Chapter Seven: Protect Her
Naru pov
I stood in front of my door, breathing in and out.
'I can do this, I can. Oh, I'm going to kill who ever did this,' I hissed under anger, as I grasp the door handle and open the door.
Entering my room, I see my brother looking around my room. I cleared my throat, and I feel my heart racing.
"Hello Gene, may I ask what brought you here?" I asked, crossing my arms. Gene lifted his gaze and gave me a forced smile.
"Don't force yourself too much," I told him, walking towards my chair. In doing so, I spot some food containers on top of my desk and Housho drill. Turning back, I saw behind Gene another container.
'Did Angel left this behind?' for a reason that cause my anger to subdue for a moment, and something warm builds in my heart.
"I wasn't forcing myself Noll, and I was invited, I think." He sits on my bed, and opens his legs, as he places his arms on top of them, and held a folded paper.
"You think? Exactly what do you mean by that?" He lifts his arm.
"This letter, read it, and you tell me." I hunch forward, and took it from his hands. I open it and leaned back in my chair.
"Waltzzz Opara Hoouse toniiightt comeee, Null is weiting," I arched a brow at the sloppiest handwriting and grammar my eyes ever laid on. My face was O.o… 'What in the seven hells?'
"What the?"
"I know, that was my expression as well," Gene chuckles at me. I folded the paper.
"Can I keep this?" I asked him.
"Sure, I don't want it. I found this place since is the only Opera House in our town and found Lin outside, told me to wait here. So exactly who wrote that? A five-year-old?" Gene asks confused. I frowned, looking down.
'No one knows I have a twin, besides… Angel. She did this?' my eyes widen, as my earlier anger left and something else dawns on me.
"You can say a five-year-old wrote this, I can't believe this." I feel irritation what she did, but why did she do this?
A sudden laughter passes my lips, causing Gene to arched raise brow at my weird laugh. He doesn't question it.
"About the other day, I was busy and when I finally came, you were gone. Did you wait long?" he asks. I shook my head.
"No, about half an hour, I had to go back to work." I lied.
'Four hours later, luckily the others didn't have too much work that day.'
"Good, I was worried, I just wanted to give you this in person," he moves, and opens his gray jacket and takes out a white envelope from the inside of his breast pocket, the envelope has a red seal on it. I lifted a brow and he hands it to me.
"Wedding invitation, I presume?" I asked him. He nods, clearing his throat.
"What is she like?" I asked him. His blue eyes soften,
"She's very gentle and sweet, she loves to paint, and likes the outdoors. She has a passion to help others, and when she laughs her eyes brightens up. She's soft when I hold her hand. My heart seems to race a lot when I'm near her, and all I want is to protect her all the time. I want to spend the rest of my life with her." he explains to me his voice is dreamy.
'Did he really forget about his first love? Is it that easy to forget?'
"I see, so you love that much." Gene cheeks tint red and nods at me.
"Of course." I rub my neck and move forward.
"Does she knows about me?"
"We told her about you, and show her our pictures, she anxious to meet my younger look alike." he smiles making me chuckle.
"Good, if I set a date, would you be too busy for me to meet her?" I asked him. Gene shakes his head.
"No, not this month, though, she's in America, visiting her grandparents, next month is good, though." he tells me.
"Noll, about what happen four years ago, I.." I turned my gaze towards the wall, and shake my head.
"So when is your wedding?" I avoided the conversation. I heard Gene sigh, but then he stands up, and spins me around so I can come face to face with him.
"One day we have to talk about what happened that night. For a reason, that note gave me courage to come here and speak to you peacefully." he told me.
"Gene, I.."
"One thing Oliver, I don't hate you, I can't hate you, I do love you, we have always been together, you are my bested friend in this world, and I don't blame you. Its painful to bring the past up, but one day we have to until that day comes, can we just act like we use to. I miss our days together, I truly do." he asks, I felt my eyes water at his words.
I stood up and wrap my arms around him, and hug him tight.
"I love you too. Always remember that Gene, you always be my best friend, and my big brother that I look up to." he chuckles holding me tighter.
"I love you Noll." he whispers. We held each other tight, then let go, and stare at each other eyes.
"I have to go, the wedding is next year around this time. Her parents want us to get to know each other more, but they don't object us from getting married."
"Mother told me that you saved her? How did that go?" Gene chuckles and pats my shoulder.
"If I told you, it was like a romance novel, will you believe me?"
"No,"
"Well, it went like that, the horses went wild four months ago, and her carriage ran off, since the driver was not there in the moment, and I heard a woman screaming. I turned, and I saw the horses galloping faster, so I jump into action, and saved her. You know I can't leave a damsel in distress, especially a beauty as she to the parish, so I saved her, and when our eyes met, it was love at first sight." he winks. I rolled my eyes.
