'Beep'

'Beep'

'Beep'

The alarm clock, on top of a very messy nightstand, began buzzing at seven-thirty in the morning. A hand finally shuts it off. Rin Akita groans as she shuts her eyes and pulls her blankets over her head. She had gotten off work late last night and no way was she losing more of her precious sleep.

Unfortunately for her, her cell phone rang loudly and disrupts her once again. She reluctantly picks it up and answers.

"Hello." She says in a grumpy tired voice.

"Rin!" An older woman at the other end of the line screeches, almost hurting Rin's ears. Rin soon had an annoyed look on her face. Just like any over-bearing mother, Rin's mom was pushy and always telling her to get married. It made it worse when her own little sister was getting married and she was still single.

"Oh, hi mom," She sighs.

"I just called to remind you that it's your sister's engagement party today," Rin let her mother ramble on and on about how beautiful the party will be and what a darling couple her sister and fiancé are. "Oh!" her mother squealed again. "And I can't wait to see what you got for her present."

Rin's eyes widen as realization took over her. 'Oh, no!' Rin thought. How could she have forgotten? She was sure that she had a couple of more days to have gotten something. Rin turned her head to check her calendar on her wall. It held the date and in it was circled 'Sister's Engagement Party'. Her mom was going to nag about this till no end if she found out that she forgot about the party.

"Uh, yeah, I totally got her a present, a-and it's a good one. Heh heh." She chuckles, nervously. She shot up from her bed, while her mother was still talking to her, and tried to get out of her pjs. She quickly put on her blouse and she kept on repeating phrases, as her mother was still talking, like "Yeah", "mm-hmp", or "That's great". When she tried to put on her pants, her foot slipped on one of the magazines on the floor and she fell face first on the floor.

"Ow" She moaned.

"Honey?" Her mother says in a concern voice. "Honey is everything okay?"

"Yep, everything's fine. See you at the party." She quickly hangs up her phone before Rin let's her mother say another word.

"Crap." She muttered. Rin quickly got up, put on her pants and shoes, grabbed her purse, and ran out of her apartment.

The elevator was out of order so that meant that Rin had to take the stairs. 'Ugh,' Rin thought. 'Why does this place have so many floors?'

When Rin was at the lobby, she saw her doorman. Normally, she would have a nice small chat with him, but since she was in a hurry, she didn't have time to talk to him.

"Morning, Mr. Hiyama." Rin quickly said as she brushed past him while he opened the door for her, and he smiled.

"Good Morning Ms. Akita." He responded nicely as he tipped his hat for her.

As she reached her car, Rin tried to find her keys in her purse and realized that they were still back in her room on her messy nightstand. "Oh, I'm such an idiot!" She face-palmed. Rin looked around to try to find something that maybe was nearby.

And there it was.

At the corner of the street was a charming little store. It had a hanging sign that held the store's name, 'Antiques Shoppe', right above its red wooden door. "Wow, am I lucky?" Rin said. She sprinted down the sidewalk and headed for the building that may have just saved her life. When she enters through the door, a little chime from a bell rang.

The place smelled like dust, cinnamon, and the weirdest thing. French bread? It was a weird combination, but somehow it gave the store its personality. 'Weird.' She thought.

"Hiyaa!" A small woman suddenly burst into Rin's face, almost violating her personal space.

"Gyaah," Rin was startled. The woman's hair was a soft red, like the color of a rose, and they were in drill locks. Her eyes were close to blood red, which was a little bit unusual.

"Welcome to my new antique store!" She says in a big and cheery smile as she steps back. "I'm the owner, Teto. What can I help you with?" Teto was beaming and jumping up and down.

"Well I need to find a present," Rin said.

"Oooh." Teto stretched her words and stopped jumping. "Is it for a lover?"

Rin blushed hard after she said. You could say that she was a little embarrassed of being single at twenty-nine.

"What?" She quickly responded in an angry rush. "No! Of course not. I am waay too busy for that kind of stuff." She huffed and crossed her arms.

"Well if that's what you say, you don't need to act like such a kid about it." Teto shrugs. Rin just ignored her comment and rolled her eyes. "So, who's the gift for?"

