Chapter 14
A Man in Pain
Coralie's head felt like twenty times heavier and her stomach was growling furiously at her. She turned around in bed and opened one eyelid.
"Where am I?" she asked, inspecting the environment around her. "Oh, I'm in Clopin's cabin, right. Wait! I'm in Clopin's cabin! How did I end up in here?" she sat quickly in the bed, just to fall back again. "Oh, my head hurts so bad!" she moaned.
"Ma petite, are you awake?" Clopin whispered peeking to the inside of the tent.
"Lower your tone, will you?" she growled.
He entered the cabin and approached her with a grin in his lips.
"I'm already murmuring. If I lower my tone, you wouldn't hear a thing," he said.
"Good, perfect. Don't talk at all. I need absolute silence or I swear my head is going to explode," she said.
Clopin rolled his eyes and sat in the wooden stool, looking closely at her.
"What?" she asked.
He made a motion with his shoulders and gazed at her figure.
"What am I doing in your tent?" she asked again.
Once again he just stared at her, with a mocking grin in his face.
"Answer me, Clopin! What am I doing here? What happened?" she asked with a frown.
Clopin laughed and sat back in the stool, resting a hand on the table.
"You were the one who said you wanted silence! I'll never understand you, women," he said. Coralie scowled at him and he sighed. "You drank a little too much yesterday. Don't you remember?" he asked.
She shook her head and regretted it, when a flow of pain assaulted her again.
"Why am I in your bed?" her eyes widened in shock. "Did anything happen between you and me?"
His lips were smiling, but in his eyes she saw a flash of pain.
"You really don't remember?"
"No."
"Well, you helped Gerome and then–"
"Cut to the part where I ended up in your bed, please."
"We were dancing, well, at least I was dancing, you were just being delightfully silly," he smiled.
"I was what?" she screeched.
"You heard me. And then, of course, you had to trip on yourself – seriously, how do you manage to be so clumsy?"
"Blame it on my father. I had nothing to do with that. What happened next?"
"You fell on top of me. I have a bump on the back on my head to prove it," he said.
"Sorry."
"That's alright. And then you laid in my bed, and fell asleep. You look like a petite chat when sleeping, you know, chatonne? I named you right," Clopin said.
She tossed a strand of her dark hair back.
"You were watching me sleep?" she asked. "That's not very proper, you know?"
"Hey! You were the one who fell asleep in my bed! What was I supposed to do? Drag you to your tent?" he said with an exaggerated eye roll.
"Where did you sleep?" she asked concerned.
"Look at me. Do I look like I've been sleeping, Coralie?" he asked hastily.
"The bed is big enough for the two of us Clopin," she retaliated. "You didn't sleep because–"
"Because you sleep diagonally! You took over my bed and claimed it as your own! I didn't want to wake you after– Oh! Forget it!" he yelled, making her head tingle painfully.
She got up silently.
"After what, Clopin?" she asked.
"I said forget about it!" he growled. "Why don't you go and visit your dear Quasimodo?"
"How do you know his name?" she asked abruptly. "I don't remember I told you his name," she said.
"You didn't need to. You said it more than enough times, whilst sleeping!" he sighed and looked at her with a new kind of sparkle in his eyes. "Get out," he said.
She looked at him and frowned. "What?"
"Get. Out." he repeated slowly.
"Are you banishing me from your cabin, Clopin?" she asked in a defying tone.
"It is my tent, after all. And right now I don't want you here, so, since you know the way out, be my guest and leave!"
Coralie said nothing else. She exited Clopin's tent without even looking back.
"That obnoxious, stubborn, selfish– Uhh! He's so childish!" she muttered furiously. "How do I still put up with him?"
"Coralie!" Clopin shouted from his cabin.
She stopped and thought twice before turning to him.
"What?" she yelled back, making her head sting.
"If you go and visit your so loved Quasimodo, don't bother coming back! I am officially breaking our deal!" Clopin shouted angrily.
His words made her heart clench. What was it she did so terrible for him to hate her so much? She felt a known warmness flow in her eyes and furiously shut them so it wouldn't spill.
"Fine. Then I don't see any reason to be in here anymore," she mumbled while limping to Esmeralda's tent.
Djali, who was sitting in Coralie's bed, jumped happily when seeing her coming in. But as soon as she laid eyes on Coralie's angry features, she jumped from her bed and went to Esmeralda, who was humming a soft melody.
"Bonjour, Coralie. How are you? Clopin told me about last night. Congrat–" her words broke when she saw a furious Coralie packing her stitching basket, and arranging her clothing. "What happened?"