"You always been the ladies man, I don't know how you can stand having all the girls after you,"
"Is a gift, unlike you, you always brush them away and make them cry. You never brought a girl home, nor courted one before. Have you even kissed one before?" he asks. I cleared my throat.
"Is none of your business, thanks for the invitation, and you're right, I don't believe that story at all," Gene chuckles even more.
"That's a no, find yourself a good woman, trust me, is better to love than never loved before, even if it hurts." his eyes saddened, as my heart tightens.
"If I do find a woman, I'll let you know," I told him. Gene nods, as he turns and grasp his black hat from my hanger near the door.
"I truly enjoy our chat." Gene bow. I smiled, as I walk behind him and went out.
"I did too," I told him honestly. While we went down the hallway, I heard a gasp, since I was facing my brother. Turning my head, I saw Ms. Hara and Ayako look at us with wide eyes.
"Oliver? There's two of you?" Ayako asks while Ms. Hara eyes landed on Gene. I mentally groaned, but nodded.
"This is Eugene, my older twin, Gene, this is Ayako Matsuzaki and Masako Hara."
Mai pov
I couldn't stop crying, I did bad, I did a bad thing, Naru is mad, and all I wanted is to help. I thought that I can help, at least a little.
'He'll hate me, he'll hate me.' Its my fault. I shouldn't have sent him the invitation. My nose is stuffy and my eyes hurt from crying. I hiccuped, when I stood up from my bed.
So for the next six days, I spend it on my bed, only stood to use the potty or cook less food since I wasn't so hungry. I was scared to see Naru, another part of me missed him terribly.
I move my body and got dressed, going barefooted the next day. I move to get more food from Benny. Placing my jacket on me, I headed out, my heart racing.
'What if I run into Naru, he'll yell at me, and call me names, or worse? He wants to kill me.' I rub my aching eyes, and went towards the right of the secret passage, that leads towards the backyard. Opening the door, I step out, only to wince in pain from the afternoon sun.
'Since when the sun was too bright?' I thought, closing the door, as I walked down the backyard. While I kept on walking towards the opening, I heard a strange noise, shuffling. I stop and lifted my gaze to see Naru. My heart stops, as he sweeps the leaves into a small pile.
'Naru!' My heart screams, as I move my leg to go to him, but then stop myself, and before he could catch me, I hid behind the statues.
'I know you're mad at me, but I missed you terribly. I know you didn't.' I wrap my hand around the marble of the statue. I watch him wipe his sweat from his forehead and leaned his arm against the rake. I smiled gently at him.
'How you been? Have you been eating? How did it go with your brother?' Naru moves and rolled his shoulders, and then turns his gaze towards my side. I squeal and ducked. Then I heard footsteps heading my way.
I closed my eyes very tight.
'Don't yell, don't yell, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.'
"There you are," I heard his voice. I open one eye and look up, to see Naru looking down at me, with his arms crossed. I hiccuped, jumping backward, to fall on my behind.
"It's been seven days since I last saw you. I have a question," he bends down and takes something out of his breast pocket. Then he pinches between his fingers and glanced at me. I look at the folded paper.
"Did you write this?" he asks. I hiccuped again, and turn around, getting on my knees, I hide behind the other side of the statue.
'I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' I trembled, I open my eyes, to see him on his knees, crawling up to me. I didn't move, from fear.
He stops halfway and moves his body to sit down comfortably.
"That's better, so you haven't shown yourself for seven days, right after you wrote this to Gene." his voice is not strong but gentle. I kept staring at him.
"I wanted to thank you, actually, because of this, we got to talk a lot that we had in four years. At first I was furious, furious that anyone would have invited my brother here, but for a reason, it was a blessing at the end. We half made up. He got to meet my coworkers, and Ms. Hara and Matsuzaki." he smiles gently, looking down at the paper.
'So you're not mad at me?' I asked confused, he lifts his gaze up and stare at my eyes.
"Your eyes are bloodshot red, and you're pale. Have you been crying and not eating?" he asks. I hiccuped, moving back.
'How did you know that?'
"Why? Did something happen? I.." He stops talking, then something crosses his eyes, as though he just realized something.
"Did you hear the conversation that I had with Lin? When I got mad?" I turned my gaze, and I nodded very shyly.
'How did he know that?' He sighs, shaking his head.
"Sorry, I was mad, and if you're asking yourself, how I know that, is easy, you always around, you are a very good listener, even if you're a mute." he tells me. I licked my lips.
