Rin woke with the comfortable warmth of the sun shining on her. Unwillingly, she lifted her scrunched eyes, the rays penetrating through the window was as bright as ever.
Seeing she was awake, the man with his hair dyed a dark blue gave her an anxious greeting. "Good morning Rin."
"Mornin' Kaito."
Kaito, the man named himself so, but she doubted it was his real and the suspicion slipped some awkwardness in her addressing. Her indifference towards such matter was always vague, and she was not as uninterested as she pretended to be.
"I say, do you remember where I put my tie?" asked Kaito as he frantically searched the carpeted floor.
"Nay. I was pretty wasted last night." Rin yawned and that was when the dehydration hit her. "Geez I am thirsty."
Kaito dropped what he was doing and hurriedly fetched a cup of water. She downed the contents in a gulp after eying Kaito gratefully.
"Better?" The other man was as gentlemanly as always, this attribute of his charmed Rin but at the same time, she thought him to be too kind.
"Thanks." To repay his favour, Rin helped with his search, they finally found his tie discarded carelessly on a chair.
"How can you even miss something so obvious?" She mocked.
"Sorry for the trouble. You know how I panic when I am in a hurry." Kaito ran his fingers over his hair, looking apologetic while giving a slight bow. "Thank you."
Rin stared at the clock to confirm briskness of his attitude, indeed, the lateness explained everything. "Hurry on. You boss must be missing you."
"Well—"Kaito looked reluctant.
"I will clean up the mess."
"Alright, I will be leaving." Kaito slid his card over a device, a click was heard as the door unlocked. "Thank you so much. Really."
"Haha. I could say the same to you." Rin muttered.
Kaito was an endless pot of money for her to exploit. Once every week, he would come back to the casino to find her, they gambled, she won most of the time; he would feel upset and they made up by drinking. While enjoying her free cocktail—paid by Kaito-she would listen to his rant on how miserable life was with every aspect, great or small, planned by his parents.
Kaito's case was the typical story of rich elite, a doctor in training who could not bear the stress from his job and the expectations for his success. To top the situation, he was the son of two well known doctors, he was afraid of disappointing as well as being compared to.
Ironically, Kaito's kindly heart was the cause of his greatest worries. He had a secret part time as a back alley doctor, volunteering his skills as an abortionist to help unfortunate women who could afford the fees. Who knew what the consequences would be if he was caught?
To Rin, Kaito's back story sounded unreal and was something she could neither comprehend nor feel empathy to. Though, she listened with faked attentiveness and forced consolations. If Kaito knew, he had acknowledged their inability to connect and had kept his observations to himself. Besides, he seemed satisfied to have someone to rant to, as long as she kept his secrets.
Rin prejudiced him as sheltered, pampered, a lucky man walking on an asphalt road but still could whine about his fortunes. She thought he should either let his parents disown him or quit his illegal part time.
"But things cannot be that easy, can they?" Rin mumbled to herself as she tidied the stacks of card on the table.
"Hooray an ace!" she exclaimed as she flipped a random card to its other side. "Well, let my luck flourish."
Rin knew she was lying to herself, she recognized every card in that particular stack, as well as many more, her life depended on it the capability to do so.
Having an eidetic memory was a good advantage in gambling, she favour card games and had learnt how to differentiate them through the slight difference of the patterns, how they were not perfectly centred, a fold mark, etc.
"Just kidding. I knew you were the ace. "Rin told the card. "What godly ability I possess."
No matter how she phrase or glorify her cheating, she felt pathetic.
"Room service." A voice came from the other side of the door. Rin returned the ace in its rightful box and left with it.
/
"Hey, where's your handsome doctor? Had he already left the bed when you woke?" The speaker was a dealer working in the casino, she went by the name GUMI.
Rin shrugged and the teasing. "Well, contrary to your belief, we have never slept together. We just drink and play cards."
"Yeah, yeah. So true." GUMI sniggered. "What else can a woman do with a man in a hotel room?"
"Like I said, drinking and playing with cards." Undoubtedly, the closed door business induced a well founded suspicion from GUMI. Rin hoped that the joke will soon become repetitive if she hears the same denial.
"I know a lie when I hear one."
Rin rolled her eyes, the woman was not going to let go so easily. "Let's have breakfast. I am hungry." She switched topics instead.
"Sorry darling, I am on a diet." GUMI rejected the invitation.
