W000T!!! Thanks to SKETTY24 and ANGELICA for the great reviews =D! I wish I could openly reply to your previous reviews, but I don't want to spoil any of the plot ;)! I'll just let this chapter do all the talking for now ;)!!!! Thanks for reading :D!
Chapter 62: When William met Karen
William stopped in his tracks and looked at the books on the shelf in front of him. Then he pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. "I know it's here somewhere." He muttered to himself. He seemed to be looking for something in particular.
Stryker rolled his eyes and grunted. "Dammit, boy. Don't tell me you're looking for another book to buy!" He said angrily. "Aren't you satisfied with the one you already got?!" He asked as he pointed to the book under William's arm. And then he noticed the keenness in William's eyes. His eyes were quickly running over the books on the shelf, as if he was specifically searching for a title that he had in mind.
"This is going to take forever." Stryker sighed. Then something suddenly came to him. For some reason, he felt the urge to turn around and look at the bookshelf on the other side of the isle. So he did...And right in front of him, on the middle shelf, with other books, was a book that entitled 'Stormblade'. Stryker furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head in a curious, yet confused manner as he looked at it.
"Oh!" William suddenly said. "There it is!" He exclaimed.
Stryker's eyes suddenly opened wide with surprise as he saw William's hand go out of his chest to take the book from the shelf. "Huh. Nate probably did some little rearranging." William mumbled to himself. Then he turned and walked out of the aisle.
Stryker remained standing by the shelf as he watched William turn and walk out of the aisle. Then he suddenly realized that he was just standing there, and he quickly got on his feet and followed after him. He did feel quite excited and a little nervous when he first saw himself walk out of the aisle. Because he knew that whatever was going to happen next, would have something to do with him meeting her. And he was quite curious as to how exactly they were going to meet, or rather, know each other.
Nathan raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. "Well I won't exactly know if it's still available until you tell me the title first." He said with a smile as he looked at the worried face of Karen. "I'm not exactly a mind reader, you know."
Karen straightened herself and slapped her forehead in realization that she had been rambling on about the book without even telling Nathan its title. "Oh yeah, the title." She groaned. Not to mention the fact that she'd been worrying about something that she might not even have to worry about. He probably still had it in stock for all she knew.
Then she breathed in and smiled at him. Yeah...he probably still had it in stock. She definitely had nothing to worry about. After all, who in town would want to buy a book that's primarily focused on weapons and warfare?
"Well, the title of the book is..." Then she suddenly stopped in mid-sentence as she noticed Nathan's attention switch to someone else.
"Excuse me..." Nathan told her quickly. Then he stepped to have a clearer view of the approaching man. "Ah, the book hunter has finally returned." He said with a big smile as William approached the counter. William was holding on to the two books that he got from the shelves, and following after him was his older counterpart.
Stryker, on the other hand, had his eyes solely focused on Karen as he walked by William's side. He saw her take a quick glance at William when Nathan welcomed him back, but that was all she did. She didn't even give him a second look. But then, he really wasn't expecting her to run to him and wrap her arms around him like he had seen her do in his blurred memories of her. Because at this point in time, they hadn't formally met yet. Though he knew that they were going to come to that soon.
William placed his books on the counter, near the cash registry, and smiled back at his friend. "Yeap. I got a little picky...Found tons of books I wish I could buy, but I chose these instead. I'm sure they'll keep me busy while Yuriko and Logan are away on their little 'escapade'." He said with a cheery tone in his voice.
Stryker's young version was now standing an arm's reach away from Karen. And Stryker was standing behind them, keenly observing and looking forward to what might happen next. He found it quite odd that neither Karen nor William looked at each other. In fact, they seemed to prefer to mind their own businesses, which made one thing clear...the term 'love at first sight' definitely didn't apply to them.
Nathan walked to the cash registry and looked through the books that William got. "Hmm. Good choices." He nodded in confirmation as he fingered through them. "The Eye of the World and Stormblade." He read their titles in a rather melodic manner.
"Have you read either of them?" William asked curiously.
"I haven't read this one yet." He said as he placed his hand over 'Stormblade'. Then he picked up 'The Eye of the World' and shook the book at him. "But I've read this one." He added. "Really good. Nice characterizations. Your classic battle between good and evil, with a rather unique plot to boot. It's like Lord of the Rings and Dune combined. Well, that's what I think anyway." He said with a smile.
"Okay. Then I guess I'll read that one first." William replied as he pointed at it.
Karen looked to her side and saw Nathan busy with his other customer. From the way Nathan was talking to him, he seemed to know the young man pretty well. She wondered why she hadn't seen him in the shop before though, or why Nathan had never mentioned him to her, but that's probably due to the fact that he was none of her business. Then her eyes wandered to his face. He was pretty cute though, especially with those glasses of his. And he sounded intelligent and surprisingly quite funny.
Cute. Intelligent. And funny. And he looked like he loved to read. Sounded like her kind of guy --- sounded like any girl's kind of guy. Then she suddenly realized that she was staring at him, and she quickly sent herself a mental alert to look away before he noticed that she was boring a hole on his face with her eyes. She quickly looked away from him and focused her sight on the books on the shelves behind the counter.
She shouldn't even be thinking about things like this right now. She had more important things to worry about, like that 'book'. Because if Nathan tells her that he doesn't have that book anymore, then she might end up losing her job in the Calgary Herald, which was 'the' city's leading newspaper. She promised the Herald that she would write a series of articles based from the rare book, and it was either she did that, or risked losing the job that she had worked so hard to attain. Talk about a lose-lose situation.
