Twenty year old Maggie, stared at Ugo, totally zoned out on her bed. When he had showed up in the middle of sleeping hours, looking confused, she had not asked what was wrong; Instead, she had complained, "It's rude to disrupt a lady's rest." Ugo had smiled a bit, pleased with the easiness between them. Even after she woke Ugo in a few hours, she would still not bring up the 'obvious,' for such was the nature of their friendship.
Years ago, she had met Ugo, a few weeks after the council ruled that boys and girls could school together... She, as always, was being teased by a couple of girls who thought her a snob for not speaking with anyone during lunch break... She ignored them and took a seat closest to the window. "My mum thinks it stupid that I like to sit by the window," Ugo had said, taking a seat by her. She ignored him and kept staring at the dark clouds that covered the town. "I just want to believe there's something out there... Just like my dad," Ugo added.
'Belief itself, was a sign of weakness, inability to grasp life's true realities,' she had wanted to say, but that would have been inappropriate, considering that she wanted to know every bit of the gentle soul, she felt had fallen gracefully at her feet. Thus, began their friendship.
Maggie shook Ugo slightly, 'Sleeping hours are over,' she signed. But Ugo waved her off. Maggie left him and went to get breakfast. When she returned, Ugo had cleaned up. "I've got to go."
She ignored him and set down the food. 'There's been an impromptu meeting. A representative for each family was sent for,' Maggie signed. 'My parents have gone in. Your mum would be there too.'
Ugo thought for awhile then signed, "I still need to talk to mother." Ugo left for the door, but hesitated. "I just wish we were a normal family, like yours... You know..."
Maggie ignored the compliment. "Are you going home?... Immediately?"
Ugo avoided her gaze... "Of course! But after that, I'm off to the town hall." He kissed Maggie's cheek and promised to be back for a meal.
She watched him leave under the massive street lights that substituted the sun. Her mother had always told her that a man was prone to deception. It's his innate nature, she had said. Yet, she still could not believe that Ugo would be lie to her. He had no reason to... Their relationship after all, was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
"I want to have a baby," she had told Ugo a few weeks back. And when she had seen the glow in his eyes, she had told him her plan. An idea, her mother deemed insane. "A woman should wait for the man to woo her," her mother had signed. 'It's how love works'
'It was foolish to believe in something as spontaneous as love' she had signed to her mother.
"You would ask to marry me," she had explained to Ugo. And when she saw his enthusiasm drop, she added, "we could always divorce if you find someone else." Ugo had held her hands and told her he was honoured she had picked him. She could not hear him, but the warmness of his touch and the softness of his eyes, communicated his warmth for her, and she was damned if she did not feel a lightness in her head and some the other silly things she had read in romance novels from the old world.
Maggie sent for a servant. 'Was it in her place to feel pained that Ugo might be hiding something from her?' Maggie thought. Or was it the possibility that it was 'someone' and not 'something' he was hiding that worried her?'
When the servant arrived, she asked him to follow Ugo. 'He just left... Be smart. It's a small town. I don't want any stories,' she instructed and bid him off.
No matter the circumstance, it had always been her policy to be always ready. She was doing just that.
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