Chapter 2: An unfortunate accident

Belle

I don't really know how I would look back on this afternoon years later. Today I loved the new tea set I had gotten. I hated when my tea set broke yesterday. I simply needed a new one right away. Some people might have called it a fortunate accident. I don't know if I would ever call it that. After all, I wouldn't call this whole afternoon fortunate. I would call it something entirely else.
The shop was simply called Mister Gold's pawn shop. It was the smallest shop in the neighbourhood of Notting hill. So small that it was easy to miss. So when I walked out of the store, I was glad about my new tea set. Yet there was another feeling going through the pit of my stomach. I couldn't quite explain it. Had I looked too deep in his eyes? Had I even looked at him? Mister Gold was a handsome man. He had half long black hair and deep green eyes. It was my past love affairs that stopped me from looking at him. I didn't need some story in the tabloids. I didn't need them to believe I would date a stranger. It didn't matter how handsome this strange was. I was an actress and I couldn't feel something for anyone. I believed that the next person that ever loved me, would hurt me like Gaston.
It had been so long, yet the sting of love still hurt me. He had cheated on me with his co-star. Some leggy blond woman. Right then I didn't understand why I chose Gaston. I promised myself that I would never fall in love. If I did need to fall in love, I would make sure the man was worth me. I was sure that I would never meet anyone like that.
So when I walked away from that little shop, I told myself to forget that handsome stranger. I told myself to think about my future in acting. That was all I had, I loved acting. I loved putting myself in the place of someone else and show the world just how this person must feel. I had gotten so much praise for my acting. From Claire Littleton to Eliza Schuyler. Everyone told me that an Oscar wasn't far away. Yet I had never received on yet. Some people said I needed to take edgy parts. Parts that would challenge me as an actor. Yet when I thought about edgy parts, I remembered his eyes on mine. What was his name? I knew Gold must be somewhere in it, or maybe he was just an employ of the shop. What was his first name? I shook my head, I couldn't be thinking about him like that. Not now.
So I went to the first café I could find. I ordered a simple tea and tried my very best to forget the handsome stranger. I asked my driver to bring the bag to my car, as I sat there enjoying a cup of tea. The only thing I kept with me was the book of the phantom of the opera. I opened the book.
"I can so play Christine Daaé." I smiled. "I can so play Christine Daaé."
I took a sip of tea as I continued in the book. I had seen the musical when I was younger, it would be a version of the musical after all. I had the singing chops, yet no one believed in me. No one ever saw me in a musical part, yet musicals had always been my part. I dreamed of playing Belle in Beauty and the beast. I was a lot like Belle, I loved to read and Belle loved to read. I was looking for adventures. Belle was looking for adventures. Yet my agent never lets me do the parts I wanted. The parts I needed to do to become amazing. So as I got up, I thought about everything that could happen to me. What I really needed was some nerve. I didn't know how I would get this.

Rumple

I didn't know who I could tell that I had met Belle French. I wanted to tell everyone. I wanted to run on the streets, yelling that I had met the prettiest girl ever. Yet I was somehow too shy to do so. A part of me thought about my previous love affairs, it always started like this. In the beginning, it always looked good. It always looked that everything was going to last. It looked like we were the only two people on this planet. After the perfect days always came the nightmare. There was always betrayal from her side. Maybe I forgot my mistake in every situation. Yet I always remembered the mistakes that Milah and Cora had made. I guess that was something everyone forgot. When I reminded every heartbreak I had ever gone through, I couldn't think about Belle French the same. I saw the potential pain that she could cause. Yet that same moment, I thought about the good times. I smiled. What was I thinking, she was an actress and I was a simple shop owner. She would never go for someone like me. After all she could get anyone that was famous. Anyone with a lot of money.
There was nothing that I could give her. Maybe I could talk to her about books. Yet that was not something you needed from a boyfriend. A boyfriend was someone that needed to be like you. In her case, he needed to be just as famous or maybe even famous. There were no actors that dated fans. If they did, it would never end well.
David stepped inside the store, he worked here in the afternoon as a volunteer. He knew the store just as well as I did. He looked at me, almost like he knew what I just saw.
"You look like you're seen a ghost," David said.
"Better." I smiled. "I've seen Belle French."
"The Belle French from Lost and Remember me," I replied. "And the upcoming Fantastic beasts and where to find them."
"That Belle French," I walked to the other side of the counter. "She's even more pretty than you would expect."
He smiled to me. Belle French, I had forgotten about her new movie Fantastic beasts and where to find them. It was the new story in the Harry Potter universe. She was starring alongside Eddie Redmayne who was playing Newt Scamander. I didn't know if I was planning to see the new movie. Right now I could only think about her.

