Seth spent two nights away from Kintsugi, partially due to his own exam schedule and giving Lance’s exams, and partially due to Anri. He wasn’t sure exactly how to approach him just yet. Even though he didn’t know Anri very well, he figured he knew him well enough to expect Anri was feeling super self conscious about the other night. He worried that if he showed up too soon, Anri would treat him coldly, or worse, ignore him completely.

So, he decided to give Anri a little space. The wait was killing him, just a little, stabbing him in the heart with a tiny little knife. He had so many questions, all of which he was pretty sure Anri would avoid with his slightly too polite work smile, if he even gave Seth the time of day.

Two days was Seth’s limit. He couldn’t wait anymore. He was driving himself, and everyone else around him, crazy with his antsiness. He had to see Anri. Felt compelled to see him again. Obsessed. He had re-imagined Anri’s actions that night a million times now, reliving those moments, trying to figure out what had happened. He still wasn’t sure. It didn’t make him feel bad, though. It had felt wonderful, and he longed to feel it again. But more importantly, he longed to see Anri again, hoped that Anri wanted to see him, too.
Maybe Anri would pretend it didn’t happen and they would go back to their ‘slightly more than customer and bartender’ relationship. The thought was disappointing, but better than if Anri ignored him flat out. Or asked him to never come back. He wouldn’t ask that, right?

Seth wouldn’t let Anri off the hook, he decided. He was going to get some questions answered tonight.

Yeah, right, he thought back to his optimistic inner dialogue, snorting. More than likely, he would leave feeling as unsatisfied as he was when he came in. He had to do something, though. Had to try to get Anri to talk to him some way. Even if Anri didn’t want to see him, no matter what happened, he had to talk to him.

Seth took his usual seat at the bar, settling in. He followed his ritual of taking out and arranging his books, setting up his little space. A short black woman with wavy, stoplight red hair wrapped in a tight bun, strolled up to him. She was wearing a black low cut blouse that showed off her ample cleavage with a golden crucifix hanging just so between them to draw the eye. Seth had seen her before, she and Anri worked the bar together on busier nights. She was alone tonight, though. Seth’s heart sank and he thought about leaving.

She stood before him, obviously as unimpressed with him as he was with her, saying nothing. He continued laying out his work for the night, trying his best to not be intimidated by her overbearing presence. When he was finished setting up his workspace, she looked at him expectantly, clearing her throat a little. Seth looked around the bar, checking again for Anri, but she seemed to be alone. The woman placed her hands on the bar impatiently. Her fingernails shone like glossy golden talons in the red lighting.

He had to try. Maybe he was on break or something. “Um…hi. Is, uh…is Anri working tonight?” He asked her cautiously, trying not to sound too stalker-esque. For reasons he could not ascertain, this woman terrified him. Just a little. Overbearing was a good term, because she was more than intimidating. With those nails. And how much she enjoyed communicating with people in general. But, mostly just her hovering and cold looks.

“Nope.” Case in point. She gave off some type of aura, like she was disappointed in everyone. Somehow she made Seth sure that he had let her down in some unforgivably horrible way. The way she looked at him said ‘I’d rather be doing anything else than waiting on you, so just order something already?’

The truth hit him hard. Anri wasn’t here. He hadn’t wanted to consider the thought that Anri might not be working tonight. His heart sank. He half considered leaving right then, but changed his mind. He was already here, and he did have work to do, and it was already all set up, so he may as well stick around. This wasn’t the first time that Anri wasn’t here when he came, but it was the first time in a while. As long as awhile covered the three weeks since he started coming to Kintsugi.

Red loomed ominously before him. Not wanting any more of her attention than necessary, he ordered a rum and cola. He also secretly didn’t want someone other than Anri to make his normal drink, like somehow it was special because Anri made it. It was special because he made it. She nodded, which Seth figured would be the pinnacle of their conversation for the evening, and turned to mix his drink.

Before long, he became absorbed in his studies and the room faded into the background, the bar’s din a gentle soundtrack to his concentration. As he focused, his agitation faded to a small, manageable itch.

