Mabel worked a shift during the late hours in the city bookstore. An orphan who grew up with her maternal grandmother and who had big dreams of going to the university to study English-in-literature, but that was not to be because they barely had enough for food.
There was nothing glamorous about the bookstore, but to her, the comfort was in the aroma of old paper and the opportunity to read voraciously. Besides, it also took care of some of their bills.
She had just finished mopping the floor that evening, when a delivery came in for Chinese food, from a little Chinese takeout across the street. She was reluctant to take it because she hadn't ordered anything.
"The guy said it's already paid for," Martha, her colleague said, shrugging. "It has your name on it, check it."
Mabel, intrigued, took out the small brown bag. Inside was a box of warm noodles, a sweet note saying, "For your long night, someone sees your light," and a fortune cookie.
Inspite of herself, she giggled and split it open.
"Someone is watching you bloom, don't look around, just keep blooming."
She looked around anyway, instinctively, but the bookstore was empty.
On another Thursday, a different dish, a different fortune cookie, and a new note arrived;
"Your laugh makes the world beautiful, keep laughing."
By the fourth Thursday, the cookie fortune read;
"I love how you always wear a smile. One day, I'll tell you that in person."
Mabel simply couldn't stop her heart from pounding in her chest like a moving train.
She scanned the faces in the bookstore but there was an elderly woman searching the shelves for the best recipe for her strawberry fruitcake and over there was another elderly person, a male, holding up a musical book.
None fitted the description in her imagination.
One rainy Thursday, he walked in through the door, he was not handsome like classy handsome, but something about his presence made her heart race. He walked to the counter slowly, holding up a gift bag.
She looked at it, then up at him.
“Is that for me?” she asked.
He smiled with eyes so warm. “Yes it is! But this time, I thought I would deliver it in person.”
She took the bag from him with trembling fingers. She opened it, inside, the fortune cookie note read;
“I admired silently and from afar, but today, I want you to know that you’ve been the best part of my every day.”
Mabel smiled, holding back the tears in her eyes. He said such beautiful words, words that no one had ever told her.
“Thank you so much,” she said softly.
She had ran into him a few times before, His name was Gilbert, an artist whose studio was a few blocks away from the bookstore. He had always had this artistic look about him, and deep penetrating eyes, that seemed to miss nothing at all. For months, he said he had watched Mabel from the corner table near the bookshelf, always pretending to read, always too shy to say hello.
“I loved the way you attended to everyone." He confessed. “You smiled even when you were meant to frown.”
Mabel blushed. No one had ever told her such little things before or said them out loud, she really was flattered.
After the doors were closed to customers that evening, they stayed on in the bookstore, sharing stories about everything and anything while the rain gently drizzled, tapping against the windows, and creating a very cozy atmosphere.
Mabel made some discoveries about Gilbert; He was not only an artist, he was also a poet, which explains the verses contained in the cookies. He spoke eloquently of colors and canvases and how his inspiration could be found anywhere, like the way she arranged the books or the gentle way she smiled at customers. Every word he spoke felt like a brushstroke painting a beautiful picture of her.
“I see art as far beyond the ordinary, I see it as a means of capturing beauty beyond the ordinary." He said, his eyes sparkling with so much intensity. “And you, Mabel, are the most extraordinary part of my life.”
Mabel felt a warmth spread through her, a feeling so alien, so much longed for but never quite found. She shared her love for books, her dreams of writing stories that could transport readers to different worlds. They found common ground in their passions, their laughter echoing through the empty aisles of the bookstore.
As the evening wore on, they both knew they were forging a very deep connection, that their lives were gradually intertwining like the pages of those books.
“Tomorrow night?” Gilbert asked, his voice hopeful.
“Yes." Mabel replied, her heart racing at the thought of more Thursdays together. “I’d love that very much.”
Alone as she tidied up, Mabel lovingly fingered the fortune cookie note he had given her, a very simple message that meant the whole world to her, and had touched her in ways she never imagined possible. She tucked it into her bag and stepped into the night, humming her favourite song as she walked her way home.
The next night, Gilbert walked her home. Hand in hand, they chatted away like two fun-loving children.
It felt like a movie, slow, quiet, and beautifully real.
Over the next few weeks, Thursdays still came with fortune cookies but now they shared them together. Each cookie contained a new message.
🥠 Love is brewing, I can feel it!!!
🥠 My heart once hidden is ready to be held!!!
🥠 “If eyes are windows to the soul, yours lit the lamp in mine!!!
One Thursday, Mabel surprised him with her own handwritten note, tucked inside a cookie.
🥠 You didn’t just see me, you made me feel so special, reminding me I was visible. Thank you for choosing me out of a crowd!!!
Gilbert smiled, speechless. He slowly raised her hand to his lips as he looked deeply into her eyes, kissing her fingers gently as if savouring each taste. It was simply a scene from a fairytale.
As months passed by, Mabel and Gilbert could not be separated. They were always together, sharing books, their aspirations and their future plans. It was twelve months after they met, infact on their first year anniversary that he handed her a large fortune cookie in a small box, tied with a red ribbon, and popped the big question;
She cracked it open.
Inside wasn’t paper, it was a tiny velvet ring box.
And inside that was a note:
🥠 I watched you bloom, now, I want to grow together with you!!!
Tears spilled freely as she nodded, her voice lost in this joyous moment.
Years later, they told their kids their love story, of how love found them, a quiet artist and a hardworking librarian, how they found each other through noodles and cookies.
And Thursdays became a tradition of ordering Chinese and writing fortune notes for each other.
🥠 Undying love for ever!!!
🥠 Yes, undying love forever!!!!
All images were generated with AI.
Thank you for reading.
