at him questioningly. Was there another explanation or did he want to remain silent?
"When I saw you sitting here alone, I thought you would be freezing ...", he smiled and pointed to the jacket.
She didn't really seem to understand. Or rather, she already understood, but she didn't understand why? Should the whole be just a pick-up? If so, he could save it, now she really had no nerve for something like that.

He had to see that she had been crying. Surely her eyes were still red. He took off his sunglasses and set them aside on the table. When he looked up, she saw the other's dark, clear, brown eyes. Well, maybe it could be a pick-up after all.

"I ... well ... um ..."
She couldn't get more out of herself, whether it was just the shock because of the pick-up or whatever it was supposed to represent.Or because of the wonderful - as she found - brown eyes, she didn't know.

"May I ask why you went out without a jacket in this weather?"

"Without a jacket?" Flashed through her head.
She gestured silently to the chair next to her, one on the seat
soggy cardigan lay.

"Not very good against rain," he grinned.

"It didn't rain when I left home ...", she said quickly and gave him a cool look.

"I thought so ..."
She thought she heard a mocking tone in his voice, but said nothing, she thought the smile was pretty nice.

When the waitress came he ordered a coffee. Then the two began to remain silent. What should she talk to a complete stranger? Inwardly she snorted. It was great. Maybe she should sit at another table? No, was too rude. What if she left?
Her gaze wandered outside. It was still raining and it seemed to get worse with every minute and never want to stop.Your look a lot back on him. He was playing around with his sunglasses.

How old was he? It was always difficult to judge Japanese her age and she was always a failure in estimating anyway. She thought further and came to the decision to leave it. In the end it didn't matter anyway. She also found the other person to speak English really well. Okay, the pronunciation was pretty funny, but you understood what he wanted. So far she hadn't met anyone here who could speak English so well. Not even the woman at the front desk at the hotel. And she should be able to speak English in her job.

Silence. This began to slowly become unbearable for the light brown-haired woman at the table of the two. So she absolutely had to say something. She hated silence like the plague. Well sometimes it might be pretty, but at a moment like this? No.

"Why ...", she considered for a moment whether 'you' or 'she' and decided on the latter, "Why did you sit down with me?I mean, there are still enough tables free. If that was a pick-up, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not in the mood for that. "
She looked at him expectantly, but he began to smile.

"Leave the 'you', I'm Jun Tanemura," he smiled, but then he got more serious and answered the question the girl asked him, "It shouldn't be a turn-on, I'm sorry if it came across like that. I just saw you sitting in the corner and crying, then you were soaked too and I was worried. Wondering what had happened. "
So he had noticed that she had been crying. Well, no wonder, her eyes were really red after the howling. Embarrassing.

Surely he was expecting a name from me too. He wasn't
rude, so she could tell him hers too.
"I am Alex."

He smiled at her.
"Unusual name for a girl.""Yes, many tell me."

The two smiled at each other. Now the coffee was also needed. Thank you
Jun smiled at the waitress and started immediately with the dark drink
stir around. Alex began to look again at the person sitting in front of her. She knew the face from somewhere, but she just couldn't think of where from. She didn't like it when she couldn't think of something. Still thinking, she pulled the jacket, which was over her shoulders, more around her. She was getting warm.

She was sure she was going to catch a cold, but she didn't have to challenge anything unnecessarily.
"Thanks, because of the jacket ...", she finally said, smiling crookedly.

"It's okay..."
The door to the cafe was opened and when she saw who was in the bar, everything passed away. It was Alex's aunt. And she was hoping that
she wouldn't meet them again until later in the hotel. Why did this
go to this cafe right now? There were so many.

Jun had noticed Alex's gaze and turned to see what was there.He saw the older lady and turned back to the brown-haired woman.

"Your mother?"

"No aunt ..!" She hissed.
When the blonde-haired woman sat down at a table that was quite close
stood, Alex's heart began to beat faster. She didn't want to talk to the other woman now. And she didn't want her to know that she was here either.

When Alex thought she saw her aunt looking over at her, she unobtrusively pulled her jacket a little higher and turned her gaze out of the window. Hopefully she wasn't seen.

Alex's tears welled up again, but she was still able to hold them back so that they didn't roll down her cheek right away.

