In His Castle. In Her Presence.

If only...

Morning, at least, that was what I thought.
My plate looked like a painting, the fruits were imported from countries I didn't even know the name of.
"Eat." He said.
"To beautiful to eat." I responded.
I looked up from my plate to the person sitting in front of me, three metres away. He was reading the paper with his glasses on and wearing a suit, not eating.
"Why do you always wear a suit?" I asked him.
He sighed and turned to the next page.
"Why do you always ask... things" He said weaving his left hand in the air while finding the word 'things'.
I chuckled behind my hand.

He never fails to make me laugh a little.

"I lost my mind while finding yours. Therefore I concluded some things." I said with a little smirk.
This did got his attention, he looked up from his paper. "So you did..."
I took my napkin hanging on my blouse and continued, with a teasing smile- "I can not ask you any direct questions, for you will not answer them."
Hugo took his glasses off and I knew that I got his full attention.
"That is a good observation, I am guessing that you have some more conclusions up your sleeve."

Time to strike.

I smiled as innocent as I am.
"I believe you secretly crave the deepest connections with others."
This made him put his right elbow on the table and hid the lower part of his face with his right hand.
My voice changed to something more serious.
"But you don't trust to let anyone in, and that is a problem between us. I am trying to..."

...save...

"... get to know you, but you won't loosen up a bit. You can't be alone for ever, you know."
He let his fork turn around in circles in his right hand, not looking in my eyes. And that was irritating.
"Solitude can be a much-to-be-desired condition. Not only is it acceptable to be alone, at times it is positively to be wished for." There he stopped, himself and the fork.
"See in silence, miss Gwyneth, we listen to ourselves, and in the quietude, we may even hear the voice of our deceased loved ones."
The fork hit the left top corner of my long-back chair, I could feel the air, my hair moved a bit because of the speed. My jaw hung down. "Why? Why did you do that?"
"No no... now you tell me something. Why on earth is there an article about you in the newspaper?!" Hugo let the paper fly until it landed on my plate. I watched the journey of the paper closely,

and it looked beautiful,

the way it flew in the air so gracefully. But when the paper landed before me and caught my eyes, it didn't look beautiful anymore. I grabbed the upper corners of the newspaper.

That is ...

"YOUR photo!" Hugo sneered. I was shocked to the level of being speechless.
"And not in our local newspaper..." He laughed sarcastically and with an unbelievable tone. He raised his arms when saying- "But the REGIONAL paper!" But I didn't hear a word he said.

How? Why? I-I mean...

I heard Hugo sighing in defeat. "It is time you explained yourself, Gwyneth...". He stood up and buttoned his blazer up. "We can't live together if we don't talk with each other."
My teary eyes managed to look at him. "Like you do, right? You open up so well, right?" I asked him with disgust.
He looked away, sliding one of his hands in his pockets and running the other over his face until he let it rest on his chin.
"I see, what you mean, and I will make you a deal, if you are interested." He glanced at me for a second. "You tell me what is happening here and I will tell you my part of Geraldines and Gertrudes story." This did get my attention.

There is more to the story? Damn my curiosity.

I looked at him. "Fine.".
He looked rather pleased. "I think it is best to settle this in the main lounge room?" Hugo suggested while he already made his way over there.
Reluctantly I stood up, rolling the newspaper up. While doing that, my angry side came up and I regret having it. "I wonder... Why do you want to know? You could conclude anything from my memories, in which you played when you pleased, or am I mistaken myself?"