Ch. 3 - Finding You Part 1

Theme Song: “If you only knew” by Shinedown, alternative: “I miss you” by Blink 182.

 

"It's going to be cold around here. The night will fall soon. My plane will leave on Wednesday around seven. We should take care of this matter now."

"Okay, Madam, I'm going to wake her up."

 

Rosaline opened her eyes and found herself lying on a red carpet. Her eyes covered with haze and her neck felt so stiff.  


She stood and shook her head to get a clear view of the surroundings.

 

"Where am I?" 
Running to face the window, she  looked at the hill. She was on the upper floor of the house, villa or -- whatever the place was.

 

The pain was still immersed in her head when she heard footsteps behind the closed door. The sounds stopped, but a low creaking sound of the door being opened stimulated her heart to beat rapidly than before. Someone was standing behind the door, looking at her -- probably with a furious look on her or his face.  Her instinct to escape burst out through her chest, yet... she knew it was already too late for her. 

 

"It seems I shouldn't be bothered to wake you up." said the man with a black tuxedo behind her.

Ch. 2 - The Secrets Part 2

 
Sunday, 05:00 pm, Valentin and Madeline were in front of Alexis’s Relics Store.

Theme Song: "Longer" by Dan Fogelberg

“Valentin, do you remember this place? This is where we first met. You once helped me when a thief stole my wallet."

"I remember.” 
“So?” 
“So... ?” 
“So... don't you want to take me for a coffee or something?"
"Madeline, I- ”   

 

“I really need to go now. I have to meet someone.”
“Someone? Who?"
“My girlfriend.”

"Girlfriend? I thought you haven't had a girlfriend, Val.”
“I was.”  
“Who is she? Do I know her?"
“She is…..”
He was about to answer her, but he noticed Annabelle going inside the store.



"Annabelle!"

"Annabelle?" Madeline turned her head around. From the corner of her eyes, she found a girl with a long brown hair. 

“Annabelle? Hello! my name is Madeline. I've just arrived from Sunset Valley. I came here with my daddy. He owns the famous hotel here. Hôtel Fleur Eternelle. I guess you might have already known since my daddy and I- " Madeline said at length.


 
Annabelle wasn't really listening. She turned her head around and saw Valentin running.


"Hello...?" Madeline waved her hands. "Are you listening?"

"Ugh, what were you saying?"
  

 

"Do I know you?" 

Madeline tried to smile, pretending that she had not noticed the boredom expression on Annabelle's face. "My name is Madeline. I'm Valentin's friend. Are you his girlfriend? If you don't mind, I would like to have a coffee with him. We haven't chatted for a while and coffee seems nice, so-"
 

 

“Hey!" Annabelle cut her off. "Madeline or whoever you are, I don't know what you're talking about, but you've got it all wrong here. I'm not his girlfriend and if you wanted to have a coffee with him -- he's already gone by now.  "

"What?" Madeline turned her head around. She didn't see any sight of him -- not in the store nor in the park. Guessed that Annabelle was right.

 

Valentin was in a rush. He was driving his old scooter to the Nectary. He didn't lie to Madeline at some point. He was in a hurry to meet someone there. He promised to pick her up at the Nectary at 5 pm. He was fifteen minutes late and when he arrived there, she had already finished harvesting the grapes. That time was harvesting time, and once a year, the Nectary invited everyone to harvest their grapes there.

The view around the Nectary was beautiful. Red and orange hues filled the sky as the sun started to hide below the horizon. The nuance of rural was so adhere and the field was filled with ripe grapes ready to be picked. One or two pickers were still there to harvest them. They  hummed -- singing a legendary folk song. 

"It's beautiful," she whispered -- standing in the field and looking at the sunset drowning between the clouds. It was so beautiful that she wasn't aware of his arrival.

Valentin stood behind her, watching her closely. He pulled out something out of his pocket.  "She would love this." He smiled and put it again.

As he walked toward her,  the flashes of old memories slipped back into his mind.

 

 

"Valentin,  see this? Isn't it beautiful!" 

Rosaline and I were hanging out in the school yard when she caught a red butterfly with her hands. I was so tired that I didn't feel so excited about it.


"Yeah,  can we go home now?"  


It was time to go home.

Rosaline loves  butterflies. She asked me to see it. I thought she's going to keep it, but she opened her hands and  let it flew up into the air.

