"He fell into despair and lost all hope... For who could ever love a beast?"
-Beauty and The Beast
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When Elle stumbled upon an ad...
The song is Awakening by Taylor Davis (one of my favorite violinist). It's what was playing in the car later on in this chapter so please give it a listen!
Okayokayokay this is not a date, Elle, stop freaking out. I glanced back up at my bare face in the mirror as I tried to hold it together. After taking an extensive shower, I had left myself exactly 15 minutes to get ready, before I was to meet Mr. DeGramont in the courtyard.
I was currently staring at about $200 worth of makeup as I tried to decide whether to go with a winter red eyeshadow, or just a plain Snow White under eye eyeliner. I mean, it's not like he's taking you apple picking Elle.
Wait.
You do need to buy apples!
But it's not the same... Right?
"Elle?" Lumiere asked, letting himself into my personal bathroom.
"You really need to learn the term: privacy." I grumbled, applying contour to my deepened cheek bones.
He chuckled back at me as he leaned against the door frame. "You do know Maxwell was given the day off this morning, right?" Lumiere asked.
"What do you mean?" I replied, blending out the dark winter candy apple red eyeshadow into the edge of my eye lid.
"Maxwell... He didn't have "matters to attend to," Mr. DeGramont gave him the day off." My head swiveled back to Lumiere as he spoke.
I couldn't stop my heart from pounding its way out of me. "No no no no nooooooo. Why would you tell me this now?" I groaned, grabbing my liquid eyeliner to add another coat.
"I mean, it's not like he conveniently gave his only chauffeur the day off so he could personally spend time with you or anything." Lumiere added, quickly bolting out of the room before I could end his life with the end of my hair brush.
Ugh, why did he have to mess with my nerves like that!
I pulled the loose strands of my hair, back into the bun, and got to work on finishing my face.
-
"Don't touch that."
"Okay."
"Or that."
"Fine."
"Not that either." Mr. DeGramont grumbled.
"Oh come on! I'm dying in here." I shot back, moving my hand to fiddle with the cars A/C controls.
"Everything is preset in here to my preference. I'm the one offering you a ride, stop being ungrateful." He growled, turning off on to another street.
"I'm grateful you're driving me, I just know you won't be grateful when I pass out in this car from this heat." I replied.
"It's 38 degrees outside, Elle." He countered. I grumbled some more, before turning my head to stare out the window.
The melancholy sounds of whatever Mr. DeGramont had playing on his radio, quickly took me. It was a beautifully composed piece of a violin that exemplified the thickened forest terrain. As I listened, I felt a beautiful haunted feel seep through the cracks of our comfortable silence.
This man really knew how to choose a piece.
I hadn't been out of the home's compound since I had a arrived about a week ago. I had forgotten just how deep into the forest we were. It surprised me that there was even a market around this area in the first place. Long thick trees blocked out any hope of seeing past the curve of the road ahead of you. It felt as if we were leaving our safe spot, as we drove further away from the home.
I didn't like it.
I glanced around his car once more, still completely baffled by how anyone could afford this thing. The car itself was a beautiful matte gold covering that looked stellar against the sharp edges of the body. I couldn't help but drool when he first pulled this baby out from the garage.
First off, could we talk about the garage? Because that was, in itself, a whole other home. It was literally a mansion, filled with at least 6 expensive looking cars and a glimpse of a motorcycle peeking out behind them. My jaw unhinged, as I tried to find words to describe how stellar these motor vehicles were. I felt so hesitant to even touch the door handled for this thing at first, but after Mr. DeGramont looked over at me like I was insane from the drivers seat of the car, I quickly got over it.
"Do you play any instruments?" Mr. DeGramont asked, as he turned off onto another paved road.
"My mom tried to get my to play the clarinet when I was in the 5th grade." I replied, smiling slightly from remembering just how hard the woman had pushed for me to pick up that damn instrument...
"Come on baby, you might actually like it. Who knows?" My mother asked, pushing the clarinet she had bought me, back into my hands.
"It's not happening." My 11 year old self hissed, thrusting the case back into my mother's arms.
"Why?"
"Mrs. Kalhutz is a twat." I groaned.
"A twat who will help you learn a thing or two about the art of music." She countered, placing the instrument back into my arms once more.
"Fine." I hissed, picking up the carrying box, and stomping my heels towards the band class.
"How did that go?" He asked, another smile playing at his lips, as he tried to conceal it by looking out the window.
"Lasted about a month, before I personally shoved all of my reeds into Margeret Millers flute, after she told me her instrument was better than mine just because she didn't have a reed. Well, now she had 12 jammed into her perfect little blow holes." I replied sinisterly.
"That's sounds slightly disturbing." He chuckled. I glanced over just to make sure my ears weren't deceiving me. Nope. This man fucking chuckled and it was fucking glorious.
"Where did you learn to play the piano beautifully like that?" I asked, turning the evasive questions back on him. He paused for a few minutes to think before replying.
"My parents enrolled me in many different classes as a child to prepare me for... This. Among the many things I was forced to learn, piano was the one thing I chose. I hadn't played for some time until last night, but I'm glad you enjoyed it." He spoke, pulling in to an older cottage looking building that read the sign MARKET in large print at the entrance. "We're here."
The building itself was very beautiful, with worn down bricks that gave it an even older appeal.
There was so many layers to Mr. DeGramont... And I suddenly felt an urge to know more about him, to peel back each and every one of those layers. I found it very challenging to focus on the beauty of the building, when I was still hung up on the beauty of the man in the drivers seat.
Or rather I should say, the man behind the beast.
---------------------------- His car 😍
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