Chapter 1

Amanda’s POV

I shivered a little as cold rain poured down over me mercilessly, lightning flashed through the dark clouds for a fleeting moment and a loud thunder stormed it loudly, making the goosebumps on my skin get even more prominent while my heart pounded really hard against my chest.

It was some minutes past nine a.m in the morning, but the sky was extremely dark and more rumbles of lightning echoed in the air.

I glanced around from side to side again, squinting my eyes and trying to see if there was anywhere I could run into and seek shelter from the harsh rain, but once again found nothing. It was really hard for me to keep my eyes open because rain was dripping off my hair, pouring down all over my face and making it almost hard for me to drag in much needed breaths into my empty lungs without breathing in rain water as well.

A few people were in the same situation as I was in, which made me feel a bit better. At least it means that I wasn’t the only senseless and unfortunate one on the streets at the moment.

Obviously, I am very unfortunate when it comes to a lot of things, which I am sure, would be of no surprise to you, that I am without a job at the moment.

As a graduate, I had to end up getting a job at a cafe immediately after graduation when I still wasn’t able to land myself a job after a week, because I needed money for a whole lot of things, starting from my monthly rent, food bills, water bills and some other necessities. Unfortunately for me, I got sacked two weeks into the job because I was always doing something wrong.

If it wasn’t me making an unnecessary mess in the kitchen, it was me spilling someone’s ordered coffee over their table when I’m about to drop it, or me ending up tripping and breaking plates and cups again and again until I finally got sacked after I managed to shatter one of the fruit blenders in the kitchen.

“You’re the worst waitress I’ve ever had here, get the hell out before you end up breaking down my cafe as well.” The Cafe owner– Mr Morty, a short and thick statured man had said to me before wrenching the kitchen’s apron from my loose grip, a pissed and horrified expression on his face which was red with anger as he pointed towards the door and ordered me to leave. Almost all the customers were staring at the whole unfolding thing unabashedly, making me extremely embarrassed. I had ended up doing the walk of shame back home when all my pleas fell on deaf ears.

I finally made it to my destination and got in immediately, heaving a grateful sigh as I shut the glass door behind me, grateful to be out of the heavy rainfall and intense chilly weather. I shrugged out of my wet, old and wilted coat as I headed deeper into the floral shop, inhaling the familiar, sunny and airy scent that thickened the whole atmosphere as I made my way towards the small, secluded part of the shop where my paintings and all the paintings equipments are located at.

Mrs Mary, the owner of the floral shop, had agreed for me to paint flowers for people who’d come into her shop– with the hopes of getting a flower and might end up not deciding on getting any. I was really grateful when she agreed to my suggestion three weeks ago. The only thing there was, was that I have to pay her a little money for rent out of the money I make from painting, since I wouldn’t be staying in her shop for free.

That was the only job I had now, and I was super grateful to God that he sent so many people into the shop who’d end up deciding to get a painting of a flower, instead of an actual flower. Most times, the people end up buying my artwork more than I expected, instead of buying Mrs Mary's flowers– which sometimes makes me wonder if I’d one day get banned from coming to the flower shop because I knew people rarely buy the flowers in the shop anymore, immediately after I started painting in the shop.

I didn’t need anyone to tell me that I had taken almost all of Mrs Mary’s regular customers as well, which I knew wouldn’t please her one bit, but at least it was fetching me more money than I expected, and I was able to afford food each day, as well as some part of my rent.

So, I guess God does work in mysterious ways.

******

It was a few minutes past five p.m in evening and I let out a small yawn, stretching my feet out before me, concluding within myself that today in all has been really bad for me. The rain that started falling this morning, which had dragged on for hours– throughout the whole morning, has successfully succeeded in ruining the whole day for me. I haven’t managed to paint a single art today because of the lack of customers in the shop today, thanks to the rain today.

For the first time since I started coming to the floral shop after losing my job at the cafe, this was my first time being unable to make a single dime throughout the whole day.

I haven’t eaten anything since morning and with the way things were looking, I wouldn’t be able to eat a thing tonight as well, except I go over to my friends’ apartment, which I really hated doing because I wished I didn’t have to depend on them on some days… but sometimes, life doesn’t even leave me with any options that to go to them. And them being the angels that they were, wouldn’t ask a damn thing and would offer me food without asking me for any kind of contribution.

The delivery guys named Mark and Isaac had come in a few hours ago to come pick up the bunches of bouquets which had a card with cheesy lines in each particular package which they were to distribute amongst different houses where people had ordered the flowers to be delivered to.

I felt it was a really romantic and thoughtful gesture for someone to think about that particular person and think about sending that certain person a bunch of flowers with some cute notes in it, either to ask them out on a date, thank them for a date and some other reasons relating to romantic things.