"Don't starve yourself out for such idiotic reasons." Rin insisted.
"True for you, but I will pass."
"You're no fun."
"See you later."
Rin felt lonely to see her friend leave, they always had their meals together, but the woman was avoiding eating anything recently. She missed her potty mouth.
"I'll have a cake than." She decided something sweet—preferably yellow-would be the right thing to cheer her up.
/
The pastry shop was full of alluring cakes, Rin agonized over the choice.
"Banana or mango? Butterscotch looks nice." She had been through the same question for some time. "Should I try a new flavour or do with my usual choice?" She could never see an end to it.
The bell rang with a soft twinkle as a young man entered the shop. "Pops. Give me the banana choco."The new customer had taken out one of her potential candidates, but she still had the leisure to ponder as there were still many others to chose from.
"Hey are you done yet?" But unfortunately, the old owner urged her to get on with it. "Every single time-"
"Sorry. Mister." Rin said in a mock apology.
"You want me to pick for you?" suggested the impatient old man like he always did.
"Bring out your best!"
The old man picked a mango cake randomly and packed it into the box. "Here you go missy."
She paid the money and left in a flurry to catch up with the previous customer, she had wanted to meet him and luckily he appeared early or she would have to wait awkwardly-for perhaps, hours.
"Hey Len! Wait up."
Rin had an interest in the man, they were former classmate, they took the same music classes together and found many common grounds. Though, she did not think it was a crush, not yet. She did not have the expected insipid dreams of a school girl or any sentiments of hero worship of his many charms. To put it simply, she liked him but it was not love.
Their interest was mutual. He laughed if she said something endearingly witty and enjoyed her sarcasm while she played along with his flirtatious behaviour and cynical jokes.
"Hello Rin, what a coincidence." Len gave her a sunny smile.
"You know it's not," Rin retorted.
"If I don't say so, I am sure you will be insulted."
"My pride is not that delicate."
"I am sure it isn't."
"I saw you at the Ditzi hall last week. How long have you been dancing?" Ditzi Hall was a popular dance club downtown. Being a common goer, Len the newcomer stood out like a sore thumb to her.
"Oh. That was a whim of mine."
"I don't believe you. I insist the truth."
"It's a secret."
"I smell something fishy here." She gestured him to wait with her left hand while tapping her forehead with another, closing her eyes with a look of concentrating, Rin announced: "My woman told me it's a girl!"
"Jelous?" Len winked playfully.
"Yes. Yes I am." Rin laughed with the same playfulness. "Hey let's sit there." She suggested by pointing on a park bench.
"Let the woman lead." Len agreed and plopped down on the bench.
"I thought it is the other way."
"It's a strategy of mine, to score girls by playing a feminist. I favour it too knowing how useful it is."
"I see. You enlighten me as always."
Rin sat close next to Len and stared at the distant street, the scene was dominated with skyscrapers announcing the monopoly and importance of rich companies in her city.
Strangely, she enjoyed the monotonous bustle of shoes on pavement and the rumbling of the vehicles, she loved the hubbub during the mornings as they made her feel at home.
She also loved the city nightly persona, which would be a chaos of neon lights and restless night wanderers, slinking from a bar to another, the economy of the city was sustained by its business of night clubs, gambling centres and casinos.
"You like banana choco?" asked Len as he shoved a greedy mouthful of the cake into his mouth.
"Don't laugh, but I like my food yellow. So yeah."
"Amusing." Trying to meet Rin's request, Len suppressed his giggle. "Even mustard?"
"Yes, even mustard. We go hush-hush about this. Promise?"
"I swear."
"That's reassuring. So you love the flavour? Choco banana."
"It's my favourite."
"Which means this foiled my plan of trading with you?"
"Why no. If you want to." Len offered her his cake while spooning hers.
"Take that." Rin told the cake as she gave the chiffon and cream a sloppy scoop, she mimicked Len's way of eating and choked in the process.
"Do I really eat with that much gusto?" Len blushed at the realization of her implication.
"Pretty much." She said between coughing fits.
They finished the cake and Len was about to leave, Rin pulled at his sleeve. "Can you come to the casino tonight?"
"It's not that I am busy—"
"I'll buy you dinner. And the roulette chips."
"Well, if you insist. But not the chips. "
"See you then."
"Yeah. See you soon."
/
