[ WP ] The two characters of the story can hear the narrator . The narrator ( being a hopeless romantic ) is trying to make them fall in love with each other . They are uncomfortable with the idea .

“ The first thing he noticed about her were her eyes. Brown, liquid, not so much as a glint of diluting colors. ” 
 
 Harrison looked at the woman opposite him in the reading area. “ Are you talking to me? ” 
 
 She looked up. She appeared to have brown eyes. “ No. ” She looked back at her magazine. 
 
 “ She found her eyes drawn to the muscular form of the man before him, the quiet sense of tremendous strength waiting for an outlet. Or a challenge. ” 
 
 She looked up again. “ Sorry, where did they get that from? ” 
 
 Harrison rolled his shoulders uncomfortably, not to say provocatively. “ No idea. ” 
 
 “ Oh, this is perfect, ” continued the voice that only they could hear. “ He ’ s instantly drawn to her quiet femininity. ” 
 
 “ Okay, can that stereotype just die in a fire? ” said Ling, scowling. 
 
 “ And she feels a primal attraction to a man who ’ s lived dangerously. They ’ re perfect for each other. They just don ’ t know it yet. ” 
 
 “ This is a reality show, isn ’ t it, ” groaned Harrison. “ I give up! Concede the game! Get me outta here! ” 
 
 “ Despite their initial misgivings, ” continued the voice, “ they soon found unexpected areas of commonality. Their warring cultures were more invitation than obstacle. ” 
 
 Ling set aside her magazine. “ What does that even- “ 
 
 “ Oh, my god, they ’ re going to pork by a waterfall in a national park in the moonlight. ” 
 
 Ling reddened. “ Did they just…? ” 
 
 Harrison covered his face in both hands. 
 
 “ Nono, better! His car breaks down in the pouring rain and they ’ re stuck for hours! Porking, naturally. ” 
 
 “ Does this guy have a single idea, ” said Ling, “ that wasn ’ t cribbed from a romantic comedy? ” 
 
 Harrison shot her a look of dread. “ That was in a romantic comedy? ” he said with the air of a man who didn ’ t really want to know the answer. 
 
 She shrugged. “ Hell if I know. ” 
 
 “ Overcome by passion in a closet at a concert! ” 
 
 “ Is that even legal? ” said Ling. 
 
 “ Never going to find out, ” said Harrison. 
 
 “ I mean, ew. ” 
 
 “ They may have started off on the wrong foot, ” said the voice, now definitively delivering the weight of someone determined to redirect the current, “ but she just can ’ t say no to those chiselled lips, nor he to her delicate grace. ” 
 
 “ STEREOTYPE, ” said Ling. 
 
 “ I dunno, ” said Harrison, “ you ’ re a little graceful. ” 
 
 “ Stop encouraging them! ” 
 
 “ Right. Sorry. ” 
 
 “ Maybe it all started with a cup of coffee… ” 
 
 “ We ’ re in a library, ” said Harrison. 
 
 “ A. Cup. Of Coffee. Cuppa Coffee. Am I writing this or not? ” 
 
 “ Not, ” said Ling and Harrison. 
 
 “ If you would stop playing hard to get for two minutes…! ” 
 
 “ Shhhh, ” a librarian said loudly, glaring at the offenders she could see. “ Quiet in the library, especially about *porking. * ” 
 
 “ Wait, you could hear that? ” said Ling. 
 
 The other three people in the reading room nodded. 
 
 “ Oh, my God. Leaving. Now. ” 
 
 Harrison tossed aside his magazine. “ Good. Different doors. ” 
 
 “ Right. ” 
 
 She kept in rapid step with him down the stairs. “ I don ’ t even like muscle. ” 
 
 He rolled his shoulders again. “ I don ’ t even like brown eyes. ” 
 
 “ Right. Bullet dodged. ” 
 
 “ So that wasn ’ t fun. Here ’ s hoping we never see each other again. ” 
 
 “ A-men. ” 
 
 And the voice, when it returned, was speaking only to a scowling librarian. 

