SWEET KISSES FROM RUSSIA
Fan Fiction – Alternate Universe
Caroline & Klaus
Elijah & Katherine
From: Lovely Vero
Disclaimer: This story is, and will always be, a fiction story, that is coming from the imagination of the author. It is not a bibliography of the author or any of the readers, neither a story that is exploring your own experience in life. It is not meant to be informative or to represent the perception or opinion of the author about the subject at hands in her own private life; it is not an encyclopedia, or a medical reference. It is only a fiction, the characters are fictional, and the story should be taken as such and not be mistaken with the private life of the readers, or any of their personal experiences. Thank you.
Writer's note: Due to the delicate subject, in some parts of this chapter that could seem abusive to some, please read with warning. Thank you.
Previously on Sweet Kisses from Russia…
(…)
"Niklaus!" Elijah exclaimed the hybrid name, to retain him in the office.
"What do you want now, Elijah?" Klaus asked, while holding his pace, but without turning to face his brother.
"He has one loophole in his favor." Elijah informed him, his chest rising under his heavy breaths.
"What is it?" Kol asked, intrigued, while jumping away from his perched sitting position on the window edge.
"Family ties." Elijah announced, reluctantly, his sight lost in the emptiness of the room.
"What are you saying, Elijah?" Klaus asked, while slowly turning on himself, before facing his brother.
"He's related to you?" Stefan asked, in shocked, while pointing a finger at Elijah.
"No, he's not related to me." Elijah affirmed, while shaking his head.
"Elijah?" Klaus growled the warning, nervously, drops of sweat rolling on his forehead. "My patience is at its limit!"
"If my sources are reliable, Ludvig Petrov, whose real name is actually "Vlademar" is related to you, Niklaus." Elijah informed his brother. "He's your biological father." He added, before closing his eyes, and lowering his head.
ooOoo
(…)
"Do you see something?" Maria asked, nervously, while raising her right hand in front of her mouth.
"It says that you've been amnesic since a good ten years? Is it right?" Katerina demanded, while raising her sight in the one of the governess.
"Yes… I … It's when I've started working in this manor for Mister Mikaelson and his brother." Maria nodded, in approval. "They took me under their wings."
"Ok, other than that, it says that no sign of recovering your "memory" was noticed during this period of ten years." Katerina informed, while scattering the pages in front of her sight. "You saw a doctor named Vinxking? It's him who filled those papers? Am I still right?"
"Yes" Maria nodded more. "He came once a year to see if my condition has changed, but unfortunately, I never regain any of my memories over the years. But, all of this I already know, Mrs. Katerina, please, I beg you… This makes me so uncomfortable." She pledged her request.
"Katerina! You wanted to help Maria, I get it. Now let this go! We need to leave!" Carolina replied, while taking a look into the corridor, to assure that no one was coming.
"Could you give me a second, Carolina? There's another page that I did not take a look at it yet." Katerina informed, before lowering her sight on a carbon pink form. "Wait! I think I find something!" She exclaimed, before losing her smile and cheeks color, all at once, while sitting motionless and speechless in front of the said form.
"Ok now, you're freaking me out." Carolina said, nervously. "Stop it, Katerina!"
"Mrs. Katerina, if for whatever reason, what you have found is so disturbing, please I would grandly prefer to stay in the dark." Maria begged her to reconsider, while gesturing with her hands.
"I … I think that you would want to know this … this crucial information." Katerina stammered the words, while raising her sight in the one of Maria.
"For God sake, say it then, Katerina!" Carolina shouted to her sister. "What is it about? You are scaring us!"
"It says who you are, Maria." Katerina added, while shaking her head in disbelief. "Do you want to know?"
Maria turned her head toward Carolina, while swallowing a lump in her throat, before nodding her head in approval at the eldest sister.
"I presume it's not good news?" Maria replied, while feeling Carolina's left hand grabbing hers, as comfort gesture. "I must be a terrible and well known person, if I take into consideration the way you're looking at me right now, Mrs. Katerina."
"No, nothing of the sort, I can assure you. But it will shake you to the deepness of your soul." Katerina replied, still in shock. "It's just that I can't … Now that I saw and know about it, there is no way that I could keep this information a secret from you any longer, Maria."
"Then, I'll be brave. Who am I, Mrs. Katerina?" Maria demanded, while holding her breath.
"This paper form is stipulating that you are …" Katherine started, before pausing, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths into her lungs. "That you are, Esther … Esther Mikaelson … You are their mother, Maria!" Katerina replied, in front of the two speechless and petrified women.
Chapter 13
"The truth knows best"
"Are you sure, Katerina? Does it seem accurate to you?" Carolina asked, with her chest rising under her fast breathing.
"What … What do you want me to say, Carolina? I… I don't know if I'm sure or if it's accurate … I… I just know that it's clearly written on this paper." Katerina stammered the words, while raising the pink form in her right hand. "Why would my husband keep a file about Maria being his mother if it was not true?"
"Oh dear God, what will I do now?" Maria let the whisper out of her mouth, while tottering toward one of the armchairs placed in front of her employer's desk, before taking her sitting position with a speechless expression plastered on her face and a hand raised over her chest.
Carolina followed the maid on her heels, before dropping herself on the armchair placed by Maria's side.
"That is quite your style to disrupt people's life this way, Katerina." Carolina let out a sigh, before burying her head in her hands.
"How am I the one responsible for this mess?" Katerina exclaimed, in shock.
"Well, probably not for creating it, but certainly for putting your big nose in the middle of where it doesn't belong!" Carolina lashed out at her sister.
"заткнись!" Katerina swore to her sister in Russian, with a pointed finger.
"Shut up yourself!" Carolina replied, while crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Ladies!" Maria exclaimed, in a louder tone of voice, to make them hold their fires. "If you could please hold your arguments, I believe I have enough on my hands as it is!"
"I'm sorry…Maria." Katerina replied, while lowering her head, shamelessly.
"Can I see?" Maria asked, while raising her right hand over her mouth, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath into her lungs. "I mean, can I see the paper?"
The young woman strengthened her right arm to hand the carbon pink form to the maid. Maria grabbed the paper from Katerina's hand, before sliding her sight on the information indicated by hand writing on the form.
"Oh dear Lord, it is true, isn't it?! On this form it is written that I'm: Esther Marie Mikaelson … At least my present name is somehow a part of my real identity." She sighed with relief, a timid smile blessing her lips. "I'm a mother … I mean that I'm actually "their" mother!" She exclaimed, in shock, while shaking her head in disbelief.
"I don't know what to say to help you digest this "information", Maria?" Carolina replied, while nervously rubbing her hands together.
"I'm not only their mother … I'm also … Oh dear … Mister Kol and Miss Rebekah!" Esther suddenly realized, while raising, alternatively, her sight in the ones of both sisters.
