It was the beauty of innocence and a child-like wonder that first drew him to her.

She was in a summer high-school uniform giggling as she popped bubble after bubble as the machine outside the toy store blew them out into the stagnant summer air.

He smirked as he passed her by. 'A bit too old to be playing with bubbles, aren't you?'

The snide remark got more of a reaction than he'd expected; she flared up in anger, her face turning beetroot and with a stomp of her foot, she rounded on him. Her bobbed chestnut hair snapping around her face with the movement, her expressive butterscotch eyes round in a mix of bewilderment and anger.

It was after he passed her by that he realised that had been the first time he'd smiled since the death of his twin brother.

He turned to look back at her only to find that she was staring at him too.

Bubbles swarmed around her and the colours of her uniform refracted in their surface creating a kaleidoscope. A mix of pastel pink, red and deep blue.