Fifth Customer- The Uninvited Visitor

When the doorbell rang, the man who was combing Tom’s hair stopped . “Tom, was that the doorbell?”

“Meow . ” Tom replied, and then slipped away from the man’s hands . Afterwards, he returned to his own cage to lie down quietly with graceful steps .

After he saw Tom’s movements, the man understood that the doorbell hadn’t been in his imagination . He put the comb into the drawer and then quickly checked himself in the mirror as he speedily straightened out his appearance .

When the doorbell rang again, the man who had finished fixing himself up opened the big doors of Cotidia.n.u.s .

The face that entered the man’s vision was an unfamiliar one, as expected . However, the man still couldn’t help but hold his breath .

“Good morning . Even though it’s not that early anymore, we might as well base it on the time in your place”, the middle-aged man said as he took off his hat . Then, he threw it on the floor carelessly .

“h.e.l.lo . ” The man couldn’t help but frown at the middle-aged man’s behavior, as he always concerned himself about proper manners . “May I ask your name?”

“My name is unimportant so you don’t need to know it . ” When the middle-aged man finished, he laughed . “I’ve always wanted to say that handsomely haha . ”

“Sir, may I ask why you’ve come here?” The man continued to ask .

“Don’t be so anxious . We have a lot of time, isn’t that right?” When he found the man didn’t intend to receive him, the middle-aged man straightforwardly sat cross-legged on the floor . “In any case, right now this world only consists of two people- you and me- or no, three people . ”

“Sorry sir, I did not invite you in right?” Although the man’s voice was still polite, he clearly expressed that he did not welcome this middle-aged man .

“Haha, don’t be so impatient . There’s no point in being so guarded against me . I just happened to discover the door to your place, so I came in to take a look . ” The middle-aged man adjusted his sitting position and then continued, “But it seems suddenly intruding into someone else’s world is a little impolite, so I came to find you . ”

“Now you’ve already found me . ” Due to his manners, the man didn’t say ‘So please leave now’ which was what he had originally wanted to say .

“On the way here I heard some very interesting stories concerning your shop and your customers . ” The middle-aged man ignored the man’s request for him to leave and continued on to say to himself, “You really are boring, huh . ”

“Thank you sir . I hope you’ll pardon me for a moment . ” The man suddenly said, and then took out a phone and made a short call to the public order manager .

“I am Cotidia.n.u.s’s store manager . Someone insulted me in my shop . ”

“Are you kidding me? Even ‘boring’ counts as an insult?” The middle-aged man stood up emotionally . “You really won’t welcome me here huh . At least we’re similar though, right?”

“They will probably be here in 30 minutes . ” The man suddenly made a gesture to invite him in . “Would you like to rest in the reception room for a moment? Sir?”

“Boring, short-tempered and you definitely have obsessive-compulsive disorder . ” The shameless middle-aged man comfortably sat in one of the chairs in the reception room while softly talking to himself .

“I’m very sorry sir, I don’t understand what you’re talking about . ” The man gave a cup of coffee to the middle-aged man .

“I’m talking about you . ” The middle-aged man took the coffee and continued, “You clearly could change this world’s rules and drive me out with force, but you haven’t done that . When you met me, you were very guarded but after you found a way to make me leave, you began to receive me as a visitor . ”

“I am very sorry for how I previously acted, please forgive me sir . ”

“You definitely have split personality disorder too!” The middle-aged man’s att.i.tude completely changed as he yelled, “If your customers knew, what would they do? An abnormal person is the store manager selling ‘normality’ . ”

“As long as no one knows, a judge who receives a bribe is still a judge, and the judge won’t be put on trial as a criminal . A judge who doesn’t receive bribes is a good judge, but when that judge encounters the judges who does take bribes, he has become abnormal . ” The man didn’t care how the middle-aged man described him . “It’s only when the white sheep within the black sheep realizes that his whiteness is too abnormal that he’ll come to me for help . Thus, I will help the white sheep dye his hair to become black . This is something that’s only normal . ”

“You’re protesting . You aren’t satisfied with this phenomenon so you’re protesting . But everything you’re doing now can’t change anything . No one will know, no one will understand . ” The middle-aged man shook his head . “Don’t you feel you’re a contradiction? You hate the definition of ‘normal’ but you are creating this ‘normality’ . In the end, what do you want?”

“What I want isn’t important . I am whatever they say I am . I’m only doing something I see as very normal . ” The man looked at the time . It had already pa.s.sed thirty minutes . “Sir, it looks like we must say our goodbyes now . I welcome you to come back . ”

“Next time if I come I won’t even be able to get here right? You hypocritical double-faced person . ” The middle-aged man laughed as he stood and then left the reception room .