“Mr. Archer?” Laurel called.
“Yeah?” Noah answered without looking.
Noah raised his head from his draft desk and rotated his chair to face the entrance of his cubicle. His glasses were on the tip of his nose and his hair was messed from running his fingers through it. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and his fingers were spotted with black ink.
He was in his natural habitat.
“Mr. Harris would like to see you in his office.”
Noah watched Ms. Bellows leave and felt the eyes of his colleagues on his back. He turned and the man from the cubicle next to his was leaning over the separating wall. He had curly auburn hair and wore thick black framed glasses. Noah knew his name was Jared and they had talked a little over coffee the week before, but all Noah knew was that he had been in the company for three years and that he was from Wales.
“You got hailed into the boss’s office?” he asked with a thick accent.
“Looks like it.” Noah rose from his chair and unrolled his sleeves. “Should I be worried?”
“No idea, mate. If it were Lucas, I’d be worried. Anyway, you should clean your hands first.”
“Right. Thanks.” Noah grabbed a rag with solvent and rubbed it on his fingers. He still hadn’t met Lucas but from what he had overheard in the office, he was very demanding. As he walked to the stairs across the room he caught Jared’s smile. Noah smiled back and climbed the stairs.
He knocked on the door and entered. Harris was sitting by his desk calmly browsing a file that looked like Noah’s portfolio. But what caught his attention was the woman standing by the window. Her skin was the color of fresh coffee and her eyes were light as smoke. Her deep green suit was highlighted by the many golden bracelets and rings she was wearing. Her black hair was braided, ending by her waist. She had a face that seemed serene but as soon as Noah had caught her eyes examining him, he’d seen this was a woman that demanded respect. For some reason, Noah felt the need to tidy his hair one more time. When Harris glanced up, he opened a big smile.
“Hello, Noah. I’m sorry to take you away from work but I needed to discuss an urgent matter with you. Please take a sit.” Artemis gestured the chair in front of him. The woman by the window simply watched as Noah sat down.
“Of course. What can I do for you, sir? Ma’am.” Noah nodded to the woman and sat.
Kadri’s lips twitched. Her husband hated being addressed as an older man. She trusted his judgment perfectly, but she had heard so much about the boy in the last days, she had felt the urge to see with her own eyes. If Artemis was right, the boy would bring a lot more than fame to the office.
“Our firm has been selected by the Krotz Group for the building of their headquarters here in London. Well, not really building. They’ve recently acquired a building in Mayfair and wish to have it renovated and remodeled.”
“I’ve heard that you’ve specialized in ancient building renovations. Is that correct?” Kadri asked sitting next to him.
“Yes. My father and I worked together on a few restorations. He’s a master with woodcraft.” Noah spoke with reverence. Kadri slanted a look at Artemis and a silent message passed between them. “There are pictures of the buildings I worked on and the ones we did together.”
“May I ask why you decided to move to London?”
“I spent three semesters here in London during college and I took all the courses SPAB, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, offered.” Noah answered. He thought he’d be tense, but he was surprisingly relaxed. Something about the woman Harris hadn’t bothered to introduce, relaxed him. He leaned back on the chair and linked his fingers. “And through the same society, I won the Philip Webb Award in 2003. When New York stopped being a place where I’d like to live and work, London was the clearest next choice.”
“We're both winners of the PWA ourselves. So you’re not from New York?”
“No, ma’am. I’m from Portland in the state of Maine.” Noah directed all his attention to her. “May I ask why?”
“You may.” Kadri replied amused. “I’m not a big fan of New Yorkers. They’re workaholics, coffee dependants, which makes them irritable and annoyed at almost anything, and they believe that if they have a colorful pretty drink on one hand a cigarette on another, they’re living right.”
Noah thought a little about it and nodded. She had been fairly exact.
“But why did New York stop being a place where you’d like to live and work?” Kadri knew she was going a little farther than necessary, but his answers were really interesting. Artemis raised his brows at her latest question and she softly shook her head.
“Honestly?” Noah asked. Kadri nodded. “I wanted a new life. And I was becoming one of them. I didn’t like that. Especially since I don’t like the colorful pretty drinks or smoking.” Noah completed with a smile.
