CHAPTER TWELVE:
𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞
❝ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴍᴀɴ ɪꜱ ᴠᴇʀʏ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴇᴀ, ɪᴛ ʜᴀꜱ ɪᴛꜱ ꜱᴛᴏʀᴍꜱ,
ɪᴛ ʜᴀꜱ ɪᴛꜱ ᴛɪᴅᴇꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ɪɴ ɪᴛꜱ ᴅᴇᴘᴛʜꜱ ɪᴛ ʜᴀꜱ ɪᴛꜱ ᴘᴇᴀʀʟꜱ ᴛᴏᴏ. ❞
✧･ﾟ: - *✧･ﾟ* :･ﾟ- *:･ﾟ✧
Casa Elsa— or Casa Coopers, rather— was a real treat and a half.
The walls were all covered in wallpapers with symmetrical patterns that resemble objects found in nature, and in all kinds of colors, shapes, and sizes. Their living room was decorated better than our entire house alone! Yellow paper lanterns with celestial symbols imprinted on them hung on the ceiling. Their furnishing warranted a call from the Victorian Era, wanting them back. The wooden shelves were filled with picture frames of family portraits, school certificates, and books that would entice Hiccup to plot a plan on how to carefully and strategically borrow them at night whilst everyone was asleep.
The first thing to greet me as I entered was the smell of fried chicken being cooked along with the noise of the clattering of kitchen utensils and the sizzling oil on a frying pan under a fire.
It smells like home.
"Elsa...?" I heard a groggy feminine voice call from the living room, as if the owner had just woken up from a nap.
"Morning, Anna."
Strawberry.
From behind the large corner sectioned couch, there peeped Strawberry's head, "Guuuuuys! Elsa's home early and she's brought a friend!"
"Anna, you don't have to announce my arrival all the time." she shakes her head. Nothing could have prepared me for what she mumbled immediately after. "Does everything I do needed to be big deal all the time?"
I was sure she didn't want me to hear that, but with how close I was standing next to her, I didn't have a choice but to be an audience to her murmurs.
Elsa puts her purse down on a glass table in front of the couch before standing in front of a hanging mirror on the wall enclosed in a golden frame to tie her hair up in a tight ponytail resting on top of her nape, contrasting heavily to the way she let it loose back at the ball.
"Hello, Merida." Anna's eyes followed me.
I waved back. It was like walking on eggshells. Elsa and I should've gotten our stories straight before she brought me here. I hope my big mouth doesn't try anything tonight... for Elsa's sake.
"You and Elsa seem to be hanging out quite frequently." Oh shit. "May I ask for an enlightenment on what sort of relationship you have with my sister? Hmm?"
She really was related to Rapunzel.
"R-relationship?"
"Yeah. Shall we call it friendly—"
"Aye! Friendly."
"Platonic?"
"I... sure?"
"Not romanti—"
"BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP! Elsa and I have a... business relationship. We're co-workers, see." I said a wee too loud. My cheeks were flaming red hot chili peppers.
Elsa snorting took me out. Why was she laughing? Lass should be helping me out here!
"No, you're not." Strawberry stated matter-of-factly. I didn't know what to reply anymore.
Even more so when she asked...
"So, how was the Ball, sis?"
I wanted to die.
To expire.
To croak.
To kick the bucket.
To meet my maker.
To be a goner.
We were so busted. What gave it away? My dress?
"I'll tell you all about it at bedtime." Elsa replied without any hesitation. Anna cackled like an old hag in hysterics. I felt like the dumbest person in the world, listening to an inside joke flying over my head that everyone knew except me.
Of course, Anna knew. At this point, Elsa was just messing with me!
Suddenly, a man looking to be in his late forty's entered the room. He had a long and rectangular face with a strong jawline but what was even stronger was his full beard. He must be Rapunzel's Dad. Anna and Elsa's uncle.
"Good evening." I offered a handshake.
"And you. Say, aren't you Fergus' daughter?" he narrowed his deep blue eyes at me, as if studying me.
"Aye, sir." I shrugged.
