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They were walking arm in arm through the upper deck, his jacket on her shoulder, to spare her the cold breeze of the oceanic night. Gold wasn’t sure about how they ended up being together in that lovely evening but he was not unhappy. Not in the least.
Some time earlier
He was smoking his cigar, enjoying the sunset, when he saw her. She seemed well despite the fight he witnessed that morning between her and that idiotic giant.
She was sitting on the bench where they met the previous night. This time she wasn’t crying but was engrossed into a book… not a girlish book as he had imagined, but one about the most famous ships and their history.
Gold didn’t even notice he was staring when she raised her eyes and smiled at him, inviting him to sit next to her. Why not? He thought. After all it was a long bench. But his body betrayed him once again, sitting closer than decorum would allow.
He casually started talking “Are you interested in ships, miss?”
Another smile, if she kept doing this, his eyes might as well burn in their holes. And his heart might as well jump out his body and ask permission to live with her forever. This… he would refuse to acknowledge this… yet.
She said she loved history and literature and she would have loved to pursue her studies but her father was sick and he needed her. To not dull her mind though, she cherished every book she could find. Even the one currently in her hand.
He listened in awe. He discovered that, when something really interested her, she’d become quite talkative and frank. And she always had some witty, nicely served retorts. Apparently, now, she was well aware of the funniest aspect of living and working on a ship. There were things a book wouldn’t say, but her mind was smart enough to rebuild them from the little clues given by the book itself.
They even shared two of three quips about the sailors and their obsessions. She laughed, he smiled and the world was perfect and right and wonderful.
Gold relaxed, a luxury he never allowed himself when he was with other people. But somewhat she was different. Her lovely and sweet manners were taming his temper and his wariness. She seemed so comfortable, so at ease talking with him that he couldn’t really think about putting an effort in letting his guard up. So he simply let it go.
At some point he placed his jacket on her shoulder, a gentlemanly thing, of course. Everybody would have done the same.
It was not because he needed to feel if she was real. Of course she wasn’t an angel!
Not because he feared she could get a cold and stay locked in her room for the rest of the journey. Of course he didn’t look forward to see her again!
Not because he wanted to earn that soft look on her face which made his knees weak, his mind empty, his heart aching. Of course this meant nothing. Nothing!
She was only a young, beautiful, sweet girl and he was an old beast who was relishing her openness, her eagerness to talk about her dreams and expectations with him, a stranger! Nothing else. Absolutely.
The evening became night and she excused herself. She didn’t want her father to worry about her whereabouts.
Gold would escort her to the stairs, then. The ones that brutally would remind both of them of their different status quo. She was after all only a third class passenger and he… well he owned that ship as far as he knew. He offered his free arm, the one without the cane, and they walked slowly and quietly. Both absorbed in their own thoughts.
“Look!” her exited voice broke his reverie.
He blinked and gazed at her who was watching the northern lights in awe. He didn’t even bother to look up “I see… Belle”. For all the evening he had itched to say her name, to feel it on his tongue and lips. And now it slipped out of him in a sweet murmur.
She turned to watch him, surprised. And she lightly gasped.
His eyes were soft and intent and she was lost. Gold could see it clearly on her face.
They didn’t even notice how the distance between them was slowly disappearing until their lips almost brushed together. Almost.
A scream, from somewhere nearby, broke the spell and she stumbled back confused and embarrassed. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean… I… I really must go.”
She was already running away, Gold didn’t even try to stop her. He watched his jacket slide from her shoulder and fall to the ground.
They almost kissed! For Christ’s sake, what was he thinking? Was he looking for adventure? Was he in love? Of course not! How could he even think about… love! She didn’t even know his name, for God’s sake! And yet she was going to kiss him.
He barely had known her for two days! And yet he was going to kiss her.
He felt listless, frustrated. Irritated.
With hunched shoulders, haunted by doubts, he trudged back to his quarters.