Chapter Sixteen:
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The train tickets were safely tucked away in Leon's dresser drawer. They were due at the station early the next morning, but Leon couldn't settle his restless mind. Ever since their trip to the palace, Sora had been more quiet than usual. Part of the reason could be the fact that there wasn't much interaction with others aside from themselves. They trained for many hours each day on their performance for the exhibit and also on various ideas for future shows.
Their athletic endeavors were in perfect harmony, but he felt a discord regarding their romantic relationship. Leon believed it was his fault. He wasn't known for his conversational skills. He'd been somewhat somber due to the upsetting changes with Sophie's resting place. However, he was managing that with Sora's support.
The problem stemmed from run-ins with his former romantic liaisons. He wouldn't call them girlfriends, but his previous debauchery was taking a toll on Sora's sensitivities. He'd never made much effort in attracting women. His good looks and mysterious personality seemed to draw them like a moth to flame. His past with women usually entailed heavy flirtatious behavior on their part, him eventually getting depressed and drinking too much, and then a night of depravity. He always woke up the next morning feeling worse. He'd terminate the partnership or romantic entanglement before the sun even peaked the horizon.
Unfortunately, the woman he did want to entangle himself with was suffering from his former cavalier attitude. He and Sora hadn't been intimate with each other since the incident with Janet. They'd only ventured into public a few times to enjoy the city and each had ended in disastrous coincidence. If that had been the only encounter, it might have been different. Twice more — when they visited the Eiffel Tower a few days before and also to the Paris Opera earlier that evening, they'd run into two other former mistresses.
Leon walked up the stairs to his condo with a take-out bag from the nearby deli. He opened the front door and set the food on the kitchen table. His girlfriend wasn't in the living room, nor in the bedroom. A deep sense of dread began to build in the pit of his stomach. "Sora?"
There was no answer and Leon's forehead began to break out into a fine sweat. He'd only been gone for twenty minutes, but it was possible that Sora could have left. "Sora?" He asked again, a desperate note had crept into his voice.
He noticed a flickering light in the bathroom and the door was ajar. Cautiously, Leon eased the door open to find Sora leaning back in the bathtub with bubbles up to her chest covering her breasts, her eyes closed, head leaned back, and listening to music with a pair of headphones. Leon knocked loudly on the door and Sora's caramel eyes opened slowly.
"Is everything okay?" Sora asked, slipping the headphones off and around her neck.
Leon leaned heavily against the door frame. "I thought you might have left."
Sora sat up, the suds falling dangerously low and revealing the top swell of her breasts. "You thought I would leave you?"
"I wouldn't blame you. You keep having my sordid past thrown into your face. I certainly deserve your scorn," Leon continued. He started for the door. "Dinner is in the kitchen when you're ready."
"Leon, wait," Sora called. "Come here."
He walked towards the bathtub and crouched onto his knees, the damp on the tiles soaked into his pants. He didn't say anything, not really sure of what he could say.
Sora reached for his face and caressed his cheek. "Leon, I don't care about your past. I thought I did, but I've been thinking about it. I'm much more interested in who you are now and who you will become. It does seem rather unusual that whenever we go about town we run into one of your former lovers. It's as if someone is purposely trying to drive us apart."
"Don't call them lovers," Leon complained. "That implies an attachment I never felt."
Sora rolled her eyes. "My point, is that what we share is more than a casual relationship. You've become my best friend, Leon. I know you're not perfect, but I still care about you."
Leon leaned forward and braced his arms on either side of the tub, leaning his body over hers. He brushed his lips over hers. Sora's arms wound around his neck and fully dressed Leon joined her in the tub, soaking his clothes. They laughed as the water sloshed over the sides.
"Sora, I love you," Leon said, staring into her intoxicating eyes, they widened at his confession. "If you don't want to do the exhibition or if you don't want to perform anymore, I could care less. What I care about — is being with you anywhere in the world."
"As fate would have it, I want to be anywhere you're at." Sora kissed him deeply and hugged Leon close against her. "And I enjoy working with you. It would be a terrible loss for the audience if they couldn't watch us perform." She chuckled throatily. "And you'd be stir-crazy if you couldn't perform."
Leon sighed in relief. Sora didn't admit to loving him in turn, but her actions always spoke greater than her words.
"However, if we run into any other former girlfriends, you need to be cordial. You cannot act like it bothers you — that's what they're aiming for. We must be confident in our own happiness, so as not to be bothered by others," Sora advised.
"So wise," Leon whispered.
Sora began to unbutton Leon's shirt. "Now, why don't you get out of these clothes and take a proper bath with me."