He had been engrossed in a study discussing a new theory regarding the first genetic mutation resulting in blue eyes when he felt Anri. That tingle in the back of his head, the feel of his presence. Excited, his head jerked up to look for him. He forced himself to look back down at his book, trying to look natural. He didn’t want it to be obvious that he was looking for Anri. He had to act natural. He could do this. He was going to get answers from him one way or another. And more importantly, he was going to see Anri.

As his presence moved closer, something felt off. It felt like Anri but…it didn’t feel quite right. There was this…presence? It wasn’t Anri. The presence sort of felt like Anri, but off, different.

Seth shook his head. A presence? What was wrong with him? If anyone else had told him they felt a ‘presence’ he would have disregarded them, placing them into the same classification as people who paid to have their chakras aligned. To each their own, but Seth was a man of science. Regardless, he felt a prickling sensation on the hairs on the back of his neck that made him think of Anri. No, not quite Anri, but close.

Which was ridiculous. He was just disappointed that Anri wasn’t here. Seth shook his head and tried to return to his study.

Despite the fact that he didn’t believe his feelings about the “presence”, and despite the fact that he didn’t believe that Anri was there, he still looked up at the mirror over the bar when he heard the tinkling sound of the bell as the door opened. A cold draft blew in as a woman walked through the door, the breeze dissipating as the door shut quickly behind her.

The first thing Seth noticed was the woman’s shoes. She wore sleek shiny silver boots, knee high, with heels so tall a stripper would trip. Above that, few inches of creamy pale skin peeked out shyly, quickly covered up by the bottom of a fashionable black trench coat buttoned up to her throat. She had a fluffy, probably cream colored scarf wrapped several times around her neck, the true color hard to pin down in the dim lighting. Her blondish hair was neatly pulled back into a sandy blonde ponytail which trailed down her back.

She walked into the bar as if she owned it, comfortable and confident. Seth was impressed that she didn’t trip or stumble at all in those shoes. The confident woman looked around casually, taking in the room, and caught Seth staring at her in the mirror. He quickly returned his focus back to his book, trying to look as if he had just been glancing at her as she came in.

Seth began to read again but was almost immediately distracted when the woman sat down in the stool right next to him. The hair on the back of his neck felt electrified. He wiped his hand over it, scratching his neck nonchalantly. The feeling didn’t diminish. She felt like Anri, only different. He was obviously tired or something.

He looked around the bar pointedly, specifically looking over at all the empty seats, all of which were not directly next to him. Trying to give her a hint, which she either ignored or missed, settling into her seat. He wondered briefly if she was hitting on him, then decided that was pretty unlikely to happen at a bar like Kintsugi. Confused, he decided to just ignore her. He hadn’t come here for any other reason than to see Anri. He wasn’t looking for distractions tonight.

Red came over and loomed over the new girl. “Simone.” Red said it as a statement, nodding her head to the new patron.

“Heya, Red.” The bartender shot her a look that had Seth glad it wasn’t aimed at him. “Sorry, Ginger. Can I get a dirty martini?” the new patron, Simone, asked casually. She was obviously a regular, on a first name basis with the incredibly intimidating barkeep. Seth almost laughed out loud, right on point with his nickname for Anri’s dour coworker. It was definitely not his intense fear of the woman’s disdain that kept him from laughing aloud. He wondered passingly if she colored her hair because of her name.

“You know Anri’s not here tonight, don’tcha?” Red took up the shaker, pouring in ice and liquor. She closed it hard and began shaking the martini. Seth’s ears perked up at the mention of the missing bartender. He stared a hole into his work as he focused on on their conversation, not looking at it at all.

“Oh, I know. He’s been complaining that he hasn’t had a day off of work in forever. I’m sure he is making good use of his time off. No, I’m here just for a quick drink after work today. Totally innocent, you know, nothing to do at all with Anri,” Simone said sweetly.

Seth continued to try to eavesdrop without being obvious about it. He turned a page in his notebook and hunched even farther over it, though he knew he wouldn’t be able to concentrate until Simone left. Who was she to Anri? He was surprised to feel jealousy sprout in his stomach.

