Half a Man at Best (Sequel to VALERIE)

Chapter Six

UNEDITED again bc lazy af! HAHA

Copyright © zylgnagnaba 2014

Valerie’s POV

“Your favourite customer is here.” Joanie alerts – warns is the accurate word– me at the same time that the glass door opens. I snap my head towards its direction and see Joshen with a wide cheeky grin across his innocent face, walking towards my desk.

“Oh hi, Joshen!” I greet him with a rather sweet voice matching my sweet smile. When I look up at Joanie, she is rolling her eyes at me. I stand up to formally welcome the little boy.

Joshen is a twelve year old kid who happens to be the son of the building’s owner. He has these beautiful blue eyes that remind me of either Niall or Louis, and jet black hair with a quiff just like Zayn’s. He’s a little too young, but his maturity level could be compared to most twenty year olds nowadays. He’s a little more mature than that, even—just like Liam. See how cliché my life is?

Since I bought the property from his family, he had always been visiting the shop, giving me flowers and treats. Joanie finds it really annoying, but to me, it’s really cute.

“Hi, Gail!” He says rather excitedly, if I say so myself. His arms are hidden behind his back, as if he is hiding something from me.

“Okay,” I sigh and roll my eyes in an okay-I-know-you-have-something-for-me-nothing-is-new way. “What do you have for me today?”

He quickly pulls his hands out, revealing three sunflowers. I admit, I am little bit disappointed because he’d usually bring flowers with chocolates, but I guess not today.

“Oh thank you, Joshen. You’re really sweet.” I tell him and he takes one step forward to hand me the flowers. To my surprise, he closes his eyes, tips his head back a little and pouted his lips when I lean down to his head. I watch as Joanie suppresses her laughter at the corner, but miserably fails so she covers her mouth with her hands. I roll my eyes at her and kiss Joshen’s forehead anyway.

When I pull back, his eyes blink for several times before they widen at me. He looks disappointed at my gesture but he shakes his head a bit and smiles at me.

“How’s your little sister, by the way?” I ask, looking down at his smaller height and his eyes glisten at my question. If there’s something I admire about the little kid, it’s the love and concern he has over his sister with special needs.

“She misses you.” The wide grin is plastered on his face as he says so.

“Tell her that I miss her too and that I’ll visit her as soon as I’m not bombarded with work, okay?”

“Sure,” The young lad tells me. The liveliness in his tone radiates off of him, sending me happy vibe – if that’s what anyone would call it. “Sorry, I couldn’t bring you chocolates today. My mom said it’ll give you pimples. I don’t want you to have that.”

His bluntness set Joanie off and she couldn’t help but laugh anymore. I, however, beam at how adorable he is being so I ruffle his hair in an attempt to show how I really appreciate him. He looks rather annoyed when he tries to fix his hair again, but hides it so as not to disappoint me. I smile even more.

“May I ask you a question, Gail?” His eyes are hopeful and I arch my brows to encourage him to continue. “Do you um… do you want to go out with… me?” His cheeks flush and he purses his lips. I mentally giggle at his bashfulness.

‘Oh my god,’ I hear Joanie mutter to herself and turns her heels to go to the other room. She probably couldn’t take it anymore but it’s a hopeless attempt since I believe she could still hear the conversation I am having with the little boy. I shrug it off and look at Joshen again.