Chapter 5
by: Obsolete Love
Duo leaned against the balcony railings while he contemplated on his next move… No point in asking how Hilde feels about him… After what he did to that guy… she probably hates him…
'Funny that she only slapped me when she could've punched me instead…'
Duo grimaced. "Hell, Duo! You want to get a black eye?"
He really couldn't remember much of what happened that night… everything was too blurry… and yesterday…
Man! Yesterday he was a damn wreck… He's just happy he found some sleeping pills in the bathroom… helped him get through the day from hell… Just a pill each time he woke up… Ironic that he didn't die from overdose.
"So what do you do now…?" Duo whispered once again, propped his chin on the railings, and stared at the cars going in and out of the hotel…
He could remember quite clearly the time when he learned that he loved her… Damn White Fang nearly killed her…
Every night that he could, he visited her… made sure that he talked to her because he read somewhere that even when a person was sleeping… there's a chance that they could hear you…
Words spilled from his mouth… words he couldn't tell her up front… "Heh… that's probably the only thing me and Yuy have in common aside from the Gundams…"
Suddenly, familiar midnight blue hair came into view… Hilde… No one else could have it… he could tell from way up here…
To his chagrin, a man came up to her side and looped an arm around her waist… Hilde laughed up at him, adding salt to his bare wounds…
But God! To hear her laugh again after these past few days… It was almost worth it… almost…
Duo watched as a red SC convertible pulled up the arc driveway.
'Money… was that all you were looking for, Hilde?' Duo thought miserably as he watched her slip inside the leather interior…
"I could buy one if that's what you want!" Duo shouted as the convertible roared away.
Duo shook his head sadly as he walked back to his suite. "Wufei, my man… this is one word I'm going to borrow from you… Injustice…"
He eyed the bed angrily, sick at the rumpled sight since he'd spent the whole day yesterday on it… but there's nowhere else he could wallow in his thoughts…
He let his frame drop into it once again.
"Six years of planning… down the drain…" his words came out as heavy as a thousand heartbroken sighs…
"Hilde seemed to be enjoying herself with him…
Soulmates… Damn fortune
tellers…"
He stared aimlessly at the white ceiling above him… his thoughts clashed inside his head…
"She wouldn't have left if she really did love me… would she?" Duo asked in a whisper to the empty room…
'No… she wouldn't have left you…' Duo answered his own question.
"She wouldn't have left… if she even cared an ounce for you, Maxwell…"
His voice was full of remorse and resignation… Not even near to reflecting the depth of pain he was feeling inside as he came down with that realization…
He had promised… so long ago… He promised that he would make her happy if she would just open her eyes… Prayed and willed to his core…
She was one of the reasons why he had fought so hard…
'And right now… Is she happy?' Against his will, he remembered her laughter just a few minutes ago…
Duo closed his eyes as he tried to look for any advice… 'Mother… Sister Helen… what would you tell me?' His hand went up to the cross around his neck as he remembered the image of the woman who was near to being a mother to him…
His fleeting, blurry thoughts of the chapel… of her beautiful serene face…
'He died on the cross for everyone because he
loved us…'
'I don't understand…'
'Oh Duo… He didn't want us to suffer… He didn't
want us to die… Humanity loves life so, to give humanity a second chance to
live life, their joy and happiness, He died. It was a choice he freely
accepted… Even if it hurt Him and caused His death, He made sure that they will
be forgiven, He loves us that much…'
'I still don't understand, Sister Helen…'
'Well… you're a smart boy, I'm sure you will
understand very soon…'
A tear escaped Duo's closed eyes as he sat up at the edge of the bed. He just made a decision…
'I understand… now…' And it hurt so much… but he'd caused her enough misery these past few days to last a lifetime… He promised that he'd make her happy… but being here… being around her was just making her feel the opposite…
"Alright… that's what I'll do…" Duo muttered under his breath as he walked to his opened suitcase, still unpacked… his feelings making each of his step heavy…
After nearly ten years of being so close…
"Guess I was wrong…" Duo whispered, headed straight to the bathroom with a towel in his hands, checked his badly-in-need-of-a-shave face before he dropped his things on the sink and proceeded on to clean himself for his last day of stay…
~*~
Iris pushed her glasses up higher on the bridge of her nose as she typed in another set of numbers to break the code on Duo's account… she'd been in the library since yesterday, until it closed, and since this morning when it opened…
Something had tweaked at her… a memory of Duo typing in his computer and shutting it suspiciously when she came in... Of some numbers not being quite right for Duo's share…
He's hiding something… but whatever it is… she could be quite sure that it's not bad… so far, everything she found was legal…
So what was it?
