The Opportunity of Happenstance

Short Story — Romance

Silas Rabinovitz rested his hands on the railing of the observation deck of the Carew Tower and looked over at his company that evening. She stood only a few feet away from him, gazing down on the surrounding city spread out below them, mesmerized by the sight of it. It was Friday, May 3rd 2019, the sky was mostly cloudy over the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. The weather that day was pleasant, but you would have needed a sweater in the evening. The sun had just slipped over the horizon eliminating the glaring light in the eyes of any observer.

It rained early that morning and more was forecasted for tomorrow. The whole area was still soaked from it, and the accompanying aroma still hung in the air. The downtown area, the surrounding neighborhoods from the city center to the north, east, and west teemed with activity. Great American Ballpark’s towering floodlights revealed a full stadium watching the Reds play. The sounds of the traffic and nightlife of the city below provided a perfect ambiance to the setting all around them.

A passing breeze sent his date’s long, fine, black hair flying back from the rest of her body in a way that was nothing short of cinematic. The scene looked like a living painting, making it all the more difficult to think about what to say in the moment. Her name was Mio Fujisawa and there was a lot about her that he still didn’t know. He was thinking hard about what kind of questions he could ask to get to know her on a more personal level. His interest in her wasn’t superficial, he felt genuine curiosity about the life and interests of this woman and becoming more enamored by her with every passing moment.

It had been a long time since he felt this way about somebody. He’d been interested in other women before, there was his high school sweetheart whom he thought he’d be spending the rest of his life with. But after their graduation they both ended up going to different universities. Their relationship ended soon after that and the last he knew, the former love of his life was living somewhere in New York City and dating someone who worked on Wall Street. Any other relationship he tried to start since then ran its course about as soon as it began.

Maybe it was a good thing he was at a loss for words at that moment-he wouldn’t say something out of turn and spoil the mood. Then again, it could be bad to be silent in this situation because what if she perceived him to be either a bore, uninterested, or both. He was many things, but when it came to her he was anything but uninterested.

Dammit to hell. His throat was even getting dry. Worse still, he had apparently forgotten to breathe while looking at his date. Even if he did try and speak right now, it would only come out as an obscene croak. He turned his head in the other direction, trying to discreetly inhale some air or to manifest some saliva to swallow. This was a problem, but if it was the only one he’d have that night he would take it because otherwise the evening had played out better than he could have hoped.

Silas wasn’t really a spiritual person. He’d been pretty ambivalent and indifferent to all matters of the soul since he had reached adulthood. But after tonight, he’d drop a few bucks in the donation boxes of every church, synagogue, mosque and temple in the city because he felt this evening, so far, couldn’t have been more perfect.

With any more rain holding off from falling that night, they could do just about anything there was to do in the city. Having looked at it several times from afar, Mio had wanted to climb to the top of the landmark Carew Tower and climb it they did. The skyscraper with its Art Deco interior stood as the tallest building in the whole city for decades, until the Great American Tower earned that distinction in 2011.

They rode an elevator up to the 45th floor of the Carew, disembarked, and proceeded to walk up a few flights of stairs to the very top of the building. With an additional stroke of luck, not a soul was there on the observation deck with them that evening. There was only the clerk in the small gift shop by the deck’s entrance and they were out of earshot.

Neither of them had ever been to the observation deck of the skyscraper before and they spent at least ten minutes walking around the deck and taking in the view around them; Mio was especially enthralled by the view from the top of the Carew. While she watched the city, Silas had finally regained his composure and cleared his throat well enough to attempt and engage in conversation with his date.

He turned to see she had moved and was now less than a foot away from him, resting her arms on the same piece of railing on the observation deck. She looked at him, cocked her head to the side, and gave him a mischievous smile. Taken aback by her being this close to him all of a sudden his posture went rigid, his head snapped forward, and he remained silent as they looked out over the city streets forty nine stories below them.