Stuff like that had never happened to me and if I wasn’t extremely jealous of those people who seemed to find true love with a wonderful person in this world. The only true love I’ve ever experienced was in novels and movies, once I leave the perfect world of my imaginations and was back into reality where all my problems would be waiting for me, there wasn’t a single minute for me to spare in which I could use in trying to find true love with someone that was supposed to be my Prince Charming.

"Can you paint me a man’s hand holding out a sunflower and a woman’s hand which would be outstretched as if about to receive the flower?" A small voice snapped me out of my thoughts with a jolt and I sat up in my chair immediately, pushing my hair out of my face and staring at the teenager standing before me. I started talking to her in the next second, my heart starting to soar in relief and joy, I was finally getting my first job for the day done, after so many hours.

I gave her the price and she nodded her head without questions nor trying to bargain for a cheaper rate, which made me more elated. The amount I was going to be making now was going to get me food tonight and even tomorrow morning. And so I got to work immediately after inquiring from her if she wanted anything specific like a particular color of the background, hands or size of the painting.

My water colors as well as my dried colors were arranged haphazardly on my desk before me and I dipped my paint brush into the first color, getting to work on the cardboard instantly. Halfway done with painting both hands as well as the roots of the flowers on the cardboard, an annoying fly started zapping around my head to my annoyance.

I shook my head a little and used my hand to swat at it before getting back to work and coloring up the sunflower on the cardboard, as well as the roots. The annoying fly started zapping around my head once again and I swatted it a couple of times until it stopped moving around once again.

To my horror, the fly went to perch on the tip of my white watercolor. I let out a startled gasp and mentally willed the fly to move away from my white color on its own. Any small error and the fly was going to end up falling into the color– and if it flew out to get into another color, it was going to ruin my precious water color.

The fly started flying and dipped itself into my red watercolor and I let out a quiet cry when it started heading for my cardboard, one paste of its body against the cardboard was going to ruin the whole thing. I stood up from my seat and started swatting at it with my fingers, chasing it around my table and hell bent on catching it before it ended up doing any kind of damage to my painting and my watercolors.

The fly perched on my brushes case and I swapped hard at it before letting out a panicked scream when the brushes case skidded around on the table to hit the opened bottle of my dark currant flavored juice which Mrs Mary had been kind enough to give me a few hours ago before she left for her house, and I reached hurriedly for the bottle for it when it started falling on the table. I missed it by a tiny breath and the opened bottle landed beside the cardboard which I was painting on, and the content of the bottle slid out immediately, completely soaking up my half done painting and automatically ruining the whole thing.

I cried out loudly in anger and frustration, feeling angry tears spring to my eyes immediately. The fly started flying around the table once again to my bewilderment and I picked up the brush case and threw it at it, my only aim at that moment was to destroy the stupid fly once and for all, my anger and frustration having the best of me. The brush case slipped around the wet table and pushed the water color and dried colors off the table and the loud crash that echoed really loudly around me told me all I needed to know – the water colors were undoubtedly destroyed completely.

“Ugh!” I choked out as I felt tears start to slide down my cheeks as I stared at the complete mess on my desk, the cardboard which was now a light shade of purple and thoroughly soaked by the juice stared back at me mockingly, my empty stomach choose that moment to rumble loudly, making me remember that all hopes of me getting something to eat tonight was currently out of the window.

I let out an angry scream and pushed the wet cardboard along with the now empty juice bottle off the table with a swipe of my hand, tears starting to slip out of the corners of my eyes once again.

"Are you dumb? Just how much clumsier can you get?" An angry voice infiltrated into the hazy thoughts flowing in my head and I whipped my head around in rage till I was angrily staring into a pair of angry looking eyes. I stared at him pointedly, refusing to be intimidated by his height and his harsh gaze, as well as the dark, angry scowl covering his whole face. I felt a bell dinged in my head as I started to process what he had said to me. I don't need another stupid human adding to the pain of me loosing my last means of fending for myself, which I was currently feeling in my heart.

I watched with distaste in my mouth as the stranger started to look me up and down with what seemed to look like disappointment in his eyes, before his eyes locked with mine once again, giving me one of the nastiest looks I’ve ever gotten from a man before.

"Oh great, she doesn’t speak as well. Now, isn’t that lovely?” The stranger muttered in a low, angry voice, the glare never wavering from his face for a second.

I tore my gaze away from the stranger as I willed my brain to focus on more meaningful things at the moment– like the fact that without the my water colors, there would be no way I would be able to paint and earn money to fend for myself, and the fact that I don't have any other job at the moment, as well as my rent which was going to be due in a few days time as well.

