perfume

'I was always attracted not by some quantifiable, external beauty, but by something deep down, something absolute. Just as some people have a secret love for rainstorms, earthquakes or blackouts. I liked that certain undefinable something directed at me by members of the opposite sex. For want of a better word, call it magnetism. Like it or not, it's a power that ensnares people and reels them in.'The closest comparison might be the power of perfume. Perhaps even the master blender himself can't explain how a fragrance that has a special magnetism is created. Science certainly can't explain it. Still, the fact remains that a certain kind of fragrance can captivate the opposite sex like the scent of an animal in heat. One kind of fragrance might attract 50 out of 100 people. And another scent will attract the other 50. But there are also scents that only one or two people will find wildly exciting. And I have the ability, from far away to sniff out those special scents. When I do, I want to go up to the girl who radiates this aura and say, 'Look, I picked it up. No one else gets it, but I do.'

- South of the Border, West of the Sun. Haruki Murakami.