Holocene

The Lover

They established some sort of a routine over the past few days.

Dei and Richard will spend the whole morning and afternoon getting to know each other, most of the time playing twenty questions. Richard claims that this is the fastest way to get facts about each other – which is actually true for them. They did not limit it to just twenty questions though, especially Dei.

Her being a writer prompted her to ask a lot of questions, sometimes one after the other. Most of the time her questions leave Richard laughing out loud because of it's randomness.

One moment they will be discussing about their views on religion, politics, and love for man, they even touched a little bit on Gandhi's teachings and then Dei will suddenly be asking Richard about his favorite ice cream flavor. The pace that their topic is changing is sometimes giving Richard a whiplash.

"Stop laughing at me! That is a serious question, what is your favorite ice cream flavor?"

Richard is still laughing, making wheezing sounds. Dei wanted to get annoyed, but surprisingly she isn't. She love hearing Richard laugh, it's one of her day's highlights. Richard has this hearty laugh which one can't help but join in as well.

"But that's so random Dei." He said in between coughing and catching his breath from too much laughing.

"It is not! You see, sometimes you can know a person just by knowing randoms things about them. Like their favorite ice cream flavor." Richard has always noticed this cute thing about Dei, how her brows will furrow everytime she is trying to explain something to him. "For example, Vanilla is one of the simplest of ice cream flavors, but its fans are actually likely to be colorful, impulsive, idealistic risk-takers who 'rely more on intuition than logic'." Dei pouted when Richard laughed again, "It's true! Google it. Stop laughing at me."

"I don't question the authenticity of your research my dear writer, what I am laughing about is the randomness of it." Richard is still laughing that he did not notice the surprised but sweet smile Dei had after hearing his 'my dear writer' line. "But just to indulge you, I don't really eat too much ice cream but I have partiality with chocolate."

Dei was not surprised, his choice somewhat proves google's research and her observation on him based on the few days that they are together, "If you prefer chocolate, you are likely to be flirtatious and seductive, and also lively, charming, and dramatic. See? It fits you to T."

"Hmm, and I supposed yours is Peanut butter?" he playfully asked.

Dei looked up in surprise. Richard got the flavor right. "How did you know?"

"Because, peanut butter fans are devoted, conscientious, and respectful. They hold high standards for right and wrong and are afraid of hurting people's feelings." Richard spoke quietly, there was this intensity in his words and voice that compelled Dei to look deep into his.

There it was again. The warm, electric, and exciting feeling again. Richard is looking at her as if she's the most fascinating thing in the world.

Then there was silence, you can only hear their breathing. They both are in the timespace where nothing existed, just the two of them.

However, the moment was interrupted when the grandfather started chiming to signal that it is already six in the evening. It is also an indication that they have to end their getting to know session for today.

Richard always leaves at nightfall, and returns just before dawn. Dei does not know where he goes but she does not ask questions about that anymore. One time she tried, Richard's mood suddenly change she almost got a whiplash. After that, she didn't broach on the topic anymore.