Disclaimer: This work of fan fiction uses characters from Rise of the Guardians, The Guardians of Childhood, and Frozen which are trademarked by DreamWorks Animation, William Joyce, and the Walt Disney Company respectively. The author of this story claims no ownership over them. The story the author is telling is of her own invention and it is not purported or believed to be part of the canon storyline. This story is made for entertainment purposes only. The author is not profiting financially from the creation and publication of this story.
It feels like something's come over me
What is this girl?
I can't help but love her.
Let's meet this coming Friday.
Take all of my heart on that Friday.
– IU ft. Jang Yi Jeong
See You On Friday – IU ft. Jang Yi Jeong
Minuet in B Major
Jack always knew she existed.
Well… sort of.
She was a constant presence at The Yeti Bro's Coffee Emporium, ever since it opened almost three years ago.
He learnt that she was a cousin of the owners, Olaf and Marshmallow (Marshall! Cried the younger as Olaf introduced him.), but that was it really.
She was just a barista and he was just another patron.
The years past then, he graduated with his Bachelor's the same year that the café opened and continued with his Master's degree in Environmental Sciences at the same university. Jack could have gone elsewhere, but he didn't want to give up the comfort and familiarity of his home in Burgess. Besides, he didn't have the heart to leave Emma behind yet.
He never really paid much attention to her, not particularly.
Not until he accidentally overheard the loud family's conversation. He never meant to eavesdrop; he just thought he heard his name.
"Is it Jack?!" he had heard Olaf cry, Jack automatically turned his head toward the sound, only to realize it came from downstairs. He immediately thought that there was something wrong with his order – but instead of Olaf running up the stairs to ask Jack something, he heard shushing instead.
"Keep it down! He's right upstairs!" came Marshall's deep and gruff voice. Jack was puzzled; he thought that Olaf was calling for him, not talking about him. Jack knew that he shouldn't eavesdrop. But he always had people talking about him whether it was classmates murmuring about 'how odd he was' or passersby muttering about his outrageous hair colour, but it was Olaf and Marshall's. The brothers see him three times a week and they are so welcoming and composed; he found it strange that they were gossiping about him.
He was just… curious.
There was only hushed whispered for a while and he was too far away to actually understand any of it, but then, Olaf's loud yelling erupted: of course.
"He is a spy though; you know what happens when you fraternize with the enemy!"
"Olaf – Jack isn't a –" he couldn't hear the rest. Jack couldn't help but scoff. Him? A spy? He doubt he could stay low-key.
But he was certain that it was her voice, the barista.
"Then what do you mean that 'he isn't what he is supposed to be!?'" Olaf yelled. Jack rolled his eyes, tuning out the rest of their conversation.
She was just like the rest of them.
He returned his attention back to the bright screen of his laptop, reading through the long analysis study done on index decomposition in energy, typing up important passages and page numbers on a word document. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her coming up the stairs with a tray held tightly in her fingers, her lips pressed into a thin line, and her eyes flickering up from the tray to him and then back.
He reached over his laptop, grabbing the magazine laying across the table before returning his attention to the screen, paying no attention to the woman as she quietly set his order down.
"Here you are," she said, her voice no louder than a squeak of a mouse.
"Thanks," he replied, looking away from the screen for a second to meet her eyes.
He had to admit that she was beautiful, with her white-blonde hair, sharp-blue eyes, and ashen-pale skin.
But that was it: she was just like the rest.
He went back to his laptop, determined to finish reading the entire article before leaving the café. But instead, he was distracted by the lingering barista. She held the tray close to her chest, her eyes focused on the floor between them, and she rocked on the balls of her feet. He noticed a soft read colour her cheeks that wasn't there previously: she was blushing. But then she slowly turned on her heels and walked away, down the steps slowly and deliberately.
He let out a breath of air that he didn't even realize he was holding. Nothing, no questions asked, no numbers left behind – not even an attempt at a conversation. He closed his eyes, running a hand through his hair before reaching for his iced-drinking and taking a long swig. Jack pushed his laptop away, no longer able to concentrate due to the strange sequence of events.