Kadri smiled back with approval.
“Where I come from, we work because we love it. I was raised drinking tea and I believe that living right has everything to do about the people you do it with.”
“I see.” Artemis had been right; the boy was a charmer. Easy smile, honest eyes and clear answers. He did seem like the man for it. “Well, I must say I was impressed by your portfolio.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t know who you are.”
“You don’t know who I…” Kadri sounded genuinely surprised. She looked at her husband and saw him biting his lips as he continued to flip through the portfolio. “I’m Kadri Lucas Harris. People around here calls me Lucas. But I prefer Kadri. People,” Kadri went on as she walked around the desk to put her arm around her husband shoulders. “Tend to think that I’m a man when I’m mentioned at by that.” And smiled at Noah. The boy blushed a little, she noticed, delighted. Wasn’t he adorable? Her husband let go the laugh he had been holding and she realized it had been intentional. “You must forgive the fool I’m married to. He still thinks it’s funny when people mistake his wife for a man.”
“I… don’t know what to say.” Noah said looking from one to another.
“No need. You’re not married, are you? Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Not at the moment, no.”
“Our Meredith…”
“Kadri.” Artemis squeezed his wife’s hand in a warning and rolled his eyes. “Your daughter’s getting married. Get over it.”
“It doesn’t bother me that she’s getting married. It bothers me that she’s doing with that excuse for a man. And a lawyer on top of everything else. The man is hateful and he lies for a job.”
Noah watched them fascinated. They seemed so absorbed in their own discussion almost as if he, Noah, had stopped existing to them. Kadri was speaking in French now. If the daughter had her mother’s looks and he father’s easy nature, he’d have been really interested in meeting her.
“The point is,” Artemis interrupted his wife. When the French kicked in, it could take hours. And she drove him a little crazy when she did that. They should send the boy back to work first. “We’re putting together a team to work on the Krotz Project. They want a preview by the end of the month. Do you think you can do it?”
“Yes.” Noah didn’t even dare hesitate. He wanted it. Whenever he had come across a restoration project in New York, he had been pulled away at the end because the client had decided to go with a modern design.
Artemis opened the portfolio on the table and Noah saw that it wasn’t his that he had been poring over. But pictures of the building the Krotz Group had acquired. From half a foot away, Noah could see it was a beauty. And a lot of work.
“So far, we’re thinking about a four-people job. You’d be working with Lena, specialized in woodcraft, Anthony, the engineer, and Jared, an expert in renovations.”
“When do we start?”
Artemis laughed.
***
“She’s in her bedroom?” Victor asked after staring at his tea for a while.
He had looked up briefly, meeting Anne’s eyes when they sat down. She had dark shadows under her eyes and blinked slowly, as if concentrating on saving her energy. She had gone through a lot in a very brief time, and now with Lumi’s depression, he imagined how things must’ve been hard. Her long black hair was tied in a tight ponytail and her face was clean. She usually had makeup on, but today, like the few days before, he hadn’t seen her wearing any.
She stared at her cup and seemed lost in thoughts. Victor didn’t know what to say. He himself didn’t know what he could do. So they sat and had tea. Yesterday was chamomile, the week before it had been fennel, the other earl grey, and today was anise. Anne and Lumi shared a love for tea he hadn’t seen in America before, but then again, they weren’t Americans. They were South Americans, he thought with a smile remembering how they had been angry when he had said they weren’t Americans at all. It didn’t take long for the smile to vanish. He had waited for a while and had asked the same question he did every day when he came to visit.
“Yes. She doesn’t want to leave her bed.” Anne said in a soft voice. “I’ve told her to leave that bedroom a little. Even if just for a few minutes. But she only listens to music and sleeps.”
“And she still doesn’t want to see me.”
“Nope. But, I still think you should. Just barge in there and talk to her.”
“I… She’s already in a bad place; I don’t want to make it worse. Once, she told me that when she said she wanted to be alone, it meant she wanted to be left alone. I’m trying to respect that.”