“Uh-huh. Isn’t any of my business what Anri does on his time off. Or your time off, either, quite frankly,” Red replied with a tone that bordered just shy of cold.

She poured the drink she had been shaking into a martini glass and slid it across the bar to Simone. She skewered three green olives on a bright yellow plastic sword, looking up at Simone and pointing the pointy end of the plastic sword in her direction, punctuating her statement with little stabs. “But, don’tcha go making trouble for Anri, you hear me girl? I’ll kick your ass.”

If Red ever stared at Seth the way she was currently staring at Simone, he probably would never come back again. Well, not on nights Anri wasn’t here atleast. If she had good graces, Seth desired to find a way to be in them, always. Red dropped the sword into Simone’s martini with a tiny splash, still giving her a chastising look.

Simone laughed, and he gave her mental props. “You wound me, Ginger. You’re so overprotective of Anri, it’s just darling. I’m glad he has good people around him. You know how he can get,” Simone replied sweetly.

She swirled the drink around the glass, then pulled out the small plastic sword with three green pimento stuffed olives impaled along it. She pulled an olive off with her teeth and turned her attention to Seth. Ginger shook her head and walked down to the other side of the bar, her threat delivered. She was obviously uninterested in any prolonged conversations with Simone, either.

“Hey there,” she said simply. He turned to look at her, checking to see if she was actually talking to him. They made eye contact and, immediately uncomfortable, he cast his eyes down to her hand, still holding the plastic sword near her lips. He felt guilty about eavesdropping, and he felt jealous of her for having some type of relationship with Anri. She was beautiful. Were they dating? The jealousy inside him made him feel ashamed. It was a confusing feeling to have for a man, much less one he barely knew.

As he stared hard at the black marble bar, he noticed her hands. They were covered in silver rings. She had at least one on each finger, including her thumbs, and some had several rings. Her hands looked heavy.

He could deal with this. He knew how to talk to women. It didn’t matter if she was Anri’s girlfriend or not. And this woman, she was beautiful and confident, definitely quite the catch. She was not some easy fling to picked up while he and Lance were playing the game.

“Uh….hey?” It came out more as question than a response. Yeah, real suave. He kicked himself, feeling severely off his game.

He returned to staring his work, trying not to act as awkward as he felt. She laughed and his ears perked. Her laugh was a familiar noise to him, reminding him of Anri. He turned to look at her. He thought she really did resemble him, the hair, the same laugh, something about their eyes…they looked a lot alike. But, maybe this was just wishful thinking, him hoping that this Simone wasn’t his girlfriend. It shouldn’t it matter if this was his girlfriend anyway, he told himself. He wasn’t attracted to Anri in that way, because that would be weird. Still, the thought sent his stomach twisting in knots of jealousy.

She smiled and all he saw was Anri. Mentally kicking himself, he smiled back at her, forcing himself to make eye contact with her. He would be civil. He would be charming. Her eyes looked like Anri’s, greenish grey and intense. He hated himself for comparing them, yet he couldn’t stop himself, either.

Her ears were layered with small silver hoops, dozens of them climbing up each of her earlobes. She even had that little piece in the middle of her ear, he couldn’t recall the name for it, pierced in both ears. Tragus, it was called the tragus piercing. The small hoops distracted him momentarily. He took a drink of his rum and cola, trying to ground himself. The taste of his normal drink of choice helped him feel more in control.

Their familiarity of appearance itched at his mind. Something about her cheekbones and eyes. They way she smiled. Her hair. All of these things just reminded him of Anri, and made him ache, the longing to see Anri in full bloom in his chest again.

He really should just leave. He should have just left when Anri wasn’t here. He shouldn’t have come at all. He needed to stop playing this stupid game with himself. Why would Anri come to work on his night off? Why did he keep getting his hopes up every time he heard the door open? Why would Anri even want to see him other than as a patron in the first place?

He was being stupid, allowing whatever this was that he was feeling to get out of hand. He sighed, disgusted with himself. It had to be the stress. There was no other reason to explain why he was fixated on Anri like this. Anri had been nice to him when he was feeling down, and he had somehow turned that feeling into something deeper, into something it was not.

