Cristina Dumitrescu sat in her favorite corner of the café, her bags placed meticulously beside her chair, and her mental notebook wide open. To the people around her, she appeared as just another young woman lost in an imaginary page. But for Cristina, every gesture, every nervous tic, every movement was valuable information.
Today, however, her resolve was different. She no longer wanted to just observe. She wanted to experiment. Every man who entered the café became a subject, every conversation a data point, every gesture a piece of analysis.
The first man who approached the counter immediately began talking about his car, his job, and his exotic vacations. He plopped into the seat across from her, raising his eyebrows and checking the café's reflection for her reaction.
Cristina watched him as he adjusted his hair three times, checked his reflection in the glass, and smiled after each sentence, seeking validation.
"He believes everyone admires him. Extremely vulnerable to criticism. Very predictable", Cristina mentally noted.
The man switched topics as soon as he wasn't being admired, just as she had anticipated. Cristina smiled subtly: the game was simple when the rules were clear.
At the table near the window, an older man raised his voice and gestured broadly, trying to assert his opinion in a banal conversation.
— Look, this is the rule. You have to do it this way!
He waved his hands, spoke loudly, and tensed if his interlocutor disagreed. Cristina noticed how each microgesture betrayed his hidden fear of being ignored.
"He flaunts power to feel he exists. Perfect to test how quickly he can force a point," she noted.
Without saying a word, Cristina anticipated his next move: he would raise his tone and repeat his point, hoping for compliance.
In a corner, a nervous man checked his phone every few seconds and asked his girlfriend if "everything was okay." His gestures were chaotic but repetitive, and his facial expression betrayed deep insecurity.
"Consumes himself internally, trying to mask his uncertainty. Very easy to manipulate, but harmless for now," Cristina thought.
It was easy for her to predict what he would say and how he would react, simply by observing his breathing rhythm and the direction of his gaze.
In the hallway, a calm man with a focused gaze sat down and began asking seemingly harmless questions:
- How do you spend your time here?
- What do you enjoy most about the people you know?
Cristina felt how each question was a test, a way to observe reactions. Unlike the others, he revealed nothing about himself and only analyzed his interlocutor subtly.
"This is the type I need to watch closely. Plays with the mind and leaves no obvious traces," she mentally noted.
A joking man passed by and tried to make her laugh immediately. He moved his body exaggeratedly, made subtle moves to approach her, and laughed after every compliment.
Cristina smiled lightly and observed:
"Reacts to the simplest stimuli. Within minutes, I know everything he'll do in the next hour."
After the last men left, Cristina leaned against the table and took a deep breath. The reader can clearly sense that she believes she controls every interaction, but an inner voice warns her: there is someone who cannot be classified, someone who fits no pattern, and when she meets him, the rules of the game will change.
"All of these can be controlled… or at least, that's what I think. But there is someone who will not be just a subject of analysis. The real game begins when I meet him."
Cristina did not yet know that this individual was already approaching her life, prepared to test her to the fullest.