"Also the others loved your food, I had to lie and told them that my brother drop it off, since Mother insisted. The containers are back in my room." my eyes widen at his words.
'Really? They all ate it, good, did you like your portion?' I asked with my eyes. Naru runs his fingers through his dark hair. I twitch my fingers.
"I enjoyed mine as well, you are a really good cook."
'Why are you so nice to me? Why are you this gentle? Why aren't you pushing me away and calling me names?' I felt my heart throb. He turns his gaze towards me.
"Today a new person is coming to live with us for a week. He's a priest and his name is John Brown."
'John Brown? A priest? They are nice, they serve God,' I thought.
"I just wanted to tell you that. The others left early, since it's almost Thanksgiving, they had to buy some things, and Ms. Hara and Ayako didn't come to practice today. I have to go next week to my parents house. I'm not in the mood."
'You should go, your family is warm,' I told him. Naru suddenly moves closer to me, making me go back.
"Do you have a family? If so, why did they abandon you here?" I blinked and shook my head.
'I don't have a family mama and papa died when I was four.'
"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so rude, I was just wondering, let's change the subject Then how old are you?" my eyes widen, he wants to learn about me? I move my dirty hands, feeling my heartbeat.
"I'm twenty-nine, so I'm guessing you're younger than me, twenty-five?" he took a guess. I shook my head and place two fingers up.
"Too?" he asks, confused, then I put eight fingers up.
"Oh, twenty-eight? Really? You look younger than I thought. Would never think that you would be one year younger than me." his eyes sparkles.
A silence filled us, and his eyes kept on mine. I felt weird, that weird feeling filled my stomach once again, and my heart raced.
"Ah, I have a question," he moves his leg and looks up at the sky.
'What is it? Besides, Sister, no one had this long conversation with me.'
"What is your favorite color? Mine is black, as you can see," he chuckles, as he touches his black shirt. I stare, and he looks down at me. I look around, and then I pointed at his eyes. He arched a brow.
"My eye?" he asks, confused, I shook my head, I wanted to point at the sky, but since today is cloudy there's no blue sky.
"Oh, my eye color? Blue?" I nodded at him and felt my cheeks warm up.
'I always liked blue,'
"Your cheeks are red, it's rather cute." he told me. My eyes widen, and I look away from him. I hide my scar with my hair, as Naru kept staring, then his eyes widen, and he suddenly stood up.
"I..I just remember something, I need to fix John bedroom, I'm glad you're doing fine," his voice is slightly off, and turns heading out. I tilted my head, and crawl around, to see him grasp his rake and mumble something to himself, shaking his head even more. I frowned, but I place my hand on my chest, feeling my heart race again.
'He isn't mad at me, he's not mad.' My happy bubble came back, I stood up and turned around.
'I'll make more food for them, Naru I'm happy, that you aren't mad at me. I'm so happy.' I smiled, walking down the path to get food.
Naru pov
"What the hell is wrong with me? Did.. Did I just.." I passed up and down on stage, trying to figure out what the hell just happen. I rub my chest, remembering Angel. When she moved her hair to the side, to hide her embarrassment, all I wanted is to hug her and press my lips on her cheek. I found her alluring, and that didn't help my heart, it was beating like crazy. I never experienced that before. She looked so tempting and all I wanted is to kiss her and hug her. Like last week, when...
I stop when I heard the a loud knock on the door.
'You are losing it, Noll, you are losing it.' I walk down the steps, and headed towards the door, in doing so, I open the door, and a young man appears in front of me. His eyes are brown with short brown hair, wearing dark clothes. He smiles at me, as his pale cheeks flush.
"Err, are you Oliver Davis? I'm John Brown," John bow. I blinked, and nodded at him.
"Ah, yes, come in," I move to the side, as John walks in, with a black bag on his hands. His eyes roam the stage and the seats.
"Wow, this place is amazing," he whistles out, moving to stare at me. I shrug at him.
"It was worse when I got here three weeks ago," I told him. John nods at me and rubs his head.
"Your boss, he told me that there's a phantom in this Opera house, he wants me to do an exorcism and bless the whole place, but I don't sense anything bad," he nervously laughs. I rolled my eyes at him.
"Trust me, there's no phantom," 'but an Angel.' I added in my head.
"Good, so where's my room? Sorry Mate, but I'm bushed, and I want to settle down, so I can change and cook something." he tells me.
"You can cook?" I asked as we start to head towards the back.
"Yes, I have to, since I'm living by myself, do you? You want me to prepare you something?" he offers.
"No, it's okay, I normally cook for myself as well, I can prepare something while you wash."
