Chapter 7: Candlelit Confessions
Jacqueline was surprised to see the young blonde at her doorstep, and which such a serious demeanor. She stepped aside to let him through and ushered him into the living room. It was illuminated only by the weak light of the four candles beside her armchair. They sat in silence until she broached the obvious, "is everything okay? What did you want to speak about?" Enjolras didn't know how to begin, so he handed her the letter and allowed her to see for herself. She reluctantly took the missive and went over it. When she finished, she looked at Enjolras with a somber expression. "Oh. I don't know what to say" she said, a bit forlornly. "Why are you showing me this?" "I would like to court you" he out and said it, "If you'll have me, that is." Jacqueline was angry. Very angry. She did like Enjolras, but she was hurt that the only reason that he would court her was to inherit his dowry. "Excuse me?! I am no some prize, monsieur, that you can cash in for money!" This is what Enjolras was afraid off. "It isn't like that. Let me expl-", he tried to tell her, but she cut him off. "What did you think, that I would simply submit to being your little wife, stuck at home cooking, and cleaning, and…" That made Enjolras angry. "After everything you've learned about me, do you truly believe that I would allow that to be your fate?! That I would pull you out of your schooling, which I reverently supported from the start, to have you cook and clean for me?! You're wrong!" he exclaimed.
The room was silent. Both were trying to catch their breath after yelling. Enjolras decided to take this moment to confess his feeling to her. "I like you. I have liked you since the moment I saw how passionate you were about this country, as passionate as I am. But it's not just that. You are the only woman that I have spoken to that I can truly respect. You do not waste your time worrying about superficial things, like petticoats and bonnets, you care more about the people who have fallen so low and you try to help them. Everything that you have done so far has surprised me and captivated me, from your intelligence to your selflessness, and" he started shyly, "your beauty." Jacqueline blushed. No one has ever made such a speech for her. The girls her age never wanted to socialize with her, regarding her as plain and simple. No boy would speak after learning that she only spoke her mind. Her whole life, she had been shunned and ignored, except now. For the first time ever, she was speechless. Enjolras continued. "Please don't think that the only reason I want to court you is to appease my mother and my family. That is the last thing on my mind. True, I rushed into it for this reason, but all that I have said is true. No one has ever come into such high regard with me. And if you'll have me, I would make sure that no one takes away anything that you have accomplished. And I would never take your studies away from you; I will support them with every ounce of my being. And if we were to marry, you would want for nothing. I would support your every endeavor, whatever it may be. I would never submit you to anything you wouldn't want to do as a wife."
Once again, silence. She would probably say no. Enjolras had prepared himself for that. "I'll leave you to think" he said, slowly walking towards the door. "Wait." He turned around. "I...I…I like you too" Jacqueline confessed. "And was angry when I believed that the only reason you would make a request to court me was to inherit money. I'm sorry." She averted her gaze, not wanting to look him in the eye. Enjolras came to her and said, "There is nothing to be sorry for. I would have been angry as well. If I had it my way, I wouldn't have rushed into things like this. You deserve so much more." "I accept" she told him. "I will allow you to court me, but I do not want to talk of marriage any time soon, though. I want us to take our time." An array of emotions hit Enjolras at that moment. Shock, disbelief, happiness, bliss; all were there. For the first time ever, he realized, someone had cut through his marble façade. He took her hand and kissed it, but it wasn't like the kiss he had placed last night. That kiss was a kiss of friendship and polite conduct; this one was slower, tender, more sensual. A kiss of affection. "I will leave you now" he said and took his leave from the apartment. Jacqueline did not how long she sat there, staring at her hand. She could still see the flaming desire that burned in his eyes as he looked at her. The realization still hadn't set in. The man that she had been pining for just one night ago had come to her and courted her. And Jacqueline had accepted. She was with Alexandre Enjolras now. She cleared her things, packed her school stuff, and tried to sleep, but she knew that sleep will not come tonight.
