Moving In With A Witch

The next morning, Harvey grabbed a cup of to go coffee and reached his destination with equal parts trepidation and anticipation. Trepidation that she had changed her mind and anticipation of seeing her again. He had been unable to sleep all night as he had scribbled through in his diary, trying to make wild guesses about the profession that she could be in as well as almost having a draft that would satisfy his editor.

And as he should outside the shop, he could not help but grin. He was right. It was indeed a business for handcrafted clothing. Specifically knitted.. Just like he had guessed...

Staring at the board with the stylishly written name 'Rapid Hookers' he could not help but think of the equally stylish owner. She was turning out to be much more interesting than he had anticipated or liked, maybe. The clothing in the displays varied from a range of knitted sweaters and stylish accessories to stylish shoes and exquisitely embroidered jackets. So, she was a businesswoman. But what caught his attention was the lay out. This was obviously a brand that catered to the high end market. And somehow the designs seemed familiar in their making.. Niana Rivers did not look like a copy cat but there was a remarkable something in it...

As he pushed open the door to the shop, he was once again surprised. Instead of the usual generic scents of perfume or incenses to make the shop fragrant, this placed smell of Vanilla. And not just the plain fake Vanilla but like a proper bakery with vanilla cakes being baked.. it was interesting and made him feel hungry.

And it seemed to be coming from the backroom of the shop. Before he could make his way there, a perky teenager stood in front of him with a large smile," What can I help you with? Would you like to buy something for your girlfriend or something for your friends? Or would you like to place customized order? We have a variety that suits everyone. Of course you have to wait a few weeks for your customized order." Again a paradox. With the shop's layout and design, the assistant should be a snooty woman with her nose in the air looking down at mortals but instead they had a young energetic girl who talked a mile a minute.

Harvey shook his head to refuse the assistant but then his eye caught something and he could not help but grin. "I'll take that."

It was a key ring that was crafted in the shape of a skull but the colours around it were hilarious. Instead of the usual black and red and other dark and dredgy colors related to skulls, they were pink, purple and mint green like a unicorn! His agent would love it. She liked skulls and she liked the colors. And he would ask her about the cover designers...

The teenager grinned and spoke, "You have a great eye Sir. This key ring has been hand crafted by the designer herself and it has been on the shelves for less than a day. Let me ring that purchase up for you and I'll wrap it up. Would you like to buy something else? We have this matching journal right here...So, do you see anything you want to buy..."

"The shop's owner."

Harvey replied to the teenager's question as he continued to look around the shop with it's myriad of odd yet captivating things.

However, the teenager was shocked and could only question, "Huh? You want to see the owner or buy the owner?"

Usually when a customer demanded that they wanted to see the senior they were either angry over some mistake or wanted something customized. But he wanted to buy the owner?

Just then the melodious voice that had been haunting him spoke,"He is not here to buy me Mini. He is a bit crazy and actually only wants to see me."

The girl gave a weird expression at this and nodded as she moved back while muttering under her breath,"Pot met kettle...Crazy one met crazy two somehow."

Ignoring her assistant's mumbling as she rung up the sale, Niana looked at Harvey and explained,"Come on to the back. My home is just above the shop."

Harvey nodded and collecting the small gift bag after having paid, followed the woman into the back door where they then went up the stairs.

"The house was spacious." That was the first thought that entered his mind followed by... 'and a mess.'

Niana looked behind her to see that the man's mouth had almost fallen open and chuckled,"Now you know why it is difficult to live with me and the girl last night was complaining. This may look a mess but it is actually very organized.."

Unable to stop himself and forgetting his manners, Harvey could not help but ask incredulously, "Organized for what? A thread party?"

The entirety of the furniture and the floor was covered in colorful thread. And not just a single type of thread, he was sure he could make out wool, cotton and even some nylon threads in there. And he had no idea whether it was part of the decor or she had just thrown about the threads randomly maybe to scare him away.

"Hey, don't judge. I am not the one who is asking you to move in here. All this is my section and you will not be allowed here. And don't ever move anything! I will know!"

Harvey nodded habitually. He was still a bit dumbstruck over the mess. Pointing vaguely to a door on the left, Niana muttered,"That would be your room. I will charge you the same rent that I charged her and there is a list of rules taped to the back of the door. Take a look and see if you want to sub lease. I am going to be here when you come out."

Harvey carefully made his way to the door that Niana had indicated, wincing as his feet caught between the threads and almost made him fall on his butt.

He wondered what he will face when he opened the door to the room. Because as much as he wanted to move in with her, he could not, absolutely could not bear to live in a mess! Even if it was an 'organized' mess. He could already feel his fingers itching to pick up those threads and roll them up and arrange them in their respective boxes! No way would he call himself obsessive but this was... It made him speechless. This was going to be problematic..