This Cannot Go Wrong!
Feliks was quiet and thoughtful. Both of which did not fit the Pole. Elizaveta, already slightly weirded out by the fact that she had seen Ludovicus look amused, was now a bit scared about the proceedings. This was really a bad time for that as well. The rehearsal! It was at two! She wanted it to go perfect! Not just for her reputation, but Lovino had put so much faith in her! She had managed to buy a dress for being the Maid of Honor which she knew she would wear for more occasions than just this. This could not go wrong!
Which was when she realized Sadiq and she had expected the other to have gotten the candles from the store, and so they were not here. And as much as she wanted to blame Sadiq for that, it was not the time.
She wanted to rush off and get them, but she needed to return to the inn. Her mind was beginning to swim. Immediately, she called the one person she thought she could not depend on for anything in this matter.
"Ludwig?"
"Elizaveta? Is someding vrong?"
"Ah... well, not necessarily. I was just wondering if you could pick up the candles. No one has gotten them from the store yet, and I..."
"...I can do dat. Vhen do you need dem?"
"Thank you! Any time before the rehearsal would be nice! I just need to set them up where we had them planned, I have Lovino's critical eye to appease after all!"
There was silence from the other side of the phone for about five seconds before he responded. "I guess I'll do dat now. De sooner de better, right?"
"Thank you again, Ludwig."
"Bitte schön."
Hanging up, Elizaveta felt somewhat relieved. At least there was dependable Ludwig. Oh, maybe she should not have taken on this task, not so close to the date, not after such a long hiatus from making these sorts of plans, and definitely not while having to contend with Feliks, Sadiq, and Marcus! Certainly she was on Marcus' side most of the time, but he and Sadiq were proving a nightmare to deal with. Had they always been so hostile to each other? She had no idea.
Okay, it is fine. This is just the rehearsal, after all. This is to find out what all we have missed so that things are perfect for the wedding. It is okay if this is not perfect right now, that is the point.
It was very hard to convince herself of that.
Somehow she had managed to convince Maddox to get out of the ceiling (or he had just gotten bored of it, which was infinitely more likely) before rushing back off to the inn to grab the second half of the notes she had forgotten on her bedside table. As she was about to simply run back out, she stopped near the kitchen, glancing in to see Roderich, once more working on that cake.
She was right, he was obsessed. There was no denying it. But the more Elizaveta simply stood there in the doorway and watched him, the more she began to compare his baking to his piano playing. It was nothing like it at all, if she thought about it in one way. Roderich played the piano as if it were more natural to him than breathing. He baked as if every ounce of his concentration was necessary. Yet, he was just as absorbed in both of these tasks.
Then why was it that he denied this one?
"Roderich?"
"Elizaveta?" Roderich turned his head so as to glance at her, before returning his vision back on to his cake. "I was almost certain I was not going to see very much of you today."
"What happened?"
"What do you mean, dear?"
"With your baking?"
Roderich stopped what he was doing. She could tell she struck a chord. "I do not understand what you mean."
"You obviously love it," she said slowly, considering her words with precision. "Yet you never did any of this until Antonio asked that you bake his wedding cake... why?" He did not respond. She walked over and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Roderich?"
"I was never really a baker."
She blinked a few times, trying to conceal her surprise. "What? What do you mean?"
"I assisted a baker in town, who loved to make wedding cakes," Roderich said, voice slightly tight. Tight, but sounding defeated. "I helped him for years. He wanted to give me a job. Then my mother found out. My mother always found out everything."
Roderich barely spoke about his mother, but from the little she had heard, she knew what happened next. "I'm sorry, baby," she said quietly, resting her face against his shoulder.
"It does not matter," Roderich responded, his voice now much more calm. "I suppose it was just force of habit... I still find myself stopping myself when I think she would not like me acting in a certain way. I just have to move my way out of it... does that make sense?"
It did. She hugged him more tightly. Funny, how something that had first seemed strange, then annoyed her, and finally she had come to accept would have actually meant something so deep to this man.
Why had she not asked sooner?
Notes:
Note there is no mention of Gilbert at all in this chapter. Elizaveta has come to the conclusion if she does not think too long about it, it might not have happened (at least, with Gilbert). Gilbert being her best friend and all, it is awkward. Elizaveta, dear, when the wedding is over and neither of you have things to distract you, you both are really going to have to talk about that.
