Standard Disclaimer Applies Here
Chapter Three
Home is where the heart is
- From all those silly welcome rugs and some home decors (I don't really know where this quote came from)
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The sound of the horse hooves hitting the road was very audible through the carriage window. It was the only thing he could hear as of the moment as he tried to push away his feelings of unhappiness at returning home.
Unlike most working men at the present, Eriol Hiiragizawa did not feel the emotion of contentment and relief whenever he arrived at his house. To him, his residence was just another place, there was nothing special about it, and its only difference from all the other places was that it was his official place of sleep and that it was a place he grew up in.
He sighed. It was a little astonishing to him that he had thought different some years back. What had brought this change? Was it her?
He shook his head and pushed the thought away from his mind. He had sworn that he would never think of that certain woman who had entered his life a few years ago on purpose and he was not about to break it just now. What she had done to him earlier still stung and it probably would for the rest of his life. The most he could do to ease the pain was to keep her out of his thoughts as much as possible.
It was very hard task indeed.
The sound of the horse hooves stopped as the carriage suddenly halted, making Eriol slightly jump from his seat when it stopped. He scowled a little and rubbed his behind and adjusted his eyeglasses.
Eriol heaved a small sigh when he saw the main door open and see Nakuru appear, a scowl on her usually smiling face as she folded her arms as she waited for the cab driver open the carriage door. He had expected and hoped that Mrs. Grant would be the one to meet him as he arrived. Eriol had always hoped that his housekeeper and cook would be the one to meet him every time he arrived home because Nakuru's welcomes were usually unpleasant and he knew that it was probably going to be more than unpleasant especially now that he had left home the day of the Japanese girl's arrival.
"Welcome home my ever so sweet cousin Eriol." She greeted coldly as he stepped down from the carriage. "I expected you to come later. Your message was very surprising."
"I am glad that I have overstepped your expectations Nakuru." He replied with equal iciness as he handed the hansom cab driver his payment. "I hope that it puts me in a higher regard in your perspective."
"Not at all." She hissed as she pushed the door open and they entered the house.
Eriol took of his thick wool coat and matching hat and placed them on a nearby rack, barely glancing at his home to see if anything had changed with the Japanese girl's arrival.
Nakuru's scowl had grown larger when he had turned back to her. She sniffed as she tightened her folded arms, irritating Eriol a little.
"I'm very disappointed at you Eriol. Of all the days when you could leave for business, you just had to pick the day when Tomoyo-chan was going to arrive!"
"There was an emergency, an accident had happened at the railway Nakuru; I had to do something about it." He replied as calmly as he could, even if inside, he felt like strangling his cousin for feeling too offended over such a shallow thing.
"You should have sent someone over to supervise it for you." She retorted and placed her arms on her waist. Nakuru shook her head and blew a strand of her hair that fell over her face away.
"I'm afraid that you are stressing yourself out with your work Eriol." She observed more calmly. "You have ever since you came back home from London a few years ago." She gave Eriol a worried look as she bit her lip.
"I've wanted to tell you this for a long period of time Eriol. I am worried about you. You bury yourself in your work and spare no time for your family or for any people anymore. Why Eriol? Why are you like this? Sometimes I feel that you don't care for anyone."
Eriol clenched his fists firmly as he felt anger fill him. Didn't he just do what she wanted him to do? He came home so how dare she say all those to him? She had no knowledge what had happened to him and what he had felt. She could never understand him at all so how dare she? Work was his refuge. If she knew, maybe she would understand. But no one, no one should ever know.
"Did I ever ask you to look after my welfare Nakuru?" he asked through his gritted teeth.
She blinked, confused. "No, why do you ask that?"
He smiled coldly and forcedly at her. "It is because I wish for you not to bother me with such foolish things again." He replied and walked past her to the staircase. He stopped his climb up when he felt his right foot reach the third step for Nakuru had started to speak.
"You really have changed Eriol. I won't try to speak to you about that topic again because I know it won't lead to anything." She voiced resentfully.
"Very well." He replied, his back still facing her, and started to climb up when she had spoken again.
"Aren't you even going to ask where and when you can meet Tomoyo Daidouji?"
This time, Eriol turned his head to face Nakuru as he began to answer her query.
"I have no desire to meet her."
