“Magnificent!” she exclaimed, blinking her sparkling eyes.
I unlocked the door and told her to come in. She entered stepping in with her right foot first as a sign of good luck and she went into the living room. She examined it in detail and was mesmerized by the building’s architecture.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” I asked, knowing her answer already.
“Are you joking, Jacques? It’s a masterpiece.”
“I know your taste. It was always in sync with mine,” I said, reaching to hold her hand.
“Can I go upstairs?” she asked hesitantly.
“Why are you asking? Let’s go,” I replied.
She was going up the stairs in front of me and was wearing a short white dress that revealed her elegant and well-shaped legs and more besides… I tried very hard not to look at her but I couldn’t resist. I was infatuated by her beauty and by her exceedingly alluring appearance. Even after so long, she remained genuine and feminine as always.
When we were upstairs and after having a small tour of the bedrooms, Niki came up to meet us.
“Awe, what a sweet cat,” she said and bent down to stroke it.
“This is Niki,” I introduced her, bending down next to her.
As we came face to face with each other the distance between us grew less, our faces were so close that made us feel uncomfortable. She stood up and sat on the end of the bed. I approached her and sat next to her, sinking into the soft mattress.
We stopped our conversation. We spoke with our eyes and we understood one another in a strange way. As I was looking at her luscious lips, I couldn’t restrain myself and gave into temptation and sliding my hand through her hair,
I came slowly nearer to her lips, tasting her silky skin and her bittersweet lipstick!
Even though she didn’t resist, she was startled and she stopped me, pushing me away softly with a slight touch to my shoulder. She stood up from the bed frightened and tears appeared in her eyes.
“Are you alright?” I asked her.
She gave me an intense look and slapped me hard across the cheek.
“Jacques, get hold of yourself!” she said, confusing me.
“I’m sorry! It was my mistake. I know, it shouldn’t have happened. Let me explain.” I was trying to stop her but she had already started to go down the stairs and was heading towards the front door.
“Wait, Camellia!” I shouted hopelessly. I hardly managed to see her tearful eyes looking at me filled with frustration and despair before the entrance door slammed shut making a loud noise that sounded throughout the interior of the house.
I felt that I was in love again, after so many years… “Camelia you are my new Eve,” I whispered, sitting on the stairs with my head bowed.
For no reason, I suddenly stood up and started running towards the basement again. I felt the need to see her face once more.
At first, it seemed quite crazy but during that period of my life I found it perfectly normal and didn’t see my behaviour as irrational.
I moved the bookcase with difficulty and took out the painting, standing it in a corner of the atelier, gazing at it as if it were alive. I spoke to it as if I was talking to a real person and not an oil painting.
I had confused reality with lifelessness in my mind. According to me that painting had a soul, beauty, life and was speaking to me. I looked at the portrait and started to explain to Eve that her friend was going to be her substitute, since she was the only person that I knew so well and was filled with beauty and kindness and resembled her in so many aspects.
I sat all night with the painting keeping me company, feeling that I had to explain myself and had a responsibility towards Eve.
The strong sunrays managed to pierce through the basement’s small window and irritated, it forced me to open my eyes. I put the painting back where it belonged and climbed up the stairs to the living room.
I didn’t have the courage to call Camellia again, but I wanted to see her. As I was sitting and drinking my hot espresso, I heard my mobile ringing and I stood up with slow movements to see who was calling.
My face changed suddenly when I saw Camellia’s name appearing on my mobile!
I clumsily put my coffee down on the table, spilling some of it and staining the white tablecloth and I answered the phone.
“Good morning, Camellia,” I said hesitantly.
“Good morning, Jacques. Paul and I would like you to show us around Venice, if you can of course,” she said sharply.
“Of course, it would be my pleasure to take you wherever you want,” I replied, realizing that her attitude towards me had changed.
“Okay.” she answered abruptly.
“Please, Camellia. It was a mistake. I didn’t mean to,” I whispered.
“In an hour, we’ll be waiting for you. Bye,” she replied coldly, without referring to what I had just said to her.
“Alright, I’ll be there in an hour.”
On the one hand, I didn’t feel like going, on the other hand I had to see her, I wanted to meet her again.
I took a gondola belonging to a gondolier, who was familiar to me and I waited for them outside the hotel to take them on a ride on the wonderful Venetian canals.
I saw them waiting outside the hotel and I stood up in the gondola focusing on Camellia.
She was wearing large dark glasses that mysteriously hid her amazing eyes and her thick hair fell gracefully down her back adding a wild femininity! Through her stripy maxi dress her attractive curves were showing, which made her look even more desirable.
They didn’t expect me to arrive in a gondola and they were looking left and right at the streets searching for me, until Camellia turned her head and saw me!
I raised my arms waving at them and Camellia’s seriousness broke as a bright smile lit up her face.
She pulled her husband by his hand and walked towards me.
“Buon Giorno!” I said cheery, stretching my hand to help her get in the gondola.
