The little boy huffed!

His eager eyes were rounding all over the little flower shop. Every single day for more than two months this tiny tot is trying to uncover the angel who always keeps his favourite chocolate muffins available on the small counter of this shop without any missing. How does she always get to know when he will come to shop and what muffins he likes! He always wonders. So today he is determined and single-headed.. he won't return home until he gets to meet the angel muffin.

"Tua madre deve essere preoccupata per te, piccolo" The middle-aged lady sitting against the cash counter warily spoke. Without any second thought, she knew all efforts of this curious little's will go in vain like every day. She herself is trying her best to make the new member of her home socialise with the neighbourhood but she is rigid against doing so. (Your mom must be worried about you, baby)

"Voglio incontrarla subito" The boy being extremely tired of that hide and seek game exclaimed fussily. Even one day he decided not to accept these muffins anymore until he gets to meet the maker behind them but like always his solid determination could not win over his cravings. (I want to meet her right away)

Rose was very carefully listening to their conversation from the door's side. She wanted to decipher the meanings but she could not. How could she! She never communicated with a single human there and on top of that being a slow learner did not help her at all. Her only hope, Agatha, was also not good at this department. That being the fact, she became Rose's only medium of translating the words she designs to convey very rarely.

Rose would attentively listen or peep inside the shop in the afternoon time when the customers would be much lesser than usual. Agatha insisted her to manage the flower shop at least during this time but Rose being insecure has not agreed on this deal yet.

When she sneaked a look inside the shop she saw the familiar little boy was busy talking to Agatha though he usually leaves by this time. Observing no other customer's presence, Rose thought to take the chance to meet the little boy. She knew Agatha would be more than happy to help her with this.

As soon as she forwarded a step, one young lady opened the front door seizing her actions. She had a noticeable baby bump and it was beautiful.

"Marco" She called out for the boy. That boy ran towards his mother and wrapped his tiny arms around her body. That neighbourly lady was exchanging some sweet talks with Agatha while running her fingers through her baby boy's hair. Neither Rose could concentrate on their conversation nor on the boy anymore. Her eyes were stuck on the young lady. She was glowing, she was looking so happy with her family around just how Rose ached to be.

Her baby bump would have grown like that too if that unfortunate incident did not occur. Her mind, her heart numbed like every time that cursed night strikes through her senses. It was unforgettable. Her unlucky desperation was to blame, her desires for achieving her freedom and her selfishness towards it was to blame. Being rationally selfish for only once in her entire life had caused her the life of her unborn fetus. She never demanded freedom at the cost of her baby. It was not something in her plan.

Guilt rised up in her heart, teardrops rolled down her rosy cheeks before Agatha held her arms. Rose moved her eyes upward to her comforter who was able to read her emotions without any difficulty.

"You promised me something honey" Agatha's motherly voice was a soothing assurance for Rose. Agatha's warm smile was a medicine for her bleeding heart. Rose has promised her that she will never cry over that incident again.

"I just got carried away seeing .. seeing the.. " Rose brokenly said while rubbing away the tears.

"Oh, that lady? She is Marco's mother. She is 6th month's pregnant with her second child" Agatha cautiously said looking at Rose's face. She wants Rose to get over that unhealthy trauma. She believes she is successful in doing some progress with it.

"You are very young my child. And you have your whole life awaiting you with blissful events. Trust me on this." Agatha placed a small kiss on her forehead affectionately earning a subtle smile from her.

Rose made themselves pistachio latte and brought it to the backyard garden. She had grown various flowers like chrysanthemum, lily, orchids and some pink tulips in there. Agatha being a flower shop owner and Rose a lover of plants was a golden match indeed. Agatha's small flower shop has increased its sales rapidly with the help of Rose's dedication and knowledge behind the curtains. Everyone around Rose is to be benefited by her presence, she is such a sweet person.

She was mixing the sugar when Agatha came in with her furry baby and took a seat beside her. Agatha just knows how to lighten someone's mood especially when it comes to Rose.

"Hi, cupcake!" Rose patted her baby when it snuggled up in her lap adorably. She had found it shivering in a stormy night in the backyard. Since then Rose adopted and sheltered the cat baby and the kitten never left the home as if she was searching for Rose. 

