-Wristwatch-

-Sunsica-

08.20 A.M.

Her wristwatch reads. In this time, she would be getting her manager Starbucks. She takes glances on her watch in everything she does. She doesn’t know when it becomes her habit. Maybe it is her profession which forces her to do so. As a fashion designer, assistant actually, she lives in an express lifestyle. Everything has to be efficient and effective. There’s no time to loss. It’s always between fast or lost your job.

08.24 A.M.

Her wristwatch reads. She comes out from the café with an espresso in her hand, like usual. Like her routine. She crosses the street in a small run, stretching out her hand to give a sign to the nearby vehicles. Then she will take a subway train. She affords cab. But it isn’t the speed she wants. The longer the ride takes, the better actually, if only she has more time to spend. The reason she wakes up early every morning is to do this. To take a public transportation and see the people fashion preferences. Sometimes, she would take buses. And that’s something she doesn’t need to do, but what she aims for. To be a real fashion editor, not only an assistant who is told to get this and that, a slave to explained it when she’s pissed.

09.00 A.M.

When her wristwatch shows, she’s usually already on her desk, tears up the notes she wrote during her way and put it with others. Then she would check her timeline, her manager meetings, which clothes ready to pick up and other-not-so-important things she needs to do in that day. Everything has to be arranged. Everything must be under her control. That’s why, when something doesn’t go her way, she would be very pissed for the entire day. Her work is all about deadlines and deadlines. Blame her position as an assistant; she has to make sure her manager’s schedule goes punctually and everything’s on time.

Yes. Time. That would be definitely Jessica’s biggest fear and enemy. As an ambitious, hard-working fresh graduate, she gives her all for her dream job.

And her wristwatch is her ultimate weapon to deal with time. Not that she’s old-fashioned by refusing to use her phone to check the time, but she feels a little unprofessional if she looks at her phone too much even to look at the clock. Well, people usually look at the cover first rather than the content. They would be misunderstanding her.

And today, when she’s about the get off of the work, she checks her wristwatch again. Bad news, it stops ticking. She should get it repaired soon, she needs it tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow.

And it’s 20.54 P.M. right now, which repair shop still opens at this hour?

She walked down to the street, looking for a shop if she’s lucky to have one open.

Call it coincidence or she is indeed a lucky one.

There’s an old clock shop, with a vintage façade, and dim warm light in its interior. Really inviting people to go inside, not everyone though, the ones with an interest in clock of course or maybe a problem, like Jessica.

The golden bell above the door rings when Jessica pushes the wooden framed door. There’s an old man with loose glasses hung at his nose not noticing a new customer has come into his old shop, too busy in playing with his big clock and a set of tools.

“Excuse me?”, Jessica calls out politely.

The old man turns his back around to face Jessica without fixing his glasses and raised eyebrows. He blinks a few times, wonders why a beautiful woman visits his shop in this hour.

“What can I do for you?”, he stands up from his seat to walk towards a glass display box which stands Jessica at the other side. He smiles warmly.

“Well, can you fix this for me?”, the broken wristwatch is taken off from the slim wrist, leaving a white mark around it.

The old man slides up his glasses and held the watch closer to take a better look. ” I don’t think that I can,” he puts off the glasses, “my old eyes can’t do well as they were 10 years ago”

Jessica’s face sunk, where else she should bring her watch?

“But”, the word brings a little energy back to her expression, “my grandchild is here, fortunately, I think she can fix it for you”, the old man left the watch on the glass and walks to another door that in that room. Jessica’s wanders around the shop’s interior. It’s more than vintage, it’s classic. She realizes that the shop isn’t trying to look old, but it is already. She grazes her fingers through the nearest wooden box and she knew, it was made by a fine wood, looking by how firm it is still up until now and how the material feels upon the tip of her fingers, although it smells a little funny.

And the lighting in the room is less to her liking; it’s too dim she thinks. But, magically she feels comfortable instead of creepy in there. Probably because of the wood material which creates a warm color scheme to the room.

A few minutes later, a young lady replaces the old man and Jessica thinks that she must be around her age too.

“Good afternoon”, the said lady greets with smile,” so, this is the watch you need to be fixed?”

“Yes”, It takes a second for Jessica to reply. Not trying to sound cliché, but she felt the room was brighter a few watt after the smile. She’s amused.

“Do you need it immediately?”

“Is it possible to finish it tonight?”

The lady takes a check on Jessica’s appearance, “Well, I’m afraid it won’t be just in minutes”

Jessica thinks, whether she should wait for it or just buy a new watch instead, though the watch here doesn’t amuse her in theirs design, but she would just pay for it and changes to a new, branded one like hers, tomorrow, at lunch. “I’ll wait”, she surprises herself with her own voice, the word ‘wait’ is not in her dictionary so far.

The lady does not expected the answer either, “I thought nowadays people hate waiting”

Jessica shows a small smile, she hates waiting to be honest, and she doesn’t know why she said she’ll wait for it. Most probably, the cozy feelings like home that she rarely gets to enjoy both in her flat and office, or, the