Bastian
Chapter 169 - Familiar, yet Unfamiliar

✧Familiar, yet Unfamiliar✧

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

Odette’s new life had been rocked to the core. She had to accept the fact that she was no longer going to be able to avoid it, the evidence was spread before her eyes. The tea Odette had so meticulously prepared had turned out quite different.

Her plans to wear the new summer blouse today were foiled when the sleeve-ends accidentally caught fire during ironing. With no time left to repair it, she had to choose another dress.

   The bad luck didn’t stop there.

   While she set the table, she broke one of the tea cups and they were sold out, so she couldn’t get a replacement, so she had to make do with ones that were kind of similar. While she was fussing about with the tea cups, the acrid smell of smoke reminded her that her Plum Pie was still in the oven and was now burnt.

Her intent to serve fresh pies sadly fell through.  Luckily enough, she had other produce that she could serve, a well-prepared cake laden with raspberry jam, rose jelly, and fruitcake, but it would be a dampener that she could not serve fresh food.

   Now the tea party was well prepared, Odette still couldn’t bring herself into the mood for entertaining guests. She felt nothing but disappointment in herself. This streak of misfortune began with Bastian’s arrival and it seemed to continue. 

By the end of the tea party, she was thoroughly downcast and to make matters worse, there seemed to be uninvited talk of Odette’s strange randevu with a handsome stranger.

   “Really, there is a rumour that Miss Byller went on a date with a handsome young man yesterday, we must know who he is.”

   Odette nearly dropped another tea cup. She tried to put a smile on her face.

“I heard your cousin visited Rothewein. Is it really him?”  

The table buzzed with the gleeful chittering of the ladies around the table and Odette felt her cheeks flush.

“…Ah yes… that’s right.”  Once more, she played the role of a pathetic actor in a drama. she held back her anger while smiling sweetly. “I met my cousin. I had not seen him in a long time,”

The disappointed sounds and grumblings replaced the excitement. “Oh, well, if you had said sooner, we could have stopped by to say hello.”

“My cousin is staying at a hotel in a neighboring village. I didn’t get to introduce him because I met him there.” Odette lied. Fortunately, everyone seemed to believe her.

“Everyone in Miss Marie’s family seems has a good personality and I’ve heard he is quite handsome. If he visits our village, it’d be great if you could meet him. Alright?”

“That’s… .” 

Before Odette could respond, the doorbell echoed through the room. She whipped her head towards the entrance, eyes wide. The chatter among the members fell silent, all eyes following her gaze. Just as she thought that it might be a prankster, the doorbell rang again.

   “Oh look!” someone said, craning her neck to look out the window. “I think Miss Marie’s cousin is coming!”” 

   As soon as those words were spoken, Odette’s heart stopped and she felt like she was going to faint. The rest of the ladies all gathered around the window to get a better look.

A tall figure, garbed in a light grey suit, stood in front of the terrace. Odette pressed her lips shut to stifle a looming cry after seeing whose coming. The doorbell rang again and there came a soft knock.

   This was a tragedy. What if Bastian called her by her real name? What if came in and introduced himself as her husband?

   Odette ran to the door as the bell rang a third time and the knocking became more insistent. She felt tears rising to her eyes.

   She gingerly opened the door. “Oh, you came early,” she said. Odette gave him a look of pure indignation and as Bastian entered, all the women looked at him in unison.

 If she weren’t careful, her lie might be discovered.  So help. Odette looked at Bastian in and whispered. Bastian frowned slightly, but soon changed his expression and smiled to them.

   “Erm, this is my cousin,” Odette said rather loudly as she stood on Bastian’s side. “I asked him to come later, but here he is, early. He never listens to me.”

   “Oh, I am sorry, my cousin is right, but I didn’t think she had any friends to come over,” Bastian said with a playful grin. “I will come back later, when I’m not getting in the way.”  He gave Odette a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates that he’d brought along. Then he bowed to the ladies and made to head back through the front door.

   “No, no, no,” the women all said in unison. “You came all this way, the least you can do is have a sit with us. You must be thirsty from all that walking.”

   “Absolutely,” said another woman. “You won’t find anywhere in the village worth going to, when you have a homely hearth here, right Miss Marie?”

   Odette was speechless as each woman in turn invited Bastian to join them.