This definitely wasn't the right time to go searching for potential boyfriends. Well, at least he wasn't buying the book that she was looking for. Because if he was, then she might have to strangle him and take it from him by force...though she wasn't sure if she would do that to get the book, or just to get his attention. God, the fact that she's even thinking of such crazy things was proof enough of how worried and paranoid she already was at the moment. After all, her job and her future depended on that stupid book.
Nathan picked up one of the books from the counter and punched its price in the cash registry. "As promised, you'll get one of them for free." He said with a smile. "But don't expect me to give you another one next week. If I keep on giving you free books, you're going to run me out of business." He chuckled.
William laughed as he looked back at him. "I understand. After all, I doubt that I'll finish them within the month with my research underway."
"Ah, yes...That research of yours." Nathan grinned and nodded his head. "Well, good luck on that one too." He said with an encouraging smile. He couldn't divulge any details with Karen around. Even if she wasn't the kind of person who would be interested in top-secret government information, she was still an outsider from their point of view, and therefore, a possible threat to Code7. And as stated in the rules of the Covert Operations Division, anyone who belongs outside the COD, must 'not' know a thing about the COD --- not even of a hint of their existence.
Nathan placed the books in a paper bag and pushed it towards William on the counter. "Okay, Will...That'll be..." Then he glanced at the panel on the cash register to confirm the price. "...Six dollars and fifty cents." He said, smiling at the young man.
William reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He opened it, and the first thing he saw, was a wallet-sized picture of Yuriko smiling back at him. It was one of the pictures that he took of her on her 24th birthday. She was leaning against a tree and she had a huge smile on her face. There was so much happiness emanating from her beautiful, black almond-shaped eyes. God, she looked so beautiful. She looked perfect.
Logan wasn't with them at the time when he took that picture. It was just him and her --- William Stryker and Yuriko Oyama --- two young friends spending some time alone together. And yet, even without Logan by her side, she still looked so happy. In fact, he had never seen her smile like that before that moment.
She was smiling as if she had everything she could ever want. She was smiling as if it was her first time to smile in her life. And she was smiling at him.
That smile was for him and him alone. And in that one brief moment, when he pressed down on the shutter button of the camera, she was his, like a photographer and a subject, locked in their own little split-second world. Ironically, that was as close as he was ever going to get to having her in his life. His love for her and that smile on her face will forever be preserved in that one still photograph.
"Hey, Will!!!" Nathan barked as he snapped his fingers in front of William's face. He noticed the young man staring at his wallet for quite some time now.
William's entire body suddenly jerked up in surprise and his eyes darted to his friend. He looked startled, as if he had just been woken up from a dream-like state. Then he saw Nathan looking at him, and he realized that he was once again back in reality.
"You okay?" Nathan asked. "You're looking at your wallet as if it just died in your hands." He said as he quietly laughed.
"Oh." William said with his eyes wide open. Then he forcedly laughed in an effort to hide the lingering sorrow in his eyes. "Well, um, this is going to sound kinda funny, but for a second there, I, uh, actually thought I didn't bring enough cash with me." Then he looked down at his wallet and fingered through his dollar bills. "But, uh, from the looks of it, I was wrong." He shrugged and continued to mindlessly fumble through his money.
/"Admit it, William."/ He thought to himself. /"You'll never get over her. No matter how hard you try, you'll always see her face whenever you close your eyes. No matter how much you hide your feelings, you'll always love her. You'll always wish she were yours. So accept the pain, accept the reality, and live with it. Don't hide the feelings you can never suppress. Love her until you find the right time to let her go."/
Perhaps, that was the right thing to do...and that was what he was going to do from this point on. Yes. He will continue to love her and admit to himself that he loved her...until he finds the right time to tell let her go...
Then a smile curled up his lips, and the fake happiness on his face was replaced with that of genuine contentment. "Let's see...okay I have five dollars and..." He quickly pulled out a five-dollar bill, and then he opened the coin compartment and took out six quarters. "Okay...Six dollars and fifty cents." He said as he handed the money to Nathan.
"Alright, then." Nathan took the payment and placed the currencies in their appropriate slots in the cash register. Then he closed it and stepped aside, so that he was standing parallel to William behind the counter. "So, where you gonna head off to next?" He asked as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Got any plans for the afternoon?"
William took one last quick look at Yuriko's picture in his wallet, and the grin on his face grew wider. Then he closed his wallet and shoved it back in his pocket.
"Not sure, really." He looked at his friend and shrugged. "Well, If Yuriko and Logan were here, the three of us would probably be out there painting the town red like we always do on our free time. But since they're not around, I might just have a quick lunch in the café down the street, and then turn tail and head home." He said, smiling.
He could now mention Yuriko's name without fearing the thought that he loved her...because he did love her. He did, and he wasn't afraid of that fact.
"After all," He said with a smile. "I have these books to keep me busy all day long." He picked up the paper bag from the counter and placed it under his arm.
Nathan smiled and nodded. "Well, enjoy your day, William." Then he raised his eyebrows and pointed himself. "As for me, I have an entire shop to run. So excuse me as I get back to some 'real' business." He chuckled.
William stepped away from the counter and gave Nathan a small salute. "Okay, Nate! Have fun. Maybe I'll drop by again on my way back from lunch." He was about to walk to the door, but he suddenly stopped as he passed by Karen, and he walked to her side. "Oh, uh, excuse me, miss?" He asked politely, a friendly smile curling up his lips.
Karen looked to her side was surprised to see William standing beside her, looking at her and smiling at her. She actually thought he had left the shop already.