Koi no yokan (Japanese)
The sense you get that upon meeting someone for the first time that the two of you are going to fall inlove. Not love at first sight, but a feeling that the two of you will end up together sometime down the road.
Annabelle's alarm chimed right at 5:30 a.m., giving her enough time to eat something for breakfast and get dressed for the day; even though she wasn't on a set schedule anymore, she wanted to get most of the hard labor done before the day got too hot. After opening the door, she noticed a small package with a note on the front step of the porch; it read, "Here's a little something to help get you started. -Mayor Lewis". Attached was a small sack filled with parsnip seeds; she had read about these last night on the bus, apparently they were the best spring crops to plant for beginning farmers. Smiling, she took the seeds and put them in her satchel which held a water bottle, her phone, and a few snacks to tide her over until dinner.
The afternoon passed quickly; she was finally able to plant and water all of the parsnips after clearing the land of the debris and tilling the soil. She dusted some dirt off of herself before standing and admiring her work. While she still wasn't sure if she was cut out for farming, she already felt a greater sense of accomplishment from farming than anything she had ever done at Joja Corp. After putting away her watering can, she decided to shower up and head into town; after all, she still needed to buy a few things and introduce herself to the locals.
After showering and dressing in a simple ensemble of jeans, a fitted long-sleeved shirt, and some ankle-high booties, she made her way into town. It was about a five minute walk, but oddly enough, she didn't mind. It was nice knowing that she wouldn't have to deal with noisy or disruptive neighbors, yet was still close enough to town to get everything she needed quickly. She reached the main square of town and tried to familiarize herself with the area; nearest to her was a clinic which neighbored the general store, to the south lay a large fountain and past that was the saloon.
The whole area looked as though it were surrounded by houses, but she'd look around later; for now she was on a mission to purchase more seeds as well as some supplies for her new home. On her way over to the store, a couple of men entered the square on the opposite end; they looked around her age or maybe a few years older. The man on the right was probably six-foot-five at least, and had spiky brown hair with electric blue eyes. The man to his right was probably just under six feet tall with pale blonde hair, also spiked, with warm brown eyes.
The two men noticed her obvious examination of them, causing the brunette to smirk and nudge the man beside him, "Look here Sam, looks like we have a new piece of ass in town! And a fine piece at that, damn."
The bold statement caused Annabelle to flush in embarrassment, and then anger, "Is that seriously how you treat the new resident in your town? Or are you seriously dumb enough to think I didn't hear you?" She stomped over to the men until she was just a foot in front of them and glared at the brunette who made the comment. Crossing her arms she asked, "Well?"
The man threw his hands up in defense, "Whoa, sorry! I meant it as a compliment, I didn't mean to offend you."
She rolled her eyes, "A compliment? That was closer to sexual harassment than a compliment. If you want to make a better first impression, I'd stick with introducing yourself first, and then being a little more subtle in your appraisal of someone's body."
The blonde who had remained silent throughout the exchange grinned at her and stuck his hand out, "The name's Sam, nice to meet you. May I ask what your name is?"
Annabelle smiled in return and shook his outstretched hand, "Annabelle. Annabelle Leigh. And before you say it- yes, like the poem. My parents are sort of old-fashioned romantics, so they named me after their favorite poetic figure. Nice to meet you!" She turned to the brunette and stuck her hand out, "And you are?"
He smirked and shook her hand, "Alex Young. Nice to meet you. Wanna grab dinner with me?" He shot her a look that was probably supposed to be sexy, but came across as cocky and trying too hard.
She eyed him warily but agreed, figuring she should at least give him a chance at redemption. "Sure, but it's not a date. Got it?"
He waved off her comment like no big deal, "Sure, sure. Meet me at the saloon at 8, okay? See you there, Bells!" He and Sam waved their goodbyes and walked away before she could respond.
"Bells?" she muttered to herself, "What kind of nickname is that?" Shaking her head, she made her way to her original destination: the general store. Upon opening the door, a bell dinged, causing the man at the counter to look up and smile in greeting. "Welcome to Pierre's! I take it you're the new farmer? I have everything you need to get you started and then some! What can I help you with?"
She waved and walked up to the counter, "Yes, that'd me! The name's Annabelle. You're Pierre, I assume?"
