Rayne couldn't stop thinking about the man on the sidewalk. More in front of the hospital, than the sidewalk, she corrected herself.

Only one word came to her mind when she thought about him: familiar.

He seemed so familiar. Has she met him before?

"Penny for your thoughts," a voice startled her.

She looked around to see her best friend.

"Hey Paige, didn't see you there." Rayne smiled.

"I just came to check up on you. You were sleeping soundly in the morning, so I decided not to disturb." Paige was also Rayne's roommate.

"Yeah, I had a great sleep," she gushed. Paige shook her head, grinning at her best friend.

That's the way they were. They felt happy for getting a good night's sleep.

"Also, I wanted to give you this report," she handed over a file to Rayne. "He's scheduled for surgery today, right?"

Rayne nodded, as she took the file from her friend.

"Well, good luck. I'm gonna get going. I'll meet you at lunch, yeah? Love you," and with that she was gone.

Rayne watched as her friend marched away from her, with a confident strut. Then she stared at the report and started to think about the surgery, forgetting all about the man on the sidewalk.

✵

Sebastian paced around his flat like he had nothing better to do.

He was waiting for the alarm to ring at 5 PM. Rayne would usually go to her favourite coffee place at that time. How could he not know that?

✵

Rayne was on her laptop. She took her usual spot and was lost in her own world.

Sebastian entered the coffee shop. It was a cozy little place. He had never been here before. He had a hunch that it would be her favourite after seeing her drink from the cup carrying the café's logo. She usually finished her shift at 5. So it was basically just a guessing game.

He had avoided to see her any place except the hospital, watching from the opposite bookstore. After all, he didn't have any intention to speak to her at the time. Even when he did, he always got cold feet at the last minute, and after a while he had just stopped trying. She's usually so busy at the hospital, that there was no chance she could've noticed him.

Sebastian wondered whether he should've done this a long time ago, as he made his way to the counter.

His eyes scanned over the area, and halted at the corner of the place. There she was, concentrating so keenly on her laptop, oblivious to everything around her.

He believed that, she made the world better just by residing in it.

There wasn't much of a crowd. It was empty except for an old aged couple, who were deeply engrossed in a conversation of their own. He took a seat diagonally opposite to her, so that she was in his line of vision but he wasn't in hers.

'Stalker much?'

He kept glancing at her. He sat to her left, so only half of her face was visible to him. One of her hands rested on her chin, and the other one on her touchpad. She used left hand to type something, and he wondered whether she was left handed. But he couldn't remember.

'That's one thing I don't know about her' he thought to himself.

She sat unbothered as a strand of her soft brown hair wiggled its way onto her face. He wanted to reach out and tug it back to its place. He realized that he'd been staring at her too long, but he couldn't take his eyes off of her.

She shifted in her chair, pushing her hair to the back effortlessly. And back to her screen, she went. Her eyebrows knitted were together as she peered into her laptop.

So she didn't notice the figure hovering over her.

But Sebastian did.

He debated whether to go over and confront the person. But ended up deciding to wait it out. After all, it could be a colleague.

Rayne looked up what felt like ages to Sebastian.

"Fancy seeing you here, Rayne," the hovering figure snarled at her.

"Sean," she hesitated, "what are you doing here?" she moved her hands under the table, clutching at her skirt for support.

"I'm not here to see you, don't worry," he chuckled. His eyes shifted from her eyes to lips and lower.

"Well, no one wants you to," she snapped. She's never done this before. She quickly brought her hands in front of her as if to hide her whole figure behind them.

Sean grabbed a chair next to hers. She moved away from him slightly, silently wishing him to leave her alone.

Sebastian couldn't hear anything from the distance. But he could see Rayne tensing up.

"God, I've just realized how much I've missed your face," he smiled smugly, "and your body," he said touching her hand that was on the table.

She quickly tried to withdraw her hand, but his grip was strong.

"Why are you pulling away from me, baby?" He tried to move his hand to her thigh.

She flinched at the contact. She felt nauseated at his touch.

"Sean, I don't want this. I want you to leave me alone," she protested silently. 

Sebastian felt his blood boil. Suddenly it struck him, this guy was awfully similar to the one he saw her with last year. It should be him.

Before he realized what was happening, his legs took him to where they both where. And his knuckles encountered Sean's face.

"What the hell? Who are you, man?" Sean growled through his gritted teeth, his hands soon found his nose, which was now bleeding.

Rayne locked eyes with Sebastian. He couldn't read her emotions. Was she angry ?

She recognized him as the 'guy on the sidewalk'. She was happy to see him there, after all, he's done something that she never could've. And because Sean deserved this punch.

"Sean, you should go. And never come back," she was now packing her laptop into her bag, getting ready to leave.

Sean took a hard look at Sebastian. The latter was wearing an oversized jumper with a baseball cap covering half of his face.

"Is this the new guy you're fucking? In that case, can't wait to see you at my doorstep begging me to take you back," blood was dripping down his shirt, and he took no measures to hide it.

"You know what, yeah. But don't hold your breath, because I will not come back. Ever again," Rayne's hands were shaking but she tried her best to remain calm.

Sean wiped the blood off of his nose with the sleeve of his shirt. Then departed, glaring at them scornfully.

✵