Red Strings Of Appriciation |PHAN|

1|The Ringing Of The Bell

I was sat down at the shop counter, hunched over on my stool as I read.
Barely anyone come to the shop, despite it being late November with Christmas on the horizon. No one looked twice at the 'Crooked Shelf' book shop. Just a quaint little building on the corner, the books were "too old to be of any interest" according to an inspector a few months back, that didn't bother me though. I liked this place, but then again I wouldn't be here if I didn't.
The shop had two floors connected by a black cast iron staircase. All the walls where painted a bright, crisp white making the petit shelf-lined rooms look more spacious than they were. I had painted quite a few quotes from books on the wall in black and silver paint, and small constellations in some unadorned nooks. I was happy with the outcome. If only others appreciated this place as much as I did. If only people appreciated me.

I sighed looking at the clock, 06:20 two hours till closing, and then turned back to my book, 'Red strings tie our hearts'. Cheesy title, heartfelt tale.
It ties together --pardon the pun-- a beautiful story of conflicted love patterns and choices with a old Japanese belief that we have tiny red, string-like connections that loop around our little fingers' and ajoin with someone else's, the largest string connecting you and your soul mate, and the other smaller strings tieing onto other relationships such as friendships and family. The meer idea of the myth was pleasantly liberating --ironic as it means that you're technicaly up to someone-- knowing you'll always find someone for you, your other half.

I was shaken from my thoughts by a sound. The bell above the door rang. Someone had entred. I had a coustomer.
I looked up from my book to see a man in front of me. He was tall, but a few inches shorter than me. He had brilliant blue eyes and pale skin, and perfect midnight blue hair. But it wasn't his good looks that had me speachless. It was the fact I could have sworn I saw a large red woolen strand join my hand to his. When I blinked it was gone. 'Pull yourself together Dan you've, got an actual coustomer now. You only saw that because you've been alone in this shop reading for so long. Don't be stupid, no one would even want you to begin with.' I thought sternly to myself looking at my a name badge as I did so  (it said 'Hi, my name is Dan' on it. How ironic.)

I hopped off my stool to return the book I'd been reading to it's shelf, the book interesting and good though it was, had brought me many difficult moments on its own. I needed to let go. I needed to change.

Hey! I hope you enjoyed the first (short, sorry) chapter of this new story --woah boy, deadlines-- I'll try to update as much as I can, but I'm working on two stories at the moment so I'll do my best. Please vote comment and follow if you like! Have a great day! ~Lucy