The Beauty Within (#OnceUponNow)

Chapter One

There was an old saying that I was taught, and it went along the lines of "you can't please everyone". Well, I believed it now, with all of my shriveled up heart. You can't please this world because everyone expects unnatural beauty. Everyone expects women to be flawless, skinny, tan, and downright beautiful. And well, I was none of those things. I had a pale tone, and my figure was on the pudgy side. My hair was a frizzy mass of curls, and my nose could compete with a guy's in manliness. But what made me stand out the most was the jagged scar that curved over the right side of my face, starting at my brow and working its way down towards my chin.

I scared everyone that walked by, especially children, and it reminded me that I would never find the one thing that I desired most: true love. No one would ever love someone as hideous as me, and thinking about this repeatedly caused me to lose all happiness. I became a raging monster, trashing my apartment every time that I'd come home, only to clean it up as I cried over my temper tantrums. My life was miserable, and I only stayed alive for the sake of the bookstore that I owned.

It surprised me that I would have customers still, but my business hasn't changed much since the accident, an accident that I would never speak of again. However, I had many loyal customers, enough to keep my business up and thriving. It was the only thing in this world that I was grateful for.

Today was Monday, and business was slow, as it usually is on Monday mornings. The only customers that I had at the moment were the older people who wanted a daily newspaper from the collection that was always delivered here every morning. However, I also noticed someone new in my small bookstore. My eyes widened when I really studied his appearance.

His light brown hair seemed to shine like gold in the lighting, and his eyes were a tone of green that reminded me of emeralds. His skin was a perfect tan, as if he spent most of his time outside, and his shirt fit perfectly against him, hinting that he had godly sculpted muscles. I knew that I needed to look away from him before he noticed me, but I couldn't. His face captivated me, as if it hypnotized me to never look away from his stunning face. It wasn't until a throat was cleared that I snapped my eyes away from him, blushing.

He had walked up to the counter, now chuckling at my blush. "I'm sorry, am I not the usual to come in your store?"

"W-well, I'm use to having older people in here on Monday mornings," I stumbled out, trying to hide my scar by leaning the right side of my face on my hand.

"That's not surprising. Monday mornings are the worst," he laughed out, smiling brightly towards me.

I smiled a small smile back, "I agree with you. They can be the absolute worst, especially on rainy days."

He chuckled a little. "Exactly," He cleared his throat, handing me a packet of papers, "I noticed that you had a 'help wanted' sign out front, and I'm actually interested in the job, if you don't mind."

"Seriously? The only thing you need for qualification is a love for reading and great organization skills," I explained, glancing over his resume and mini portfolio.

His name was Elliot Reid, a recent high school graduate. He was two years younger than me, which made him around eighteen or nineteen years of age.

He smiled, "Well, darling, I have an amazing book collection at home. Reading is my passion, and I have a slight organization habit. If you want, I can even take pictures of my apartment and show it to you."

"I think that that I can believe you, based off of this excellent resume that you have. You know what, you can have the job temporarily for two weeks. I want to observe you before I officially give you the job, " I said.

"And will I get paid during these two weeks?" he asked.

I nodded. "Minimum wage, but your salary will go up once I officially hire you. After that, you salary will increase slowly depending on how efficient and hard you work."

He smiled. "Well, darling. Count me in!"

"Alright! You have the job! For two weeks, that is."