"Like the two eldest were not enough on your shoulders already!" Katerina let her private thoughts out of her mind.
"Katerina!" Carolina exclaimed, in shock of hearing her sister say.
"What? It's true … Your husband is certainly no "angel of mercy", sister!" Katerina replied, slyly.
Carolina rolled her eyes in annoyance, while sighing loudly.
"There were more of them!" Maria exclaimed in surprise, while raising her sight in the one of the eldest.
"Yes" Katerina nodded her head, with flushed cheeks, and while swallowing a nervous lump in her throat. "You had other children who … I'm sorry, I mean they are dead now."
"Oh dear God, how many children did I gave birth to … An army?" Maria added, in shock.
"Well… A small team of soccer, I presume?" Katerina responded, scoffer, in a weak attempt to relax the atmosphere.
"Oh seriously, Katerina, could you be more considerate, for God sake?!" Carolina mumbled, angrily, between her teeth.
"I'm not you, Carolina! I am not blind to the truth!" Katerina replied, tit for tat, to her sister. "I see things in life as they are, I don't build fantasy romantic notions in my head!"
"Wait a second!" Maria interrupted the incessant squabble between the two sisters, while rising on her two legs. "Mister Elijah and Mister Klaus are half-brothers, I knew that part for years now … So, this can only mean … Well; it can only mean that …" She stammered the words, repeatedly. "It means that if I had other children that were a true blood line to the eldest… Oh dear God…" She realized, while losing her balance, before grabbing the edge of a near table to keep her equilibrium. "I had an affair with another man than my husband, did I?!" She announced, incredulous, to both sisters.
"If it's your way of making a bad joke, Elijah, it sucks royally!" Klaus mumbled, angrily, between his teeth.
"I'm not, Niklaus." Elijah reassured him, while shaking his head, before taking an extra step to place himself at a near inch of his sibling, his sight now locked in the hybrid. "Ludvig Petrov could actually be, in real facts, your father."
"It … It simply can't be true!" Klaus shook his head, in disbelief. "And even if it's true, I simply want nothing to do with that man!"
"I'm sorry." Elijah presented his apologies, humbly, while nodding his head.
"How real are those facts anyway?" Kol asked, while reaching his brothers' positions. "This Petrov could easily place an easy trap to oblige Klaus to side with him?"
"For once, I have to agree with Kol." Stefan Salvatore added, before rising on his legs from his sitting position.
"Please, don't make this "I agree with you" a habit, Salvatore." Kol replied to the vampire, while rolling his eyes to the ceiling. "It's really annoying!"
"I don't intend to make it a habit, Junior." Salvatore replied to the Original with a twisted smile. "This "Petrov" character, Elijah, could have dig into Klaus's past, come up with a bit of old history and build this persona to trick the other hybrid into believing that he is his biological father."
"I don't say the contrary; it could have easily been that build-up scenario." Elijah nodded in approval. "But in this present case, all my background check on him seems to lead us toward believing that this "man" is in fact Klaus's biological father."
Klaus stood motionless in the middle of the interaction, his sight lost in the emptiness of the office.
"Klaus?" Elijah called his half-brother.
"Where is that "Petrov" now?" Klaus managed to let out the words.
"He's moving around in Eastern Europe, country to country, but his home base is in Russia." Elijah responded.
"Wait a second? Both of your wives…. Don't you find it a huge coincidence that they are also Russian and that his family name is so true to life to the one of your spouses?" Kol asked, with raised eyebrows.
Elijah closed his eyes while firmly shaking his head.
"I've checked already. We've contacted the Russian matrimonial agency, and not the other way around." Elijah started explaining. "Nonetheless, they could have been both recruited by Petrov to infiltrate our live, but they weren't … The problem as of now, is that they must be aware of their presence in London, and they could easily become an easy target for leverage as bargaining chips."
"If he touches one single hair on Carolina's head, I'll make it my mission on life to make him pay!" Klaus mumbled, angrily, between his teeth.
Elijah raised his right opened hand in front of Klaus's chest, while signing him to calm himself down.
"What about Rebekah? She's going to have our heads served on a silver platter if she's not informed of this little "vampires apocalypse" that we seem to have on our hands, Elijah?" Kol tilted his head, while crossing his arms over his chest and staring at his eldest brother.
"And we'll keep her in the dark for as long as we can." Elijah sighed loudly. "If she's remotely informed of this "problem", she'll find a way to wreck our plan in a record time. You know our sister, don't you, Kol?"
"Yes! I can't even disagree with you on this." Kol replied, while shrugging.
"I agree also, your sister is known for her legendary tantrum." Stefan nodded. "We seem to have a psychopath on our hands; we don't need an additional crisis with a "tornado blonde" in top of everything." He added. "No disrespect to your biological father, Klaus."
"None taking, Salvatore." The hybrid responded, while dragging his feet toward the desk, before sitting on its front edge.
"And that is why you'll be the one in charge to keep an eye on our beloved sister." Elijah announced, all smile, to Stefan.
"What?" Stefan exclaimed, in shock. "It's a categorical "no"… And did I mention: no!" He added, while waving a forbidden finger in front of Elijah's nose, under the laughter of Kol. "Why don't you put Kol as her "watch dog"?"
"Because she'll smell the plot from miles away, Rebekah is a Mikaelson after all; and she'll sense something is wrong?" Elijah raised his voice.
"He has a valid point! We are like cat and dog, my sister and I, but she can always smell when I'm hiding something from her." Kol nodded his head, in approval.
"And how am I supposed to explain to your sister why I am suddenly following her around, for God sake?" Stefan busted.
"You were some sort of an item in the past, find a way to rekindle the romance." Elijah shrugged in indifference, while waving his left hand.
"Like she will believe in a million years, in this rekindled romance of mine?" Stefan shook his head in disbelief.
"Oh come on, Salvatore, you used to be such a charming Casanova, back in the days, in Chicago?" Klaus mocked, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"You do realize what I'm about to do for you, Mikaelson?" Stefan replied, while pointing an accusatory finger at his friend.
"Stefan, our sister will be the second target on this Ludvig list of weaknesses, the third are Katerina and Carolina. That is why I'll keep an eye on my wife, and Kol … You'll be assigned to enroll at the art school, to keep an eye on Carolina." Elijah ordered.
"Yippy! I've always wanted to study the art of painting a nude model." Kol replied, scoffer, while twisting the corners of his lips into a smile.
"This will be under my dead body, Elijah!" Klaus mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, before rising on his legs. "Carolina is "mine"! Therefore, I'll keep an eye on "my" wife!"
"She becomes "yours' when it's fitting your agenda, isn't it, Niklaus?" Elijah replied, mostly annoyed, to his half-brother.
"Don't go there!" Klaus replied, while closing his fists in anger, before narrowing his sight in Elijah's.