Rue Mondetour/ Café Musain
Enjolras was known for being composed at all times, but even he could not stop the smile that graced his angelic face tonight. He headed straight to the Musain, intent on telling his friend the proceedings of the past hour. He entered the rundown building and went straight upstairs. Combeferre was sitting at his usual table, along with Marius and Coufeyrac, who was animatedly describing something to the two enraptured men. The graces of one of his many mistresses, no doubt. Some of the men noticed him and cried out his name in greeting. That grabbed Combeferre's attention and he quitted the conversation and came straight to him. "Well, how did it go? Did she accept? Was she angry? Whe-" "If you could stop inquiring like a gossiping housewife then perhaps I could tell you what happened" she said in mock annoyance. They took a seat at one of the more secluded tables and lowered their voices. "I gave her the letter at first, so that she could read it for herself. She didn't understand why I was showing it to her. I told her that I wanted to court her, and before I could explain myself, she got the wrong idea and started yelling at me, stating that I had no right to treat her as a cash-in prize and what not." Combeferre looked dejected. "So it didn't go well?" he asked. "Well, in her rage, she mentioned that she would not allow me to take away her education to become my submissive wife. I got angry that she would think that, especially after she saw what I was trying to accomplish, and yelled back at her that she was very wrong. She stopped yelling after that, and I took that opportunity to tell her how I felt about her and that my wanting to court her had nothing to do with the letter or the damned dowry. She accepted and told me that she liked me back." He said that last part shyly, turning red in the face. Combeferre's grin could rival that of the Cheshire cat. He clapped his friend on the back and voiced his happiness and congratulations. "Ahh, Comb, let's keep this between ourselves for now, okay? I don't think anyone should know before our relationship even started." "My lips are sealed," his friend replied.
At that moment, Marius, Coufeyrac, Jolly, and Jehan took a seat at their table and inquired after their conversation. "Enjolras, here, was just telling me that his sister was accepted into Paris Academy of Contemporary Art." It wasn't a complete lie. Gabrielle Enjolras was an exceptional artist and she did get accepted into the academy, granted that she complete her intermediary schooling. Enjolras must have mentioned it to Combeferre a few weeks ago, but he didn't bother to tell anyone else. The group murmured their congratulations, disappointed that it wasn't something more interesting as they had initially thought. The rest of the night passed by uneventfully, and the group dispersed at around 10, going home to prepare for tomorrow's lessons.
Rue de l'Homme-Arme, LeBlanc Bldg., Apartment #3
Jacqueline did not sleep for more than a few hours that night. When she woke up at around four, she could no longer go back to sleep. She lit a candle on her bedside table and went to the mirror. She looked a fright. She had bags under her eyes, her hair was a tangled mess, not to mention that her cycle was due this week and her abdomen was bloated and her skin was uncomfortably oily as a result. This was not the way she wanted to greet her courtier. She had time, so she illuminated her house and heated some water for a hot bath. As she waited for the cauldron to come to a boil, she went into her room to prepare her clothes beforehand. Jacqueline never really obsessed over her appearance, never having had a reason too, but now that she was "committed", she felt the need to take more care of appearance. She wasn't planning on going overboard like those aristocratic bourgeoisies. No powder, no wigs, no garden-ornamented bonnets, and definitely no frilly, flowery dresses that weighed more than she did. She'll just stick with color-coding her outfits. It seemed hot today, so she pulled out a short-sleeved satin dress of a deep blue hue. It had a square bodice, fitted under the bust and flowed down to her ankles. She paired it with a pair of ivory ballerina slippers and a cream colored paisley shawl. She went to check on the water. It hasn't boiled yet but it was hot enough. She filled up the tub, stripped, and sank into the hot water, letting it release the tension in her muscles. She scrubbed herself clean, washed and rinsed her hair, and rubbed the oily secretions out of her face. By the time she came out of the bathroom, the sunlight was starting to stream in. She stood at the window and took in the iridescent view before returning to the task at hand. She chose to leave her hair down to dry into their naturally wavy state. She donned the outfit she had planned and went to the kitchen. She had an hour and a half to kill before needing to leave for school. She entered the pantry and surveyed its contents, choosing to make both breakfast and lunch.