***

Three weeks prior to the two of them climbing the Carew Tower, Silas had been staring at a shelf with mild dejection. It was Saturday, April 20th and the brand of coffee he hoped to buy in a Mediterranean store at the Findlay Market was out of stock. Fortunately, they had another brand in stock that was adequate enough for his palate. After plucking it off of the shelf, he made his way up to the register. It wasn’t the end of the world, but he had hoped that he would at least been able to have that small indulgence.

Life for him at the moment wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great at the same time. A looming deadline at work was waiting for him like a proverbial green eyed monster, one that would get him a substantial reprimand from his boss if it wasn’t met by the end of next week.

Someone else was being rung up at the shop’s only cash register, so Silas casually waited his turn. He didn’t have much to buy that day, just some general items to accent his dinner that evening. He had paid no attention to who was in front of him, but he happened to notice a familiar logo on a bag of coffee in the hands of the customer ahead of him. Dammit all if he didn’t see the coffee he had wanted to buy in the store!

The purple bag with the bronze logo and the unique embellishments around it, there was no mistaking it for another brand of coffee and Silas felt a flash of pure indignation. Some yuppie cretin had the audacity to take something that they wouldn’t even truly appreciate. He began to stare daggers at the customer in front of him. This lasted for only a moment as he got a good look at who they were.

Silas was dumbstruck in an instant. His mouth hung slightly open, his anger dissipated, and he may have very well dropped his groceries if he didn’t have such a firm grip on them. In front of him was a woman that he had never seen before. Brown eyed with long, dark hair, an amazing figure, a gorgeous asian lineament in her face, and she appeared to be about the same age as him.

She wore a simple but stylish black dress under a thick gray coat, low-heeled shoes and a chic black beret. In Silas’s eyes, she was more beautiful than anyone he had ever seen.

Her appearance and aura made him extremely self conscious about how he looked in comparison. He wore the same winter jacket he had owned for the last ten years, sneakers, sweatpants, and a hoodie with a Cincinnati Cyclones logo on it. Though it was late April, the frigid temperatures of the winter still lingered in the area. Fortune smiled on him that Saturday and his boss hadn’t called him into the office like he expected. He was working at home that day and he dressed as casually as he could short of throwing his jacket over a bathrobe and a pair of boxer shorts. He suddenly felt that he looked about as unkempt as possible and as he thought about it, he wished he had showered and shaved that morning.

He was so fixated and smitten in the moment that he didn't realize he was blatantly staring at her. She sensed his presence and turned her head to meet his gaze. They locked eyes and Silas was broken out of his trance.

Damage control, damage control goddamn it! Say something or she’ll think you’re some creep who lurks in bushes leering at any woman who passes by! He thought in a panic.

“Ah, ah... excuse me. I couldn’t help but notice you got the last bag of that coffee. I’d hoped they’d have more in stock here, it is my favorite brand and they only sell at this store.”

He got words out more coherently than he thought he would. He pointed at the bag of coffee for emphasis, trying to be nonchalant about it, but he was as stressed out as if he was defusing a bomb.

Miraculously, she didn’t seem to be put off by his explanation. Rather than look at him with scorn and ignore what he said, her eyes shot open with concern, like she had just been told she committed a very egregious faux pas.

“Would you like it? I didn’t know if it was any good or not, I just took whatever I could find here.”

“No! No, it is alright. It isn’t a big deal. This kind I have here is just about as good. You got it first and I can tell you it is some of the best coffee you’ll ever drink. I’d be happy for you to try it if you’ve never had it before. Far be it from me to hoard all of it, the more people who appreciate it, the better in my opinion.”

“Are you sure?”

There was a faint but noticeable accent in her voice that told Silas that English might not be her first language. Other than that, she seemed to speak it better than some people he knew around town who had lived here all their lives.

The woman showed visible remorse that she just purchased the bag of coffee Silas wanted and looked ready to just hand it over on the spot. The fact she was extending the courtesy to an absolute stranger who might have been leering at her moments ago only endeared her to Silas even more.

