He invaded my thoughts throughout the entire boring Sunday. Though, kind of think of it, it wasn't really that boring, thanks to him. Never once did I not think of him.
I thought of him when I read my books. I thought of him when I tended to the garden. I thought of him when I scanned through fanfiction. I thought of him when I washed the dishes.
Oh, who was I kidding? I thought of him every single second! No matter what I do! Even when I'm doing nothing!
No matter how hard I try to not think about him, the thought of him always manages to find a way inside my thoughts. Even through my mind shield.
He seemed to have found a way to etch himself permanently into my head. I could not help but reminisce all the gestures he had done towards me. His smile. His chuckle. The amused glint in his obsidian orbs. Everything!
Most especially, the kiss on my hand.
Oh, how I fondly remember that! Numerous times I've caught myself just absentmindedly touching my knuckles, brushing my fingertips over the spot where his lips had been.
I smiled each time I rethink the feel of his silky lips. It felt so nice and warm. It sent jitters to my spine and made my heartbeat go rapid.
Honestly, I wouldn't have minded so much as to let the thought of him invade my head.
Unfortunately, reality had to pull me back into the real world when Monday arrived.
Another week of repetitive work. And because the flower shop's opening hours was from nine in the morning to five-thirty in the evening and business was pretty hectic lately, there was absolutely no way for me to slip out into town and wander around, hoping I could 'bump' into a certain someone.
It was Wednesday now, and things were normal in the flower shop. While my mother showed and explained some of the flowers we had to potential customers and managed the cash register, I was in the back room, busying myself with arranging and decorating new bouquets.
I did it by color shades today. For example, if I wanted a bouquet to centre on the color purple, I would add in scented and beautiful flowers with light to dark purple shades. Then I would add in decorations like purple sparkles or purple satin ribbons.
Before long, I had managed to create a bunch of new bouquets, keeping each in the spare vases we had kept in storage. When my mother walked in, she was amazed by the new bouquets.
"This is perfect, Spring! Such talented hands you have!" she awed.
I only smirked. "It's nothing, mom. I could do this in a snap."
Suddenly, a loud growl could be heard from my stomach. My mother's eyes widened as she stared at me, and I blushed in embarrassment.
"You must be really hungry," she said quite pitifully. "Why not you go for lunch? I'll stay here and take care of the shop."
Silently, I thanked the heavens. Freedom for a while! I didn't waste a second longer and quickly grabbed my bag on the way out, reminding her to call me if she ever needed anything. Which I hope she doesn't.
It was some time past three, and the streets were not so crowded because nearly everyone was at work. That's a good thing. At least there won't be so many people eating now.
I knew just the place to spend my lunch break.
I made my way to my favorite cafe called 'The Vintage Cuppa'. True to its name, the cafe was vintage-themed, and I found it to be pretty. Though tiny and not so well-known in Heatherton, it was my favorite haunt because it was a very quiet and serene place that was located far away from the busy centre Main Street. On a boring weekend, I would go there sometimes to just have a nice, relaxing cup of latte or to read a book.
It was a ten minute walk from the flower shop to the cafe, but I took my time. In fact, in only seemed like only a few minutes had passed when I finally saw the windows with the cafe name written in cursive italic
When I walked through the doors, the little bell above jingled. I looked around the dimly-lit joint and saw that there was only maybe about ten people here. It wasn't noisy like how a normal Starbuck's would have been. In fact, I could only hear low murmurs as the patrons kept their volume. I could even clearly hear what the singer on the cafe radio was singing. It was a soft ballad, and it fitted with the atmosphere.
I made my way to the counter just as the employee manning it looked up. The girl had light blonde hair that was tied into a messy bun at the back of her head and had blue-grey eyes. I knew the girl to be Henrietta, someone that I would talk to sometimes. Because of her warm, out-going ad friendly nature, I considered her a friend.
"Hey there, Spring," she greeted in her usual bubbly voice. "How's it going?"
"Hey, Henrietta," I greeted back. "All's fine. Nothing exciting going on. And you?"
She shrugged. "Please. At a place like this, you think anything exciting would ever happen?"
The very second she finished her sentence, the door suddenly flew open. It was then followed by a man saying, "Leave me alone! Seriously!"
