บท 33: Loneliness is the absence of a friend.
"Fabian...My god..."
"I know Colin...This is getting out of hand faster than I have expected."
"Dreaming of her once in a while, maybe it's innocent...but daily? At this point you have either fallen in love at first sight with her, or you haven't been around enough women as of late, so you are suddenly lusting after the first woman who shows you a bit of kindness." Colin replied.
Sighing, "It could be both situations honestly...
Ugh, I really wish for Safa to be a good friend of mine...I could use all allies I can gain in this place, especially someone like her.
But it appears that even my aunt was hoping that Safa and I would be together as husband and wife instead of just friends." Fabian said.
Surprised, "What do you mean?" Colin asked.
"Gertie said that my aunt apparently thought that Safa and I would be a perfect match...I just cannot see how she thought of such thing.
My aunt was supposed to be the person who knew me best." Fabian replied.
"Is it possible that your aunt was supportive of the 'wife condition' in The Will, because she was hoping that Safa would become your wife?" Colin asked.
Fabian looked at his friend with wide eyes, "I...do not know, it could be possible...actually...it would make some sense but still, if that was her wish then why did she not mention Safa by name in the will?"
"Obviously because she hoped you fall in love with Safa and then think of marrying her yourself.
If Safa was mentioned by name in the will, it would be almost a forced marriage, which your aunt knew you would not stand for.
Just Think about it, Your aunt was good friends with Safa's father, she probably knew that Safa would attend her funeral and the two of you would meet.
Not to mention she seems to know Safa better than both of us, And if your Aunt is the person who's supposed to know you best as well, she must know you even better than you think you know yourself.
Which means, she believed based on what she knew that Safa and you might become something of an item." Colin replied.
"But what does she know about both me and Safa that would have made her think this way?"
"I do not know either, but we can figure it out together.
Maybe your mind would change about Safa."
"Col, I told you I do not wish to persue her, that is my final decision."
"You say that now, but you cannot just give up, you will not be able to find another love match when your heart is clearly already set on Safa!"
"You cannot know that for sure Col, this thing I have for her could all be a silly temporary infatuation that would go away the moment I meet the right woman for me."
"And what if it never went away?"
"Whatever you say, you cannot convince me to see Safa as an option, until all other options fail...which reminds me, what about Lady Danbury? When do you plan to tell her about me, I wish to meet her with you.
And before you do decide to tell her, you have to promise me that you will not be telling her about my feelings for Safa, I am now starting to believe Gertie when she said that you still plan to match me with Safa against my wishes.
Oddly enough, She also thinks that if lady Danbury would know about my feelings, that would encourage her to match me with Safa... which to be honest...I do not see happening." Fabian said.
Taken by surprise, "Oh...Lady Danbury... right..." Colin hesitated.
Seeing Colin's react, Fabian became skeptical of his friend, "Colin...Please tell me you did not meet lady Danbury and told her about Safa."
"What?...No! Of course not! I respect...your choice." Colin lied.
Sighing, "Good...Anyways as I was saying, Gertie's worries about lady Danbury seem far fetched...I doubt that lady Danbury would persue a match between me and Safa without a strong reason.
But to be safe, we are not telling her about my feelings for Safa...Can I count on you to promise me this much?" Fabian Asked.
"Right!...I promise you!" Colin replied, he was starting to sweat.
"Are you alright?" Fabian asked.
"Who? Me?! I am perfect...you know, I think I should go now...I will visit you again as soon as I can." Colin said.
Smiling, "Sure, and please tell your wife I said hello." Fabian replied.
...Meanwhile...
With a curious smile, "What are you doing?" Marcus asked as soon as he entered his sister's drawing room, where she sat reading an old issue of Penelope Bridgerton's column.
"Reading...as you can see." Agatha replied.
"Anything interesting that you find?" He asked.
"As if I would tell you." She replied with a sarcastic smile.
"Why not?"
"It is none of your business, brother..."
To further tease his sister, Marcus went behind her chair and peeked at the issue she was reading.
"Huh...Is this the one from few days ago, the one about The gun salute everyone is talking about?" He asked.
"Yes..."
"Why are you reading it now sister?"
"I simply missed it when it came out." Agatha replied.
"Oh...I see! Now that you read it, what do you think of the story? Interesting, is it not?" He asked with a smile.
"Most certainly." She said.
"What do you think of the mystery gun salute woman? What do you think is the reason Mrs Bridgerton did not mention her by name?"
Sighing, "I cannot say for sure...to be honest I am finding myself more interested in knowing more about the man that shot the other bullet." Agatha replied.
Curious, "You mean the nephew! Heard he is to be the next Lord." Marcus said.
"We all heard that, it is literally written in the column, which begs the question, why was he also mystified...Penelope was as vague about the man, as she was about the woman." Agatha questioned.
