Over Some Tea

“Thank you, miss!”

A small girl waved goodbye while holding a sheet of paper in her other hand. The gentleman who had paid for the painting called out for her to slow down as he started chasing after her.

Laughter filled the air as the young woman put the coins in her purse and slowly began a new sketch of the place she visited every day in the city, a small town hidden away from the main streets. The fountain in the centre was her absolute favourite, especially when the sunset made the ripples of water glow.

There was a small cafe across the stone floor, huddled beside a bookstore, post office and charity shop. Filling the air was the scent of freshly baked bread and biscuits; it was the perfect getaway.

Delphine enjoyed the lively atmosphere accompanied by the free-flowing creativity that encircled her. The sound of simple conversation followed by children playing was completely different to everything she had grown up with. A deep breath filled her chest as she focused on deepening the tone of the sketch of the cafe ahead. She loved practising the different faces and how every time it was drawn, it could be seen that her skill was improving on the climbing flowers of the building and the intricacy of it as a whole.

Although her guilty pleasure was drawing one of the more consistent faces of the cafe that had caught her eye the first day she had stumbled upon the little hideaway, a waiter whose name she didn’t know. Every other day, Delphine considered walking through the doors to say something to him, but then the voices of her parents in her mind would make her halt.

So instead she drew him, mostly just him, although she always turned her face away whenever he looked towards her direction, so he didn’t catch the intense look she had on her face whenever focusing on sketching him.

As the hours dwindled into late evening, Delphine started gathering her supplies to carry back home when a voice spoke behind her.

“Excuse me, Miss?”

“Sorry, sir, I have to get home, but you can catch me tomorrow-” her words stopped in their tracks as she turned to see him standing in front of her, with a light smile on his face. Tripping over her words while blushing,

“Oh! H-Hi!”

Only then did she notice the cup in his hand filled with hot liquid that steam lifted from, and a cupcake in his other, clearing his throat as he started to pass them to her and spoke.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I noticed you didn’t eat or drink today, and you never come in but it looked like you wanted to, so...”

“T-Thank you.”

A loud grumble from Delphine’s stomach only confirmed it; she was hungrier than she thought, and the audible sound made him laugh. It sounded so carefree.

“Feel free to come in next time, okay?”

Before she could respond, another voice called out from within the cafe,

“Edgar! Come help me close up!”

“Yes, boss! Coming! Hope you enjoy the tea, see you soon.” He started to jog back towards the cafe, so she quickly thanked him before taking a sip of the sweet liquid, feeling warm in her chest.

By the time Delphine finished the cupcake, she could see him locking the door and waving in her direction, which she returned while smiling, sipping the drink as she started walking towards the main street.

She forgot to tell him her name...

It would have to wait until tomorrow.

The closer she got towards her home, the more she began to change how she walked and started to tie her hair up into a quick but more sophisticated style, checking her hands to make sure they were still clean. Night had fully taken the sky, and by the time she stood at the door of the mansion, all she could wonder was if her parents would notice her.

Opening it slowly and leaning in to check if the coast was clear, only to find her looking directly at her disapproving father’s worn face, making her chuckle nervously.

“Father! You’re home early...”

Delphine’s mother raised an eyebrow and gave her father a shared look as the door closed fully and she walked in.

“Delphine, returning home at these hours is becoming tiresome. Do you know how dangerous it is for you to wander the streets alone at night?”

Her father walked them both to the parlour room, sitting down in front of the fireplace, which made the air feel more tense. Even the comfort of the luxurious couch couldn’t ease the sudden feeling pooling in her stomach as her father crossed his arms and spoke,

“It’s highly improper for a young lady, unmarried, to be out and about nowadays. There’s no excuse.”

She didn’t even have the chance to respond, only able to let out a small sigh as her father continued, easing back into his armchair.

“However...it should not provide an issue much longer.”

This caught her immediate attention, making her head rise to meet her father’s face, asking slowly. “What do you mean?”

