Chapter 6: The Note

It was already effing dark when Mario arrived at his apartment in Rue de la Folie. It had drizzled for a while, and his hair was damp when he went into the bathroom. 

"Oh Hey man!" 

It was Jack, and he was in a pair of shorts, with a vacuum cleaner in one hand, and vintage wine in another, like he owned the place. 

"Oh, Jack, you are back?" He said briefly, and snatched the bottle of wine from his hands. 

He downed a generous quantity and walked straight into the bathroom. 

"How did you not see me when you walked in?" Jack asked, helping him with his towel. "I was beginning to think you died somewhere and your ghost came back." He had a laugh threatening to jump out of his lips. "You are bathing without a towel too?" 

Mario sighed, and took it from him. "I just have a lot going on right now. Ce n'est pas drole." 

"Don't speak French to me, you know I'm an English man." He said, chuckling, "Well, what is going on with you man? You can tell me, yunno."but, Mario was already in the shower, and in a communion with his thoughts. 

"Is it a girl? Did you get your heart broken now?" He asked again, "Well, I doubt it. You don't even date."

Jack sat on his friend's master bed, and pulled out something from his chest drawer. It was a note that he had found sticking out of the top curtains in his room.

 He had found it when he was cleaning earlier that morning, and he had not stopped glancing at it ever since.

 He started to read it slowly, like before, taking in every word of the beautiful handwriting scribbled on the piece of paper. 

"Hey, Ma-rio,

Please don't find me, for your dear life. Just wish me well. 

What we had was, well, good, but unintentional. _It was my first too_ 

Thank you for the little time with you. I somehow do not regret losing myself to you that night.

 N.B: Louis is offering to transfer mom to a bigger hospital in another city. 

And yunno, I kinda wish it was dad who had cancer. Or Louis, but not mom. 

Anyways, Goodbye, 'you dirty big thing'.

Have a good life.

Belle."

Jack rolled the piece of paper and put it in his jean pockets when he heard Mario open the bathroom door. He wondered if he was doing the right thing by hiding it. 

What kind of girl was she? What kind of one-nightstand wrote notes to their client? 

"You are staring way too long." Mario stopped touching his hair, and looked at his best friend. "Are you gay?"

Jack laughed, bringing his thoughts to a standstill. "I have too much value to stoop that low. Coochies will forever catch my fancy." 

"Of course." Mario deadpanned, moving towards his bed, and deliberately pushing him away. "You should probably go live with one of your whores. I don't know why you keep coming here. You work in property as a housing consultant for fuck's sake!" 

"Well, that is why I settle the rent here, isn't it?" He said, laughing, and for a moment, he was tempted to pull out the note. Would it make him happy, or upset him? 

"Are you shitting me? I did pay the rent, don't fucking throw that in my face!" Mario yelled back, but Jack wasn't catching the hint. 

"I mean, technically you did, but you took a loan for that case, right? and now I'm stuck with paying back those loans. You know working in property does not translate to giving apartments away, don't you? I gotta earn it." 

Mario scoffed and turned away from his roommate. 

"Life sucks." Jack added, throwing back his head for a good laugh. "We are stuck together for life, buddy." 

Mario was quiet. His mind drifted back to the earlier hours of that day. First, he was mad that he had woken up to Belle's absence. In those moments, he had blamed himself. 

Now, he blamed her for leaving abruptly when he was only starting to know her. 

"What are you thinking about?" Jack's voice came jolting in his brain. "You saw the mail outside, right? Don't worry, I should get my pay at work in a couple weeks." 

"What are you talking about, Jack?" 

"Oh, my bad. Landlord came, threw a bit of a fit, threatened to cut our cables and shit, but I got you man, I got us." Jack laughed again, and stood up.

"You laugh about everything, don't you?" Mario sighed, and stepped into his slippers.

"Right. So, did you err.. get that nice girl to bed, huh?"  He laughed again, but Mario gave him a weird look that called him to his senses. 

