Given half a chance

Prologue

Anna

Dine Corner ;   7:05pm

The longer I sit here the more I think it was a wrong decision to come here. At least on my very first day in cantonville after more than  three years , it's not the right decision I made.

Thankfully I choose this time to come here. The diner starts to fill in from somewhere around eight . I am the only customer in the diner if I can call myself one. Both me and Leslie know that I am far from a normal customer.

No customer comes in here asking Leslie for her son. Luckily she didn't recognize me. I have met her only twice before. But I am sure if I would have told her my name by which she knows me , she would have recognized.

Sitting here , I can feel her gaze on my back , boring heated holes. I am not surprise though. I knew she would be curious about me. So I intentionally sat with my back to her so that I don't have to make eye contact with her while I wait for her son to come out from the kitchen .

The diner hasn't changed much , except earlier the walls were yellow but now they are mauve . The same tables with black granite top and stainless steel legs . The same marbled floors with grey and black irregular patterns . I didn't notice before , but the fluorescent tubes were gone. In there places are now LEDs attached to the ceiling .

In the unfamiliar thick silence of the diner , I can hear the kitchen door opening. I sit up straight in my chair as my chest tightens. Alec murmurs something to his mother . I can't hear his mother's response , who is sitting behind the counter and then I hear the scrapping of her chair against the marble .

Footsteps are heard and soon a figure stopped right beside me.

" Yes ? How can ....." I look up at him cutting him mid sentence . As our eyes lock , I realise how much I have deprived myself in the last three years. Alec Woods is standing right in front of me and I have to think twice before hugging him and dreadfully choose not to hug him at all . That explains the consequences of my deeds .

" Alec. " I stand up , pushing the chair back in the process. He intakes a sharp breathe . The intensity in his eyes collides with the turmoil in my eyes like two tsunami waves.

" Anna. It's you. " It isn't a question. He says it as if he is trying to make himself believe that he isn't dreaming. That it's really me , standing in front of him .

" Hey." Is all I managed to say with an awkward smile . I see him looking briefly at his mother before looking back at me. His mouth parted . Eyes still holding the shock.

" I thought I am never going to see you again in this life. " He finally says taking off his green apron .

I look back at where his mother has been sitting . The chair is empty now. The kitchen door slightly flapping back and forth . I guess she just entered inside the kitchen .

" The life is too unpredictable I guess ." I say looking back at him . He slides in the chair opposite from me folding the apron in his arm.

" Is it just a vacation visit or are you going to stay here from now ?" He asks once he has settled down on his chair comfortably . Since he hasn't asked me to leave , I also return back to my previous position .

" I am going to be around for a few months. "  I say truthfully . He nods.

" It's good to see you again after so many years. How have you been ?" Unlike the diner , Alec has changed a lot . He has gained a lot of weight since I last saw him . He is bigger than I have ever seen him . The goofy , thin and skinny guy I had known during school days is now a responsible and matured man .