Razorblade Romance (Ville Valo Fanfic)

171. In the Grace of Your Love

Charlie's birthday was a bit different this year. Usually we did only a small gathering for the family, but for some reason she wanted a big party this time. Most likely because she was in school already.

"I wanna dressed up like a viking for my party." She said, me and Ville surprised by her choice.

"A viking, dear? Are you sure?" Ville asked, amused.

"Joo, isi. We heard stories about them at school last week and I've decided. And Dylan is also a viking, anyway." We laughed in amusement, she was always very unfaltering. This would be a problem one day, I was sure. We've agreed, viking theme party for her.

"Can I invite my friends?"

"Sure, Lotte. Who would you like to invite?" Ville asked her.

"I want to invite Lara. I don't see her in a while." I saw Ville's disappointment. I was sad he and Gas didn't talk anymore, and maybe that would be a good opportunity to make amends, or at least try. But I wouldn't force him to do it, he had to decide on his own. He looked at me, maybe for approval and I just smiled. He was thoughtful before replying to Charlotte. "Sure, dear. Why not? We can send them an invitation." Ville looked at me again. "Mom can call Natali." He was willing to try, but not much, as he would leave the hard part for me.

"And can I also invite my friends from school?" Now I got worried. Did she mean Louis? I saw Ville was a bit uneasy. "Maybe some close friends, yes. Or do you want to invite the whole class?"

"The whole class, of course! Everyone in there is my friend." Charlie was excited and I tensed up a bit. Well, I guess Natalie wouldn't show up anyway. I thought it would be too cruel to not invite Louis.

Ville didn't agree. "We don't like Natalie, we don't have to."

"It would be a bit harsh for Louis not being invited like anyone else. If Natalie's a good mother, then she will make some excuse and they won't come. Oh, lord. I thought these kind of matters would bother me only later in life."

"Will we invite the parents too? Do we have to? How this works? I'm clueless."

"I have no idea, but we should. Unless you want to take care of twenty kids by yourself."

"Yeah, right. Oh, my. I'm so lazy for these things, I wished Charlie sticked only with a simple party. I don't like the idea of inviting strange people to our house. Does that mean at least 40 adults and 20 kids here? Oh, perkele."

"We could make an outside party. We have plenty of space. No one needs to come inside."

"Yeah, we could do that. I hope it's not a disaster. And she wants to be a viking, isn't that awesome? She doesn't want a Moomin or princess party." Ville chuckled, her choice really amused us.

I was at the Uni, using my free time to organise Charlie's party. We didn't have private offices anymore, now we had a big room so it would create a more amicable atmosphere. Benjamin established this idea, some people were against but in general worked very well. This way people were less down to hierarchy and such, something that was attached to the old way of thinking of some people. Benjamin was a progressive man and I often liked his ideas for the Uni. Benjamin himself always kept his door opened. I didn't see him a while, although I knew he was in his office. He didn't appear by our department and I avoided going there myself.

Dr. Virtanen wanted to give me tips about the party and I heard them all. I never planned a kids party before, I felt so inexperienced.

"No wonder she wants to be a viking. She's really your daughter." Henrik laughed. Should I also invited everyone? This was getting out of hand. I decided at least to invite Dr. Virtanen and Henrik.