The girl asks a young man in a half-dress workshop uniform. He scribble some ideas he just comes up with onto the small pocketbook. He eat a bucket of fries while the girl eats a plate of seasonal fruit.
“It depends on the observed variable. If you're certain about all variables, then you already know what kind of reaction you expect to see. But if there are multiple factors, then it has no difference from walking into the dark.”
The man replies, having drawn a conclusion about his design in the pocketbook.
He works as a research and development engineer in a frontier aviation company. He has always been passionate about machinery and system integration since he visited a car factory back in middle school. Finding himself surrounded by a STEM high school community, he was encouraged to improve himself, and he has continued to do so to this day. Despite his preference for isolated working conditions and taking on a much larger-than-life task, he consistently delivers a satisfying result in simulation for the team, paving the way for further development.
“I am responsible for the structural design that will determine the power consumption of the plane. If I miss something out after the project completion, then it would be doomsday for sure.”
He tells the girl as he dips a fried potato into a tomato sauce. He accidentally spills the sauce on the table, then starts panicking a little bit.
“Don’t worry, it's just a dash of the sauce, take this napkin.”
The girl hands him a box of napkins for him to clean the stains.
“Have you ever eaten out before?. I seem like you are on alert or something.”
The bartender asks the man as he watches him hastily clean the table and put everything back in order.
“No, but it's not because of the food, though. I like it very much, but I don’t like the idea of having someone bother me all the time. It felt as if I were being intimidated by everyone.”
The man pauses to eat another piece of fried potato before continuing.
“I used to be a bit of a freak who always insisted on particular topics, and later found myself standing alone among others in school or the workplace. It a bit funny I guess because they don’t seemingly care about my personal life and me either ha ha ha.”
The man laughs a little before continuing to eat.
“Don’t you ever feel lonely? Living in your world with no other sounds than yours. It gives a horrible feeling whenever I think of that scenario.” The girl chews a big piece of apple in her mouth.
The man froze for a moment. His hair covers the top part of his face and flows along with the change in wind direction from the ceiling fans.
“You are the second person to ask me that question. The first is my mother. She was the most extroverted and sweet person I've ever known. She is usually concerned about how I could cope on a day-to-day basis if she is not around. Turns out her concerns are true.”
He put a piece of paper from his back and handed it to the little girl. The document is an eviction notice for his apartment. He is required to move out by the end of the month.
“Did you figure out the new place yet?”
The girl asks him with genuine concern as she starts to notice a subtle leg shaking motion from the man.
“Not yet. Even if I can handle all documents and stuff smoothly, I'm scared to death when joining new environments with different people traits, and gosh, who knows if I can even make friends with them.”
He was shaking his legs more frequently as he tightened his fist.
He becomes overwhelmed by every imaginable scenario and how it could ruin his day, and later, his life, like a chain of falling dominoes.
The girl holds onto his right arm, trying to calm his mind down. The whole situation remained silent for a good half hour before the girl speaks up in a soft tone.
“Can I style your hair?”
“I guess you can.”
He hesitates at first when the girl steps closer to him.
She takes out a small comb from her skirt pocket and starts brushing his hair on the back of his head.
“Someone told me before that humans are social animals. They communicate with others through posture and language. Later, the philosopher Socrates purposely asked his student questions about politics. He continues with one question after another until the student arrives at the best possible answer.”
She move his chair to her side then start brushing his front hair bang.
“Socialized does not always relate to an academic discussion. It also means building good relationships with people who happen to cross your path in life. Being skeptical about others doesn’t necessarily mean you have to avoid them, but be more considerate of how you are going to approach others as a human being, not a search engine on the internet.”
She finally finishes styling his hair bangs, unveiling a lovely, beautiful, deep blue pair of eyes underneath.
She tells him to look into the mirror at the opposite side of tabletop.
He looks into those pair of eyes, recalling his mother's appreciative gestures to her son in front of others.
He had missed judging others for not knowing what he knew for so long.
He hid away from the outside, not knowing the possibility that he should have listened to others.
As he thinks to himself, the bartender scolds the little girl for an impolite act towards the man.
“You should not do that to adults, it is extremely impolite to play with their head.”
“I get it. If it makes him uncomfortable, then he would deny it in the first place, but he didn’t. Besides, he looks brighter than he did on his arrival, am I right?”
“Well, I can argue with that statement but it is not a good thing to do that with others.”
They start joking and arguing until the man interrupts them. He pays for the food with a banknote, then begins to dress properly back into uniform.
As he about to leave, the little girl call him and place a dime in his hand.
“What is this?”
“A change, consider it as a good luck charm. Every time you start to lose yourself in that endless mind of yours, remember to look at this and recall our conversation today.”
He accepte it. Before he put his foot out in the front door, he turned his face sideways, showing a glimpse of his smile at the corner of his mouth.
“You know I would appreciate it if you let me style it myself, but I'm glad that I have met you tonight. Goodbye, my friends.” He turned his head halfway back and lifted his hat before getting out of the bar.
The bartender scrolled his eye back to the girl, who has the biggest smile accros her face.
“What?”
“Nothing, it's funny that he did agree with me on one thing.”
The bartender mention the man opinion as he start take the plate away.
“Well, I will let you have that laugh. At least, he can start to get along with people. I wonder what his first social interaction is going to look like.”