A grin spread across her mother’s face as her shoulders eased, making a chill run up Delphine’s spine as even her mother’s soft tone couldn’t soothe the feeling that followed her words.

“From tomorrow, we will be receiving suitors for you to meet; it’s about time we started interviews...”

Their voices faded into the air as dread filled her chest. It had always been in the back of her mind for sure, after all, since the day she blossomed, it took all of her charm to convince her parents to wait until she was older before being betrothed, despite it looking poorly on their family. However, it seems she could no longer hold them back from it; even if she were to try, it was sure to fail.

An unmarried noble in their twenties was less desirable in society’s eyes.

“Mother, surely there’s another option?”

A final desperate plea fell on deaf ears, the last of her hope squashed as her father responded calmly, rubbing the side of his forehead.

“Delphine, it has been nearly a decade since your coming of age and we have been lenient, but our, and eligible suitors, patience wears thin.”

Her heart grew heavy as she excused herself to her chambers, falling into the light sheets of her bed with the sketchpad near her, taking a deep breath into the pillow. This day was always to come, she knew, and in her mind, Delphine knew that her father had been very considerate in giving her as much time as he had.

The greying of his hair was growing, and if she didn’t have a husband or fiancé before his time was over, the business that had made all their lives secure would be ripped away from under them.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned over and lifted the loose floorboard under her bed, putting her purse in before returning it to its place. At the very least, for her father, she would entertain meeting these suitors; being in a loveless marriage was the one thing she wanted to avoid more than anything.

It had been such a good day as well...

A sudden blush rushed over her face as Delphine remembered Edgar and the kindness he had shown her. The warmth of the tea fresh in her mind as she thought about it made her sit up involuntarily. Grabbing her sketchpad, she dropped onto the end of the bed and pulled out a pencil to begin sketching him, using a deep emerald green for his eyes. The detail of the sketch only grew more intense as the night went on. Even when it was finished, all she could do was stare; it was an exact copy.

His eyes must’ve been captured perfectly because the more she looked into them, the more a light, fuzzy feeling filled her body. Only when she realised it did she snap out of her daze and hide the sketchpad under her pillow, cupping her face in her hands as she mumbled.

“What are you doing!? You don’t even know him, be real. He’s…probably forgotten you already.”

Yet, across the streets and through winding roads, Edgar was eating his dinner in the small flat he rented. His mother was in the room next to his as his mind drifted between today and tomorrow. Only finding focus when his thoughts fell onto the woman he’d seen every other day for the past several months across from his work, sitting by the fountain and spending her hours on the arts, whether it was painting or sketching, but it was always the same look on her face.

One he couldn’t quite determine.

She never came inside, but now and again during his shifts, he’d catch her gazing intently at the scenery and sketching, although he noticed that she seemed to avoid his look since their eyes never met. Edgar had hoped slightly that the mystery woman would come into the cafe so he could get an opportunity to talk to her, but she never stepped inside, so today, after noticing she didn’t have a packed lunch like usual took the opportunity to meet her, but he was a little stunned.

From afar, he’d only caught her voice slightly, and since he mostly spent time indoors, all he could determine from the small looks he’d gotten was her rich mahogany hair, but tonight, when she turned to him, he saw her eyes. A glacier blue.

Edgar hadn’t expected it to stick with him, but the mystery and beauty of her had caught him like a bug in a spiderweb. Even now, after finishing his soup, he was sitting still, reaching up to cover his face with his arm. There was only one regret, one that kept bothering him even hours later…

He never got her name.

But, he hoped with the invitation Edgar extended, she’d come in the next time she was there. Maybe order a drink, and he could join her, although that was a highly improbable thing to happen, after washing the dishes and setting down the mattress onto the floor, coughing lightly as it picked up a little dust, he sighed.

“She could probably land any lord in the cities with her beauty.”

He slipped into the thin blanket and looked over to the window that showed the night sky littered with stars, yawning heavily as they both started to fall asleep to the thought of each other on their minds unknowingly, a single shooting star crossing the skies above them.