Disclaimer: Well, not pouting anymore. Promise. They still aren't mine but I suppose I'll learn to live with that. No, no I won't. Never have been very good at quitting. I decided a long time ago to quit quitting. Only kind of quitting I've ever accomplished.
A/N: I know the last one was super short. So is this one. That's why they're both being posted on the same day. See? There is a method to my madness.
Andy
Andy ran the brush lightly over the vase he was restoring. It was delicate work but he liked doing it. The dust was slowly disappearing. It was an interesting feeling. This sense of accomplishment. He hadn't crafted the vase. He hadn't rescued the vase like some TV treasure hunter. All he was doing was a bit of restoration work. Yet he felt as though he really done something important. Something that people would notice and be awed by.
He barely glanced up when his boss stopped by his desk. His entire being was focused on this tiny bit of this vase. He only had a bit more to go and he'd be done. "I need you to get over to Crispian's," she told him, breaking his concentration. She leaned on the table beside him and watched him until he looked up at her.
Andy carefully removed his gloved hands from the vase and let himself look at her. He quirked a brow questioningly.
She set the file she was holding down on the table and opened it for him to see. "Two Ming vases up for auction, Chenghua." She pointed them out to him in the pictures. "Will you appraise them?"
Andy took the file and looked the vases over. "Uh," he stuttered. "Soo Lin should go. She's the expert," he pointed out and offered the file back.
She gave him a look halfway between pity and exasperation. "Soo Lin has resigned her job." She didn't move a muscle to take the pictures and file back. "I need you." She gave him a level look and then walked away.
Andy tapped the file against his hand for a moment and then turned his head to take in the unfinished work on Soo Lin's table. She would never leave it her teapots broken into shards. She would have finished piecing them back together first. Something wasn't right here.
SH/JW SH/JW SH/JW
He liked the way Soo Lin had written her name on the plate for the call button. It was whimsical and elegant. Like her. He pressed the button with a slight smile for the thought. He let go of the buzzer after a second and put his cold hands in his pockets. It was a bit brisk today and he could see his breath fogging the air.
When she didn't answer after a few moments he took a step back and looked up past the storefront of a shop called 'The Lucky Cat' to the flats above. He calculated which one was hers but couldn't determine if she was home or not.
His fingers felt the hard edge of the paper in his pocket and he was struck by an idea. It was only an old envelope but it would have to do. He rooted around for a pen and then steadied the envelope in his hand to leave her a note.
He slipped it through the mail slot and stepped back again. Andy took another look up at her windows and then shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away.
He never noticed the cat statue waving at him from the shop window.
