Catching Up With the Valos

I walk up to Ville’s tower at 10 am sharp, noting the way the green ivy of early spring wraps its way up the stone structure. Unlike the Valo house in Sipoo, there are no toys covering the small front yard. There is really no indicator that that the person inside has kids at all.

I knock on the door, only for it to be swung open seconds later. Instead of a ‘hello’, I get greeted by the sounds of a screaming child and Ville’s retreating back.

“Come in,” Ville says over the loud screams. “I’m just trying to find a damn pacifier.”

I close the door behind me and take a look around the tower. For the most part, it looks like only Ville visits the tower. The only thing that throws off the living room is the swinging hammock bassinet that sits by the couch, where Poe is currently sitting and screaming.

“Found it!” Ville exclaims, pushing away the black diaper bag he’d been looking in. He leans over the couch to pull his son out of his bassinet before going to the kitchen. I hear water running before the tower is swallowed in complete silence.

“Sorry,” Ville says, his son obviously soothed. “He’s not usually a crier or a screamer, but when he does, he goes all out.”

“He must get that from you,” I say.

Ville laughs. “Yeah, Soya says that too. Well-” He gestures to the tower, “As you can see, the tower hasn’t changed much.”

“You lived here for a time with your family though, didn’t you?”

“We did,” Ville says, wiping his son’s wet cheeks. Poe clutches at Ville’s shirt, obviously wanting to be closer to his father. “But it didn’t change much when we lived here, either.”

“No feminine touches from the wife?”

Ville laughs and shakes his head. “Not really, other than all her shit in the bathroom. I mean, we sectioned off a part of my in-home studio to make it a small room for Aida, but we took that down when we moved. We had a small portable crib for Poe up in the bedroom, but that’s now in the game room back home. I only kept this one because I tend to bring Poe over here and he likes to be rocked.”

Ville leans against the back of the couch and looks around as he rubs circles on the back of his napping son’s back. “When Soya first came back to Finland, she was staying in an apartment about twenty minutes away from here. When she officially moved in here, she already had most of her clothes here anyway, so she didn’t bring much with her from her apartment. She liked the tower as it was and didn’t want to change anything.” Ville chuckles, placing a small kiss on his son’s temple as Poe starts to squirm.

“Soya is a master at being passive. It used to be hard to get her to voice her opinion. Now it’s hard to shut her up, but I say that with love.” Ville laughs. “So when we got married and started combining more of the household, getting Aida’s stuff in here, making more room and shit like that, she nearly had a panic attack when I started moving my things out. She later told me that it was because she didn’t want me to uproot my life to accommodate her and her sister, which is just bullshit as she’s my wife and I wanted her to feel like she was at home in the tower.

“When something doesn’t feel like home anymore, you have to do something to change that, so I did; the fact that my wife didn’t feel like the tower was as much hers as it was mine was part of my decision to move. The fact that my son wouldn’t have a room to sleep in when he grew older was put into my decision to move. The fact that my little sister was still sleeping on a fucking air mattress was in my decision to move.”

I laugh. “So you decided to move?”

Ville grins. “I had to fight tooth and nail for Soya to agree to it. She knows how much I love it here and how much it works for me when I write; so one of her conditions for us to move was to move all my stuff that I had placed in storage back into the tower like I had it when Soya and I had first started dating. So really, nothing’s changed,” Ville says, taking a look around.

“And you still have your bed here and everything?”

“Oh yeah,” Ville says with a nod. “I don’t come out here as often now, since the band’s meeting at the rehearsal studio now, but yeah, I still spend some nights out here. Though, I find I can’t sleep nearly as comfortable if I don’t have my wife in bed with me and my son and sister nearby,” he admits with a weary grin, just as a honking horn sounds from outside.

“That would be our ride,” Ville says with a smile, gesturing me out the door. He stops to pick up the black diaper bag from the couch and follows after me. He juggles the bag, his son and his keys like a pro as he locks the door behind him, turning and gesturing towards the black town car that’s parked in the driveway.

An older man is out of the car and opening the back door, greeting Ville as ‘Mr. Valo,’ causing Ville to wince.