“She told me that many times too. But you know what?” Anne asked and waited for Victor to look up. “You don’t leave someone you love alone. You give time and space, sure. But you don’t leave her alone.” Anne completed with a shy smile. Lumi would be spitting fire if she woke up with Victor in her bedroom. Anne sighed thinking that never before had she seen Lumi so lifeless on a bed. The doctor hadn’t said she wouldn’t ever dance again, but Anne knew that Lumi’s time in the US to learn was very short and limited. She’d think that if she was to be kept from dancing for a year, she was better off not dancing for free at home. Lumi herself had said it the night she came back from the hospital.
“What happened? Where’s Victor?” Anne had asked the moment Lumi came in. Victor had just called to let her know things were bad. He hadn’t given many details, but she already knew Lumi needed surgery and wouldn’t be able to dance for a long time.
“He went home.” Lumi muttered on the way to her bedroom. She left her purse on the nightstand and sat heavily on the bed. The crutch hit the floor with a loud bang. “I want to be alone.”
“Fine. I’ll leave you alone,” Anne said from the door. “But tell me what happened first.” She picked the crutch up and leaned it on the wall next to her bed within her reach. She helped Lumi out of the coat and hung it on the hook behind the door. Giving Lumi a little time, she pulled down the covers of the bed and chose some pajamas from the drawer. When Lumi just sat there, Anne sat beside her. “Please. Just tell me.”
Lumi started to cry and told Anne what the doctor had said, between sobs. After that, Lumi had cried herself to sleep.
Since then, whenever Anne went to her bedroom with a tray of food, she caught Lumi staring into the space while some heart-breaking song played on her Ipod. Anne didn’t say anything. It wasn’t too long ago that she had been doing the same.
***
From the both of them, Lumi missed home the most. Of course, she was the youngest and deeply attached to her family. Leaving the country had only been possible, because of Anne was coming as well. Together they had lived for a full year in New York. And it looked like that was coming to an end sooner than either of them had anticipated, Anne thought as she drained her cup. She raised her eyes to look at Victor. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days; his dark blond hair was disheveled, his hazel eyes were reddened and there were shadows under them. The stubble on his face looked a week old and his T-shirt was wrinkled. Much, Anne thought, like herself.
Anne rose and signaled for Victor to follow her. She sat on the couch in the living room and sighed.
“I think… and that Lumi might be going home soon.”
Victor’s shoulders tensed up but he continued to stare at the floor.
“It won’t be long before Juilliard calls to know about her and we’ll have to say the truth. The second year tuition will be refunded and as it is, Lumi needs surgery and physical therapy. I agree that it should be done at home.”
“But… there are better doctors here, better therapists. Once she’s fit to dance again, she needs to be here.” I need her to be here, Victor thought desperately.
“Yeah, but… our family’s at home. I’d want to be home if it was me.”
Victor covered his face with his hands and leaned forward. He hadn’t slept at all the night before. He had feared all that Anne was saying now. He had another year at Juilliard to study before graduating, he couldn’t leave. Not that he’d follow her around the globe, but now that he almost had her, he didn’t want to lose her.
Anne touched his arm and sat beside him.
“If she goes, it doesn’t mean she’ll never come back.” Anne said softly.
Victor glanced up; he didn’t really know why, but anger was starting to boil in his blood. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
“Especially, if you give her a reason to come back. You should try to get some sleep. You can use that cover over there. Make yourself comfortable, okay? I’m going to try to sleep a little too.” And she left to her bedroom.
“Give her a reason to come back?” Victor muttered. “I’ve been trying to give her reasons for the last three months. I’m done.”
Victor got to his feet and tried to pace his anger off a little. It was no use. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Pissed, he went straight to Lumi’s bedroom and knocked.
“Go away.” Lumi’s voice came muffled through the door. Perfect, Victor thought and opened the door.
She was lying on the bed with covers up to her chin. Her laptop was over her nightstand and a song he recognized was playing. Her eyes were swollen and her face was red. So she had been crying, Victor thought. The tiny voice of reason told him to step back, step down and remember she was hurting, but he ignored it.
“You,” Victor said closing the door behind him, “have some nerve ignoring me.” When Lumi said nothing, Victor walked to the nightstand and shut the laptop lid down. “I am talking to you. You don’t want to talk to me, fine, but now I’ll talk and you’ll listen.”
Lumi’s eyes were wide and her mouth was open, as if ready to shoot back. But no sound came.