"She loves you" Agatha smilingly said.

"She does" Rose replied looking at Agatha. Her smile was heart warming and that travels through every corner of the small house enriching it with a homely feeling.

Every time Rose replays her past in her mind, a part of her swells with gratefulness for this motherly woman. She would have lost trust in humanity and good people if Agatha did not save and sheltered her that night. She still vividly remembers the moment when she slipped near the pavement while running away from her husband, she fell, she bled until her lower portion was drenched with the blood of her baby. The bleeding did not stop but she slowly lost consciousness in physical pain, in grief which was more than any other pain. The next time she woke up she found herself lying on a hospital bed with Agatha on her side. Agatha informed Rose how she found her on the road while she was on her way back home.

Being not able to control, Rose broke down in front of her. Told her the fretful events that she had gone through which made her end up on the road like that. Rose was apprehensive, sunken in dread as she assumed Agatha would definitely hand her over to the police. But Agatha did the opposite. She took care of her, she brought Rose to her home in Treviso. She told her neighbours that Rose was her sister's daughter from the states and came along with her to settle in Italy for some years. Agatha assumed no one would suspect anything that way and her assumptions were right.

It's been almost four months since Rose residing with her. In the first month, Rose did not even come out of the house. She was paranoid. She requested Agatha to send her somewhere else as she does not want someone like Agatha to get in touch with any kind of trouble because of sheltering her. But one after another month summed up to four months, nothing happened. In between her tragic losses she had gained a safe, secret place.

On the other hand, Agatha has been trying her best to bring Rose back to normalcy as she can not spend her life behind the closed doors. It was like Agatha's lonely life got another purpose apart from running the small flower shop. She wanted Rose to adapt to the new environment, socialise with the people around, make new friends, instead Rose would always stay behind the walls, spend most of her time in the backyard with the plants or with her fur kid.

On one such evening, Agatha asked Rose to accompany her in the business. Rose was alone in charge of the store when Agatha went to receive some orders as they were running low on fancy wrappers.

Rose was arranging the cards when the wind bell chimed indicating a customer's arrival. Rose met with a young man she had never encountered before. Rarely does she meet anyone around the neighbourhood though.

They exchanged a glance. Her was edgy, his inquisitive.

"Buona sera" He greeted while advancing towards the counter, his eyes fixed on the new face. Rose was aware of the phrase, she had heard it quite a few times. But when she attempted to reply him, she unwantedly sounded awkward even to her own ears. In absence of Agatha, she was no good at managing any customer due to the language barrier.

"We are out of stock today, Caspian. You know roses are always in high demand." Agatha answered while moving inside her store. They were very familiar thus sounded to Rose.

"It's really urgent" Caspian smiled looking at Rose. He was a native! Rose felt awkwardly flushed recollecting the messy Italian words she tried to utter.

"Rose, honey, could you please help this young man for me?" Agatha queried while getting in with a big box of wrappers in her arms.

Rose could not say no. She nodded and went for the backyard garden with Caspian following her quietly. 

"Which colour do you pick?" Rose asked him softly stopping by the section of Roses. They had planted some varieties even though they have to buy a large number from the local wholesalers.

"This one" Caspian pointed towards Rose confusing her for a moment. Rose followed his eyes to find the red roses behind her stature. It was solely Agatha's section of the garden. Aiming to find the tool for cutting them, she looked around for it.

An uncertain tension ran down her spine when she perceived the stranger's arm beside her body all of sudden. She flinched involuntarily.

"I was just taking this shears" Caspian justified his actions showing the pair of muddy shears that was kept on the plant stand beside her. But observing Rose's discomfiture he stepped back quickly. He could not get the reason behind her sudden gestures. He clearly did not exhibit any vile motive towards her. Why would he!

Rose tried to word something of convenience but seeing the muddled look plastered over the stranger's face, she felt embarrassed, out of words. Why did she just behave like that? She hastily ran to her room to abort the place and latched the door behind.

Time heals everything they say but why she was not being able to heal herself. How much more she will take to forget those past six months and move forward like a normal person! Was not this four months enough! May be another four months or four more years? Her dubiety remained unanswered.

𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐧❜𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧,

𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐝𝐞

𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞,

𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮❜𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧.

～●～●～●～

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