"You'll keep an eye on "your" wife after her daily classes, but it would be too suspicious if you would follow her around all the times." Elijah tried to reason with him.
"Elijah has a good point, Klaus." Stefan added, while nodding his head. "Imagine explaining the upcoming "vampire apocalypse" to your human wife, it seems to be a Hercules challenge, considering the fact that she doesn't even know that you are one yourself."
Klaus lowered his head, while passing a quick hand through his tangled hair.
"Furthermore, you'll be assigned to keep an eye on what could become the first target of this man." Elijah informed.
Stefan frowned, while crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"The first target, but the first target… Isn't it his son?" Salvatore repeated, dumbfounded.
"No … Klaus is Ludvig's "mean to an end" … The first target that he'll want to take from us if he ever find out that she is alive, is actually…" Elijah started, before being cut in the middle of his sentence.
"Maria, our maid… The woman who gave him a child, who carried me in her womb, or if you prefer: Esther … Our mother!" Klaus replied, while sighing loudly.
"What? No, no … Don't say that!" Katerina replied, while rising on her legs, before reaching Maria's standing position to comfort her. "You have no way of knowing what could have happened. Maybe … Maybe, you were separated from your husband at the time, and you met somebody else?" She tried to cheer up the maid's mood, while sliding a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"Katerina is right, Maria, I mean you … There's no way you could know what happened in the past as of now, and imagining the worst scenario possible, will not help the situation at all." Carolina added, with a timid smile blessing her lips.
"I had an illegitimate son, how can this be right?" Maria addressed the issue, while shaking her head, in disbelief.
"But I thought you knew about your employers' past, and therefore the place their mother took in their life?" Katerina asked, while shrugging her shoulders to her sister.
"Mrs. Katerina, there's a huge gap between being understanding and compassionate toward a woman that you have never met, and suddenly learning that this woman is actually yourself!" Maria replied, while pacing back and forth in the office, her arms crossed over her chest. "I shouldn't be surprised … I was always so protective of Mr. Klaus."
"It's your son after all." Carolina added, timidly.
"Maria….Considering the man who was your husband and the fact that I've met him, I … I kind of understand why you did have an extra conjugal affair with Klaus's father." Katerina let the truth out of her mouth.
"Oh my God, Katerina… Are you serious?" Carolina exclaimed, in shock.
"What, Carolina? When you'll meet the man you'll understand how much of jerk he truly is!" Katerina replied to her sister.
"I have to agree that Mister Mikaelson, the patriarch … I mean the man who was supposedly my husband is a dark, rude, and pretentious man." Maria nodded her head in approval. "I can hardly believe that I was married to him." She shook her head.
"As for me, I can hardly believe that they kept all of this information under silence and never told you who you really were?" Carolina questioned, while glancing at her sister. "But why… Why would they keep this as a secret, while at the same time keeping you by their sides? It makes no sense at all?"
"And it has to be kept that way!" Maria warned both of the sisters. "Under silence, for the time being… You have to swear to me that you won't say a word to your respective husband … Or call them my sons if you prefer?"
"But Maria …" Katerina protested, vehemently.
"No! This is "my" secret now, Mrs. Katerina, and I'll deal with "it" the way it will fit my needs." Maria responded, with a firm tone of voice.
"Ok." Katerina nodded, while lowering her sight. "I promise."
"You have my words, Maria; I won't betray your trust." Carolina agreed herself.
"And … Oh my God, and now that I think about it, I'm so ashamed, Maria!" Katerina added, with flushed cheeks, while burying her head in her right hand. "I've literally told my entire marital sex life to my mother-in-law!"
"Take a number!" Carolina added, before turning her own blushed face in the opposite direction, while swallowing a nervous lump in her throat.
"Well…If you put it that way…." Maria exclaimed, while strengthening her shoulders, with a smirk blessing her lips. "At least, I'll have ammunition in my bag of tricks if one day I need to "kick the asses" of both of my sons!" She responded, winking an eye at both girls, before triggering a general laughter.
"You need to put the papers back in the files cabinet, Katerina?" Carolina ordered her sister to do, while rising on her legs.
"You sister is right, we need to put everything back in its rightful place." Maria replied, while nodding her head. "Go my child, your sister and I, we'll be right behind you." She suggested, while pushing the youngest in her back.
"You're sure that you'll be alright, Maria?" Carolina replied, worried.
"Yes… We'll be fine; we still have time before my …" The maid held her peace, while closing her eyes. "I mean before Mister Mikaelson returns home." Maria added, while closing the door behind Carolina's back, before turning her sight toward Katerina's present position. "Now, my dear… Would you care to explain why you did it?"
After the departure of Kol and Stefan, Klaus directed his walking steps toward the office bar to pour another large glass of alcohol, before drinking its content in one large gulp.
"What if we send "them" in a remote secret location, where they'll be safe?" Klaus suggested to his brother, while lowering his empty glass on the console table.
"If "he" manages to find them, we'll never forgive ourselves, Klaus." Elijah responded, while leaning his back on his desk, with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Then, we'll divorce them!" Klaus suggested, while reaching Elijah position. "We are leading toward the inevitable, one way or the other … We'll open a bank account for them in Sweden, we'll change their identities once more, they'll be safe this way, Elijah?"
"You know what I love about you, Niklaus?" Elijah asked, while tiling his head. "You couldn't think about all of "this" before embarking me into this ludicrous idea of an arranged marriage, no, of course not!" Elijah added, while starting to pace back and forth in his office. "And now … Now, that we're obviously "close" to our respective wife, it's "now' that you want to get rid of "them", how convenient, really?"
"I …" Klaus sighed loudly, before closing his eyes. "I've hurt her deeply, Elijah, I don't want Carolina to suffer once more, because of me."
"Then admit that you have fallen in love with your wife and have the balls to make amends. Cherish her, love her, and protect her … Like her husband should do, for God sake, Niklaus!" Elijah busted into the face of his sibling. "Maybe then, she'll accept who you truly are?"
Klaus stood motionless and speechless in front of his brother, while biting his bottom lip in nervousness.
"Love is weakness for our kind, Elijah." Klaus mumbled, angrily, between his teeth. "But, I can see that you have already embraced your own fatality?"
"I know it is weakness, believe me I know!" Elijah replied, while nodding. "But, it's also like "air" you'll die if you don't have it." He added, while lowering his head. "Until we'll learn more about "your" biological father, we need to keep them by our sides."
"I don't know … How … I mean … I don't know how to be with her?" Klaus let out his vulnerability.
"Court her!" Elijah shrugged his shoulders.
"Court my own wife? As in: Taking her on dates?" Klaus opened his eyes widely.
"Yes! Buy her flowers, chocolates … Take her into the best London restaurants, take interest in her art courses… "Je ne sais" used your imagination!" Elijah suggested, with a touch of French. "You'll be sure to keep her safe, by your side."
