Not so secret admirer

CONNISTONE HALL, YORKSHIRE

Yet another crumpled piece of paper joined the others near, but not in, his waste paper basket. Parchment was costly and ecologically unfriendly, so Shylock and his siblings weren't allowed to use it except for official magical reasons. A good thing too, or he'd have used a whole year's supply up by now.

Who'd have thought writing love letters would be so hard? Not that he needed to write his own. Shylock sincerely doubted someone like Kayla knew her classics, but he still flinched from plagiarism on the tickly suspicion that what he wrote would sound more sincere if he made it up himself.

With a sigh, he started over.

Kayla,

Too informal. Would 'Sweetest Kayla' be too sickly? What about 'Dearest'? Probably just 'Dear' to start. Don't want to scare her off.

Dear Kayla,

When my heart shatters
You destroy me
Please pick up the pieces

Shylock read over what he'd written. It was... him, he decided. What you'd expect from Shylock Ashcroft if he'd fallen in love. Eloquent, slightly impolite and definitely odd.

He signed off on it and went down to the mews to find an owl.

The owl her window had made Kayla’s puppy Dolly go crazy barking at it. “Oh Shush Dolly, It’s just a letter,” She said rolling her eyes and opening the window letting the owl in. She giggled at the thing and went to find it a treat. “Who could this be from?” She asked the cat that was lounging lazily on her bed. Carefully opening the letter and read it out loud to the animals in her room.
Immediately she had begun to blush from the sweet words written on the paper. She had a secret Admirer, and she found it sweet and romantic. “Could you wait one minute?” She asked the owl and dug for a piece of paper and a pen. Quickly she scrawled down a few words.

Shylock,
Bring them to me and I’ll see what I can do.
Kayla

She gave it to the owl along with another treat and closed the window.

CONNISTONE HALL, YORKSHIRE

Shylock was smirking while he removed the message capsule from the owl's leg. He'd already read Kayla's reply and while it wasn't exactly what he'd hoped for, the potential was there.

"She says she'll see what she can do," he laughed, ruffling a few of the owl's breast feathers. "D' you think she was trying to be coy? I hope not. She may be a silly fool but I do want to have some fun."

He tossed the animal a piece of fur and let her fly to her roost. That was the good thing about magical creatures; you didn't have to tie them down.

His next letter was much more direct. If Kayla wanted to see what she could do, it was only fair to give her the chance.

Sparks Bistro, 1pm Saturday
I don't think I've ever seen you in a real dress.

He had to admit, even if she wasn't quite up to par with the flirting, this was fun.

When Kayla got the second letter she started squealing and giggling. She jumped up and cuddled her pets, “I’ve got a date,” She squealed. “But what is a real dress?” she wondered and started digging through her closet looking through her dresses and shoes for what she was going to wear. “oh I guess I should tell him I’ll be there,” she thought out loud, “Or maybe I won’t. Which one sounds better to you Dolly?” she asked the puppy, who barked happily at its owner. “Perfect,” she said smiling and ran over to her desk. All she wrote was ‘Sparks’ in curly cursive writing with no punctuation.