The Bitter Taste

Chapter 2: First Day

It was suddenly very warm in this odd place but Jane couldn't exactly pinpoint what was increasing the temperature in a highly uncomfortable manner. As the lady touched her cheeks though, she immediately understood why.

She was blushing.

The flush on her face caught her attention and she furrowed her eyebrows with utter irritation. This was certainly happening quite often now. She only hoped it was simply a side effect of entering a beautiful realm she called London.

The man before her had a marvelous physique, to say the least. His arms long and slender but built as well, his face shaped to perfection with absolutely no blemish to break such description. And of course, his eyes. His eyes being far most alluring and very beautiful with its extravagant green; they were looking right through her. She stood still, unable to move as if  entranced by magic. Jane had walked in at what seemed to be the wrong moment as the said man turned around, just in time for their gazes to lock in sudden pause. The stillness of her body made her as rigid as a robot and it only became worse as seconds passed, knowing the humiliation of not being courteous enough to make way for the harmless man to walk through.
However, as unnatural Jane thought she was, it was a wild guess that this person before her was also returning her actions by looking as if he was equally mesmerized for the same reasons.

Realizing this, Jane had immediately cut that line and proceeded to be the first one to look away. After this, he averted his eyes as well.

If that wasn't awkward, then she didn't know what was.

The young brunette took stiff steps towards an old book shelf portion of the antique store and simply looked at it for minutes. It was very strange to do in her part but right now, she just needed something else to distract her. With shaking hands, she carefully took out an old book from the wooden shelf and flipped at the pages.

What was that feeling?

She took a quick glance behind her to check what was of the man to find herself surprised. He was completely calm. It was as if nothing had transacted between them and for some reason, it pained her slightly. How could anyone cover their own emotions like that? Or was there even something to hide in the first place?
Yes, it definitely must have been just her and her own crazy fantasies. There was no possible way an undeniably handsome man would just look at her and feel any sort of emotion. She wasn't anything special. If anything, the brunette was below special for plenty of reasons.

Not long after, the blonde man had gotten a simple necklace he was glancing at for quite some time and paid for it. Right after his purchase, he walked passed swiftly - as if she wasn't even there - and left for the doors; the chimes appearing as proof of his leave.
Jane exhaled and released the breath she didn't know she kept. Right this very moment, the lady had remembered one of the townsmen she knew back at the farm. It was a time of love that day and he had a conversation with her about how much Emily "took his breath away". It was confusing then on how a mere person could possibly remove all the air from circulating in your system but now she understood the feeling very well. Could this be what he meant?

There was something in that man that definitely took her breath away and it wasn't just how built up he was. There was something with those eyes. Those majestic green orbs that seemed to gleam wonders towards her heart. From where she was standing though, the brunette had started to frown at the floor. She didn't need these feelings. After all, if this man could woo any girl he pleased this easily, then she believed he wasn't worth looking through.
It took Jane a while to notice the shame in her posture. She looked like a hunchback. Her forehead and nose had creases from thinking too much and her hands gripped hold to the delicate papers in which she was mindlessly looking at through her continuous thoughts of the man. She would surely prevent herself from seeing him any time around. If he gave her this much of an effect, there would no doubt be embarrassment spread across her face and that was something that she wished no one would ever live to witness. Looking so frail and meek wasn't a trait born by her side and it suddenly appearing didn't go well with her at all. Claim it be against her sheer pride as a woman but nevertheless, it was still unwanted by whatever reason.