Scream Me a Dream

Wednesday September 29, 2010
4:15 pm

“All right.” Soya said, helping Aida into the shopping cart and letting her sit down, before pushing the basket into the grocery store. “Do you have the list?”

Aida held up the piece of paper Soya had put her in charge of. “I do!”

“Great.” Soya nodded, pushing the cart into the produce section, only to stop when Aida started standing up. “Aida, you have to stay in or you’ll fall.”

“You missed it!” Aida said pointing towards the door.

“Missed what?” Soya asked with a frown, turning, but not seeing anything out of the ordinary by the doors.

Aida sighed and sat back down on the cart, crossing her arms over her chest. “Nothing; we’ll see it on the way out.”

“Okay.” Soya chuckled, with a roll of her eyes as Aida told her the first things on the list. Since her father had appointments on Wednesdays, appointments that he kept quiet about whenever Soya asked, she had volunteered to pick Aida up from school and keep her at the flat until her father was free to pick her up; usually that meant Aida stayed right until the time dinner rolled around.

“So other than vegetables and fruit, what else do we need?”

“Cereal.” Aida said, using the pen from Soya’s purse to cross off the items they’d already gotten.

“So, how was school today?” Soya asked as she walked into the cereal aisle.

“It was fine.” Aida said with a shrug.

“Just fine?” Soya asked with a grin, putting a box of chocolate cereal in the basket.

“It’s school Soya,” Aida said looking at her older sister. “I go way too early in the morning, learn grammar and arithmetic, avoid falling asleep and go home. Oh and there’s lunch in between.”

Soya stared at her sister before she started laughing. “When I the world did you get that mouth?”

Aida frowned, pouting her lips, her eyes crossing as she tried to look at her mouth. “I’ve always had it. Why? Has it changed?”

Soya laughed. “Never mind. What else do we need?”

An hour later, once Soya had made sure she’d gotten everything she needed to last her the next couple of weeks, along with snacks for Aida when she visited, she made her way to the check-out line.

“There!” Aida said, pointing to the racks of magazines near the line.

“There what?” Soya asked, looking at where Aida was pointing, only to freeze. “Oh my…” Soya’s eyes widened as she saw exactly what Aida was pointing at. Two magazines, both gossip oriented with pictures of her and Ville, her name plastered on the cover, as they had finally gotten a shot of her face.

“Wonderful.” Soya muttered, grabbing a copy of both magazines, resisting the urge to grab all of the copies, and put them in her cart shaking her head.

“Are you mad?” Aida asked.

“Annoyed.” Soya corrected, with a small smile.

“Is it because you’re on the magazine?” Aida asked, looking at the cover. “It’s a nice picture.”

Soya gave a small chuckle as she looked at the picture of her and Ville sitting in front of the fish and chips kiosk, his arms wrapped around her as they talked. “It is a nice picture.” Soya agreed as she turned away and started putting her groceries on the conveyer belt, before putting the magazines down last, face down.

“Mitä sulle kuulu?”(How are you?) The young girl behind the cashier stand asked with a smile as she started ringing up the groceries

“Hyvää kuulu, kiitos.” Soya answered with a smile, pulling her wallet out of her purse. “Entä sulle?”(Good, thank you. And you?)

“Hyvää kuulu.”(I’m good) she smiled, ringing up the rest of the food and reaching for the magazines causing Soya to inwardly wince, especially when she turned the magazines around and did a double take, looking from the magazine cover to her, before ringing them up and placing them in the plastic bag. She told Soya the total, allowing her to swipe her card, all the while taking peeks at her.

Just as Soya loaded up the last grocery bag, the girl smiled at her. “Olet onnekas nainen.”(You’re a lucky girl.)

Soya laughed and gave a nod. “Luota minuun, tiedän.”(Trust me I know.) She pushed the cart out of the store and towards her car while Aida flipped through the magazine with a frown.

“What’s the big deal?” Aida asked looking up at Soya as she loaded the trunk with their bags. “I mean, we’re always on the magazines because of isi.”

Soya nodded. “I know sweetheart, but this is a bit different.”

“A bad different?”

Soya shrugged. “Not sure yet,” She helped Aida out of the cart and opened the car door for her. “We’ll see what Ville says.”

