Autumn in London

The proposal

Oliver stood in place, dumbfounded. He quickly turned to Rudolf, in search of an explanation, his eyes widened in a mixture of fear, shock and bewilderment. His face was pale, his knees shaking, and hands sweating.

Bloody hell, fuck, fuck, fuck, bloody fucking hell.

A thousand questions surged in his mind. Feelings, memories, long lost dreams and hopes all tangled up into a massive knot awfully complex for the poor man to comprehend.

He stumbled a few steps back and reached at a wall for support. His thoughts, memories, and emotions tangled in an enormous knot, he could feel his world shattering around him. He looked back at his friend, a look of sheer terror taking over his features.

“Oi…Ollie, are you…”

Frantically, he hurried back into the house, running into one of the guest toilets and slamming the door shut behind him. He took in short panicky breaths and allowed himself to slump on the cold, marble floor. He pulled his hair, anger, self-hatred and grief tugging at his chest.

His heart pounded loudly, drowning out every sound but the shrieking voices of memories he had thought long forgotten.

Why now? Why here? Why her?

Bitter anger began to settle down, despite not knowing who it was directed at, was it  at Rudolf? Elizabeth? The strangers prancing around his home? Was at her? Or was it at himself? Allowing the feelings he had long buried to surface threatened to betray the life, the mask he had slowly built during the past years.

Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic.

He took a deep breath in an attempt of regaining composure. He had to remain calm, get back to the party, and do his best to ignore her, to forget about her. She wasn’t part of his life any longer. As far as it concerned him, the woman standing outside the house was just another of the many women Rudolf hung around, a meaningless, fleeting relationship, it was not unlike him.

“Ollie, dear?” Agnes’  tender voice called from the other side of the door “Are you alright?”

“I’m alright, Agnes,” he replied “just a little nervous.” He said, standing up and taking a look at himself in the mirror. Tired eyes looked back at him, judging him silently.

“Sod off, you dellusional piece of shite.” He whispered, glaring at his reflection before quickly opening the door.

“Need any help?” asked Agnes, eyeing him with concern.

Oliver flashed a forced smile at the old lady. He fixed his scarf and dusted his suit.

“Perfectly fine, Agnes, really,” He reassured her “Where’s Rudolf?”

“He was quite concerned about you.” she said “Brought in a young lady, this one’s new, though, never seen her before. Seems she got caught in the downpour, poor girl…”

“Nothing new” he interrupted “Where is he?”

Agnes looked back at him, surprised by his cold demanour towards her.

“Talking to Elizabeth,” she told him “while his girl dried herself up.”

“Excellent, thank you.” Without even turning to look at her, he walked into the crowd of dazzling dresses and fedoras. The smell of Chanel perfumes and cigarette smoke was overwhelming, the sight of so much jewelry and adornments blinding, it gave him a slight headache.

He feigned cordiality to every couple and guest that crossed his path, suddenly feeling self conscious about his height. He awkwardly stumbled through the place, occasionally stepping over someone’s foot, making his way accross the room with several uncomfortable apologies before reaching Rudolf.

“I insist,” he was saying “you do not see a five legged toad everyday.”

Oliver grabbed him by the shoulder, “Excuse me, Elizabeth, dear, I’m sure your conversation with this prick here is absolutely enthralling, but I need to have a quick talk with him.” He said, before pulling him away from Elizabeth and the chattering crowd.

“Why did you bring her here?” he shot a cold piercing glare at his friend.

Rudolf furrowed his brows “What do you mean, why?” he asked, genuinely surprised “I thought you’d love this!” he exclaimed “This girl came all the way here for you! She worked her arse off to come here, I can’t believe you’re not crying tears of joy after seeing her, its been so long, and you-“

He cut him off “I told you this was important,” he began coldly.

“Honestly, what could be more important than her?”

“Shut up.” mumbled Oliver, anger rising.

“I thought she meant something to you!”

“Shut up.”

“How long are you planning to keep this pretense up? This is nonsense! This facade! I don’t under-“

“Shut the fuck up!”

“Oliver,” Elizabeth called as she walked towards both men “you should do it now, better get to the point with this, don’t you think?” she asked.

“You’re right, yes” he took a deep breath, taking her hand gently and disregarding Rudolf completely.

They both walked up the stairs at the centre of the main hall, making sure every guest was able to see them. Rudolf watched them, sad, confused, angry.

“Thank you for coming, my dear friends,” all attention turned to the couple standing on the staircase. Oliver could already feel his heartbeat quickening and face reddening as he struggled to get the words out.

“So, ladies and gentlemen, I have called you from your unimaginably tedious life to…” he felt a knot uncomfortably forming in his throat as he spoke “well, I mean tedious compared to this party, no? It’s amazing, really lively, this party, an important occasion, really.” he chuckled nervously, beads of sweat trailing down his neck.

Rudolf sighed, watching helplessly as his friend humiliated himself. He was still in the dark about the situation, it was all too strange. He looked throughout the crowd, silently wishing she wasn’t watching Oliver’s pathetic attempt at a speech.

“So as you might know…or not, not really informed of what you’re told to be honest,” he could feel Elizabeth’s cold, grey eyes piercing through him as he rambled on “You…you might know, a very special woman has been forced…I mean, appeared, into my life! A Little dull, must say, at the beginning, that is! But, after seeing each other for some time, I grew quite fond of that sweet honey smell that follows her around, and the strange shape of her humble bosom…and her, uh…voice!”

Whispers began to fill the room. Rudolf’s eyes widened, his heart dropped all the way to his stomach as the realization settled in. He pushed around the people around him, desperately trying to find his companion among the crowd. He had to get her out of here.

“Now, before all of you people as witnesses,” Oliver continued “I have decided its the day I will take her hand and slide a ring onto it. Meaning that I, Oliver William Rosenfield claims this creature as my significant other, legal partner and wife.” He finished, getting down on one knee and taking out a small box.

“I have never loved anyone as I have loved you, Elizabeth,” he forced himself to say, voice shaky, weak.

It was then, when, with the corner of his eye, he caught the sight of a young woman. She was rather short, with a long mane of wet, curly brown hair that reached down to her waist, as opposed to the elegant stylized bobs that were in fashion at the time. He met her brown eyes, widely open in dismay. His heart twisted with guilt at the sight of her grief-striken face, she bit her lip and shook her head, unable to hold his gaze while trying to hold back tears. A lone tear made its way down her cheek before she ran out of the room, followed by Rudolf.

Oliver stood up, forgetting about Elizabeth, and the guests, the whole world around him.

“Hey, hey! No, no, nononononono, come back! Come back! COME BACK!”