One fine Thursday afternoon, Adaira felt the need to visit Estella's again. She had to admit that their coffee tasted good. Another reason why she wanted to visit the place was the unfinished crossword. What if it's not there anymore? What would happen then? She felt stupid for not clicking a picture of it. That way, she could solve it anytime she wanted to without having to visit the shop. However, she was also craving caffeine and finally decided to go.
The shop was a bit busier than she remembered from her last visit, and the table beside the window was also occupied. She felt a bit sad but shrugged it off after finding the newspaper she was looking for. She ordered a mocha and sat to solve the rest of it, hoping no one else had done it.
On opening the paper, she found a sticky note in it. Someone had written with neat handwriting, "It is my humble request that you don't use the pen to solve this. Thank you." The person who had written this had written the note with a pencil, which proved that the anonymous person did not like the use of pens that much. She closed her pen and started to look into her bag for a pencil. Fortunately, she had one and quickly wrote, "Sorry! Thank you for letting me solve this along with you." She pressed on the note harder to make sure that it doesn't peel off. She started to look at the clues.
Adaira read the clue, again and again, trying to remember. Lead of a chess show. Lead of a chess show. Lead of chess show. Lead of a chess show. Lead of a chess show. She remembered her friend chatting nonstop about it after their class had ended. What was her name again? E...Eliza...Elizabeth! Elizabeth Harmon. Her name can be shortened to... Beth. That's right! Adaira did a small victory dance she hoped no one noticed before seeing that Beth was not fitting the boxes. The last letter had to be an 'a', while for Beth it is 'h'. What else could this clue be talking about? Cast name? What was the name of the actress? Even after racking her brains for five minutes, she could not remember it. Frustrated, she took out her phone and made a quick google search. Anya Taylor-Joy. Anya fitted all the boxes. Adaira filled the box and drank the rest of the mocha and left.
She felt bitter and did not know if it was for the coffee or the fact that she had to google something. Nevertheless, she decided to take a break and pressed the sticky note down once again before putting the newspaper back into the stack and leaving.
She missed the sad look the old lady behind the counter had.