Thank you for the reviews! I am so so so sorry for not updating earlier but time got away from me and then I was blocked on this chapter. The good news is I have already started on chapter four! ENJOY!
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The residents of the top floor were the last to go to dinner but they did not know it. Rose opened her door at the same time Dimitri did, like she planned. What she did not plan was the expression on his face. He wore a mask of resignation and distance that made her heart thump painfully. Her own expression fell from what Adrian called her man-eater smile to a frown with a few little lines between her eyebrows.
Dimitri couldn't help the little flash of pain that ran through his heart as he looked at her expression change. Rose saw the flash of pain pass through his eyes. She wondered what it meant. Rose shook herself and bid Dimitri hello.
"Are you hungry?" she questioned him. Dimitri assured her that he was famished. "Well in that case, we best be going to dinner." Rose smiled and Dimitri responded in kind. 'He has never smiled. Not fully. Not once.' Rose thought, 'How peculiar. I wonder how bad his teeth are.'
They descended the stairs side by side and Rose found her shoulder brushing his bicep. She felt the tingling again but this time it went throughout her entire arm. She still did not understand it but decided she very much liked the feeling.
Dimitri looked down at her and opened his mouth to say something, blinked, closed his mouth and faced forward again. Dimitri did this again twice more. On the third Rose exclaimed "What Dimitri?! Spit it out!"
"I-Um-Why did you call Christian 'Pyro'?" Dimitri stammered.
"Oh. Well, when he was about three and ten we, Lissa, Christian, and I, decided to have a bonfire in the middle of the town square. So as Lissa and I watched, Christian gathered wood and struck a match and lit the wood. But, and to this day we still don't exactly know what caused it, instead of the small bonfire we were expecting, this massive inferno roared in the middle of town. Of course Mother and Father were furious but I smoothed it over so that Christian didn't get into too much trouble. Ever since that day I've called him Pyro."
Rose could barely get the story out, she was laughing so hard! Dimitri was chuckling too. Rose looked at Dimitri and decided that she wanted to see his laughing face everyday of her life. The she startled because she was never one to have those types of thoughts. The types to involve long-term relationships and life-long commitments.
Then she rationalized that it was just the fact that he was new. The fact that she didn't know him that made her feel that way when deep inside her soul, the soul that seems bared to Dimitri now as he looked in her eyes, she knew that there was a word for what she felt but she didn't want to admit it. Not yet. She felt as though her soul was both being completed and being shattered into a tiny million pieces. She felt that her soul was on fire but at the same time was being healed.
They were now paused on the first landing and could hear the clanging of silverware on dishes as the servants placed them on the table, the hum of human conversation and explosions of laughter as someone, most likely Mason, told a joke.
They were alone there in the seclusion of darkness. Rose could feel Dimitri's body heat, could hear his breathing get faster, could practically see Dimitri's hand reach out and very nearly touch her face. She felt her own breathing accelerate in response.
At the last moment though, he touched not her face, as she so desperately wanted, but her hair.
"I like your hair down." Dimitri breathed
"Really?" Rose sighed in return.
He snatched his hand away just as she was leaning closer to his hand. He cleared his throat, faced forward and said in a voice that had grown huskier. "We should go to dinner. They are probably waiting for us."
Rose nodded reluctantly and they started going down the remaining stairs. She looked at Dimitri, wanting to say something, wanting an explanation for what had just happened. Instead all she got was a half-smile with no emotion behind it and eyes that, just moments ago burned with passion and desire, but now were vaults with the door locked tight.
She sighed and accepted reluctantly that Dimitri was not going to talk about what had just transpired between them. 'At least not now,' she smirked, a plan already forming in her head. Dimitri went down the last flight of stairs, Rose trailing behind him.
He looked both ways and assumed the grand doors led to the dining room. Dimitri turned toward Rose, pointed to the doors and asked "Dining room?" in a clipped, clearly agitated tone. Rose nodded and led the way into the dining room.
A long, long table, big enough to seat one hundred and fifty people comfortably with some room left over, dominated the dining room. Doors on the side must have led to the kitchen where pots and pans clanking and crashing together could be heard. There were portraits of the family, mountains, forests and lakes hung tastefully on the walls. At the end of the room were giant floor to ceiling windows that let the people occupying the room to gaze out at the sunset, so beautiful and picturesque that it might have been a portrait in and of itself if not for the fact that the sun moved.
The group of people who had met Dimitri earlier along with several others occupied the table. The woman that Dimitri noticed had piercing blue eyes, much like Christian, long straight black hair and a scar marring the right side of her face. There were two other women both of whom had two small children around them. The women had brown eyes, short stocky build, pale skin and long hair.
That was where the similarities ended. One woman had reddish-blond hair and was talking to Mason, even though Mason was staring in awe at Rose as she walked in, while still staring at Dimitri trying to look menacing. He was not achieving it. The other woman looked uneasy, sitting rigidly while trying to have a conversation with the other adults.
