Story continued

Odessa:

It was him. I was sure it was him, it had to be him. I recognized his strong jaw, and silver strewn hair. However his face wasn’t’ screwed up in concentration, and had rounded out into a look of concern.
“Thank you” I breathed again. It had been a shock when the man had held a knife to my throat, but seeing the violinist’s face again had been an even bigger shock.
“Please” He held up a hand to silence me. “Don’t thank me, any man would have done the same thing, were he in my position”
I smiled at him. “Well, I should be going: William will expect me” I felt guilty that I was leaving after he had just saved me, but the thought of William’s punishments were enough to send me running home.
“May I accompany you?” He asked politely.
“Uh” I paused slightly, just on the verge of saying no. If William saw him walking me home, he would make the assumption that I was having an affair with this man, and he would scold and punish me, but on the other hand, this man had just saved my life, and it would seem awfully rude to just run away. I bit my lip softly, then looked up into his olive green eyes.
He smiled down at me. “It would only be to make sure no trouble be falls you”
I couldn’t help myself, and I beamed up at him. “That would be lovely”
He held a hand out for me to take, and I drew back.
“I’m sorry, it’s just that William wouldn’t like it if he found you walking with me” I paused to bite my lip. “So you see, it’s not that I am ungrateful, it’s just that I would be punished and…” I broke off, not wanting to continue.
“I understand. Who is this William anyway? You keep talking about him”
“William is my fia-” I was about to say fiancé, but something stopped me. I liked this man very much, and if I told him I was engaged, I had the feeling that I would never see him again. “He’s my brother” I lied.
“I had a brother once” He stopped, and looked away, probably remembering a long passed memory.
“If you don’t mind my asking, what happened?”
He looking down at his hands, and traced a line across his palm. “My brother left home when he was fourteen. He said he couldn’t wait around at home doing nothing. So he left. He never liked me much, but when he left it felt as if he had taken a piece of me away with him. That was the first time I picked up a violin…music seemed to fill the empty spaces in me, and so ever since that day I’ve played.” He smiled.
“Did he say where he was going?” I asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.
He shook his head. “No, but a month later a street merchant found his body in an ally” He paused. “My mother cried for months, and my father wouldn’t look at me. He said it was too painful to look at me, because I reminded him of my brother too much. But the funny thing is; I don’t remind myself of my brother at all.” He smiled. “But that’s the past. What is done, is done”
I shook my head, closing my eyes. “That’s horrible” I suddenly felt a twinge of regret rise up in my stomach. I felt bad for lying to him.
He shrugged. “Don’t be. I never liked my brother very much, and he never liked me very much.” He sighed deeply. “Some would say that we weren’t even related…my brother was…handsome, and proud, and brave, and always a good boy,” He paused, “and I was just the opposite: scrawny, introverted, timid, and constantly being scolded. And no matter how hard I tried to tell myself that it wasn’t my fault, I always knew that maybe if I had been more like him he wouldn’t’ have left…and I felt responsible for his death.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Well, that’s why I choose music, music seemed to take away the guilt, in fact, music seemed to take away everything: my family, my money, my friends, my home” He paused again. “What I mean by that is that when I started playing my family left me, and I lost all my money, and my friends abandoned me, and everything I used to have was suddenly gone”
“That’s horrible” I gasped.
He shrugged. “I certainly learned some lessons about what was really important to me.” Suddenly he laughed: “I’ve been renting from a man who helps out young musicians, but my rent’s due next week, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to pay it off”
“I can help you with that” I blurted out before even thinking. It was true I belonged to a rich family, but that didn’t mean I had to go around shouting about it.
“You don’t’ have to do that”
“Yes I do” I paused: I had already told him I would help him out, and it seemed selfish to take the offer back. “You saved my life, the least I can do is pay off you’re rent”
He shook his head. “Come off it”
“No” I held out a hand and stopped him. “There’s no question about it: I’m paying for your rent”
He broke into a wide, crooked smile. “Really?”
“Really” I wrapped my hand in his, and he laced our fingers together.
He smiled down at me. “Thank you”
“It’s the least I can do” I smiled back. I felt my heart rising up into my throat, and beating a thousand miles per minute.
We were both silent for a couple minutes…
“So” I paused, trying to fill the silence, “Tell me more about yourself”
“What do you want to know” He asked politely.
“Anything…just…tell me something”
He grinned boyishly, and began a long story about his childhood.
And I knew it was wrong to have feelings for him, but I couldn’t help but grin as our hands tightened around each others.