1866

Paris, deep night. The candlelit room.

The city slept, but the room on the second floor of the old hotel seemed to exist out of time. The open windows let in the soft sound of the carriages in the distance, a lonely violin echoing through the alleys... and the scent of the balcony’s flowers, mixed with the warm aroma of freshly made tea.

Laurie was sitting at the small grand piano, playing bass so as not to wake up the world. With her back to the bed, messy hair, loose white shirt on her body, rolled up sleeves. He seemed part of the melody - lost, almost absent.

But it wasn’t.

“You know it’s dawn, don’t you?” - you asked, leaning against the bedroom door, wrapped in a light shawll.

Laurie turned slowly, the smile sprouting on her lips.

“I couldn’t sleep. I had an idea and needed to play... before she ran away.”

“And would she run away?”

“Everything runs away when you’re not around.”

You laughed, walking to him slowly. Laurie moved away from the bench, pulling you to her lap, with her legs intertaced in a messy and intimate way. He leaned his face against his neck, taking a deep breath.

“Sometimes I wonder if this is real,” he murmured.

“Yeay.”

“Are you sure?”

“I have. Because I also can’t breathe properly when you’re not around.”

Laurie was silent for a moment. Then he leaned over, took his hand and took it to his chest.

“Do you feel that?”

The heart beat hard, firm, right.

“It’s all yours. And it was never from anyone else, if you want to know.”

You stayed like this for a while, listening to the piano still echoing softly in the memory.

Then he got up with you on his lap, laughing against your skin.

“Madam Laurence, can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Would you love me even if I made a terrible waltz for you?”

“Yes.”

“And even if I burned breakfast tomorrow again?”

“Yes.”

“And if I told you that I still fall in love with you every time you look at me like that?”

“So... I would never stop looking.”

He laid her slowly on the bed covered by thin sheets, her hair spread out on the pillow, her eyes fixed on hers.