He clapped his hands together like he's just made a revolutionary discovery, "I'd recognize that accent anywhere!"
Looks like I now know where Elsa got it from.
But where were the Elledneras' parents?
✧･ﾟ: - *✧･ﾟ* :･ﾟ- *:･ﾟ✧
"You know, your father and I used to hate each other." Mr. Cooper—who I soon learned was named Frederic— points at me, holding a fork with a bit of chicken meat stuck on it.
"So, I heard." I smiled, taking a bite of my own plate.
We were now all seated at the dining table. Elsa sat in between Anna and I as Mr. and Mrs. Cooper were opposite us.
Porcelain explained were just at a gathering for the employees of the House of Rainbows to celebrate its tenth-year anniversary or whatever. Hence, our outfits and why Elsa was home earlier than usual. She added that Rapunzel was out on a date with Eugene so they wouldn't question her absence tonight. I went along with everything, of course. She really had it all planned out; it was impressive.
She must be really used to lying.
"Fergus and I were in constant competition with each other for the 'Teacher of the Month' awards." his eyes were wide, and his mouth was full, "Your dad hated me for being the students' new favorite teacher when I started out."
"Cocky now, aren't we, Uncle Fred?" Anna laughs in mid-sentence.
"Well, they said it! Not me."
"How did you even find out that you were the so-called new favorite?" she asks.
"I took home more gifts on Teacher's Day than him." he shrugs casually. The dining room soon erupted in fits of laughter.
I remember Mum and Dad would always come home with chocolates and notes and whatnot during Teachers Day like it was Valentines. Of course, this was greatly beneficial for me, Hamish, Hubert, and Harris, as the chocolates would end up in our stomachs way more than in theirs. The thought of a wee drama existing between the teachers was hilarious to me.
I could vividly recall how Dad's cages got rattled during dinner because of a certain so-and-so at work that I swear, he would be two seconds away from slicing his plate in half. I didn't pay attention all the time but now I know it was Mr. Cooper he was talking about.
"Buuuut, in the end, Elinor reigns as queen. Still, it agitates me because her awards would still be in Fergus' home too, so it ultimately meant they both won, in a sense." I can do nothing but laugh.
"Six 'Teacher of the Month' awards isn't enough for you yet, Fred?" Mrs. Cooper, Arianna, rubbed her husband's arm lovingly.
"You know I'm a collector, Sweetie."
"Don't I know it! I get reminded of your collector-ness every morning when I go and dust your special room for your collection of eggs."
Did I hear that correctly? Eggs?
"Shh! Honey!" Mr. Cooper's cheeks were flushed in red, quietly murmuring to his wife unintelligible words to stop her but the lady just smirks triumphantly.
What a pleasant surprise this was. I was sure they were going to gobble me up as I use ten-dollar words to save my life but that didn't happen. I was treated as though I had always been a frequent and beloved guest to the Cooper residence, which I never knew was now a goal for me since seeing their house. I should've known, knowing Blondie, Strawberry, and Porcelain.
Well, Anna may have come on strong to me, but she was just being... a sister.
"I adore your hair, Merida." speak of the angel, she complimented me.
"Thanks." It was now my turn to blush after Mr. Cooper.
"They remind me a lot of Hans'." I almost choked on my saliva when she mentioned Sideburns' name.
The ball...
With the way she spoke his name in the happiest tone, I mentally confirmed they are, in fact, still together. Further meaning that my complicated cheating hypothesis could not be far-fetched at all.
I was itching to tell her, but it was smart to keep my lips shut for now.
"Yeah, where is that handsome young man! You should've invited him tonight, honey. You know how he loves chicken." Mrs. Cooper cooed, placing her chin under her knuckles.
He's at the Pride Ball, Mrs. Cooper.
"Oh, he's out of town. He and all his twelve older brothers are going to celebrate a birthday for his eleventh brother. I forgot his name.... probably John."
Twelve older brothers? WAIT, who gives a rat's ass? Hans wasn't at the Ball tonight?
That's case closed; I suppose. Happy to be wrong.