There was also a man, his face tanned from the sun and body sculpted by years hard work. Dimitri's eyes stayed for a millisecond longer on the woman with the scarred face than on anyone else. An insignificant amount. To anyone but Rose. She noticed the look between Tasha and Dimitri. She mentally shook her head and told herself that she was overreacting. She introduced everyone else to Dimitri.
Eddie's mother, Natalie, just stiffly nodded and Rose sighed as she thought back as to why Natalie was like that. Mason's mother, Anastasia, smiled warmly at Dimitri and Rose felt herself stiffen. Anastasia's third husband had died only six months ago and she was always one to move on quickly. It didn't help that there was no love lost between them. He had lusted after her since before her first husband, the only one she really loved, but he never got the chance to court her properly because business always held him back. Finally, one year and six months ago he courted, married and, if the rumors are to be believed; ravaged her so harshly he left bruises. After their wedding night they never lay together again and he died of old age, asleep in his own bed. Nobody missed him. Anastasia said hello and Dimitri turned toward Christian's aunt.
"Hello. I am Tasha." She said never breaking eye contact, extending out her hand. Dimitri took her hand, but instead of shaking it like he had with Janine he kissed it, saying "Hello. I am Dimitri."
Tasha stared for a while longer at Dimitri; then seemed to shake herself and look away. Rose fumed. She didn't like the fact that Dimitri had kissed Tasha's hand.
The only consolation was that he had not looked her in the eyes, unlike all the other men. But Tasha had never reacted the way she had with any of the other men that had courted her.
Rose looked pleadingly at her father. Abe Mazur had always had a canny ability to guess his only daughter's intentions; plans, going so far as to sometimes guess her feelings. Now was one of those times. Rose's father took one look at her, looked toward Dimitri, who was now introducing himself to Mia's father: Ricky, and looked back at Rose with one eyebrow raised and his head tilted as though asking a silent question.
Rose gave a nearly imperceptible nod and Abe rose up from his seat. "Now that my daughter and her guest have arrived, we can begin to eat." He announced with special emphasis on the word "her" it seemed. Rose took a seat next to Lissa and across from Mia. Dimitri took the seat on her other side which was also flanked by Mia's dad and was far away from Tasha, noticed Rose. He immediately struck up a conversation with Ricky.
The kitchen helpers came into the dining room arms laden with food. They placed it in the middle of the table, lifted the lids and backed away silently. The food was momentarily obscured by the steam that was released upon the platters' opening. When the steam cleared the people seated around the table could see succulent meat, juicy with sauces; potatoes steamed to perfection with pats of butter already melting on top. There was wine being served to everybody over five and ten and water to everyone under. The saltshakers were placed on the table and Abe rose up from his chair and exclaimed "Enjoy!"
Suddenly the dining room, which had been silent, excluding the noise coming from the kitchen, moments ago, exploded in a cacophony of sounds: the children yelling, the girls gossiping, the men talking business and the silverware crashing and scraping on the china.
Everyone was in their own social circles not ten seconds after dinner started. Rose looked up from talking about the latest town gossip with Lissa, Jill and Mia and locked eyes with Dimitri. Before he had been talking animatedly with Ricky and seemed to be enjoying himself, which pleased Rose to no end, but now he looked quite forlorn and had been looking down at the table, giving his food a level of concentration it did not require. She could sense he was becoming sadder with each passing moment spent with the lifelong friends surrounding him.
She spoke up so that everyone could hear her and as soon as she did the level of sounds bouncing off the walls lowered itself down to near extinction. "Tell us about your homeland, Dimitri." Dimitri looked at her as if to say 'I already told you that. What are you up?' Rose's eyes widened in astonishment. No one could ever guess that she was up to something so quickly, unless she was making a face. Wait, was she? She looked around but everyone was concentrating on Dimitri, who was squirming under all that attention.
Rose winced as he looked at her and frowned. She forgot he didn't like attention, least of all from strangers. He soon forgot about his feelings, though, as Lissa went on to ask about his family and town and holidays they celebrated and how Paul wanted to be just like him. Rose smiled at how content he sounded.
She suddenly felt someone's eyes on her. She looked away from Dimitri talking about how Viktoria once fed Paul spices and turned toward Tasha. Tasha was glaring at Rose that would make one think Rose was making Tasha personally suffer. Once Tasha caught Rose's eyes, she glared as if to kill Rose.
Rose blinked in astonishment and looked around to see if anyone else had seen what had transcended. When she did so, her eyes got trapped in Dimitri's. He had been looking at her while telling his story and had seen Rose look astonished. He looked at her and glanced to where her line of sight had been. Dimitri saw Tasha's murderous glare quickly leave her face, narrowed his eyes and looked back at Rose.
He gave her a look that communicated that they would talk later and kept talking animatedly, maybe more so than before. The entire "conversation" if one could indeed call it that took less than a minute, but for Rose it seemed to take more than an hour.
