Prologue
AVON covered her mouth and yawned as she listened to their editor-in-chief’s closing remarks. At last, the writers’ quarterly meeting was adjourned. She lazily packed up her belongings while her co-writers talked about this and that in the background. Avon was not a loner, though. She was close with some of her co-writers, too, especially those she knew through their works. Yeah, she was once an avid reader before becoming one of them. And those people were one of the reasons why Avon decided to become a writer. She realized that she was a sucker for a happy ending, and she wanted to create her own version of it.
Her eyes wandered around the meeting room one last time before she rose from her seat and grabbed her bag. She was ready to leave when someone grabbed her bag from behind.
“Hey, hey, hey, leaving so soon?”
She slowly turned in the direction of that familiar voice and found Nicollete with Ella standing beside her.
They were batchmates from the 2013 Romance Writing Workshop. Their personalities clicked instantly, so now, they were close friends.
“Nicollete, Ella.” Avon grinned at them.
“Here you go again. Didn’t we tell you that we’re dropping by on Kismet Café after the meeting?” Ella said while batting her eyes.
Of course, she had read that on their group chat but chose to ignore it.
“Hmm…” Scratching her head, Avon laughed. “I think I can no longer escape from you two.”
“Of course you can’t!” they said in unison.
Ella grasped her left arm while Nicollete clutched on the right.
“You always manage to escape. But not today,” said Nicollete as they tugged her out of the meeting room.
“I have my reasons why I can’t come—”
“Hey, we all travel far to get home.” Ella patted my cheek. “Don’t worry. We’ll just grab a cup of coffee and make a wish.”
“And we’ll go home after that,” Nicollete added.
“Fine.” She sighed.
The café was located on the ground floor of the Prestige building. It only took them one elevator ride to get there.
It was almost full when they arrived, and the infamous Kismet Wall was crowded. The crowd was composed of their co-writers, of course. Everyone was busy pasting their wishes on the wall.
Avon just stood near the entrance, watching them.
If truth be told, she was not fond of making wishes. Why? There were only fifty percent of chance for a wish to come true, and the other half might be a no.
If only wishes could be dreams, and all my dreams could come true… There’ll be two of us standing here in front of you…
Her gaze reverted to the speakers hanging by the corners of the café when she heard that familiar song. Avon could not help but shake her head. Counting from one to one hundred was not enough to count how many times she had wished on the stars to grant her heart’s one desire: that someday, Roeden would lay his eyes on her with the same love that she felt for him. But ten years had passed, and it still hadn’t happened.
“Welcome to Kismet Café!” the barista greeted them with a wide grin plastered on her face. “You will receive a sticky note each once you place your orders at the counter.”
“What a scam!” Avon snapped. “Why do we have to pay just to make a wish?”
“Ara…” Nicollete nudged her on the side.
Writers addressed each other by pen name, so they called her Ara, short for her pen name Ara Louise.
“Let’s just fall in line and get this done, okay?” Ella whispered in her ear.
She just shrugged and let them tug her to the counter.
“One small caramel macchiato,” Avon told the barista as she fished her wallet from her bag.
“Is hot or cold, Ma’am?” the barista asked with a cheerful tone.
She cocked her head to the side and gave herself a few seconds to think about it. “Cold, please.”
She handed the exact amount of payment. In exchange, the barista gave her the receipt together with a yellow sticky note. Now that she had her hand on it, Avon suddenly had a change of heart. She abruptly grabbed the red marker on the fishbowl at the counter, and with a wide grin, she wrote her wish in capital letters.
“What should I write here?”
She turned to Ella. “Your darkest desire.”
Avon stuck her wish on the infamous Kismet Wall.
The two both turned to her with their mouths wide open after reading what she wrote on her sticky note.
“You’re crazy!” Avon grinned at Nicollete’s remark. “I thought mine was the most daring among our wishes. But yours…”
She shrugged and laughed.
“Well, it’s just wishful thinking. And I just wrote it out of fun. That wish will never come true.” She waved the thought off of their minds.
Ella nudged her arm and pointed her finger at the note written above the Kismet Wall. “It says, be careful what you wish for…”
“If that happens, I will throw a party.” Avon tapped them on the shoulder. “And oh, you’re both invited.” She winked and clucked her tongue.
“You’re crazy!” they said in unison.
“Caramel macchiato for Ara Louise!”
“Oh, that’s me!”
She walked towards the counter and claimed her order. Her friends’ orders followed, and soon, they were all sipping their coffees as they walked out of the café.
“What time will you get home, Ara?” Ella asked as they wait for the taxi that would take them to the train station.
Biting the tip of her straw, Avon took a glance at her wristwatch. “I think I will make it home by ten in the evening.”
“Whoa! That’s a long ride home,” said Nicollete, who was busy typing on her phone.
“Well, that’s why I always want to make it to the bus station before six. You know, traffic jams.” She heaved a sigh.
The two nodded agreeably.
Avon looked up at the sky. Grey clouds were forming up there, and she did not like it. Sooner or later, rain would pour.
“Ah… How long do we have to wait for an empty taxi?” She threw her now empty cup in the trash bin. “We’ve been waiting for ten minutes now.”
“It’s rush hour.” Ella tapped her on the shoulder.
Nicollete raised her head. “Shall we walk then?”
Avon groaned and stomped her feet. “You gotta be kidding me.”
The two shook their heads.