Seb and Bernadette were taking a walk at the downtown of Vienna. She loved shopping, but that was something that he didn't like from her. She often spent money, both hers and his, to buy expensive clothes. When they were walking, they found a gelato shop. She was craving for it.
"Seb, I want a gelato."
"Okay."
They walked together to the shop. There was a quite long queue, as it was one of the most famous gelato shops in Vienna and besides, people always search for gelato or ice cream during the summer.
Then, Seb realized that the gelato shop was quite close to Gia's bookstore. He didn't want to waste time waiting for Bernadette. "Bernadette, I want to go to a bookstore now."
"Which bookstore?"
"The store is Once Upon a Book. You don't have to go there because I'll be long. I'm afraid that you'll be boring. You can go wherever you want to and I'll tell you if I have finished."
Without waiting for her reply (she actually nodded a little), Seb left the place and walked to the bookstore. He pushed the door as he entered the store. That place was like a heaven to him. Not only because he could hunt some interesting books that he could read on the plane or at his house, but also because he could meet Gia, if he was lucky.
Biography book was one of his favourites. He was next to the biography bookshelf when Gia noticed him. She hid behind a bookshelf which was a bit far from his place. She could only see him from a distance as she didn't want him to notice her.
From his second visit to her bookstore, Gia could conclude that he did remember her. But he was pretending that he didn't know her. She was so curious to know why but at the same time, she wasn't ready to talk to him.
Some minutes after, a woman with a glamorous fashion style came into the bookstore. The woman brought a cup of gelato. "Hi, love!" the woman held Seb's hand.
"Bernadette, I told you not to follow me. You will be boring here." Seb felt annoyed as she didn't obey him.
"It's fine. As long as I'm with you, I won't be boring."
Seb just shook his head and his eyes refocused on the book he was currently reading. While, Bernadette was eating the gelato she had just bought. His mission to see Gia probably failed before it even started.
Although Gia didn't want to face him, but she had to reprimand his girlfriend for bringing any kind of food to the bookstore. She took a deep breath before she had the courage to face them. She didn't care what would happen next.
"Excuse me."
Seb and Bernadette glanced to the source of the voice. His heart was suddenly beating so fast as he saw her in front of him. Why does she appear when he's with his girlfriend? He tried to act as normal as possible.
"I'm sorry in advance, but you can't bring any kind of food, beverage, or dessert to our bookstore," Gia said it firmly, while giving them a slight smile.
As Seb realized that Bernadette broke a rule applied at the bookstore, he asked her to leave. "Bernadette, I think that you should come out of here and finish your gelato."
"But Seb-"
"Please."
Gia was just staring at the couple. She assumed that Bernadette didn't like to be commanded like that. But no matter who she was, either she was an actress or even a politician, she was still a visitor who needed to respect the rules there.
Bernadette glanced at Gia one more time before she left. She opened the door roughly. Seb felt embarrassed with her behaviour. Then, he wanted to apologize to her. "I'm so sorry that my-"
Gia turned around and left him quickly, as she didn't want to talk to him. He sighed as she left him even before he finished talking. He was so sure that she hated him. She probably didn't even want to see his face. Or maybe she is jealous?
Gia kept walking to the coffee shop until she found Mariska there. She stopped her with asking, "Gia, what's wrong? Why are you walking so fast?"
"Oh, nothing. I just looked for you." Then, Gia decided to tell her what had just happened. She sat on a stool there. "Sebastian comes here with a woman. Maybe that's his girlfriend."
Mariska was surprised with the fact that Seb paid a visit to their bookstore again. "Oh, really? He really kept his promise to come here again."
"Yeah. But that woman brought a gelato, so I told her the rule that a visitor can't bring any kind of food here."
"And then?"
"Then, I saw that Sebastian asked her to leave and she looked upset. She looked at me with a disgusting look before she left."
"Oh my goodness, I can't believe it! She thinks that she can do whatever she wants because she is famous. I don't understand why Seb wants to date her." Mariska shook her head as she didn't believe with everything she had just heard from Gia.
"You said famous?"
"Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, she is a German fashion designer," Mariska explained. "So, what did you do after that? Did you talk to Seb after his annoying girlfriend left?" Mariska asked as she was teasing her.
"Why should I? I don't think that I have to talk to him. You fancy talking to him? Just go and see him then!" Gia pointed to the direction where Seb was standing at.
Mariska wondered with the sudden change of Gia's mood. She didn't think that she had to speak like that. "Gia, I'm sorry for teasing you. I'm just kidding."
Gia realized that she had spoken with a little bit of anger and she quickly regretted it. "God... Mariska, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you."
She stroked her back gently. "It's fine, Gia. What happened to you? Just talk to me if you have a problem."
"No, I'm just... a bit tired maybe," Gia lied.
"You want to go home now?" Mariska was worrying her best friend.
"No, I'm fine. There are still 4 hours left before we close the store. I can't just leave you."
"I think that you need a little time to take a rest. You can go to our office room if you want to," she offered her.