“Seriously Nathan it’s been nearly two years! I’m sure you can call me ‘Ville’ now.”

“I like the formality, Mr. Valo.”

Ville “hmm’s” and kneels on the backseat as he straps his son into the car seat, cooing lightly as Poe starts to wake and fuss. The driver, I now know as Nathan, motions me to the other door that’s been open. I duck in as Ville settles the diaper bag at his feet and makes sure a fussing Poe has the pacifier into his mouth before buckling up himself.

“He’ll be back asleep once the car starts moving,” Ville tells me as Nathan starts the car and backs out of the driveway. “He didn’t sleep well last night; we think he’s got another tooth coming in.”

“I’m guessing he’s a calm baby for the most part?” I ask.

“Yeah, he’s been easy. We got really lucky.” He laughs. “With our luck we could have ended up with a hell raiser of a baby, but there’s still time. Soya assures me that he’ll take after me and get into all types of trouble once he’s older.”

“What do you think?” I asked, wondering if Ville agrees or disagrees with his wife.

“I think he’ll take after Soya. She was a quiet child, or so I’ve been told. Right, Nathan?”

Nathan laughs. “Yes, Soya was a very quiet child, though I doubt she wanted to be.”

Ville chuckles. “I can’t imagine Soya mischievous.”

“Ah, that didn’t happen until she met you, Mr. Valo,” Nathan laughs. “Sneaking out and getting herself into all sorts of trouble.”

“Hey! We never got her into any trouble! Except the one time,” Ville admits with a laugh. “And we never encouraged her to sneak out.”

“Of course you didn’t.”

Ville rolls his eyes. “Nathan has been with Soya’s family for years,” he explains. “He use to drive Soya to all her afterschool classes when she was younger and living here in Helsinki, then drove Aida around. Now...”

“Now I drive Mr. Valo around,” Nathan finishes with a laugh.

Ville rolls his eyes over at me. “This was not my idea; I would just like to point that out. I’m perfectly fine in taking cabs around town, but Soya pointed out multiple times since we moved out to Sipoo that that cab fare isn’t worth it when Nathan is still technically under her employ.”

“Technically?” I ask, looking between Nathan and Ville.

“Miss Soya paid me and her old nanny to retire, but we’re training our replacements.”

Ville shook his head, rolling his eyes. “And we’ve told both Niina and Nathan that we don’t need replacements, but they keep insisting that they take care of us.”

“So you’re getting another driver?” I ask, looking over at Ville.

Ville nodded. “I haven’t met him, but Nathan assures me he’ll be a great replacement…not that I need one.”

I laugh. “It sounds like you and your family is very cared for and watched over.”

“It sounds like my wife is very much adored by the people that took care of her and raised her, and they want to make sure that she and her sister are taken care of before they officially retire,” Ville teased.

I watch as Nathan smiles, pulling up in front of the rehearsal space and getting out of the car without responding to Ville’s statement. Instead he opens my door as Ville unbuckles a sleeping Poe and gets out of the car. I slide out as Ville takes out his son and pulls the diaper bag over his shoulder, thanking Nathan for the ride before leading me into the building.

“It was awkward at first,” Ville admits as he pushes the door open to the building with his side, letting me in before following in and leading me towards where the room where HIM rehearses, “Having someone drive me around that we’re paying weekly. I’m just used to getting rides from friends, or Soya, or taking cabs. I never really thought about having a driver, whereas Soya grew up with Nathan shuffling her here and there since she was young, so she sees nothing odd about it.”

“Do you still feel that way? Odd that someone other than a cabbie is driving you about?”

“A bit,” Ville laughs quietly looking down at his son who starts to wake up. “But if it’s just me in the car, I make it a point to sit up front with Nathan. It evens the playing field a bit.”

We walk into the rehearsal space where Ville’s band mates are already sitting around the room. They all greet Ville as he walks in; though it’s obvious they’re only greeting him so they can get a hold of his son, who starts getting passed around the group.

