A Piece of Your Heart

I felt my heart skip a beat at those words.

Me? Amazing?

Nobody had ever told me that before…

“I know that this isn’t easy for you and that it might seem like I’m joking, but I promise you, Julia, that I’m being very serious right now,” Nathan said in a solemn voice. “This might be a strange way to start a friendship, but even if it turns out to be one-way, it doesn’t matter. You don’t need to be emotionally attached to me or anything. I just need someone to listen and to ask some… advice from.”

He looked sheepish for a moment before continuing.

“As for the kind of advice… I’ll tell you all about it if ever we get past the trial phase. So for now, I’ll just text and call you during a schedule that you specify, and then we’ll discuss payment details and availability of your schedule.”

My head was spinning. It felt like everything was happening too fast and my brain was too slow to process it. Thankfully, Nathan patiently waited for me to respond, taking sips of his coffee to give me some time.

But I knew that he meant his words. His voice rang with a calm kind of sincerity as he spoke, something that touched my heart deep inside. He was being transparent about all this, and it didn’t seem like he wanted to do anything shady.

Maybe he really was just lonely and needed a friend. Well, if he wanted a listening ear, I could be that person to him.

‘Oh, great…’ I thought to myself as a sudden thought crossed my mind. ‘Why does it feel like I’m signing up to be his therapist or something…?’

Then again, it did feel like that kind of arrangement. It wasn’t like we were going to go on dates or anything romantic, right?

As long as friendship was only what he needed, I could do that.

However, I knew that it would only be one-sided.

Because getting emotionally attached in a transactional relationship was bad news all around. There was the obvious power imbalance and uncertainty in how to interact. There would also be tension and conflict over what was genuine or fake.

Plus, our ‘friendship’ or whatever this was would never have happened in the first place if Nathan didn’t propose this unusual arrangement.

In other words, we wouldn’t even be meeting each other like this, especially considering my aversion towards men.

So, no matter what, I shouldn’t let him grow on me, especially when I had no idea where this was going.

Unless he managed to make me trust him fully…

‘No, no. Stop. I’m getting ahead of myself,’ I scolded. ‘We haven’t even started yet!’

Geez… this was probably going to drive me crazy.

“So, a… schedule,” I said slowly. “I’m not sure if I’m available for long each day…”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

We started negotiating after that. It was strange. It was like we were discussing terms of an agreement, but with no contract present. I wondered if we even needed a contract. When I thought about it, it seemed too formal and a bit embarrassing…

But Nathan told me that we would need it once the trial phase was over, just so I could have a peace of mind. He also hinted that he would be revealing his identity to me, which made me think that he might be some kind of influential figure.

However, if that was the case, I couldn’t remember anyone remotely resembling his appearance. I would check news articles from time to time, so I knew most of the popular businessmen in various industries.

Then again, I didn’t usually read hundreds of news articles, so there might have been something that I missed.

Which meant that a contract would make a lot of sense. There might even be a nondisclosure agreement in there…

Anyway, after that day, we agreed on a schedule and started the day after.

Nathan was polite and understanding. He would text me for two hours each day, sometimes even calling. He would tell me about his day and about interesting things that he discovered on the internet.

There was a time when he talked about the most mysterious places in the world.

“You know about the Bermuda Triangle, right?” Nathan asked over the phone as I leaned against the headrest, listening to him carefully.

“Yeah. It’s that area in the Atlantic Ocean where planes and ships have mysteriously disappeared, right?” I said. I didn’t know anything more than that, though.

“Uh huh. Don’t you think it’s interesting that all those hundreds of planes and ships have disappeared without a trace? There are a lot of theories about the place. Some of them are alien abductions, a mysterious third dimension, and even time travel…”

He started explaining each theory, with me making hums of agreement from time to time. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that I didn’t quite comprehend a few of them. He seemed enthusiastic when talking about wild theories and hypotheses, after all.

It was then that I understood why he needed someone to talk to. He really had a lot of things to talk about. It was as though he needed to share every little interesting detail that he learned and would discuss it thoroughly like a laboratory specimen.

He was… truly a unique person.

When almost an hour went by, he seemed to realize that I wasn’t giving too much input and said sheepishly, “Sorry… I went overboard there, didn’t I?”

“No, no. It’s fine. I’m here to listen, after all,” I said quickly. “I mean, it’s… very intriguing…”

“Really?” His voice seemed to perk up at this. “Which part?”

“Ah… the time travel part, I mean,” I said, and I meant it. I did think that the concept was interesting. After all, it could explain the mysterious disappearances… maybe.

I didn’t usually delve much into things like this. Sure, there weren’t any explanations yet for these mysteries, and I couldn’t deny that there were also some paranormal events occurring in various parts of the world…

Time travel? Ghost stories? Fantasy concepts?

I used to think of them all as ones that belonged only to fiction. After all, it was bizarre to think that they blended with reality.

But what if…?

‘Oh great. Now even I am thinking too much about this.’

“Right? I could use it as a concept… perhaps a portal to another world…” Nathan started muttering to himself. “First, it needs to be plausible… I have to take down some notes… Hold on.”

Despite myself, I couldn’t help but smile. Even though it seemed like he was the nerdy type – maybe it was related to his job or something? – it was cute how genuinely enthusiastic he was about things like this. It made him feel human and sincere.

‘Maybe it won’t be too bad to keep doing this…’ I thought to myself absently.