

No way.