Her stomach growled, asking for lunch, but she paid no heed as she focused her attention on breaking in…
~*~
Duo hefted his sack over his shoulder and then handed the man the envelope with the letter he just wrote a while ago… He had to take care of some things… the letter will see to everything…
His gaze fell to the hallway, in front of the grand staircase that ended just by the bar and grimaced as he remembered what happened… A familiar balding man was wiping the bar…
"Room number's written on that envelope. Hopefully the person in that room will be in by nine. I'll know if they got the message, and they will tell me if its been tampered with." Duo dangerously said to the man behind the desk before he walked to the bar.
Duo sat on the stool nearest to the entrance and watched as the man arranged the bottles of whiskey and wine on the shelf. "Hey man."
The bartender turned around and Duo saw the look of recognition in his eyes.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to ask for any more drinks. Those things you gave me last time took me out of commission long enough."
The bartender looked at the sarcastic grin on braided man's face and shook his head in disbelief that this man would joke about it… considering...
"You had too much to drink that night, but you also had too much in your mind."
Duo nodded. "Yeah… I just wanted to thank you for keeping me in high spirits." Duo inwardly laughed sardonically at his own pun then took out a 50 credit bill and placed it on the table.
"Here. This is for you."
The man looked at the bill and shook his head.
Duo didn't wait for him to talk as he dropped the bill inside the counter then grabbed his knapsack once again and ambled to the opening.
"Sir!"
Duo stopped then turned his head sideways to look at the bartender.
Nobody was around… it was too early for drinking…
"For what it is worth… all of us are fools when it comes to love… but at least you tried to fight to keep yours, others do not."
'Friends in weird places… that's what I always get…' Duo thought as he nodded once and turned away…
'Yeah… fool in love… that's for sure…'
~*~
'Dammit! Why won't you open!?' Iris mentally shrieked at the computer as she pounded her fingers on the number pad and pressed enter- hard.
Suddenly, her eyes widened as she was taken into a different page…
Iris' eyes widened some more at the numbers that appeared on the screen…
"Holy…!" she caught her loud voice before she could distract anymore people and instantly shouted in her brains-
'Maxwell! What the heck had you been doing these past few years?!'
She had to print this… She doesn't know how to get back in! And she knew that if she could just study the numbers properly… she'd know why he'd been hoarding all these money into that secured account…
It's got something to do with Hilde… He said so himself after he turned the computer off when she came in…
'What was that, Duo?'
Duo grinned… 'Oh nothing… just for Hilde…'
'Just for Hilde… now that is what I'm going to find out right now… how was it just for Hilde and maybe I could get both of you together at long last…'
~*~
The rolling hills set against clear, pale blue skies are picturesque as Hilde sat on top of the waist high stone fence…
'Heero… damn you… Duo… to hell with you-'
"Hilde…? Is there something wrong, mon cheri?"
Jean's soft voice filtered through her red cloud of anger and Hilde smiled- too widely- up at him.
"Hmm? Why did you say that?"
A frown appeared on Jean's forehead as he leaned against the fence. "I do not know… it's just that it seems as if something is bothering you…" He reached out for Hilde's hand and brought it up to his lips.
Hilde willed her body not to grow tense as Jean kissed her knuckles fleetingly…
"Mon petit… I could feel what you are feeling… we are meant for each other, do you think not?"
Hilde gulped as Jean looked into her eyes and started rubbing circled upon the back of her hand.
"I thought I had seen an angel when you showed up on my chateau's doorsteps with my friend's sister…"
'Angel… Duo calls me angel…' the unbidden thought made Hilde want to scream, instead, she just took her hands away from Jean's hold.
"Jean, I bet that you say that to all the girls who shows up on your chateau's doorsteps."
Jean grinned, Hilde almost laughed out loud at the funny way his face looked like with that wad of plaster in the middle of his face.
"Maybe… maybe not."
"Maybe we need to go get something to eat. We skipped lunch." Hilde suggested, feeling how her insides are already rubbing against each other.
"Ah! But there is still so much to see!"
'I just want to eat! I wasn't able to eat yesterday!' Hilde cried out in her mind. 'These stupid hills are still going to be here tomorrow!' But instead, Hilde just smiled, stomped on her irate feelings and nodded. "Alright… sure… let's finish the grand tour."
Jean's grin became wider as he offered his arm to Hilde and they started walking…
~*~
Iris closed her eyes for a second as she walked down the library steps… The only good thing that came out of today was that she was able to print out the ten paged summary of the whole account… she'd poured everything she had on it but all she understood so far was he'd been saving for about seven years and for what reason? She still does not know…
Her stomach grumbled and she finally gave into the temptation of food as she passed by a restaurant and smelled its delicious aroma…
~*~
The cold breeze made Hilde shiver slightly as they walked on the cobblestone steps by the river…
Jean placed an arm around her shoulders and for the uncountable time that day, an unbidden thought came to her-
'Why don't I feel warm and comfortable in his embrace the way I do with Duo…?'
