Bumping into you.

One word to describe it all- confusing.

As I stood inside Starbucks, I was confused. My head was fuzzy, my stomach churning with hunger,my eyes drooping and my body jet-lagged. I had never been to a Starbucks....much less in a foreign country. And here I stood, in uptown Manhattan to attend my cousin, Amisha’s wedding. My parents had not come with me as dad had some urgent matter to attend to so mom also stayed with him. It was the first time i rode an airplane. I had always been kinda socially impaired, and since I hail from a small town in Uttar Pradesh, India, it was pretty understandable. The line was long........really long. And as I gazed around the café, I couldn’t help myself from admiring the serene and yet modern interior of the shop. It was all wooden, the shelves, the counters, the tables, the chairs and even the floor.Overhead, golden- yellow LED lights, hanging from mini-glass chandeliers illuminated the surroundings. The ceiling was a false one, with jet-black and blood red geometric patterns. The glass counters were loaded with a thousand types of cakes, cupcakes, pretzels, pastries and God knows what all, in a thousand different shades of every color imaginable. The scent of it all was enough to make my soul dance with joy, but the sight of it! it set my stomach on fire. My mouth watered and greedily lusted for the little delights. It was 9′o clock in the morning there and the place was buzzing with life. People belonging to almost all races and ages and were standing there, waiting for their coffee. The handful of Hollywood films I had watched portrayed the Americans as pretty ‘liberal’ . I was seeing it for myself now. The guy right in front of me looked like his entire body was a canvas. He was skinny and long, with multiple piercings on his face and sticky raven hair pointing in all possible directions.He was chewing gum and the sight of him made me frown. I had never seen people like that from where I came from and thus wasn’t used to people roaming around looking like that. He was chewing noisily and listening to music with earphones on. The volume was so loud that the playing rock in his i-pod was starting to give me a migraine. I had no idea what I was going to order, as the only coffee I knew was- coffee. As I glanced at the menu above the wooden-glass counter, I could see a million coffee types written on it. my head started to hurt again. As my turn finally came, the woman at the counter asked for my order without even looking up. She was a plump curly- haired woman with an almond skin tone. from the looks of it she seemed to be in her 50s. I looked up at the menu board,sweat beading up on my forehead, I didn’t know what to order!. After waiting for a few seconds , the woman looked up at me with a poker face – “ma’am I do not have all day.” I hastily replied – ” um...how about a latte?” . with a frown on her face she asked- “Caffe latte, Cinnamon latte, flavored latte or whipped latte with honey?“.I internally groaned. I just wanted coffee and here I am feeling like a trainwreck. “ci- cinnamon latte?“.The woman let out a sigh “okay to cinnamon latte it is!. Anything else?“. My stomach churned in response. “a sandwich?” . the lady’s face now locked up in a frown and I knew she would strangle me if she had a chance. – “WHAT kind of sandwich would you like....ma’am”. she was starting to scare me so without a second thought I replied – “a grilled cheese sandwich”. Annoyed, the woman didn’t bother to ask if I needed anything else. “that will be $7.65" . I hurriedly went through my back pack and produced a $10 note. She snatched it right out of my fingers, handed me the change and with a displeased look asked me my name. “Maya.” , I replied. After waiting for my order for a minute, the woman handed me my sandwich and latte whose name I couldn’t quite recall. “have a good day...ma’am” she snorted. As I looked at my cup, I was enlightened.Apparently my name was spelled as ‘Miaa’. I groaned and without responding turned and BAM!. I bumped into a black-clad chest and my sandwich, coffee and self esteem all hit the floor. Anger boiled inside me . As if today hadn’t been bad enough already!. “can you at least WATCH where you are going?” I yelled at the man as he hurriedly muttered apologies. As I looked at the mess on the floor, people started to gather in a mob around us. “isn’t that-“. “oh my god it is!“. I could hear gasps and shrieks. Apparently the mob was there to admire the arse who had so kindly bumped into me and made me drop my food. As I looked up to see what all the fuss was about, a pair of the most gorgeous brown eyes met mine. They were not just one shade but several, from dark chocolate to amber to honey to the shade of leaves in autumn. His long lashes curled up like a doll’s. His lips were thick and plump and a perfect shade of pink. His cheekbones high, yet somehow his cheeks were round and chubby. His nose was rounded and comparatively a little small for his pearly white face. A very slight blush decorated his face and his head was a mess of thick silky curls, exactly the color of his eyes, every shade of brown.I could just not stop looking into those eyes. They were fierce, as if threatening to swallow my entire being if I dared to stare into them any longer and yet somehow gentle, as though inviting me to relish their beauty for as long as I pleased. I was snapped out of it when I heard a shrill scream “OMG ITS IAN LOCKHEART!!!!“. The black clad cutie shot me a worried look and I returned it with a pitiful one. As if hearing the boy’s silent plea, a bunch of men wearing black suits and sunglasses burst into the café . “get back, please all of you get back.” the one with the gelled black hair said to the huge mob that was ready to swallow the poor boy alive. The group of bodyguards came around and gathered in a circle around him. “lets go sir” one of the bodyguards said. The boy sighed “I just wanted to get my own coffee for once” he said under his breath in response. He suddenly grabbed my hand and started to gallop out the door and into a shining vanity van. He pushed me and inside and followed. As I stumbled inside the van, I was hit by the cold gust of air from the AC and suddenly my whole body began to relax. Then it occurred to me that I was practically manhandled out the café and into a black van by a stranger, however good-looking he may be. I turned to look at my kidnapper, who was waiting for me to shoot questions at him with folded arms. He had taken off his cap, revealing his hair. They looked like a silk mesh which made me want to run my fingers through them. I was snapped out of it by the boy’s fake cough. “Who are you and what am I doing here?”

A/N- HEEYY Y’ALL LOVELY HOMO SAPIENS! THANKS FOR READING! LET ME KNOW HOW YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER SO I CAN WORK ON THE NEXT ONE AND MAKE IT BETTER. XOXO

NT.