Vignette:Fittkaustraße U-Bahn Station

''I’ll be there. I promise.”''

“You’d better,” spoke the voice from the phone.

“Who wouldn’t want to turn down a night with the boys?”

“You would, apparently.”

“I had a whole presentation to do that day, alright?”

''“Just get over here tomorrow. I think my cat’s starting to miss you.”''

“I hear you loud and clear.” Konrad could hear the subway rail rattling. “Shit, I've gotta go.”

“See ya.”

Konrad stepped into the subway train, sitting down on an empty seat. His bones ached; his muscles stung; his joints were gnawing away at his sanity. His barista job was slowly killing him, and he knew it. Despite protests from his close friends, he kept on working.

There were no other decent jobs in Alvastadt, after all.

The tired toiler took out his phone once more, checking the time. A quick view of the dim screen, backlit by the glaring evening yellow sun, displayed it: it was a quarter past seven in the evening.

“Konrad?” murmured a voice in front of him. He looked up to find a familiar face.

''“Ah. Mademoiselle Gaudin.”''

She retorted in halting Teutonic. “I told you to just call me Séverine.”

He smirked. “Si vous le dites, mademoiselle.”

She sighed, returning to gazing out the window.

Konrad couldn’t help but gaze at her. Rays of pure gold seemed to pour onto her hair-shrouded face from the window. This would make a great portrait, he thought.

He remembered when the two first made themselves acquaintances; picking up Ovannois was a hard task, especially when put alongside all of his university work. He could remember seeing the beginning of a laugh on her face the first time he tried speaking to her in her own language. She had a tender touch, but he remembered catching a glimpse of her pouring her heart out defending her thesis on a smoggy January afternoon.

A small but burning thought began forming in Konrad’s head as he pulled out his phone once more.

''“Hey, Theo? Something came up, and I think I'll have to miss game night.”''