"He invited me to come but I couldn't sacrifice my perfect attendance, of course!" she raised her chin up in pride.
"That's our girl."
"Never risking her studies for any boy."
From the corner of my eye, I saw Elsa take a sudden halt to eating. She had been so quiet. She simply stared at her plate as the rest of the family continue to shower Anna with praises and how she was a pure paragon of responsibility or something along those lines. She gripped on the stainless silverware as if her life depended on it.
Before I could ask her if she everything was all hunky-dory, she resumes her eating as if I had just made up her dead silence. What was going on with her?
"That Hans better be good to you." Mr. Cooper asserted, but the tone of his voice made it obvious that this Hans fellow already had his approval from the get-go.
"It's true love!" Strawberry sighs dreamily. I choked.
"If he breaks your heart, I'll break his neck." Elsa threatens nonchalantly. I choked again.
✧･ﾟ: - *✧･ﾟ* :･ﾟ- *:･ﾟ✧
After a solid half minute of debating with Mr. and Mrs. Cooper to let me wash the dishes as a sign of my thanks for the meal, they finally gave in. Elsa and Anna also didn't relish the idea of me taking over but they didn't have any choice.
From the kitchen, I could hear Anna yelling at their tely at the living room, aggressively screaming lines like "Get it!", "No no no no no!", "Woah!" and "Elsa, why aren't you woah-ing with me?!" alongside the sound of their couch being jumped on as if it were a bed.
I couldn't hear or see where Mr. Cooper and Elsa were, but Mrs. Cooper stayed in the kitchen with me. She was wiping the table clean with a wet cloth, and I expected to see her with strands of her hair falling on her face like how Mun always looked when she was cleaning but Mrs. Cooper didn't. Her hair remained intact in her half-up updo. Her face was still looking fresh and formal. I had no idea why I was overanalyzing the way she looked, the good mood was probably getting the better of me.
"The dinner was great, Mrs. Cooper."
"Thank you, dear." her green eyes reminded me of Rapunzel's, "But it's actually Fred who cooks our meals and washes when Rapunzel's not around. I can't prepare a meal to save my life!"
Rapunzel? Of course. I humored myself imagining her baking pies and singing along to the oh-so-harmonic chirping of birds by the window like a cartoon princess.
"If ye don't mind me asking, miss. Are you also a teacher?"
Mrs. Cooper walked up to the sink to wash the cloth she used to clean the tables, "Heavens, no, my dear. It's not for me. It occupies most of Fred's time. He's always so busy making lesson plans and such and— oh, put 'em over there, Merida."
I carried their ceramic chinaware and hid them in the cabinets she pointed to. I continue to be all ears.
"That's the difference between me and Fred but also what keeps us balanced. He likes taking it slow while I want to live in the fast lane, to live for... spontaneity." I paused when she finished her sentence.
Elsa and I's date at the park instantly came to mind. I looked over at the other side of the room and saw her clinging on to a throw pillow as she sat next to Anna who was bouncing off the walls. Now I know where she got her spirit from, both of them.
"But it wasn't easy, believe me. Before I met him, I was very much like Rapunzel. I had no idea what I was supposed to do in this world. So, I went out and found my own way."
Rapunzel too, huh?
"See this pearl necklace I'm wearing? I made it myself." she lifted the jewelry to show me. It glistened in the light.
"You harvested the pearls too?" I almost laughed, knowing it was a dumb question, but she nodded, blowing me away.
This woman!
All these women in the Cooper family!
"Like mother, like daughter." I could learn a thing or two.
"Like niece too." And I already knew she meant Elsa.
"Aye, like niece too."
"Like you too." Me? I looked up from the plates. My forehead was more wrinkled than my pruning fingers in the water. "Plus est en vous. There is more in you."
I was at a loss for words for an eternity at the kitchen sink before I realized words weren't needed at all. Two smiles were all it took. Now, I know why Rapunzel practices French.
Before leaving, she told me I could call her Arianna. I was walking on air.
Back in the living room, it turns out the siblings were watching a wrestling match. I was sure Dad, and the boys were also watching the same channel right now back at home and possibly using the bear rug as a punching bag as Mum tries her everything to shut them up.