I widened at the voice. Did fate planned this? Or was this just coincidental?"
Henrietta was already looking at the commotion that was going on, and I turned to get a look myself.
I see Aiden trying to brush off a group of girls, all who looked eighteen. They were swarming around him like bees to a fresh flower. And he was trying hard to shoo them away so that he didn't get stung.
"Come on! It will be fun! We could get to know each other better!" one of the girls giggled.
"Yeah! A little get-to-know session!" another girl spoke in a squeaky voice which I found highly irritating.
"I said no! Don't you even know what that means?" he exclaimed exasperatedly. His annoyance could be seen clearly on his face and heard clearly in his voice.
But his expression suddenly changed to one of surprise when he turned to look at me, just as I had wrapped a hand around his arm.
"Sweetie! It's about time you showed up!" I exclaimed with a smile, looking at his very confused expression. Then I let my gaze slide over to the group of girls, who were all now giving me dagger eyes.
"And I can see what the hold-up was," I said in the best disgusted voice I could manage. Then, I pushed Aiden behind me and glared at those girls back. Crossing my arms, I said in my best 'icy' voice, "So if you girls don't mind as to run along now."
They glared at me from head-to-toe, but I stood firm and glared at them back. I didn't feel even the slightest bit intimidated by them. Hell, I was older than them! I'm not afraid!
I raised an eyebrow, trying to make it clear that they should just get lost. I was prepared for anything they would shoot at me, but thankfully they did give up and just left. One of them turned to look at Aiden again, but when she caught sight of my narrowed eyes, she scurried out of the cafe.
When they were gone, I got out of my 'protective girlfriend' persona and looked at the patrons who were all staring at us.
I shrugged my shoulders and commented, "It happens every time."
The patrons immediately started chuckling for a while before resuming to whatever they were doing. I grabbed hold of Aiden's arm and pulled him with me to the counter.
"Close one, wasn't it?" I asked him.
He had a look of utter relief and he breathed, "Thank you. They've been following me from nine blocks from here!"
I giggled and replied, "No problem. You saved me from unwanted attentions once. So it's best if I do the same."
I turned back to the counter and saw Henrietta gazing at Aiden with awestruck eyes. Aiden looked at her weirdly, and I smacked myself in the forehead. Ugh! Don't tell me she was affected too!
"I take back what I said about nothing exciting ever happening here," she murmured to me, her blue-grey eyes still on Aiden. When he looked away, she was still staring. I proceeded to drum my fingers on the wooden surface of the countertop.
"Ahem… Henrietta? My order?" I asked, continuing to drum my fingers loudly to try and snap her out of it.
Slowly, her eyes slid away from him and she sweetly asked, "What can I get you?"
"A medium ice-blended passion fruit juice and a Panini," I answered with a frown.
She keyed in the order to the computer register before turning to Aiden and asked with a big smile, "And for you?"
Aiden turned to look at her briefly. "Just an espresso," he simply said, before looking somewhere else.
She nodded and keyed in his order. I scowled at her and said under my breath, "Don't even get any funny ideas."
She only winked at me as a mischievous grin plastered to her face.
I did not want to think about what she was trying to imply.
"The total would be fifteen dollars and ninety-three cents," Henrietta announced sing-songly, her eyes darting between me and Aiden.
I reached into my bag to get out my purse. But Aiden stopped me at the last minute. I looked up and saw that he already had a crisp twenty-dollar bill in his fingers. "My treat," he said to me with a lopsided smile.
Before Henrietta's fingers could reach for the bill, I protested, "No! Please! You don't have to!"
Aiden laughed a bit at my reaction. "Take it as a gift of thanks. For saving me from those rabid harpies."
I stopped short at the mention of the word 'harpies'. Harpies were a mythological Greek monster hybrid. I wonder how he knew that.
Just then, Henrietta returned Aiden his change, and he took it and stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans. He then placed an arm on my shoulders and led me to an empty table for two beside the window.
There he goes again! Making these sorts of gestures that made me blush and weak in the knees! Seriously! Was he doing this on purpose?
I could feel someone's stare boring into my back and I turned my head and looked back at Henrietta. She was puckering her lips and kissing the air as her blue-grey eyes sparkled with mischief.
When I was sure Aiden was not paying attention, I glared at her and bared my teeth.