September 13th

After a long few days out of town and finally closing a few deals, it felt so good to be back in the city again. My city. Breathing in that polluted air. Yep, that was New York for you on any given day in the year, but on this crisp day in September, it felt different somehow. The energy felt different- not so hostile during rush hour.

A commuter abruptly barged passed me with my body almost swinging round on a 180 degree turn. The moron almost knocked me out of my stream of consciousness.

“Watch where the fuck you’re going next time, asshole!”, he yelled after me, as he aggressively moved through the busy street and disappeared into the distance. I guess I spoke too soon.

What an absolute dick, but I wasn’t going to let that dampen my day. You see, I used to be the type of guy that would let that stuff rile me up, and see how my day would unravel right in front of my eyes. Not this time. My friend got me into reading up on mindful thinking. To be honest, I’m not completely sold but I guess this is the best time to start practicing this stuff. I take a deep breath in, to calm my sudden nerves and grab my phone out of my pocket to listen to a mindful meditation on my way to work. Both headphones in and I press play.

"So just take a moment to pause as this is about letting go of everything else that’s happened to this moment. Resetting both the body and the mind. Now let’s take a deep breath in for 4 seconds, then out for 4…"

I felt myself slowly letting go for a few short moments but alas, my blinkers were suddenly distracted by the thought of needing to quickly stop by my favourite coffee shop for an instant pick me up instead. I check my phone again for the time, it displays 08.36am. I have a little leg room to play with as the office is only several blocks away. Yeah, this mindfulness baloney could resume tomorrow morning- all I was mindful of at this moment was the short window I have to get a flat white and make it to work on time.

The coffee shop is filled to the brim with customers, but I luckily wiggle myself into the store and anxiously await my turn as I grow a little more weary of the time now.

“Ah a flat white with oat milk, right?”, to my surprise, this soft sultry voice behind me, belonged to a petite honey-brown haired woman; cute in the face with big brown eyes.

“Urm, how do you know that?”, I said nervously, chuckling. I was taken aback by her beauty but also a little thrown off by the accuracy. She sheepishly smiled back. “I’m sorry, it’s just that I see you in here quite often on my way to work and you always get the same order. You’re also pretty easy on the eyes to not notice you, might I add”. She flashed a smirk at me and giggled. I must admit, it was flattering but was I really that predictable? Maybe this was a subtle sign to switch it up a little.

“Well, thanks. I didn’t get your name and what are you ordering?”. I offered.

“I’m Tatiana and it’s a regular skinny caramel latte- with almond milk, please”, her dimples started to appear as she flashed another smile at me. I mirrored back a smile and wondered why I’d never seen this beauty here before or ever in the mornings. We must have crossed paths often.

“Next customer please!”, the barrister called out.

“Hi, can I order one regular skinny caramel latte with almond milk, right?” I looked to Tatiana for confirmation and she responded with a single nod.

“Good memory”, she said huskily. “...And I’ll get a regular double americano please”, I said, trying to subtly play it off cool.

“Oooh adventurous, huh!” Tatiana subtly teased. I shook my head, smiling at my poor attempt of being unpredictable.

“Name please, sir?”

“It’s Daniel,” I said

The barrister quickly scribbled my name on the cups. If he spells my name wrong for the umpteenth time, I’ll be convinced that it’s a marketing ploy at this point.

“That’ll be 8 dollars and 36 cents, please.” I bury my hand in my suit trouser pocket for my wallet, and my stomach automatically churns; I couldn’t feel the bulge of my wallet imprint through my pocket. I started to pat both pockets and check my suit jacket interior pocket in hopes to find it there but it was nowhere to be found.

My heart beat starts to race. Fuck!

“Argh, I can’t find my wallet!”, I panic.

“Oh, I’ve got this. Don’t worry, maybe you left it at home?”, She softly suggests.

“No, I had it with me this morni- That son of a bitch!”, I remembered the asshole from this morning. Of course. The violent barge would have been the perfect distraction for a lowlife pickpocket. I shake my head in utter frustration and take a deep breath. I can’t allow my day to unravel.

“What’s the matter?”, Tatiana said with concern.

“I think someone stole my wallet this morning but it’s ok, I’ll cancel all my cards and report it stolen”. Although I could feel my blood pressure start to rise, I tried to calm myself down. Tatiana sympathetically looks at me like a puppy and strokes my arm, then pays with Apple pay on her phone; I realised now how perfectly convenient that would have been if I’d remembered to set that up on my phone previously.

“I’m sorry that happened- honestly pickpocketing around here is terrible”, shaking her head at the thought.

“Thank you, please can you stand over to the left hand side and wait for your order.” The barrister said.

