Eleven

Saturday, January 3rd, 2014

Non, rien de rien, non, je ne regrette rien

Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait, ni le mal

Tout ça m'est bien égal

The song was on the radio. The radio was on and the volume was low. It was his morning habit to work while listening to the "Golden Old Songs", as he liked to call them. Kaden was on the phone. The sunlight had found its way through the blind gaps creating a dazzling picture of his usually boring desk. As he talked, Kaden let the magic of light and the cute dust bunnies dancing in it entertain him. The simplest things in life, almost always going unnoticed, yet here he was staring at them with wonder. 

"Everything's set up then?" Kaden asked.

"For the twentieth time in the past thirty seconds, yes, everything is arranged perfectly. Jax and I supervised all of it. You don't need to worry," Harmonee reassured him proudly. However, it was not much of a reassurance. Jax and Harmonee joining forces and being successful was unheard of in the history of the world. "Is Elvina joining us?" That, he asked timidly.

"About that," Kaden's smile grew as he imagined Harmonee's blushing face. "You're gonna have to go and pick her up because I can't. That okay with you?"

"Yeah, sure… I will. Sure. No biggie," he said with a sigh of relief. 

"Ok then" Kaden bit his lip, not wanting to laugh at his friend's eagerness. "See ya in a while."

"See ya."

They hung up. Kaden's smile was bright, competing with the sunlight invading his space through the blind's gaps. The other welcome intruder came not long after as Scott knocked on his door with their coffees and croissants in his hands. 

"You're a lifesaver," he moaned in pleasure as he gobbled down the croissant. "I could kiss you right now."

"Promises, promises," Scott teased, sipping his coffee. "We still on for tonight?"

Kaden nodded, leaning back in his chair, his hands on the armrests. "But it's those two idiots. Who knows what we're willingly walking into?"

"We're gonna be fine," Scott chuckled. 

Kaden knew that chuckle. The one that said 'I hope so, but I won't count on it'. "What?"

"It's just…" Scott hesitated. He looked into his coffee for a moment. "Um… are you sure about this? I mean, given the whole situation… well, you know what I mean."

Kaden nodded with a bright smile. "I am sure. It'll work, trust me."

Scott was going to say something, to argue. He would if he knew how to use his words without hurting his best friend. But he stayed quiet on the matter. "Yeah. Okay. If you say so."

Then they drank coffee in silence for a while before spending the rest of their break chatting about nothing specific. As soon as Scott left and closed the door behind himself, Kaden picked up his phone and sent a message to her:

From: Kaden

To: Matilda

Have you skipped town already or are you still around? 

While waiting for her reply, Kaden got back to work. He did not have to wait long though as her reply, which made him laugh, came seconds later: 

From: Matilda

To: Kaden

I have been offered free cake and dinner. How dare you question my sanity?

Non, rien de rien, non, je ne regrette rien

Car ma vie, car mes joies

Aujourd'hui ça commence avec toi

###

The grin on his face could rival that on a Cheshire cat's. He was over the moon at the prospect of spending some alone time with Elvina that evening. 

Elvina Owen. 

Elvina. 

Elvina.

Her name was like a love song; sweet, melodious, and heartwarming. Merely repeating her name filled him with love. And, of course, joy. 

Unrequited.

Unreciprocated.

One-sided.

But you do not just stop loving someone because they do not return it because then it would not be love, it would be something Harmonee called a bargain. You either love someone, "an intense feeling of deep affection" or you do not. There are no two ways about it. So, he loved her ever since he first saw her and had loved her since without ever confronting her or giving her any troubles. Getting to spend any amount of time with her was a blessing.

Humming to himself happily, dancing around his empty apartment, Harmonee took a shower and chose his best clothes for the evening. He also wore his favorite cologne. And if Elvina had long ago said she liked the smell, nobody was there to judge Harmonee.

He was most likely the happiest and most foolish man to have ever been in a one-sided love. Or so everybody thought. It was not ideal; he loved her and she did not know. Not that her knowledge on the matter would change anything. But Harmonee had learned to appreciate whatever he could have and that made him utterly happy. Being with her, talking to her, making her laugh, these were the things that made him the happiest. 

Looking at himself in the mirror, satisfied, he gave himself an encouraging smile. By the door, he grabbed his car keys and locked up the apartment. As a boy, his mother had taught him to never leave a place without saying goodbye. Being the good boy that he was, he said goodbye to the loneliness co-existing there with him. And yes, it was just loneliness, since Hunter hasn't been there in two days. Then he thought, "Leaving the loneliness behind. What an irony." And before his thoughts go to forbidden and dark places of worry, he sped towards the lifts and hummed a song to himself.

He has been grinning all the way to her apartment. He was smiling even then, standing at her door, like a loon. He rang the doorbell and it only took Elvina seconds to open the door. Elvina. Looking dashing as always with her silver hair in a messy bun and her eyes bright as ever. She took his breath away. He stood there staring. 

"Hello, you," she smiled. 

"Yeah, it's me," he shook his head, chuckling embarrassingly. "Your chauffeur for the evening at your service ma'am."

"Handsome, aren't you, oh mister chauffeur," she smiled as she locked up and put her hand in the crook of his arm. 

Oh, he was over the moon.

He loved those little things.

"You're so kind, my lady." And if he were blushing, nobody called him on it. 

They got in the car, Harmonee opening the door for her and holding it as she got in then closing it. The traffic was light and they talked about their day as he drove.

"So, Kaden didn't tell me why we were gathering at Everland tonight. Wanna share?" She finally asked. 

"You want some juicy gossip?" Harmonee's grin seemed to be irreplaceable whenever this girl, his queen of heart, was around. 

"There's gossip involved then?"

"Wouldn't you want to know."

"I do actually," she turned in her seat slightly, holding the safety belt in her hand and staring curiously at him. "Harmonee?"

He hadn't? Now that was interesting and maybe a little worrying. If Kaden had withheld that piece of information, he probably had his own reasons. And Harmonee was not about to mess anything up for anyone. 

"You never call me H; everyone else does, but not you," Harmonee said instead. "And I just noticed that. Feels good." 

Elvina frowned, "Why shouldn't I? You have a lovely name. Did you know it means unity and that it comes from harmony?"

"I know it's a girl's name."

Elvina chuckled. "You should pay more attention to meanings," she said. "Your name is in fact gender neutral. And the only one who ever gave you shit over it is Jax. We all know he would've done the same thing if your name was Alexander the Great. That's the way he is."

"Huh," Harmonee looked at her for a second before watching the streets before him. That was interesting, she knew so much about names. Or was it just his she knew so much about? Wouldn't that be nice, huh?

"Huh, indeed, Harmonee." She chuckled. "Nice way of evading the topic at hand, though."