“Oh Jacques, unpredictable as always!” she said, giving me her hand.
“Good morning, Jacques,” Paul exclaimed in a smug way and showed me that he didn’t want help to get in the gondola. He acted like an expert having a know-it-all look on his face and he came close to falling in the water. What an idiot…
“Good morning, Paul,” I said out of courtesy. I then addressed the gondolier in Italian and told him to take us for a small tour around the sights of Venice.
The route was magical! The Rialto Bridge, Murano isle on the opposite side, Casanova’s stone house and the exquisite architectural house of Marco Polo. They were excited with all the buildings and scenery. They were happy and seemed to enjoy it.
Numerous times he took her in his muscular, steroids-induced, arms and gave her quick kisses on the cheeks and mouth, forcing me to avert my eyes from them out of awkwardness.
We had such a good time that when the time came to go back I could tell that they were sad. I got out the gondola first so I could help them disembark.
“Thank you, Jacques!” Camellia said, getting out the gondola and gave me a tight hug.
“Everything was great,” Paul added, getting out the gondola with difficulty.
“The pleasure was mine, guys. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.”
“So, what else is in the programme?” Paul asked.
“Whatever you want.”
“You could show us your house, if you want of course,” he said, making me and Camellia nervous, since he was unaware that I had already taken his wife to my house the previous day.
“Oh Paul, the man might have work to do. Another time,” Camellia told him without looking at me.
“I don’t have any work to do. We can go if you want,” I replied calmly.
She gave me an angry look, biting her lips and started walking without uttering another word.
On the way to my house we didn’t talk a lot, we only engaged in conversation about today’s sights and the history
of Venice.
As we arrived outside my house, Paul studied the house and took some photos with his mobile phone.
“What year was it built?” he asked.
“The building was constructed entirely from stone in 1880. It’s a listed building,” I said, lighting a cigarette.
“Camellia, don’t you like it?” Paul asked her perplexed.
“It’s beautiful.”
“But you don’t seem excited and classic architecture is your passion. You act like you’ve seen it before,” he replied, startling her.
“I said that it’s a very nice house. What else should I do, start jumping up and down?” she replied in a tense tone and he gave her a stern look to stop their upcoming argument.
“Come inside,” I told them to brake the tension that was in the atmosphere.
They entered the marble living room and gazed at it with wonder. They then sat on the sofa with Niki, who jumped on them as soon as she saw them.
Paul was allergic to cats and didn’t like animals at all. I knew it! I was a hundred percent certain that he was one of those people who hated animals. Exactly the opposite of Camellia, who always had dogs and cats in her apartment.
I made three cups of hot coffee and we drank them, while chatting about old times. About Paris, our life there, our good times, but also about unpleasant events that changed the course of our lives drastically and most of all mine.
As we finished drinking our coffees, Camellia went to the bathroom before they left and I was left alone with Paul. Just the two of us.
While we were waiting for her, I started picking up the cups and took them to the kitchen. At that moment, his mobile rung with a very discreet sound and I saw him looking at it but not answering.
I was standing at the kitchen door, as though I was waiting for something and I kept on staring at him until he answered and he spoke in a suspicious way once more.
“I will call you later,” he whispered in a low voice, putting his phone down.
“Speak freely, I’ve no problem,” I told him ironically, going back to the living room and I sat on my chair calmly.
He stood up and approached me, bringing his face close to mine.
“Listen to me, you idiot; if you say anything about what you heard or saw no one will believe you and I will beat you so badly that you’d wish you were dead. Do you understand?” He was whispering in a threatening way and he was certain now that I suspected his affair.
“No, I don’t understand. Could you explain it to me please?” I asked sarcastically, making him even angrier.
At that moment Camellia came out the bathroom and she started gathering her things and getting ready.
I walked them to the front door while her husband’s angry looks kept on targeting me with hatred.
Closing the door, I started breathing heavily while circling the low coffee table that was in the living room.
‘I’ll tell her! She can’t live like that, not knowing. It’s a shame such a special girl wasting her time with him,’ I exclaimed to myself. I had different thoughts going round in my head that kept me from speaking to her about her husband’s illicit affair. Maybe it would be best if she didn’t find out about it. I’ll pretend that I didn’t see anything, besides it’s stupid to interfere between a couple.
If she found out about it, she would get depressed, especially now that she has a child with him and I would make matters a hundred times worse. There was always the possibility of her attempting to commit suicide and if I take into account that she had tried this in the past, it was not at all unlikely that she might repeat it.
‘No, no, no… I won’t say a thing,’ I told myself, thinking of all the effects and catastrophic consequences of such a revelation.
The sun had started to set and was sinking in the sea just before it disappeared, painting the sky with an impressive and romantic maroon colour. I didn’t want to stay home so I decided to take a walk.
All the time I was walking, I was thinking of Camellia and I together, in each other’s arms in the same bed! Wicked and forbidden thoughts, which I couldn’t expel from my imagination. On the contrary, the more I saw of her, the more intense they became.