“Please, please take it! I insist! I’ll get by somehow, I promise.” She smiled at him. It was probably the warmest smile he had ever seen another person make in his life. It gave him a sense of elation that he had never felt before, and he could have sworn he was floating above the ground at that moment. He wore glasses and it wouldn’t have shocked him if they fogged up. The woman finished paying the clerk and gathered up everything she had just bought. She waved a farewell to Silas before leaving through the shop’s front door and walking out of sight.

Silas thought it was the cutest gesture he had ever seen a human being give and he waved back to her with a goofy expression on his face that probably made him look like an idiot to everyone else present.

He had forgotten where he was and what he was doing. So when he turned his head to see the store clerk with his arms crossed and glaring impatiently at him, Silas snapped out of his love sick trance and quickly placed all of his groceries on the counter to get rung out.

“They have apps for that stuff now, my guy. And they don’t hold up lines,” said the clerk with a deadpan tone.

Silas looked around to see three other people waiting and glaring at him with their groceries in hand.

He sheepishly paid what he owed, gathered his items and left the store, thinking he wouldn’t show his face around there for a few months at least.

Upon leaving the store, he stood in one of the side streets that ran parallel to the main hub of Findlay Market. He hadn’t needed much to begin with, and there wasn’t anything else he felt like buying. At that point, his agenda was going back to his apartment in Clifton and finishing what prep-work he had to do that day. Come Monday, his department at Procter and Gamble would get swamped finalizing designs for all the new products that would be in just about every home and health care line the company had. The corporate brass had a lot invested in this wave of new merchandise as some other major companies in the city had put their names to the project as investors and sponsors. A lot of reputations and public images were on the line and P&G stood to make, or lose an awful lot of annual profits. The marketing and roll out would kick into high gear at the start of May, depending on how well people like Silas did their jobs in the coming week.

He turned around to see the woman who had bought his favorite brand of coffee standing right in front of him.

“Sorry to bother you again, I haven’t been in this city long. When do the... ‘street cars’ arrive at those stations I see around here?”

“Oh, it should be about every 15 minutes give or take. Unless there is some traffic holding them up somewhere on their route.”

They heard the ringing of a bell and looked around to see one of the street cars running down Elm Street after making a stop at the other end of the market.

“There you go. That will be coming right back around in a few minutes if you go to the stop over there on Race Street.”

She gave him another one of the warmest smiles he had ever seen in his life, said a sincere “thank you.” She lingered for a moment and looked at Silas, he felt a little perplexed and wondered if he should say something but then she turned and walked away.

As Silas watched her leave, a massive argument broke out in his head. It was like a forum in the ancient world with two factions making furious arguments for their preferred agendas.

One side told him to go after her, get a name, a phone number, a friend request, anything! There were at least two and a quarter million people in the Cincinnati area, and the chances of running into her again were slim at best. What did he have to lose? The worst she could say was “no” as the cliche went.

The other side pointed out that he knew literally nothing about this woman and this wasn’t the time and place to start such an inquiry. She could be seeing someone, in a serious relationship already, possibly engaged, or even married. He hadn’t gotten a good enough look at her hands to see if she had a ring on her finger.

It was also a fact that hurrying after her like that would walk a very, VERY, fine line of being romantic and being creepy. Contrary to the cliche, a lot of worse things could happen than her “just saying no.” She could shoot him down with extreme prejudice, glare at him and be indignant that he even had any feelings about her. She could tell him she wouldn’t be caught dead with a man like him. She could scream in abject terror and make everyone in the market look at him like he was a degenerate accosting some innocent girl.

The more he thought about it, the further away she had gone and now she was out of eyesight, lost in a throng of people. Silas ran a hand through his hair, looked around at all the people passing him by, and cursed himself for his own cowardice in the moment. It just wasn’t the right time and place, he reasoned with a sigh. He made his way back to his car and hoped that he wouldn’t be working too late that night.

