Chapter 11: Chapter 11

C10

RUBIN

My lips tingled as I glared at his back, pulling my robes. I raised my hand only to stop–Nope! I won’t wipe it. I smiled and tried to stop myself from giggling.

“Oi!”

Caelum turns at me and I hide my smile with the flower, making him frown. He takes my arm and dragged me up the hill, revealing the beautiful view of the field around us, “Wow!”

Caelum’s lips pull from the side as he smirked, letting go of my arm as he shuffled back at the table, snatching some scissors and gloves, “Who plant all these flowers?”

He raised a delicate eyebrow at my question before smirking once again, “No one but I, silly. Do you expect anyone else?” He boasted, snapping the glove on his hand.

“That’s impossible. I mean, how can you plant all these flowers? There is so many of them!”

“Years and years of cultivating, and a lot of patience, of course.”

“This is majestic, even grander than any of the garden I saw. I mean, it’s a field of flowers with different variations! How is that possible?”

“I doubt you’ve seen a lot of gardens. I–” He squinted his eyes at me, scissor on his hand. I pulled away, “You’re not trying to get on my good side, are you, cupid? What do you want from me?”

I wrinkled my nose and huff, “I’m not trying to get on your good side because I know it doesn’t exist. And I don’t want anything from you.” I rolled my eyes and observed him as he crouched down next to the blue flowers. I stood next to him, noticing that he is cutting some parts and putting it on top of the table. “Why did you bring me here?”

His eyes lingered on mine–it was full of confusion, hatred and is that…guilt?

“Aeon thinks that what’s happening has everything to do with my sympathetic actions towards you. He also concludes that a bond has formed between us when I helped you out of the prison. Hopefully, he will figure this all out before something bad happens again–until then, you have no choice but to stay with me.”

“A bond?” I mused, before gasping, “What did you mean–why should I stay with you?”

“That is our arrangement.” He snapped, taking some of the Violets from the nearby bush and putting them on the table. He stands and removed his gloves, leaning next to the vase. I scratched my head, unable to grasp the idea of staying with him even if I should. The idea seems to be alright in my mind but now, listening to him as he snapped and glared at me, I would love to return back to Paris and leave this grouchy pants.

Caelum took the scissors and crouched once again, this time, he focused on snipping some sunflowers and settling them on a pail.

Bored, I take other pair of gloves from the table and settled next to him, “ Then, how will I do my mission if I stay with you?”

“Aeon will be there to see you through it. He’s making some arrangements at this moment for he promised to be responsible of you and your mission for the next succeeding days, or weeks–I don’t know. Perhaps, you should go ask him, it was his plan anyways.” He said in a bored tone as he continued with the job of snipping some more of the blue flowers, looking a bit unsatisfied of the amount.

“Aeon?” He handed me the blue flowers, moving quickly down on the field, while I trailed behind him, confused and unsettled of the situation I was presented with. “Don’t worry. Aeon just likes to confirm his theories. Once he got enough of you, you may go,” Caelum said, as he takes some of the roses.

“Aeon is such a geek,” I grumbled making Caelum smirk, leaving me to crouch over the rose bush.

“Did you just mention my name?” I bit back a shriek. It was a good thing that the scissors is not near me for Aeon materialized right behind the rose bush. “Hullo!”

“He–Hey,” My voice came out weird and wrong so I cleared my throat, brushing the dust off the trousers Vivian had lent me. Caelum watched us, his eyes drifting up from the flowers as he appeared to be curious.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s get moving–I have found a very nice headquarters for us three while I figure out the connection,” Aeon stretched his body as he stands from behind the bush, his powder blue coat billowing like it was another sky from below, focusing his purple iris at me. “How are you, cupid?”

“I’m–fine, I guess.” Aeon raised an eyebrow at me, sauntering towards Caelum, who held out a hand. “I need to finish this, Aeon, you both go first.”

“Are you sure about that? Do you know where we are heading to?”

“Are you insulting my sense of direction, mate?” Caelum’s voice dropped as he breathed the words slowly, his hands curling into a fist. I watched them carefully as they both glower at each other, not breaking eye contact. Aeon was quite determined to prove his point that Caelum is at a lost here as he takes a flower and waves it at Caelum’s face, mocking him, “I still remember that one summer, Caelum, at the playground you know? When you got lost and failed to stop–”

“I must have chosen another path and dawdle for a while, Aeon. I don’t get lost.”

Aeon raised and eyebrow and crossed his arms, “Really? You, dawdle? HA!”

