Chasing Blind

Chapter 3

  Breathless, as the feeling of my body sinking deeper and deeper to my seat whenever the old lady would stare at me silently had me quite scared. By the fact, that she was being intimidated had my voice shrunk. I gulped, and she had asked me again who I was. Again, no words came out of my mouth. Locked in utter shock, I felt paralyzed.

"Not much of a talker, I see." The old woman chuckled with her lips drawn in her self-amusement.

I quickly shook my head vigorously, letting out an awkward breathe.

"Oh no, ma'am- I was just...shock." I stammered, with my eyes locked in the picture book I had in hand.

"Say, who are your mother or father?" She asked with such a blank facade plastered in her.

The question made my face suddenly pale, with a frown already shown. I felt my guts stirring in fear and worry. What if she said something bad to them? Or torment them? Or even fired them?! I gulped once more, averting my eyes away from the old woman in front of me. Both stayed silent. No one even decided to spoke a word or less for more than a minute. But then, she took a deep breath and sighed. Much of what I expected- she was losing patience on me.

My breath felt heavier, my eyes couldn't stop looking down and nothing else, my body froze still and I could hear not just my loud heartbeat pounding but also the sound of the old woman making steps closer and closer. I couldn't help but let out a shaky breath.

And finally, she was standing in front of me while I was almost paralyzed in my seat. She softly tapped the table to catch my attention and was able to do so without doing it again. I met her gaze, that gentle yet sharp gaze. She looked as old as I expected. Somewhat wither and frail, yet was able to show such strong and proud tender smile. All I could conclude was that she looked so stunning for such an old fragile age.

"How stunning..." I had helplessly spit out my thought in a mumble.

She chuckled on me, turning back. Taking a seat in front of me.

"Why thank you, deary." Eyes widened in shock. I could have sworn I had almost choked on my own saliva at this point.

That had only made me more cautious of my words while hovering uncomfortably in my seat.

And again, the silence was there. Passing by painfully slow making the situation more awkward and hard to handle for my mind enough to process.

"I'm curious how far will you last for trying to make things easy for you with silence?" The old woman held her hands together, placing her chin in it with such half-grin.

"You think I would fire your parent?" She deadpanned. Raising an eyebrow on me that made me flinch. Frowning as the blood felt had decided to rush down on its face. Turning my face pale as a blank canvas as I could see how deep the old woman was looking at my sudden change of expression.

"Oh no! No! Well- um.....I did think so." I answered horribly. Mentally scolding myself for it.

"I'm so sorry," I added sincerely, bowing my head lightly to the woman in front of me.

But the woman only laughed at me by its amusement. The chair she was sitting on had suddenly made a creaking noise, guessing clearly that she was finally going to leave me. Or so I thought.

"You like picture books?" She simply asked. I then looked up to her, with a smile suddenly creeping out from my face.

I held onto the picture book I had in my hands and answered in joy, "Very much. I do like picture books a lot."

"Normally the children whom the people work for us bring would either read books in here to study or in utter boredom. Some wouldn't even give a speck of care to bother visiting here." She explained, almost as if she was telling a tale with her soothing voice that could manage to drift someone's worry away.