"So…" He stared at me. "Did you kiss her?"
I instantly remembered what I told him a year ago. I told him if I ever met Belle French I would kiss her. I had some kind of crush on her a year ago. That day I told everyone that would hear it, I would kiss her. I hadn't done that. It didn't seem like a good move from someone you hardly knew.
"You didn't do it." He shook his head. " I knew you wouldn't do it."
"Well, I swear if I ever see her again. I will kiss her."

Belle

When I finished that cup of tea, I felt like a different person. I felt like I could take my career into my own hands. I had to admit that Fantastic Beasts and where to find them was the only movie that I chose for myself. I loved everything that had to do with J.K. Rowling. She was amazing. Right now I was part of her imagination, I loved that. I knew it was a long time commitment I was making. I knew there was a chance that I would be in every movie. After my cup of tea, I got ready to go to my car. I needed to get home for a short night.
So I walked right from the shop. If you told me, this day was going to change my life. I would not have believed you. After all, this day didn't feel different. But when I walked out of the small café, I was awakened by coffee. Not in the way you needed it. A cup of coffee was spilt all over me. In fact, I had run into someone. Someone who was thinking about things just like I was. That was the moment I started at the pair of green eyes. I wanted to say you. Yet all I could think of was the coffee on my clothes.
I looked him in the eye.
"I'm so sorry." He said as he reached towards me. There was a fear inside me. A fear for anything that could happen if I let him close.
"Please, don't." I shook my head. "I can't…"

"It's my fault,…" He said to me. "Do you see that blue door on the other side of the street?"
"Do you think?" I looked at him in anger.
"I meant that you could change." He stared at me. "We could wash that shirt and you'll be ready in no time. Unless you have something else to wear."
I was an extremely cautious person. I always carried an extra T-shirt and jacket if something like this happened. Somehow it had never happened before. So I followed this stranger to his home. When I walked inside, I noticed his house was extremely neat. He might be one of this neat freaks I thought. Yet I didn't dare to say so.
"I really admire people like you…" I said.
"How so?"
"Neat people." I smiled. "You should see my house, it's very messy. Not messy as dirty, I mean it's clean. I have books laying around everywhere. My mother was a librarian. She would be extremely ashamed of me. She was neat and arranged. And I'm…"
I started at him. His eyes were fixated on my eyes. "You should say something if I'm talking too much. After all, some people don't like it…"
"You're not talking too much…" We stepped on in the house. He pointed out where the bathroom was. So I ran up the stairs when I came in there. I noticed the bathroom was just as clean as the other parts of the house. I wanted to look around in the house, so I let myself. I opened the cabinet to find medicine there. What had I expected? An extra toothbrush was up there. I closed it once again. I took the shirt and jacket from my bag and put it on. The dirty shirt and jacket I placed on the small cabinet. I put my jacket on once again.
When I walked out of the bathroom, I wanted to walk up the stairs. I wanted to explore the house. So I did. The first room I saw had in big letters written Killian on the door. When I opened it, I noticed that this room was not tidy. It was very messy. There were dirty clothes everywhere. My brother was just like that. A smile appeared on my face as I closed the door. I continued to the next door, I found there a small library. I walked inside I noticed he had every book by Jane Austen. Jane Austen was also one of my favourite writers.
"Are you okay up there?" I heard. I walked out of the library and went back down. My cheeks were red. I didn't know if I was ashamed going through a stranger's house. Yet knowing he read Austen made him feel less of a stranger. When I came downstairs, I noticed he was staring at me. I was wearing a red jacket. One that was warm enough for the time of year. I wanted to smile at him. Yet I didn't allow myself.
"So I kind of found your library." I became red. "You have a lot of books. Including Austen. I love Austen. I would love to star in an Austen movie myself."
"I'd think you be perfect." He replied. "I think you would make a perfect Lizzy."
"Or Eleanore."
I didn't know if I should keep hanging around. I wanted to talk more about Austen. Yet I felt that I should leave. So I walked outside, he said something to me. Yet I couldn't make out just what. I walked for a few meters when I noticed I didn't know his name. So I turned around and stepped back to the blue door. I knocked on the door. He opened the door, his green eyes looking in mine.
"What's your name?" I asked, "I mean I can't thank my handsome saviour if I don't know his name…"

"It's Rumpelstiltskin."
That was all I needed. I closed the door behind him and kissed him. I had always wanted to be brave, so I was for the first time. I pulled him closer to me and kissed him like there was no tomorrow. I would never see Rumpelstiltskin Gold again. So I didn't need to go through awkward behaviour. I could kiss him and simply leave his life. That was what I did. Little did I know that this was not that last time I would see Rumpelstiltskin Gold.