"I think so. Thanks, Mariska."
Gia obeyed Mariska's suggestion to take a rest at the office room. When her friend wasn't seen anymore, she moved from her stool and decided to find Seb. As one of the owners, she thought that she had to thank him for visiting her bookstore. She finally found him reading next to the biography bookshelf. She greeted him. "Hi, Seb."
Seb glanced at her and smiled. "Hi. You are Mariska, right?"
"Yes, I am. Nice to meet you again here. And thanks for visiting our bookstore again. It's really an honour for us," she thanked him. She always used 'we' for respecting Gia as the owner too.
Seb laughed a little. "I'm only a visitor, like the others. Please don't see me as an F1 driver here."
Mariska admired his humbleness. "You're so humble, Seb." She could see that Seb blushed after he got praised by her. "Oh Seb, Tobi told me that there will be the German GP this weekend."
He frowned. "Tobi? You mean Tobias?"
Mariska chuckled as she realized that Seb didn't know her boyfriend's nickname. "Oh yeah, I mean Tobias. His friends and I usually call him Tobi."
"Ah, okay. He is right. There will be the German GP this weekend. My home race."
"Good luck for you then."
"Thanks, Mariska." As he had a chance to talk to Mariska, he wanted to ask some questions. "Erm, where is your friend?"
"Georgia?"
"Yes. Georgia." Seb couldn't hide his smile every time he heard her beautiful name. But he hoped that Mariska wouldn't notice it.
"She is in our office room. She feels a bit tired, so I asked her to take a rest there."
Seb smiled sadly. He felt that it wasn't the real reason. She obviously wanted to hide from him. "Oh yeah, I just want to apologize to both of you because my girlfriend has broken the visitor's rule here. She came here with bringing a gelato she bought."
"It's fine, Seb. This is the first time for her to visit our bookstore, right? We can understand that."
Then, Seb asked about how Gia and Mariska built the bookstore. "Mariska, can you tell me how you two started to know each other and finally built this bookstore?"
"Sure. Actually, Gia is like you, she comes from Germany. She was born in Heppenheim. Gia and I were classmates when we studied at Goethe-Universität. We are very close. In 2012, when her brother got married, her family invited my parents and I. Then, in 2015, her father passed away. My parents and I immediately went there. After some weeks, she told me that she wanted to move to Vienna with her mother. She sold her house in Heppenheim and bought one here. Then, as we both have a dream to build a bookstore since we were kids, I asked her to consider it. In March 2016, this bookstore opened," Mariska told Seb in detail.
Seb honestly wanted to know why Gia moved to Vienna. "Why did she move here?"
"She said that she needed new environment. She knows that it's hard to leave Heppenheim, as her father was buried there. But she wants a new experience in her life. Besides, she loves Vienna. So that's why she moved here."
Seb was feeling that Mariska didn't know that he was Gia's childhood friend. He believed that she kept it as a secret. He called himself lucky as Mariska and Tobias probably didn't know that he was from the same town as her.
"By the way, why did you two choose Once Upon a Book as your bookstore's name?"
"It's kinda unique for us. We had some choices, but we decided to pick that one. I guess that it can easily be remembered by everyone," Mariska chuckled.
After that, they talked about other things. Seb was a person who was fun to talk to. Mariska then understood why her boyfriend became one of his fans. Some minutes later, she said goodbye to him as she had some things to do. She also let him to read the books again.
In the end, Seb bought some books from the bookstore. He was relieved as it seemed that the cashier didn't know him. He was quite sad as he didn't see Gia anymore. She was definitely hiding from him. With a heavy heart, he opened the door and exited from the bookstore.
He saw Bernadette who was standing in front the bookstore. She looked so annoyed. "Bernadette."
"Seb! I'm glad that you've finished. Let's go!"
They walked together to the place where Seb parked his car. Bernadette really wanted to be embraced by him but she knew that it was impossible for him to do that at a public place.
"Seb, please don't come to that bookstore anymore."
"Why?"
"I don't like her. She seems arrogant to me. She can't be polite to the visitors," she said, referring to Gia.
Seb sighed as Bernadette was being so exaggerated. "What do you mean? I can't see that she is arrogant. She's probably the owner of the store. She just told us the rule that is applied at her bookstore firmly. And as the visitors, we should respect it."
Bernadette stopped her steps. "Are you trying to defend her, Seb?"
He really wasn't in the mood to argue with her. "I'm not defending her. As I said, as the visitors, we should understand and respect the rules there."
They finally walked again. Seb thanked God that they had arrived at the parking lot. He hoped that it would end their argument. If he could, he wanted to laugh out loud in front of her. Gia was very far from being an arrogant person. Being possessive probably affected her mind, he thought to himself.
Author's note: Hi all! First of all, I want to thank each one of you for your appreciation on this story so far. I'm so delightful to see your comments and votes. And as usual, I will always welcome every comments or criticisms from you, please don't hesitate to say it to me!