Angelica 10
Angelica-inspiration
Hakuba residence
Saguru's pov
7:29 pm
I sat there in my room, by the french doors that led to the octagonal veranda that judded out of the corner of the house. Pressing the side of my face against the cold window, the warmth of my breath left a fog on the frosted glass. I gazed out to the garden at the back of the house, the trellises arranged in a large circle had climbing roses entwined on each post, during the spring and summer they created an arched tunnel, protected from the glaring sun. There was a ring of cherry trees around those roses, the snow which had melted only a few hours before now refroze like small beads of Ice catching the growing starlight. The rest of the garden was occupied by chives, lavender, and narcissus flowers together in the spring they'd paint a glorious picture of pinks, lavenders, and creams. Even in these early spring months they looked beautiful, the way the frost blanketed each leaf and evergreen, the cool mint greens that still showed throughout the year.
The grandfather clock chimed the half hour, 7:30. I stood up, brushed off any lint that may have made its way onto my clothing. I entered my washroom just to make sure my hair looked presentable. It had a mind of its own, I have a cowlick at the crown of my head which makes it puffy and stick up in the back, I get the worst bedhead, which takes forever to fix.
I exited my room and entered the upstairs hallway, the ceilings throughout the house were a bit taller than average land due to the Queen Anne architecture there was plenty of attic space above the first floor (the British refer to the 1st floor as main floor and 2nd floor as 1st). When you leave my room my parent's will be directly across the hall, walk directly out of my doorway and to my left is a dead end which is where the grandfather clock sits with a flower engraved window above it. Going to my right and hugging the wall to my parent's room is the stairway made of black walnut. Continue to my right and there will be another short one perpendicular to it at the end of which is the linen closet, next to that is my father's study, then the library, and guest bedroom. If you stand next to the stairs you can look down at the main entrance, above which hangs a chandelier, behind that is a circular window, to the right of the main staircase is a walkway that wraps around the dining room, like a loft. The dining room has the tallest ceiling throughout the entire house, at the end of the lofty walkway is yet another staircase that leads directly into the kitchen. The house originally was painted with reds, browns, and gold but my mother didn't like how dark and ominous it made it feel so she had the place repainted lavender and pastel green. I honestly liked the new colours. It made the place feel calming and much brighter.
The main floor mainly consisted of four rooms, the parlor witch was in the front of the house and to the right of the front door, the dining room witch was in the front and to the left, the kitchen witch was in the back and to the left, and the what my family called the ballroom to the back and right. The ballroom was basically just a large room with nothing in it except for a black piano in an octagonal section that hung off the house, my room is directly above it and the veranda is on top of that octagonal let off. Each of these rooms had a set of black walnut double doors that led into the main hall, and each room that was directly attached to another had a set of doors that led to the other.
I walked down the stairs but stopped to admire the wooden horse mounted on the banister. I for some reason called him 'Gerald ( in desperate need of a better name)' I don't know why I called it that I just did, It didn't really look like a Gerald, but then again what does a Gerald even look like?
I wandered into the kitchen the smell of my mother's cooking hung in the air.
"Saguru do you mind setting the table, we're having company," Mother said, checking on whatever was in the oven.
"Yeah I know," I said walking over to the cupboard where we kept the dishes. I began counting out the cutlery, avoiding the reject fork that was bent differently than the rest, I hated that fork. It took probably no more than five minutes to finish setting the table.
A knock came at the front door, I could heat father exiting the parlor and opening the front door. I stepped out of the dinning room and into the hall. Isabelle and her father stepped in from the cold.
"Here why don't you let me get your coats?" I said with a small bow.
Isabelle nodded, she had a white over coat made of what looked like felted wool, and a light green muffler. Underneath her coat she wore a long light purple dress, the sleeves where puffed at the shoulders and again at the elbow a trend I believe was common during the Victorian era, the skirt came down to her calves and had a scalloped edge embroidered with soft pink roses and stalks of lavender. She wore contact lenses, but no makeup to hide her freckled features, her hair was braided then coiled into a bun in the back of her head, lavender weaved through to decorate. Her features were reminiscent to that of a china doll, perfect and elegant with a curious smile. I took her by the arm, following my father into the parlor. Her touch was gentile and I loved the way her hands fit into mine. Her soft gaze seemed so fragile, as her emerald green eyes drifted around the room.
Silent, she remained so silent. The silence it killed me. Father stood over by the fireplace conversing softly with Mr. Arens. And yet not a sound, she didn't mutter a word. If I asked her a question she'd give me a terse answer with a nod.
