I am not her - Michael Braun (4.)

"Miss, are you all right?" A voice spoke to her, a voice that at first Anna didn't know if it was male or female. Her brain was so out of it for a moment that she could barely stand and hold on to the cane she was holding so tightly that her fingers began to ache and her knuckles went white.

"Miss!" Another voice echoed, this time Anna recognized it was a woman's voice, and it snapped her back to reality. Slowly she raised her head, which she had quite unconsciously lowered, and all the while her eyes were fixed on the book on which her other hand was resting. Anna took a breath and blinked in confusion, which was probably odd, as the young Cold One Anna had reacted to was now standing in front of the counter, rushing up to her behind the counter without any shame. "Would you like some water?" The girl rushed out quickly, putting her arm around Anna's shoulders as she did so. She seemed to be afraid Anna would fall.

"No, thank you!" She whispered, weakened. Her voice sounded a little hoarse, but her gaze was fixed on the man who had given her at a young age the gift she had first cursed, but then adored, loved, and would always love.

The man who still held his daughter in his arms. He looked at Anna now as if he were seeing a ghost. It was quite clear that he recognized her. They both stood there almost like two statues. She felt at that moment as if an icy rope had strangled her lungs. She looked into her old friend's eyes, where the shock was quite clear. Anna swallowed, intending to say something, and just as she was about to do so, little Julie began to babble. Or had she spoken before?

"Daddy! May I?" Her squeaky voice sounded impatient, confirming to Anna what she had only thought before. "Come on, Daddy!" the little girl continued to insist. Anna tore her gaze away from the two, breathing freely in that moment. At the same time, she made a lightning decision. I'm going to act like nothing. After all, there's a chance he didn't recognize her. She straightened her shoulders and said:

"Good, all right. My head was spinning for a moment." She turned to the girl still holding her, concern was written all over her face, which surprised Anna. Why would a stranger who comes here every day be so worried about me? "It's okay, thank you." She could hear the surprise in her voice. The girl slowly released her. Anna smiled slightly at her while straightening up more.

"Daddy!" The child's voice echoed again, but this time it also sounded tearful. Anna turned her head. Michael Braun, still standing like a stone, who at first glance seemed oblivious. So Anna decided to intervene, even though her original plan of pretending she didn't know him was about to go down. She was already opening her mouth to say something when the man finally moved, and that movement was him putting his daughter on the ground.

"Anna, is that you?" The blonde-haired woman's heart stopped for a moment. The deep voice was causing that strange quiver in her again. "You look different! Where is your brown hair? If memory serves, you always said you hated yellow!" Michael seemed to have recovered from his first shock, just as Anna had a moment ago.

"But you haven't changed at all! Still the handsome one of all time, aren't you?" She shot back sharply. God, how she hated those stupid remarks he'd made about her since she'd moved across the street from the house where the Braun family lived when she was a kid with her parents.