Okay, here's the next chapter! Read on!
Mae snapped her head up to look at Severus so fast that he could have sworn that she had gotten whiplash from doing so. Then something happened that Severus had not thought would happen: Mae cried even harder when she looked up at him; noticing that he was there. She shook her head from side to side. Tears were racing down her cheeks, pouring from red-circled eyes. Her lips were quivering and her skin looked extremely pale on her face. It was then that Severus did something that he did not intend to do...he hugged her.
Hugged her!? She is a muggle and I am a wizard! What the bloody Hell is wrong with me!? I must be going mad! Now...I must back off...let go of her...I cannot...yes, I can! ...Good God, I cannot let go of her! What the bloody fucking Hell possessed me to hug this woman, let alone even try to comfort her!? Of course...she is quite pretty...and she did look rather beautiful with that scarlet tinge on her cheeks...GOD DAMNIT ALL!! What the Hell is wrong with me? ...
All this shot through Severus' head the moment the hugged her. He ended up calming Mae down by rubbing comforting circles on her back. Severus still couldn't believe it...he was sitting inside a rack full of clothing sitting next to a muggle woman who happened to be in tears, in his arms, and leaning on him sobbing.
Finally, Mae sat up and tried to brush her tears away, failing at doing so. She looked back at Severus, making eye contact with him. A soft and quiet voice came out of her mouth, "Thank you...Mr. Snape..."
Severus, instead of a normal smirk, he actually smiled a real smile. No one really ever thanks him for anything, except, perhaps the Headmaster and Poppy. He smiled to her, a true smile, and in a quite, yet pleased sounding voice came, "You are very welcome, Ms. Saoki."
A silence, which seemed to last forever was finally broken when Mae started to explain herself, "You see, Mr. Snape, my ring I lost...it was the last thing that my mother gave me before she passed away...and now I've gone and...and...LOST it!"
The young woman was still whispering, but was whispering which such emotion, that if she were speaking normally, she would have been shouting, "My God, I just can't believe that I lost it, and in a clothing store for God's sake! I mean-"and so, she ranted.
Severus just sat there, rubbing soft circles on her back and nodding to everything she said. He found it quite funny, the way she let out her frustration. His free hand was just resting on the floor next to him. He made to move, when his finger slid across something smooth, hard and cold like mettle. Picking up the small thing, and without even looking at it, he realized that he had found the girl's ring.
When Mae finally paused in her rant to take a breath, Severus put one of his slim fingers over her mouth to show that he had something to say.
Blinking with confusion in her eyes, Mae stopped her rant to hear what it was that the man before her wished to say. Severus smiled a small smile and spoke in a soft tone, "I believe that I have just found something, "he presented her with a silver ring with a small flower and two leaves upon it, "I just found this on the floor. Is this the ring in question?"
Hands clapped to her mouth. Mae didn't know what to do or say. She just sat there, stunned. Her eyes kept darting from Severus' face, to the ring, to his face and back to the ring and so on.
Severus took her left hand, slowly kissed the top of it and slowly slid the ring onto her ring finger. At the time, Severus didn't realize what hand he had grabbed. Also, at the time, neither did Mae.
Suddenly, Mae hugged Severus and laughed a laugh of pure joy and happiness. She whispered into his ear, "Thank you! You're a very kind man, Mr. Snape."
Severus paused at first, being stunned. But then, getting over the shock, hugged her back, "Please...call me Severus, Ms. Saoki, "he mentally kicked himself for giving her permission to call him Severus...to call him on first name basis.
Mae smiled and simply said, "All right...Severus," she liked the name very much, "And please...just call me Mae?"
It was a question. Severus nodded, "Of course...Mae," he happened to enjoy saying her name...he liked it...a lot.
End of the second chapter! Good? Bad? Horrible? Stupid? Review please!