Ch. 12 - A Farewell Part Two

With all the strength centered on the soles of his foot, Valentin clenched his fist. That was easy. It only took a few seconds for him to land perfectly on the ground --covered by white and gray sparkling granites.

He stood up.

As always, the hedge was perfectly cut. Mr. Pivert was known to care so much about his lawn that he often became very upset every time he found kids trying to take his fruits without permission – just like what he was about to do now.

After a few steps to the nearest tree, he looked around to his surroundings. The tension came over him made everything felt so exciting. Mr. Pivert wouldn’t realize that someone had stolen his fruits. He’s too crazy to ever realize that – too crazy with his own ideas of going around the world with the balloon air he had.
 

He stretched out his hands up to the nearest fruit hanging on a branch. He should be in  a hurry now. Rose waited on him on the hill. He would only take a few he could carry with his hands.

Yes.... The fruit  over there looked so tempting.

“They look so delicious right?” a voice was heard.


“Yeah, they are, Sir.” He smiled.

What? O.o.

Ch. 12: A Farewell Part One

Valentin stared up into the sky until the helicopter faded away from his sight. He wondered what that was all about... perhaps it's a patrol force doing their task? Strange, the view was quite rare to be found here. Probably there was a fugitive running around town, still it didn't matter. He had already had a few problems to take care of himself. If he must, he would leave this place, the small village on the west side of France where people knew so much about others -- their latest affairs, including him getting into the prison a few weeks before. Until then, others who knew him had not believed  of Mrs. Ivy's accusation about him, others like Monsieur Dutiel  - his boss, Mrs. Girard , and Mr. and Mrs. Fouchier who were  nice and friendly neighbors.

“Thank you, Valentin.” Mr. Fouchier once said to him after he had  just finished fixing the leaky roof and was climbing down on the ladder.

“No problem, Monsieur.” Valentin replied, wiping off the drops on his forehead, readying off to say goodbye and go home.

“Wait!” Mr. Fouchier said. “You can take this home with you, lad.“

“What about Eveline and Henry?"  Valentin glanced away, fully aware of Mrs. Fouchier's glare at him. 

“Don't worry. We have plenty, we're even worrying if they would go be wasted rather than be eaten. Right, honey?"

"Eh...  yes." Mrs. Fouchier cleared her throat. She spun around and leave them alone on the threshold of her house.

"Your sister would love them." 


Mr. Fouchier excused himself after he  had given the basket full of sandwiches.

“Who gave us these?” Rosaline asked him when they were sitting on a picnic blanket in their backyard. One hand  held a burger, the other tried to contain the crumbs. 

“Mr. Fouchier did.” Valentin answered, fiddling with his pen trying to figure out the mathematical problem. 

“Really? Wow! There's plenty of them. I'm going to come over there tomorrow and maybe I will bring  tomatoes with me."

"Sure." Valentin  said -- still being focused on the equation. 

“D' you want some?” 

“No, I’ve already had at Mr. Fouchier’s house.”

Soon, his stomach made a growl that he could almost yell at it. Stupid! Stupid stomach!  Of course, he didn't yell like that… or else Rosaline would have had known... yet, she had already known.

"Come on, I know you're hungry." She chuckled.  Valentin smiled sheepishly and then  put aside his notepad. 

Remembering the past often made his face turned into a smile.

Though, most of their neighbors had faith that he didn't do such a horrible thing for breaking in into Mrs. Ivy’s villa, he knew he must do something about it. The chain of unfortunate must be broken immediately. “Things will be far better than now, Rose.” He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. Maybe somewhere else, he would do better?  Mr. Chang's offer to work in Egypt was a good offer and maybe he could get that fifty thousand simoleons in there? Still, his reason to stay was  thousand times stronger. She --and only she- -was his only reason. Even if he has to leave her, he would not leave without a farewell.

Valentin took a deep breath and exhaled. The cold wind brushed violently against his skin, rustling between the leaves and whispered into his ear. That night, he was going to tell her that he would love her no matter what.  He's not going to give up on her, even though she had asked him to. His feeling had been kept inside his heart for almost his lifetime -- though, he had only realized it and had the courage to admit it... one year before.

“My pretty bunny-” He whispered to her when she was fallen asleep on his shoulder. Back then, he didn't quite understand why he said that, he only smiled as those words had come out of his mouth.

Resting peacefully and calm, her face was soft like an innocent baby. He wrapped her body  tighter to make sure she'd get enough of his body heat to fight against the cold night. That night felt so right. Every other night should always be like this.

Her head moved slightly, but soon clung back onto his shoulder.  Caressing her hair, he could smell the fragrance of red grapes, soothing and relaxing his soul. So,  she had finally made it. Even at a time when they didn't have extra money to buy a shampoo, she took what she could get from her garden and mixed it with water and soap. This girl is so smart that she could live in the woods if she was forced to. 

She was close -- close enough that he could feel his breaths pushing her dangling hair on her forehead. It'd only take a slight move to kiss her on her forehead. He didn't know on what hour they were because he didn't have a watch round his wrist. Still, it didn't matters. Time froze as he held her close.

“Val…” She whispered.