Poe seems to love the attention. Mige settles the boy on his chest, chuckling with Poe starts playing with his beard. The band seems content in sitting around and talking for a good portion, catching up with each other on their lives in the last week-or-so since they last saw each other. They harassingly tease each other, and dote on the baby as he makes his way back to his father. Finally they talk about work, getting updates on Gas’ medical situation- which ends up being positive as he’s been doing much better in his arm exercises- as well as the possibility of signing onto a new label soon, which seems to be the highlight of their conversation.

It’s obvious as the guys talk that Poe’s presence is usual and welcome. It’s also obvious in the way Ville handles him; every time the boy reaches for the pen in Ville’s hand, Ville pulls his hand away absently, distracting his son by either holding his hand in his(making it much more difficult to write) or placing Poe’s hand in his mouth, causing the baby to laugh as Ville nibbles. While amusing, it’s also interesting to see how Ville’s attention is able to divide itself between distracting his son and keeping up a conversation with the band.

“He’s good.”

I look up and see Burton sitting next to me as Ville searches through the black diaper bag for something, balancing Poe on his knee as he continues to hold a conversation with Linde.

“It’s amusing to watch,” Burton admits quietly with a grin. “For us that have literally done everything together, it’s amusing to watch Ville transform from being so focused on our music and the band, to being a multi-tasker.”

“I’m sure he was good with multi-tasking before,” I say.

“Sure, when it came to the band, and then the band and Soya. But now that he’s a dad it’s just amusing.” Burton grins. “He’s such a pushover now, and I’m not sure its marriage that made him that way or fatherhood.”

“Why do you say that?”

Burton laughs “If you ever see him when he has Aida one-on-one, it’s so fucking hilarious. She has him so wrapped around her finger! She asks for something, and Ville will put up a fight, and ten minutes later she has it. Poe will be the same way. It’s not a bad thing,” Burton assures, “It’s just funny and great to watch; he’s a great dad.”

“I can see that. How often does he bring Poe here? He seems so at ease with dealing with the baby and work.”

“Probably more than Soya should let him,” Burton laughs. “He says it’s to take Poe off Soya’s hands for a while, but...well, you spent yesterday with them right?”

“I did.”

“So you saw Soya’s attachment issues with Poe and how Ville’s trying to ‘wean’ Poe off of Soya.” Burton uses air quotes on the word “wean,” which make me laugh.

“Yeah, I saw.”

“It’s just Ville’s excuse to take Poe and spend time with his son without Soya fussing over them,” Burton laughs. “In reality they both have attachment issues, and we’re the ones trying to wean them off Poe.” Burton looks over at Ville and shakes his head with a laugh. “Aida sleeps over at Linde’s a lot. Linde’s been trying to convince Ville and Soya to leave Poe for the night so that they get a night off, but they both vehemently refuse.”

I laugh. “I think that’s just what happens with every new parent.”

“Sure, it happens to all of us,” Burton agrees. “When Olivia was born, Linde wanted everyone to wear rubber gloves in order to hold her. I hated leaving my daughter when we first had her, as did Gas, but Ville and Soya make up these little excuses so that they don’t have to admit that they don’t want anyone else taking care of Poe. It’s just funny; they’re very protective.” Burton laughs. “The way I figure it, as long as Ville and Soya keep their son away from our daughters, they can be as protective as the want.”

I laugh and nod. I can see it; the new parents aren’t overly-protective in a bad way. It’s not like Ville doesn’t let anyone hold his son; it’s just obvious that he would rather hold on to the boy rather than let anyone else do it. I can definitely see Ville telling his wife he’ll take their son off her hands, just to get some time alone with him. I find it funny that Ville needs to find an excuse to do so, though I’m sure that Soya does the same.

An hour passes and work gets done; fine tuning of lyrics and chords, replaying of certain melodies to see which works best. All-in-all, it’s a productive afternoon that only gets interrupted by a small knock at the door.

We all look up to see Soya standing at the door, smiling at the group and cooing when she sees her son squirming on Ville’s lap.

The group greets her, though Ville gets up to kiss his wife and hand over their son.

“Did you bring us any lunch Soya?” Mige asks with a grin.

“Ah, not this time Mige, I’m sorry I…uh…I came here straight from my appointment,” Soya says, kissing her son’s cheek. “Do you guys actually mind if I steal Ville away for a minute? I need to talk to him.”