Klaus nodded, before directing his walk toward the entrance door of his brother's office.
"Klaus?" He heard Elijah calling his name, before turning his sight, once more, toward his eldest sibling.
"This "Ludvig Petrov"… It makes no difference to me; you're still my brother… And you always will be." Elijah told him, honestly, before turning on his heels to take his sitting position back at his desk.
Katerina swallowed a nervous lump in her throat, before sliding the file into the cabinet.
"I don't know what you mean, Maria?" She responded, while rising from her sitting position behind her husband's desk, before slowly raising her sight in the one of her step-mother.
"Self-sabotaging your marriage while compromising the one of your sister, by snooping around in the private affair of your husband, Mrs. Katerina?" Maria asked, softly, while crossing her arms in front of her chest. "And, at the beginning of your own love story with Mr. Mikaelson … I mean with my son, Elijah, why would you do that?"
"I … I did it for you." She responded, while lowering her flushed cheeks.
"Yes, I can comprehend that part, and I would have probably done the same way, in your shoes, my child." Maria nodded, "But … You could have as easily warned me about that file, and leave me with the opportunity of finding the truth by myself, instead of putting your own marriage at risk. Why did you do it?"
Katerina nervously rubbed her hands together, before taking a few additional steps to reach the bay window, her back now turned in front of Maria's sight.
"I … I thought it was your right to know the truth." She managed to whisper, while trying to hide her own.
"You have fallen in love with your husband, didn't you, my child?" Maria asked. "And this is scarring you more than any of the previous relationships you had with men in the past, am I right?"
Katerina wrapped herself of her arms, while closing her eyes and sighing loudly.
"No, of course not…Why would you think something as foolish as that?" She tried to deny Maria's romantic notions, while wiping away a single tear. "We have an agreement, a contract between us, nothing more."
"And because you're so convinced that the marital relationship of your sister is also doomed, self-sabotaging your own relationship seems the good solution, forbidding you to get hurt and to put your heart on the line, am I right, Mrs. Katerina?" Maria asked, once more, while sliding a comforting hand on the young woman's right shoulder. "Why won't you give him a chance to love you?"
"Because I don't believe in that stupid sentiment called "love", Maria!" Katerina turned her head and sight toward the maid. "I … I always managed by myself. I never had to rely on a man before … This contract between us is the best arrangement that we can make … These romantic feelings could only disrupt everything."
"And yet you wanted "love" for your sister, but not for yourself?" Maria asked, dumbfounded.
"She deserved it, but she was deceived by life, and by a man, like I've been too many times before." Katerina confessed, while stepping away from her position in front of the window.
"Oh my child… Your sister has found love; you must be blind if you did not comprehend that part yet." Maria announced, with a timid smile blessing her lips.
"She did not, she was betrayed and abused by him … And …" Katerina objected, vehemently.
"Mm… And she stayed six months to wait for that "despicable" man? Why? She could have easily left at any time? And believe me I am not saying this because I've just found out that he was my son." Maria added, before approaching the young Russian. "She fell in love with her husband … Not the romantic notion she had thought herself of what a man should be, but the real man who was not the perfect prince of a fairy tale, a man with terrible flaws, with a dark past, and who conducted more bad behaviors than ten fingers could hold. But, at the same time, a man who was so ashamed of himself for hurting what was so precious to him, that he left six months for her to rebuild her life, some would probably say that he was a coward, I would actually prefer to think that he sacrificed the true and deep feelings he had for your sister, while self-sabotaging his own relationship with her, does it ring a bell, My child?"
Katerina lowered her flushed cheeks, while shrugging her shoulders.
"I am not comparing myself to him, and I can't forgive him." Katerina finally let the words out of her mouth.
"Nobody ask you to forgive Mister Klaus for the time being … This decision belongs to your sister. But, in the meantime give yourself the chance to learn how to love your husband, as much he'll learn to love you. Mister Mikaelson is a good, loving man, but don't betray him just because you're scare of the passion he could bring into your life? If so, you will destroy him, and he'll shut himself up to you." Maria suggested. "And give your sister the same decency, would you? Give your sister the chance to decide for herself if her marriage is worth saving or not?" She added, before directing her walking steps toward the exit of Elijah's study room.
"Esther Marie Mikaelson?" Katerina called.
Maria whirled on herself, in surprise of this appellation.
"You're a fantastic mother, and a true wonderful friend." The eldest sister complimented her, with a timid smile, before seeing the maid leave the office in silence.
"Hé ho, hé ho, hé ho … Is there somebody here?!" Kol called, repeatedly, while pressing, continuously, on the little bell placed on the register/administration counter of the London art school.
"You think I'm deaf? You want to kill me with your annoying voice, or what?" The, young metis addressed herself to the Original, with a strong American accent, while finally reaching her position behind the counter.
"I don't know about you, but I know that I've just die and went to heaven when I saw the glimpse of your beauty!" Kol complimented the young woman, while sliding his fiery sight on her chest.
"Hey? My eyes are up here!" She warned him, while pointing her fingers in their orbits. "And … Oh, look at the time?" She added, while taking a glimpse at her watch. "It's five o'clock, the registration office if now closed!" She announced to him, while placing the "We are close" sign on the counter, with a smirk plastered on her face.
Bonnie Bennett knew way too well the kind of pretentious, snobby jerk that was standing in front of her sight….The son of a rich family who would take an art class to kill his boredom.
"Oh come on, don't be a bitch!" Kol begged her, while grabbing her left wrist in a firm grip of his hand.
"Let go of my arm, now!" She warned him, with angry sparks coming out of her eyes.
"Beautiful and full of fire… I believe you've just stole my heart, darling!" Kol said, smirking, while freeing the young woman of his grip. "American as I can hear?"
"Mm … You're a real Einstein, aren't you?" Bonnie tilted her head, with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "Now, I suggest that you turn your pretty little ass toward the exit, and go back to your mummy's house, we're close!" She added, firmly. "And if you want to register for the last classes available this session, tomorrow is actually the last day."
"Oh come on! If you've noticed my "pretty" ass, you can't be indifferent to my puppy face?" Kol asked, while pouting adorably.
Bonnie rolled her eyes to the ceiling, with a glimpse of a smile showing on her lips.
"What do you say?" Kol begged her. "Can you make an exception?"
Bonnie grabbed a pamphlet while sliding it in front of Kol's position.
"These are the last two courses available for the spring session." She informed him.
Kol lowered his sight on the list, before frowning and wrinkling his nose.
"You're offering me: pottery or macramé class?" He arched an eyebrow, with a sour face. "You don't have anything in the range of… Oh, I don't know … Introduction to the nude models 101?" He asked, scoffer.
"You want to register or not?" Bonnie asked, mostly annoyed, while sighing loudly.
"Pottery I guess… It's offered in the day, isn't it?" Kol inquired.
