Magnetic Collision

Chapter 3

The usual rumble of the city only became louder the closer the car got to the city centre. Countless cars, motorcycles, and buses passed by, along with the people within them, it was impossible to keep count. They all blended into the same hive of blurred irrelevance. Small, unrecognizable, monotone. Candice couldn't help but sigh as she stared out through the window at the cramped streets of the city. So far away from the urban area of her own, and yet, the environment looked nearly identical to it. All the same dull shade of gray she had long gotten tired of.

She wanted to feel excited, exhilarated even. After so many trials and terrible errors she finally managed to secure a second date, with a by all means pleasant guy no less, that was something worth celebrating, tragic as that is. She had been waiting for this chance for so long. This sense of obligation had no right to sit down in the back of her mind, and refuse to leave. The worst was she couldn't even pinpoint where this awful sense of 'wrongness' was even coming from. She had nothing to complain about when it came to Daniel. He was kind, caring, and clearly had a lot of passion for his interests. And yet, there was no trace of that giddy feeling in the pit of her stomach that she thought was supposed to accompany attraction. For the time being, she convinced herself that this feeling would go away if she just got to know him more, but in reality, that was nothing more than a faint, almost delusional sense of hope born from pure desperation.

The scene of the date was intended to be an aquarium, suggested by Daniel. As they both happened to have a free afternoon during the weekdays, a lack of other visitors was nearly guaranteed, leaving plenty of chance for the two of them chat peacefully while walking around the exhibit. This was the one part of the date that actually managed to gain Candice's attention, as she had never had the chance to visit anything with too many animals around. Her parents harbored a heavy disdain towards most animals, and anyone who worked with them. Certain exotic ones did make exceptions, her mother was quite fond of peacocks for their exquisite colors, and her father had always kept more than a few guard dogs around the property, having taken a liking to their fierce loyalty. Regardless of that, they would have never allowed their daughter to get near any of them, unless it happened to be a cat of a playmate who happened to have been born as the child of parents they wished to avoid offending. Candice had toyed with the idea of adopting some form of a pet, a little dog for example, when she had initially moved out of her childhood home, but she quickly dismissed the idea. She was self-aware enough to know she wasn't ready to be responsible for the life of another creature.

By the time she had gotten out of her taxi, Daniel was already waiting for her at the entrance of aquarium, his posture much more relaxed than during their first meeting. The girl shot him a warm, polite smile, which mostly came to her face out of reflex. Putting her best foot forward with people she was yet to know was practically second-instinct, drilled into her from a young age. No matter how the relationship between them would end, she was sure the man was worthy of her basic respect and tact.

"Hi." he greeted her with a toothy grin. "I love your outfit. This shade of blue is really good on you." he complimented with a genuineness in his tone.

"Oh, thank you. I like this skirt a lot too." she agreed gratefully. "Have you been here before?" she wondered, hoping to keep the conversation going.

"Yeah, a couple of times. I'm a big animal nerd after all, I can't pass up the chance whenever I'm around here with some time on my hand." he admitted with an embarrassed chuckle. "But at least I can show you around this way."

"I'll entrust myself onto you." she said, following him to the other side of the large, glass doors leading inside.

Once the tickets had been purchased, paid for by Daniel who thought it would have been rude to make his date pay for something so miniscule, they entered the aquarium's first room. The animals and plants exhibited there were ones native to the region, both from the freshwater lakes and rivers, as well as from the coastline of the sea. The former ones appeared quite plain, and much less colorful than their salt water counterparts, but still just as interesting nonetheless.