The café shimmered like a sunlit oasis amid the plunging chaos of the city, casting a kaleidoscope of scattered reflections onto the streets below. Inside, the aroma of rich coffee mingled with the delicate scent of blooming jasmine—a scent he always associated with her. Theo sat at his usual table, an old wooden affair near the window, drumming his fingers in a syncopated rhythm only he could follow.
“What do you see today, Theo?” came a gentle voice, punctuated by a smile as Miri set a steaming cup beside him.
He glanced up, his eyes catching hers like the first burst of sunrise through a mist. “I don’t see it, Miri. I hear it.” He tapped a small, peculiar device on the table—a special equalizer, its dials shimmering under the café’s golden light. “The universe in a sound box.”
Miri slid into the seat opposite, her presence painting the moment with quiet wonder. “Show me how it works.”
“It’s not about how it works,” Theo countered, the corners of his mouth curving upwards. “It’s about why it works.” His fingers caressed the dials delicately, as if tuning an invisible orchestra. The air chimed with unseen harmonies, a symphony only they could understand.
“An equalizer that balances life…” Miri mused, leaning in closer. Her raven curls spilled forward, momentarily eclipsing the world with their darkness.
“Exactly,” Theo nodded. “Every sound in perfect harmony. But only for those who listen closely.” His eyes, pools of muted storms, bore into hers, seeking something unspoken, something eternal.
A pause—a sudden echo of everything left unsaid—hovered, suspended like an unplayed note. With a soft sigh, Miri spoke. “Theo, have you ever thought that perhaps we’re the ones meant to be balanced?”
He laughed, a warm, tinkling sound that danced around them like butterflies. “Perhaps. But then, where’s the fun in perfection?”
“Is it fun hiding behind all this?” Her gesture encompassed the equalizer, the café, the world they had built between silences.
His fingers wavered on the dial—an imperceptible delay. “No, it’s not.”
The café buzzed on, participants in a play unaware of their backdrop. Sunlight flickered through the windows, casting long, poetic shadows that played hide and seek across their table.
“There is something…something special between us, Theo. It’s there, like one single unwavering note amidst a sea of chaos,” Miri’s voice was barely a murmur, a whisper carried by the currents of sound.
The air snapped with a gentle crack—a soundless statement louder than a shout. Theo reached across, his hand capturing hers with a surprising urgency. “Miri, will you…”
But a sudden clattering filled the room, the sound impossibly amplified. The equalizer on the table flickered and hummed, and the ethereal harmony ceased abruptly, leaving the air thick with anticipation and unspoken words.
Time paused, as if the universe itself took a breath to ponder the course of destiny. An abrupt silence echoed through the now seemingly lifeless café, leaving Theo’s unfinished question suspended in their shared space.
Miri looked at him, eyes filled with infinite possibilities and an unspoken promise. She simply smiled—a gentle, knowing crack in the universe—and then, with a grace beholden only to those untouched by certainty, she turned away.
Outside, the world resumed its melody, oblivious to the harmony broken, and yet, somehow, played to a different rhythm.