   “Thank you so much,” Bastian said politely. “If my cousin is fine with it, then I guess I will stay.” Bastian gave Odette a look and she knew he had planned on this.

“…O-Of course. It’s fine, so please come in.” Odette’s voice wavered slightly as she gave an answer. Watching her quietly, Bastian smiled and stepped across the threshold of the front door.

Filled with despair, Odette trailed behind the emerging misfortune.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

The echoing footsteps of two person ascending the stairs melded with the golden afternoon sunlight. Leading with light, gentle steps, followed by a stern and sturdy pace. Their harmonious rhythm persisted until it ceased upon reaching the one of the door.

Odette led Bastian to her bedroom, carrying a tray of an assortment of refreshments. She pushed open the door with a toe and let Bastian in, handing him the tray once he was in the room.

   “Do not come down until the guests have gone,” Odette demanded.

  Bastian looked around the small room. There was a bed, a closet and a dressing table. It was a simple enough room, with minimal decoration. The room was also badly looked after, the floor was well worn and the wall paper was faded. Bastian felt like he was experiencing a piece of Odette’s desperate heart, when she had run away with nothing but a small trunk of clothes.

   “Answer me, Mr Karl Lovis,” Odette said, rounding on Bastian with scorn in her words.

   “You don’t like that name, do you?” Bastian said.

   “I’m not playing here,” Odette stamped her foot.

   “I think its a better name than Marie Byller though.”

   “Bastian!” Odette nearly shouted.

   “Alright, I wont go down. I will stay up here, as quiet as a church mouse,” Bastian said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. He walked across the bedroom, and sat down in front of the table by the window. He sat with his legs crossed and lifted the teacup.

   He was being surprisingly calm and played along without a fuss. He even accepted the alias of Karl Lovis. So far so good, now all Odette had to do was deal with an hour of the ladies bombarding her with questions about “Karl Lovis” and then they would be out of her hair.

   “Please keep that promise,” Odette said as she left the room.

Now that he was left alone, Bastian poured out some tea and sipped at it as he looked out the window. The riverside village, lined with willows, looked like something out of a painting.

   Already bored of the view, Bastian put down the tea cup and started nosing around Odette’s bedroom. Although it was a very plain room, with very little decoration, he could still see traces of Odette here and there. Hand woven furniture coverings. A single rose in a bottle as a vase. A pile of books on the night stand. Notes pasted on the vanity mirror.

   It dawned on him that this was a space that was being lived in and Countess Trier’s words rang true in his ear, Odette was flourishing without him. A fresh beginning unfolded for her. Her ardent dream had finally come true.

   Bastian habitually held up his pack of cigarettes and went back to the window. He caught the sound of women’s laughter. They were probably sitting around the dining table, happily knitting lace together, while he was left, like an outcast, to stare out into the blooming flower of the garden.

   Odette felt familiar, yet quite unfamiliar. He had rarely ever seen this side of her, so playful and happy, actually enjoying the company of others. The faint laughter that played out from time to time was unmistakably hers.

Bastian returned to the table, smiling with a mixture of relief and disappointment. By now, the tea Odette had served him had grown cold.

   When the tea party finally broke up, Bastian felt it would have been polite to go down and say goodbye to everyone, but he made a promise. By the time Odette came upstairs for him, all the guests were gone.

   “Its over now, you can come down stairs,” Odette said in a whisper.

   “Thank you. Did I hear right, you invited me to dinner, correct?”

“Don’t be like this, Bastian. It’s just… .” 

   “I’m hungry, Odette.” He looked down at his bandaged wrist, then back at Odette, who looked like she was having a deep argument with herself.

   “Why on earth are you so thin?” Odette said. Her turquoise eyes, awash with tearful redness, glistened vividly in the evening glow.

   “I’ve been too busy.”

   “You should still eat properly.”

   “I know, I don’t think you’d be so heartless as to turn me away from dinner.”   Bastian chuckled and approached Odette.  “Let me stay a little longer. I have something to say.” 

The last step left was a strategy to break down her cracked wall.

Odette let out a very loud and distinct sigh. “Fine. You can stay up here until I call you down for dinner.”

Once the operation’s success was affirmed, Bastian followed his wife without hesitation.

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