“Think he’ll be mad?” Aida asked.

“I have no idea sweetheart.” Soya said closing the door and pushing the shopping cart away from her car, biting her lip. She really had no idea what Ville’s reaction would be, he’d been adamant that he’d wanted their relationship private, but things like this were beyond even her control.

XxxxxxX

Ville adjusted his backpack as he walked up the steps to Soya’s apartment, wondering if after dinner it would be fine if they went back to his tower for the night; he wanted to spend some time in his studio working out some of the remix he and Jesse had been working on.

Opening the door, he set his backpack down next to the pink one he knew belonged to Aida; making sure the door was locked, he looked over the couch to see Aida sitting on the floor working on her homework.

“Hey.”

Aida looked up and gave him a small smile. “Hi.”

“Where’s your sister?” Ville asked.

“Out in the balcony.” Aida answered before turning back to her homework with a frown.

“Thanks.” Ville said starting towards the dining room.

“I think she’s upset though.” Aida said, making him stop.

“Why do you say that?”

Aida shrugged. “She says she’s not, but I think she is.”

“Well, I’ll go see what’s going on.” Ville assured, as he walked into the dining room and went over to the open French doors to see Soya sitting at her table, frowning at a magazine that sat in front of her. “Aida says you’re upset.” Ville said, leaning down to kiss the side of her neck. “Hey, that’s us.”

“Have you seen these?” Soya asked, as Ville sat next to her, taking the magazine out from under her.

“Jesse told me about them, he said he’d seen them at the store the other day but he didn’t buy them. Why did you buy them?” Ville asked, closing the magazine to see the cover. “Hm, Isolde is right, we do make an adorable couple.”

“You’re not upset about this?” Soya asked.

“Are you?” Ville asked, looking at his girlfriend.

Soya shrugged. “Not really, it’s quite inevitable to get our picture taken, seeing as…you’re you.”

Ville chuckled as he flipped through the pages of ‘7 Päivää’ looking for the article they had printed about him and Soya while Soya pulled ‘Oho!’ closer to her. “It’s not just me they write about Soya, people are just as curious to know what a politician’s daughter is doing with a rock-star as they are about what a rock-star is doing with a politician’s daughter.”

Soya snorted. “Maybe you’re right, this is a match made in hell.”

Ville grinned at her. “And it’s not like they’re writing anything bad either,” He said skimming the article. “They’re just speculating as to how we met, which I doubt any magazine will get right. I know we said that we wanted to keep this private, but our pictures being taken isn’t something we can control. Let them speculate.”

“Then what can we control?” Soya asked, looking at him. “Because obviously, we’re not going to be able to go out in public if we have people following us waiting to get pictures.”

“We control when we talk about it, and what we give to the public. Soya, we’ve talked about this, our relationship is for us, not for the fucking public, let them say what they want, the people that matter know the truth.”

Soya sighed. “I know, I’m really not bothered by this.”

“Then what are you bothered by?”

Soya shook her head, pushing the magazine away from her. “The thing is: I even think it’s stupid that I’m bothered by it.”

“By what?” Ville pushed.

Soya sighed. “What if my mother sees this?” she put up a hand to stop Ville from answering it. “And I know it’s stupid to be fearful about it, as my mother doesn’t read gossip magazines….ever, and there’s no real chance of her ever seeing these. My father has been amazing in keeping my being here quiet and so has Aida, but I’m so tired of keeping this a secret, of hiding. I feel like it would just be better to tell her, to just get everything out in the open.”

“Really?” Ville asked with a raised eyebrow. “Are you ready for that shit storm, should it hit?”

“Thanks for making me feel better about it.” Soya said with a weary grin.

“Look,” Ville sighed. “I’ve seen you after a conversation with your mother and that’s just on the phone Soya, and every time I want to throttle the woman for making you feel the way she does. Nothing’s stopping me from doing it now that we’re in the same country and then you’ll see a different headline on these magazines.” Ville said with a smirk causing Soya to laugh.

“I just so tired of all these secrets.” Soya said. “The secret of me being here that my father and Aida keep, the secret that my father is keeping from me, the fact that my mother takes money from my accounts without telling me, I’m just so tired of it.”