Ch 11: The Prisoner

Champs Les Sims Department of Justice 19:00 p.m, present time.

“Major, you’d like to see me?”
“Yes, Lieutenant, any news from the embassy yet?”
“There is, Major. There’s going to be an investigation held soon regarding his death.”
“Investigation? Haven’t we reported that it was a suicide?”
“Yes, Major, but they suspected that it was the result of conspiracy to stop him from leaking important information about the organization and their comrades.”
“Hm…” Major Yves stroke his chin. “As long as they’re not suspecting any involvement from us or that would be ridiculous. All proves clearly stated that he had committed a suicide. However, that’s not going to be our problem, right Lieutenant?”
“Unless the reporters are going to pile on it, Major -- they always do.”
“Hm, right, so, when will the investigation be held, Lieutenant?“
“Tonight, Major. Agent Sam is going to make the observations tonight.”
“Tonight?” Major Yves held his breath.
“Yes, Major. Eight o’clock exactly."

Champs Les Sims Hospital 19:05 p.m.

“Is she okay, Pierre?” Marie Louvre asked the question as soon as he came out of the doctor’s office. Feeling a strong grip on his arms while she was shaking him around, all that he did was only staring at her… blankly. It couldn’t be. Rosaline couldn’t be…

“Pierre?!” Her voice caught him from falling deeply into the bottomless pit of thoughts. Stammering, he finally told her the recent news about Rosaline.

“Rosaline... is unconscious now. The near drowning event had triggered her trauma and-” He took a deep breath,  pulling his strength to say the next heaviest words. ”If she keeps on like that, she will be in a coma.”

“Coma?”

Ch. 10: The Missing Journal Part 3

"Run, Rose!" 

Valentin exclaimed as he grabbed the man's arms full of force. Rosaline's knees froze, but as soon as she regained a grip on herself, she headed straight to the front door. It wasn't long until she heard him screaming. 

"Val...?" She stopped and turned around.

Through the open door, she could see him inside the living room, locking the man’s arms to stop him from going near or getting a single hair out of her, yet Valentin was only five feet tall back then, so paled in comparison with the man who had become an adult and fully broad shouldered. No doubt that the man could easily shove him, and yes, he did it. He did it twice. Valentin's body was thrown several feet until finally ... she saw him there.... lying helplessly on the floor. 

“Stop it!” Rosaline stepped onto the wooden floor. Tears welled up in her eyes. Before she could reach him, Valentin had managed to stop her from entering the house. 

"Don't! Don’t come near here, Rose! Stay out!”

With the energy he had left, and whilst he involuntary lied down on the wooden floor, Valentin held the man's left foot with his fullest force. "Run!" He ordered. He kept his grip, even though the man was shoving him away.  Valentin's body was being dragged above the floor as the man hobbled toward her until finally..."What do you think you're doing?!" The man's foot struck hard against Valentin's face.

“Stop it! Leave him alone!" 

Rosaline pounded her fist over the man's shoulders, trying to stop him from hurting Valentin. Her actions annoyed the man very much, though it was like swatting a fly as she flew outside and landed harshly on the wild grass in front of the door.

"Rose!"

Seeing her being thrown quite far, Valentin grabbed the man’s foot again.

Outside, touching her back from feeling a sore, Rosaline stood. 

"Run, Rose! I said run!"

Ch. 10: The Missing Journal Part 2

"Hey!Open up!"

"You'll be sorry for this doing this!"

"Val?" whispered Rosaline behind him with a trembling voice.

She was lowering her body to avoid the man's attention. Shivering and cold, she couldn't even move her ankles or to help him to open the door. "Is he still there?" 

Valentin didn't answer. He kept banging on the door and shouting out loud, grabbed the door handle and pulled it hard -- even kicking it harshly, to get nothing more than his body stumbling backward with a pain pulsing on his toes.

"Aargh!" He shouted.

"If I just -can -break this!"

Crashing his body against the thick metal door, his fist pounded on its glass layer, hoping that once it got broken, he could reach the knob handle and turn it around, but "Ouch!" He groaned. All he could get was another pain on his right arm. 

"Are you okay?" Rosaline reached out to him. "Your hands... they're hurt."

"It's okay."  Valentin took his arms back. Rosaline was blowing air into his fist.  "It's nothing. I'm okay."
 
"No. You should stop doing this! Don't you remember that Dad had made it so one else could break it? You'll only get yourself hurts."

 "I know." He grunted, pulling his hand away from her. He didn't need to be told again of how his father had designed the isolated room so well that he often called it a bunker, a place to hide from war or catastrophe. "Still- if I just can-"

"Hey! Let us go-" Valentin turned away and ran to the door, yelling out loud and shouting some of the words he had not spoken before or of which his mother had forbidden him to say. However, Rosaline was right. Even the room was designed to be a soundproof that no one -- not even the man-- could possibly hear them. Sweating a lot from all of his efforts, his body crumpled onto the floor, pressing his forehead against the thick metal door.

"Val..." Rosaline reached out to him. The tips of her fingers were only few inches away, but  this time... she hesitated. She pulled her shivering hand and turned her face away, trying to hide her fears or for dropping her tears.

 "I'm sorry." She cried quietly.