“Take him, but leave the kid.” Linde says pointing at Poe.

Soya laughs but hands Poe over to Linde, taking Ville’s hand. I only hear Ville’s worried ‘is everything okay?’ before he closes the door behind him.

Though we can’t hear the conversation, we can see it through the glass door. Soya stands in front of Ville, her arms crossed over her chest as she talks and Ville nodding at her words, only for Soya to grin widely covering her mouth as Ville’s eyes widen and instantly taking his wife into his arms in a tight hug.

I look around the room to see if by chance the group seems to know what’s going on, though by the smiles on their faces it seems like they do. Ville pulls away from his wife, pulling her back into the room as she laughs.

“I’ll tell them!” Ville said, before shaking his head. “No you!”

Soya rolls her eyes before grinning at Burton. “I think according to the bets placed in the last pool, Linde wins.”

“Ha!” Linde laughs as he hugs Soya the best he can with Poe in his arms. He gives her up to the rest of the group before clapping a grinning Ville on the back. “I knew you guys wouldn’t last until Poe was a year old to have another.”

“You know, there was also a bet as to when this little one was conceived,” Burton says, putting a hand on Soya’s flat stomach.

“Yes, and you can figure that one out on your own,” Soya laughed, slapping Burton’s hand away as she hugs Gas.

I wish them my congratulations. Ville thanks me with a grin while a light red blush makes it way up Soya’s face before she thanks me as well.

“I’m going to walk Soya out real quick,” Ville says, taking Poe from Linde as Soya grabs the black diaper bag that’s sitting on the couch. The couple leaves hand and hand, both smiling as they whisper to each other.

XxxxxxX

“I’m scared shitless,” Ville later admits once the band is finished for the afternoon. He takes me to lunch at a nearby coffee shop and begins to speak to me, these being the first words out of his mouth, “Happy as hell, but scared.”

“You’d think that with one already under your belt the second one would be easier,” I say.

“You’d think.” Ville laughs. “But Poe…” he shakes his head. “He was born early into Soya’s seventh month, and he had to stay in the hospital for two months before they let him come home. It had to be the worst two months I’ve ever experienced. Not only because of questionable health of my son, but Soya….it was a really hard time for both of us.”

He’s silent as he plays with his coffee mug, frowning over the dark liquid. “Soya, she tends to be this bright spot in my life; she’s the one the pulls me out of whatever dark hole I’m in. When Poe was born, suddenly we were both in this dark place, and we couldn’t quite pull ourselves out enough to help the other.”

“Did your family help?”

“Um, yeah a bit. I mean, they were supportive and helped us a lot during those two months. Soya and I practically lived in the hospital, which is saying something since we both hate them. We didn’t tell any of our close friends though; we asked our family not to say anything to them. We just…the support alone from my family was overwhelming, and we knew it would just be that much more overwhelming once we told our friends.”

“Obviously you and Soya are in a much better place now that Poe is healthy,” I say. “Did that start when you guys took him home?”

“Uh no actually,” Ville chuckles lightly. “When I was in the hospital room I tended to either be a cynical ass or nervously pace around, so Soya would kick me out when it got to be too much for her. I would just sit in the cafeteria for hours, and one day one of our close friends who had been kicked out of his girlfriend’s room, saw me sitting there and we started talking. He’d been wondering where Soya and I had been the last couple of months and everything just came out.”

He laughs, before taking a sip of his coffee. “He sat there listening and just couldn’t believe we’d let ourselves hold on to that burden on our own, especially when nearly all our friends have kids of their own and would understand. He gave me the kick in the ass I needed to start pulling myself out of that place I’d been sinking into, and in turn start pulling Soya out.

“I’ve always been the taker in a relationship; it was always very hard for me to give myself fully to another person. Not only have I done that with Soya, but I always feel needed by Soya and I enjoy that feeling. At that moment she needed me be to be just a bit stronger and that was fulfilling. Poe was released a couple weeks later and that made the stress of our relationship go down significantly.”

“Though I’m guessing with a new born child and a nine year-old everything wasn’t rainbows and sunshine,” I add.