"I was wondering the same...I wonder what the Queen thinks of this?
Maybe she would try to find out Their identities this time, same as she did with whistledown.
I am sure she would ask you for help, since you know everyone of importance, you will have no problem getting to the bottom of this mystery, hah!" Marcus said chuckling.
Agatha who knew very well who the man and woman are, raised an eyebrow at her brother.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothing..." She replied.
...Sometime later...
In the Vega manor, "It's almost nighttime...What are you doing James?...why aren't you back yet?" Clara asked her sad looking reflection, she sat by the drawing room's window, watching the rain pour heavily like rocks outside.
The sky was cloudy and grey but she could tell by how darker the shade of grey was becoming, that the sun is about to set.
She has spent most of her day either reading, playing with Denver or just looking at the window, she enjoyed it but only a little since all of her friends were busy and she wasn't.
She never had a day where she didn't have any work to do before, so she didn't know how to spend her time.
These past few days she had her three friends to help her fill the time, but today all three were busy.
Safa was for some reason still in her laboratory working, Wolfgang came back shortly after he took his mistress to her lab to feed Denver but left soon afterwards so he can help the other servants are the estate.
He would come back every now and then to check on Clara and Denver, he even had lunch with her just the two of them, but for most of the time, Wolfgang was out of her sight doing his job like the rest of the servants.
James hasn't returned yet either, he never said he was coming back today, but Clara assumed he would.
Ever since she started working for him, they two never Slept in different Houses.
She couldn't talk to the other servants either, due to her anxiety, and she didn't know them at all, so she decided to refrain from socializing with complete strangers just for the sake of not feeling lonely.
So at the moment she was all alone, almost.
Denver was there with her, but he was soundly asleep on the sofa.
Sighing, "I want Safa to play the lute again...only music can cure this depression I am dealing with." Clara said.
Then an idea came to her head, "Music!" She said glancing at the piano in the drawing room.
"I can try to play it myself! I've seen James do it many times...maybe I can try to mimick him!" She hurried to sit by the piano with excited eyes, checking every detail on the instrument that was magnificent in both size and purpose.
"But I don't know how to play the piano?" She mumbled to herself.
Then she glanced at the music sheets in front of her, "I can't read those either..." She was starting to feel unsure about her idea.
But then, a sudden burst of confidence and bravery hit Clara like a wave as she remembered all the crazy things she has done so far, ever since she befriended her friends.
"So what! No one is born a master! I know I will play horribly but I still want to try!" She said adamantly and placed her fingers on the piano keys.
And sure enough she played horribly, in fact it was so horrible, some servants came rushing to the room to investigate the origin of this horrible sound, and found an ecstatic Clara, laughing her arse off as she went ballistic on the piano keys.
Few started laughing at her actions, some were busy covering Their ears as the sounds grew more and more unbearable, and soon enough Wolfgang pushed through the small crowd of servants that gathered by the drawing room's entrance, to investigate the commotion that was happening.
"Clara?! What in the name of insanity are you doing?!" He asked genuinely confused.
"Look, I'm playing the piano, Dun, Dun DUN!" She said mimicking the sounds of the instrument with her voice.
Few servants laughed at her words.
Seeing how Clara's stunt was giving the servants an excuse to slack off, "Everyone, back to your places." Wolfgang said out loud.
They grunted at his words but still complied, every other servant besides Wolfgang was now heading back to their posts.
Clara had stopped playing by now.
Sighing, "Girl...step away from that instrument.
Why don't you wait for James to come back and you can ask him to teach you? Instead of destroying that piano." Wolfgang suggested.
Sighing as well,"I don't know if he would agree to it?" Clara replied.
"Why not ask him yourself?" Safa's voice came suddenly, Wolfgang turned to see James pushing Safa's chair into the room.
"James, When did you come back?! No one told me!" Wolfgang asked.
"I asked them not to, so I can surprise you."James replied, then he turned to look at Clara.
"So, you wish to learn the piano?" He said and Clara nodded excitedly.
"Good, then I will teach you but I warn you, I am not a good teacher, I lose patience rather quickly." James said.
Happy to hear that, "I'm a fast learner! I can manage! You already know that!" Clara replied.
"See, all you had to do was ask." Safa spoke-up, "Anyhow, did you miss me Clara dear? I apologize for being away most the day." She added.
"Me too, you know how it is." Wolfgang said, "I am sorry as well Clara." James added.
"I'm just glad we're together again." She replied smiling big.
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QW_JiHi
QW_JiHi Fun fact: the music a piano creates greatly depends on the temperature and humidity of its surroundings. Moreover, if there’s a sudden change in the physical surroundings, the tuning of the piano changes dramatically!
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