“At least I am not the one who twitters around–telling off information that are not even true.”

“Are you certain? Not true? Then why are you looking at me like that as though I‘ve wound you? Like I have set off your pants on fire while you crouched about on your field?” Caelum sneered at Aeon’s words and my eyes darted back and forth at them.

I stared at Caelum as his fist tightened on his sides, the flowers in his hands whittling as though they are being sliced. Aeon smirked, throwing one of the flowers at Caelum’s face before moving back, “Right then–let’s not talk about the past anymore. Me and Rubin will proceed at the Autahvuwns Manor without you. I’ll be waiting, of course, for any distressed calls if ever you got lost and finally ask for my guidance.”

It was only a split of a second when Caelum raised his hand, hurtling it towards an unsuspecting Aeon who barely dodged the punch. Without another word, Aeon takes my hand on his and I shivered at how cold his hand is against my own, raising his other hand while he speaks, “I’m with her, stop this now.”

Caelum, now awakened from his rage, dropped his shaking hand and threw the rest of the flowers at Aeon’s way, turning his back at us whilst removing his gloves. Aeon looks down at me before flicking his hand, making the bushes fade into hedges and now a towering house stood in front of us instead of the majestic field.

“He tends to do that a lot so better be used to it,” Aeon says as he stands next to me his, platinum blond hair glistening in the sunlight.

“Then why did you egged him on if you knew he’s bound to act like that?” I asked, swiftly avoiding the glare directed on my way as I explored my new surroundings, not waiting for his reply. The fountain was consisted of hundred little cherubim placed next to each other, arrows in their hands and at their point, water flows out creating little splashes on the pond below. I slowly walked around the fountain and came face to face with an ancient wooden door, intricate design and symbols surrounding the golden knocker which was also fashioned into a little cherubim whose hands are bound; Wide windows framed the front while the russet tiles on the floor reflected the harsh sunlight.

“This is like a castle,”

“It is, but we call it, Autahvuwns Manor,” Aeon mused before marching up the door. He motioned for me and I followed him, a step away. Aeon’s hands lingered over the golden handles, his hands skimming the cherubim as he hesitated.

“Why are you not opening it?

“I am afraid our friend, Caelum, put some enchantments I, myself, couldn’t access.”

Frowning, I took an arrow from my satchel and inserted the fletching on the space, my hands flying to the golden handle before I pushed it with ease–the door opening wide with the sun stubbornly showering the gloomy room with its warmth as I stepped inside, turning back to see Aeon frowning.

“How did you that?” Aeon was so surprised that he stumbled across the rug, ending up ruffled as he looks at me, “This is brilliant–I should get one of these!” He snatched my arrow, running out of the house and locked the door. I frowned at him, watching him as he inserted the fletching on the sides of the door and tried the handle but it did not budge.

“Huh?” He tried again and again but the door stayed as it is. I rolled my eyes and headed for the door, opening it for him.

Aeon stands there, looking at the arrow as though he was trying to figure it out, his eyes glazed over. After a while, he speaks, “I guess it only works for Cupids or ex-Cupids.” He shrugged his shoulders and I shook my head at him, heading for the sofa. I take a seat and watched him as he tried once again for the arrow and I, opening the door for him for the second time.

I glared at him and he raised his arms, giving me the arrow back. After a while, he scratched his head and settled next to me on the sofa. Aeon takes a book from the inside of his robes and began reading.

“Why did you insist on bringing me here? I know you are the one who asked Caelum to get rid of me so, why the sudden change?” Aeon scratch his head and shrug, “Well, I just fancy bringing you here and looking at you, you know?” Aeon rolled his eyes and turns back to his book. A few moments passed and he raised his head, though averting his eyes quickly when I glared at him, “Alright, it’s just–Caelum and I were talking about the bond that has developed between you and him. I figured that the bond should be checked before it harms one of you.”

“He did mention that you are quite fond of proving your theories,” I pointed out, “Though it seems that he doesn’t want to be on the same place as I am.”

Aeon raised an eyebrow, giving me a smirk, “Funny you’d say that when it is still too early to be certain about things.”

“I’m not trying to be funny,” I shrugged, leaning back on the sofa, “You can see that he’s not very fond of my presence at allm”

“No! Rubin, you might not believe me now but soon enough, you’ll see. Just be patient, okay? You’ll know then that Caelum isn’t what you think he is.” Aeon smiled before closing his book, strutting off to another room.

