A girl ran down the street, laughing, trying to get out of the freezing rain.
It was in the middle of March, so spring was approaching fast.
The girl ran past lots of shops, searching for the right one.
She stopped suddenly when she found it. The store had a blue overhang, and water dripped to the ground from its tips. She quickly ran through the wall of dripping water, covering her exposed head feebly with her hands. She sighed in relief, looking back at the quickly flooding streets.
She opened the glass door to the shop, a little bell tingling.
She was hit with a wall of warmth as the heated store closed in around her.
A clerk looked up from the counter.
"Hello there, Elizaveta!" The blonde chirped from behind the counter.
"Good morning, Florinda! Is Roderich here?" Elizaveta grinned, an inside joke gleaming in her eyes.
Florinda chuckled. "Oh, he is. He's been waiting for you." She gestured to the door to the upstairs, where Elizaveta and her boyfriend, Roderich, lived happily.
Elizaveta beamed at the door, ready to open it and race upstairs.
"Elizaveta! Do you know what you'll name the kids yet?" Florinda's eyes glinted with naughtiness as she smirked.
Elizaveta rolled her eyes.
"Florinda, you know that if that happens, it won't be for a long time!"
"Oh sure!" Florinda laughed.
Elizaveta waved her off and opened the door to the apartment. She could hear Roderich playing his piano in the next room.
She smiled and sighed dreamily. She loved hearing him play. It was so beautiful.
"Roderich?" She called into the next room. "I'm home!"
The playing stopped suddenly. Someone pushed out a piano bench, and stood up. Footsteps got closer and closer, until Roderich rounded the corner and found Elizaveta hanging up her coat by the door.
Elizaveta loved him so much. He had dark hair, often slightly disheveled. His blue eyes where just barely hidden behind his glasses, which Elizaveta also adored.
"I missed you when I woke up, Elizaveta," He said to her, smiling. "Your note said hardly anything at all..."
Elizaveta smiled.
The note she'd left at 3 a.m. that morning had been hurried and vague. She wanted to go watch the sunrise. It was on her bucket list. She found so much joy in checking off "Watch the sunrise in the rain".
She'd explained it in her note, but she knew Roderich would find it silly. He never really cared about bucket lists. He never really thought about what would happen when he died. He just was perfectly content with not knowing. Elizaveta knew that she should be happy that he was so content, but she always felt a twinge of loneliness whenever he laughed off her deep thoughts about the universe and death.
But she loved him.
What else could she ask for? She had a wonderful house, a wonderful boyfriend, a wonderful store, and a wonderful best friend who helped out at the store all the time.
The two of them had met when Elizaveta had been dragged by her grandparents to a classical music concert. She really did not like it very much at the time, but she went because she loved them very much.
Elizaveta was not squashed between her grandparents like she might have hoped. She was forced to sit with her Grandpa on her right and a stranger on her left.
She dared a peak at who she would be spending the next two hours squashed next to.
It was an EXTREMELY good-looking man!
"Hi, I'm Elizaveta." She said to him.
The man turned to her and smiled.
"I'm Roderich. So, you're a fan of classical music?" He said it almost like a joke.
She wanted so badly to impress this man.
"Why, of course I am!"
His eyes brightened, becoming very excited. He smiled wider.
"That's lovely! Who is your favorite composer?" Roderich asked casually.
Elizaveta was quiet for a second. DAMMIT! She didn't know about any composers!
"Umm... It's too hard to pick! There are so many!" She said, hoping he fell for it.
He did.
"Oh, I know the feeling!" And he went on to talk about Beethoven and Mozart and lots of other people that Elizaveta was unfamiliar with, until the lights dimmed and the music started playing.
During the concert, Elizaveta tried so hard not to fall asleep. She rested her head on her propped up arm, trying to look absolutely fascinated. Roderich's eyebrows scrunched together and he looked deep in thought throughout the whole concert.
After it ended, Elizaveta tried to mask her relief.
Roderich let out an annoyed breath of air.
"They kept playing the WRONG NOTES!" He fumed. "It was COMPLETELY FLAT! No feeling in the pieces whatsoever!"
Elizaveta was shocked. It sounded very good to her inexperienced ears.
"Oh, I totally agree." She said, still playing along.
He smiled at her, eyes getting soft.