Not wishing to disturb them, I busied myself by with the picture frames all around the room just calling my name.
The first to catch my eye was a photograph of three wee lassies, the cousins. Strawberry in her tiny pigtails squeezed her cheeks with her hands, cute as a button. Blondie smiled at the camera sweetly as she rests her head on a surface as if lost in a daydream. Finally, wee Porcelain in dark brown hair fasten by a headband stood aloof in the corner of the, smiling without teeth. You could tell a lot about their personalities based on this picture alone, it was more astonishing than comical.
My eyes then fell on two more images. It was Mr. Cooper posing diligently with a familiar blue backdrop behind him, sporting the most teacher-esque get-up I ever did see. It stood next to a frame of Arianna floating under the water in a scuba diving costume, posing with her thumbs up. Her mask selfishly covered her face, but I could tell the brightest smile in the world was hidden under there.
And at the very bottom section of the collages hung a picture almost completely covered in dust with the negligence it probably received for months, maybe even years.
The Elledneras.
"I see you've met my parents." I shook like a leaf. Elsa towered over me with how I bent down to level with the mysterious dust-ridden picture. Once again, she rattles me speechless.
"I'm visiting them tonight. Drop by, you know?"
"Can I... tag along?" I asked before thinking better of it.
"Oh." she stared at the photograph hard before returning her gaze towards me, "Are you sure?"
There was no backing out. "Aye."
I didn't know a lot of things, but I do know I wanted to meet her parents. I want to take whatever relationship Elsa and I have seriously. I wanted to know more about her life, all of it. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I wanted to be part of it.
And what better step to take first than meeting her parents?
Before commuting out of town, Elsa and I made a trip to a wee flower stall near the streets outside Aurora Creek and bought a bouquet of wee deep purple flowers with yellow anthers that Elsa called 'crocuses.' They were the first flowers to bloom each spring, smelling of sweet honey. She said they were their favorites.
I almost lost my marbles when she bought flowers for them. Who even does that when they're just visiting their parents? Was it Valentines today? Mum's day? Dad's day? Crivens, did I forget to greet my own parents too?
The burning questions in my head were soon answered when we arrived in front of a cemetery.
Fuck.
✧･ﾟ: - *✧･ﾟ* :･ﾟ- *:･ﾟ✧
"Car accident." she said as we walked to the dark colored gates that hovered over us in the most intimidating way possible.
Cemetries in general are... depressing, but this one beat the system. The light stands barely emitted any light, making you wonder why no one has put them out of their misery yet. The tree branches resembled unsightly hands out to grab you. Dead leaves blanketed the covered the gravestones like a blanket, creating harsh crunching noises that sounded like bones cracking with every step you took. It was straight out of a horror fiction.
"They didn't live in Aurora Creek with me. That's why they're here, out of town." Porcelain was scarily calm.
"Why not? Aunty's girl or something?" I tried to lighten up the mood by event just a fraction. Thankfully, she gave me a short chuckle. It was all I ever wanted. She needs to always be laughing.
"Good guess. But it's more than that. I actually moved here to start anew."
Elsa kicked more leaves in front of her with the tip of her heels, floating in the air for a second before coming back down, "If there's one word I'd use for Aurora Creek, it's 'small.' It's the kind you'd pass by, making your way to a bigger town more worth your time. The kind you'd never hear of. Its obscurity makes you wonder why people even bother to live there when there's so much more in the outside."
That's probably why I loved it so much. It was a hidden gem.
"In a way, I guess, they're right." she stopped in her tracks. The incandescence in her voice began to rise, "There are so much more outside. There are... more problems outside, more people to hurt you, more liars."
She looked calm. Despite the emotion in her voice, she looked calm. Anyone in the world could tell she was anything but.
"And thanks to my moving here, Aurora Creek now had one of those liars."
Her voice was breaking. Seeing her unhappy didn't make me feel the same. It made me angry. It made me furious to think that someone out there could be the cause of her voice and her heart breaking and just get away with it.
Prince.
