To start off, Arthur walked into a nearby park. Brittle squash orange leaves crunched under his shoes as he did so. There were some people in the park. Children on the swings with their parents pushing them forwards, joggers carrying water bottles, a man walking his dog, the list goes on…

He breathed in. The fresh air was enough to clear his head, and he began to think about his story. Not too long afterwards, he left the park after he finished brainstorming and because of boredom. He had never really been a big fan of a casual walk, anyway.

Sure, he understood the appeal, but other than that, he felt that casual walks were rather dull. There was no destination in the walks; instead, it was just mindless wandering. Its main appeal was that you could observe and enjoy the little things in life. But of course, Arthur preferred living life rather than look at it in a third person point of view. Besides, in the time it took for one walk, he could've done a lot more things, like… like… not much, actually.

He followed a bit of a routine during the weekends. Read a book, bind some if they were falling apart, buy some groceries, try to revive his novel, clean his apartment, etcetera etcetera…

To be honest, he used to look forward to the weekends, even the gritty part of cleaning up his apartment. But of course, anything was better than the constant pattern of going to work before calculating endless sums in front a computer before walking back home again. Compared to that, the chores he did on the weekends were really refreshing.

But again, at least this walk helped him brainstorm his story, so that was a plus.

By then, Arthur was near the apartment block. He sat down onto a nearby bench anyway, and sighed as he mused. Sadly, the weekends lost its appeal as time rolled by. Was that how dull his life was? So dull that even the smallest of breaks were blissful? So that was his life now. A bunch of patterns-

"Ah, so the suitcase man has returned."

He nearly jumped out of his own skin! Arthur whipped his head to the right, ready to shout out any profanity that he could…

Only to see Francis edging nearer towards the bench. Francis? Ah, right, he was busking right outside the apartment block. He was surprised that he had forgotten that.

Seeing his puzzled expression, Francis chuckled, and Arthur felt the atmosphere relax.

"Ah, my my, please excuse me." He sat down onto the bench. "Where are my manners?" Right on cue, he stuck out a hand with a smile. "I'm Francis."

Hm? Oh right, they hadn't even introduce each other yet.

"Arthur." Arthur shook Francis' hand. It felt strangely formal, as if they were meeting for business purposes instead.

"Huh." Francis nodded, and they let go. He leaned back, and stretched.

"By the way, thanks for catching my folder before it fell into the river."

"Huh?" The folder he grabbed just before it fell into the River Thames? "A-ah, no, erhm." Jesus Christ, how should he respond? It was nothing? No, too arrogant and cliché. "E-erhm, you're welcome." Francis nodded, unaffected by the flaws in his answer. It was neutral enough, thank God.

Should he say something also? Yes, of course he was supposed to say something. Arthur looked around. "Also…"

"Hm?" He suddenly felt a bit self conscious when Francis looked at him.

Jesus Christ, why was he shit at conversations? "Thanks for… for, erhm, playing the… the music…"

"What?" Self consciousness sunk into him. He took a deep breath to calm himself. Of course, it didn't sound quite right out of context. All or nothing.

"I had a bad day…"

To Arthur's relief, Francis responded positively. "Ah, it was my pleasure."

He leaned forwards, glanced to the left and met up with Arthur's gaze. "Not too much of a speaker, are you?" He asked, amused. Arthur paused for a bit, and shrugged. Compared to Francis, he himself was really stiff.

A jumpy feeling rose up inside of him as he tapped his fingers on his knees, looking for something to say. He looked onto his fingers as he did, and he noticed his watch. How long did the walk take? Curious, he pulled back his coat sleeve.

12:06

Huh. Lunchtime.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Francis pull an iPhone out of his pocket. Probably to check the time as well. He widened his eyes and whistled when he turned it on.

He muttered something under his breath, and stood up.

"Excuse me," he muttered as he picked up his saxophone case. "I need to go now. Lunch with some friends." Arthur nodded.

"Ah! Bye…" Before Arthur could add anything more, Francis was already off.

Ramen. The one dish that he couldn't fuck up. (There was a time when he actually burnt some, but that was irrelevant) And thank god, otherwise he would had died of starvation already.

Back in his apartment, Arthur ate ramen stirred in with some chopped vegetables out of the cup. Bit tough, he thought. Probably should've brewed it longer.

He reflected his conversation with Francis while he ate. Their conversation was rather short. Arthur didn't know whether to be relieved that he didn't have to be awkward for longer or to be disappointed that it stopped so abruptly.

He had an impression that Francis was the shy and quiet type when he saw him for the first time. (maybe it was the hair) Francis was actually a lot more chatty and relaxed than he had thought. Rather extroverted as well.

He put down the ramen cup when all that remained was left over a drop of soup and a couple of noodle dregs. Bored, he looked at his watch:

01:57

Past noon. He could toss out the trash, then do the laundry, and then write some more...

He paused at that, and mentally cursed.

He could've asked Francis something about music!