He saw her sitting at the table, writing furiously.
Her coffee was sitting beside her, untouched. Sometimes she would pause and look out of the window and watch the rain beating down against the windows. And then as if to remind herself, she would get back to writing.
Her phone rang, and she answered it on the second ring itself. The conversation didn't continue for long, and she put the phone away.
She put her head in her hands. He felt sure she was about to start crying, but to his surprise, she didn't. She just had an exasperated expression and looked tired. She took out her earphones suddenly, and checked her ipod. That seemed to have died too. She flung it inside her bag.
He wondered if he should walk over to her. He took his coffee towards her table, nervously. She didn't notice him. She kept writing. And then the pen ink ran out.
She threw it down in frustration. She looked up and saw him, and turned red in embarrassment.
"Oh...hello." she said, with a wan smile.
"Having trouble there?"
"I've been trying to write this article for a while. No idea coming to mind, and the deadline is tomorrow."
Her phone beeped. She checked it instantly. She typed even more vigorously, rolled her eyes, and put the phone away.
It beeped again, but this time she refused to answer it.
"Bad day?"
"A really bad one." she said, trying to smile. She went back to staring at the paper, her hand on her head. Yet he couldn't fail to notice that her eyes were starting to water.
Not knowing how to handle someone crying, he decided to walk away. But before that, he told the waiter, "One chocolate donut for her, please."
She looked up, and smiled. It was a bit of a confused smile.
But it was a smile, nevertheless.