"A promise is a promise."
-Proverb-
***
On his last day there, the whole Bellavance household was gathered in the living room. Dennis, Clara and Giselle has wanted to bid a proper farewell to the Desroches. Archard was the one who thanked Dennis first for his hospitality and Dennis returned it with a smile.
"It was my pleasure." What the adults failed to notice was the gloomy air that surrounded both Clara and Raphael. They had grown fond of each other during Raphael's stay and Clara had spent more time with him than he did with the others. In her young mind, she knew exactly if he left then she would be alone again. Well, not exactly alone, but she would lose a dear friend and the thought made her somewhat upset.
The same could be said with Raphael, the young boy's heart had been filled with Clara's warmth and to lose it temporarily would be dreadful, yet he knew it would not be the last time they met. Therefore, he tried his best to smile as he watched Clara who was standing beside her father.
Clara was trying her best to not appear blue, she wanted the last bit of memory she could give him to be out of joy. When they were walking outside, she walked over to his side.
"So, you're actually leaving."
"Yes, I have to go back to Paris. I need to continue life there." He turned to her and take her hand in his, he held it so tight as they passed through the door. He kept on holding it until his parents called him to enter the car. With a heavy heart he had to release his grip. Right before He entered the car, she shouted 'wait'. He stopped in his track and Clara took out the wooden box which she had been keeping in her gown's pocket the entire time and handed it over to him.
"Here, a present for you." Raphael was staggered, never in a million years would he expect her to give him anything. He took it from her and moved his hand to open it up yet she laid her hand on top of his to prevent him from doing so.
"Don't open it now, just open it when you're on the plane" Archard and Darline thought it was very sweet of her to do that. They had nothing more in their mind about the two than an innocent relationship between two friends. Giselle who had been silent sent a teasing gaze her way, but Clara did not seem to catch it.
It was only Denise who noticed that there was something going on between these two young teenagers. There was almost an invisible spark between the two. He had been suspicious of it, yet it seemed harmless. For a moment it took him back to his own youth, watching her smiling as Raphael placed the box close to his heart.
"I'll cherish it." she took two steps back from him and it was time for them to leave. Dennis guided them once more to the car and stacked the luggage like usual. Clara was standing on the stairs in front of the house with Giselle by her side. She was patting Clara's shoulder and gently squeezed it to cheer her up.
The car started moving, Raphael pulled down the car's window and stared at Clara for the last time, she was waving her hand at him with a faint smile on her face. It was the last time Raphael would see her in a while and he knew it. He put the box inside the pocket of his jacket. He could contain his smiles, his cheeks were gradually turning red and he had to cover his eyes with his palm to prevent his parents from noticing.
The whole way to the airport, his mind was filled with the thoughts of Clara, he kept on replaying their time together like a broken cassette. He was imagining everything about her, her eyes, her lips, her soft hair, and he found his heart beating faster and faster and there was an inconvenient feeling between his legs.
Never in his whole life had he ever felt that way, there was something inside of him, an awakening of something new. He could feel it, it was an unknown emotion, an attraction. He was eighteen years old, he was already a young adult, and he managed to get through his teenage years without dating the girls. Although they were all swooning over him, so why ? Why did it have to be Clara?
He did not know the answer but he did not care. When they were seated on the plane, he took out the box and opened it up, it was a antlers key chain she had made for him. It was surprisingly good for a handmade item done by a sixteen years old. He thought it looked cute but rather than that, he appreciated her thoughts behind the object. For him it had so many different meaning.
He was grinning like a fool as he held the key chain on his hand, Archard saw his son and wondered what was wrong with him, but he had a guess, after all he was once young himself. He just giggled it off and pretended like he knew nothing.
Raphael was young and did not have a huge vision of the world, but he knew one thing at the moment.
He would meet her again. Even if it might take years, he would definitely find his way to her again. In fact, he was not just going to meet her and ended it there, he wanted more than that, he wanted to bring her with him to Paris and marry her, and then they would start their own little happy family, the thought alone intrigued him. He had been thinking way beyond his age, it might sound silly if he was to express it to his friends.
The young boy was sure that they had never felt what he felt. It was a strong attraction, an emotion of deep yearning, of wanting.
Raphael had never truly believed in the classic romance he used to read on his father's library, he was always more of a realist, yet something changed within him that day. He tried to figure out what he was feeling, deep within his subconscious, he had known right then,
He found his first love... and he was going to hold on to it.
That was his promise.