“No,” Ville laughs. “Poe developed colic after a few weeks in the tower, and that lasted about a month. Add in a couple of incidents with fans coming up and knocking at the door at odd hours of the night…it was bad. That was when I finally decided to move. When privacy isn’t just an issue outside the house but inside as well- that’s when I start getting concerned with my family’s safety. Now with a second kid on the way, it’s a bigger issue and I’m happy that we’re not living in town anymore.”

“It must get hard, trying to live your private life and getting stopped by media and fans.”

“Here’s the thing,” Ville says cupping his mug. “When I’m running errands or a fan sees me around town, I don’t mind being stopped. I don’t mind signing autographs or taking pictures. My wife doesn’t have an issue with it either when she’s with me; most of the time she’s the one that notices we’re being followed and stops for the fans. I appreciate my fans. I love them, and when I’m in public, it’s really a free for all. I don’t mind. On that note, if you see my wife around town running errands or with her friends, please don’t stop her.”

“Does she not like being bothered?” I ask.

“No, she loves it!” Ville laughs, “I probably shouldn’t say anything, as people will start seeking Soya out rather than me or the guys. If a fan catches her on a good day- and by good day, I mean she’s annoyed with me or any of the guys or our friends- and they’re very polite to her, she will tell them exactly where we are. When she was pregnant, the guys and I had a lot of ‘coincidental’ run in’s with fans.”

“And if she’s not annoyed with you guys?”

“She’ll send them to my dad’s shop. Fans have to understand, my wife doesn’t keep tabs on me; we both have work and errands that we have to do that are fully independent from each other. Soya runs a studio both here and in New York. She’s been sitting in on meetings and auditions for dancers so she can build her dance company. She’s a mother, a sister, a wife; she has her own list of shit to do, and keeping track of where I am all throughout the day doesn’t even get close to her list.”

Ville shrugs. “Other than in the morning just before we part, I have no idea what Soya does throughout the day and she doesn’t know what I do. Our plans typically change; meetings tend to shift, so we don’t really know where we’ll be. Nor do we want to. I don’t want my wife texting me every half-hour where she is, and I don’t want to check-in every half hour as to what I’m doing either. We have an agreement to meet at home at eight in the evening, and if we’re running late then we check-in.”

“Thus her panic when you didn’t show up for three days.” I say bringing up the story of Ville’s 72 hour disappearance, that I had been told the night before.

Ville nods. “We’re not the type of couple that needs constant reassurance or constant contact when we’re away from each other. We’re also not the type of couple that dips their fingers into the other’s work. I have no idea what Soya does at her studios. I only know what she tells me, and I don’t tell her what to do with her work, just like Soya only knows what I tell her about our work, and she doesn’t tell me what to do.”

“What kind of things does Soya know about the band?”

Ville shrugs again, taking a drink of his coffee before answering. “I keep her updated on tour news as that affects her and our family. I may share a lyric or tune with her here and there. She, however, does not know when the album will be released, when we’ll be officially signed, when we’ll start recording, or even the name of the album. Even if she did, she’s not the type to share; none of the girls are. They have their own lives and careers, and they don’t revolve around the band.”

“Not to bring up any rumors, but some of the forums say Soya’s a bit short or rude to fans,” I say to Ville.

“Soya couldn’t be rude to a person if she tried! She and Linde are a lot alike in that they’re very quiet. Hurting them is very much like hurting Bambi; you just can’t do it. Soya…you can’t hurt her, and she can’t hurt others. It’s not in her to be rude; short maybe if she’s upset about something, but never rude. But if fans say she was short with them then…” Ville shrugs.

“They must have given her reason to?” I ask, trying to finish his thought.

“Possibly,” Ville says with another shrug. “If a person is rude or demanding answers, especially from someone who’s not in the band, but married to a member, then I don’t see why they can’t defend themselves or shoo that person a way. My wife married me because she loves me…and she may or may not have been knocked up.” He smirks. “But she didn’t marry me because I’m the lead singer of HIM. For one, she knew us before we were HIM; and for two, she sees past the fame and sees who we are. All our significant others do; all our kids do.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a rock star to your wife or son; if you’re not there by bed-time, you’ve fucked up royally,” Ville laughs. “Aida could give a shit that I sing in a band. If I’m not there on Saturday afternoons to take her to the zoo or the park for our date, forget it: I get the cold shoulder for a whole day.”