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The train moved at a steady pace as they crossed over the borders of Germany and into The Netherlands. Holland was on the West Coast and they would pass through Amsterdam to reach her grandparents' home. Sora was nervous about seeing her mother's parents for the first time in many years. They would be waiting at the train station for her and Leon.
She was still giddy about Leon's confession of love. She'd been too overwhelmed to realize that she failed to reciprocate his feelings. When she realized she'd not voiced her love for Leon, it felt too late to say the words.
"Are you nervous?" Leon asked.
"Terrified. I've not seen my grandparents in nearly a decade. They'd been disappointed to lose custody of me when I was young." She looked up at Leon beside her. "I wonder if I grew up here, if I'd have met you sooner. Holland isn't too far from Paris."
Leon smiled softly. "Who knows?"
The train began to slow as they approached the station. Leon took down their luggage from the overhead bin. They stepped off the train together and entered the station. Close to the overhead boards displaying the various trains and times, an elderly couple waited anxiously on a bench.
All thoughts of nervousness evaporated as Sora ran towards her grandparents. Her grandfather with a tall, lean man with red hair similar to her own, though mostly gray now. Her grandmother was a petite woman with generous curves and her hair was dyed the honey-blond of her youth. Sora hugged them simultaneously, laughing all the while as her grandparents squeezed her back enthusiastically. It was hard to believe she'd been worried about this reunion!
Leon followed afterwards with a bemused smile. Sora released her grandparents and looped her arm possessively around Leon's waist and drew him close to her relatives. "This is my boyfriend, Leon Oswald," Sora introduced.
"I'm Bram and this is my wife, Fleur," her grandfather rejoined in heavily accented English. "Welcome to Holland!"
They stopped for a late lunch and spoke with light conversation. Sora explained the upcoming exhibition she and Leon were training for as well as some of the future stage performances they were thinking up.
"Your mother loved the circus," Fleur confessed. "She was a student of ballet until she broke her ankle at sixteen. That's when she focused on her studies and did a semester abroad in Japan." She looked towards Bram, her eyes misty with emotion. "After she met your father, she couldn't wait to graduate and move to Japan."
"I had no idea Mom danced ballet," Sora murmured.
"I'm not surprised," Leon said. "You've always had a dancer's natural grace yourself, Sora."
"I thought we might visit one of the tulip fields," Bram suggested. "There is one on the way to the house." He cast Fleur a loving look. "It's a very romantic place." He leaned over the table and grinned conspiratorially at Leon. "It's where I proposed to Fleur many years ago," he whispered to Leon.
"Oh Bram, don't be putting ideas into the young man's mind," Fleur chastised with a gentle hand on her husband's arm.
Sora felt her cheeks heat up in a blush. She didn't expect her grandparents to be so overwhelmingly approving of her relationship with Leon.
"How long will you two be staying?" Bram asked.
"Our return ticket is in three days," Leon answered.
Bram's expression was crestfallen. "So little time?"
"Honey, they can come back. They're living in Paris now!" Fleur reminded. She turned pale green eyes on Sora and smiled. "You'll come back of course."
Sora smiled in return. "Yes, of course, grandmother." She didn't want to point out that she was most likely to live in California or Japan. Leon had the home in Paris and she was his guest for however long their relationship lasted. She'd tried to be brave about Leon's past, but nagging at her subconscious was a reminder that she wasn't the first woman Leon showed interest.
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The field of tulips stretched for several kilometers in a brilliant blanket of pink, red, orange, yellow, and lavender. The sound of Sora's laughter drifted on the wind and Leon smiled at watching her hold her grandmother's hands as they spun slowly in circles.
"It warms my heart to see them together," Bram said. "It was hard of Fleur, losing our daughter and then our granddaughter." He turned towards Leon. "What are your intentions with Sora?"
"I love her, sir," Leon said.
"I know that," Bram said with a snort. "Why else would you have come all this way?" Bram narrowed his gray eyes. "Have you gotten our precious grandchild pregnant?"
Leon was tempted to answer flippantly that it wasn't for a lack of trying, but he decided better of it. "No, sir."
"Good." Bram smiled and slung his arm over Leon's shoulder. "You looked so worried! I was only teasing."
"I see," Leon murmured.
"Fleur and I purchased a pair of tickets for the ballet in Amsterdam tomorrow," Bram said. "This was before we knew you were coming. I want you two to take them. They are good seats - box five."
Leon smiled wryly. "Box five? Like the Phantom of the Opera?"
"Yes! Exactly!"
"Thank you, for your generosity," Leon said. "Let's go join in on the merriment of Sora and Fleur instead of watching from a distance."
"Leon!" Sora cried out, running towards them. She took hold of Leon and her grandfather's hands and tugged them back towards her grandmother. "Come and dance with us amongst the flowers."