We stood there watching the early birds fight over the seed hanging outside the window.
'That's it I can't take it. I'm gonna do it, she's forcing me to.'
"Princess," I said.
She looked at me.
"On a normal day how many pigeons could you carry?" I asked.
It worked, she snapped out of whatever trance like thing she had been stuck in.
"W-what? D-did you just ask me how many pigeons I could carry?"She asked confused, I could see the gears turning in her head just trying to process the question.
"Yeah, it's okay if the answer's none though," I said, trying not to break character.
She smiled naively,"At least twelve, and you?"
"Never really thought about that before, It's just a stupid conversation starter I found," I said, leaning against the bookshelf.
"Yeah I suspected as much, you have a very dry sense of humor, Legs," She teased.
"I'm not that tall, besides I think I'm quite humorous," I punned.
She face palmed,"Please stop, your not funny," I could see her ears grow red.
"Really? It looks like your laughing," I said.
She rubbed her temple with one hand,"You're an idiot you know that right. That was a stupid joke."
"Yeah, but you didn't see it coming, so that's on you."
Mother came into the room announcing that dinner was ready.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~9:45~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dinner had concluded and the adults had just gotten up to retire to the parlor. Isabelle and I had gotten up as well I stopped her outside the door however.
"Would you care to join me for a walk in the back garden?" I asked.
She looked nervously into the parlor and then back at me. She smiled and nodded.
I grabbed our coats from the coat rack and led her to the nearest back exit, in the ballroom. I took her by the hand and we stepped out into the frosted garden. It was dark but the stars provided enough light to see everything.
"Oh Saguru, it's beautiful," She exclaimed, her breath visible in the cold.
"Well perhaps you should see it when the trees blossom, ne Princess?" I said, gently guiding her under the wring of trellises.
She stopped and looked at me,"Why do you call me that?"
"Call you what?"
"Princess, why do you call me Princess?" She asked, her tone, it didn't quite seem irritated nor annoyed, she didn't ask in a negative manor nor a sly naive manor. I seem to lack the words to describe it, but those words, they seemed melt me from the inside.
"I-I-I don't know," I said, honestly," I guess it'd be because you're . . . my princess," I hope she didn't notice my that was probably a bright shade of red, maybe she'd just think it was the cold.
She froze, I could vaguely see the green of her eyes in the dim light, her face changed in shade, blushing, I think, it was hard to tell.
She smiled gently,"I guess that makes you my knight."
The way she spoke, I felt so flustered,'She's my friend, I can't tell her . . . but . . . would it really be bad'
"I guess so," I said taking her hand.
We began walking again, with each step was a small ring, perhaps a bell. I took a few more steps before realizing it was a sort of chime, probably the neighbor's wind chime. It was a sweet tune, every note complemented the other.
"Do you mind?" I asked, placing my right hand under her shoulder blade, in the standard ballroom position. I'm not quite sure why I did this, it just felt natural.
"N-no, not at all," She answered taking my left hand.
Each of us knew the Viennese waltz, and were able to move freely on the sweet melodic tune drifting on the wind. She was beautiful in the starlight, the way the silver moon shone down between the frosted leaves of the roses. I've never seen anyone dance like her, she never once stepped out of time. She smiled as I twirled her, and even when the tune had ended she hummed that sweet melody, The skirts of her dress lightly brushed against my legs. The rest of the world seemed to fade away during that moment, the white doves perching themselves above us, the soft trickle of the fountain in the front yard, the cold air tingling my ears, all of it everything seemed to vanish, it was no longer important. If I could I'd stay, I'd stay forever, I never want to leave.
A voice called out, but I didn't hear.
Bella stopped dancing,"Oh, I-I have to go,"She said pulling me back into reality,"I had a nice time, maybe we could do it again some time," She said, awkwardly shifting her feet as if she was debating on something.
I nodded.
"Well goodnight," She said, before giving me a peck on the cheek and running off.
It took every brain cell to process what had just happened, "Did that just happen?" I asked myself out loud. Just a single peck and my brain packed up and jumped out the window pulling my heart strings while he was at it.
"You're not going to stay out here forever are you?" I heard my mother's voice say.
'Shit . . . she saw that'
"Y-yeah, I'm coming," I said, stuffing my hands into my pockets and walking towards the house.
I stopped in front of the door where my mother was waiting, I stepped in with out looking at her.
"Saguru,"She said closing the door behind me,"You didn't mean what you said this morning did you?"
I could feel my ears and face grow read as I turned to face her, "Uhhhhhh..."