“I understand that, but had you not seen these magazines do you really think you’d be saying this? Do you really think you’d be thinking this hard about it?”

“Probably not.” Soya admitted slowly.

“You’re emotionally charged Soya; I would give it a few days before you go and announce your presence to your mother.” Ville leaned forward and kissed her temple. “But whatever you decide, whether to call her now or next week, I’m here if you need me.”

Soya gave him a small smile and nodded. “That I know.”

“Soya?”

They both looked over at the doors, looking at Aida who was holding a sheet of paper in her hand. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“I need some help.”

“All right, come here.” Soya said patting the chair next to her. “What do you need help in?”

“Cursive.” Aida muttered, setting the piece of paper in front of Soya. “I can’t get some letters.”

“I’ve never understood why we had to learn all the letters.” Ville said, scooting closer so he could see the paper. “Teachers just want to know that you can spell your name, it’s not like we ever use cursive after this.”

“A lot of people prefer cursive over printing.” Soya said with a grin.

“And what if you wanted to spell a name with a letter that wasn’t in your name?” Aida asked with wide eyes.

“Well, now that I’ve been put in my place…” Ville said with a shake of his head, “What letters do you have trouble with?”

“S.” Aida said looking at Soya.

“I always had trouble with ‘S’.” Soya said. “And with ‘G’” She looked at Ville and grinned. “I’m sure Ville had trouble with all of them.”

Ville rolled his eyes. “Yes, please make fun of me.”

Aida giggled as she knelt on her chair watching Soya as she picked up the pencil to show her how to write a cursive ‘S’. Ville sat back in his chair as he watched Soya interact with her sister, and reveled in the normalcy he was feeling. He loved that in moments of chaos and even with his hectic lifestyle, he could have these little moments of normalcy that involved helping Soya’s little sister with her homework, or even just sitting down to dinner with Soya and talk about their days.

He’d never really thought of living a ‘normal’ life; in fact, he couldn’t imagine himself doing it and he couldn’t imagine Soya doing it either; they both got bored easily and needed to keep busy. Soya was creative in her own way, always sketching in her notebooks with new costume ideas for dances that weren’t even created yet, while he had his own chaos in his head. They needed outlets and taming it would be quite catastrophic for both of them.

But moments, moments like these were perfect: the calm in the chaos, he thought with a small smile, before he grabbed the packet of cigarettes that was sitting in the center of the table, only to wince when he figured he probably shouldn’t smoke in front of Aida.

“It’s fine.” Aida said, having seen Ville look at her before putting the pack back on the table. She pushed the cigarettes towards him again. “Isi smokes.”

Soya frowned at Aida, having never seen her father even look at a pack of cigarettes. “He does?”

“He used to before he got sick; the doctors made him quit, at least that’s what he kept muttering when Niina got rid of all the cigarettes in the house.” Aida said with a shrug as she looked back at her paper.

Soya stared at her sister in shock, feeling her heart beat rapidly in her chest. “Aida, what do you mean he’s sick?”

Aida frowned before she looked up at Soya slowly, instantly chewing on her lip. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you; isi made me promise I wouldn’t tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Soya asked, Ville touching her arm, helping calm her marginally.

“That he’s sick.” Aida said.

“Sick how?”

Aida shrugged. “I don’t know. Mamma doesn’t tell me and isi says it’s nothing to worry about, he says he has good doctors and that everything is going to be fine.”

Soya shook her head. “I knew he was hiding something.” She muttered as she pushed back her chair and left the balcony, going back inside.

“Soya.” Ville started, only for his call to be ignored.

“Is she mad at me?” Aida asked quietly.

“No sweetheart.” Ville said with a small smile, deciding he definitely needed a smoke. “She’s just shocked; she didn’t know your father was sick.”

Aida chewed on her lip, nodding slowly. “When I asked isi why I couldn’t tell Soya, he said it was because he didn’t want her to worry for no reason.”

“I think Soya’s going to worry no matter what Aida.” Ville said giving her another reassuring smile. “Come on, let’s get back inside.” He said standing and taking the cigarettes and lighter with him, letting Aida go into the flat before him while he closed the French doors. He watched Aida eye the counter where Soya was staring at the phone, before she went back into the living room to finish her homework.