I followed him, a little bit curious of where he is heading to only to find an isolated room with a little to no light filtering in–a wide desk sitting in the middle of the room with towering books on the sides, some of them stowed neatly at the shelves. “This is where Caelum and I usually stay when there’s work to do–like developing a new product or launching a new idea but for now, I’m going to use it to do a research about the connection between you two.” He sat down on one of the chairs facing a quite small television which quickly lights up, throwing an artificial glow around the dark room. Aeon squinted his eyes as he reached for the piece of board and started tapping at it, the clicking sound making my ears tingle.

“It will take a little bit longer if we focused on the books, though I stand with how reliable and precise they are, we simply have too little to no time if we use them. Sometimes, I have to trust technology for it is very convenient working with it.” He turned his eyes back to the board, still clicking on them.

“What’s this called?”

“Oh! You haven’t seen–right–I forgot, silly me.” He straightened from his seat and beckoned for me, “This is a desktop computer.”

“Com–what?””

“A computer.”

“Computer? You mean, it computes numbers and tally them?” Aeon looks at me before giving me a silly laugh, leaning back on his seat. He shakes his head and said in a serious voice, “No. Well, it does that in the past but now they have developed it further, giving us not numbers but information instead.” He explained patiently as though I was a child. I crossed my arms over my chest and asked him, “So, what are you going to do with it?” I leaned closer at the com–thing, curious as to what information it shall provide us only to be startled when he pushed my head back. “I will try to look up something similar with your situation, even if I have doubts with the result.”

“Then why look at it if it was dubious?” Aeon rolled his eyes and ignored me. I blew away the stray hair off my face and tucked it impatiently beneath my ear, suddenly annoyed of my wild nest. “Be comfortable at the far end of the study and keep your nose out of my research. I promise you, this won’t take long.” I huffed, heeding his advice and watching him as he focused his gaze back at the screen, muttering under his breath, “Compute things? Tally? Ridiculous!”

“I can hear you from here, you know.”

“Oh, forgive me,” He mocked, turning abruptly at me before bowing his head, “Forgive me, milady. It’ll take you a while to get used to my mutterings.”

“Oh, don’t bother to remind me!” I roll my eyes at him, turning my back and smiling only to hear his not-so-silent comment, “Like my getting used to your ignorance, cupid.”

“You label me ignorant?” I bolted out of my seat, snapping at him as my annoyance flared like my hair. “I’m sorry if I am ignorant of these things for it’s my first time seeing them.”

“Reasons–ha! Words string together so as to not appear guilty.”

“Outrageous!” I huffed, crossing my arms and glaring at him from across the room, “Reasons are used to defend oneself for not being guilty at all!”

“Ha!” he looks back at me, his purple eyes shining. “Well, yeah. Reasons are supposed to be that way–”

The blow of the wind distracted me from my argument as I watched Caelum appear out of thin air. Aeon continue glaring at me before he huffed, focusing his attention back to the screen. He started tapping the board with such ferocity, not paying us any attention as he muttered under his breath.

I walked closer to where Caelum stands, noticing his blood shot eyes, his black travelling cloak shimmering with golden dust, his dark brown curls glinting as the dust fell from them. I glanced down to see him holding some flowers in his hands.

He inclined his neck to the side, blinking his eyes before he held out his hand, letting the flowers float around me, magically suspended as though it was held by some twine.

I am still shocked at how the flowers float around me that when he speaks, I jumped slightly for his voice is full of sadness, “This is an act of responsibility for I have willingness to become better. Humans call it an apology,” His sad stormy eyes stared at me with remorse, yet his face remains emotionless and handsome.

I took the flowers one by one and asked, “What’s this flower?”

“Hyacinth,” he gave me a small smile before dragging himself out of the room, his form weary . I caressed the flower, settling down on the chair. I pushed the curtain slightly and surveyed the garden while I settled comfortably on the sofa.

Silence settled around the room, occasionally interrupted by Aeon’s muttering, “Oh no!”

I rolled my eyes as I saw Aeon slap his hand on his forehead for the fifth time, looking more devastated than he did five minutes ago. I continue looking at the garden only to realize that dark clouds are drifting past while the wind picks up–blowing harshly. The study darkened even further now that the dark clouds loomed closer, covering the sun. Soon, the towering spotless window was battered by rain as wind picks up. I frowned, gritting my teeth.

“Hey, Aeon! Stop influencing the weather, I loved seeing the garden.”

“That’s not my fault. Blame the other guy.”

“Oh, joy.” I stood from the sofa and headed out of the study to the equally dark living room, “Where is that sod?” I muttered to myself, gritting my teeth, looking for any signs of him.