Rue Avariste Galois, Allemande Bldg., Apartment #6
Enjolras woke up that morning earlier than usual, at 5:30 AM. Like a certain someone, he too wanted to look his best today. He had taken a bath yesterday so didn't feel the need to do it again this morning. He rinsed his face and ran a comb through his unruly hair. He discarded his night clothes and donned one of his many white shirts, with black pants and a black vest and threw on his burgundy red coat. He fastened on a loose grey cravat and grey lace-up dress shoes and left his apartment with his things. He told Combeferre as they left the café last night that he wouldn't stop by as usual; he'd be spending the morning with Jacqueline instead. A short while later, he found himself at her door. Just after he knocked, he realized that he didn't bring anything with him, but it was too late. The door had opened and standing at its threshold was his significant other, surprise and delight shining through her radiant smile. She bid him come in and as luck would have it, was making breakfast. "I always make too much for myself, so I'm glad you're here." Neither could find the courage to talk about what had transpired the night before, and Jacqueline did not want to be the one to bring it up. So she bustled about setting another place at the table, serving the brouillade de truffes, eggs with black truffles, and pouring the hot chocolate beverage.
They ate in comfortable silence, having only exchanged a few words about the recipe, until Enjolras decided to bring up the elephant in the room. "What do we do now?" he asked. Jacqueline had never been in a relationship before, so she had no idea how these things come about. She had no women that she could ask and no family to seek advice from. She was on her own in this matter. Enjolras had a similar problem. He was never interested in women until recently and had never taken his mother's advice to become adept at the act of courting. He was blatantly ignorant, it seemed, about women and their needs and their habits. He didn't know how to talk to them. "I really don't know" Jacqueline replied after a few minutes. "I have never done this before." "Me neither" Enjolras uttered. "So I suppose we just have to take it forward from here." She said cheerfully, rising to clear the table. The pot of Ratatouille that has been cooking on the stove came to a full boil and Jacqueline ceased the fire underneath it and took off the lid to allow it to cool. Now half an hour until the school day began, Jacqueline excused herself and entered her bedroom, threw the white paisley shawl over her arms, applied some essence of jasmine perfume to mask the scent of cooking, and looked at reflection in the mirror. Her hair had dried into its beautiful wavy state and Jacqueline just ran a brush through it to increase its length and volume. She took her school purse and returned to the living room where she found Enjolras inspecting the vast array of novels that lined the shelves. "I finished this one the other day" Jacqueline stated, gesturing towards Hugo's Notre-Dame de Paris on the coffee table beside the armchair. She picked it up and replaced it on the shelf. "Did you read all of these?" Enjolras asked her with interest. "No. This entire collection was a gift from my mother on my birthday. Most of these tomes were favorites of hers when she was my age, others were new releases that had garnered critical acclaim, and these," gesturing to the top shelf, "were the novels that my father was engrossed with throughout his life" she said, an edge of sadness in her voice. "My father never keeps a novel or a book after he finishes it. He always said that a book should never be read twice, or else it loses its touch. These books, my father never read again, but they were so captivating that he couldn't bring himself to give them away. He kept them in a case beneath his bed; my mother gave them to me before I came here." She smiled sadly at the memories.
Enjolras looked at her with admiration and reverence in his eyes. Her recollection of her father reminded him a lot of his own father, and he wondered if the two men had ever crossed paths at some point in their lives. They both majored in the same area of law at the Sorbonne and at around the same time, no doubt. They could have been classmates, for all he knew. His pensive vigil was pierced Jacqueline's voice. "Are you coming?" she said, waiting for him near the door. He nodded, picked up his book sack and followed her out the door, closing it behind him. The walked out onto the streets, the various shops, cafés, markets, and businesses were still opening as they made their way to the university. As they walked, Enjolras took her hand in his, and she pressed closer to him. Unlike the night he had walked her home, there was more of a tension around them that they could both notice. Something really has changed between them, and the future was murkier now than ever. For both of them.
Okay, they are together now! The story is just about to begin people. R&R.
