Her large dark eyes – the very windows to her soul – seemed to take up most of her face, and they held a warmth that in other circumstances would be welcoming and loving. Tonight, though, they were her giveaway. She didn’t want to be there and that was blatantly obvious, so why was she? Maybe she was the plus one of one of the strippers and hadn’t realised how common the party would be.

Tony was mesmerised by her, but he didn’t want to make it obvious so he stepped back a bit further behind one of the columns that held the pub up. He took another sip of his drink and continued watching; it made him feel like a peeping tom, but he couldn’t help himself. He was contemplating asking the publican who she was, but didn’t want to look stupid in front of him.

After all, he was supposed to be a heartless womaniser, with glamorous women throwing themselves at his feet, and here he was watching some woman in her twenties in the most run-down pub in the East End!

Suddenly, he saw her stand up. Tony was hypnotised by her; he wanted to see where she was going, or rather who she was going to. It seemed strange to him, because the volume of the music seemed to get lower, as if it were background music. People’s shouts and glad tidings seemed to dim and all the noise blended together. All he was aware of was this young, slim, almost petite, woman walking towards the bar.

Tony didn’t know why, but he moved forward to the spot she was walking towards. He stayed a foot or so behind her, still waiting for someone to come up and claim her, but they didn’t. He waited to see what she ordered from the bar; that would be a big giveaway. If she was getting a round of drinks in there would be four glasses, one for her friend and her friend’s husband, one for herself and one for whoever she was with.

There was one solitary glass of wine put on the bar in front of her. Tony didn’t know why, but he felt compelled to step closer as he watched her pick up the stemmed wine glass. She exchanged a few words with the barmaid and half turned to leave. Just then, someone dancing wildly to Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ crashed into the woman and shoved her aside. She was knocked off-balance and most of the wine from her glass spilt over Tony’s coat sleeve.

The poor woman looked horrified, but then she looked up directly into Tony’s eyes. For a few seconds that seemed like an eternity, they stared at each other. Not a word was spoken.

Then, she said, ‘Sorry.’ She looked embarrassed and was blushing. She put her glass on the bar and brushed wine from his sleeve. ‘I’ll get a bar towel.’

Tony smiled at her. ‘Don’t worry about it, no harm done,’ he said.