Unexpected

Burning Brightly.

"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again." -Sylvia Plath.

The next few days Marley was hoping to run into Ville again to no avail. She kept herself busy taking herself on tours of Helsinki and she even gave herself time to check out that bookstore. Not taking into account that most of the books would be in Finnish.

She managed to find a copy of "The Bell jar" by Sylvia Plath and read it in the times she wasn't keeping herself busy with work.

On the third day she woke up and convinced herself to start the routine all over again. She hadn't managed to meet up with Ville again, but to her dismay he had been on her mind more than a stranger should. She pushed him back out of her mind and climbed out of the warmth of her bed to get herself dressed.

After a few minutes of scrutinizing her appearance in the mirror like she does every morning, Marley made the decision to go get coffee down the street. She was barely paying attention to her surroundings while making her way down the busy sidewalk. She also failed to notice the tall Finn that spotted her, yet again, through the other pedestrians on the street.

He decided to say hello and he finally caught up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. Marley, still oblivious to someone that close behind her, nearly jumped out of her skin. She reeled around and nearly pommeled the man out of instinct before she saw Ville with his eyes the size of saucers.

"Are you trying to kill me? And I nearly gave you a bloody lip, you bastard." She said through a laugh.

She did her best to mask her excitement at seeing him again.

Ville laughed at the small woman's reaction. He stood over 6' and there was no way Marley was over 5'4" he thought to himself.

"You probably would have popped me pretty good if you would have had a ladder on hand." He said through a sideways smirk.

"Very funny." Marley said' swatting at his arm.

"Where are you on your way to, miss?" Ville asked while trying to match strides.

"Well, I was thinking about coffee since I just woke up from a nap, and yourself?"

"Coffee? Ville said through a giggle.
"You're in Finland. You need something more than that to wake you up and warm your bones. I'm heading to a pub down the street. Why don't you join me?"

"It's not even past noon. Isn't it a bit early for a pint?"

"There's no such thing." Ville said while grabbing her hand and pulling her down the street to his favorite spot.

Marley laughed and looked down at the mans hand that was wrapped around her own. His hand dwarfed and nearly completely hid her own. She was glad he had on gloves as her palm began to sweat from the strange nerves that came on whenever she was around him.

She realized that feeling in the pit of her stomach was butterflies. His green eyes looked down at the petite woman and he smiled. She wondered what was behind the looks he gave her and decided to just go with the flow instead of letting her over thinking mind get the best of her. She just gave him a smile back and tried to keep up with his long legs.

Once at the pub they grabbed a corner booth and Ville pulled out his pack of smokes, struck a match and lit one to calm the nerves that threatened to erupt every time he looked at her. He decided strike up a casual conversation to get to know her and what she was like.

"Marley. That's an interesting name. Where'd it come from?"

"Well, it's not my real name, Mr. Valo."