Chapter 01

--As pure as she is, all it too was just one person to get her tainted.--

Snow's POV.

The dark clouds rumbled again like it has been doing for quite a while now just as a thin flash of lighting zipped through the different shapes of the once bright but now darkened clouds, a loud crackling sound echoed from the sky, the sound vibrating, the thunder stifling the aura around the cloud with gloom.

People walked around quickly in raincoats, while some sensible ones held up umbrellas in different shades and colours to shield off the drizzling rain that was starting to get heavier by the second.

With I being part of the insensible ones, I forgot to leave home with my pale looking umbrella some minutes ago even though I heard about the rain falling today from the forecast which usually plays on Kelly's radio daily before leaving for work.

Kelly, a twenty-four year old lady owns the room next to mine who always plays the radio every morning as soon as she gets home from the bar the moment her shift ends and the bar bubbles less.

The radio which I wouldn't be able to hear, but thanks to the extremely thin walls separating each rooms.

She works in a bar some streets away from home which is why she's always free most mornings unlike me who didn't have what it takes to work at a bar since for one, I am clumsy as hell which is exactly what Barry, the cafe owner of where I tried working in for about two days pointed out before collecting his apron and matching chef cap from a dumbfounded and very embarrassed me and sacking me to my horror.

It was actually an accident, which I tried explaining to a furious looking Barry but he didn't even let me say a word before sacking me and ordering some other workers to clean the stupid mess I accidentally created.

A silly Texan song started playing from the squared shaped television fixed on the wall opposite the wide looking counter where orders were placed and delivered, the loud sound booming nicely.

I was situated the job of dish washing. That faithful day, I got a call from Dan, my landlord called me some minutes after I reluctantly lifted off my cranky bed before meekly reminding me about my pending house rent which I was yet to pay off.

I promised to pay him his money soon like I've been promising before getting off the phone. And like that, my mood for the whole day got ruined by that god forsaken phone call.

Feeling angry and frustrated from not just the phone call, but from the fact that my electricity wire connecting to all the electronics I own which were only a few things got cut off a day ago since I had been unable to pay the bills for the past three month.

All my anger got vented out on the plates I was washing in the cafe, my stomach was churning since I haven't had a thing to eat since morning due to how low on cash I was at the moment.

Thrusting my hands harshly into the foamy water, my left hand mistakenly slashed against the sharp edge of the knife in the foamy water. With a horrified shriek, I pulled my arm from the water which now stung from the bite of the soapy water making their way into the angry looking cut.

In my haste to turn on the tap with my slippery fingers, my hand suddenly slipped off the curve of the tap control and landed fast on the press able soap container, a line of the liquid soap flew from the mouth of the soap container directly into my eyes.

The pain and itch hit home after a second, a few seconds later and I was jumping around the kitchen with a pained shriek leaving my parted lips right before I felt my good hand collide with a hot surface.

Instead of pulling away, my stupid hand pushed on the surface before a loud crash echoed around the now wet kitchen.

"Ouch!" I whispered in fear as I felt a very hot liquid substance slipping into my light sandals right before it cooled off almost immediately.

To cut the long story short, the tap which I was trying to turn on some minutes ago did get turned on without me realising it, making the water overflow from the sink and unto the kitchen floor, leaving the floor soaked with soapy water and hot sauce which I mistakenly pushed off the cooking gas.

It was all an accident, I'll still keep saying till date because everyone deserves a second chance, right? I just don't understand why Barry refused to grant me another chance.

Another loud rumble echoed through the sky just as I stepped into the flower shop which I worked in at the moment. I was thankful the rain didn't increase to a harsh one throughout my walk from my house down here.

Shrugging out from my wet jacket, I headed into the shop and went to work at the small corner given to me by Mrs Mary, the owner of the flower shop.

My only work was to paint out flowers and different things related to it cause most times, not everyone who came into the flower shop ends up buying a flower cause they probably chickened out or something. That was where I was supposed to come in and gesture to where my arts were arranged in a small part in the shop.

Most times, the people ends up buying the arts more than I expected instead of buying Mrs Mary's flowers which sometimes makes me wonder if one day get fired from coming to the flower shop cause now a days, a lot of her regular costumers now prefers my drawings of flowers to the main thing, as they'll always say; "Flowers wither, but pictures doesn't."

******

After about 04:56pm, the shop was in the middle between bursting with energy and slightly dry as the people who mostly buys flowers comes in the morning and mid noon to get theirs. We also have the delivery guys who's jobs were to supply flowers along with card holding cheesy and corny lines to houses and working place.

I didn't paint any flower since morning today as people who came in barely glanced in my direction before getting whatever that had in mind and rushing back out immediately all because of how unwelcoming the cloud appeared all day long.

At least it wasn't raining anymore, the rain ceased falling some hours ago, although now the sun has completely refused to come out and do it magic of drying the wet ground and adding a little life to the flowing aura around the shop.

"Can you paint me a dying looking rose?" A tiny voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I immediately agreed without bothering agreeing on a certain price since I haven't even painted a damn thing since morning which automatically means I haven't made a single cash since I left home this morning.

So painted away, I did before dousing the withering looking rose in rainbow colour like the small looking teenager has requested when I reached for the colour box beside me.

