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‘Dark is the night’, they say. Bradley was sure this wasn't true, as the street lights had already begun to flicker in the dusk despite the night being plenty of hours away.
December was cold, but Bradley thought the change from Rui’s doorstep to inside her tiny apartment was somehow drastically unnatural, and certainly not in a good way.
At first, Bradley could not see the girl laying on her sofa, who’d usually make a snarky comment about him breaking into her house, but she’d smile nonetheless. And as he walked further into her flat, he'd find the reason is because the balcony door was open, and Rui was leaning against the railing smoking a cigarette.
He slowly crept up behind her, and slapped his cattleman atop her head, earning a yelp which he snorted faintly at.
“Howdy, darlin’. How ya doin’?” Bradley smiled.
Rui grinned, and took the hat off to throw it back at him. “What’s this strange man in his late-30’s doing in my house?”
The man huffed as he put it atop his head again, adjusting it as he talked. “Early-30’s, thank you very much. Ain’t you too young to be smokin’?”
“Ahhh, shaddap.” Rui took a drag, and slowly blew out the smoke. “Yeah.. I've been doing okay. Got some money. Bought new cigarettes, as you can tell.”
“Hrm. How’s it goin’ with that, ahh. That Wren gal?”
“Pretty good. Compared to usual anyway. I wish I could see her more often, actually.”
Bradley stepped forward to lean next to the girl on the fencing. “Well, ain’t that lovely.”
The two were in silence for a moment, Rui watching the mist engulf the alleyways below her apartment complex while Bradley watched Rui smoke.
Slowly, the girl’s eyes drifted over to the man next to her, and he awkwardly cleared his throat and looked out too.
She offered the cigarette to him, which he silently took with an appreciative nod.
Silence fell upon them again, and Bradley was unsure if it was uncomfortable or not.
The sound of Rui drumming her fingers against her cheek was really the only noise made for a minute, before she decided to speak up.
“So,” She smiled. “Where’s your angsty monologue?”
Bradley blinked. “Heh?”
“Yeah, I won't judge. Go on.”
Bradley huffed, and flicked some ash off his cigarette.
“My wife used to smoke,” He said eventually, ignoring Rui’s ‘there we go’. “This smell kinda reminds me of ‘er.”
“Yeah?” Rui hummed slightly.
“Yeah. And Alice,” He paused briefly from twiddling the cigarette between his pointer and middle to turn his head to Rui. “You look just like her.”
Rui stayed silent after that. And for a moment, Bradley was almost worried he had said the wrong thing before he saw a gentle smile on Rui’s face.
“Well, I hope that’s comforting,” She said.
“Yeah, sometimes, I s’pose,” The man mumbled.