"It's for my sister's engagement party. Do you have any ideas what I could get her?"

"You can try and see what we have in the back." She leans in and then whispers in Rin's ear. "That's where I keep all the good stuff."

"Alright..." Rin says, a little creeped out. She muttered a quick thanks and headed to where Teto said.

Her eyes kept on wandering and wandering to find the perfect thing for her sister. She was a bit more spoiled than Rin so that made her a bit picky about what she wanted. Then, Rin discovered the cutest tea set that she had ever seen in her life. It was perfect because Rin's sister always had a knack for tea parties.

She grabbed it and Rin quickly turn around to pay for the item, when suddenly she bumped and fell on something. Or should we say someone. When she bumped into this certain someone, Rin held her eyes shut and gave a small yelp as they both fell to the floor. She was on top of the person's chest and she could hear his or her's beating heart. It was hard and soothing, like the beat of a drum.

Rin slowly opened her eyes and saw the most handsome man that she had ever seen in her life. His hair was just like hers, a strong blonde, but tied in small high ponytail. And his eyes were similar to her's as well, but they seemed to have been hiding something that was dark. He looked a bit older than her, maybe two or three years older. The man looked at her and just began smirking.

"Well this is certainly a first," He said to her. His voice was smooth and alluring. It made Rin shiver just hearing his voice.

"Huh?" She stared back at him with a confused face after what he just said.

"I've heard of women falling for me, but not on top of me. You must really want me, if you're that desperate." He laughed as he said the words. After that comment, Rin growled at him and quickly got off him. She would never, in her life, go after a man who had that kind of ego.

"Don't flatter yourself," Rin replied as she inspected the tea set to see if anything got damaged during the fall. "I'm not interested in guys who have to use horrible pickup lines for women." The man stared at her in disbelief. Rin was sure that this was the first time that someone told him off like that.

The stranger stared at the fragile set that Rin was holding, and attempted to make a fun, flirty conversation with her. "You know that tea set used to belong to Queen Mary 1st, otherwise known as Bloody Mary," He gave her the look of seduction as he was talking to her. He came dangerously closer to Rin and began to whisper in her ear. She held the box in her arms tighter as she felt his hot breath come near her. "Some even say that instead of tea, she used to drink the blood of her victims."

Rin pushed him away from her with one of her hands and walked right past him to pay for her item. But he followed her. "Somehow, I don't believe what you say is true. You don't seem the type to know about this kind of stuff"

"What makes you say that?" The stranger asks. "You don't know me. For all you know I could be a historian or something smart like that."

"Doubtful."

Without saying anything more, Rin continued to walk away from him.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be, instead of bugging me?" She says in a huff.

"Oh, am I really?" The man responds all innocently. "I hadn't notice. I'm just looking around."

Rin saw Teto at the cash register with her big smile and thought her problems would soon be over.

"Did you find what you are looking for?" Teto asked politely.

"Yes, thank you." Rin gave her the box for her to scan it. When she paid for the tea set, Rin quickly walked away to the exit.

As she reached the door, she looked back and saw the man talking to Teto.

He was giving Teto a serious hard look. Like, he was going to do something really threatening to her. Teto was shaking and in her eyes, you could see fear. He shifted his eyes to Rin, and she stared back. His eyes made it seem like he was trying to lure her into his trap. And Rin was almost falling for it. She felt her heartbeat increase, as she turned and headed back to her apartment.

'What is it about him that makes him feel intimidating?' Rin thought deeply as she tried to figure out what was wrong with that man. 'Oh, well at least I won't see him again.'

After he was done talking to Teto, the stranger came out of the shop. He stood out in front of the shop's door and stared after Rin from a distance as she entered her building.

"Let's meet again soon," The man said. "Rin Akita."

So... here's the rewritten 1st chapter. I just felt that this needed to be revised because of how much I changed with my writing. Also, I just needed to cutback on some details because i felt that back then i was kindaa dragging some scenes on and just giving the story so much unnecessary information. But I'm back and ready to finish what I started! And I'm not really sure who is still going to be reading considering how it has been a while but if you are, thank you so much for giving this story a chance! Let me know what you guys think in the reviews.