"I swear, when I see that Prince guy, I'm gonna shoot him with an arrow." My nails could make a bloody indentation in my palm with how harshly I clenched my fist.
Then there was silence.
It would a full minute before the silence would disappear on account of her long and exhausted sigh, making the entire world mourn with her.
Elsa started to fondle with her fingers nervously exactly like earlier in front of the Cooper house. Something wasn't right. "There's something you need to know. About him. About me."
Need to know?
"I don't need to know anything, lass. You don't have to tell me anything." I wanted to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, or elbow—anywhere! But I couldn't bring my hands to do it.
"No, I want you to know."
I could only nod.
"He didn't cheat on me."
The nodding stopped.
I've been internally pouring all my hatred and loathe into this mysterious ex of hers because of that one important detail but it turns out, he did no such thing? An unfamiliar and unwelcomed feeling consumed me knowing that Elsa lied. To everyone. To me.
"That's just what I tell people. It was easier to explain. Trust me, it was a merciful act on his part." You're telling me he did something worse? "Remember when I told you about my tattoo? The winter night?"
It never left my mind.
"He went behind my back, and he... he kept it without my consent."
My blood was lava. I never thought there'd be anything eviler you could do to a partner other than cheating. Now, I do.
"When I found out, I was horrified. I told him to delete it. He said he did. And dear stars in the sky, was I a fool to believe him." And the fucker lied about it again? "The news circled whole school. I was the only one that could be seen... and of course, even if he was seen as well, he wouldn't face any repercussions."
I can't even begin to imagine what she had to go through. I didn't want to imagine.
"Eventually, the school board found out and got me expelled, so as to not 'ruin' their image, having one of their 'best students' have such a background or so they said." her sadness was replaced with anger. "Before that, I was very secretive about our relationship. I was very secretive about a lot of things. To everyone, even my own family. Especially my own family. All in the name of being the good girl I've always had to be for them."
I only know understood what she meant back at the house. I should've known this porcelain had cracks. It was excellent at hiding them.
"They didn't listen, they didn't know how. I'd be burnt at the stake if my family found out I had a boyfriend while in school. I thought it was love so I took the risk." she released a bitter laugh, a frightening opposite to her usual warm ones. "When they found out about everything, they kicked me out. Aunt Arianna, Uncle Fred, and Punzie took me in."
Each act of cruelty she reveals to me gets worse and worse. It was sickening, thinking she was on the receiving end of all of that.
"And yes, they are aware. The 'perfect girl' image lives on but I've gotten used to it. At least, I was free... in a way." I expected tears in her eyes or at least a bit of glossiness in them, but they didn't have any. She didn't cry.
She was used to it. That was worse.
"When they died, we took Anna here, and so— the present."
I was speechless once again. I thought I had a lot to say to her after she tells me the story. Seems like I don't. Seems like I always will be around her.
The good memories now make me feel... unsure.
The way she so passionately chattered on about art and the beauty of everything— who would've thought she came face-to-face with the uglier parts?
The way she danced like there was no tomorrow— was she able to do that before?
They way she had lust for living life like it was a sunny day everyday— it was because she was so tired of the rain.
They way she laughed so warmly and wholeheartedly— she had to weep her nights away first. But still, not a single tear tonight. She had run out, it seems like.
Elsa placed down the bunch of crocus flowers on the stones among all the other previously placed and now dried and dead bouquets.
"I just wish we were okay before they left. Now, I'll have to live without their forgiveness."
Your last moments with someone being one filled with pain and regret; it must be haunting. But what I thought was even more so was Elsa thinking she needed to apologize at all.
"I'll be fine. There is no yellow and orange without the blue." Ah, there's my Elsa! Talking in poems again.
"By chance, did a Dutch painter from the nineteenth century say that?" Her giggle answered my question.
"I wish they just took me as I am."
"How about ye? Do you forgive them?"
After another eternity of noiselessness, the bright angel finally speaks again— and in the most adorable way possible— "Aye."
✧･ﾟ: - *✧･ﾟ* :･ﾟ- *:･ﾟ✧