Ville shakes his head. “Soya doesn’t mind being approached by fans, especially if she’s by herself. She doesn’t mind stopping to talk to either our fans or her own, as she does have her own following. Especially if the fans are polite, which for the most part, they tend to be.”

“That would be when she helps fans score some type of HIM meeting,” I say with a laugh.

Ville laughs. “Yes! Sometimes if she takes a liking to them, she sends me or one of the guys a text asking if we’re busy and wouldn’t mind meeting some fans. If we are, I’ll tell her to send them to my dad’s shop, as he loves meeting fans, and they score some HIM merch from him. Word of advice though, she’s a sucker for sob stories. If you’re visiting Helsinki and you tell her it’s your last night and you really want to meet one of us, she will in fact track us down. She’s driven a fan to meet us before, which we found too funny to actually be annoyed about. And it doesn’t apply to just us.”

“What do you mean?”

“People tend to forget Soya is really good friends with The 69 Eyes and The Dudesons. Like I said, if you have a tragic story- maybe even cry a bit-, Soya will track down whoever a fan is looking for and have them meet.” Ville laughs then shrugs between his chuckles. “I don’t blame her if a fan comes up to her demanding information and she is a bit short. She’s not our personal secretary. She doesn’t have to stop and talk to our fans at all, but she does. She doesn’t have to listen to how it’s your last night and you really want to meet one of us. She doesn’t have to care- they’re not her fans; they are her husband’s fans, her friend’s fans, but she stops because it’s not in her to be rude, especially if someone’s nice to her.”

“She has the tendency to see the good in people,” I point out.

“She does!” Ville laughs. “She really does. But she’s got a fucking backbone, so if someone is rude to her, she’s not going to stand there and take it. So yes, I don’t doubt that she’s been short with a few fans of ours, but I’m sure it was within reason to be. My wife doesn’t act high-and-mighty. She doesn’t have an ego just because she’s a band wife. She’s one of those people that believes in treating people how you’d like to be treated, so if you’re nice as fuck to her, you can expect her to invite you for some coffee and track down whoever it may be you’re looking for or getting you something to have you leave Finland happy.”

“One fan said she ended up with a pair of your shoes, is that true?”

Ville laughs, “I think I was busy as were the rest of the guys, so we weren’t able to meet the fan Soya had taken pity on that week. They were close to my dad’s shop, and Soya took her over and had my dad give the fan a couple of merch items he keeps in storage and for some reason or another. Soya remembered she had a pair of my Converse in the trunk of her car and asked the fan if she wanted them.”

“And obviously the fan did.”

Ville snorted. “Very much so! It was one of my favorite pairs too! Soya argues that they were one of my older pairs and that I was planning to chuck them anyway, but still… I would have liked to have been asked,” he laughs, which cancels out the little bit of annoyance in his voice.

“There has to be limits though,” I prompt, “Where you just don’t want fans approaching you? I mean, obviously when you’re in your home in Sipoo or your tower, but are there any other times when you don’t like people approaching you? Asking for pictures or autographs?”

Ville laughs. “If I’m with my wife, and she’s wearing heels and a short dress, and I’m actually dressed up- not wearing a band shirt-, and we’re having dinner, please don’t come up to me. I’m on a date with my wife, and the minute a fan interrupts, the mood is broken and my chances of having sex just plummet.”

I laugh. “All right, so when you’re obviously on a date with the Missus. Any other time?”

“When I’m with my son or sister,” Ville says slowly. “Aida’s used to fans or cameras approaching and I don’t want her to be. It’s a sore point for her that she can’t walk from her school to her acting classes by herself even though it’s just a block away; she blames me for that,” Ville says with a wry grin. “While Soya’s known as a dancer and her father was a pretty big person in politics here in Finland, she and her sister led a pretty normal life where their pictures weren’t taken except for at events.

“Now, I don’t like the idea of her being stopped on her way to her classes just because she’s my sister. I don’t want her getting use to that or being afraid to walk down the street with her friends when she gets older because of that. My wish is for her to lead a relatively normal life, though she’s already told us she’s not going to college and wants to act.”