So much for finishing the article.
Instead he shoveled mac'n'cheese into his mouth and dug through his jacket for his phone while chewing, perhaps Emma texted him. But he couldn't find the touchscreen phone, strange: he always left it in the right pocket.
He growled to himself, struggling not to swear when he realized that it was gone and he probably left it somewhere. Jack quickly began packing up, shutting his laptop down and ramming everything into his bag while trying to finish off the last of the cheesy pasta.
He had no idea where it could be, but he hoped that he left the sound on. He needed to borrow someone's phone to call his own and there was no one else in the café but the family downstairs. But as he descended the steps, he couldn't help but catch their conversations again, specifically her voice: soft, hesitant even.
"I never thought Jack could smile like that..."
He stopped before he reached the last few steps, wavering between continuing to listen and interrupting.
"The sound of his laughter…" she murmured, "I want to see him smile again: like he did that day."
He felt his heart beat a little faster and a little harder.
The sounds around him suddenly dimmed to a hum as he tried to calm his breathing, he raked his fingers through his hair once more before taking another quiet step down.
"Maybe you'll be the girl to bring him out of his shell," Marshall said.
"You're such a sappy romantic," Olaf cried, rather obnoxiously. Then Jack heard loud creaking of a chair. He couldn't stand there anymore.
He stomped down the rest of the stairs loudly and twisted around to face the group, just in time to see Marshall grab Olaf in a headlock.
"Why you – "
"Hey," Jack started, saving Olaf before Marshall could properly wring his older brother's neck.
The group all looked up and the sudden attention made Jack grow extremely uncomfortable. The barista stared, obviously surprised before she stood quickly, glancing at the clock in the corner of the room.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, her brows furrowed in strange… unease?
She was worried.
She was honestly worried about him.
He brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Um, can do you me a favour?"
"Uh – ya, sure."
"I can't find my phone, I think I left it somewhere. Can I borrow your phone to call it?"
"Of course," she responded quickly, digging into her pocket. She pulled out a smart phone encased in a classy pale-blue leather case, pulling back the cover and unlocked the phone in one smooth motion before holding the phone out to him.
Jack muttered a thank you before taking it and dialing his number in. He held the large phone up to his ear, waiting to see if anyone picked up. Olaf and Marshall had disappeared into the back somewhere and strawberry-blonde girl sitting beside the barista busied herself with her own phone. They resembled each other: sisters, most-likely. The barista herself looked away, stacking the empty cup and plate on top of each other.
"Eh." Came the familiar gruff voice from the other end of the line.
"Hello?"
"Jack?"
"Ah, Bunnymund – did I leave my phone in your car?"
"No. Course not mate, that's why I am picking up your phone while sitting in my car." He replied sarcastically, Jack ignored him, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
"Are you still at the uni?"
"Yeah, just about to leave."
"I'll meet you in the arts parking lot."
"Sure."
Jack hung up, glancing at the lock screen before handing the barista her phone back. It was a photo taken in the winter of her and the strawberry-blonde girl with brilliant smiles on their faces. The barista took the phone back slowly, holding it awkwardly in her hands.
"Thanks…" Jack started, realizing that he didn't know her name.
"Elsa." She answered, "And you're welcome."
"I'm Jack, but you already knew that," he replied, adding in the last part nonchalantly, "I have to go, thanks again."
He nodded his goodbye, heading out the door, but not before letting a smirk pull on his lips at the sight of the barista – Elsa's – stunned face at his comment.
When Jack arrived at the arts parking lot, he found the tall, dark-haired, Australian waiting for him beside a sedan.
"Hey," Jack called. Bunnymund turned at the sound, tossing the large touchscreen phone in his hand haphazardly. Jack caught it easily though, scowling at his friend all the same.
"Don't throw it."
"Honestly," Bunnymund started, "How the bloody hell do you manage to forget that thing? It's the size of a tablet."
"It must have just fallen out of my jacket." Jack replied, stuffing it into his pocket. "Thanks, man."