The only reason he didn’t just pack up and leave was this woman. She obviously knew Anri. Regardless of his self disgust, he couldn’t help himself. He wanted to talk to Simone, desperate to collect information about Anri like clues to a mystery. She had his full attention, despite the rational part of his brain screaming for him to leave.

“You wouldn’t happen to be Seth, would you?” she asked casually, sipping her martini.

Seth startled and coughed, his mouth full of rum and cola. He barely stopped himself from spitting it out in shock. He swallowed hard, his eyes watering as he coughed a little more, his throat burning as he choked it down. Simone chuckled softly.

Seth didn’t say anything for a breath, then he cocked his head sideways a little, regarding her. “I am,” he said carefully. He eyed her skeptically. “You seem to have me at a disadvantage…have we met before?”

She smiled over her martini glass. “No, I don’t believe so. We have a mutual ah…acquaintance,” she answered mysteriously. He was sure she was playing with him now. But…she obviously knew Anri. Well, she had his interest, so he’d play along for a little while.

“Do we?” he said, trying to be casual, pretty sure he was failing. How could he be so far from his game tonight? “Who might that be?”

“I think you are acquainted with my brother, Anri. You might know him, he’s a shorter, slightly younger, slightly less attractive, relation of mine? Oh, also he is not nearly as awesome as me, either. Honestly, he’s kind of a dork. Dirty blonde hair down to his shoulders, always in that dorky ponytail?” She waved her hands around her face near the estimated level of where his hair would fall on her.

“I think his ponytail looks good on him.” Seth said defensively, a smile playing at the edge of his mouth. He really did like Anri’s ponytail. He wondered what it would look like all messed up. He longed to be the one to mess it up.

She laughed. “He has had the same look for ages. Some things change, but Anri never changes. Anyway.” She turned her body so that her knees were now pointing at Seth. Pulling her scarf off she said, “So you are the Seth he’s been talking about. The kid who studies in the bar.” She draped the scarf behind her on the back of the bar stool and began to unbutton her coat. She threw it off, not bothering to get up, and with part of it still tucked under her butt, she laid the rest of it over her scarf.

She had on a cream colored cardigan and a sharp black pencil skirt that he imagined every porn star pretending to be a teacher or librarian had at least worn for five minutes. Draped around her neck were two silver necklaces, thin and delicate looking. She was stunning, truth be told. Seth was a little relieved that they were related. More than a little. His relief allowed him to relax. Now it made sense for him that he could see Anri in her features. Now that he knew, it was obvious that they were related. She looked like a female version of him, although taller for sure. He was instantly sure Simone must use that fact to drive Anri crazy.

“Anri talks about me?” Seth said coyly. He knew that he was weirdly obsessed, he couldn’t seem to help himself. That Anri talked about him outside of work, and to his family…the thought sent a small thrill through him.

“Wait, he thinks I’m a kid?!” he exclaimed.

“I’m sure he means it with all due respect. I mean, how old are you?” she asked him skeptically.

“Not that is should be any of your business, with all due respect, but I’m 25. Definitely too old to be considered a kid,” he replied defensively.

“Nonsense. Anri is 30. You’re a kid to him. You’re still in school, right?” she said matter of factly.

“I’m a graduate student. That should count as an adult. I’m feeling a little offended here,” he replied, pouting a little.

“Aw, don’t worry. He still likes you. He just worries he’s way too old for you find interesting is all. It’s all good.” Simone took a long swig of her drink, finishing it off. She caught Red’s eye and pointed to her drink. Ginger nodded and went to work making an identical replacement.

Seth’s head was spinning with this whole encounter. She acted casual but seemed to be really interested in him at the same time. He wondered if she had maybe come in specifically to meet him. It made sense, in a strange kind of way. Anri wasn’t working tonight and she stated that she knew that already. She had come and sat down right next to him when there were plenty of places to sit with no direct neighbors available. She had recognized him and initiated the conversation. Was he just jumping to conclusions? Maybe he was placing his importance in this situation more highly that he should. Maybe this was all coincidence.