Nakuru's mouth dropped, surprised at his words, but nothing came out. Eriol quickly turned away and climbed as fast he could before he could give her a chance to say anything.
It was true, he pondered as he made his way to his room. He had no desire to meet the foreigner and if he could, he would have had his way and never take her in at all. He did not see why his father was so eager to take a stranger inside his house, even the stranger's mother was his friend, and to make the situation least attractive, the girl was a foreigner, a Japanese one in fact.
He sighed as he shut his bedroom door behind him and walked slowly towards his bed. He kicked of his footwear and lay down on his bed's white sheets and positioned his hands behind his head, his palms touching his hair.
Eriol knew that he was being prejudiced, but he found the girl's Japanese blood repelling. He was much aware that maybe not all Japanese females were unpleasant and untrustworthy but his last encounter with one had left a bad taste in his mouth. No, it was worse than that. Not even the slight Japanese blood he had could remedy the deep and untreatable wounds he had received from that experience.
Eriol shut his eyelids tightly and forced himself into a light nap that gave him rest from reality for an hour and a half.
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A bright smile appeared on her friend's face and it was the happiest expression that she had seen on her. Tomoyo's face molded into an expression of equal happiness, after all her friend was happy, so shouldn't she be happy too? Her friend's joys were also her happiness.
"I'm so happy Tomoyo-chan!" she chirped as she grabbed Tomoyo's hands and covered them with hers.
"I can see that." She remarked as she savored the feeling of their hands touching. The warm little moments similar to this had always cheered her and she tried to keep them in her heart and memory as much as possible.
"What is it that is making you so thrilled today?" she inquired.
"Well," her friend blushed as she began. "Yesterday, well, umm…I don't know how to say it Tomoyo-chan!" she moaned as the color of her cheeks darkened.
Tomoyo nodded encouragingly and squeezed her friend's hands. "I am very sure you can do it, don't worry!"
Her friend nodded and let go of Tomoyo's hands, much to her disappointment. She wringed them nervously before she began to speak.
"Well you see, Tomoyo-chan, I'm…I am engaged."
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"Ouch!" Tomoyo exclaimed as she felt a hairy creature scratch her left arm twice.
She sat up from the bench, where she had fallen asleep from reading a book she had found in the Hiiragizawa library. It was a large, thick and hardbound book with a brown cover, named The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin. It had looked interesting and according to Nakuru, it was a very controversial book, which had intrigued her into reading it even more. Unfortunately, when she had taken the book to read while she watched the cooks pluck the chicken, she had fallen asleep before she even finished reading the first chapter.
"Ouch!' she said as she felt the furry animal beside her scratch her again. She turned to her left and glared at the black cat sitting on the copy of The Descent of Man.
"Suppi, I beg you to please stop scratching me!" she scolded as she rubbed the red marks on her left arm. "I do not see why you had to do that!"
The cat of course, did not answer her question. Instead, it jumped from its position on the book and entered the small crack the door leading to the main kitchen.
Tomoyo shook her head and took hold the copy of The Descent of Man and rubbed its cover with the rag beside her to remove any dirt that Suppi may have left. According to Nakuru, their copy of the controversial work was one of the first published so Tomoyo promised to take care of it well.
"Of course, cats would never understand." She murmured to herself and gave a slight yawn. "It does not matter to them if a human being wishes that their books remain in best condition or if a woman wishes not to be disturbed during their nap."
It seemed to her that these days, she was incredibly drowsy. She did take naps when she was still living in Japan but not this often. It may have to do with the fact that she had a hard time falling asleep during the night; it was hard for her to fall asleep in such a harsh climate.
She exhaled as she stood up and walked towards the main kitchen. It was irritating to her that she had the same dream every time she fell asleep. It replayed one of her most memorable afternoons, an afternoon mixed with happiness and sadness at the same time. It was the afternoon when her cousin and best friend announced her engagement to her lover.
Tomoyo shook her head violently to try to chase away the memory away as she exited the empty kitchen. She did not want to remember that afternoon anymore because it only brought the painful feelings of the past to her.
Her hold on the book tightened as she tried not to hit herself. She could not believe her self-centeredness! The memory should not be forgotten, it must be remembered and kept in her heart, it was an afternoon of joy for her cousin, so the memory must bring that feeling to her to. After all, did she not swear before, that her cousin's happiness was her happiness?
