Kai by Iryna Kalyta

Kai didn’t know what the life was.

When someone asked him about things he liked he got usually stuck and said “I adore things which everyone adores, I see beauty where everyone sees. Honestly, I never have time to think about it”. He was an ordinary man working as a waiter in a local café and he was always a good actor who knew how to express charisma and politeness without feeling them inside.

When Kai first saw the red spot, he was eating the remnants of cheesecake from the showcase. In the evening his head always took a rest not asking his permission. He felt need to think about the coming day or at best about his future, however it was impossible due to confrontation between the mind of a sane person and a person tired of routine work. So, he ate the last piece of cheesecake and looked up to check the time. Instead of clock he saw the rad spot: it was like a little small sun looking like the side effects of being tired. He rubbed his eyes with his hands and the red dot disappeared. At that moment, for the first time, Kai thought that he needed more rest. What was his surprise when this point overtook him in the morning after the day, it was hard to blame the fatigue because he had slept well. Kai had learned to ignore her, but it was difficult when he saw a small sun instead of a regular customer's face. Days, months passed, the point became an integral part of his routine days. He became more self-absorbed, that was, he could not get used to his former cheerfulness, because instead of the gloomy faces he was accustomed to, he used to see a bright red light, which he stubbornly ignored. When Kai got rare days off and allowed himself to sleep until noon and then spend the day watching television programs, the dot became brighter and seemed to emit light, drawing attention to itself. On another working day, he met a girl sitting at a table near the window, she was very fresh and pleasant, radiating an incomprehensible optimism, she ordered cheesecake and coffee. He thanked her with genuine joy for the order, because he had never met people who loved cheesecake as passionately as she loved it. As she left, she left him a tip and a small note saying, in typewritten handwriting, "you're too bright for this place." On this day, the red dot was almost invisible.

Having closed his shift at an unusual speed, he went home on foot. He did not understand why because usually he preferred to sit in a crowded bus than enjoy calm evening walks.

Looking at the quiet city, Kai still dared to ask himself the question "why did the dot disappear and why was this girl so beautiful". He walked twice more than he should have, thinking about everything he hadn't had the strength to do before.

The next morning, his thoughts about yesterday disappeared, but a red dot appeared again.

The pace of his life returned to normal, and so it continued until Monday, when the girl came again. She was in a red dress and, as always, in a great mood. Looking at her, the little red sun, which on that day was more intrusive than usual, merged with her clothes and dissolved.

She ordered her usual cheesecake and asked if he would like to take a break and join her. He gladly agreed, making them both two cappuccinos and two cakes. They sat and talked about different recipes for their favourite dishes.

“Break to smoke or urinate, not to dine with clients. Stop it immediately” Said a fat bald man who was the owner of the cafe and for some reason looked out of his cabinet.

The guy jumped up without saying a word and continued to serve the tables. Everything looked good, but he saw almost nothing. The red dot eclipsed almost everything in front of him. It wasn't even a dot, now it was a huge blur. Kai was very irritable and on the same day he took time off from work and went to the doctor, who indifferently prescribed him three kinds of pills and sent him home. Taking them every day, the point began to disappear, and eventually disappeared altogether. Like the girl at that table. He continued to work in this place and for a long time did not see anything warm, like the shade of the girl's dress and the small red su