Cincy had a lot of parks but Silas loved Eden Park the most. It had all the elbow room in the world and plenty of beautiful scenery. He’d usually be there awhile before or after visiting his parents who lived nearby in the Mt. Adams neighborhood. It was Sunday, April 28th and Silas had the afternoon to himself, in the park, with his unofficial roommate.

Bruno was an Australian Shepherd, about 3 years old. Full of energy and on a mission to sniff just about every inch of the park that day. The dog dragged Silas along as they made their way around Mirror Lake. A huge, decorative, man-made pool built after the old water reserve nearby was decommissioned in the 1960s. Though it was still unseasonably cold that day a lot of people were out and enjoying the park. It made the whole scene all the more lively. But Silas had hardly noticed any of them, he was trying his hardest to not think about the coming week and the amount of work he still had to do.

As he and Bruno walked along, Silas noticed someone approaching them. This person was out jogging and coming directly at them with a pretty good pace. Silas led Bruno out of the way of the oncoming one person marathon. It was a woman wearing black leggings, gloves, white sneakers, a white hoodie and black Adidas beanie. Bells started ringing in Silas’s head and for a moment he couldn’t understand why until he realized ... it was her.

The woman he had met last weekend at Findlay and he couldn’t believe it. What were the chances that the two of them would run into each other again like this? He was completely oblivious to how he was acting again and, like before, stared right at her. They locked eyes. She slowed down and a look of recognition came across her face. Her eyes went wide and then she smiled.

“Hello again,” she said with brimming enthusiasm.

“I...well...salutat... how’s it... hel... hell.. hi, hi, how are..., it is nice to see you.” He wanted to sock himself in the jaw to get his head on straight and speak like a regular person. He had never felt more embarrassed in his life. As awkward as he may have been, she didn’t seem to be put off by it. She put a hand to her mouth and giggled, clearly amused by how flustered he was.

Bruno barked and looked at the woman expectantly with his ears perked up. Like a lot of Australian Shepherds he only had a small bobbed tail. However, to compensate for this, his whole rear wagged back and forth with impressive velocity. She looked just about as excited to see the dog, squatting down to start scratching him behind the ears.

“He’s so handsome. Is he yours?”

“Yup, this is Bruno. I found him at a shelter when he was less than a year old. I lived alone and wanted some company and as luck would have it he had just come in the day I went looking. It worked out great for the both of us.”

Bruno flopped to the ground, displayed his stomach, and waited for the woman to follow the proper course of action. While she gave the dog a sufficient amount of tummy rubs, Silas was busy thinking of what he could potentially say to her.

“How are... you doing?” he said at last. It was an open ended question and pretty innocuous, he thought. At least it could break the ice.

“Well, I wanted to get out of my apartment for a while. I’ll probably be in my office for the whole week and I’m not looking forward to it. I’m new to my position and I’ve got a manager scrutinizing everything I do.”

“I know what that is like. My department at P&G has been working almost non-stop on a ton of new items that are supposed to go out on the sixth next month. I’ve had my boss do nothing but chew my ass out for the last couple of weeks and he’ll probably be doing even more of it this week. Even though my team has finished with most of our work and met our deadlines, if he wants to justifiably yell at someone he’ll have to leave his office and go to another department.”

This got a laugh out of her and an expression of sympathy, she didn't seem to want to hurry along and was apparently enjoying talking to him. Silas felt emboldened at this to keep the conversation between them going.

“If I’m prying too much let me know, but I think I remember you saying you were new to the area?”

“Yes, I’ve lived here for only a couple of months so far. I’m following in my father’s footsteps I suppose. He lived in the area and worked a corporate job for a while back in the 80s before moving back to Japan”.

“I got the impression you weren’t from around here. So you’re from Japan? What part?”

“Tokyo, but this isn’t my first time in America. I don’t want to boast but I did very well in high school and got a scholarship to study in the US. I lived in New York City for a few years studying at Columbia.”

Silas’s eyebrows went up a bit hearing about her background, she was clearly a very intelligent and worldly individual. He honestly felt a little intimidated talking to her then and there.

