"Oh, don't be a bore! Looking doesn't cost a crown, and you were so curious, weren't you?"
Loren straightened his borrowed jacket yet again and squared his shoulders inside it. It was just a touch tight, but still the closest thing to decent wear they'd been able to find at such short notice.
Arjan looked irritatingly unperturbed, merely eager, and Loren tried in vain to push his own awkwardness aside. He felt silly and out of place as he stood there, waiting in a street corner, and wondered how the hell he'd been dragged into this situation.
Only the day before they'd still been walking happily around the Third Level, when all of sudden Arjan had stopped outside a highly respectable-looking stone building, then taken a few steps closer to the glass-covered notice board attached to its wall. Loren had followed him, observed that the building seemed to house the estate agency whose name appeared in large letters on the top frame of the notice board, and then Arjan had pointed his finger at one particular announcement.
It was somewhat yellowed and frayed at the edges, but the precise print on it stated that something was for sale: A hundred-odd-years old villa on the Fifth Level, in the address Hillside Alley 12, with a charming private garden, six luxurious bedrooms, large kitchen and living-room, plus a separate smaller apartment; please inquire inside for further information.
Judging by the appearance of the notice, not very many people had inquired, or if they had, none of those inquiries had resulted in anything for a considerable amount of time. That hadn't fazed Arjan in the least. In his typical impulsive fashion he'd tossed his ponytail behind his back and just walked in to do exactly what the notice suggested – head held high, and completely ignoring Loren's hissed protests.
That was why they were now here, in the agreed place, waiting for the friendly estate agent clerk who had readily dug up the documents on the building and had agreed with Arjan to come and show the place to them at a suitable time. That suitable time had soon been narrowed down to the next day, in other words that very day, and right then the very same clerk appeared from behind a corner and walked towards them carrying a thin briefcase.
He greeted them with a bright smile and waved aside Arjan's dutiful apologies for making him climb all the way up here.
"No, no, it's always nice to go out of the office a bit," he said and fully sounded like he meant it, too. "Right, let's go then! I understand that you know the way?"
Soon thereafter they were once more outside the pink villa, and the estate agent was struggling to open the door.
"Oh, this has been uninhabited for about four years now," he explained, in reply to Arjan's question. "That's when the last member of the original owner family died – a charming old lady she was, too. Wanted to live here until the last, even after her husband died. And of course most of the house was unused already a good while before her death. An old couple like them didn't really need all that much room."
"Hey, now I remember!" Arjan snapped his fingers. "The Lavender Lady!"
"Who?" Loren gave him a dubious look.
"The Lavender Lady," Arjan repeated. "Back when we first moved here with Dad, I did come to this end of the city a few times, before I found out that there were really no kids of my age around. And now I remember passing by this house, too. There used to be a two-seater swing, and this old couple sitting in it. I thought that they were really ancient, and the old lady always wore this lavender-colored dress, so I dubbed her the Lavender Lady."
"When would this have been – around ten years ago, maybe?" The man smiled as Arjan thought a while and then nodded. "Ah, yes, that would be them. They both lived well into their nineties, so it's no wonder if they looked ancient, but... well, at last!"
The heavy lock opened with a reluctant screech and the estate agent gently pulled the door open.
The air around them smelled of desolation and longing, but there was no trace of rot or decay in it. Loren could almost sense the faint scent of an old-fashioned floral perfume and had to smile at himself. The things his brain would come up with in response to the house's innate charm!
They were standing in a neat entrance hall, with glass double doors leading into the ballroom they'd seen from the outside. When those were opened, both boys blinked a few times. The room was airy and spacey and looked even more so because it had been stripped bare of all furniture. The only thing that for some odd reason had been left there was the piano.
"Whoa," Arjan said after some gaping. "This looks pretty... uh, I think grandiose would be the word I'm looking for."
"Indeed," the estate agent agreed. "It's such a pity that very few people require houses with this kind of layout."
"What you really mean is that there are very few such people who'd even consider buying such a property up here, right?" Arjan grinned a bit.
"Alas, that's true," the man sighed. "Oh, this house wouldn't have been empty for two weeks after it became available, if only we could somehow transfer it two or three levels down! But this is not a fashionable area, I'm afraid, that's why this is still empty."
