The Road to Love *COMPLETED*

Chapter 1: So We Meet

This story was inspired by my favorite golden age, hollywood heartthrob Tyrone Power. I was so crazy about his work that I saw all of his (I think they are 45) films. If you guys ever get a chance, do watch some oldies. They fill you with such warmth and these days, when we are all stuck at home, a good book and/or a good movie always help!...Oh! I can't help but think back to the times when all I did was watch old movies *ahhhhh*.  Love to all.
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CHAPTER 1: SO WE MEET...

1940s, LOS ANGELES

He was so beautiful that I found it hard to look away and so I stared, stared like a girl who had never seen a man before in her life. He was chatting with a group of people, the females in the group hung on his every word and one of them clung to his arm like she never intended to let it go. The blond bothered me to the point of agitated desperation. I wanted him to look in my direction, to notice me standing, adjacent and far away... I was staring at him so diligently, at least he must notice that but he was so engrossed in whatever it was that he was telling his friends that he'd dare not look at me. I saw his arm flailing about him in vigor and enthusiasm of the tale, there was a punch line in there somewhere because I heard and saw everyone laugh in unison. He smiled. It was like the smile of a small boy who had done something grown-up for the first time, it was enchanting. It was a pure, schoolboy smile on a man who was surely in his thirties. He had dark, thick eye brows, underneath which were eyes a glistening, dark brown, with the thickest eyelashes I had ever seen on a man. But he would not look, he would not look and it just made me yearn for him all the more. The blond still held his arm, a very tenacious woman, she wouldn't let him break free of her so that he could relate his story with abandonment. I could see that he had no ring on his finger- the woman was not his wife. In that moment I wished that whoever this blond was, he dump her as soon as possible. She didn't seem right for him, a man like him required a woman like him- free, independent, charming...beautiful. The blond was beautiful but she didn't seem to possess any of the other traits.

"Stop staring at him, love. It is getting ridiculous. He isn't looking but everyone else in this party is!" James jerked me out of the trance.

"Why?!... How long have I been staring?" I said looking embarrassed, I knew my cheeks were soon going to acquire the scarlet tinge, "I am so sorry. I didn't know." That was not the truth, I was fully aware of myself staring at him, I wasn't, however, aware of others staring at me. For a moment there everything else had faded into the background it was as though it were just I and the dark-haired man in this world, everything else was hazy to the point of being a blur.

"It has been a good ten minutes, I presume. This is the first time you have seen him, right?"

I nodded with a silent plea that he continue to tell me about the man.

"He's John Ford!" he said.

I still hadn't come any closer to finding out who the man was, "John Ford who?"

"The actor, silly!" he smiled at me like I'd been joking and then witnessing my state of confusion he realized that I hadn't actually known and continued solemnly, "You really don't know! How is that even possible? How are you ever going to get anywhere in this town if you don't even know who John Ford is?" He was feeling infinitely sympathetic now, I could see it in his drooped lips and pitying eyes.

I was on defensive, "I don't need to know who he is to be successful here... you know I am new to town, it'll take me time but I will familiarize myself with everything" and then I turned my head in the dark-haired man's direction, "and everyone. You just wait and see."