19 Part 18

[Past-Lucien]

"He's so busy that he can't even make time to come to mother's funeral," Lucien remarked sarcastically as Arnold kept his head bowed. It's been a week since her dead body was found in the rose bushes in the garden and it was ruled out as an accident. Arnold had his suspicions but he knew better than to voice them. Lucien particularly didn't look all that upset. The funeral was today and he knew people he'd never seen before in his life would come and offer their condolences at his mother's death even though they all probably hated her.

He took a quick look at the people who had gathered to mourn and then looked at the open casket of his mother. She looked so peaceful... it pissed him off.

"Isn't that Cardia Weighner's eldest son?" Lucien tilted his head and offered a small smile to the lady who said it. "Oh my god he's so handsome."

"He sure does look at a lot like Mr. Lethar, doesn't he?"

Lucien stood up and walked out of the room. Funerals were boring and he had attended way too many in his life. He stood still for a second as he thought of Lara, she didn't know that the anonymous gifts she's been receiving for a week now besides the letters are from him. He missed her.

He called Lara and she picked up on the first ring.

"Good girl," he said with a smile. "I missed you."

"I did too..." she sounded tired.

"Did you like the gifts I sent?" Lucien asked and her breathing stopped.

"What did you say?" she said softly and Lucien chuckled. She was probably scared out of her wits by now with the entire letter thing. Were they that scary, though?

"The teddy bears and chocolates," he clarified. "I've been sending things to you daily for a week now, did you not receive them? I thought I had your address right..."

"How did you know my address?" she asked and Lucien's mood turned sour. Must she ask so many questions?

"Do you really need to know?" he said, his voice irritated.

"No it's okay," she quickly picked up the change in his tone. "It's fine."

"I want to see you," Lucien said and sighed. "I'm coming over this week."

"What?" she asked in surprise. "But you live so far away from here. Basically on a different continent."

"Aha," Lucien thought about how much money he had spent on regular flights from his home to hers just to deliver letters. The result sure was satisfying though. Now he just wanted to see her reaction when he finally reveals he's the one behind the letters. "Don't worry about it."

"Then... Lucien," she started quietly but Lucien cut her off mid-sentence.

"Sure, anything for you," Lucien said in a happy voice. After years he was finally at peace and he really wanted to enjoy his time right now.

"Would you like to go to this carnival with me?"

"A carnival?" Lucien wondered if this was a plan to trap him somehow but then realized Lara would never do that. He had her in his grasp and she would never disobey him. She knew she was no match for him and that was one aspect about her that he absolutely loved.

She knew her place.

"Sure, wear something nice and text me where to meet up and time."

"Oh, sure!"

They met up at the scheduled time and instantly she noticed Lucien's buzzing happiness. "Did something good happen?" she asked.

"Just won something good the other day," he replied vaguely. "A prize all for myself."

"Sometimes you should share the good things, increases happiness," she said and then turned away. "Or some bullshit like that anyway. I don't know what you won but if it makes you so happy then I'm glad."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"Before the break you really looked down," she said. "And I thought you must really hate your home if you didn't wanna go back. I'm glad to see your spirits have lifted. Which reminds me, you live really far away from here, how did you...?"

"I took a flight of course, don't worry about it," he intertwined her fingers with his and smiled a soft smile. "Let's just enjoy ourselves tonight."

She looked a little hesitant but then smiled.

Lucien loved that. He loved how relaxed she was in his presence even though she knew so many things about him. It was kind of sad to see the others be afraid of him just because of the rumors though, but she knew the real stuff and yet she accepted him.

Yep, she was the one for him.

"I love you Lara," he leaned down and kissed her. She widened her eyes but eagerly kissed him back, pushing her tongue inside his mouth. He moaned at the sudden intrusion and she pulled away.

"We are here to enjoy the carnival, should tone down the kisses, don't you think?"

"A shame," he admitted regretfully but followed her inside anyway. The stalls were colorful and bright, she and Lucien walked past the other couples cringing inside at their obvious attempts to impress their significant others.

"He's actually buying her fishes," Lucien said, pointing to a couple down the road and Lara grimaced. "I suppose it might be romantic. Do you want me to buy you fishes too, Lara?"

"Ew no, what would I do with them? I can't even eat them," she said. "Goldfishes taste awful."

"Then would you like something else? Key chains, plushies... uh how about a knife?"

"A knife?"

"A real one," he said and pointed at one of the shops down the road. "One carved with beautiful designs. You can stab me with it to test if it works."

She watched him silently as he dragged her into a shop that actually sold knives down the road. He chose a beautiful red one with gold designs on the handle. "We'll take this one," he announced.

Lara looked at him as he studied the knife. They were walking down the street towards the bridge which was the best spot to see the fireworks. She never liked them but Lucien liked the noise and the chaos. He suddenly noticed her staring and looked down at her with a smile.

"I'll gift it to you if you promise me something," he said.

"What do I have to promise you?"

"Look at that guy," he pointed a thin long finger at a man who looked really drunk. "He just slapped his wife because she refused to give him money and she has stormed off so he's just hanging around by himself."

Lara's eyes widened as she realized he was actually paying attention to his surroundings while inspecting the knife. "Don't look so surprised, you should know by now. Do you like him?"

"No."

"Do you hate him?"

"No," Lara said honestly because she really did not see how the man's actions could bother her. If it had nothing to do with her she never bothered to waste her energy on it.

"So you feel nothing for the man, right?"

"Right," she nodded.

"But you agree that if we let him be like this he will turn into a bad person, right?" Lucien smiled and Lara wondered what was going on in his head. While talking they had now come really close to the man who was now complaining loudly to another man about how disobedient his wife was and how much he hated her.

"She thinks because she's pregnant she can do anything!"

Lucien walked closer to the man. "Let's put the knife to test, Lara."

"What?"

Before she could register what had happened into her head she heard a bloodcurdling scream. The scene before her turned into a chaos in an instant. Lucien had passed the man just like many others in this crowded street and in the process of doing so had chopped off the fingers on his right hand.

The man screamed and dropped onto the ground holding his bleeding hand with the others. Lara looked around but Lucien had vanished into the crowd that had gathered at the bridge to see the fireworks. Her eyes widened when she noticed five perfectly cut fingers on the ground beside the drunken man. She turned away and left the scene as quickly as she could.

The firework show began and she looked up at the sky. Where was he now? "There's your gift." A knife dropped in front of her and she noticed it was now all clean. But she didn't pick it up, instead kicked it down the bridge into the water where it drowned silently.

"Oh no it was so sharp though," he peered into the water. "Do you think discarding a knife which had my fingerprints into the water after a crime was a good decision?"

"I don't care," Lara hissed. "Why did you do that?"

"Because he doesn't deserve to have hands if all it's good for is drinking wine and slapping women."

Lara was stunned into silence. She stayed unmoving for a while.

"I also had something else to tell you," Lucien chuckled at the expression she made after his next sentence. "I was the one who wrote those letters to you. Beautiful poems, weren't they? I love you so much, Lara. You will never know."