When Jacob dumped Hazel, she couldn’t move on. She wished it all was a dream, she just wanted to die. She really loved him, but she swept it all under her feet. When she thought about that, it would hurt her, more and more. Until she met a man named Shawn at her workplace. When they looked at each other, she felt that there was ‘something’ between the two of them. One day, while sorting out documents at the office, she walked and bumped into Shawn when she was on her way to the kitchen to make herself tea.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, and quickly moving away from him, but he was holding her by her waist so that she didn’t fall.

“It’s okay Hazel, don’t worry too much,” he said and looked at her again.

The way he looked at her made her feel uncomfortable, she then hurried off in the direction of the office kitchen. Later at her desk she thought about their encounter and how being close to him made her feel giddy and lose concentration. She realised that she liked him but was afraid that he didn’t feel the same way about her that she did about him.

That night, Hazel couldn’t sleep. All she thought about was the incident that happened at work that day. Finally when she fell asleep, she dreamt of bumping into Shawn over and over. The next morning at breakfast, her mother noticed that she was in a good mood.

“What’s up today, you always complain about the toast and today you’re not even saying a word?” her mother asked.

“I’m just in a good mood Ma,” Hazel answered.

“I’m sure it must be a man that has you smiling like this so early in the morning,” her mom chuckled. Hazel didn’t reply to her mother’s remark she just continued smiling.

At the office while completing her receptionist duties, a delivery man arrived with a bunch of flowers and asked Hazel to sign for them. Hazel signed for the flowers thinking that they were for someone in the office and how lucky that person was to be receiving a bunch of flowers. She was curious for who the flowers were delivered for so she looked at the card that came with them. She was surprised to see that the card read, “Good morning sweetie, enjoy your day. Shawn.”

She automatically smiled after reading the card and when she looked up, Shawn stood at the doorway of her office. She greeted him and he greeted her back. She sat there silent and blushing. He came over and told her he had been meaning to ask her out on a date but was shy himself. Hazel was stunned because she didn’t see that coming. She didn’t know what to say, but finally found her voice and accepted his invitation. After Shawn left she thought about what had happened and realised that although she was lonely, she didn’t want to rush into a relationship. She calmed herself down and told herself that she had to take things slow.

They then started texting each other all hours of every day. Hazel fell in love with Shawn and after their first date, he treated her like she was the only woman on the planet. This made Hazel very happy because she had dealt with a broken relationship and didn’t see any chance for another one.

Shawn took Hazel on a couple of dates then finally the day came when he kissed her for the first time. Hazel felt like a teenager, giddy and self-conscious. The feelings between them were getting more and more serious. Their first kiss lead to them sleeping together for the first time too. After that Hazel felt like she had known Shawn for a long time because that’s how he made her feel.

***

Tell us what you think: Do you remember falling in love with your partner? What was it like?