Hilde closed her eyes and mentally screamed once again as the words disappeared in her mind.
"Hilde, you are too tense…" Jean whispered as he started to rub her shoulder…
'If Duo was here, he would have given me a neck massage- Oh stop it Hilde!!! Stop it, stop it, stop it!!!!'
"Jean, I think I should go back to my hotel… I don't feel well…" Flat out lie… but anything to get her back into the hotel right now… The whole day was so far a number one in her most disastrous days…
"Yes… you had been most tense today."
'Why thank you for noticing, Jean.' Hilde thought sarcastically as they walked to the other side of the river.
They passed a suspicious looking group of men, standing around idly by one of the closed carts by the river and Hilde felt the hair at the back of her neck rise…
"Jean… I think we should walk faster…" Hilde whispered just for his ears as she heard the sounds of footsteps following them…
"No, Hilde… we should never show them that we are afraid…."
Jean's answer was reassuring but his cold, tense hands contradicted the calmness of his voice.
"No… you don't understand… I don't think these people are the kind that-"
Hilde didn't finish when she was suddenly pulled away from Jean's arms and jerked against someone's body.
She instantly sidestepped, caught back her balance and found herself standing in the middle of four disgusting looking man… Two with beer bellies; one with a nose ring, the other with earrings, and two without; one wore leather and the other with plain casual clothes… the look in their eyes made the fire burn in Hilde, igniting a temper that's dangerous once let out…
Keeping an eye out for the four, she glanced at Jean, talking in French, to the man holding a small knife in front of him …
'Oh God… Duo… I wish….' She stopped herself, caught herself she violated what she had promised not to do…
Hilde could see the small beads of perspiration appear on Jean's forehead as he took out his wallet-
'Fight, damn you! Don't you know how to fight?!' Hilde's mind cried out as she watched the man take Jean's wallet then motion to her.
'Oh shit…' she could see the hungry looks being given to her… 'If they lay one finger on me… Jean, dammit! What are you doing?!' Hilde glanced back at Jean and saw the helpless look he gave her direction…
A helpless look full of meaning… He's going to let her be… taken…!
"You bastard!!!" Hilde screamed out to Jean as he turned away and the man with the knife started walking to Hilde.
"Coward!" Hilde cried out once again as she looked around the group. Adrenaline pumped in her veins… If Duo were here, they would all be begging for mercy just for looking at her in such a malicious way…
If Duo were here… he would have defended her even if he were outnumbered…
If Duo were here…
Hilde started backing away from the group, her brain started to look for weaknesses…
If Duo were here… she would have told him that she loved him…
'The hell! I'm not going down without a fight! I didn't become a Lieutenant Sergeant for nothing!' Hilde thought determinedly as she eluded the man who ran to tackle her then landed a punch against one of the skinny men's jaws and heared it crack.
She didn't lose any time as she quickly turned and gave a high roundhouse kick to the other thin man's face.
Groans and yelps of pain could be heard from the two who crumbled on the cobbled stoned walk in a daze, still not sure of what had happened.
One of the fat men said something in his native language, and from the corner of her eyes, Hilde noticed how the man who tried to tackle her, the one who carried the knife, throw it from left to right.
Her heart beat rapidly against her chest in fear, anger and a tumult of other emotion-
Suddenly, her breath was knocked out of her lungs as the man with a nose ring tackled her to the ground. She didn't think and instinctively pushed her knee up against the man's loins at the same time that she grabbed him by the collar and sent him flying over her head.
She heard him fall down and a stream of curses flowing from his lips. She only gave herself time enough to see where the man landed and saw that he's sprawled over the man carrying the knife.
'One left…' Hilde thought as she faced the last one, thanked her lucky stars that she changed to jeans and sneakers…
With a battle cry, the man charged for her. Hilde stood her ground until the very last minute, then she jumped high in the air, twisted her hips and straightened out her leg. The kick landed against the man's. She dropped back on the ground and instantly gave a left roundhouse kick to his stomach with as much force as she could.
The man fell down on the floor, kissed the cobblestones with pouring saliva and blood as he gasped for air…
Her eyes were still blazing in fury as she looked around and challenged whoever wanted to get their ass kicked. Nobody moved… But expletives were muttered over and over again in painful groans…
Her knuckles were aching… She felt as if she broke her wrist from the punch she landed on that man's jaw… Her right foot was killing her, not used to kicking hard objects anymore… And she felt as if any moment now, she'd fall right on her face due to the after shock… or maybe because her heart was pumping too hard and too fast…Either way… she willed her body not to show her inner fear…
"Jean? Are you alright?" Hilde's soft voice asked as she looked at the wide-eyed man who stared at the five men crumpled on the walk…
She saw the spark of admiration in his eyes as he walked to her and grabbed her tenderly by her shoulders. "Oh Hilde! I was so worried! I mean, I could have defended you, but I did not know how to fight-"
"Jean, are you alright?" Hilde asked once again as she pulled herself away from his hands, her voice dangerously soft.