“Wow! That is impressive, I have to say your English is superb, better than my Japanese I can tell you. Well, welcome to Cincinnati, I can’t speak for everyone in town, but I’m sure we should be happy that you live here now.”

“Why thank you, so nice of you to say that. Are all the men here as polite and considerate as you?” she said with a smile.

“Well… It might be a stereotype, but I like to think most people in the midwest have a way of being hospitable to a fault.”

As silence descended between them he thought this would be the best place to end the conversation and not run the risk of saying something embarrassing to her. The chat had been going great so far, but he’d hit a dead end about what he could say to her next and couldn’t think of another question to ask without sounding awkward and desperate.

“I hate to break this off but I don't want to keep you from your jog any longer, but it was very nice to see you again”.

He turned away and took a few steps before something crossed his mind that almost made him slap himself for being so socially inept.

“WAIT!” he called out after her.

She stopped, turned around and looked at him with a little concern.

“Excuse me... sorry to stop you but... I never got your name last time.”

“Mio Fujisawa. But please, call me Mio,” she said with that warm smile that made him feel like a pile of melting butter.

“Well... it's nice to see you again, Mio. I’m Silas Rabinovitz, and I guess you can call me Silas.”

“Silas… I like that name.”

He returned her smile and then turned around and kept walking with Bruno. He was amazed he hadn’t just blurted out every single word right then in rapid succession.

He thought he shouldn’t, but in spite of himself he turned his head around for a moment and watched Mio continue her jog across the park.

At first thinking how beautiful she was, a lot of racy thoughts then shot through his mind seeing her run in skin tight leggings. It almost made him dunk his head in the cold water of Mirror Lake to get his bearings back.

He shook his head profusely and looked at Bruno. The dog was staring at his owner with befuddlement, not understanding why he might be acting so strangely just now.

Silas sighed at what a hopeless case he must look like. At least he had gotten a name that time. Though he’d probably never see her again anytime soon, if at all.

Just let it go, it wasn’t meant to be. A girl like her is probably fighting off every douche bag in the area on a weekly basis. Hell, you still don’t know if she is seeing anyone or not and as credentialed as she is the odds say probably, he thought to himself in frustration.

He wasn’t going to spend too much time feeling sorry for himself. In fact, Silas didn’t think of himself as unappealing to women. He had played lacrosse in college, still exercised pretty regularly and wasn’t a total slob. Some of his female acquaintances had complimented him in the past, saying he looked like a “much younger and a much buffer Larry David with a full head of hair”. This gave him a little confidence that there was at least SOMEBODY out there who would want to spend time with him. But in that moment he somewhat despaired, because in his mind it might not be Mio Fujisawa.

***

“RABINOVITZ!!! MY OFFICE!!! NOW!!!” The voice of Leonard “Larry” Henderson thundered across the room. Silas bent his head down and sighed. His boss might not be angry with him. He spoke this way to everybody, even if he wanted them to do even the most mundane task.

Henderson was a throwback to a time when chain smoking in an office environment was seen as perfectly normal, if not expected. He was barely 5 feet tall, in his late 50s, bald, and perpetually frustrated or angry with something in his department. Dealing with his personality was a mental chore for both his subordinates and superiors, but he kept the productivity of everyone under him above average and ahead of schedule. With no complaints of serious harassment (at least not to human resources) for at least two years now, the company had no viable reason to terminate him. Which meant Silas would have to deal with Larry Henderson yelling at him on the regular for the immediate future.

Silas walked into Henderson’s office to find the older man sitting at his desk and glaring at his computer monitor like he was about to put his fist through it.“Rabinovitz, I’ve got something for you to do.”

“Yes, sir?”

“As you know Jennings is out of the office for the foreseeable future, not ‘medically cleared’ to return to work and leaving our department high and dry without a client services rep.”

Silas felt compelled to stick up for his colleague at that moment in the face of his boss’s callous indifference about his workers. Even if he thought Chet Jennings was a cocky jackass who couldn't tell a decent joke to save his life.