"Yes" She replied, slyly. "What is your family name?"
"Mikaelson…" Kol replied, while admiring the beautiful features of her pretty face.
"As in Caroline Mikaelson … You can't be her husband?" Bonnie asked, while shaking her head, in disbelief. No way in hell, Caroline would have married this pretentious, "I look at myself in the mirror" jerk?
"She's actually my sister-in-law." Kol replied, smirking. "And by: "You can't be her husband", I'm sure you meant it as… Because I'm too handsome to be her husband, didn't you?" He mocked, while winking at her.
"Whatever answer will rock your boat, "darling"!" Bonnie mocked, while holding her laughter.
"You're one of Caroline's friends?" Kol tried to get the information, while being completely ignored.
"Ok! For today I'll leave you with these forms to fill. You've been registered in the computer for that particular course, so you'll need to come back tomorrow, with the forms dully filled and of course the money to pay your registration fee. You'll be happy to know that you are the only man in the class." Bonnie informed him, perniciously.
"I'm ecstatic actually, what an honor it will be for all these women!" Kol replied, while winking once more at her. "So, I guess, I'll see you tomorrow then, "American girl"?" He added, with a seductive smile. "No chance in hell that you'll tell me your sweet name?"
"Doubtful!" Bonnie replied, while grabbing her cross body bag behind the counter. "This was my last day as interim clerk in this office!" She added. "Matt, you'll close for me?" She yelled into the corridor behind her back.
"Not a problem, sweetheart!" A male voice answered her. "Enjoy your night!"
"Don't let the door hit you in the face while leaving." She added to the young English man, while leading her walk toward the exit. "But then again …A girl can dream, can she?" She added, while mocking him openly.
"Damn!" Kol whistled after Bonnie's departure. "What a bomb that girl … I think I'm in love!" He added, with a smile from ear to ear.
"Maria?" Elijah called, while trying to reach the maid standing position in the middle of the kitchen corridor of his London manor. His left hand buried in one of the front pockets of his trousers, with his other placed in front of his chest.
"Oh, It's … It's you, Mister Mikaelson?" Maria startled, while greeting her employer, before turning, abruptly, on herself, while stammering the words and catching her breath to calm her raging nerves.
"Are you ok, my dear? You seem on edge?" Elijah asked, with an arched eyebrow.
"Me? Of course, I'm fine …Why would you think otherwise?" She replied, while sweeping unnoticeable fluffs on her uniform, before lowering her flushed cheeks, not able to meet her son's glance.
"You don't seem fine? You seem disturbed, and worried?" Elijah wondered, analytically, while narrowing his sight on his mother. "Did any suspicious visitors come to the manor, today?"
"What do you mean by "suspicious visitors", Mister Mikaelson?" Maria replied, all her senses in alert, while crossing her arms in front of her chest. "You care to elaborate on that part, or do I need to transform myself into the detective Columbo?"
"Watching the old classics at night, as I gather, Maria?" Elijah smirked in amusement.
"I have enjoyable hobbies, in my free time, I confess." She replied, while raising her chin.
"Your secret is safe with me." Elijah replied, whispering, while winking at her.
"And yours, Mister Mikaelson, can be considered the same, if you are willing to share?" She replied, while nodding her head. "Is there concerns to worry?"
"We suspect that an old enemy of the family will get in contact with us, very soon." Maria's eldest son replied to her. "Therefore, I'll double the effective of securities around the Manor. And I would appreciate if you could stay inside those walls for the time being. If you need to run some errands, ask George to fill these obligations."
"If I may ask, which old enemy of your family would come to threaten you and your love ones in your own home?" Maria inquired, while nervously rubbing her hands together.
"You may ask, but unfortunately I can't answer that question, Maria." He replied, while shaking his head. "It's not personal, believe me, this is for safety precautions."
"Of course, Mister Mikaelson, I'm sorry for the intrusion into your private family manner." She replied, slyly, while putting emphasized on the family part, before directing her walk toward the kitchen door.
"Maria?" Elijah called her name, once more.
"Yes, Sir, what can I do for you?" She replied, politely, while turning on herself.
"While we are on the subject of detective work, do you have any idea who's been in my office, today?" He narrowed his sight on her, before crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Maria blanched, while swallowing a nervous lump into her throat.
"Is there any problem that you've noticed there, Sir?" She inquired, while keeping a calm front.
"I could have sworn that I've locked the door when I left for the office early morning?" He tested her.
"Indeed, it was." She replied, politely, while nodding her head. "I opened it, myself, to replace a few books that had been misplaced in the parlor room. I hope it wasn't any inconvenience to you?" She asked, while tilting her head, and crossing her shaking hands in front of her chest. "I'm sorry if I've forgotten to relock the door after my visit."
"Mm… Books you say? No, it's fine… It's not bother at all." Elijah shook his head, with a hand gesture. "And it's not like you would keep it a secret if you knew that someone had…Let say, snooped around my office?"
"Of course not, Sir, I would let you know." Maria replied, calmly, while feeling her forehead dripping with sweat.
"Where's my wife?" He inquired the information.
"The last I've seen Mrs. Katherine, she was in the exercise room, Mister Mikaelson, she mentioned something about training for an hour." She informed. "Is there anything else I can do for you?" She added, with a smile blessing her lips.
"No, thank you, Maria…It will be all." He replied, while directing his walk toward the marble stairs. "I'm wishing you an enjoyable "Columbo" night!" He added, mocker.
Maria waited for her son to disappear from her view, before lowering her back on the wall, while letting out a sigh of relief and raising a hand over her forehead to calm herself down.
Katerina wrapped herself in a body towel, before repeating the same action with her wet hair, while placing a smaller towel, in a bun, in top of her head. One hour of exercises had lowered her stress level after the bad decision she had made to … Gosh! Maria was so right … She had tried to sabotage the only good relationship she had ever experienced with a man, in all her life.
The brunette directed her walking steps toward the opened door and into the penumbra of the suite, while keeping the switches turned off. As only lights, the ones of the bathroom softly infiltrating the bedroom, before placing herself in front of the mirror on foot. She detached the towel from her hair, while dropping the fabric on a near chair a second later, before sliding her fingers, sensually, into the length of her lustrous curls.
"You're so beautiful…I'm not even grasping the thought that you are truly mine." She heard "him" whisper.
Katerina startled, before twirling on herself, a hand raised over her chest, while holding the front edge of the body towel.
"Oh my God… You've…You've scared me to death!" She stammered through her sentence, while facing her husband.
Elijah was sitting in one of the armchairs placed at the foot of their bed, with the perfect angle to watch her. His blazer was placed, casually, on top of the chair, with the sleeves of his man shirt rolled on his forearms, and the front buttons opened on his muscular chest. He held a glass of Brandy in his right hand, with the tip of his finger sliding, sensually, around its edge. He let his fiery glance, slowly, slide on the length of her bare legs, while raising his glass to his lips, before taking a large gulp of the amber alcohol.
