Hearts Of Love ~ Louis Partridge

23| More valuable than any antique

Pushing open the wooden door of the shop,I felt the uneven texture of the chipped maroon paint on the surface as the chime of bells rang through my ears.As soon as I entered the space,the floorboards creaked and the oil paintings in elaborately carved frames hanging on the walls caught my eyes.There were all sort of figures,from every place you could imagine, and the beaming sunlight glimmered off the silver and golden embellishments on the statues.I moved my head up to come face to face with a glittering crystal chandelier and rusty gold engraved ceiling.

There was a long,narrow aisle with table displays on the both sides along with the display of gilded mirrors worn out with time.On my left were exotic wooden jewelry with the purest pearls and elegant dresses. There was a new discovery each time I looked into an area, lacquered chairs,coins,dolls,medals and even vintage time books.

I was too intrigued with the nostalgic sight until I realised there was a vintage record playing in the background, entering my body and spreading out into every corner, renewing the existent memories.Despite of the gloomy filter, every single figure shone,cold to touch.I caressed the decorative book rack, reading the golden words carved into the surface,"You'll always find what you are looking for"

Even though"Absurd" was the only thing that I thought,there was just something,something magical about the words. They came crawling towards my mind and settled there to never leave.It was the only thing that replayed it in my mind,again,again and again.

"You'll always find what you are looking for."

I will.

All of this was so aesthetically pleasing for some reason.There were piles and piles of old newspaper that urged me to go read them.Until my gaze got diverted horizontally towards the last aisle.

I slowly paced towards it, peeking through every narrow path as I passed through, there was no one in here.Why was there no one here?

I swear I saw the gimmering 'open' sign plastered outside the door.

Anyways,as I walked past the rusty racks and crown made out of rubies on display,I had reached my destination.

There it was,the last aisle.

The narrow place spoke something to me, almost as if there was an opposite pole hidden somewhere which attracted me towards it.The nostalgic feeling came running back as I allowed myself look through every book. The spines were all wrinkly, pages were worn out and there was an almost yellow tone to them.

There were many Shakespeare plays I came across, surprisingly. And each of them had a monotone cover. I reached out to slide a book towards me and took the paper scent in which now hovered throughout every inch the air.

I flipped through the pages,taking in each and every word.After all it was an antique shop, there was that eerie vibe present in almost every littlest part of things.

Once I stopped midway through the sentence, I closed the book and placed it back into it's place.I took another step, letting myself walk wherever my curiosity led me to.

My eyes moved around in all directions as I examined the painting of a war scene. However, despite the horrific circumstances around the soldiers with heaps of dead bodies and rivers of blood, I noticed a person across the others that stood out the most. They looked brave, full of courage with a smile on their face, not too small, nor wide, just the perfect much to show how they faced everything strongly. And that is what got noticed by me the most. Even during the worst of times, they looked at the bright side of things, which is the lesson we all need to learn.

My eyebrows knitted together as I heard someone flipping through pages from a distance of two or three aisles. How come I didn't notice someone else was here?

Pacing beside the aisle, I noticed a person reading a book deeply, or more specifically a girl. I never have that outgoing personality trait that likes to speak a word or two with strangers but, this stranger seems familiar. Too familiar as a matter of fact, and it felt as if they were the only reason I came into this shop for.

I passed by them, "Hi"

"Hey," they replied, turning their head towards me. But as soon as I saw her familiar face and she saw mine, I stopped breathing for a second.

"Judy?"

She placed the book she was holding before back into the rack,and shifted her body towards me, "Oh, Y/N. How have you been?"

"Good, actually" I nodded, looking down at my feet.

Her face got more blank than mine, as if I wasn't shocked to see her, but she was. I frowned to notice how she licked her lips and shoved her hands deep into her pocket, "Can we talk, do you-" she sighed, "Do you have time?"

I nodded. "Sure, where?"

         ❉ ╤╤╤╤ ✿ ╤╤╤╤ ❉

After a couple of minutes of roaming around to find a place to sit, we reached a shop I never knew of. I gazed over to the large windows and specifically, how empty it was besides an old lady operating the counter alone, how odd.

"Perfect" she whispered, taking my hand as we both walked into the place.

After placing ourselves on our seat, she removed her jacket, "So" she draped the jacket on the back of her chair, "How have you been?"

"Fine, I guess. What about you, how's lif-" my sentence got cut off right in the mid as my eyes caught a glimpse of her wrist. A silver chain doubled around to wear as a bracelet, so the news was true.

She noticed how my eyes got stuck on her chain and immediately hid her wrist beneath the table. I snapped back out of my thoughts and smiled at her, "How's life?"

She hummed in response as she removed her hand from beneath and placed her wrist back on top of the table, "A bit busy, but good."

"I heard the news, about um you and Louis, congrats" I managed to speak out.

"Oh" she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, "Yeah, thankyou."

There was a pause before any of us could speak. I didn't even want to go with her in the first place because I knew this would be awkward, but I still managed to agree. She finally spoke up.

"This is what I wanted to talk about"

"What?"

"This" she removed her chain from her wrist and placed it on top of the table as the contact made a thud  sound, "This lie."

I couldn't express a single expression, only looking at how she changed from being blank to slowly stressing up. What is going on?

I blinked.

"What do you mean Judy?"

"I am done with this relationship," she uttered, I gasped at her response before our eyes met.

"Judy, no, please don't do this. I know, I don't want to interfere in you guys' private life but if there is any problem, solve it out, talk about it. Louis is a great guy and he loves yo-"

"That-" her eyes glistened , "That is the problem."

She continued, "He was never in love with me."