Bouquet of Surprise

She looked up at the overcast sky. Another day of gloom and misery, she thought. When will things change? She sighed deeply and walked the 10 blocks to work. Being mindful to walk around the puddles, Melanie didn’t see the figure in front of her.

Oomphh

She caught a quick glance of a man with sandy brown hair before she fell rather clumsily on to the ground. Piercing cornflower blue eyes looked kindly down at her. For a split second, she thought she saw an aura of light surrounding his solid and mighty-fine looking build. Afterall, it is her knees that are bruised, not her mind.

He extended his hand to her. “My apologies. I should have kept my eyes on the prize.” His eyes crinkled with the slightest twinge of laughter.

Melanie reached out to the extended hand and felt a jolt of sensations from that brief contact. Life. That was the only word she felt adequately described the feelings that rushed into her. Joy, laughter, exuberance, life.

"Please accept these flowers as my formal apology." A beautiful wildflower bouquet magically appeared in her hands. Had he been holding flowers? She could not recall if he had them in his other hand. She tried to recall that brief second of him before she took that ungraceful fall, but she couldn’t recall seeing bright flowers in that memory.

“Will you be okay?”, he asked with concern in his eyes.

“Yes, yes, of course. Thank you for the lovely flowers.”

“It is the very least I can do, but the beauty of these flowers is a shadow compared to the beauty standing before me.”

Those eyes, she thought to herself. One can get lost in those eyes and would never want to find their way out of that light.

She gathered her sodden purse. Of course it happened to fall into the puddle of water. One step, two steps, three steps, she walked away from this stranger with captivating eyes the color of the ocean on a clear and bright day. She turned one last time only to see him standing there patiently watching her walk away.

Is it her imagination or is that really a gold aura illuminating his frame?

---

Entry to @#colorfulphotography contest. Story is freewrite attempt and all image is original.