Bullet For My Valentine

Within Temptation

Shen Wei

There was nothing romantic about any of this. I was looking accross the table at the man who cost me a calm evening at my home and was currently staring at me while sprawled in the light brown leather chair, gnawing rudely on some kind of a lollipop. He'd already finished his portion of nothing with two glasses of single malt whiskey and there was apparently no better entertainment than to watch me eat. It felt already embarrassing, being the only one eating in such an arrangement as two 30+ men sitting in a high-end restaurant with a perfect view of the city from a double-digit-storied building, only dim lightening all around and some ambiguous sultry jazz music. I know how he wanted this to look like, however, at the end of the day it was just two guys having late lunch, surrounded by whispering middle-aged couples.

None of us seemed to have belonged there. I must say, I was glad I at least was wearing half-decent clothes. Though I'd left my jacket in the office earlier that day, due to the summer's heat, I still managed to fish out a tie to wear. How did the staff not kick us out the moment we walked in, especially with his casual get up of jeans, white T-shirt and a leather jacket, was still a mystery to me.

As much awkwardness as I felt, it was a matter of pride to eat my fill. It was his payment, afterall...

* * *

Sort of as a hobby, sort of as a good way to bring money to my pocket during summer holidays, while I was pretty much free as a foreign language teacher in Kyoto, I joined the Free Walking Tour company as a part-time travel guide for Chinese tourists, showing travellers around the city, being paid in tips from them at the end of the tour.

For a native speaker, such as myself, this was a very easy and relaxing job that I had enjoyed. I didn't mind the extra homework of learning more about the city to incorporate into my tour. I found it rewarding in many ways.

The tour itself was a 3-hour walking trip, so of course, mostly young people showed up. Which was also the result of the voluntary fee. However, the tips I had gotten at the end of the tours were mostly mightly generous, so I couldn't complain.

Except, yesterday...

11 AM. The standard time I start my tour. The meeting point was under Kyoto Tower and first stop would be the Higashi Honganji temple. I was explaining the basic information about the tour, reminding the group of maybe 15 Chinese tourists to stay hydratated. There were mostly pairs, one family with 2 children running around and a group of young women around the age of 20, constantly taking pictures with their cell phones, giggling. Their clothes didn't struck me as the party types, more like 4 friends touring during college holidays.

And then there was him. At first, I haven't noticed him, thinking it just must be a coincidence that he is waiting for his date at the same spot. Only when he started walking with us did I acknowledge him finally. Something about him felt strange, however. Yes, he didn't look like one of my typical tourists. Tall, athletic, handsome but by himself, standing away from others but close enough to hear my commentary, leisure but stylish clothes. What mostly unnerved me, however, was his gaze. Even when I tried to not look his way, I knew he was staring at me, not at all looking at the gorgeous wooden structures of Buddhist and shintoist temples.

During a few times I allowed the group to walk off on their own to explore the places and take photos as they wished. However, he never went anywhere, staying a few feet away from me, when I looked over I could see him pretending, he's actually trying to look around.

At one point, I gave up and walked over to him. It was close to 40°C and he was wearing a dark jacket and I could notice drops of sweat forming on his forehead. I held the company's umbrella that I've been using, above him to shield him from the direct sun rays and took out a water bottle that I bought on the way. This man clearly didn't take any of my earlier advice about the tour in his heart.