Tomoyo nodded inwardly, yes that was right. Her friend's happiness is really her happiness, so she won't dwell much on the subject any longer. All that matters is that her beloved cousin is now happily married to her true love.
She flipped The Descent of Man open and sighed as she looked at its contents.
"What a long list of chapters, all focusing on the evolution of living things. Maybe I should have borrowed Mansfield Park from Nakuru instead so I won't have to burden myself with such heavy reading." she told herself and shut it closed. "I think I'll continue it some other day and read it in the library where I hopefully won't fall asleep in."
Several minutes later, Tomoyo found herself in the intersection of one of the manor's floors as she tried to remember the way she Nakuru passed to reach the library.
"It is quite vexing to find myself lost on the way to a room which I just visited a few hours ago." She mumbled to herself out of infuriation.
Tomoyo sighed and tapped her right foot impatiently as she tried to think the situation out.
"I am perfectly sure that the library is on the end of each hallway and is the only room with a gold doorknob but…" she took a peek at the end of the left direction.
"I can see from here that the room on the left side has golden doorknobs too." She bit her lip, wishing Nakuru was with her to lead her way, but unfortunately, the energetic female was nowhere to be found.
Tomoyo shrugged and flipped her thick black braid behind her shoulders. She closed her eyes.
"I do hate to do this," she mumbled. "But I have no other choice." She held a white finger up as she tried to randomly pick which direction to go with it.
After a few counts, Tomoyo opened her eyes and saw her finger pointing to the left side of the hallway.
"I do hope the library is this way." She muttered and started walking towards the direction of the last door on the hallway.
Tomoyo knocked on the door as soon as she reached so if there was someone inside, they could be warned of her presence. She did not want to disturb anyone's reading by suddenly barging in.
She tucked the book under her arms and turned the doorknob and pushed the door slowly. She did not shut the door and left it open as she stared into the darkness of the room.
She sneezed when she felt dust hit her when she bumped a stool beside her. Fortunately for her, it did not fall when she collided with it.
"It is so dark here." She remarked. "I suppose that this room is not the library even if it's almost as large as it, but it does need some light. I am sure that Nakuru-chan would like it if a room as dim as this could be brightened."
Tomoyo blinked as her eyes adjusted in the dark and she spied a large curtained window not far from her right.
"There it is; I do hope that Nakuru-chan will be joyful when she finds out that I lit up this room. She does not like the dark. This act is the least and the most simple thing I can do for her after all the kindness she has shown to me." She smiled brightly as she slowly made her way to the window, careful not to crash onto the items located inside the room.
Tomoyo grabbed the curtains' tails and pulled them to the side, sending a burst of bright sunlight into the room, illuminating it.
"I wonder now, how this room looks likes." She told herself as she began to turn to see how the mysterious room really looked like.
A light gasp escaped Tomoyo's mouth as soon as her eyes had caught sight of the room's contents. She covered her mouth in awe as she surveyed her surroundings with glee and excitement.
She was surrounded by a room full of the most beautiful paintings she had ever seen and apparently, she was standing beside a canvass with an unfinished sketch.
Tomoyo gazed at the canvass and examined the sketch in front of her. It was a drawing of a very beautiful woman. She could not see the woman's face for it had been slashed with what seemed like a knife and her face was indistinguishable.
"This is such a shame." Tomoyo remarked as she touched the canvass. "It could have been such a beautiful painting. It could have been the best of the artist's works." She looked up and looked at the other paintings put up against the wall. Most of them were paintings of landscapes and monuments and every single one of those paintings seemed to have the appearance of a dark-haired woman.
"I wonder who she is." She thought aloud as she walked around the room, staring at the paintings. "I suppose that Mr. Hiiragizawa was a painter and perhaps these were paintings of his wife."
Tomoyo shook her head. She would ask Nakuru later but now she would rather enjoy her visit to this mysterious room and enjoy gazing at the paintings.
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Eriol yawned as he walked towards the manor's library. It had been quite some time since he last sat down inside the library with a book and enjoyed the warm fire nearby. Moments like these were one of his few sources of comfort.
He had soon reached the end of the hall which had split into two directions, left and right. Eriol knew the library was to the right and started to walk towards that direction when he noticed something unusual with the left part of the hallway as he glanced at it.