Caelum discarded his dusty travelling cloak on the sofa, his shoes and socks littering the floor–what happened to him? He is usually clean. He’s not like this when I arrived at his apartment at Paris. I huffed as thunder rumbled in the distance as I take the steps up to the 2nd floor. The motionless form at the top of the steps made me stop short–he appears to be floating slowly so I called out his name, carefully stepping at another step

“Caelum?”

His body fell with a light thud. I reached the landing only to be surprised when he sits up, holding a bottle to his mouth and gulping the contents down. He looks up to me and I caught his gaze, my eyes full of confusion while his eyes overflow with sadness.

He smirked and takes the flower from my hand. He chuckled. “My fault,” he throws the flower down the stairs before he focuses on me–his hands trembled as he makes a move at me, reaching out to take my arm, then he flicked his hand that is holding the golden liquor.

The dark landing fades and the field appears before us, as though our background is being repainted.

Caelum laughed as he collapsed behind a coxcomb bush, waving his hand that holds the bottle. “Caelum, why are we–?” I was surprised when he waved his hand once again, his face contorting. The scene shifted and I find myself up on the hill of the field, a wide dome rising from the earth.

Caelum takes my hand and he staggered up to where the dome is located. When we reached it, I was startled to see it up close - with vines interlocking to form the wall, emitting weird sparks every now and then. Caelum and I stopped in front of it and held out his hand. It disappeared beneath the thick veined wall. Caelum gave me a slight smile as he tugged me behind, the both of us going in side the dome.

The veins felt like snakes slithering on my skin and I shivered. I quickly shook my body only to notice that Caelum is standing next to me, staring off at a distance. I can see the shadows of large carriages, hanging baskets and are those–horses?

“This dome is called Cassé–simply because everything in here is broken–broken like me.” His words floated and echoed in the dark room, the resounding hurt making me scrutinize him, quite curious as to why he is saying this things. I squinted my eyes, trying to make out the things with the little light provided from the little punctures of the dome’s ceiling –there are faces on the carriages and the horses appears to be fake. I touched one of it out of pure curiousity and was surprised when it twinkled and started moving.

The whole place glowed as each one of them lights up, a mellow tinkling sound resonating inside the dome. Caelum fixed his eyes upon me – wide, unbelieving and blazing of hatred. He marched up and yanked my arm, glaring, “How did you do it?”

“Caelum, I don’t know,” I bit my lip, trying not to appear afraid as he stoop down on my level, snarling. He gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and I let out a breath as the pretty field disappeared, morphing and I find myself inside his flat at Paris.

The shattering glass caught me off guard as he throws the bottle across the room. The golden liquor spilled on the floor in front of me, but with a wave of his hand, the liquid vanished as the bright yellow sun suddenly penetrated the room almost injuring my sight. His form remains as a dark shadow, his back turned at me. “I should’ve –”

“What Caelum? What is it?” He turns at me, sighing as though he just came home from losing a battle. I can see the pain etched on the crease between his brows and the tears that remain unshed from his eyes. It was like I am only seeing him now, feasting at his unguarded expression – the white shirt fits him perfectly, snug and tight on his body, clinging as though it were his second skin; his dark hair caught sunlight and I became fascinated of its shade.

He looks glorious and ethereal except for his stormy face–his eyes full of sadness that seems to have lasted a thousand years and more. He blinks and I am surprised to see tears slowly falling down on his angular cheeks. His shoulders shakes as he sobbed, his hand flying to his mouth so he can masked the noise but failing terribly at it.

“What happened to you, Caelum? Why are you being like this? Tell me,” I carefully said the word, coaxing him to confide his problems to me. His eyes hardened at my words and he flicked his hand, bringing us back to the manor, the landing as dark as the rest of the house.

“None of it concerns you…” his answer drove me speechless and instantly, I felt my cheeks heating up because of anger. I pushed my hair back and huffed. “ Well, if it really doesn’t concern me, can I just ask you to not influence the weather and turn it back the way it was before?”

Caelum snorted, pushing himself up from the floor as he stands up. He dusted off his trousers and indicated at the window–the rain has stopped falling; I can see every drop frozen in mid air. I frowned and looked down to see the hands of the great grandfather clock in the living room stop, together with its pendulum. There’s no sound that can be heard and for a moment, I thought I have gone temporarily deaf.

Caelum licks his lips, gave me a last fleeting look before he whispered, “I do regret it all.”

계속