For the last ten years of Hugo's life, there were very few things that he was absolutely sure of. In fact, he could probably count them on his fingers. For the longest time, one of them was the fact that he was going to marry his high school sweetheart, Sally. From the moment he met her, on this very same bookstore over ten years ago, he knew that he wanted to marry her. She was perfect in every way. She was smart, kind, just a little meek and driven beyond belief, and so she is perfect for him.
When Hugo was fresh out of college, saddled with debt and dreaming about working as a schoolteacher of all things, she still loved him the same, if not more. To the point that she, herself, asked him to marry her. Through everything in the last few years of his life, good and bad, Sally was always there when no one else was and her love was so unrelenting that it was, at times, daunting.
Hugo loved Sally, there was just no denying it.
On this night, not two days before their wedding, he was coming to where it all began. It seemed symbolic, sentimental, and his fiancée agreed to it. A fresh take on bachelor parties, she called it.
As he arrived outside, in the dim light of the main street of their hometown, his eyes scanned the others who were bringing their business to the store as well. There was quite a bit of foot traffic, so late in the summer, when college students came along for their textbooks, but, amongst the bustling work in the quaint brick wall building, his eyes landed upon a particular clerk.
A girl, probably a little bit younger than him. She faced away from him, chatting with a client quietly about a volume they held on their hands. As the person leaves carrying the book, probably satisfied with their purchase, she turns slightly towards the window, showing the side of her face to him. It made him feel numb from his toes to the brown hair on his head.
Who was she?
He enters the store and greets his acquaintances. Sally stood by his side, glancing around equally as nervous, before Taylor arrived and they began to reminisce fondly together. Or, at least, the pair of them. Oddly enough, all Hugo could look at was that worker.
He felt so dirty. Ever since he met Sally, he had not gotten that feeling of numbness and nervousness from anyone else. In fact, when he met his fiancé, those feelings had stopped entirely, even for her shortly after they met. It had been well over ten years since he felt like that, so boyish, and it was so refreshing for him.
As they crowded into a small row of shelves, exactly where Sally stood when he and Taylor, they caught the attention of the staff. Soon enough, there she came along with a commercial smile on her face and began to introduce herself to those who did not know her.
"Hello! I'm Anna." She finally said to Sally in the most alluring and sweet voice Hugo had ever heard and he continued stared at she, his face blank. "May I be of any service?"
"Anna!" Taylor greets, amicably, denoting that they knew each other well. "How's business?"
Taylor had another friend? Why had Hugo not met her before? How old was she?
"Oh, it's fine. We like seeing the store so lively!" She smiles. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude, meddling on your conversation."
"Nonsense, it's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Sally and this is my fiancée, Hugo." The woman introduced them sweetly.
Hugo thought for half a second that it was kind of annoying to hear her speak to she like that. She was being so obviously fake. Though, to be fair, a charitable interpretation would be that the poor worker messed up with a wedding demand of a bit of a bridezilla. It seems reasonable to feel rather displeased with the intromission of a random girl in their, albeit unorthodox, bridal party.
Whether not noticing or electing to ignore, the clerk smiled softly. "I know you two might not know me at all, but Taylor here told me why you were coming. Congratulations!"
As Anna turned to Hugo, he thought for sure he was going to be sick all over her shoes.
"Hello! Great to finally meet you, Hugo. Taylor, here, has told me so much about you!" She explained so calmly as she held her hand out to shake his.
How could she be so calm in this moment? Everyone was on edge and so anxious but he was sure that she could stab someone and not even blink about it. How? Finally, after realizing how odd he was being, he reached forward, shaking her hand quickly.
The moment her skin brushed his, Hugo felt a tingling sensation run up his arm, passing through his heart, and landing in the pit of his stomach in an unceremonious way. He had not felt that either in so long.
Aya smiled lightly, giving a slight nod to the trio, before she left to tend to their other customers. Hugo did not listen much to what his fiancée and his friends were saying because he was too busy processing his thoughts. Who was she to come into his life and change everything?
Hugo was feeling so uneasy, but he knew his mind had made itself up. Or, perhaps, it was his heart. As he looked at his fiancée, conversing animatedly about literature with Taylor, something he could never give her throughout their relationship, looking uneasy and worried about their impending marriage as much as him, he knew.
He knew the moment his eyes caught their first glimpse of that girl in the dim streetlight outside. He could not explain it, but he just knew from the depths of his heart.
Hugo would call his wedding off tonight.