“No way!” Audrey felt like almost screaming when she saw her brothers all dressed up for her date with Philippe. She watched them go down the main staircase. She looked helplessly around and found the butler, Oscar, watching her brothers with an amused smile. “Oscar. Maybe you can help me convince that I don’t need these men to chaperone me on my date.”
“I’m sorry mademoiselle, but I can’t say anything about it.” Oscar replied. The five reached them. “Good evening, sirs.”
“Do we look good, Oscar?” AJ asked.
“Certainly, monsieur.” They turned when they heard a car stopped in front. Audrey raised a hand to stop her brothers.
“For the last time, I’m begging you now to please leave me alone. You’re exaggerating. You love tormenting me like this.”
“That’s what we do. You’re our baby sister.” Brian smiled wider. Oscar opened the door after someone knocked. They saw Philippe standing outside with a shy smile. When he saw Audrey’s five brothers, he politely greeted them. The five looked at each other as Howie nodded to Kevin. Nick and Brian groaned.
“Alright, Audrey.” Kevin said. “We talked about this upstairs. We’re letting you go out alone but you have a curfew. Philippe,” he turned to the young man. “You see these men beside me? This is Howie, son of former Senator Lucia Dorough of Puerto Rico, and he had connections and diplomatic immunity in 20 countries including Mexico. AJ is the son of the actress Eliza McLean and he’s famous for his aggressive business acumen. More so, he is protective of his personal assets, including Audrey.” Their sister’s eyes widened from what Kevin is talking about. “Brian is a well-built PE teacher. He can tackle you in just one hand that you’ll beg for mercy. Nick will be a practicing legal counselor. He can formulate different alibis just to get you where you will belong once you mess up with our sister. I, on the other hand, am a strong-built proud farmer who can take you down from where you’re standing right now. If we say that you’ll bring Audrey home at eleven pm, you’ll do that. We’ll stop nothing to hunt your tails down if you do something terrible to her. We’re serious. We’re not just like anyone. We’re her brothers.”
Audrey rolled her eyes when she saw the intimidating looks her brothers were giving Philippe. They are enjoying this. “Yes, sir. You can trust me on that.” She heard Philippe say and shook hands with Kevin.
“Okay, goodbye.” Audrey said and she went out of the house with Philippe. She saw that he brought a car. When she got inside, she saw her brothers watching them go. Nick still seemed apprehensive over the matter that he won’t be going with her. But it’s better this way. It’s been embarrassing enough for Philippe that her brothers acted as her father should. “Philippe, about my brothers…”
“It’s okay,” Philippe smiled to her. “They seemed nice. I admire their passion as your brothers. They just wanted to protect you and I’m going to keep that trust they gave me. Besides, I have sisters too.”
Audrey stared at him. “Are you for real?”
“Huh?”
“Are you for real?” She asked him again. “I mean, you just learned English and yet, you seemed fluent about it. And you’re in med school.” The car went out of the estate and into the road. Philippe only smiled in reply. “Where are you planning to take me?”
“Somewhere light, I guess.” Philippe slowly spoke. “Audrey, I’ve been studying English double-time so that we can…understand each other.”
Audrey nodded. She wanted to see that he’s a nice guy but it’s still early to say that. In only a few minutes drive, since there’s no traffic, they reached a posh restaurant and parked the car across the street from it. He led her inside and the receptionist welcomed them. She smiled to Philippe and greeted Audrey congenially. “She’s a belle, Philippe. Your mother is inside.” The woman added. Philippe only nodded and they were ushered towards a secluded area of the restaurant.
“The people seemed to know you here.” Audrey noticed.
Philippe smiled. “I’m a regular customer. By the way, are you still studying too?” A waiter came and greeted them. Audrey looked at the man opposite him. There’s just something in him that makes her wonder.
~~~
Nick is tired but he doesn’t want to miss another night again. He wanted to go back to that open restaurant in hopes of seeing Sophia LaCrouix. After Audrey has left, he also left to go back to the restaurant again. He doesn’t know what has gotten into him but he really wanted to see her, even from afar. He only wanted to look at her. He still couldn’t find any courage to walk over and make an introduction.
“Bonsoir, Monsieur,” a waiter greeted him as he settled himself down on an empty table. “Qu’est-ce que vous désirez?”
