A DATE WITH DESTINY

Chapter 3

Sayisha yawned as sunlight peeked into her room through the window. She rubbed her eyes which were swollen from lack of sleep, and sat up on her bed, pulling the blankets she had around herself off.

She rubbed her eyes again as she moved to peer out the window.

"The sun is out so early," she said aloud. " This means it's going to be a warm day," She sighed pleasantly.

She didn't have a fever, but she checked her temperature again just to be sure. She laughed with relief.

Just last night, she had believed that she would die of a cold. But here she was, merely looking pale and haggard but quite healthy. It was ironic how she could feel so relieved that she had not died when only last night she had wished it would happen so she could be free.

About an hour later, she found herself walking to DM saloon dressed in a pair of jeans, and a vintage coat _ the only expensive item she owned. She only had it because she had been wearing it on the day Barbara had forced her out of the house, pulling her by the hair and hurling her unto the pavement. One of the pearl earrings she was wearing flew off her ear and landed in the rose bushes in the process. She sprained her wrist and got a scratch on her chin. She had not waited for Barbara to continue her assault. With her disheveled appearance and a terrified look on her face, she ran off, the earring forgotten.

She had sold the necklace,ring and Wrist watch she had on her. She had even sold her socks and gloves and purchased cheaper ones.

Now, all she had to remind herself of the life she once had was a single coat, which she would have to sell if she didn't get a better job by Wednesday.

She couldn't possibly live without electricity forever. She would freeze to death when it snowed again. Considering how much she had been suffering, if she had to die it would only be fair that her death be painless. And freezing to death wasn't exactly painless in her opinion.

She stopped at the post office first to check if there was a job opening. Only a few days ago, there was.

But the job had already been taken yesterday, as usual she was late....... unfortunately She sighed and crossed the street heading towards the little building with the sign DM Fashion saloon in front.

She unlocked the front Glass doors, and stepped into the saloon. It was warm inside, and Sayisha wished her room could be this warm.

She flipped the store sign so that it showed open instead of closed. She didn't even know why she had come in early. She didn't have any work pending and she doubted that she would have customers trooping in at such early hours. Perhaps she had come just to avoid sitting at home and thinking about the pile of letters at her doorstep which were mostly bills she hadn't paid and couldn't pay. Or maybe, she had come just to avoid sitting at home and thinking that it was time for breakfast and realizing how much she would love to have a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon. Some muffin would be nice too.

Her stomach grumbled at the thought of food- the kind of food she hadn't eaten in a long time.

She quickly moved to sit on her chair, trying to fight her hunger. But there was nothing for her to do to help her take her mind off food. Marcy wasn't due to come in until much later and even her company was not very entertaining.

She fixed her eyes on the street outside, but there was nothing much to see. It was too early for any one to be walking about_ too early for any thing interesting to happen.

But something unusual happened- something she had never expected - something that changed her life completely.

It was the most significant moment of her life, but she had been unaware. She had not even been looking at the door when it was pushed open and He walked in. She was watching the dog outside , sitting and just chewing on a piece of bone, envying the animal for being much more fortunate than she was and wondering if Marcy would feel inclined to give her a salary raise- not that she had done anything to deserve it though. She sighed and tilted her head to the side, and at that very moment her eyes instantly fell on him.

Her breath caught in her throat, she jerked sharply and fell off her chair right to the floor. She shut her eyes to blot out the pain but she never did hit the floor. When she managed to open her eyes, a shriek tore out of her.

A strange man she had never seen before had walked into the saloon and on setting eyes on him, she had fallen off her chair in shock.

Yes shock. It had to be shock and nothing else. After all, she had not been expecting anyone to show up at the saloon at 07am in the morning, most especially a deliciously handsome man with an extraordinarily, powerful aura.

And now, that stranger had his arm around her- the arm he had caught her with to prevent her from hitting the floor and probably breaking her head.

She was still for a long moment and so was he. Then, when she had managed to calm herself enough to realize that she really hadn't fallen and that she was in a very unusual position- she was in a stranger's arms.

"Oh!" she gasped, and pushed herself off him, scrambling away so she could maintain a good distance between them. Something about this stranger didn't feel right.

He had midnight black hair, blue gray eyes that could unnerve anyone- when he looked at her, it was as though he had the power to look into her soul- it was as though he had a strange control over her- the sort of control even she didn't have over herself.

His face screamed perfection, there was not one odd feature in it and it was devastating. He devastated her. This man. This stranger.

"Who are you, Sir?" She asked, her voice barely sounding like her own. " How may I help you?"

The stranger smiled at her and she almost melted. Almost. She couldn't let herself be melted just by one smile.

She watched him slowly drop down on the chair she had previously occupied. It was a large leather chair and he fit perfectly into it like it was made for him, unlike she who always looked oddly tiny when she was sitting there.

" It's so early. We aren't really open yet....."

" The sign said open,"He said and she folded her hands together.

" Yes, it does. But we're not quite open at the moment......."

He chuckled- deeply, and she flushed hard. " Not quite open huh?"