Blossom Trails

Chapter 1

At the brink of dawn of the fifth day when December started its departure from the sun trailed mornings and hid the sun behind foggy feathers of clouds. All of living was asleep so, Ria decided it would be a brilliant plan to jog her worries off.

What else can you do when it's 5 AM and the ringing in your head constantly reminds you of the constant nagging from your mother and a silent scolding from your so called fiancé who knows little to nothing about you and always tries to make moves on you. Who is gonna tell him you left all the straightness to the road? Arrangements where never Ria's thing. Let alone from a man.

So she decided her jogging into the fog would be the best way to run away from the fog settling in her head.
Little did she know the snow would settle not only on her car but also on her nose. That's how she ended up where she was now, draped in a blanket by a stranger she's known for less than an hour.
The stranger had already given her mouth to mouth CPR when she fainted while trying to push through the snow. How was she to tell her mother she let a person, posibbly homeless, kiss her before Jim could? But then again, fuck Jim and his advances and possibly fuck her mom too for assuming her daughter needs a man, or anyone for that matter.

"You seem a bit out of it" the stanger said, fading words and smiles. It was told so gently that Ria could swear she heard honey, how was it possible to hear honey? The stranger had their way of carrying themselves and Ria was a bit mesmerized when they put on the manual kerosene stove with some water in a deep stainless steel vessel on top. Next to the stove was a cup, a giant one, with a tea bag hanging off one of the sides. Ria swore her entire fist could fit into it and there would still be some space left. But then again, her hands were pretty tiny.

"Yeah well, not in my best shape as you can see." Ria didn't mean for it to come out in a tone, it just did. She was never one with polite words or gestures, she preferred loud, annoying clubs where music is just the DJ screaming and everyone else for some reason, encouraging that behaviour.

Even so, the stranger seemed unfazed, somehow determined to treat this girl, drenched and possibly developing a fever and get her out of their tent. So they nodded, taking the water off the small burner. Pouring the liquid into the fist-sized cup, humming a tune that Ria couldn't quite point out.

"Hm, seems like you have more in store than being a fainting snowflake then." The stranger said, in gaps between blowing off some steam from the tea. One of the blows resulted in a backsplash and the liquid slightly hit their nose, making them silently hiss. And then Ria burst out. Her first fit of laughter in months. Her first genuine laugh. Not the ones she gave her fiancé or mother or for that matter her overly annoying friends, who made her life a bit more lively. She could never complain but for some reason this quite stranger- who she has already kissed- in a span of an hour made the tent they lived in, a home more than the walls of her condo- safe and warm- would ever make her feel. Just by the simple act of slightly burning themselves. And for that, maybe, just maybe Ria was thankful.
"You have a funny tongue." She said in between, heaving, trying to gain control. "Thanks for that, I needed it." The stranger shot her a confused, yet empathetic look. As if a trail of thoughts was silently running in their head about how much this weirdo they had to give CPR to needed a laugh when she looked like she eats laughs for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The stranger silently passed her another a cup of tea which had missed Ria's eyes, not sparing a glance to her now, very flushed face. It was more from the warmth from the heater placed beside her than the laughing fit and cold. For a minute she wondered how this tent hadn't caught fire yet. You see, Ria wasn't just loud, she was clumsy too. She wouldn't admit it of course, too stubborn for her discourses, which more or less were just between her and her sanity. Regardless, Ria decided it wasn't worth asking how one person can humanely be this careful and perfect, because surely the human race is inherently clumsy, it's just a naturally occurring event in everyone's life. Everyone has been close to burning down their house from a single lit burning candle at least once, right?

It seemed like a miracle when the tea had downed itself down Ria's throat because she did not remember the soothing feeling of the honey mixed with chamomile in spite of being able to sniff it in the air surrounding the small area the tent occupied, somehow still spacey while being restricted.
"So...." The stranger trailed off, suddenly knitting a sweater now 'is this person literally eighty?' was Ria's first thought. But for the love of all things, her sanity held her back from saying it out loud. "So?" The same old eyebrow raise with accompanied harshness returned and the stranger just huffed at her.
"...do you have a place to live?" They raised their eyes to meet Ria's face, or at least the bits that were peaking out the blanket after she placed her cup down and wrapped herself into a burrito.
Ria looked rather shocked than offended, as if she has forgotten she had a place to be at, a place she actually lives and pays rent for from her very stable job as an accountant. But then again, she felt all her worries melt, so what was another one of mundane routine that she felt suffocated by. Why was this tent so comfortable? Ria couldn't make out.
"Right, yes, about that." The clicking sounds of knitting came to a still, eyes widening, the stranger seemed to have come to a conclusion, maybe not very accurate but a conclusion regardless. "You..." They said pointing straight at Ria's face, their face reading accusation. "You are a runaway aren't you?" It was Ria's turn to widen her eyes, what does this stranger think of her? A runway? A runaway from what? A stable life? The very thought offended her. She scoffed, but then stilled in her moments, slightly shifting her gaze to the small opening of the tent. What if she wanted to be a runaway. She shook the thought away as soon as it had occurred and faced the stranger again. "No I'm not, are you? Is that why you live in a tent?" She spat out, it almost shocked her at how calm the stranger was with their response. "Not quite, I just like living in tents because I travel a lot." A smile with a hint of taunt left their mouth. Not once had the stranger spared her a smile, so she took what she got, feeling slightly more comfortable, melting into the burrito she made out of this blanket. Her heart rejoiced at receiving an equally snide reply. And if she wasn't stubborn enough, she would have let out a little 'yay' to celebrate making, what in her books was a friend.
"Ria." She extended her hand, hesitating to leave her warm craven. The stranger stared at her hand and then her face, expression blank as bread.
"I would rather not say."

A/N: Hope everyone is having a good day! Hope you like the first chapter of this fiction. I am really excited to write more. Please leave a comment and vote if you liked it! Thank you 💝