Nick thought for a moment after the waiter asked him what would he have to order. “I’d like just a ham sandwich and water, please.” He saw the waiter looked at him in confusion. He drew a deep breath. “Je voudrais une sandwich au jambon et d’eau minérale, s’il vous plait.” He doesn’t know if he spoke it right.
“Alright. I’ll send the food right away, Sir.”
Nick’s jaw dropped as the waiter left immediately. He had a hard time over his French and the waiter didn’t even inform him that he could speak English. He slowly smiled and found it amusing. He looked around for Sophia and found her talking with a man on a table nearby. She’s looking quite lovelier tonight with her hair all tied up and she’s wearing a maroon silk dress. He felt the pack of cigarettes in front of him and looked down on it. He felt that he couldn’t smoke tonight. It seems like he couldn’t smoke in front of Sophia too.
He sighed. What’s happening to him? Is he trying to make an impression on her?
“Here is your order, Monsieur.” The waiter said.
Nick looked up to him with a smile. “You are a naughty waiter,” he looked at the waiter’s nameplate, “Julianne.”
Julianne smiled back. “Haven’t you noticed that I’m always the one who’s been serving you here? Oh, by the way, Sir,” he placed a newspaper on the table. “I just thought you may like the latest update.” And with that, he excused himself and left. Nick noticed that the newspaper was open to Sophia’s column. The waiter must have noticed that he’s just here to look at the woman. The column has a subject that tackles about meeting strangers. Nick raised an eyebrow then looked at Sophia. She’s still busy talking with the man she’s with and they were pointing at something in an open book in front of them. He turned back to the column.
‘On Dealing with Strangers.
I met so many people in my life in which most were my father’s business associates, or my brother’s acquaintances. I was accustomed in to dealing with different kinds of people. I have been familiar on how to deal and interact with them. But nothing compares to a stranger that I am about to tell you. This is my story on dealing with strangers. You see, more than two weeks ago, I saw this interesting man in an open restaurant in Passy. I never get to know him or even introducing myself. Maybe I’m curious and wonder who he is but I never get the initiative to try to show interest in him. I guess, he feels the same way, too. For the past weeks of constantly seeing him at a nearby table, there was never a chance for us to get to know each other. We were just simply looking at each other every time we’re in a same place. He didn’t even attempt to stand up and go over my table. I didn’t expect it from him anyway. He’s probably more creative than that or maybe, there’s a unique way for us to know each other. Who knows? My usual imaginative mind gives me different kinds of situations about him. I heard him spoke once and realized that he’s American. Hmm, that’s a start. Maybe he’s a tourist or probably, a businessman. Based on his good looks, maybe he’s an actor or a singer. I didn’t see him as the model-type. He looked too smart for that, no pun intended for male models out there. Maybe, he’s a runaway groom taking his hiding here in Paris. Maybe, he’s an exile. There are many other ideas that came to me about him and I don’t know why I’ve been giving myself the time to think about it. There’s just something in him that took my interest. Or maybe, something about him had aroused my curiosity about the tourism situation in our country. Maybe, he’s just like what I first thought that he is – a tourist. For decades, Paris had been famous to attract tourists from all over the world because of the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, the cathedral of Notre Dame and many others. Strangers were normal among our society and they helped in generating an increase rate in our economy. The rate of visitor arrivals each year is overwhelming…’
Nick read on as Sophia’s article began talking about the effects of tourism in Paris in both ways – positively and negatively. She began stating the crime rate over the past five years as well as the performance of the police authorities to protect the tourists more than they did to their fellow French countrymen. She triggered the laws imposed on tourism, stating that they are not strict enough. Sophia mentioned many other things that Nick thought she’s being very straightforward and hitting people to the very core.
He looked at where she is and caught her looking at him. She looked away as she closed her book and followed the man in leaving the restaurant. She used him as an opening statement in her article. He knows that he’s the one she’s talking about but it doesn’t matter to him. What struck him is that she’s thinking of him the way he is thinking about her. Still, he couldn’t get the courage to walk over and introduce himself. He followed her with a look as she went inside a silver BMW with the man. She didn’t give him any smile tonight but only a look before she leaves. Well, at least he got something. He can already go home and sleep.