“If you want to be a coward, then be one. But at least acknowledge it. The doctor never said you wouldn’t dance ever again. Something bad happened and I’m really sorry, I am, but you can’t kick everyone for whatever happened to you. Anne’s worried sick about you. I can’t bloody sleep. I like my sleep and I’d like to have it back.”
“I’m not keeping you here in any way.”
“Oh, but you are. Because, for some reason I was stupid enough to fall in love with you and that keeps me here. You feel the same way about me, but you can’t admit it. After what happened to your sister, I thought you’d wake up. Life’s too bloody short. But no. You’re so attached to your stubbornness that you do nothing else but eat and sleep.”
“Whatever I do is none of your business. Are you done?”
“Not even close. I know you’re thinking of going back home. I can’t ask you not to. Your family probably wants you home as soon as possible. I get that. I also get that you’re sad and that dancing was your life, but you won’t die if you can’t do it for a year. Not even if you really want to.”
Lumi’s heart was pounding in her chest. She knew her face was red and warm because her blood was also pounding in her ears. She hadn’t felt this kind of rage in a long time. Who the hell did this British asshole thought he was? She’d like to see if he had been sentenced to a year without his music, and at the end of that, hadn’t been given any certainty that he’d ever play again. The stupid saxophone. She never hated saxophones more in her life than now. Patience gone, she threw the covers aside and sat up.
“I don’t care. Got it? I don’t care. About you, about dancing, about how you feel about what I’m doing. This is my life now, I can’t do anything else. You think I don’t know? I know she just lost someone dear to her and now she’s taking care of me. But that’s also none of your business. I am going home. I miss my family, I don’t want to go through surgery here and make Anne take care of me. She’s going to London soon. So, if you’re done shoving that crap down my throat, I think you should go.”
Victor looked at her. He stood there and looked. He had been hurt by a lot of the things she said in ways he didn’t even believe she could understand. But having her kick him to the curb as if he meant nothing to her snapped something in him. On a sudden move that startled both of them, Victor put his right knee on the bed next to her, grabbed her face with both of his hands and crushed his mouth to hers. Lumi’s eyes widened in shock and she tried to fight him away, but he didn’t even bulge. He poured his frustration, his anger and even his hurt into the kiss.
When his lips let hers go, he rested his forehead over hers. Even as her fisted hands hit his chest.
“I hate that I’m in love with you.” Victor whispered.
Lumi’s hands lowered to her lap and the tears she had been trying to hold back, were running free. Something inside of her desperately wanted to be set free. She desperately wanted to set it free. But, and that was even cleared to her than what she felt, things needed to be put back where they belonged.
She grabbed his wrists and pulled them away from her face. Victor’s eyes widened as he watched her. She could see how much she already was hurting him, but it was no use. She’d be leaving in three days. The sooner she dealt with it, the sooner she could start working in getting over him. She had listened to his voice everyday in the house the last week. He had come, had worried, had asked about her. She had been so happy when she heard his voice. But she knew things needed to be ended before they went too far.
She didn’t believe in long distance relationships. She’d never be able to come back and have this same life again. It was her mother’ money, not hers. Without dancing, she had nothing left. She’d have to find something back home and try to build a life on it. She had thought a lot in the last few days and now she knew very clearly what she needed to do.
“I am leaving in three days. I didn’t mean to hurt you, I’m sorry. But this is as far as this goes.” Lumi sobbed. She was trying hard not to cry but the tears wouldn’t stop and the words wouldn’t come out clearly.
“That’s it?”
“Yes.”
“And I have no say in it?”
“It's my life. Why would you have a say in it?” Lumi cleared her throat and went on. “I appreciate all you’ve done for me. And I wish you the best in your life.” Her voice had gotten cold and distant. Her heat was breaking in tiny pieces, but her head was set. Her heart would catch up sooner or later, she thought.
“I see.” Victor stepped back to look at her. Really look at her. He pierced her eyes with his, nodded and opened the door. “I hope you don’t regret this.” And left, closing the door behind him.
“I hate that I love you too.” Lumi whispered to herself.
When she heard the living room door open and close, she couldn’t hold it any longer. She dropped back on the bed and cried like she never did before.
*