I nodded and walked alongside Tatiana to the left.

“Well, it’s finally nice to meet you Daniel”, Tatiana pulled her hand out to gesture a hand shake and I took the cue and shook her delicate well-manicured hand.

“Well, to return the favour, what do you say we go out for a drink sometime?”. My heart started to pick up pace again as I read her face and anticipate for a response. She blushed and nodded. “I would love that Daniel. How does this Wednesday sound?”.

“I guess that’s a date then”. I may have currently lost my wallet but I just bagged myself a date with a gorgeous lady.

“DANIEL!”, the barrister yelled. Hurrying to the counter, I grabbed both coffees and handed one to Tatiana. My cup read 'Danielle'. I rolled my eyes, this was definitely deliberate at this point.

I pulled out my phone again to curiously check the time and it now displayed 8.55am. Shoot, I got so lost in the time that I was now going to be late for work. I sighed in frustration at my lack of time management and looked to Tatiana a little defeated.

“Argh, I’m really sorry, I need to dash as I'm running late and I have a meeting at 9.30am this morning”, I grimaced at the thought as I would rather spend my day getting to know her instead. She pouts. “Give me your phone, Daniel”, she instructed as she reached her hand out to me and I hand over my iPhone to her. Within seconds, she’s inputted her phone number in and handed it back to me.

“Call me later”, she smirks then dashes off.

She had guts and I loved it. I blushed and rushed out of the coffee store, I needed to get a taxi asap but needed to quickly text my PA to grab petty cash from my office to cover the fare.

A taxi screeched to a halt moments after reaching my hand out for one, and as I opened the door the former passenger dashed out the other end of the vehicle, into the oncoming traffic.

Suddenly my initial thoughts of the city vanished to thin air, I was dead wrong-it was the same old jacked up city. What was wrong with people today? Nonetheless, I was still on a high from the previous encounter with the beautiful Tatiana. I was slowly heading backup to cloud nine, despite the other events of this morning.

I entered the cab and looked at Tatiana’s number, she signed her name off with a wink face next to it. She was a character in the cutest sense. In that time we spoke I hardly knew much about her at all but I couldn’t wait until Wednesday.

“The top of Madison Avenue, please!”

The taxi driver turned the radio up a little as the radio host announced a giveaway prize to a competition.

“You can win up to $20,000 in today’s competition, if you can answer this simple riddle. What kind of money does a vampire use? Lines are now open. What kind of money does a vampire use?”

Racking my head around what the answer could be, I also wondered whether anyone ever really won these radio competitions. I glanced at the far side of the window until I noticed in the peripheral of my eye, there stood a mahogany briefcase sitting upright on the floor. The last passenger must have left his belongings in the taxi but I was puzzled by how peculiar it was for him to have forgotten to take such an item in a haste.

“Excuse me, someone left their belongings behind” I inquired but no response from the driver-he seemed focused on the road and his radio station. Maybe he didn’t speak English.

I shrugged and sat in thought for a few seconds but curiosity killed the cat; it wasn’t usually in my nature to invest myself in matters that were none of my business but I felt drawn to it. I scooted in my seat so that I was in closer proximity to the briefcase and nonchalantly lifted it on the seat next to me for a better view. As I unlatched the clasps, there revealed dozens of wads of freshly printed 100 dollar bill notes inside with a little black book sitting on top in the centre. My eyes bulged at the sight of it. I mentally counted each wad. 20 to be exact. I quickly closed the suitcase and took a deep breath. After a quick change of heart I opened it again, I couldn’t believe my luck! This time, I opened the black book and skimmed through the pages until I landed on one page in particular:

Sept 13th 2020

8:30 am: Daniel was violently barged by an aggressive stranger, who later verbally attacked him and rushed off into the busy crowd.

8:34am: Although he was distressed, he decided to put his headphones in and listen to a mindful meditation podcast.

8:36am: He decided to head to his favourite coffee shop on his way to work. He convinces himself that he has enough time but he will later find that he miscalculated his time.

8:42am: He gets to talking to a young woman called Tatiana after she mentions his regular choice of beverage, a flat white with oat milk, but he attempts to switch his order...

My vision becomes blurry from shock, what the fuck is this shit? My breathing starts to become shallow as my heart accelerates in a panic. The book slipped out of my hands as I sat paralysed in fear.

“It’s blood money. The answer to the competition is blood money”, the taxi driver said in a sombre tone. I caught his eyes in the reflection of the rear view mirror and I swear I missed a beat. The deranged look in his eyes screamed that he had something to do with this.

The sound of the car doors locked, as he accelerated the vehicle and passed my destination.