"Do you want to... Get together sometime?" He asked shyly.
Elizaveta beamed. "Yes, I would love to."
And so they did.
That was two years before.
Elizaveta had been hoping over the past few months that he would propose, but it seemed that he had no ability to speak his mind! She was growing very impatient with him.
She dropped hints, left wedding planner ads on the table, talked about her parent's wedding, told him how she would LOVE to be proposed to, and even asked how serious he was about her! It never seemed to work.
That night, Elizaveta sat in an armchair, reading a book and sipping some tea. She was listening to Roderich play an original song he'd composed.
"Elizaveta?" He called.
"Yes?" She replied.
"Would you come here?" He said.
She smiled knowingly. He probably just wanted some input on his composition.
She came up behind him and put her arms around his shoulders.
"What is it?" She asked.
He turned around and motioned for her to sit down as he stood up.
She sat down.
He got down on a knee.
Her heart-rate picked up and she blushed excitedly as he took one of her hands.
"Elizaveta... I promise to love you more than anything else in the world for the rest of your life. I want to spend every day remaining in my lifetime with you, trying to make you happy. I want to play music for you forever. Will you..." He took a deep breath. "Marry me?"
Elizaveta grinned hugely. Before she could stop herself she tackled him, kissing him fiercely.
"Yes! Oh yes!" She cried.
Elizaveta was so happy. She knew that for the rest of her life, she'd get to hear him play music and go to concerts with him and just do everything with him! She'd never have to leave his side, and they'd have children together! Elizaveta was so full of glee, her head was spinning.
...
Once again, the girl was running.
Only it was a bright, beautiful day.
Elizaveta was so excited to get home to her fiance, that she was running down the street as fast as she possibly could.
She skidded to a halt in front of the same blue overhang and entered their small store. The bell dinged, and Florinda looked up from a magazine.
"Elizaveta! How did the meeting go?"
"Fine, I guess. It was pretty boring, they were just discussing prices and declines in profit and tax rate. Nothing very interesting."
"Oh, okay then," Florinda smirked. "Roderich is in the back room, talking to a new instructor."
Elizaveta sighed.
"Thanks, Florinda..." Elizaveta was annoyed, she wouldn't get any time alone with Roderich! Whenever a new instructor came to the music store, Roderich spent ALL DAY with them discussing what they play, how they learned it, blah blah blah!
She went through the isles, passing CD's, Records, cassette tapes, violins, keyboards, a drum-set, a guitar-rack, a box full of ukuleles, and pretty much anything else music related you could think of.
She finally made it to the back, and opened the door to the vacant instruction room.
There were lots of doors in the back, all leading to small rooms with two chairs. Each instructor put his/her name on the door, and the instrument they teach underneath it. Elizaveta found the room they had not filled yet. There was only one.
"Elizaveta!" Roderich said when he saw her.
There were two other men inside. One was ruggedly handsome with tan skin and dark, messy hair, and green eyes. The other sat on the ground humming to himself.
"This is Antonio, our new guitar instructor."
Antonio extended his hand and Elizaveta took it. "Encantado de conocerte." He said, kissing her hand.
"Yeah, hello..." Elizaveta said, smiling, unsure of what he'd said.
"And this is his friend, uh... Antonio, what's his name again?"
Antonio turned around and face-palmed. "Gilbert... That's Gilbert."
Gilbert hopped up and grinned in a way that made you wonder what he was up to.
"What's up?" He said.
Elizaveta was shocked. He was GORGEOUS! He was albino, so he had white hair and red eyes. His white hair was messy, but in a very attractive way. He was EXTREMELY good looking!
He smirked, as if reading her mind.
She shook her head, reminding herself that she loved Roderich, and no matter how good looking another man was, Roderich was always better. He had to be!
"I think we'll get along awesomely." Gilbert said.
Elizaveta blushed a little and said quietly, "It was nice meeting you," She turned to Roderich, who squinted at Gilbert territorially. "Darling, I'll be upstairs if you need me."
Roderich made a point of kissing her on the forehead and putting an arm around her.
"Well, gentleman, say goodbye to my fiance."
"Goodbye, Elizaveta!" Antonio smiled cheerfully.
"See ya, Elizaveta." Gilbert smirked.
"Bye..." Elizaveta hurried out of the room, and found that her heart was beating too fast for her own comfort.