Jun looked at her questioningly, but she was faster and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
"Is that the reason why you are sitting here so wet and crying?"

"Also with ... she talked badly about my dead mother ... and not for the first time ..."

"Oh ..." he seemed affected, even if he wasn't quite soExpressed.

The blue-eyed woman sat down so that Jun hid her from her aunt.
He tried to turn around again, but Alex reached across the table and stopped him with a rough grip on his wrist.
"Are you crazy ?! Is it noticeable!", Softly but with a sharp tone, she said this to him.

"It won't, don't panic," he smiled.
Yes, he was smiling again. Alex had noticed this all along.

"Tell me, can it be that you are always smiling somehow ... I mean, isn't that exhausting?"
He gave a small laugh, "It's better to run through life smiling than looking serious or sad all the time, but if you like it better, I'll leave it in your presence soon."

Now he tried to look grimmer. It looked very exaggerated and spurious. Alex grinned at the sight and shook his head.
"No, stop it. Better look like before."

He was right. Always looking grim was wrong.And she seemed to be thinking about it a little. Maybe it was wrong to hang your head over something like that. After all, she had found a new friend. Or is it not?
And at some point it would go uphill again.

"Tell me, how old are you?"

Alex was amazed at Jun's question, which you could see in her look. In fact, he dared to simply ask her age.
"Eighteen," she then replied curtly, slightly avoiding the other's gaze.

"And you look so sad there? Isn't it a great age!"

"Could be ..." she mumbled softly to herself.

Jun smiled, this almost turned into a grin, "You never get a man off that way.

Alex looked up questioningly. What was that supposed to mean? Jun was still looking at her with his teasing look and then Alex couldn't help but smile.

"That way you look a lot nicer. You should smile more often."

"If only it were that easy."Jun looked at her questioningly. Alex felt the urge to tell him more and then did so.

"Today my aunt talked badly about my mother again ... she only died some time ago. She ... she said I was not the daughter of her deceased brother ..."

"You are fully wise?"

Alex nodded and looked sad.

"But that doesn't mean you have to see everything black right away. That sounds like I said it simply, but I think it is. It will surely go uphill ... and even more if you smile."

Alex thought about it, just looked at him and didn't say.

"A smile changes a lot. It helps you through the most terrible day. Just give it a try."

To attempt? Yes, it was worth a try. The brown-haired woman smiled slightly. It looked a little awkward, but it was a start.

Jun had to grin, "Yes, it looks pretty good, but should work on it."

Alex looked out the window.It had almost stopped raining now. But surely it would start again.

"I think I'm on my way now ... It's not raining right now."

Jun nodded to her. "Do you want me to take you to your hotel?"
Alex shook his head.
"No, you don't need to. I think I can do this on my own."

"If you think."

Nodding, she took the jacket off her shoulders and tried to give it back to him.

"Just keep it, not that you bring yourself death."

"But ...", he interrupted her and said with a smile, "I'll pick it up from you. You just need to tell me when and where."

Alex thought for a moment. Somehow the whole thing was embarrassing, but after a few moments she made him a suggestion.

"Tomorrow? I can be back here in the cafe at three."

He nodded.
"Okay. I'll be here," he winked at her with a smile.

Somewhat off track by the wink, she put her jacket back over her shoulders and got up to go to the counter."And don't forget to smile, okay?", Jun grinned at her.
Alex nodded and smiled slightly. When she got to the counter, she paid for her drink and left the cafe.

She hadn't noticed her aunt, which surprised Alex. Jun had spoken so loud at the end and then in English. She just should have heard it. What if she had purposely pretended not to have noticed? After all, Alex had told too. Or had she just not expected Alex because she usually didn't say anything? The light brown-haired woman read the thought and went back to the hotel with a slight smile on her lips.

_____

A final word from the author:

Sooooo ~ o!
I'll write another epilogue! Because I am the author! XD
I hope that you like what I made here in the story ... until now, not much has happened ... and I'm sure you're wondering what this whole thing is supposed to be at all ...If you want to squeeze me there, I'm sorry ... I don't know myself ... I'm just an object of the devil and write down what he likes! XD

Yes ... I hope that I will get a feedback in some way. It may well be that somehow my Scheibstiel (you call that