"Shall we show your grandparents our dance routine?" Leon asked.
"Let us just dance," Sora said. "How about you sing that French song again? Like you did in Montreal?"
Leon smiled and began humming the familiar love song. He took Sora into his arms and from the corner of his eye noticed Bram and Fleur slow-dancing as well.
"This has been a perfect afternoon," Sora whispered. She looked up at Leon, her eyes bright with emotion. "I'm so glad to share it with you."
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The next evening, Sora and Leon traveled into Amsterdam to watch the Tristan and Isolde ballet. Sora wore a dark purple gown with a silver shaw and Leon wore a black fitted suit and dark purple button up shirt. It had been an added pleasure to wear matching outfits both in and out of their routines. Leon could get used to this couple thing. It was so nice to belong with someone.
The performance at the theater was a brilliant mix of music, choreography, and athleticism. Sora was crying by the end of the third act and even Leon had been moved, though his eyes were dry.
"Can any of these end happily?" Sora dashed away tears with the back of her hand. "For once, I'd like to see one of these ballets end happily."
Leon was charmed by Sora's heartfelt reactions to the ballet. He took Sora's hand and brushed his lips against her knuckles. "If you want to watch something happy, you must see a comedy and not a tragedy."
Sora sighed. "I'm not sure which is more depressing — Tristan and Isolde or Romeo and Juliet."
"Are you sure you still want to try a Phantom of the Opera routine?" Leon asked.
Sora nodded. "Everyone lives in that one."
Leon scoffed. "Oh? Did you forget about the two men the phantom strangled?"
"Oh, right." Sora shook her head. "Nevermind."
The audience began to clear out of the performance hall. "Come on, let's go." Leon took Sora's hand, enjoying the feel of her smaller hand in his as he led them outside.
They'd only been in Holland for two days and already his mind was made up. He loved Sora and he loved her family — both sides. When they returned to Paris, he would go to the bank and the safe-deposit box where his mother's wedding ring was stored. He would propose to Sora before the year was out — the question was how long would he be able to hold out.
"I'm so glad we came," Sora said, linking her fingers through Leon's as they walked down the street en route for the metro.
A woman with a bright yellow scarf around her dark hair stood on the sidewalk selling flowers in a basket to passing tourists. Leon stopped and pulled out his wallet. He paid a few euro notes for a bouquet of yellow and pink tulips for Sora. "Roses might have been more appropriate," Leon worried.
Sora sniffed the flowers and sighed contentedly. "Non-sense. While in Holland, nothing is more appropriate than tulips."
A trio of street musicians a short distance from the performance hall began to draw a crowd. Leon slipped his arm around Sora's waist and began to lead her towards the keyboard, violin, and guitar. The guitar player began to sing and the audience encircling them swayed and clapped to the music.
Leon began to casually dance with Sora. He loved the way her hand fit in his and the feel of her lower back against his palm. As the beat began to liven up, Sora sashayed her hips to the rhythm and Leon grinned down at her before leading her into a couple of spins.
Another pair of musicians joined the three and the crowd kept growing. Leon felt a little nervous about the amount of people. He'd seen too many scary attacks in the news to want to expose them to such risks. "I think we should leave," he whispered in Sora's ear.
"Do we have to?" Sora pleaded, fluttering her eyelashes at him.
"Crowds draw dangerous attention," Leon murmured. He took Sora's hand again and started to lead her back to the performance hall, but the crowd was too thick. "This way," he said, turning in another direction where the crowd thinned out.
"Do you know where you're going?" Sora asked. She sniffed her flowers and smiled absently. "This isn't the same way we came."
"No, it's not. I'm hoping it's a short cut," Leon explained. "I wanted to avoid the crowds."
As they walked into a poorly lit alleyway, Leon began to chastise himself for not only walking down a strange path at night, but also for brandishing his wallet to pay for the flowers. It was an advertisement for sordid company in a big city like Amsterdam.
A man stepped out of the shadows with a knife, very close to Sora. She shrieked and dropped her bouquet. Leon jerked Sora behind him and the would-be robber sliced open the right side of his face. The pain was an intense wash of agony and the warm trickle of blood spilled down his neck as he stumbled back.
Sora quickly pulled Leon away from the attacker and disarmed the man with a few well placed karate moves. The crunching of the bones in the attacker's wrists led to the clattering of the knife. The robber dashed off down the alleyway away from them.
"Oh Leon," Sora whispered. She pulled his hand away from his face to inspect the damage. By the grim expression on her face, Leon surmised it was bad. She took the shawl from her shoulders and wadded it up to hold against Leon's injured face. "We'll find an officer and get you to the hospital."
"Remind me to avoid dark alleyways," Leon slurred, the pain in his face making it hard to speak.
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