“Sir he almost got decapitated in a biking accident by the river, he’s lucky all he got was two broken arms, a broken jaw, and a severe concussion.”

“Well, I think that is barely an excuse on his part Rabinovitz, more importantly his absence is a serious inconvenience for this department. Because right now, those pricks over at Western & Southern have decided… TODAY! To send somebody over here to appraise what we’re doing for all our new products we have going out next week. Some of their board members it seems were not ‘satisfied’ with our last progress report. Since we’re supposedly in a “joint venture” with their company, they’d like a little input on all the work we’ve done here in the last few months. Because this whole project is a ‘collaboration’ in their eyes.” Henderson made air quotes with his fingers, and just about spat the name of their business partners, and glared at Silas.

While P&G and W&S both technically had their names on the project, it had been the people in Henderson’s department that had handled the lion’s share of the work. W&S however, could lay claim to being the whole project’s primary investor. Their name was going to be as prominently featured as much as any other, therefore they could veto something if they felt like it. So Silas was going to seemingly bear the brunt of all his boss’s frustrations as a proxy. If there were complaints from W&S about the work they had done it was unlikely that anyone from that company would end up in the crosshairs of Henderson’s petty wrath. However, they could potentially hold up the process if they took issue with something and make every one of P&G’s teams miss their deadline.

“Rabinovitz, right now I’d say you’re the most senior member of your team that I can spare. You did meet your deadline last week and I appreciate that. Maybe your work could have been a little less sloppy but compared to some of your other coworkers. But even I can admit you’re still one of the best in this department. As of right now you have Jennings’s job and that means you gotta entertain whoever Western & Southern has sent. I know that you're an awkward mess and this isn’t in your wheelhouse, so I'll try and accommodate you.”

Henderson held up something that looked an awful lot like a credit card for Silas to see. “This here is a company card, the kind that has a 6 digit spending limit. What I want you to do is entertain this person. Apparently they’ve sent some foreign gal, at least that’s what I assume. Her name sure as hell didn’t sound like somebody from around here. You’re a single guy right?” Well keep her entertained, occupied, outta my sight, and outta my department! You’ll find her waiting in the lobby on the first floor and you have my expressed permission to leave for the rest of the day if you need to. Don’t screw this up Rabinovitz, you know and I know that you aren't leaving my department or this company any time soon and I can make your life a living hell here. Unless you want to give this job up and drive a metro bus, or maybe you’d like to drive one of those goddamn street cars?”

Henderson slapped his desk and gave a hearty laugh at that thought, Silas didn’t say anything and just wanted to be dismissed so he could leave and not suffer any more abuse.

“Look at it this way Rabinovitz, you might have a chance to make the beast with two backs if you play your cards right. You can just thank me later, just spare me the details.”

“Beast with two backs?’... Who even says that sir?”

Silas was baffled by this turn of phrase and couldn’t help but to say something in response.

Henderson glowered at this criticism and minor act of defiance.

“Plenty of people say that Rabinovitz, it's a common expression. Jesus Christ try getting out more. Now move it, you got a job to do… UNDERSTAND??”

Silas nodded, took the card, and walked away without saying another word. He should have remembered Henderson lived for an opportunity to bite someone’s head off and the less said to him, the better. At least it was a Friday and he might have a free evening now. Though he did wonder what he could say to this person from Western & Southern. He could bluff his way and say they were too busy to show them anything or he could try to scrounge up some drafts he had laying around and make some kind of on-the-fly presentation.

Silas rode the elevator down to the lobby and looked around for whoever he was supposed to consult. It was only four in the afternoon, and the space wasn’t all that busy. He tried to look for a face in the crowd he didn’t recognize. It wasn’t the face of a stranger he spotted sitting in the lobby, it was someone he’d now seen three times in about two weeks.