Seth wondered what kind of relationship Simone and Anri had. Seth and his own siblings were not super close now, spread out around the country as adults, although they had tolerated each other well enough when they were younger. Being a middle child, his older sister had never wanted him tagging along and his brothers, twins, were 6 years younger than him. He found himself mirroring the way his own older sister had treated him with the twins. None of them were very close, but they weren’t exactly on bad terms, either. At least with his sister and one of the twins. The other… Seth shook his head, dragging his focus back to the present.

It was a little bit surreal to him how much the two resembled each other. He found himself staring at her, studying her facial features, looking for bits of Anri there, in her nose, her brow, then he realized he was staring. He cleared his throat.

“So, are you and Anri close? Close enough that he talks to you about some random kid he met at his job?” He tried to act casual, internally scoffing at himself for trying so hard. He was sure Simone could see through his act.

“Hmm…” Simone said thoughtfully. Red brought over a replacement martini, this one with an extra sword skewer of olives crossing over top of each other, swiftly removing the original glass. “I guess so. I mean, it’s always kinda been us against the world, so, you know, we tended to rely on each other a bunch. We grew up in a, ah…unique…situation?” She took a sip and wrinkled her nose, then took another sip.

“Unique?” Seth followed up.

“Um…just different. You know, strange parents, that kind of stuff. Anyway,” she said quickly, “Anri and me, I guess you could say we are pretty close. We share an apartment nearby. It’s convenient and cheap.”

“You, ah, share an apartment? Isn’t that odd?” The question flowed from him before he thought about his response. Backpedalling, he said, “I’m sorry, that was rude.”

“Nah, it would seem a little weird to someone who didn’t know us. Trust me, that reaction is tame compared to some of the reactions we’ve gotten.” She snuffled, then took another drink. “But, like I said, it’s always kinda been me and Anri. And, well, he just went through some shit, so, you know, family first and all that.”

Seth didn’t know what to say after that. The conversation lulled and he looked away. To cover for the lapse in conversation he picked up his drink and sipped it slowly. Simone was silent for a moment, too, turning back to face the bar.

Awkward silence hung between them and Seth felt the need to fill the silence. “So, um, if Anri’s not here tonight, what brought you here?”

Simone looked at Seth out of the corner of her eye. “Hmm…I wonder. I just felt like it, I guess. Or, maybe…” she continued slowly, “maybe I came to see if you were here tonight…” Seth was sure he could see mischief in her smile.

“Why would you care if I was here tonight? Aren’t I just another of Anri’s regulars?” he asked, tensing up uncomfortably.

“I’m joking! I’m joking! You’re so serious.” She patted him on the shoulder. “I came here because Anri isn’t here tonight. I’m allowed to go out for a drink sometimes, but when I come here and Anri is here, he’s all like, ‘Simone, don’t you have anything better to do than bother me at work?’ or ‘Don’t think I’m gonna give you free drinks just cause you’re my sister’ or something. So, I come on the nights he isn’t here, then he doesn’t think I’m just coming here to harass him. He’s sensitive like that.”

Seth relaxed a bit. It would be super weird if she came here to scope him out, right? He was still a bit surprised that Anri even talked about him at all. He wondered if he told his sister about the other night.

Now that a few days had gone by, he was questioning his memory of the time. He hadn’t seen Anri since, of course, but if he closed his eyes he could still almost feel the rasp of Anri’s tongue on his finger and the pleasure he had felt…

Simone finished her second martini and placed the empty cup on the bar, close to the edge. She turned again to face him, and as she turned her elbow hit the glass. It fell to the floor and shattered into crystalline shards between their bar stools. The sound seemed too loud in the small space. The other patrons looked up from their drinks, and then away again, immediately uninterested.

Red rushed over. “Simone, Sir, are either of you cut?” He stood up quickly, shaking his head no at her, and bent down to pick up the small shards, glimmering wet and red in the under-lighting of the bar.

Simone leaned down and began to pick small shards of glass from the floor, too. “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I’ll clean this up right away Ginger. Can I borrow the trash can?”

“I’ll clean it, sit back down!” Red demanded.