There are things which I haven't known until now, but I know that Rose is not my biological sister. Her real mother is Eve Lisle. She and her mother stayed in our house in Sunset Valley when Rose was still a baby. Ms. Eve is a nice woman and was very close to my mother. She  liked to give me presents at Christmas, but I never saw her again after the New Year's Eve when I was six. It took quite a long  for me to really understand that she had died when Rose was four.

The accident was reported in newspapers. Mom kept the clipping about it in her diary until one day... I found it.  

 

The fire spread fast that made the firefighters unable to extinguish it until the next morning.  Ms. Eve was found in a burning car not far from Old Pier Beach. She was found with an unknown man whose identity still has not been revealed until now.

Ch. 2: The Secrets Part 1

Theme Song: You and Me by Lifehouse.

Valentin (18), Rosaline (16)

 
Annabelle accompanied her father, James Trottier, to have a little walk around the neighborhood. Morning sunshine, fresh air, and a little exercise would be very good for James's health. James had not fully recovered yet. He still needed some rest and  was sitting in a wheelchair to have a rest after a long walk.  


"I'm able to walk fine, Anna. I don't need to sit in this wheelchair." 
"No, don't you remember what the doctor said? You shouldn't get too tired."

And after couple of years, the two finally spoke again.

"I can't believe you look so pale, dad. Did she not make you any  decent meals while I was gone?" Annabelle said with her usual tone, slightly harsh, but  a bit of concern  slipped out from her tongue.
"She just hasn't got used to it and it wasn't her lack of expertise in cooking that made me got sick."

'Great. He's going to start it again!' Annabelle grumbled. She knew that he was going to say that her decision to live with her mom in Canada and not calling him was the main cause.  

"What? Don't you think that it would affect on my health too?" 
"Dad, I'm not going to argue with you." 
James  smiled. "At least you're still calling me Dad." 

Annabelle threw her gaze upon him. From behind, she could see a gray hair on his head. From all those years she had spent with him, she saw it for the first time. She still could not believe that  this man who used to walk sturdily and fast be defeated by a heart disease. 

"So, how were things in Canada?" James broke her reveries. 
Annabelle realized that she could not behave like the old Annabelle again -- who was filled with anger and disappointment-- at least not at that time. Maybe it's the right time for her to tear down the fort in her. "Things were going well, I guess."
"That's great." 
"Yeah, I met new friends. I'm taking Art lesson, but my teacher said that I have a rare taste in art. I wonder what she meant." 
"Rare is good, honey. It makes your work special."

'Honey',? It felt quite long for her since she heard it the last time. She couldn't even remember when it was. 

"I hope. Anyway, mom succeeded to get me into a personality school for a few months. You can see the result now. I agreed with her so she would let me drive her car to school." 
"What? She let you drive to school?"
"Dad." Annabelle rolled her eyes. "I knew I shouldn't have told you this."
"Sorry, please go on…"
"And... besides those, nothing really interesting. I had a boyfriend there, but for some reason we decided to be just friends. And nothing more, nothing wild and crazy happened as you might have thought."  
"Interesting." James smiled, glancing toward the morning sky, breathing the air deeply into his lungs. Even though he's sitting in a wheelchair, he still has big goals to accomplish in France.


"Anna," James said with a smile. "Because you're taking an Art Lesson, after the graduation, why don't you stay here with me again? You can paint your artworks here, display your paintings in my art gallery. We'll build our  famous gallery together."

Annabelle stood in silence. She really  missed her father and was ready to make up with him, but to reconcile with everything was too much for her. She wasn't ready for it, at least not at that time.

"Dad, all I ask now is for you not to get too tired, okay? I just want you to see me at  my graduation day. That means you have to be fully recovered to be able to go to Canada."

 


As she had finished her last sentence, she saw Valentin and Rosaline coming in. It appeared that Rosaline and Valentin had known about James's condition and so they came to visit him. 

"Annabelle, I hope you don't mind, but we come to visit you and your dad." Rosaline greeted her with a smile.
"Of course, I don't mind, guys. Thanks."

 



"Sorry, we didn't bring you anything." Actually, Rose wanted to bring some apples for James, but the apple tree in her garden had not grown its fruits again this year. 

"It's okay. I'm glad that you and your brother came."  Annabelle turned her gaze toward Valentin. Her heart jumped. A little thrill came out. She realized  she must be crazy to feel it again after those years since he broke her heart.