"How long have you been sitting there?" Katerina asked, while swallowing a nervous lump in her throat.
"Long enough to witness "my" beautiful wife take a shower through the opened door." He replied, honestly, while pointing a finger toward the arch, before drinking the rest of his glass in one last gulp.
Katerina could feel her heart pumping the blood, in raising heartbeats, inside her chest. The frail barrier of the body towel was, obviously leaving little to her husband erotic imagination.
"You saw me … You saw me, wash myself, under the water?" She asked, once more, while lowering her flushed cheeks. This present encounter with her husband, was reminding the young woman, too vividly, that this man was way too dangerous for the sake of her heart.
"Is it bothering you, Katerina that I've spied on my gorgeous wife, in her private, sensual time with herself?" Elijah replied, before dropping the empty glass on a side table. He slowly rose on his legs, while keeping his sight locked with hers, before taking a few walking steps to reach her standing position. "Mm… Or knowing that I've spied on you, it arouses you more?" He whispered into her right ear, slowly sliding his opened left palm on the length of her bare arm while grabbing the base of her neck with his right hand, before slowly grabbing a hand full of her damped hair to pull her head back, their dark eyes now lost in each other.
Katerina felt her breath quickened under her husband sensual assault. She tried to speak, under her trembling lips, while not being able to let out a single sound, left under Elijah's powerful spell.
"I was not able to detach my sight from you …" He murmured, while softly brushing his lips on hers, without fully kissing her. He was obviously mastering the art of teasing his prey, while presenting the forbidding fruit in front of her sight. "What did you do to me, woman? I have the incontrollable desire to make you mine every second of the day." He added, while abruptly turning her body around, to make Katerina face the mirror, with his hands firmly placed on her hips, his head buried in the left crucible of her shoulders.
"Oh Elijah…." She whispered, out of breath, a raging fire taking her entire body in hostage of her desire for this powerful man … The same man, that she was, now, calling her husband.
"God you were so beautiful in the shower, while slowly…Erotically… Caressing your breasts with your hands … I thought I would die of desire for you, Katerina." He murmured, while leaving a trail of kisses on her neck.
His hands rose higher, underneath the tucked corner of the body towel, before letting it drop on the floor, while cupping her beautiful breasts with both hands.
"Why did you not join me?" She asked, while letting out a cry when she felt his right hand slide between her thighs, much higher on her burning and humid core.
"Why?" He replied, while raising his head and sight in the mirror to meet her burning gaze, before detaching himself from his wife and walking toward the other side of the room.
Katerina felt a cold shiver hitting her spin, with an unsettling feeling of fear. She leaned forward while grabbing the towel on the wooden floor, before wrapping her body with the comforting piece of fabric.
Elijah directed his walking steps toward a console table, while grabbing a set of files in his hands, before retracing his steps in front of his wife.
"Why? Simple… I can't make love to a woman who betrayed my trust, while going behind my back to get her hands on these files!" He busted at her, while throwing a set of files on the bed.
Katerina blenched under the accusation, while standing motionless and speechless in front of her husband, with her arms wrapped around her shivering body.
"I …" She tried to explain, without a word coming out of her mouth.
"Don't even try, Katerina!" He mumbled, angrily, between his teeth, while pointing an accusatory finger at her. "Why? Why?" He yelled at her, repeatedly, while pacing back and forth in front of the bed. "If you wanted to get your hands on your file and your sister's file, all you had to do is to ask me, for God sake! You knew those files existed … You had no valid reasons to take such extreme measure as forcing the lock of my file cabinet!"
Ok, calm down, Katerina … Calm down … He thinks that you saw "your" files, and not the medical file of Maria… It's not that bad, it's not that bad … Yes; it's very bad, because he is mad and fuming… And he has tears filing his eyes…. She thought to herself, while feeling her own, rolling fluently on her cheeks.
"I …" She tried to articulate, once more.
"Damn you, woman … Why?" He added, while directing his steps toward the bedroom door, before slamming the panel on its arch.
"Oh God, no … What have I done?" She whispered to herself, while raising her right hand over her mouth.
Elijah stared at the cracking fire, his sight lost in the intense redness of the flames, while sitting on the leather sofa in front of the fireplace, placed in the parlor room, with a bottle of scotch in his right hand.
"I'm sorry…" He heard the shallow whisper coming from the entrance of the room, while keeping his sight lost in the flames. "I betrayed your trust, and it is tearing me apart to see you so hurt…I'm not used to experiences those feelings for a man."
Katerina dragged her bare feet toward his sitting position, now dressed with a purple silk dressing gown. She lowered her teary sight on Elijah's motionless position, before taking a sitting position by his side, her legs tucked underneath her thighs.
"I'm so, so, sorry … Please Elijah, forgive me?" She begged him, while lowering her head on his left shoulder, with both of her hands firmly grabbing his arm.
Elijah slowly turned his head toward his wife, before lowering his sight on her tearful face. She was curled like a scare child by his side.
"Why did you do it Katerina? Did I give you any valid reasons to doubt me?" He asked softly, while pushing a strand of her hair behind her left ear.
"No, you … You are so gentle with me." She shook her head, while sniffing and sweeping the tears on her face. "I think I was scare of you rejecting me, sooner than later, therefore I've acting like a selfish person to help you speed up the process."
"Rejecting you? I'm crazy about you woman! Don't cry… I can't bear the thought to see you cry." Elijah murmured, while dropping the bottle on the floor, before sliding one arm under her thighs, and the other around her waist. He gently raised her in his arms, before sitting Katerina on his lap, with her shivering upper body resting on his chest, and her head tucked on his left shoulder, his right hand softly caressing her hair. "If you would have asked me, I would have shown those files to you, Katerina … I've told you many times that I don't want for you to think that this marriage is still a contract between us." He added. "I don't want for you to go behind my back and lure Maria into helping you into your crazy plan … I'm a proud man, Katerina, for me it's the highest sign of disrespect. And I don't take disrespect very well."
Katerina raised her teary sight in her husband's, her right hand resting on his chest.
"I'm sorry … I don't know what came to me … I'm scare, Elijah." She confessed, honestly. "What is happening between us, that was not in the plan ….I mean, I'm… I'm not used to give my trust to a man … I'm not used to feel secure in a man's arms. I've been hurt too many times before, and this contract was finally setting boundaries into my life…No strings attach."
Elijah grabbed Katerina's chin in his right hand, before drowning his sight in hers.