“No, no, I broke it. I’m sorry. I’ll clean it. Please, don’t worry, just hand me a trash can and a bar towel,” she insisted

Red put a damp white hand towel on the counter and lifted up a small wastebasket and put it on the bar. Simone stood up and grabbed both. Seth continued to pick up the small shards of glass, carefully laying them in the palm of his left hand.

“Be careful!” she said softly, moving to stand beside Seth. She held the trash can towards him and he dropped the handful of small shards into it, continuing to pick up the larger pieces with his right hand. After he had picked up all the big shards, he took the hand towel from her and wiped up the smaller pieces as best he could, then shook the small towel over the wastebasket.

Scanning the floor for any more diamond shards and not seeing anything outstanding, he stood up and brushed his hands off on his pants. “I’m more clumsy than my brother, apparently!” she said.

Simone sucked in a deep breath. “Oh, you’ve cut yourself! I’m so sorry! Here, I’ve got something….” she fretted, turning away quickly, pulling at her coat. She dug around in her coat for a moment, pulled out a band-aid and began to peel it out of its paper.

He looked down at his hands. He did have a small cut on the outside of his pointer finger. He hadn’t even felt the glass cut him, but a small drop of blood was welling up on the thin cut. Simone grabbed his hand and began to apply the bandage.

“I could have done that, you know?” he argued feebly. She snickered as she wiped the blood away with her finger. She applied pressure to his finger as he carefully wrapped the bandage around his finger.

“You carry band-aids around in your coat?” he said teasingly.

“Look, a girl’s gotta be prepared for anything. You wouldn’t believe all the stuff I got in my pockets. I shoulda been a girl scout.” She turned away from him again, digging through her coat pocket again. He laughed despite himself.

“All better!” she declared happily. She had pulled out a small pot of lip balm after dipping her hand back into the same pocket she found the bandaid, already twisting the tiny lid off. He took another drink of his cider as she swirled her finger around the balm and then wiped it on her lips, rubbing her lips together to spread it around. She closed her eyes for a breath, opened them and reached for her scarf. As she wrapped it around her neck she looked over at him again, smiling coyly. “Hey, I’m pretty tired. I think I’m gonna walk home. Thanks for keeping me company.”

“Oh, the pleasure was mine. It was nice to meet you, Simone.” He turned his body towards her as she stood up, putting her coat back on, her fingers slowly buttoning her jacket.

“And, hey, Seth,” she said, looking directly into his eyes. He felt strangely frozen in place, like a mouse cornered by a cat. Time seemed to stretch out like taffy before him. “How’d you get that cut?” He impulsively looked down at his hand, and the lengthy moment shattered around him. He felt relieved and confused. He looked back up at Simone, and he could have sworn that her eyes had flickered red for just a moment, like Anri’s had. Or at least how he thought Anri’s had. That night was blurring together the more he thought about it.

“Um…really? I got it picking up the glass you broke? Are you okay? Should I call a cab for you?” he asked, genuinely confused. He reached to his pocket to pull out his cellphone.

“No, no, I’m fine. I’m just tired. I’m very sorry. It was so nice to meet you, Seth who studies at the bar. Thank you for indulging me.” She smiled sweetly, bowed her head and then turned to leave. “Maybe I’ll see you around again!” she called over her shoulder as she pulled open the door and walked out into the cold night.

Red came up to the bar and gave Seth a look he couldn’t read. “She’s always like that. Oh, and she didn’t pay. Anri’s gonna be real mad at her tomorrow.”

Seth had never heard Red say that many words at a time before. “I’ll…I’ll pay for her. Can you bring me the bill? I should get going.”

She gave him an appraising look, then shrugged and walked over to tally his bill. Slowly, he began to put his materials away, feeling confused. He was at a loss, totally not understanding exactly what had just gone on with Simone. He still had half of his drink, and he considered leaving it, but changed his mind. It would be a waste if he just threw it out.

He paid the bill and sat at the bar, finishing up his drink, replaying the encounter with Simone in his mind again, then thinking about Anri. Maybe Anri would be back to work again tomorrow. He thought about asking Red, but the look she gave him stopped him in his tracks.

He would probably come tomorrow anyway.

Chapter 3: Haunted By You

Chapter 5: The Setup