“Are you going to call?” Ville asked, settling on the stool next to her. He watched as she pulled her leg up to her chest, resting her chin on her knee and wrapping her arm around the leg as she frowned at the phone.

“I should.” She said slowly, her eyes moving from the phone to Ville. “But he’ll be here in a couple hours, anyway, to pick up Aida.”

“Then I think I’ll go home and let you talk to him.” Ville said.

“No, please stay.” Soya said, using her free hand to grip his. “After my father and I talk, I’ll drive you to your tower.”

“Are you sure?”

Soya nodded. “Yeah.”

“Then I’ll stay.” Ville said, leaning forward to kiss the top of her head.

“What if he’s really sick Ville?” Soya asked quietly, her hand tightening on his, causing him to curl his fingers around hers. “I don’t…” Soya groaned and hid her face in her knee.

“Soya?” Ville asked, leaning forward to rest his head on hers.

“I don’t…” Soya raised her head slightly, their eyes meeting. Ville raised his hand to cup her cheek when he saw her watering eyes. “I’m just getting to know him Ville, what if something is seriously wrong with him and I lose him?”

“Oh, pikku Soya.” Ville whispered, kissing her forehead before moving and wrapping his arms around her. “I can’t…” Ville sighed as he lowered her head to whisper in her ear; her arms coming around to hug his waist as her head rested on his chest. “I can’t assure you that he will be fine, I can’t even promise you that, but I’m sure if it was something serious he would tell you Soya.”

“I don’t even know anymore.” She whispered against his chest. “I want to believe that, but if it wasn’t something serious, why wouldn’t he tell me?” she pulled away slightly and looked up at Ville. “When I was about eleven my father slipped off a ladder.”

“All right.” Ville said with a frown, not sure where she was going the conversation.

“My father’s had chronic back problems ever since.” She rolled her eyes. “He had gotten annoyed because our gardener back then apparently couldn’t do anything right and he took it upon himself to clean our gutters.”

“Really?” Ville asked. “Must have been pretty fucking bad up there for him to go up on a ladder.”

“It was.” Soya said with a small smile. “As he was coming down he missed a step and fell; luckily, he didn’t break anything, but he’s had back problems ever since.” She bit her lip. “My mother… a few months ago, back when we were with Bam, remember the phone call?”

Ville nodded. “I do.”

“She said my father had been in the hospital because of his back problems.”

“All right.” Ville nodded. “Is that weird?”

“Ville, he’s never had to go back to the hospital because of his back problems; he goes to his doctor to get his prescription refilled, but he’s never had to go back to the actual hospital. Ville? What if he wasn’t in the hospital because of his back? What if it was something more serious?”

“Soya, love, you can’t start assuming the worst.”

“But what if-”

“What have I told you about ‘what ifs’?” Ville chuckled. “Talk to him Soya, you’ve been so good about opening up to him, just ask him what’s going on. I’m sure once you do that, he’ll tell you.”

Soya bit her lip and nodded. “Fine, I won’t assume the worst.”

“Good.” He chuckled, leaning down and kissing her, causing her to let go of her lip. “Stop biting the damn thing.”

“Sorry.” Soya giggled, cupping his cheeks and allowing him to kiss her properly. She pulled away slowly, nipping lightly at his bottom lip, grinning at his groan, before sliding off the stool. “I’m going to go check on Aida, I’ll be back.”

“You’re going to be the death of me woman.” Ville groaned, falling back on the stool.

“Ah, so you’ve caught on.” Soya grinned, sticking her tongue out at him before she disappeared from the dining room.

Ville shook his head amused, reaching for the glass ashtray that Soya had started placing around her flat before lighting up a cigarette. He really hoped, for Soya and Aida’s sake, that Jonah’s condition was not serious. He really didn’t know how Soya would handle the loss of her father; actually, if it came to that, he thought as he tapped the ash on the end of his cigarette, he didn’t think even Soya knew how she would handle it.