The man nodded and shook her hand, "That would be me! I run this shop with my wife Caroline and my daughter Abigail; we live in the house attached to the shop."
"Good to know! I look forward to meeting them someday. Not to cut this short, but I have a long list of things to buy, and I could use some help."
Pierre shrugged it off saying, "Of course! Just tell me what you need and we'll get you set up."
After showing Pierre the long list of items, he ran around the shop gathering everything in no time at all. After stacking it on the counter, he rang up the items and said, "Because you're new, I'll offer you fifty percent off of this purchase! Think of it as a 'welcome to the town' gift!"
Annabelle had been observing Pierre since she walked in, and she felt as though he was a little too helpful. He kept offering her absurd deals making her wonder if something was causing him to act this way. She decided to take the less obvious route in order to get her information. "Oh wow, that's so thoughtful! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to sway me from the competition." She laughed to let him know that she was joking, it was a small town, how could there be competition.
Pierre smiled wryly and stuffed his hands in his pockets, "Oh, so you're already familiar with the Joja Mart in town."
Annabelle's eyes went wide, "What?! There's a Joja Mart in town?!"
Pierre crinkled his eyebrows in confusion, "Wait, you didn't know?"
"No! I was just teasing you because you were being so helpful!"
He laughed and began packing up her items, "Oh, I see! Well, there is a Joja Mart here, and they're trying to run us out of business. Unfortunately, it's working, so I've been trying to come up with some ideas to keep our customers loyal, but nothing seems to be working!"
She was more than familiar with the situation, Joja Corp. runs several different types of businesses, and they always try to buy out the locally owned businesses so that they have no competition- if the owners refused, they would make them run out of business by giving customers unbeatable prices. It was part of the reason she had left- not only was it boring, but the whole company stood for something she didn't like. "You know what Pierre, I have a few ideas! I don't want to see you guys lose this place, so I want to help. Why don't I come by sometime and run a few ideas past you?"
Pierre looked overjoyed at the prospect, "Wow, that would be wonderful! But why the sudden interest? You only just moved here, so there's no reason to be so invested."
Annabelle smiled sheepishly at Pierre and put her cash on the counter, "Well, I was in a management position with Joja before I moved here- I finally quit just before I came! They're really an awful company, and it was much too boring for me."
He smiled knowingly, "Ahh, I see! Well, I am even more grateful for your help now! To have a previous employee on my side will come in handy."
She nodded in agreement, "Exactly! Anyway, thank you so much for your help! I'll stop by soon and we can chat about business strategies."
As she was about to grab the bags holding her purchases she was stopped by Pierre, "Oh don't worry about this! We'll have it delivered to your home this evening. It's too much to carry on your own!"
She was going to decline, but then thought that it was a good thing; after all, she still had to meet a few more people. "Okay Pierre, thank you! Have a good day!"
"You as well!"
With her only errand for the day out of the way, she decided to head to the West of town to see if she could meet any residents- she was excited, but hoped they weren't all like Alex. One cocky guy was more than enough. As she made her way up the path she tripped on a branch and tumbled to the ground- before she good even throw out her hands to catch herself, she saw a pair of strong arms reach out and break her fall instead.
The person helped her stand back up and as she looked up to thank her savior her breath caught. Standing in front of her was an attractive male about five inches taller than her; he had black hair that just covered his ears and the most captivating blue eyes she had ever seen. Before she could even open her mouth to speak the handsome stranger stuck his hand out in front of him, "Hey, I'm Sebastian. You must be the new girl everyone has been talking about, nice to finally meet you!"
She shook his hand and it sent a shiver down her spine, "Annabelle. I am indeed the 'new girl.' It's nice to meet you too!" After she realized she still had his hand in her grasp she blushed and let go, "Um, well thanks for saving me! It would have sucked to hit the ground, though it's still embarrassing to fall in front of someone."
He chuckled and stuck his hands behind his back, "Well, at least you made a memorable first impression, right? Anyway, I'd love to stay and talk but I have to meet someone soon. I'll see you around?"
She shook her head, suddenly too shy to speak, "Uh, yeah! I'll see you later." She watched him walk away and sighed. One day in and already she was making a fool of herself- in front of an attractive man, no less! Trudging up the hill she wondered when she'd get a chance to redeem herself; she only hoped it would be sooner rather than later.