Yes

The door creaks as you open it. The store opened two days ago. Who installs a creaky door?

You don't have time to think about that. The store is somewhat different from what you imagined. You expected it to be a dark, murky environment with piles upon piles of the weirdest items you have ever seen stacking up on the antique furniture, the Georgian interior only lit up by a handful of candles.

What you see is a room with the sterile colours of turquoise and mint green decorating the floor and walls respectively, illuminated by the electrical lighting in the ceiling and the natural lighting coming from several well-sized windows.

At the center is a large round table with a white table cloth decorated with salmon patterns.

On the wall is a picture of a strange, black symbol on a white background, framed around a wood-coloured frame. In a corner there is a plant so fake you actually wonder if they didn't take it from another planet.

"Good evening, sir"

You are greeted by a young woman. Young is not the right word, perhaps, as she seem to be in her 30s or 40s. She was, however, young in the sense of not being a warty, old, gray haired hag like all the other fortune tellers on TV.

She was actually rather cute. She had long, brown hair tied in a ponytail behind her and wore round glasses in a brass-frame. She wore a violet apron tied in a bow behind her back, a peach coloured shirt and blue jeans, all of which fitted perfectly against her curvy body. She could easily be mistaken for a pet-shop worker rather than a fortune teller.

"Uh, hi" you answer after some consideration. "Are you the new... uh, fortune teller?"

"You've come to the right place" she says, slightly giggling. "Can I help you with anything?"

Shouldn't you know about that, you think to yourself.

"In fact I do know, but I was just trying to be polite"

As you try to gasp you on some air, making you cough wildly. "D... did you just...?" you stutter as you say.

"It's always sad to be confronted with a non-believer" she sighs "still, I must give credit for coming to my store in the first place. At least you have an open mind."

Your mind calms as she says this.

"So you are the real thing?" you finally asks. "I, uh must say I expected this place to be a little... you know... different?"

"The old gypsy deal, with the mystical aroma? I am not in it for the show" she says sincerely "I want to share my gift with other people, without making a huge spectacle of it". You are indeed fascinated by this. It distort the way you thought the world worked. Everything man had chosen believe since they were created had turned out to be true. There are so many question, but one trumps all others:

"Can you help me, uh, get..." you start

"I can't grant you a relationship" she says, with a sense of sympathy in her expression. "You will cross paths with many people, but how your lives will interline is up to..."

"P-please..." you ask her, grabbing her hand "I am a, uh plain guy. I am not athletic, or smart, or, uh speak very clearly. I have terrible self-esteem and can't even look a girl in the eyes." You look her in the eyes as you said it, realizing the hypocrisy.

Still, she sighs and walks towards a mint coloured door. "Stay right here. I'll be back soon."

After a while she returns, holding a small plastic bottle in her hands with a white, clear liquid. "People often misderict their... let's call it 'energy'" she starts, putting the bottle on the table. "Our energy is necessary for our lives, they are our lives, but so much of it goes towards negative feelings, leaving little to go to other aspects of our lives. This elixir is designed to draw energy towards... 'points', or ways that the fairer sex finds compelling."

"And you think it will help?" you ask her enthusiastically.

"You... still need to put effort into your pursuits, but hopefully this will be a useful tool. You can have it for 25 dollars".

You consider this business silently to yourself.

"Do you have change for a 50?" you ask as you pull out the bill you intended for your day out.

"Two teaspoons every night before bed should have a desirable effect" she says as you walk out. "But if you misuse it, you might be faced with heinous consequences".

As you walk home you feel thrilled, then happy. Then content, then curious. Then anxious, then suspicious. Then dubious, and when you are on your doorstep, despair strikes.

Of course she tricked you! Fortune telling... Haven't you ever heard of cold reading?

My God, how gullible you are!

It is now Half past ten. You have work in the morning, and this day has been too much on you. But you can't help but look on the bottle with contempt.