He blinked and stopped to look at the end of the left hallway. The last door was wide open and he could see that it was brightly lit. Eriol felt both of his hands clench tightly, so tightly that he felt his fingernails scrape his skin.
Eriol leaned one of his clenched fists against the wall to hold himself as he shook with mixed feelings of fury and confusion. Who would dare disobey his orders and enter that forbidden room? Not even his cheeky cousin would enter it especially after what had happened when he discovered one of the maids trying to enter it during her cleaning. He knew it was unreasonable of him to be furious with the maid, who had been incredibly frightened, but it was necessary to warn everyone not to enter it.
He removed his fist from the wall and walked as fast as his could to the room. If he was fortunate, the door to the room may have swung by accident, which he thought, was very unlikely. If he discovered someone inside, then that person would be very unfortunate.
A few seconds later, Eriol was horrified to discover a young woman that he had never seen before gazing at one of the hanged wall paintings. It was a painting of Hyde Park during spring with a beautiful dark haired woman sitting at a small wooden bench.
Eriol felt himself shake as words tried to escape from his mouth.
"What are you doing here?" he heard himself say icily.
The young woman, who had her back to him, turned around in surprise and gasped as her eyes widened. Seeing the full view of her face, Eriol felt his anger increase as he saw her oriental features. It was the Japanese girl.
"I…I'm sorry." She stammered. "I…did not…know that I'm not allowed here, if that is the problem."
"You are right, that is precisely the problem." He said as he moved closer towards her, sending her shrinking back.
"I…I'm sorry."
Eriol scoffed. "Did it not occur to you ask any of the household members in which rooms you are allowed to enter, Miss?"
"Miss Daidouji. Miss Tomoyo Daidouji." She filled in nervously as she avoided his gaze. "I apologize…"
"I am afraid I do not enjoy forgiving lack of sense, Miss Daidouji and I hope that I would never find you in this room again." He said as calmly as he could. As much as he want to Eriol knew that it would never fare well if one of their most important foreign partners found out that he shouted at her daughter.
The girl looked down just in time her cheeks turned bright crimson. "I…apologize Mr. Hiiragizawa. I promise not to enter this room…again." She stammered.
Eriol sighed inwardly. He was not sure if he could trust the Japanese girl's answer but he had to be satisfied with that now.
"Very well, I cannot say that I am entirely convinced with your answer but I do hope that you keep to it. This room belonged to my father and I prefer for no one to disturb it." He half-lied, knowing that was not the real reason why he did not want anyone else to enter the room. "If I find you inside here again, I cannot say the experience would be this pleasant."
She nodded nervously and started walking towards the exit, her head still looking down when she paused when she midway behind Eriol.
"Mr. Hiiragizawa," she started. "I hope you do not mind that I speak well of your father's collection. It seemed like he was a very good painter and the woman is indeed very beautiful. Was she your mother?"
Eriol felt himself suddenly stiffen at her words.
"No, he wasn't a good painter and that woman is not my mother even if she could be my mother." He answered coldly.
"Who…is she then?"
"That I'm afraid is none of your business."
With these words, Eriol quickly shut the door behind him and did not bother to wait to see the expression on the girl's face or to hear her reply.
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A/N: Sorry for the delayed update! If you've been reading my profile, I'm sure you'll know why it took so long aside from the fact that I'm already in school. Please review everyone! It's very encouraging and I'm sorry of this chapter isn't as good as the last two ones, I did in between studies and I had to edit it myself without my beta-reader.
Reviewer Replies:
Elvirna: Thanks for the great reviews! They always encourage me.
Hiiragizawa Ao'jiro: Duck girl! So they finally meet. It didn't really come out the way I want it, though.
Insomnia's Child: Uy! Dapat hinulog kita sa creek kanina, joke!
smiley's chaos: Hey! I miss your beta-reads.
Sakura123: I just fixed the problem, thanks for the review!
cristal-shian: Thanks! Sorry if I didn't update soon.
princess cythera: Thanks! I hope you like this chapter too!
asga: Thank you! Your review is very encouraging!
TinyTERI: Yeah, I actually found myself being annoyed with Eriol in this chapter too. Sorry if I didn't update : Thanks! Sorry for the late update! I didn't know that it meant little dragon, hahaha.