"I'm sorry for being insensitive, but you need to talk if you want me to know." Jack said, drawing closer. 

"I went home today." He began. "Same old story. My family is hellbent on marrying me off to some greedy family."

"That's ironic. Can you ever get married? You love women too much to stick to one, don't you?" Jack retorted, slapping his shoulder, but he stopped when he noticed that Mario's expression was melancholic. "I guess I cant make you laugh right now." 

All of a sudden, Mario's mind flashed back to the scene at the Aubert's residence. He remembered seeing Annette that day. He didn't remember how or when, but he was sure he had seen her face. 

 "I think something is wrong with me. I don't remember what happened today when I traveled home, to Le Marais . First, someone destroyed my tires, It wouldn't move. Second, I got tricked. It's so strange." 

Jack was dumbfounded. He was not from a wealthy family, and he did not like the trouble that came from such families. 

"Are you saying your family is playing tricks on you?" 

"Unfortunately yes." Mario groaned and punched the bed. 

Jack went on and on, but Mario's mind was on something entirely different. Suddenly, his mind went back to Belle. She was the only one who could make him happy now. He did not know how, but he was certain about it. 

She already made him happy even before they had sex. She had that effect on him. 

It's not about the sex. He thought. 

"It's not about the sex." He said out loud, before he could stop himself. Jack turned over and gave him the up and down look, but for some reason, he didn't care that he had heard. 

"Need some wine?" Jack muttered, disappearing into the house without waiting for an answer. 

"Imma be out for a minute." Mario said, forcing himself up immediately.

But Jack was already far into the apartment blasting some music.

 It was still drizzling, and Mario had no gas left, but he was going to try find her on foot. He was going to visit her address, and check her there. 

He needed Belle, no matter how ridiculous that sounded to his ears. 

As he walked farther away from the property, tiny bits of memories flashed back into his head. Annette's face appeared there, but vanished almost immediately. 

"What could she have done to me?" He wondered. He remembered the look in Aurelia's eyes when he talked about Caroline's fake alarm to get him to come home. His mother seemed to know something about it. 

"She must know." He thought. He also remembered the tears clouding her eyes when she disowned him with her own mouth, there and then. He wondered if something else was eating at her. 

A bout of headache pierced through his forehead and blinded him for a second. 

"Arrrghhh!" He slapped himself to normalcy but it was not working. He dragged himself towards Café Mericourt where she worked, and stopped in front of it, barely able to see the inside. 

As usual, it was bustling with people, people who had no idea where Belle was. Without going inside the café, Mario knew that she was not there. 

"My Belle." He muttered under his breath. She was gone, without question. She had left her new job, and every other thing behind, without giving an excuse. 

His mind drifted back to the ten-minute pleasure they had both shared, before his own reality hit him like a blow. The feel of his hands on their skin, and the ways she responded to all of his touch, was heavenly. 

Looking into her eyes, he had seen something other than his own lust. 

He had seen submission and innocence, and... fear. Fear of the unknown. 

"Shit, Belle, you should have left a fucking note." He soliloquized, slapping his aching head. "Just a fucking note with your fucking contact!" 

Like a miracle, he imagined her walking out of the lounge and calling his name, or calling him a pervert, like she did earlier. 

"One last time, Belle. Let me see you just once more, please." He prayed to the universe, because strangely his body, not just his soul craved her right then. 

Suddenly, the back door opened lightly and she walked out with all of her grace. This time, she seemed happy, and welcoming. Maybe it was because she was dressed in a casual hippie dress, that still somehow accentuated her figure. 

She had her long, jet-black hair flying in directions as she turned to him. 

"Mario?" 

She was looking at him with her pretty green eyes. Mario wiped his eyes and looked again. 

"Is that really you?" She asked, charging  towards him. Mario waited for his imaginations to disappear as Belle hopped forward in his direction