"And...there you go!"
Madame Durant smiled fondly at her daughter. She grabbed her cloak and put it on. The weather is a little bit chilly that night, so they decided to take a cab to the D'Avrignys residence. They were invited for dinner to celebrate the oldest of the D'Avrigny children's return from Saint-Guilhem.
Éponine put on her cloak and grabbed her purse before exiting the small apartment she and her mother shared. After locking the door and put the key safely in her purse, they began descending the stairs.
"Éponine!"
She turned around, and squint her eyes, trying to see in the darkness. She sighed in relief upon seeing who it was.
"Marius! What are you doing here? I thought you're in the meeting?"
"I did! Well, you promised to attend last week, but you weren't there, so I figured I might as well pick you up"
She motioned towards her mother to wait for her for a few minutes, and her mother nodded.
"I'm really sorry, Marius, I have to go to Tante Violette's tonight, perhaps I'll attend tomorrow? I promise I'll come"
Marius sighs dejectedly, "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow night then, 'Ponine?"
Éponine smiled gratefully, "Thank you, I'll see you tomorrow"
She pecks his cheek and ran off to her mother. She got in the cab and waved goodbye to Marius. Marius walks back towards the Café Musain alone. He entered the café and he slumped on the chair next to Jehan.
"What's the matter, Marius? You looked quite down,"
"Yeah, and where's your lady-friend, Éponine?"
Marius was silent. After a few minutes of observing from Jehan and Courfeyrac, Courfeyrac nodded knowingly.
"Oh, I get it, you have some ladies problem!"
Marius glared at his friend,
"I did not –!"
"What's the matter? She promised to come, but then she got another thing coming on and she broke her promise, and make another promise, and pecked you on the cheek to make up for it but you can't help but feel a little disappointed even though she kissed your cheek?"
Marius only groaned at his friend's accurate prediction.
"I can't believe it! I mean...I'd asked her two weeks ago, and she said next week, and then I asked her again last week, she said next week! And tonight I asked her, she said tomorrow!"
Marius then put his head on the surface of the table.
"I'm sure whatever it was she needs to attend is a matter of great importance,"
"Madame D'Avrigny had some staff meeting in her house, she said, she said it was urgent,"
Enjolras sat on the chair next to Courfeyrac and subconsciously joined in the conversation.
"As in Madame Violette D'Avrigny?"
All the heads turned to Enjolras,
"Yes, why?"
Enjolras only continued to nonchalantly take a bite of his apple and munched calmly before continuing,
"She's my aunt"
All the eyes of the occupant of the table (except Enjolras', obviously) went wide,
"WHAT?!"
Enjolras looked at them confusedly, and slightly panicked. Combeferre slowly approached them with concern in his eyes.
"Is everything alright in here?"
Everyone on the table looked up towards Combeferre.
"Everything is—"
Courfeyrac started but Marius looks like he was about to murder the blonde boy. Courfeyrac follows Combeferre's line of sight,
"Oh, him..."
Courfeyrac scratched the back of his head uncomfortably
"He just had a...rough night, that's all"
Combeferre then sit next to Marius and suggested that he takes a deep breath to calm himself down, which the boy complied. He then asked Enjolras did his aunt mentioned anything about a meeting at all this week.
"Well, she did said that Aimé, her oldest son, is coming back from Saint-Guilhem and intends to introduce him to her designer, she said it'll be perfect if they can...get to know each other"
Enjolras shrugs, "Why?"
"Because Éponine is her designer, you dolt!"
Enjolras looked like a child who'd been caught stealing some muffins from the kitchen
"I'm really sorry, I didn't know that this Mademoiselle Éponine you'd fancied is the girl my aunt had been talking about, I had no idea at all –"
Combeferre cuts the discussion
"Well, then, what are we going to do?"
Marius looks around uncertainly
"Will you guys help me win over Éponine?"
The rest of the occupant of the table grinned,
"What's your plan?"
A/N: reviews are much appreciated. Thank you for reading!