"Yes… of course, I am al-"
"PUT A SOCK IN IT YOU DAMN BASTARD!" Hilde screamed out as her fist shot out to his face.
She heard the satisfying sounds of plaster and bones cracking… of the girlish howl that came out from the man in front of her… She didn't care about the pain that shot through her hand as she drew it back and Jean started muttering a flow of expletives while he doubled over and clutched his nose.
Oh God! She almost forced herself to feel for this idiot!!! She'd actually defended this spineless worm from the man she…
Hilde turned away from the awful sight and started walking back to her hotel.
'God… I don't care if he doesn't love me… I know that I love him… and maybe in time… he'll learn how to feel for me too…' Hilde prayed as she walked through the darkened streets, her senses alert for any more trouble….
Her whole body was numb… she didn't even know that she was shaking and that tears were flowing down her cheeks as she walked through the lobby of her hotel and went straight to Iris' suite, and knocked on the door with her good left hand…
Her friend's familiar face greeted her with a smile that turned into stunned surprise as she took in Hilde's disheveled state.
"Oh my God! Hilde… are you alright?"
"Y-y-yes…" her jaws was shaking too much that she could barely speak…
Iris quickly grabbed some tissue papers and started patting Hilde's tear stained face. Questions could be asked later… right now, her friend needs someone to be there… Her gaze fell down on Hilde's lap and saw how she's cradling her right hand.
"Let me see that…" Iris whispered as she gently took out Hilde's swollen hand, her eyes widening. "What the-?!"
"G-g-gave J-jean a f-farewell pr-present…"
Iris' eyes slanted. "He didn't try to-"
Hilde shook her head. "Da-damn… been t-too lo-long since I've be-been in sh-shock li-li-like this…"
Iris let out a silent sigh of relief that Jean didn't try anything… but what ever it was that he did… She could be quite sure he's paying for his crimes right now…
"I'm going to get some ice for that hand." Iris said as she went to the refrigerator, thankful that she ordered a fresh batch of ice for her ice tea.
"Whe-where's D-du-duo?" Hilde asked as she tried to stop her chattering teeth and shivering body.
"I don't know… I haven't seen him since that night at the bar." She walked back to Hilde with the bowl of ice and placed it in front of her friend. "You know what to do with it."
Hilde grimaced but she complied as she slowly dipped her hand into the ice…
"I'm going to make you some hot cocoa… maybe that'll help you soothe your nerves."
"Th-th-thanks…"
Hilde watched Iris prepare hot water with the automatic boiler, and in no time at all, she had an instant cocoa in her hands. It helped… She could feel her haywire nerves slowly calm while she breathed in its chocolate aroma and sipped in the warm liquid.
"Iris… could you do me a favor?" Hilde asked, a few minutes later, finally able to speak calmly.
Iris frowned. "Sure, if I could do it, why not?"
"Could you… ask Duo if we could talk?" Hilde asked, almost shyly. She knew how much she'd put her friend through these past few days, just because of her stupid, idiotic half brained ideas…
"You are going to 'talk' to him right? Not shout at him. This is going to be a civil talk, right?" Iris took Hilde's hand out of the bowl and laid it on her lap, ready with the bandage wrap.
Hilde gave a tired smile at Iris. "Iris, I won't shout at him… I just want to hold him right now and tell him that I love him and that I don't care if he doesn't love me back… Does that meet your approval, doc?"
Iris grinned. Finally! They're getting somewhere! "Sure does, Hilde… I'll go to his room right-"
The sudden knock on the door made the two women jerk their gazes on it.
"If it's Jean, I'm going to strangle him." Hilde said through gritted teeth. "A herd of stampeding wild horses wouldn't stop me from committing murder."
Iris shook her head. "Hilde, calm down. I'll go see, and if it is Jean, just leave me a good piece so I can clobber him myself, okay?" She taped the last end of the wrap on Hilde's wrist then went straight to the door, opened it only half way so as not to upset Hilde some more if it was the horrible person…
Hilde watched as the door closed and her friend walk back to her with a frown on her face, while turning an envelope around in her hands.
"What is it?"
Iris looked up at Hilde. "I have no clue…"
"Well… why don't you open it up, genius."
Iris grinned. "Yeah, yeah… keep your shirt on."
Hilde saw Iris take a slip of paper out and then saw the cheerful grin on her face disappear into shock…
"Iris? What is it?" Hilde asked hesitantly as she reached out to touch her friend's arm.
Iris turned her troubled blue eyes to Hilde's confused navy blue ones.
"Hilde… Duo just left me his share of the company…"
Her voice was barely a whisper but it seemed like a shout to Hilde as her hand dropped back to her side and she stared at Iris in disbelief …