Loren was standing next to the curving staircase, fingers ghosting along the graceful iron handrail. He found the house utterly fascinating, like some exotic flower, and it also made him wistful, even sad. He let his gaze travel upwards, to the landing that loomed above, and imagined a lady in a ball gown peeking down, a gloved hand gripping the rail, before she'd majestically sail down these stairs to join the crowd.
Such a shame, he thought, such a disgrace to abandon a house like this simply because it was too big and too high up and in an unfashionable area. Such a shame...
"I'd love to see the upstairs as well, if it's not too much trouble," he said aloud.
"But of course! Let's go there now," the man said brightly. "And when we're roughly halfway up, you might want to take a look down. This place must've looked splendid when the whole large family was giving a party or had gathered together otherwise. This way, please."
As they were following the man up the stairs after the estate agent, Arjan elbowed Loren in the ribs.
"Stop apologizing!" he hissed. "He gets paid to do this sort of thing, you know!"
"Are you quite sure?" Loren grumbled. "I mean, he gets paid for selling houses. Surely he must know that we're no real clients? That there's no chance in hell that showing this place to us would mean he'll get it sold?"
"Of course he knows!" Arjan rolled his eyes. "But you heard him – that it's nice to get out of the office? Besides, to me it's obvious that he finds this place quite as charming as we do. So stop feeling guilty, will you? We're not wasting his time!"
Walking ahead of them, the man reached the upper landing where they could see several doors. He opened the closest of them and they stepped into a friendly-looking room with faded wallpapers that probably had once been muted lime-green in color. It was bathed in the light that streamed in through the delicate lace curtains hanging at the window.
Loren went closer to look out, observed that moths were responsible for some of the more intricate details, and decided not to touch the fabric after all, for fear of making it crumble into dust if disturbed. Instead he just peered through the window, and saw a glimpse of the garden below and behind it the blue glitter of the sea. The beauty of it took his breath away, and a quiet gasp next to him told that Arjan shared the sentiment.
They needed a while to tear themselves from the window, but eventually the tour continued. They marveled at each of the bedrooms and their adjoining private bathrooms – an unheard-of luxury, so they unanimously agreed. They studied the servants' quarters, the kitchen and its auxiliary rooms. They took one more look inside the ballroom. And when they'd finally seen everywhere in the house and were standing once more in the garden, the estate agent happily chatted with them a long while, until Arjan casually inquired for the asking price. Loren barely contained the urge to kick his boyfriend in the shin.
After talking still some more, they wished each other a nice day and the man walked away. Loren stared for a few moments at his departing figure and springy step, and when the man was safely out of hearing distance, he turned to glare at Arjan.
"So you absolutely had to go on trying to sound like someone who just might, quite accidentally of course, have such sums in your back pocket? Ready to be dished out to buy some old, impractically large house just because you happen to find it lovely?" he demanded acidly.
"Hey, chill!" Arjan looked astonished. "I told you, that guy knows the situation all right! Believe me, the people working in that business have to be pretty good judges of people. He knows damn well we're just two young guys who happened to be curious, and that's all."
"So why did you have to ask the price?" Loren turned to go, digging hands into his pockets. He couldn't quite explain even to himself why he was so outraged, and angrily kicked an offending pebble out of his way.
"Because I was curious!" Arjan tried to peer into Loren's face, then shrugged and gave up, and instead just fell in step with him. "Loren, please calm down. What's eating you? I didn't mean to upset you, honest."
Loren took a deep breath and stopped, then flashed Arjan a shamefaced smile. "Sorry. I'm being a baby. It just... made me sad, I guess, to see it all forlorn like that. I know, it's stupid to be so affected by a mere house. It's just a house, goddamnit, it's not like it could feel a thing!"
"Oh, but I think that house has feelings –" Arjan began, then shook himself and laughed. "Damn, I'm not making this any better, am I? So let's face it, we've just fallen in love... but hey, feelings or not, that house does have something else that I like very, very much."
"What're you talking about?"
"That gorgeous garden. A gorgeous, secluded, fenced garden." Arjan wagged his eyebrows and Loren's eyes grew wide. "Actually I don't think it's even possible to lock that gate, or at least that guy didn't lock it... you catch my drift, hmm?"
"You're crazy," Loren stated with conviction. "You know it, right? Crazy as –"
"Crazy as crazy can be. Yeah, I am. And I know you love it. Come, let's go!"
Arjan turned to go, and after a very brief moment of hesitation Loren followed him, doing his best to look casual.