Lissa turned toward her to comment on Dimitri's story and stopped short at Rose's look of bewilderment. Lissa leaned in close and asked, "What's wrong?" in a voice filled to the brim with concern for her that Rose shook off her daze and shook her head in answer to Lissa's question. Lissa knew better than to insist. Instead, she took her friend's hand, looked Rose in the eyes, and simply said: "Later". Rose nodded.
Dinner passed in peace, with the exception of the slight altercation involving only four of the guests. Stories were exchanged, inquires were made, laughter was heard echoing through the house. Friendships, no matter how unlikely they were, were forged between the guests at the dinner table that night and the new resident of Hastings.
The town was tucking in for the night, lights going off all around the town center. Yet the lights of the town hall stayed on. The guests laughed, and were generally rambunctious. The servants rolled their eyes, approached Abe and announced that they were going to tuck in for the night. Abe smiled, somewhat drunk, and announced quite loudly, "A round of applause to the chef and all those who helped make the most delicious meal I've had in weeks!"
Everyone applauded to the servants and the servants blushed, bowed, bid everyone good night and left. Not long after that Eddie and Mason bid good night to the host family and the guests gathered around them and went their separate ways with their families.
But not before Mason personally said goodbye to Rose via a kiss on the cheek making Rose blush and Dimitri clench his fists and hide them under the table so no one could see them.
Soon after Mason left, Lissa and Christian also departed after a lengthy goodbye between Rose and Lissa in which Lissa implored that Rose accompany her to bed to talk about dinner but Rose said, no, rather emphatically. Consequently, Tasha also left. Not without looking Dimitri in the eyes, subjecting him to the full force of her eyes. But Dimitri simply said good night to her the way he had to everyone.
Mia and her father also left as well leaving only Dimitri, Rose, Janine, and Abe to battle the awkwardness that soon descended upon them like a plague.
Janine asked, "So, Rose, what did the tailor say about your dress?" in a tone that led one to believe that she already knew what the tailor said.
"Oh. Um…" Rose stammered. She turned toward Dimitri, panic in her eyes.
Dimitri didn't like Rose to be worried or panicked or anything that could harm her, physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually.
So he turned toward Janine and stated with the utmost confidence in a tone that made everyone trust and listen to him within seconds: "I'm afraid that was my fault Mrs. Hathaway. I started talking to Rose and time got away from me."
Janine blinked and said in a surprised voice "Oh. Well. Alright."
Rose suddenly rose up from her chair, said in a rather hurried and breathless voice "Thank you, Mother, Father for the wonderful meal. I shall see you tomorrow. Good night.", and kissed them both on the cheek leaving them bewildered and rushing to say good night back.
As Rose touched the first step, the grandfather clock in the hallway leading to the dining room struck the hour. It tolled twelve times advising the residents of the town house in its wise way that it was time for them to bid goodnight.
Dimitri said good night immediately after the twelfth gong leaving the Master and Mistress of the house wandering when would be the next time they would be able to talk to their daughter about her infatuation with the stranger.
And his with her.
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Dimitri reached the top pf the stairs and looked up from where he was deep in thought. He saw Rose standing there at the threshold of her door looking up at the window that they had both admired earlier. He tried to stealthily enter his room, but as he was turning the doorknob she spoke up.
"Thank you", she whispered so softly that he was unsure that he heard it. Rose turned toward him, looked Dimitri straight in the eye and said "Thank you. For listening to me."
"No Roza, thank you for suffering through my life's story." Dimitri responded fondly.
She chuckled and stated, "It's not suffering if it's you" like it was an accepted fact of life. Rose got closer and closer until she was mere inches away from Dimitri. Dimitri caught his breath as she leaned even closer. "I'm sorry for making you suffer through dinner Dimitri." She said as serious as death, then leaned away and smiled. "Besides Comrade we're even now. You made me "suffer" through your life's story and I made you suffer through dinner." She moved away and chuckled.
Dimitri stayed frozen on the threshold as Rose moved to her door and turned back to Dimitri. She smiled and whispered, "Good night Dimitri."
Dimitri suddenly moved, caught hold of her hand and looked straight into her eyes. Rose was caught in the gravitational pull of his eyes until he bent to her hand and kissed it. Exactly like Tasha except that Dimitri didn't stop looking into her eyes and he kissed Rose's hand.
He whispered against her skin. "Good night, moya lyubov'."
And he disappeared into his room.
Rose stood alone, staring at the door to Dimitri's room, her hands twitching with the suppressed need to grab the doorknob, turn it and go where she really wanted to og.
Instead, Rose turned once again toward her room, got ready for bed and dreamed that night of cowboys with Russian accents brandishing ropes of impossible lengths coming to save her.
From what she never saw.
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Moya lyubov' means my love.
Please Review. Pretty pretty please with Dimitri/ Adrian on top.
(hopefully just Dimitri although Adrian has his good things too)