There was Mio, sitting down and looking at her phone while waiting in the lobby. Like the last two times he had seen her, Silas was stunned into silence. But this time his recovery was a lot quicker. He was here on official company business and by god he took pride in being a capable employee.

He strode over to where Mio was sitting and crossed his arms in an effort to assume what he thought was something of an authoritative posture.“You’re from Western & Southern ma’am?”Mio looked up and it was her turn to be surprised.“Silas?, Oh that’s right. You did say that you worked for this company!” she said while smiling and rising to her feet.

Silas felt quite elated that she remembered his name, but he tried not to show it.

He returned the smile and made an effort to play it cool. He had circumstances a little more under his control this time and something specific to discuss. This time, he didn’t feel like he was on his back foot in this conversation with her. First, the business at hand had to be dealt with and he had a perfect scapegoat to make that go along smoothly.

“I hope you weren’t waiting down here long, Mio. I understand you’re here about all those new soaps, shampoos, and cleaners your company is investing in?”

“You’ll forgive me Silas if I’m imposing too much but some members of the upper management of my company would just like a report on what your department has left to do before those projects launch next week. If your department is taking the lead on that, could I speak to your superior or see what you are doing?”

“Well Mio, I have to tell you my boss is in no mood to see you right now. As far as he’s concerned, this is a P&G operation and you’re sticking your nose in here when your company in his eyes has... well, let's say a ceremonial role in the whole project is probably gonna have him flinging furniture across the room.”

Mio looked a little bewildered that her presence would garner this kind of reaction, but Silas held up both his hands and kept going. “Don’t worry, I won’t send you away empty-handed. I have some finalized designs from my department and what our team has come up with so far for the products. Anything else your people might want I can see if I can get it. Rest assured Western & Southern will be happy to be involved in this. Of course I’m sure nothing will be made public unless your people approve of what we’ve been doing here. If you like, I can hammer out a full report about what my department is doing right now and where we’ll stand by the start of next week.”

Mio still looked a little unsatisfied by what he was offering so Silas thought to make a gamble in that instant.What did he have to lose here? Hell, this was official company business and he was operating under direct orders from his boss.

“Did you have any plans for tonight?

“Why do you ask?”

“Because we could discuss all of this in more detail over dinner and make it sound all the better for your superiors. I was all but given a blank check to keep you occupied so it’ll be my treat.” He held up the company card for added emphasis.

Mio looked somewhat surprised at this proposal, she went silent and considered his offer.

“Did you have any place in mind? Nothing would be too expensive so pick wherever you want.”

“I remember that there is a restaurant on, what was it? Sixth Street, I think? I’ve walked past it many times and I’d like to try their menu”.

“Do you remember where on Sixth Street?”

Mio squinted, “Near that one intersection where that strange robot statue is.”

Silas snapped his fingers in recognition of what she was describing. “That would be Walnut Street.”

“Well I was planning on meeting with some of my friends after work, later tonight…”

Silas felt his heart sink into his stomach with dread. That could put the kibosh on the whole evening, but he resigned himself to the fact this opportunity might have just slipped through his hands.

“I mean, if tonight isn’t convenient enough for you, I understand completely.”

“Well Silas, you know what… I think they’ll understand if it is something work related. We all went out last Tuesday anyway.”

Silas was somehow able to hide his despair transforming into excitement in only a few seconds. He could have clicked his heels at this development.

“Perfect, it's only a little after 4 right now, so why don’t we say we meet up by that robot at 6:30 tonight?”

***

“You’ve been awfully quiet for awhile Silas, can you tell me what you’re thinking?” Mio gave him a quizzical look and Silas felt his heart racing and muscles tense as his eyes locked with Mio’s.

What was he thinking? In that moment he was thinking a lot of things that might overwhelm her if he dumped all his thoughts right then and there. The question she asked him hung in the air as they stood there on the Carew Tower’s observation deck with the city of Cincinnati all around them, yet all of that seemed to be so far away from the both of them at that moment. The space they were occupying right now was its own little world with only the two of them in it.

