Mia, a working young adult, struggles with her problems with anxiety until she meets Theo, a working man struggling to make a comfy living, at a strange encounter. Mia lets Theo into her world of art and nature and they soon fall deeply in love. The...
I woke up to my alarm buzzing at 5:00 am. I knew that if I didn't wake up early, I would sleep the entire day away. I jumped up and got to my usual routine. I made the bed, dressed, brushed my teeth, combed my hair, and most importantly, I watered the plants. It's too much of a hassle to go out and get more plants so I knew it was important to keep them alive. They were my only constant reminder of the outside world that truly gave me a spark of hope. My insecurities and anxiety would instantly flood away by the sight of my beautiful plants. The collection held in my art studio consisted of bright flowers such as poppies, peonies, marigolds, and daisies. Among the flourishing colors, I made sure to include plenty of greens including ferns and succulents of many kinds.
I lived alone with my cat, Oreo, but I rarely ever felt lonely. I dread going outside and I keep coming up with excuses to not hang out with friends and family. A lot of my friends have left me over the years because they took my fear to offense.
A loud gurgling of my stomach interrupted my thoughts and I went to the fridge to get something to eat. When I opened the doors, a cold burst blew in my face like a cloud. There was no food other than a few condiments. Panicked, I quickly opened the pantry to discover no food there either. I broke down in tears with the thought of having to go out to the grocery store. I collected myself and fixed my hair and makeup to go out. I grabbed my wallet and stood with my feet touching the door. I took a deep breath and opened the door. I walked about three feet out of my apartment before running back in and closing the door. My heart was pounding out of my chest. The sound filled my ears. I picked up the phone and dialed the number for a Chinese food delivery.
I sat back down in my studio and worked on a large painting of a Koi Fish pond for one of my new customers. The small and large strokes of the brush soothed my mind until I heard the doorbell. I dropped the brush on the floor and felt my heart sink again. I fumbled to the door to open it to the delivery man. The man was a bit taller than me and looked to be around my age. He had a bright smile and dark hair that looked so messy yet neat. His eyes were a shocking light brown. The most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. He was so surreal. He was beautiful. I felt my face heat up as I paid him and quickly reached for the Chinese bag. I felt as my hand brushed against his and, flustered, I dropped the entire bag. Noodles and rice exploded everywhere. It was a mess. The man jumped back in surprise. Abashed, I ran back inside and shut the door. I felt as tears flooded my eyes from embarrassment. I shouldn't have shut the door. I should've helped him.
I quickly ran to my kitchen and collected paper towels and ran to the door again.
"I'm so so sorry..I didn't mean to slam the door like that" I said as I helped pick up the disastrous mess I created. The beautiful man giggled and looked in my eyes.
"It's fine." He said with another laugh. "Work has been tough anyway and meeting you has somewhat made my day feel a lot better."
"I don't mean to hold you up from work. I'm really sorry." I said breaking the eye contact.
"It's my last shift for the afternoon. My boss won't mind." He said picking up the rest of the poured noodles. "I can bring you back another order for no charge."
"No don't worry about it!" I said a little bit too loudly. "It's your last shift. I should go grocery shopping anyway."
"It won't be a bother!" The man said flashing another one of his bright smiles. "I'm Theo by the way." He said with a slight bow.
"Mia." I said shyly in response as I gave a slight bow in return
"I'll be right back Mia! It was so nice meeting you." Theo said making eye contact once more before leaving out the door.
I let out a loud sigh before going back in my studio. I picked up the paintbrush off the ground and began painting strokes happily as I hummed to myself. My stomach rumbled again, a reminder of my lunch incident. I smiled to myself as I waited for Theo's return. To see his sparkly doe eyes again.
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