"Do you want a ride home?"
"Sure, thanks." Jack replied, opening the door to the passenger side of Bunnymund's dark-grey sedan and tossing his messenger bag in the back. Bunnymund did the same, starting the engine and buckling his seatbelt in the same motion. The white-haired graduate student settled into his seat, pulling out his once-missing phone to check for anything he missed.
Two messages from Emma and three missed calls.
Emma: Can you pick me up at the library tonight? 4:15 P.M.
Emma: Wanna go out for dinner too? 5:30 P.M.
"Do you want for dinner with Emma and me?" Jack asked.
"Sure – I haven't seen the ankle-bitter in weeks." Bunnymund replied, turning down the road to the largest library in Burgess rather than down the road to Jack's place.
Jack quickly shot his sister a reply saying that he'll be there in 20 minutes, before running through the missed calls. There was one from Emma and another from his father, but then he stopped at the call received from a number that wasn't in his contacts.
Elsa.
"What are ya glaring at, mate?" Bunnymund asked.
"You know the café on campus?" Jack started.
"The one that you're always at? Yeti Bro's Coffee something? Ya, what about it?"
"Well, I overheard a conversation about me." Jack started before launching into the story. He never got into the climax of it before they had arrived at the library. Bunnymund pulled into the loading zone as Jack rolled the window down, calling for his sister waiting on the concrete steps. She looked up at the sound of her name, her harshly layered hair swirling in the wind as she collected her things and ran to the car.
"Hi Bunny!" she cried, opening the backdoor.
"Hey there, ankle-bitter." Bunnymund greeted her.
"Oh, stop calling me that, I'm not a kid anymore."
"You're still kid-sized." Bunnymund told Jack's 13-year-old sister.
"It isn't my fault that you're freakishly tall."
"Ain't my fault you're tiny." Bunnymund retorted, "Seriously though, your mom's tall, your dad's tall, your brother's tall, what happened to you?"
"Oh shut up! You don't have to be such a smart elk."
"Smart aleck, Emma." Jack corrected, "Where do you want to go for dinner?"
"Doesn't matter, but I've been getting this strange craving for gourmet burgers." Emma replied, pulling the seatbelt on just as Bunnymund pulled out of the parking space.
"Then we'll go to Martini's." Bunnymund concluded.
"So," Emma started, leaning into the back of Jack's seat, "how was your day? Anything new?"
"Actually, Jack was just telling a story about an incident that happened at school." Bunnymund said. Jack sighed, rolling his eyes before tiredly re-telling the story to his sister.
"You? A spy?" Emma scoffed when he got to that part.
Bunnymund chuckled, "What kind of spy dyes their hair white, right?"
"You look more like a K-pop idol." Emma commented.
"A what?" Jack asked.
"A Korean pop idol."
"But they all look so… feminine."
"Exactly." Emma finished.
Suddenly, Jack clicked off his seatbelt, flipping around from the front and sliding into the backseat in one swift movement before he tackled his sister and commenced tickling her.
"Ack – I was kidding! I was just kidding! Stop – Jack! I can't breathe!" Emma cried in between fits of gasping giggles, trying to smack Jack away.
"Should have thought about that first, eh?"
"Oi!" Bunnymund cried, "Stop it, Jack. We are in a moving vehicle, don't make me pull over and kick you out."
The white-haired man stopped, plopping down beside his sister who glared at him while trying to catch her breath.
"Anyway, that's not the end of his story." Bunnymund continued, breaking off the siblings' staring contest. "There's more." So Jack continued, telling his two closests confidants about the events that occured this evening.
"She likes you." Emma concured.
"She expects me to be someone that I'm not though," Jack mumbled, "They all do."
"Oh we know you're not the out-going, happy-go-lucky type, Jack." Emma replied, patting her brother's white hair, earning a glare from him, "But all she wants is to see you crack a smile and laugh. You like her don't you?"
"What? I never said that."