"If is not a bother,"
"Trust me is not, sometimes it gets lonely just being in this old place." since I can't see Angel.
'How long has she been in this place? How long has she been alone?'
"Here is your room, My room is four doors down. I am hoping that is at your convenience," I took out my keys from my pockets and open the door, stepping inside, handing him the keys. He took it and smiled at me.
"Perfect, is a bit bigger than my old room back in Australia. I'll see you an hour?" he asks. I nodded, and close the door behind me after he went in. His room is almost exactly like mine, but a bit bigger. Don't know, why though. Lin and I cleaned it up yesterday afternoon, so everything would be ready for today.
I move back towards my room and went in. Suddenly I jump back in fright to see Angel grabbing the last container and place it inside a bag. She looks up at me, and her eyes widen.
"Sorry, didn't see you there," I told her, closing the door, so John won't hear our conversation. Angel crouches down and shakes her head.
I frowned, and bend down as well and tilted my head to the side, her face is really red this time.
"Are you okay? Does your head still hurt from last time?" I asked her, she shakes her head in a no. I frowned, I move my hand to press it on her forehead, to check if she has a temperature, but she flinches away from me. I stop and sigh.
"I need to check if don't have a fever." I told her. She gave me a questionable look.
"Ah, forget it," I press my hand on her forehead, then I did with mine. Her eyes widen, as I frowned.
'She doesn't have a fever, then why is her face red?' lowering my hand, Angel suddenly takes a hold of my hand. I blinked.
She examines my hand and moves her own hand next to mine. She has very small hands compare to mine, they look soft. She frowns, then lays it on top of mine My heart starts to beat wildly once again from her gentle touch. She looks like a child discovering something for the first time.
"You never touched a man's hand before?" I asked her. Then she jumps back frighten again.
"Angel?" I asked confused, she covers her face with her hands.
"I'm not mad, I was just curious," I told her. She lowers her hands and said no. I move and sat next to her.
"Well, men are a little different from girls. See, my hand is bigger than yours," I move and show her my hand. She hesitates, but slowly moves her hand and grasp my hand. She traces my fingers, and looks at her. Her gentle touch causes me to feel odd. I normally don't let no one touch me.
Then she looks up at me with innocent eyes, and smiles at me, making me smile with her.
"They are a bit rougher than yours, and calloused from years of work, see yours are softer," I move my hand, and took her hand, flipping it around. So I trace her palm, to feel it. It felt like a baby's hand, so soft and almost silk-like. Angel stares at me with wide eyes, but then it softens, as she stares at me, with gentle eyes. I felt her shiver.
'She's so soft, like that night.'
"So, will I be able to see you more often?" I asked her. She blinks, and nods at me. I smiled, that made me happy. I don't like it when I can't see her. This last seven days, were like hell. I was so damn worried about her.
"Angel, John came, and he's four rooms down from here," She nodded again, looking down at my hand once again, and starts to trace it with her fingers. I shivered.
'I want to know your story, how come you're like this? Living like this? What cause you to have that scar? Is anyone out there looking for you?'
"I'm glad you're not sick, and.." but I stop, when Angel moves her small hands up to my wrist up towards my arm. I look down, and I felt a bolt of electricity run down my spine. It felt a little too good for my own liking. So I cleared my throat.
"And you should stop now," I told her, as I stood up. Angel stares at me, confused why I just said that, then her eyes drop.
'Does she think is because I became repulse?' Crap.
"I didn't mean to sound rude, I need to start cooking for John, also if you want, I can teach more things, like writing," I told her. Angel eyes sparkle at my words, then she suddenly moves her body up, and grabs my hand. I arched a brow.
'She has really never been close to a guy. Well, I can see why, I doubt any man will be next to her, having that thing in her face.' that broke my heart. I bend on my knees, and reach out to brush her long hair, she flinches, but I simply assure her with a simple smile, she then lets me. Her hair felt soft between my fingers.
She stops and looks up at me.
"As well, I'll teach you more about people, okay?" she shakes her head.
"No? Then what do you want me to teach you?" I respected her privacy, slowly, she'll learn. She grasps my hand and pointed at me. My eyes widen.
"About me?" she nods, and I sigh, but then I smiled gently at her.
"Then let's start with me," I told her.
'I want to protect her. She looks so lonely and like a lost child. So innocent. I never met a woman like her before.' my heart pounding, she kept on touching my hand, as I stare at her with a soft gaze.
'Let me protect you; if I can do that, then you will give me something to live for. You have given me a lot in such a short period, and you never ask anything in return. I want to return that to you. Please, let me protect you, My angel.'
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Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt or Phantom of the Opera.
