DELICATE | H.S

The Prologue

It was a rainy Tuesday afternoon, a quarter to 3:00. A young woman was sitting on the teakwood stool in her mother's ceramics studio with her sleeves rolled up as her hands covered in wet clay and slip as she had an apron tied around her body while sweat slowly trickled down her face. She was throwing a few pieces together to use for examples of work for the classes her mother taught on the weekends. As well as glazing a beautiful vase one of her students made. She was so concentrated on the last piece she was in the middle of throwing, her brow was furrowed, her hands steady, and wiping the sweat off her forehead with the backside of her hand. There wasn't very much air conditioning in the studio considering that there was a kiln running 80% of the time.

As music played on her speaker, Landslide by Fleetwood Mac combined with the sound of rain pattering on the roof and windows of the studio, there was a knock on the door. "I'll be there in a minute." The young woman called out as she got up from the stool and picked up a rag to clean off her hands. She grabbed her phone to turn down the music before heading over to the door. When she opened it, there stood a tall man with olive-toned skin, dark green eyes and wet brown hair as he was getting soaked from the rain. When she saw his face, there was some sort of familiarity to it, he saw something familiar about her as well. "Hi.." He spoke. "Hi, can I help you?" She asked. "Yes, um.. I'm here to pick up a vase. Brooke told me it'd be ready today?" He asked. She knew what he was looking for. The beautiful made vase that she had glazed hours before that she left to cool on the table by the window. "Come in, I'll get it wrapped and ready for you." She invited him in as he followed behind her to get the final look at the finished vase. "Is this it? Harry?" She asked him as she read his name on the note card placed in front of it. "That's it." He said. She grabbed some newspaper from under the table and began to wrap the vase before pulling out a paper bag. "You're Brooke's daughter right? I wanna say Maggie??" He asked unsure. She placed the wrapped vase into the bag handed it to him. "It's Matilda but I prefer my middle name Dove." She softly chuckled before cringing slightly. "And yes, she's my mum." She sighed tried not to show any rudeness in her expression. She didn't really have the greatest relationship with her mother but she tolerated it and ignored it as usual. "Well..it's very nice to meet you, I'm Harry." He said sticking out his hand. "Nice to meet you too.." She lightly smiled and shook his hand. Something about the touch of his soft hand as well as the gentle smile on his face gave her a chill down her spine but it was a good kind of chill. "Well I should get going." He said before slowly letting go of her hand. "Of course. Have a good afternoon." She replied. "You too..Dove." He spoke as he smirked before walking out the door. She closed the door behind him after he walked away.

Dove pressed her back against the door. There was just something about him and the way he spoke that gave her that 'butterflies in your stomach' kind of feeling. A small smile creeped upon her face before she turned the music back up and went to continue the vase she was throwing.