"Who cares about the contract? There's no more signed papers between us, beautiful. If I could, I would gladly rip those forms in pieces, but because of the immigration I can't do it. As of now, there's just a man and a woman who feel extremely happy to be in each other presence, can we settle this subject for good now? Can you give us a chance?" Elijah asked her. "I know you're scare, and I know that you've been hurt, Katerina. I'm everything but a fool … And, to tell you the truth, I'm scare too… Can we be scare together?" He questioned more, with a timid smile, before brushing her lips with his.
She moaned under the soft pressure of his lips touching hers, before raising her arms around his neck, while giving the unspoken permission to intensify his kiss.
"You're the woman that I wanted all my life; I'm not even close to let you go." He murmured, before sliding his manly lips on the left side of her neck, while cupping the soft roundness or her breasts underneath the opened panel of her night gown.
She let out a loud cry, while closing her eyes and grabbing a hand full of his tangled dark hair.
"You're mine!" He murmured with his lips in top of her trembling ones, before crashing his mouth back on Katerina's, while raising on his legs and carrying her toward their upstairs suite.
Carolina turned the light switches before entering what she would secretly call "her" art shop, her bare feet touching the coldness of the floor, the long floral fabric of her bohemian dress twirling around her legs. She dropped several paint cans on the huge wooden table, while placing all the brushes in perfect alignment on the panel. She loved to come in the shop in the early hours of the evening and paint until the early hours of the night.
She stepped away before reaching the trestle, where a white canvas was facing the artist with its blankness.
She sighed loudly, while grabbing in her hands the paper with the next painting assignment for the week ahead:
Human body – Headless – Abstract and nakedness form
The "Immobile objects" assignment had already been a challenge for her; she was therefore approaching this next one with reserve and apprehension of failing it miserably. And not to help the obvious weight of fear on her frail shoulders, in addition: the recent discovery of Maria true identity as the Mikaelson's mother had put her nerves over the edge.
"You're going to work in the art shop all evening?" Carolina heard her husband voice ask.
She turned, abruptly, on herself, with her right foot stumbling on the length of her dress, while losing her balance and falling head first toward the parquet floor.
Klaus rushed toward his wife standing position, before, subtly and rapidly, catching her falling body while encircling her waist with both of his strong arms.
"I got you!" He sighed with relief, while slowly raising his right hand from the crucible of her back to the base of her neck, before softly caressing the short blonde strands of hair at its base.
Carolina held her breath, while keeping her eyes shut, with her mouth widely opened under the surprise, before grabbing, with both hands, the fabric of her husband's Henley shirt.
"I'm … I'm sorry, you've scared me and I've lost my balance." She managed to let the explanation out of her lips, while feeling the warmth of his body piercing through his shirt, in electrical discharges from the tips of her fingers through her arms.
"I've told you many times before to stop walking barefooted!" Klaus scolded her.
"Well …" She gently pushed herself away from his embrace, before turning her back at him, while strengthening her shaking right hand to grab a brush on the trestle. "You weren't here to warn me the past six months, weren't you?"
Klaus frowned, while biting the inside of his cheeks and closing his fists in anger … When Carolina truly wanted to hurt him; her words could have the effect of hundreds of swords piercing his heart with their truthfulness. He took a few walking steps to reach the windows before drowning his sight in the darkness of the London night.
"I brought you something … I mean; I had to drop it on the table, when you almost fell." He mumbled, nervously, between his teeth, while swallowing a nervous lump in his throat.
Carolina glanced rapidly in Klaus's direction, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath into her lungs. Since their last encounter, and the kiss they had briefly shared, she hasn't been able to get him out of her mind … Not that usually it was easier. She turned on herself, before noticing the huge bouquet of wildflowers left on the table.
She reached the work table, before grabbing the flowers in her hands.
"They're my favorites! But, I … I don't understand?" She stammered the words, while lowering her head to smell their delicate perfume. "I thought you …" She tried to explained, before closing her eyes and taking an additional breath into her lungs. "I thought you wanted me out of your life?"
Klaus turned her head toward her, while drowning his sight in his wife's.
"I … I thought it would make a perfect bouquet for you to paint." He added, while shrugging his head. "I mean as unanimated objects."
"Oh! Right …" She replied, while nodding her head, before lowering her flushed cheeks. "I thought that you … Never mind … Silly me!" She added, while grabbing the bouquet and directing her unsteady steps toward the small washbasin placed in the right corner of the work shop, before grabbing a vase on an above shelf to fill it up with tab water. She closed her eyes, lost in her thoughts, while hearing the suiting noise of the water falling into the crystal: Stupid, stupid me!What did you thought, Carolina? That he would bring you flowers out of the goodness of his heart, simply to make you happy?
"And…" She startled while hearing the soft whisper of his voice near her left ear, standing now at a near inch of Carolina. "I also thought the flowers would make you happy?" He added, while slowly approaching the heat of his body nearer to hers; sliding his opened palms on the lengths of her arms, lower in a soft caress on the tender parts of her wrists, before closing the cold water facet. "They remind me of you…" Klaus added, the softness of his full lips brushing the tip of her left earlobe.
Carolina held her breath, while missing a few heartbeats in her chest, her back slowly leaning on his muscular chest, her head resting on his right shoulder, the eyelashes of her closed eyelids teeming under her tremors.
"These wildflowers smell like the fresh breeze of spring, with a hint of wilderness in them. They can't be tamed under the intense wind, their strength keeping them for bending over the intense pressure, and in the same time, they are so delicate and so beautiful…They are "you"." He let his sentence die in a low whisper on the tips of his lips.
Carolina felt the increase rhythm of her heartbeats reasoning into her ears, the intensity of this uncontrollable desire spreading like lava into her veins, under her shortness of breaths, while feeling his hands slowly sliding on each side of her hips, in a down motion, before slowly rubbing her thighs.
The tip of his nose softly brushed the base of her short hair, while taking deep breaths of her intoxicating and personal smell, with his lips leaving a trail of fire on her cheek's skin, under a low and deep growl that came from the deepness of his throat.
And then as rapidly as spring had set the heat on summer in her entire body, the coldness of winter left Carolina alone, panting and shivering, in front of the washbasin, while grabbing its edge to keep her balance.
He had detached himself from the burning temptation of his wife's body, placed in his hands, and had taken a few walking steps into the art shop, with his hands buried in his front jeans pockets.
"I'm … I'm sorry…" He stammered the words, while biting his bottom lip. "I know that you don't feel comfortable when I touch you."
Carolina closed her eyes, while taking a few deep breaths into her lungs.
"There is no reason to be sorry?" She managed to respond, while controlling the tremors in her voice. "These flowers are beautiful, thank you!" She added, while grabbing the vase to bring it to the table before raising her sight in her husband. "I'm happy that you offered them to me." She added, while lowering her flushed cheeks.
"I could offer you the world on a silver platter; you must know that, Carolina?" Klaus responded, while turning his head to take a glimpse at her.
Carolina kept quiet while regaining her standing position in front of the trestle.
