Jinki opened his eyes slowly but he couldn’t see anything. He panicked for a second before his vision started to come back to him as also as his memory.

He remembered playing with the ash tray on top of the table and grabbing the small origami dove putting it on his shirt pocket like he promised to do for his blind date to notice him. That was before a huge explosion almost killed him.

Slowly he started to see in the middle of the white smoke; he could only hear a buzzing sound and he sat up slowly, touching his head that throbbed. He searched for blood but he found nothing.

Jinki looked to his left, trying to ignore all the mess and debris made with the explosion.

Behind the counter, a huge fire was destroying everything. He needed to get out of there before another explosion would destroy what was left from the café, including him.

Jinki rose himself up, grabbing a chair. That was the worst blind date ever.

His mother was going to regret setting him up with a girl when she finds out about what happened.

He was an workaholic. Beside the company and his paperwork there was only his bed, food and the dart games he played with friends, or the anime he liked to watch alone.

Women were strange creatures to him; they didn’t have any sense of humor and couldn’t understand his. He never felt a connection to any of them. According to his mom, this girl was a lot like him, weird and unique, and because of that she was perfect.

Jinki tried to focus and walk in the middle of the smoke and debris. He was drunk before several times, but he never felt as dizzy and confused as he felt right now.

One old lady was grabbing a upside down table and he quickly grabbed her arm.

“Are you ok?”

“Yes…” the old lady said releasing the table “I think this table saved my life.”

Jinki nodded and saw the old lady walk slowly in the direction where both thought was the exit.

From the corner of his eye he saw a man, he recognized as the café employee move quickly with another man on his arms that was bleeding.

Jinki wasn’t sure but he thought he saw that man sitting at the counter.

He gave a few more steps, every move seeming to take an eternity.

And that’s when he saw her, lying down on the floor in a weird position, the pearl aqua sweater she was wearing catching his attention right away.

He crouched and crawled until he could reach her.

Slowly, Jinki brushed her brown hair away from her temper and caressed her cheek.

“Hey! Wake up! We have to get out of here!”

She was pretty, with her long eyelashes, and small yet well drawn lips. He didn’t have time to admire her features though and shook her strongly.

She still didn’t move and only then he realized that maybe she was dead.

“Are you dead?” he asked scared realizing how stupid that question sounded.

Her white face that he thought was filled with dust could be because she was already dead.

Jinki looked around wondering if he should scream for help.

And that’s when he grasped that she was probably his age; that she was just like him: a normal person going to a cafe, worrying about silly stuff like what was she going to wear or the bus she lost because she was late. And now, all that seemed stupid. He was alive and she was dead.

Jinki grabbed her wrist gently, and thought about taking her out so her 

family could say the last goodbyes to her and that’s when he felt it.

He was silly. Jinki should have checked her pulse first. A thin yet “alive” pulse was there making him sigh in relief.

Slowly she opened her eyes and stared at him, probably as confused as he was when he woke up.

“Jinki…?” she asked with a weak voice surprising him.

“How do you know my name?”

“The dove…” she coughed and he helped her sat up.

She was his blind date. She was beautiful, his mom was right.

He grabbed her gently in his arms, his strength coming back to him, while he walked with her in his arms.

“Nice to meet you…” she said resting her head against his chest.

He smiled weakly when they reached the door safely and the sound of the fire trucks filled the street, where curious people were watching the scene.

Strangely Jinki never felt a connection with a girl before, even though he went on a lot of dates with them; but this girl that he only knew for a few seconds already made an impact on him.

“This first date was a blast!” he said trying to be funny and probably failing like he always did.

“It blew my mind!” she answered back with her eyes closed but also smiling, probably finding that conversation funny.

She was perfect! His mom was right!