Once he had finished with his cigarette, Ville had gone back to the living room, finding Aida and Soya packing up Aida’s school supplies, as the little girl had finished with her homework. Every Wednesday, once Aida finished with her homework, the girls would either watch a bit of TV or Aida would pick a movie and they would sit down to watch it.

They were half way through ‘Madasgacar 2’, they had watched the first one the week before, and Aida had insisted on watching the second movie, getting a kick of hearing Ville’s voice on the TV screen, grinning at him every time Moto-Moto came on the screen; when a knock came at the door.

“That’s isi.” Aida said, as Soya paused the movie and moved off the couch to answer the door.

“Aida, why don’t you grab the rest of your things from the guest room?”

“Okay, can we finish the movie next time I come over?” Aida asked, looking at Ville.

“Yeah, we’ll finish it next time.” Ville chuckled watching as Aida walked down the hall just as Soya opened the door.

“Nathan.” Soya said in surprise, seeing the family’s driver at the door.

“Hello, Miss Soya. Is Aida ready?”

“Um…” Soya blinked and gave a small nod, waving him in. “Yes, she’s grabbing her things. Where’s my father?”

“In the car, he’s a bit tired, so he sent me up to get Aida.”

“Oh.” Soya said quietly with a nod.

“Is everything okay?” Nathan asked

“Fine.” Soya nodded, as Aida came out with her small bag that held her school clothes and accepted the backpack Soya held out for her.

“Bye Soya.”

“Bye Aida. I’ll see you next week, all right.”

“Yep.” Aida nodded. “Bye Ville.”

“Bye.” Ville smiled, sending her a small wave as she walked out the door.

“Have a good rest of your day Miss. Soya, Mr. Valo.”

“We will.” Soya nodded with a smile, closing the door behind him as Nathan followed Aida down the hall. Soya rested her back against the door and looked at Ville. “Well, so much for asking him.”

“You’ll have your chance Soya.”

Soya nodded. “I hope so.” She gave a sigh and shook her head free of her morbid thoughts, before she looked back at Ville. “Did you want to stay here tonight or want to go back to your place?”

“Do you mind if we go back to my place? I have a few things I want to do in the studio and I actually have food in the refrigerator, so we can cook this time around.”

Soya laughed and nodded. “That’s fine. I’ll go grab my things and we’ll head out, all right?”

“That’s fine Soya.” Ville nodded watching as she disappeared down the hall to gather things to spend the night, or week as it usually ended up being, at his place.

XxxxxxX

Thursday September 30, 2010
9:45 am

“Morning.” Ville whispered, climbing into the bed and kissing Soya’s neck.

“Mmm, when did you come to bed?” Soya asked, opening her eyes slowly, accepting the kiss he leaned down to give her.

“Around three.” Ville admitted against her lips. “What time did you end up going to sleep?”

“Midnight.” Soya answered, turning away to yawn. “What time is it?”

“Nearing ten.”

“Why did you wake me up?!” Soya asked, looking back at him. “I never sleep in.” she pouted.

“I got bored.” Ville chuckled.

“And hungry.” She accused, watching as he grinned.

“Just a bit peckish.” Ville laughed, leaning down to kiss her again.

“One of these mornings I’m going to demand you cook for me, Valo.”

Ville snorted. “Why would you risk your life like that?”

Soya laughed, turning when her cell phone started chirping on the nightstand; she turned and started reaching for it, only for Ville to wrap his arms around her, preventing her from moving. “Don’t get it.” Ville whispered against her neck.

“I have to.” Soya laughed. “What if it’s about the studio? Or my father? Or Aida? Or…”

“Fine, fine,” Ville said, knowing the list could go on and on, with Soya. “But after this phone call I claim this to be a cell phone- free day, fuck our friends for the day.”

Soya rolled her eyes. “I’ll be sure to tell our friends you said that.”

“Please do.” Ville laughed, loosening his grip on her, but resting his chin on her back as she turned onto her stomach to answer the phone, resting her chin in her hand.

“Hello?” She asked, turning her head to grin at Ville when he started lifting up her sleep shirt to kiss the small of her back.

“Why are you in Helsinki?”

Soya tensed, causing Ville to look up from his ministrations, watching as Soya’s hand tightened on her phone. “Mamma.”

“Told you not to answer your phone.” Ville muttered.