I dragged in a shaky breath, wanting nothing more than you badly breakdown at the moment and cry my eyes out, because after all, that was the only thing I could do perfectly without making any stupid mistake.

"Look, mister..." I started to say in a small but firm voice while staring at the angry looking stranger– whom I had no idea as to why he was angry, hating the way my voice cracked in between those two words pathetically. The stranger cut me off with a wave of his hand as he gestured to the lower part of his suit jacket which I just realized was covered in different colors after following the gesture of his hand.

A small groan slipped out of my parted lips and I slapped my hand over my eyes, feeling my head start to pound a little.

"Seen how clumsy you are?" The stranger sneered at me as he waved his hand towards his suit again for emphasis.

“I haven’t come across anyone as clumsy as you, Jesus fuck.” The stranger said again and I huffed out a harsh breath, feeling the frustration and dejected feeling in my head starting to turn into molten anger in the blink of an eye.

"Look, what's your fucking problem?” I demanded of the stranger in a low voice, before continuing immediately without waiting for him to supply a reply.

“What the hell is your deal? Do you think I purposely spilled my watercolors and ruined my painting? Why would you think I’d do something like that?" I demanded angrily, a scowl plastered on my sweaty face due to how frustrated I was feeling and this damn stranger sure as hell wasn’t helping matters and was instead making it worse. I reached up with my left hand and mopped at my forehead and chin to prevent the sweat from dipping into my eyes.

"I don't care about all what you’ve just said, you’ve succeeded in making zero points. I also don't care if you didn't do it on purpose, all I'm saying here is that can you get any clumsier than this?" The stranger snapped back at me almost immediately.

"I don't have time for this,” I started to say in a low voice. “I honestly don't have time to spend here exchanging words with someone as arrogant as you are, at this moment. You could have at least pretended like you cared a little, instead of standing there and raining insults upon me for something which was obviously a mistake..." I started to say again, my voice a little louder than it was before, right before the stranger cut me off again.

"It doesn't look like a mistake to me, seems like you've been clumsy your whole life for a mess as big as this to be happen in a few seconds."

I saw red the moment those words left his lips, the urge to deliver a loud slap on his smooth looking face was so intense, I might have given in to that urge if only I wasn’t reaching his chest and wouldn’t be able to reach his chin without climbing on my desk for assistance.

"You know what? Fuck you, as well as your damn suit, cause I won’t even bother apologizing for the stains which I had unintentionally been the cause of and you can go to hell for all I care. That's where people as rude and arrogant as you belong."

"You're going to hell with me as well, cause you didn't even bother trying to apologize for your clumsiness. In fact, you’re a lot ruder than I am, so you’re obviously going to be leading the way into hell." He informed me in a low voice, the tone of his voice still the same way it had been since the start of our conversation. I made to reply to him but a startled squeak slipped out of my mouth when he dropped a bunch of flower in the middle of the whole mess on my desk – a bunch of flowers which I hadn’t noticed with him until this very moment, little color stains glaringly obvious on the soft petals.

"Why did you drop these here?!" I demanded immediately while gesturing at the middle of the table frantically, my voice wavering a little. My eyes widened a little when he turned around and started to make his way out of the floral shop.

"Cause you ruined them along with my suit jacket in your clumsy dance and I'm definitely not paying for them." He threw over his broad shoulder after a few seconds, my mess of a table staring right back at me.

Who was going to pay for the flowers?

"Fuck you, you bastard!" I shrieked at him just as he was about to pull on the handle of the transparent door. He paused and turned around to give me a hard look before gesturing at my face with the tilt of his head.

"You’ve got paint on your face, clumsy." He let out a mocking snort at the mortified look that covered my face immediately before turning back around and exiting the flower shop. I brushed my hand over my cheeks and nothing came off, I did the same with my forehead– but nothing came off as well.

I walked over to the mirror on the inside of the floral shop and let out a horrified gasp as my reflection stared back at me, dried yellow and blue color was on my cheeks and forehead.

‘Bastard’ I whispered beneath my breath as I scrubbed at my face with my finger nails and the paint still refused to come off.

I hope he ends up getting involved in a damn accident.

A few minutes later and the shop was quiet once again, I stared down at the mess still literally my desk and floor, feeling emotionally and physically drained to find it in me to start cleaning up the mess.

I turned towards the direction of the door when it started to get pulled open and I felt a small sob slip out of my parted lips the moment I noticed who it was– it was the girl who had requested for a painting, about an hour ago.

She went still in her tracks a few feet into the floral shop as she took in the whole mess on the table and on the floor where some of the watercolors plastics had rolled off to.

"What happened?” She asked dumbfoundedly and a pathetic sob fell out of my mouth before I could stop it.