For I shall already have forgotten you

9. Arthur Kirkland

The flight from Madeline's local airport to London took ten hours. She had left during the afternoon to make it to the airport early, checked in her luggage, got her boarding pass and went through security. Then she waited for her plane to be ready to board as she ate a snack.

Luckily for Madeline, the other passengers around her were polite and didn't make much noise or bother anyone. During the long flight, Madeline passed the time reading, listening to music, and studying up on where to go or what to do in London. She had managed to get in a few hours of sleep, although she still felt tired. Perhaps it was because she was in the air and not on the ground, but she did not have dreams - whether of "Matthew" or any other random dream.

It was also afternoon when Madeline arrived at London's Heathrow Airport. After disembarking from her plane, she followed the flow of people to the airport terminal. She had to reclaim her baggage, and also go through customs. Finally, she was ready to leave the airport.

Madeline looked around for a person holding a sign with her name on it. She wasn't told much in this regard about who'd be waiting for her; she had texted Alfred to see if he knew, but all Alfred said was that they had "bushy eyebrows".

Then, she spotted a man with a poster board that had "Madeline Williams" handwritten on it. The man had short, messy, golden blond hair, and a slender body. As she approached the man, she noticed he was around the same height as Alfred (5'9" or 175 cm). He was dressed in a grey double breasted button trench coat, with side pockets and cuffs. He had on black gloves, a lighter grey scarf wrapped around his neck, and black trousers with matching winter boots.

"Hello! Um, I'm Madeline Williams?"

"Oh! Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, miss. My name is Arthur Kirkland."

Standing close to Arthur now, Madeline noticed that Arthur did in fact have bushy eyebrows like Alfred claimed. However, that did little to detract from his handsome features. In truth, it brought one's attention to his beautiful lime-green eyes.

"Please follow me, Ms. Williams. The car ride to London will take half an hour."

"Ah, I see. I'm glad the ride there doesn't take too long. And you can call me Madeline. Ms. Williams is a bit too formal, no? Especially since I will be lodging with you for a month."

"If that's what you prefer, Miss Madeline."

"Thank you, Mr. Kirkland. Or should I call you Arthur?"

"Arthur is fine, Miss Madeline."

Madeline kept quiet the rest of the way until they made it to the parking lot. Arthur's car was a dark blue convertible Mini Cooper. Madeline put her suitcase and her backpack in the trunk of the car, and then sat in the front passenger seat after fastening her seat belt. Other than sitting on the left instead of the right, it was no different from a car back home.

Arthur kept the inside of his car well cleaned and organized. She could not tell if this was what he was usually like, or if he had only cleaned it in order to make things more comfortable for her. Either way, she appreciated that his car was so tidy and neat.

"Would you like me to put on music to listen to?"

"Sure, go ahead! Um, I don't mind if you'd like to play music that you like...er, well, music you listen to on car rides! If you listen to music! Um, you don't have to if you don't!"

Arthur had a small smile on his face as he observed Madeline momentarily stumble over her words.

"Hm, if you insist. I hope you will tell me if you don't like my taste in music."

"Oh no! I couldn't. Well, there's no music genre I particularly hate. And even if I did, I'm your guest and you're my host. Please don't let me stop you from enjoying music you like!"

"Haha, don't worry. I myself mostly listen to rock music, especially punk rock." She was surprised to hear this. Arthur looked like a "gentleman" on the outside, and he was, but he also had aspects of himself that weren't obvious at first glance.

Arthur took out his phone and after inputting a few commands, a rock song started to play in his car. Arthur drove his car out of the parking lot, and once they were on the road, continued his conversation with Madeline.

"So what music genres are your favorite then?"

"Hm, I'd say indie genres? Or alternative genres? Like indie/alternative rock, indie pop, pop rock, stuff like that? And, I suppose soundtracks are in a genre of their own? Movies, game soundtracks, television?"

"Well, what a coincidence that you enjoy rock music as well, Miss Madeline."

The ride to Arthur's home was silent between the two of them, but not an awkward silence. Madeline would occasionally interrupt to ask about a certain song playing in the car, what the name of the band is, etc., but other than that, there was a comfortable atmosphere between them. Madeline thinks that some of Alfred's sociability must have rubbed off on her, or perhaps it was because of her own efforts recently in being more amiable with others. Admittedly, her first meeting with Arthur was also less embarrassing than Alfred's. She hoped she'd never have to do something like duct tape a person in front of Arthur!

After half an hour, the Mini Cooper arrived in front of Arthur's home and Madeline was flabbergasted. Alfred's house was one of the biggest and nicest homes she had ever seen, but now she saw a home that could only be described as a mansion in every sense of the word.

The sun was setting, and the warm rays basked the mansion in an orange and red light.

"Well, I don't know about you miss, but I'm famished. What say we go inside and make ourselves dinner?"