"You should send her a text to say thank you again, at least." Emma suggested, watching ass Bunnymund pulled into the restaurant parking lot, "I mean she leant you her phone, she didn't have to though, but she did."
"Ya, I guess I should..." Jack replied, pulling out his cell phone and searching for Elsa's number. He typed out a quick reply, nothing too fancy, just a simple message to remind her who it was and thanking her for lending her phone.
But as soon as he clicked the send button, his phone was yanked out his hands by Emma as she jumped out the door with it.
"Emma!" He cried after her, but she slammed the door in his face, trying to buy time as she typed something out on his phone.
By the time he had gotten out of the car and retreived his phone, it was too late. She had sent another message to the barista.
"Emma!" Jack cried in exasperation, staring at the text his sister sent in horror.
"You should ask her out." She replied cheekily.
He decided to come to the cafe on a Friday evening this time, probably in hopes of avoiding her (out of embarrassment really though), but there she was.
She was sitting at table in the furthest corner of the café. A mug of steaming hot cocoa waiting beside the half open fingers of her left hand, in her right hand, was her pencil, scratching away notes with fervour. A stack of textbooks lay on the floor by her feet.
It was late autumn – when the sun sets much earlier, and the light of the setting sun cast soft shadows on her face, just underneath her eyes and eyelashes. She wore a pale blue peplum top and a pair of dark blue skinny jeans today, the customary apron of the café hanging on the chair behind her. Her hair was in its signature plait, held together by snowflake pins.
She saw him walking in then, her eyes widened, that soft blush rising to her cheeks again as she quickly stood and walked to the counter to take his order.
"Will you be getting the usual?" she asked. It was a phrase that was common between the two of them.
'Will you be getting the usual?' Nod. 'So your total comes to $8.00, will you pay with debit?' Nod. 'We'll bring it to you shortly, thank you.' Nod.
He watched her circle around the counter and stop at the till, wondering if he should suddenly change up his routine – like he did by coming here on a Friday.
"So your total comes to $8.00, will you pay with debit?" she asked. No, why should he?
He nodded absentmindedly, thinking about her words.
I want him to smile again – like he did that day.
She was beautiful – he admitted it.
But that's all there is to it.
Right?
Author's Note: Three updates in less than three months? What is this witchcraft!? Ahaha. So here is the next installment of Minuet, if you guys have read the Table of Contents, you'll notice that Minuet has seven parts (from A to G), so you can expect more soon! I came up with a plan it, so instead of senselessly written fluff, there will be plot-driven fluff! =D
Also, I diss K-Pop with a loving heart, I have an unhealthy obsession with these beautiful (and handsome) Korean men, especially ones who dye their hair white-grey (cough! N! cough! VIXX!). In addition to that, I modeled cold, callous, and introverted Jack after someone in VIXX too. If anyone can guess who it is, virtual cookie for you. =D
Oh, I also diss Jack with a loving heart too. Always.
The link for the music to this chapter, and to the rest of the playlists for Ouvertüre can be found on my profile.
Thank you to:
AurelianRebels, Dragowolf, Yuuki Zwin, RomanticChicNahJK, corde amare, SunriseImagination, L.M.H. Shimmer Shine, LoveLikeMe, Puteri Tina, ElsaTheSnowQueen2, Guest #1, Guest #2, Guest #3, Trapid, Spike-Eared Pichu, JoPoGirlsKickAss, Tarako, Guest #4, flopsy rabbit, elsa frost, ElsaTheSnowQueen2, JuannahBee36, Guest #5, I am Nikita Daughter of Apollo, Guest # 6, Annamoss, batfan94, Magatsulza, AonoKenshi, umdiddle, Yuuki Zwin, sesshylovr, Slake13, UsuiXayuzawa, Aliya-a, and Guest.
Guys, thanks for sticking with me for almost an entire year since the beginning of this journey, it's been truly an honour and a great joy. For those of you who said that Requiem was similar to A Rose for Emily, it is probably because it was inspired by it. I had a friend who read it and told me a summary of it and I guess it just stuck. =D
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Cordially,
EireneHarmonia