Time and Love Exchange

Connection

"Sure, I'll talk to the research coordinator once I get back to campus...The conference just ended so it's gonna take a while for the drive...Thanks, Dr Collins! See you tomorrow hopefully!" He concluded the call and gratefully found a nearby spot to sit down by the bus-stop for a timely rest while be on the watch out to leave right away should the next bus come.

A cup of freshly-brewed coffee in hand, he was glad the cafeteria staff did not show any displeasure of him knocking over their board sign hours ago or that they were too busy to recognise him. He did remember taking a brief glance at the message written on the board and wondered if his guess at the blank letters were right...Strangely, his mind was so caught up with this matter that he was not thinking a single bit about what had went on during the conference the past two hours or so...Instead, he turned his attention to a pocket book inside his bag which he had kept since the night(or morning) before...She left just as fast as a breeze...and he was too dumbfounded to go after her...The book which she had probably been reading then must have been especially heartfelt, or so he thought...Yet, he was never a fan of novels...

Taking it out and casting an intent glance on the plain simple cover, the title "Love is a neverending string" intrigued him...The front picture was an empty broken picture frame - not wonder she was crying so achingly...

Staring almost absent-mindedly at the thing left by her in his hands, a sudden shove by a little energetic teenager from the sidewalk simply knocked into the engrossed Danson, instantly causing him to drop the book...He was the one victim being knocked at this time instead of him bothering the cafeteria chalkboard sign from before.

Matters could not get any worse as the boy also lost grip of his own handy cup of espresso and splattered it all over the spot. Danson could not be more shocked...Swiftly picking up the novel, he had to thank God that there was just a little drops of brown liquid on the edges of the cover...Yet, what caught him was another nearly fully soaked thin little book found right under the bench he was sitting on...The teenager was too intimidated that he immediately ran away with his companion after shouting a shaky apology...

He got no other choice but to retrieve both books to his sole responsibility. The other unexpected one with a more bright-looking cover was actually a notebook with a lot of clean unwritten pages, yet no longer clean now that it was coloured brown, dripping wet and filled with the tempting aroma of the coffee...

In just half a minute, the loud-sounding vehicle of a bus came and Danson had to race away and head back to his own car parked a few blocks down the road.