My Little Ounce of Sunshine Prologue

I’d say I’m a regular, easy-going girl. I enjoy life as i

t is, and take it as it comes, but sometimes I find myself thinking, “When will the excitement of life start?” It’s one of those days at work where I sift through a stack of edited papers and re-edit them again, and then re-edit those once more. It’s not an easy task, believe me, but it’s a job that I have been looking forward to ever since I started writing poems and short stories when I was in high-school. My advice to high-schoolers? Don’t get so rapped up in getting all stiff with school, with the sometimes irritating people around you, and stop wondering when you can finally settle down and start your life. I learned this lesson through a very special friend, and I hope that you’ll be able to see how special your dreams and aspirations are. So, take a moment and sit down and think of all of those dreams big and small, and say to yourself, “I am going to enjoy life and be happy with it,” because life is too short to waste your time hoping for better days.

I have had a few select people in my life who I guess I could consider my friends. They were the normal crew who I would find a seat by to sit at lunch, and they were there to aimlessly walk around the school with before our classes started. They were nice people, people with aspirations bigger than mine, so I often envied their bold characters and the ability to hold friendships. But, however good they were, they weren’t really my close friends. Sometimes they even traded my friendships for guys, which did hurt, but I learned to just keep them in my prayers and be there through heartbreak and girly emotions. Even though their friendship seemed temporary, there was one girl who I loved very dearly. She was always there for me, actually understood me, and never traded me for guys, even when she too had a secret crush for one. I’ll never forget her either. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still in contact, calling each other on the phone once in a while, but now that we’ve moved on to our own lives, things have changed. Not in a bad way at all, it’ s just that people get busy and we can’t remain high-schoolers forever.

So, back to editing, I noticed one day that one of the authors at our building named Matsuo,Haruki wrote this article about literature and wrote it in such a way that was gorgeously astounding. It wasn’t the type of “wow” when you got an “a” on a test, or when your mom gives you money expectedly, it was the type of “wow” when you see the sun dipping into the ocean at sunset or when you witness a flock of geese chasing the moon. I nearly jumped out my seat with how pretty, yet so sophisticated the article was. No, you can’t get distracted with this, I told myself “I need to focus on my work. So, I shoved it back into a pile and grabbed my lunchbox. I usually sit outside on a bench that overlooks a park a couple stories down. It’s a very calming and almost surreal location that I’ve been eating at ever since I was here for my interview. Yes, there’s many memories associated with this bench.

It was a chilly autumn morning and the leaves were falling prettily like little dancing music notes, swinging back and forth like a lullaby. The clouds were scattered across like a tattered curtain covering up the sunlight, a sure sign of winter for a sky gazer like me. I often find myself staring at the sky often, even at the weirdest times of day. I noticed a few people walking by, laughing together with their shoulders nearly bumping each time. I wondered how it was like to live in that type of world. To never be alone. I don’t know that feeling.

He’s very tall and it seems like God sprinkled stars in his eyes when He created his grey eyes. And although I like his effortlessly soft brown hair too, I realized that I love his genuine personality the best, and here’s why. Here’s the story of how I met my little ounce of sunshine.

So, there I was sitting, eating my sandwich, zoning out while watching two small blue birds chasing each other. A chunk of avocado escaped my sandwich and the two birds immediately scurried over and nearly swallowed the chunk whole. I congratulated them with a couple claps of my hands and then resumed to stuffing a few chips in my mouth. Then, I heard a voice. A deep voice. My eyes darted to the man standing in front of me. I swallowed my half-eaten food and choked a bit.

“Eh…Are you ok?” The man smiled.

“I,” I stuttered, “yes, thank you.” My eyes then looked at his name tag. It read Matsuo Haruki. I nearly began to choke again, but I kept my mouth closed.

“I was wondering, did you finish editing my paper?” He gestured to sit himself down and I nodded, although I wasn’t entirely sure who he was.

So, he is Haruki! But how did he know who I was? “You must be Matsuo, Haruki? Am I right?” I brushed the crumbs off my coat and faced him.

“Yes,” he smiled. “was my article suitable for the paper?”

I thought back at how much I loved his article. “Yes, it was very well written. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I have not read an article so well done in ages. It was refreshing.”

“Wow, such high compliments. Thank you very much.” He seemed like he was about to stand up, but then sat back down. “I know this is terribly awkward but I just wanted to say that I am a huge fan of yours.”

I jumped in my seat a little, confused at his abrupt statement. “My fan?”

“Yes,” he folded his hands in his lap, “you see, I knew you because I have been one of the few followers on your blog.”

“Oh, that silly thing,” I laughed to myself “I forgot about that.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that it was silly. It was beautiful. Each and every one of your poems and stories were unique and gorgeously written. Let’s just say that I enjoyed them thoroughly.” Haruki looked down. He must have been embarrassed to have to confessed such a strong feeling.

I wanted to cry. I had always wanted to meet my followers in person, and here he was, sitting right in front of me “Wow, thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me. I’ve been waiting to meet one my followers for such a long time.”

Rain began to dribble off the leaves of the tree above us. Realizing the situation, Haruki brought out his umbrella over us. “Oh my, thank you.” I laughed. We ran to the covering of the building, but for some reason, both of us didn’t feel like going inside. I guessed that maybe he enjoyed the outdoors too, even when it was wet.

“Remember what I said in that last conversation we had on your blog?” He wiped the raindrops that hung at the ends of his hair. A car honked in the distance. “Um… Sorry, I must go, but goodbye, goodbye my little ounce of sunshine.” And with that, he gave me his umbrella and ran away with his suitcase over his head. It wasn’t until the late evening did I realize what he meant. He was the first person to ever like and follow my blog and the first story I wrote was titled “You’re My Little Ounce of Sunshine.” And the fairytale relationship in that story was beginning to look very familiar to the start of ours.

To Be Continued