I’d started to think illogically and I thought I was losing my mind. Pure insanity and logic are but a fine line away and this is very true indeed.
My break up with Eve had affected me more than I thought. My inner world had been turned upside down, even though years had passed since our last encounter.
I’d decided not to walk any longer but to go towards the hotel, where Camellia and Paul were staying, hoping that I would run into her. And that was exactly what happened!
As I arrived at the hotel, I started scanning the balconies of all the rooms so I could spot her. At the far end of the hotel, on the second floor, I noticed from a distance two bare legs covered in oil that were propped up on the balcony’s railings. Taking a better look, I noticed that these admirable legs were Camellia’s, who was enjoying a glass of red wine on the hotel’s balcony.
“Unbelievable! Exactly what Eve did,” I murmured.
I waited for a while outside, in case her husband appeared but he didn’t come out onto the balcony. Then I signalled her, whistling indifferently so she would notice me. When she heard my gentle whistle she lowered her legs from the railings and bent her head over to see who was whistling in the night. Our eyes met in the darkness.
“Jacques?” she inquired in a low voice.
“Come on down, let’s go for a walk.”
She turned her back clumsily and went inside the room, closing the balcony door angrily. I acknowledged this reaction as a very negative one. I really wanted to take her in my arms again but this time there was no way she was going to come down by herself to me. It was logical. After that unexpected kiss in my house she must have been terrified. Now she had a husband and a child and the initiative I had taken was wrong and not easily forgiven…maybe I handled it the wrong way but at the same time it was the sweetest mistake I had made in the last few years.
A few minutes later and as I kept on staring up at her balcony, I turned around to return to my lonely house. To my own hiding place!
I took two steps when her velvet voice stopped me.
“Jacques, wait!” she shouted.
“Camellia? I didn’t expect you to come down.” I turned round to give her a hug, this time with careful movements so as to avoid any wrong impressions.
“Where are you going? Leaving already,” she said with a cute look.
“But I didn’t know what you were going to do. I was watching you for a few minutes and I waited for Paul to come out. Finally, he never came out and as soon as you saw me you stood up and went inside the room, closing the door behind you. How was I to know that you were going to come down?”
“I wanted to see you,” she whispered and changed my mood immediately.
“I really wanted to as well. But I thought that after what happened yesterday you…”
“Nothing happened, my sweet Jacques,” she said, interrupting me. “You are going through a difficult period and I understand how you feel. I had once broken up with the only love of my life and I know how it is to be crazy for someone,” she continued saying.
“That’s true. Thank you for understanding. Paul? Is he coming?”
“He is in his own world. There’s a football match today with his favourite team and he can’t miss it. I begged him to go for a walk but there was no way I could convince him!”
“I want to ask you something as your best friend.”
“Ask away.”
“Are you sure this man is your type, Camellia?”
“Now you are delving deeply and I’ve no answer. I only know that we have an adorable little boy and that I’m very happy with that.”
“With the child only…” I whispered affirmatively and she nodded her head, agreeing with me. “Haven’t you noticed anything suspicious that might indicate that he may want another woman?” I co
ntinued, hinting, in case she realizes something.
“Oh, come on, that’s nonsense. He’s crazy for me. Even though sometimes he seems indifferent towards me, I don’t think he would ever do something like that to hurt me,” she said confidently, so I didn’t continue the conversation.
“Did you tell him we’re together now?”
“Yes, he doesn’t mind. He is very sure of himself and especially of me,” she said, complaining.
“You can’t be certain about anyone or anything.”
“You are right Jacques; I tell him that but he never listens. So, are we going to go for a drink?”
“A drink? Won’t your husband be worried?”
“But I told you, my dear, he hasn’t got a problem. On the contrary, if I stay in the room with him he will get on my nerves.”
“Why?”
“I know what I’m talking about. Whenever there is a match on I always hear the same remarks: It’s your fault, you bring bad luck and other comments like that and he gets on my nerves,” she said whining.
“Okay, then let’s go.”
“Good, you suggest somewhere because it’s my first time here in Venice and I haven’t got a clue,” she said.
“I know of a perfect place for a drink. It’s quiet and its classic. You will like it.”
“It sounds nice. Is it far from here?”
“No, it’s very near.”
“Where?”
“It’s my house… if you want of course,” I asked with courage and determination.
“Jacques, please. You were my best friend’s boyfriend! Besides I have a family now. I don’t want to get into a situation like this,” she stated quite angrily.
“No, you’re wrong! I didn’t want to say that. I’m sorry if you got the wrong impression. I didn’t mean it.”
“It’s not that, sweetheart. You know I like you a lot and I can’t say no to you, but going to your house will be a bit suspicious,” she smiled.
“Okay, you may be right but I didn’t mean anything by it. I suggested it so we could have our drinks quietly. I thought it would be a chance to talk more freely and to forget about what happened last night.”
Did I Seduce You Mr Jacques Page 9