A Kiss In The Dark

Chapter 1 : Marriage Proposal

It was a beautiful morning like any other. The birds were chirping outside her window. A gust of cool wind blew in and caused the curtains to part. The room was bathed in sunlight. Zoe was still fast asleep tired from all the late night reading.

Zoe loved to read. But then, she loved most things except cooking. It's not that she hated it, it was simply incomprehensible to her. The last time she tried cooking, she almost burned the house down. Since then her family keeps her as far away from the kitchen as possible.

The alarm started to beep. Zoe rolled over and kicked the snooze button. Zoe's room had a window facing the street below. The wall opposite her bed had a huge painting of a pair of Albatross soaring in the sky. In the corner of the room stood a desk with a study lamp and an assortment of tiny glass bottles with liquids in various colours.

"Zoe! Come out!" Screamed a woman's voice from the street below her window. After a few seconds the door flew open and her sister Kate rushed into the room with a determined look on her face.

"Wake up Zoe! And ask Fanny to stop screaming her lungs out! It's giving me a headache" exclaimed Kate pushing open the curtains to look out into street below.

Kate was tall and slender, and looked like a supermodel. She had an oval face that was framed with long blond tresses. Her large expressive green eyes were busy scanning the street below for Fanny.

Kate worked as secretary to the CEO's son, the financial head of multimillion dollar advertising company Kites. Kate dreamed of being a CEO to her very own company. She was hardworking and driven, extremely willing to excel at her place of work. She loved Zoe to bits. But she knew Zoe wasn't as passionate about conquering the world as she was. Kate never understood how Zoe could waste time dreaming. Kate was a woman of action! She found idle dreaming a waste of time.

Fanny came into the room exasperated, she said "I can't believe it! You are still sleeping!" She sat on the bed and gently shook Zoe in an attempt to wake her up.

Zoe groaned as her eyes fluttered open. She sat up and yawned. "Good morning to you too! I saw a wonderful dream" She declared with a smile. She was about to describe it to Fanny, when she was cut off by her mother Susan.

"My god! This girl! Did you just wake up?Whatever do you do all night? What? Reading? Not Again! " She screeched, clearly vexed. "Do something useful today! Go sit in the store and attend to our customers. Your dad and I are going out. Kate get going already, you will be late for work! Fanny, so nice to see you dear."

"Nice to see you too." Replied Fanny as Kate and Susan leave the room.

Susan was short and plump with a ridiculous temper. She got really mad when things didn't go her way. Her black hair was short and her beady eyes missed nothing. If crossed, she was a force to be reckoned with. Her husband and two beautiful daughters meant the world to her. But right now, she wasn't happy with Zoe. She wished Zoe was more ambitious like her sister Kate.

"Zoe was always a dreamer with her head in the clouds." Muttered Susan as she stomped down the stairs.

"Get going sleepyhead, you heard your mom." Fanny whispered loudly, while she shoved Zoe off the bed.

"Alright! Alright! I'm going! Chill woman!" Zoe yelped, rushing off to change.

"Bye! I'm leaving. See you in the evening Zoe." Fanny hollers on her way downstairs.

Fanny was Zoe's neighbor and best friend. They shared a close bond like sisters. Zoe felt closer to Fanny than her own sister Kate. Her friend always had the best advice. Fanny lived with her brother Hans, the local butcher. Her parents died when they were teenagers. Her brother is all she had. Fanny is a lot like Zoe, but she was more ambitious. A computer geek who dreamed of having her own successful website where she advised people as a life coach.