To me, it would be better if the rose was painted in black and a little red and black but who am I to point out what I feel would look better? I'm only but the artist who's job is to paint whatever gets requested of me.

With all my colour jars opened in a not so arranged line, I painted away with the rose at hand almost completed when a wayward fly zipped past my opened eyes before flapping around the rose I was painting.

Afraid the fly was about to spoil my work, I stretch forth my hands and tried to swap the fly making a annoying 'zzz' sound as it flew from colour jar to another one.

I swapped blindly at it and gasped in horror when my swaying hand hit the jar close to the rose that was almost completed, the jar where the stupid fly was perched on where it continued to make that annoying sound of its.

The content of the jar poured all over the rose painting, the colour black seeping into the cardboard and ruining the painting immediately.

I let out a frustrated screen as I pushed up from my working chair, my only aim in sight was to destroy the stupid fly who just ruined my painting and a jar of my colours.

I swatted at it again, this time I felt like crying real bad when I mistakenly pushed the jar holding the colour red, the red jar falling against the remaining jars till all the colours spilled all over the table and across the floor.

"You fool! How much clumsier can you get?" A angry voice infiltrated into the angry hazy thoughts flowing in my head.

I whipped my head around in rage till I was angrily starting into the face of a very tall man, his face contoured into a very angry scowl as he glared at me with the most nastiest look I've ever received from a man this wealthy looking.

I felt blood rush into my head as I registered what he just said, I don't need another stupid human adding to the pain I was currently facing in my head.

"Oh great, she's mute as well as clumsy." The stranger muttered sarcastically, the glare never wavering from his face.

I looked away from the stranger as I willed my brain to focus on more meaningful things at the moment like my wasted colours, and the fact that without the colours, there would be no way I would be able to paint and earn money to fend for myself, and the fact that I don't have any other job doing at the moment because of the stress of going to college and studying at the same time entails.

I felt a angry sob welling in me out of frustration and helplessness, cause there was absolutely nothing else I could do at the moment to save the now soaked cardboard which once held a beautiful dying looking rose.

"Look mister..." I started to say to the angry looking stranger but he cut me off with a wave of his hand as he gestured to his suit jacket which I just realised was covered in paint too.

I groaned low in my throat, can today get any worse than this? The left side of his neat black suit was now covered in at least five different colours.

"Um..." 

"Seen how clumsy you are?" The stranger sneered at me, rudely cutting me off again as he waved his hand towards his suit again for emphasis.

Oh snap, I've had enough already! Did he think I behave clumsily on purpose? What was this man's fucking problem?

"Look, what's your fucking problem? What's your problem? Do you think I spilled my precious water colours purposely on you? For what? Why would you think I did that on purpose?" I went on and on, a angry glare plastered on my sweaty face due to how frustrated I was feeling, coupled with the fact that this man wasn't even helping matters by spitting out dumb rubbish from his lips.

"I don't care if your water colours were precious. I don't care if you didn't do it on purpose, all I'm saying here is that can you get any clumsier?" The stranger snapped back at me almost immediately.

"I don't have time for this, I don't have time for your arrogant likes at the moment. You could have cared a little instead of standing there and raining insults upon me for something which was obviously a mistake..." I spat out before the tall looking idiot cut me off again.

"It doesn't look like a mistake to me, seems like you've been clumsy your whole life for this big a mess to be created in such a few seconds."

I saw red the moment those words left his lips, the urge to deliver a loud slap on his smooth looking face was so hard, I had to suppress it down by averting my gaze from his for a moment as I tried to regain control of my head.

"You know what? Fuck you! Fuck your suit, cause I'm definitely not apologizing for the stains, fuck everything about you and go to hell for all I care. That's where people as rude as you belong."

"You're going with me as well, cause you didn't give off the impression of being nice. In fact, you seem to be a little bit ruder than I am, so in hell you go, in hell you belong." He snapped back immediately as he threw the stained flowers he had in his grip all these while which I didn't notice until he dropped it into the muddled colours on the soaked table.

"Why the fuck did you drop these here?!" I demanded in a growl as I frantically gestured towards the soaked lilies on the table.

"Cause you ruined them along with my suit jacket in your clumsy dance and I'm definitely not paying for that." He threw over his broad shoulder as he made his way outside the shop, my mess of a table staring right back at me.

"Fuck you, jerk face!" I called at him just as he was about to pull on the  handle of the transparent door, he paused and turned around to give me a now mocking look.

"There's paint on your face, clumsy." He gestured as my face with a slight wave of his hand as he barked out a laugh at the embarrassed look on my face before turning back around and exiting the flower shop.

I brushed my hand across my cheeks and indeed, there actually was paint on my face. I muttered a quite "asshole." at the door where the stranger left through some seconds  ago.

The shop was quiet once again, I fell back into my working chair as I weakly took in the mess on my table, just what the fuck have I done now?

The door opened again, I turned towards the direction of the door and felt like crying again when the first girl who requested for painting today walked into the shop and closed the door behind her.

She went still in her tracks as she took in the whole mess on the table and on the floor where some of the jars had rolled off to.

"How?" That was the only thing the small looking teenager inquired sympathetically while I shook my head in a silent reply, cause even I still doesn't understand what the hell just happened.

I am so fucked.