Page 71 of The Incredible Kindness of Paper
Two years ago
She finished her meal at Constantinides Family Taverna and left only minutes before he arrived for his. Such a pity. She liked to order the spanakopita and souvlaki, too.
One year ago
They were only one aisle away from each other at the Astoria Bookshop.
Chloe
In the kitchen the next morning, Becca sat at the counter, eating chia seed pudding with berries while watchingThe Today Showon her phone. Chloe didn’t even have to look to know that was exactly what was happening, because Becca did the same thing every weekday morning. (On weekends, though, she had plain Greek yogurt with granola from the health food store she managed, while she watched YouTube clips from her favorite nutritionists.)
Chloe grabbed a sleeve of powdered mini donuts.
“I don’t know how you can eat that stuff,” Becca said. “The sugar crash would hit me in, like, an hour, and then what?”
“Eat some more sugar?” Chloe said, laughing as she bit into a donut. Unlike Becca, Chloe’s shelves in the pantry had a wide variety of breakfast that she could choose from, depending on how she felt that morning. There were frosted strawberry Pop-Tarts, Cocoa Puffs cereal, individually packaged Svenhard’s pastries, chocolate chip pancake mix, and, of course, mini donuts. It washerdecision how to start her days, and she chose to start them sugar high and giddy.
“Besides,” Chloe said, “don’t you get tired of—”
“Shh shh shh, the show’s back on,” Becca said, flapping her hand.
Chloe smiled at her roommate’s obsession and took the donuts to the kitchen table. Unlike Becca, Chloe liked quieter pursuits in the morning; reading and sugar was a lovely way to start the day.
She had just opened a novel and tuned out the chatter fromThe Today Showwhen Becca shrieked. Chloe dropped her donut, an explosion of powdered sugar going in all directions and deep into the crease between the pages of her book.
“It’s you, it’s you!” Becca screamed. “They’re talking about you!” Sheflapped her hands again, but this time summoning rather than shooing Chloe away.
“What?” Chloe ran back to the counter as Becca turned up the volume on her phone.
There was a video montage of people on the streets of New York, smiling with their yellow origami flowers, and the host’s voice-over saying, “It’s officially paper rose mania here in the Big Apple. These upbeat little blessings first sprung up a month or so ago, and I think they’re on track to be one of the biggest trends of the summer.”
“That’s right,” another host said, as the camera cut back to the studio. “For those of you who haven’t been lucky enough to get one of your own yet, what they are are hand-folded origami roses—always yellow for friendship, according to the three million videos about them on social media—and each one contains a unique, inspirational message inside when you unfold it.”
“Three million videos?” Becca said, eyes wide. “Hon, you’re famous!”
Chloe bit her lip, a little shy at all the attention. At the same time, she was incredibly glad that her goal of bringing more happiness into others’ lives was working.
“And it’s not only in New York,” the first anchor chimed in. “These days, we’re used to trends going viral online, but these paper roses are spreading their message of hope and joy in real, physical life. According to an article that just came out in theNew York Times,people young and old—and as far as the mountains of Bhutan—are folding and giving out their own versions of these flowers. Everybody loves them.”
“Well, noteverybody,” a third host on the stage said. “Check out this grump, a few weeks ago.”
The screen cut to a video of a CNBC interview. Of Oliver.
Chloe gasped.
The interviewer, Marissa Wilson of CNBC’sSavvy Investor, said, “You’re in New York, where everyone seems to be talking about these origami flowers. How lucky do you feel to be right here in the heart of all this inspiration?”
Oliver, looking very professional in a blue suit and contrasting burgundy tie, chewed on the inside of his cheek for a split second. Then he looked straight into the camera and said, “I think the paper roses areillogical and naive. We’d all fare better if we put our faith in solid, immutable concepts like math. Er… I’m actually going to D.C. for the Neo Fintech Conference, and I’m honestly relieved I’ll be able to get away from the circus of origami roses that everyone’s obsessed with. Perfectly intelligent people have been reduced to the equivalent of horoscope believers, and it’s embarrassing.”
Oliver?
A cry escaped Chloe’s lips, and she grabbed onto the counter as her heart splintered.
Meanwhile,The Today Showhosts were back on the screen, with the first anchor saying, “Maybe someone needs to send the director of Hawthorne Drake’s number-crunching department an entirebouquetof roses. Think that would be enough to warm the ice in his veins?”
Becca snorted and turned to Chloe, saying, “That guy is such an asshole. He probably gets off playing with his calculator. But the rest of that segment was supercool, huh?” She smiled, eyes bright with genuine excitement for her roommate.
But Chloe felt weak, all the way into her bones. How could Oliver say those things? Is that what he really thought?
