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1981-2001
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Adonis Blue (5) 1
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Adonis Blue (5)
by Meg Grace
Chapter Three
(Continued from Previous Page)
A
white cloudy sky stretched out uninterruptedly.
In front of the two, a grand river streamed silently.
White breathes expelled from the two and white vapours from hot chocolate
blended into the landscape.
It was a very quiet winter afternoon, except for some cars passing behind
from time to time.
"It's
yummy, eh?" Crystal smiled at him. He responded with a nod. He took
another sip, and turned his eyes on the surface of the river again.
At
the same time the flavour of the sweet cocoa spread over the tip of his
tongue, he felt a feeling arising which he had never savoured before.
Incessant dearness which he had never felt when he held women in his arms,
and holiness as if able to sanctify everything of him, who felt himself
full of grime. He had a pain as if it constricted his chest, only as staying
by her side that way.
He
stole a glance at her side face smiling innocently. Round eyes, long eyebrows,
and bear skin as white as snow. The angelic, naive smile knows nothing
yet.
— Women who fall in love with me will have misfortunes —
He couldn't but stow his pathos deep in his heart.
"Dear
Jeanne, what do you want to be when you grow up?" suddenly Crystal
opened her mouth.
"Me? I'm useless but for pictures. What about you?"
"Crystal's dream is to be a bride"
"Huh"
"I wanna be a bride, hold a bouquet of flowers, and wear a stark
white wedding dress"
"Pah"
"When it comes, please come and see my wedding ceremony for sure,
dear Jeanne. Crystal will invite you, positively"
He exhaled a white breath. The white sky stretched boundlessly, misted the far shore of the river, and merged into the white surface of the river.
One
month passed since they started the facelift by bits, and both exterior
and interior works were finally completed. From that day customers who
set foot in the shop gradually increased, and the sales amazingly began
to go up. The most delightful thing is that many of them are repeaters
to buy there.
"Once
I eat yours I can't eat others, so I come here to buy yours every day"
"Thank you so much!" Crystal greeted the customer all smiles.
Ken,
who was quizzical at first, now had no choice but to admit the effect.
"Actually,
you're genius"
Ken offered his hand to Jeanne. He tentatively put out his hand, which
Ken held strongly. "Ye beat me"
"That's
not it. I just used the image of bread you bake for the whole design of
the shop. Though it used the whole grain of organic wheat it's soft, the
more we chew the more taste exudes, it's got good sweetness natural to
bread-it's a masterpiece. In the beginning, there was this bread. Without
your bread, neither this design nor this shop make up"
"Then
ye and me are the A1 combination, eh?" Ken laughed. The face was
filled with a pride as a bakery worker, and toughness as he run a shop
at a young age.
"Your
sister did a good job as well"
"That's b'cos it's my good sister" Ken oiled his face. "She's
got good looks and a good heart. Great tucker; she's good at cookin',
launderin', sewin' and anything. She studies and does sport well just
like anyone else. She's worth giving away anywhere! cYet for the
time being she's gotta help the shop under me. I won't give such a good
bride to any guy, only a just real best bloke"
Jeanne
began painting for display in the shop, as requested by Ken's family.
But he had never put his signature on these pictures. It was due to his
consideration not to cause trouble to the family by the disclosure of
the fact that an artist named Jeanne d'Arc was here and painted pictures.
The family was not familiar with arts, and had no idea about that concour
and a great stir by the abscond of the grand prix winner.
Once
his pictures were displayed in the shop, there was an increase in customers
who found the pictures and entered the shop. And they often buy the products.
"Excuse
me, but I'd like to have this picture-do you sell at this shop?"
"This picture's lovely. Who painted it?"
Not a few customers asked such questions.
Jeanne had never shown up in the shop. He painted when in the mood, go sketching outside, and the painter's face or name couldn't be known. It is not always, however, that only those who didn't know the fact came to the shop.
One
night, he had been delirious from that nightmare.
"Is
it you" He said. "Never be like a half penny again"
"This
time's a younger girl" Ignoring his words, a woman said with a gaze.
"You're dallying though you're not interested as usual"
He
didn't respond. The expression made her startled and pale.
"You...are
serious for once"
He
said nothing.
"You,
who've never fallen in love with anyone — even me, of all women —
but with such a mere chit of girl who knows nothing..."
"For
Heaven's sake, it's got nothing to do with her, keep her out of it, the
hell I don't care about myself, please get out of my life"
"Oh Jeanne, you're telling such a thing to ME! How can you run away from me, of all women? Jeanne, don't tell me you forgot — you had killed me and a child between you and me"
"Hey
Crystal, it looks brekkie's ready"
"Yup. You can call everybody. Oh Ken, by the way, yesterday one customer
looked at Jeanne's picture, and told that it resembles the brushwork of
a work which won the grand
prix of a worldwide famous concour recently"
"That's gotta be by accident"
"And, the name of the person who painted the picture, is called Jeanne
d'Arc"
"Wow, what a coincidence! So I'll go and call him"
"Halloo
Jeanne, brekkie's ready! Come along, or the food will get cold!
Ken called out Jeanne outside the garage.
There
was no reply.
"Jeanne,
you're still asleep? You gotta get used to such early mornings! Hurry
up, or you'll miss food! Come on Jeanne!"
Ken
opened the garage. The morning dazzling ray beamed into the dark garage.
What the shine lit up was the blank inside with nothing. Ken thrown up
his eyes.
He
spotted a big canvas stand covered with a cloth. He flung off the cloth,
and a picture of a fine wedding dress in pure white appeared. The round
eyes gazing under the veil was of a smile of Crystal, who attired in a
dress of unearthly beauty.
He
found a letter on the humble makeshift table. He hastily unsealed the
envelope and read it. The face went white, and the letter was flatly dropped
from the hand.
"Dear
Ken, I'm sorry. I've been clammed up. I've been thinking to speak out,
but I couldn't. I deserve no care or favour of a good family like yours.
I'm
a slayer. I'm the one who killed a woman and a kid"