"Betrayal is the only truth that sticks." Arthur Miller *** Drizzle of rain started pouring over from the sky, cool breeze from outside blew its way into the slightly dimmed room. From the balcony one could hear sounds of bird's wings flapping as they took a flight back to their nest. The sun had begun to set and dusk had arrived. Inside the Bellavance mansion, the sound of feet stomping on the wooden floor echoed throughout the room "What if she finds out about this?" Two figures had cornered themselves, their bodies were rubbing against each other ever so slowly, the woman who had been taking the lead stepped closer to him, wrapping one of her arms on the drape of his neck as with the
"Nobody deserves your tears, but whoever deserves them will not make you cry." -Gabriel Garcia Marquez- *** She had known Marcel for five years. They had been through so much together. They even got engaged and had planned their marriage the next summer. Everyone had known about their relationship. Some had jokingly admitted how envious they were of her. She had dreamed of the bouquet and the cake, the guest and the dress. Oh, how those memories and dreams were shattered in an instant. She thought he would be faithful to her, and only her, but Clara never realized he had also been seeing Giselle at the same time. She turned and faced Giselle. "Giselle, how could you do this to me, we grew up like sisters, how can you betray me like this?" she shouted in disbelief. Out of all people she had kno
"Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family." -Anthony Brandt- *** Celine Desroches had been enjoying her alone time in the patio of her house with a glass of cold lemonade with soda and a pair of huge dark purple sunglasses beside the pool. If there was one thing she loved in life, it had to be the sun and the subtle smell of chlorine mixed with salt. Only the air was not exactly salty because there were barely any beaches in Paris. She had been working all weekdays long, and being a luxury interior designer, she had traveled back and forth between places just to find the right item for the customers, it had been a long week and dealing with people who had no idea about the difference between vanilla and marshmallow white was tough. She would definitely say she deserved
"The first time you fall in love, it changes you forever and no matter how hard you try, that feeling just never goes away." -Nicholas Sparks- *** The black car arrived in front of Bellavance's residence. The driver exited the car and opened up the backseat door, to revealthe now twenty-six years old heir of Desroches family. He walked out with confidence and charisma, mixed with excitement, hope and nervousness at the same time. It was none other than Raphael Desroches. The man had grown a lot since the last time he visited the place. He was taller and his shoulder was broader, he hadchanged his hairstyle and personal style, wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, he took off his round edged square sunglasses and turned his attention to the house. A small smile escaped his lips
"Only actions give life strength, only moderation gives it charm." -Jean Paul- *** The sun had set and the sky turned into a dark twilight shade. When the town was about to reach its peaking hour of beauty, Raphael had just freshly come out of the shower when he was invited by one of the housekeeper for dinner. Once he was done changing his clothes, he walked down to the dining room which still remained pretty much the same as he had remembered it, only then everything felt slightly different. It was far less crowded without his family around and other people, whoever they were that were present in the room at the time, instead, he found Dennis sitting there with a glass of wine in his hand. For a brief moment the man looked like he was on the verge of being an alcoholic, due to the sorrow pre
"Remember tonight, for it is the beginning of always." -Dante Alighieri- *** Her daughter sudden request had troubled him, he was not worried about money or any of those because he knew she was financially capable of providing for herself, and he himself had more than enough to spare for his daughter, he was more worried about his daughter's gentle nature. The last time she was away from her family was when she went to college in the city region of Bordeaux, but it was not too far away from them and she still went to visit every weekend. But Paris was different, she would meet many people with different intents toward her, so far he had raised her to be a righteous woman and he knew she would not stray from her principles, but would other people accept her there? Perhaps from a strange
"To love is to return to a home we never left, to remember who we are." -Sam Keen- *** The plane had departed from the airport for a while, while all the passenger had settled themselves, it was not the case with Raphael who was still making an attempt to calm his own heartbeat. No, it was not from the flight. Raphael had flown with plane too many times, the only reason why his heart was beating like crazy was thanks to the beauty beside him. Once in a while during he would steal glances at her just to ensure she was fine. Clara was seated next to the window, there were mixtures of emotions present in her eyes. She had been staring outside for a while since they were seated. Resting her arms on the side of the plane, she pondered upon the pos
"Modeling isn't all that tough." -Josie Maran- *** "A little bit more on the left, That's right, last shot! And... done. Thank you everyone!" The staff on theset began to help the models to remove their heavy accessories. Editorial campaign shots are always some of the most challenging one models have to do. Jovanna Devergie moved away from the photo shoot area and headed to her personal changing room. Her manager Maeva Traver has been there beforehand with a box of her essentials, she handed a bottle of ionized water to her and she gulped it down to half in one shot. "Good job. That was your last shoot session today, you are free until tomorrow, do whatever you want now, but I suggest you go home and take a rest. You have an ad campaign with YSL for their latestproduct launch tomorrowand you have a golf playing session with yourfather in the afternoon, You don't want to miss that one." Jovanna p