"I don't know what the flowers means though? Do you …. Do you want for us to …" She tried to asked, before lowering her head in her hands. "Oh, it's so frustrating; I can't even articulate my thoughts in the right way in front of you."
"I want "you" to be happy, Carolina, I want "you" to find happiness and I have the hardest time believing that it will be in my company." He replied, honestly to his wife, while closing his eyes and sighing loudly.
"So you don't want this "marriage" anymore?" She replied, with a shallow voice, while slowly raising her sight in his. "You want me out of your life?"
"I want "you", I desire "you", and I lust for "you" in ways that would make you blush and probably be scare of me…And each time I am in your company, I want to make you mine again" He let the truth out of his mouth, while sliding his fiery side on the length of her body. "But, I doubt that you will let me touch you ever again?"
Carolina grabbed the edge of the wooden stool placed at her side, forbidding her shivering body to fall recklessly on the parquet floor.
"I'm just …" She tried to say, while grasping air. "I'm just afraid of being hurt again."
Klaus swallowed a lump in his throat, before letting a long and deep sigh out of his mouth.
"I would kill myself before hurting you this way….Ever again." He told her, honestly.
She discreetly nodded her head to him, while nervously rubbing her hands nervously.
"I believe you." She finally confessed, while meeting his blurred gaze. "Maybe … Maybe we could pass some quality times together, while slowly learning to know each other?" she suggested.
He nodded himself, while taking a few walking steps to reach her standing position in front of the trestle.
"Are you done with the assignment of unanimated objects?" Klaus asked, while grabbing the paper of her next assignment, placed on top of the stool.
"Oh, no please… No, give me that!" She yelled, while strengthening her arm to grab it with her right hand.
"Why?" He smirked to his wife, while keeping the paper out of her reach. "What is the next assignment?" He wondered, in amusement, with an arched eyebrow.
"It's nothing; just give it to me, please!" She begged, while trying to grab the paper, but without succeeding. "Klaus?!" She implored.
"Let see: Human body – Headless – Abstract and nakedness form." He read, before raising his sight in Carolina's. "They mean painting a "Nude model", don't they?" He asked, with a smirk twisting the corners of his lips.
"They mean: "Headless nude model"." She rectified, with flushed cheeks, while stilling the assignment paper from his hands, before turning her back at her husband. "I… I have the choice of taking one of the models at school, or to bring one of my choices at home." She shrugged. "I'm not sure if it would bother you or not? I know it is a beautiful form of art … But, but … I also know that we are technically married and…I felt uncomfortable to bring a nude model in here, so…So it's maybe better… I mean… if I take a model from the school?" She stammered the words, while twisting the paper in her hands.
"I don't want you to see another man naked in this work shop." Klaus responded, in an ordering and firm tone of voice.
"That … That's what I thought, and I won't … I'll go to the school then, and assist at one of the models' session." She replied,
"You won't need to do that…." Klaus replied.
"What? Why?" Carolina replied, while turning abruptly on herself, before freezing all her movements, under a stage of intense shock, her right hand raised in front of her mouth to mute the cry that would get out of her lips otherwise.
In front of her sight, her husband was standing as naked as the day that he was born!
"Because … I believe you have everything that you need at home to paint this white canvas?" He smirked, while pointing his hands toward his crotch area. "And even more if I may say myself." He added, scoffer. "Now, because it's headless, nobody will need to know that it's your husband that you've painted naked, but I won't be held responsible for the envy it will create among you classmates, do we have a deal, Love?"
Thank you for reading "The truth knows best" guys!
For those interested, and who did not see my new updated story, just know that the romantic comedy/parody: "1, 2, 3 … Cha, cha, cha" is now running! ;)
Until the next update,
Much love to all,
Lovely Vero
Thank you for all the anonymous reviews received, guys!
My answers are below.
Guest: Thanks for loving and appreciating this fiction so much, sweetie, it's always nice to know.
Forever fun: Je sais! Je n'ai pas été gentille, LOL … Tu m'as fait bien rire ;) J'avoue que c'était tout un cliff hanger, mais bon … C'est le plaisir de l'écriture, et le plaisir de la lecture pour les lectrices! Merci pour ta review!
Guest2: I believe you are certainly not the only one who did not see that twist coming with Maria ;) It was a plot that I was keeping to myself since a long time now. Thanks for appreciating this new turn of event, sweetie.
Justine: J'ai laissé ma Justine sur le cul? Ma vie a maintenant un sens ;) lol … Je me doutais bien que tu ne verrais pas cette surprise t'arriver droit dessus. Hypnotisée? Bravo! Tu l'as deviné, mais par qui, Voilà la vrai, de vrai question? Pour Caroline, exactement, elle est tombée amoureuse mais dans les pires conditions, et comme elle ne sait pas ce que c'est qu'être amoureuse … Elle patine en sens inverse la petite! J'ai toujours pensé que Katerina est le ying du yang d'Elijah … Elle lui apporte ce côté non tempéré et lui la ramène à un niveau plus bas … Je vois rouge quand j'imagine que Julie Plec pense à mettre Elijah & Hayley ensemble! Ce n'est pas pour rien que j'ai intégré l'idée dans ma nouvelle histoire, c'est pour arriver à jongler avec cette idée qui est pour moi complétement farfelue! Pour moi, Katherine est le sel match d'Elijah et vice-versa! Merci une fois de plus, ma chérie, j'adore de te lire!
Valorie: I really appreciate from the bottom of my heart, sweetie, that you are enjoying yourself so much, while reading my stories. It's always nice to know! And please, always take a little time of you day to leave a little sentence to all the authors that you appreciate, it makes such a difference. And yes ;) Kalijah ftw!
Tanja: You were surprised, weren't you? ;) It is in a way a betrayal of trust … But, Katerina, in her own twisted way is trying to sabotage her own marriage, because she is falling in love with the man… And, she is so afraid of feeling what she is feeling as of now. Thanks for your input, sweetie.
Ilovetvd: A "matron"? Maria? LOL … I highly doubt that I've used that word? Gosh, you made me laugh ;) Only you in the all crowd of reviewers could come up with this kind of stuff ;) I think you took it literally as her being some kind of an "old maid"? But, she is more an independent, strong, determine middle age woman, who knows how to handle her work in the mansion and put her own set of rules with its occupants. Nevertheless, you were fooled, and that what is counting ;) Yes, Elijah is quite a lover in this story … But, I'm not complaining at all ;) The kiss between Klaus and Caroline was really nice, I give you that. Thanks for your input, sweetie.
Taming of the sh: Sweetie I've just received your review in the nick of the time to insert it before updating my new chapter. Thanks by the way! You've noticed? I always leave a few indices in my chapter of what will come ahead… And Kol being so nice to Maria was one of them ;)
If I have forgotten someone in the responses to the anonymous reviews, it was not intentional, and I thank you for it!