"Your cousin broke our deal, and told me to go away and don't bother to look back. I don't need to be here every day and see the face of a man that clearly hates to have me around, Esmeralda," she said in a cracked voice. "I'm leaving this place."
Esmeralda got up quickly. "You can't!" she said. "Not now that you two were–"
"Please, just don't say anything," Coralie said. "Clopin made it clear that he didn't want me to be around."
Esmeralda started unpacking Coralie's belongings.
"Listen. Why don't you go have a walk through Paris and think about this?" she said. "I need you here! You are like a sister to me, Coralie. I mean it."
Coralie looked at Esmeralda and ran to hug her. They let themselves fall to the floor, as the latter stroked Coralie's dark hair.
"You are part of the family now. I don't know what happened for Clopin to mad at you, but I'm sure he didn't mean it. He get's moody when he doesn't get a good night of sleep" Esmeralda said. "Go and have a stroll, and when you come back, everything will seem better, alright?"
Coralie nodded and got up. "The worst part is that I don't even know what I did for him to be so angry with me. Why is he so furious? Because I can't dance?" she muttered.
"Oh, you don't remember? Nothing at all?" Esmeralda asked with the same surprised tone Clopin had showed her before.
"Why do you two keep doing that?" the other girl said in a deep sigh.
"I shouldn't be the one to tell you, Coral."
"So who, then?"
"Clopin should. It's his concerning, not mine," Esmeralda said,
Coralie moaned and sent her a scowl. "Some big help you're going to be," she murmured.
Esmeralda giggled and petted Djali. Coralie tied her foot with an orange strap and exited the tent, following Esmeralda's advice. She walked slowly through the Court of Miracles' yard, and entered the nasty wet tunnel that gave to the cemetery's exit. Before going up the hole, she grabbed an old bone, maybe from an arm or a child's leg.
The wild dog that made her fall in the hole, was sitting there, guarding the tombs as if they were royal treasures. As soon as it laid eyes on Coralie, it started roaring and showing its teeth. She balanced the bone in front of the dogs face with a grin.
"Gentil chien. Do you want the nasty bone? Do you?" she said.
The dog sat and started salivating, waggling its tail happily.
"What a nice dog you are," she said. "Go fetch, chien. Go on"
Coralie tossed the bone far away and the dog ran to get it, barking joyfully.
She exited the cemetery, quickly, ignoring the chills that were spiking up her spine. It was a cold late January morning and she observed some wagons and horses that belonged to trades folk, entering the outskirts of town.
"Morning Mademoiselle," a man in a brown horse said while passing by her.
"Bonjour Sir," she responded respectfully.
"Do you want a ride to the market?" he asked. "My son is travelling just behind me with our jewellery wagon."
She smiled and nodded. "I would be delighted Monsieur, merci."
The man pulled the stripes on the horse and made the animal turn around. Coralie stopped and waited for the wagon to come. A handsome young man, not much older than her, guided a grey and white horse that pulled a big carriage behind them. The nice man on the brown horse returned and introduced his son. The young lad got down from the wagon and helped Coralie hop in.
"I am Raphaël Dubois, Mademoiselle. It's a pleasure to give a ride to such a fair lady in this chilly morning," he said politely.
"I thank you very much. My foot was starting to bother me," she made a motion to the orange strap. "Where are you heading?"
"The market near Notre Dame. It's a good selling place, for those who come and pay their prayers to our Lady Mary."
"It is indeed."
In the way, Coralie got to know that Raphaël and his father were from Calais. Raphaël was a craftsman who was still learning from his father. He worked with various precious stones and made the most beautiful works with gold and silver and Coralie listened, fascinated with the passion the boy had with his work.
"One day, Mademoiselle, if I get married, I will shape the most beautiful jewellery Paris had ever seen, and offer it to my wife as a sign of love and gratitude," he said passionately.
"She will be a lucky woman, I'm sure" Coralie said smiling.
"Here we are, Notre Dame," Raphaël announced. "I assume this is where I drop you of?"
"Oui. Merci, Monsieur, I hope to meet you again soon," she said.
"Farewell Mademoiselle. And, may I please know your name?" he asked with a glow in his eyes.
"That wouldn't be fun at all, now, would it?" she said as she went up Notre Dame's stairs.
"No, it wouldn't" Raphaël muttered before she disappeared through the Cathedral's doors.
A/N: Good morning...to those who have a GMT clock. Right now it is 11:07 in Portugal and i am on fire!
Review please.
Music suggestion: Note to God - Charice Pempengco
Next: Behind the Shadows
*Bloo*