They had arrived at the restaurant Mio had chosen without any issues and had been seated almost immediately. Discussions about the work Silas’s department had been doing were dealt with up front and took maybe half an hour at most. Mio seemed to be happy with whatever Silas showed her and it looked like she’d be favorably reporting back to her superiors. That took a weight off of Silas’s chest and it seemed the project he had been working on would proceed as planned. With business concluded they were able to simply enjoy each other's company and spent the better part of an hour sipping from a bottle of expensive red wine. Silas had somehow carried most of the conversation between them, regaling Mio with a lot of stories from around his office and his life in the Midwest. Mio had sat there resting her head against her hand and absorbing everything he said, at ease and seemingly enjoying herself. Asking a probing question here and there, and showing great interest in what Silas was saying.

The dinner that they ate was fantastic, it was some of the nicest food that Silas had ever had (at least he thought so, it wasn’t his money he was spending that night, so what did he care if it was worth it or not?). Whether it has been to Mio’s liking she hadn't said, but if she was dissatisfied she wasn’t showing it at all.

The night was still quite young when they took their leave, and Silas asked Mio if there was anything else she’d like to do. She hadn’t wanted to end their evening together just yet and the two of them had walked to Fountain Square in the heart of downtown. One thing had led to another and the both of them had ended up there on the Carew Tower’s observation deck.

The silence between them now seemed to stretch on for an eternity as Silas tried to think about what to say back.

“Well... I’m curious, how do you like Cincinnati?” he asked her. It was something that sounded inoffensive and didn’t make him out to be coming on to her.

Mio turned around and sauntered across the observation deck, saying nothing as she did. Silas couldn’t tell if she was lost in thought or toying with him. If she wanted to tease him, was that a good sign? People could have a very strange way of being merciless to the people they felt affection for in one of those many contradictions of human behavior.

She finally turned around and walked back to where Silas was standing.

“Well it is certainly smaller and quieter compared to some other places I’ve lived before, but that isn’t an inconvenience. I’ve found there are many things to enjoy here. The landscape, the food, and everyone I’ve met here has been so nice. I had some reservations about leaving Japan and moving to America for work. It wouldn’t be for the rest of my life, but it is a serious commitment. However, everything that has happened has gone about as well as I could have hoped.”

“Are you seeing anyone?” He blurted out the question before he knew what he was doing.

Mio looked surprised that he would be so forward in that moment.

Silas’s face turned bright red and he looked at his feet, feeling like he could drop dead right there.

Mio put both of her hands to her face and started snickering at how embarrassed Silas was right then.

He was certain that their evening was over, that she was about to answer in the affirmative, and it would be a long time before he’d find the courage to ask somebody else out.

“No,” she said softly.

Silas slowly raised his head in astonishment.

Mio pushed her hair out of her face and had an expression like she was the one now embarrassed.

“I have to tell you, Silas, that there is one thing that happened in Cincinnati that convinced me that coming here was the right decision for me.”She moved in even closer, so much so he could feel the heat of her body. He could smell her perfume, his mouth went dry again, and his heart thundered in his chest being this close to her. “What was that if you don’t mind me asking?” He maintained his wits enough to ask one last question in response to her.

“It was meeting you.”

She gently placed both of her hands on each side of his head and he in turn put both of his on each side of her waist. On instinct, in perfect synchronization, as though they were both guided by an unseen hand... they kissed.

In the ballpark someone on The Reds must have scored because fireworks ignited over the stadium and it so happened to sync up perfectly with their lips touching.

They slowly pulled their heads back from each other. Nothing was spoken between them. Silas couldn’t have said something if he tried, but he felt like he didn’t need to. Mio’s face flushed and she looked completely enraptured by what just happened between them. They leaned in again and kissed each other even more deeply than before. Silas completely embraced her as Mio threw her arms around his neck and shoulders. They were completely lost in each other’s embrace and oblivious to the world around them as more fireworks erupted over the city skyline and the stars started to appear in the night sky.