𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓 (𝐒𝐩𝐲 𝐱 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲: 𝐘𝐮𝐫𝐢 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐫 𝐱 𝐎𝐂)

Chapter 10: Rendezvous

Aria finally reached her room before finishing her nighttime routine.

"Walter-san! Please, help me out a little." The woman called for the butler.
The man quickly stumbled to reach her in time to help her.

"What may I help you with, Aria-san?" He asked, not meeting her eyes with respect.

"I need all the books on date etiquette! Do we have those in our library?" She frantically asked, nervous to mess up tomorrow for Yuri and herself. She started to bite the skin around her nails in anxiousness.

"Desmond-sama, we haven't placed an order to buy such books in the first place, so I believe there aren't any. However, I think that you wouldn't need it anyways." He reassured the girl who was sitting in the middle of her bed, hands buried in her hair now.

"Then how would I know how to act around him? I am so lost every time I talk to Yuri-san. I keep stumbling over my words and forgetting what I want to say, Walter-san! I am 20 already! Not a kid, so why am I like this?!" She messed her own hair up in frustration.
That scene made the old man crack a smile.

"If I may give you an advice... this seems like you have developed strong feelings for the boy." He said, caressing his beard and smiling at the clueless looking girl.

"What do you mean, Walter-san?feelings or no feelings, I am not a kid anymore to be like a teenager with a crush, so why?... this awkwardness and nervousness that I feel around him... I don't understand..." She buried her flaming cheeks in her forearms, as she crossed her arms on her knees in embarrassment.

"It doesn't have anything to do with your age, Desmond-sama. You just developed feelings and whether it happens at 10 years of 20, it would feel the same way. You are never too old for love. The awkwardness might be due to your not being able to muster words up, since you probably want that person to think of you in a positive light, whereas the nervousness is probably because you are uncertain of his feelings and want to earn his favour in some sort of way. It differs with everyone. Just come clean to yourself about your feelings first, Desmond-sama." The man's eyes turned crescent, as a soft smile adorned on his face.

"Then that means that I just have to go with the flow tomorrow?" She started to imagine their date tomorrow. An audible hum, agreeing with her point could be heard, as the man waited for her to dismiss him.

"Thank you, Walter-san." She nodded at him, giving him permission to leave the room.

She never felt these emotions to this extent before, so she was lost if she was actually overreacting or not. Her thoughts were all over the place and she was a total wreck at that moment.

To calm herself down, she decided to scream into her pillow and proceeded to hug it very tight until she squeezed out every bit of her uncertainty and anxiousness. If it was a person instead of the pillow, she might have broken a rib or two.

After calming herself down, she quickly fell asleep in the same position, a dreamt smile adorning her face.

The woman woke up as soon as the knocks could be heard, since she was hypersensitive. She has slept for only 3 hours. It wasn't enough for her, but she will have to make do with that.

Her bathrobe lied right next to the bed, she slept in. It was on her drawer, ready for her to be worn.

The woman was fully ready, dressed in her long peach coloured skirt and a white blouse. Her type of clothing usually consisted of muted tones and pastel colours, though all of her three piece suits  are indeed only in black or white, her casual clothing had more varieties to it.

Her typical outwear were long skirts. In her opinion, they made her look more sophisticated, elegant, yet immensely feminine all at the same time.

Aria loved wearing them, especially when she had off-work appointments. Her preference didn't just stop there, but the dresses made her usually feel more exposed. She had no idea why, but it felt like they showed her raw emotions a lot more than skirts. With skirts, she can wear a blouse, that may look professional, but the dresses mostly weren't all that professional looking back then. Her work life and private one were completely separate from each other. Aria made sure of that fact.