“What about Poe?”

“He’s gotten a few cameras in his face. It doesn’t faze him yet, but again, I don’t want him getting use to them. I don’t want to hide my kid, force him to live under a rock; I’d just like to be able to walk down a fucking street without flashing bulbs in his face.”

Ville sighs and shrugs. “I don’t like the idea of taking a picture with a fan with my son in my arms and that picture circulating online, so yeah; I’m less likely to stop for a fan if I’m alone with my son or little sister. I obviously can’t control pictures taken of us from across the street by fans or photographers, but I’m going to try my hardest to control what I can and if that means saying ‘no’ to a picture, then I will.”

“What if you’re with your whole family?”

Ville’s silent as he contemplates it. “Really, I leave that up to Soya. I know she says she leaves it up to me, but when it comes to family outings and fans approach, I try and see what Soya’s mood is like. If she seems a bit annoyed by it, I try and not stop for pictures and autographs. But if she seems fine with it, then I will, since Soya doesn’t mind staying with the kids while I sign stuff. I think differently. I don’t just think about, ‘oh well I can stop real quick;’ I think about who I’m with, how it’ll affect the kids, and if it’s going to interrupt something. It not just me anymore; I have to think of my family.”

There’s a tinkle of a bell as the door to the coffee shop opens and by the smile on Ville’s face, I know its Soya. Sure enough, when I turn Soya’s looking at Ville with a small smile before walking over.

“Hey! I didn’t know you’d be here,” she says, dropping a kiss on Ville’s lips. “I just dropped Poe and Aida off with your parents.”

“What are you doing here?” Ville asks. “You said you were going to hang with my mum.”

“I was going to, and then I got a phone call from Rose saying that she felt my aura shift, so she was grabbing Iz and wanted to meet here.” Soya rolls her eyes. “I don’t know; someone’s aura shifts, the planets align, and Rose just wants to shop. Once your mother found out I might have plans, she was quick to take Poe from me and shuffle me out the door.”

Ville snorts. “I’ll get you a tea while you wait.”

“No, no, I don’t want to interrupt,” Soya says quickly. “I’ll grab a coffee and wait outside.”

“Stop. Sit. You’re not interrupting, I’m grabbing you a tea,” Ville says, standing and lightly pushing his wife into the chair next to him.

“He’s going to cut me off caffeine now that he knows I’m pregnant,” Soya mutters with a roll of her eyes. “I’d like to see how he likes going without coffee.”

“I doubt he’d survive.”

Soya snorts. “No, he probably wouldn’t. He’s already cut himself off from alcohol and nicotine; the man should have a vice.” She grins at me. “Plus without caffeine, I’d have three children to deal with instead of just the two.”

“What are we talking about?” Ville asks as he hands Soya a mug of hot water and different tea packets to choose from.

“You!”

“Funny,” Ville laughs as he drops his arm over the back of his wife’s chair. “We were just talking about you.”

“All good?” Soya asks with a grin. She picks a chamomile packet and pushes the rest of the packets to the center of the table.

“We were talking about your interaction with the band’s fans.”

“Ah, bad then.” Soya laughs, “The guys tease me; they say I have a bleeding heart.”

I laugh. “Do you think so?”

“No,” Soya grins. “I just know Ville; he’s made it seem like I have them meet fans three times a week, and that’s not true at all.”

“Then what’s true?”

“I’ve had them meet up with fans maybe three times total.”

“That doesn’t include the ones you’ve sent our way without telling us!” Ville laughs.

“Yes, well, you and Mige were being asses, and I’m not to blame for actions done while I’m carrying your child.”

Ville rolls his eyes. “Well now we know.”

Soya amusingly shakes her head before turning back to me. “I really don’t do it often. At least getting the guys involved and having them meet the fans that I run into, but I have had my share of conversations with fans, and that happens a bit more frequently. My girlfriends tease me; they say I should just start carrying signed merch in the trunk of my car and hand it out to every fan I meet.”

“So you enjoy talking to fans?”

“Very much so,” Soya admits. She takes a sip of her tea and winces. Ville seems to notice this and pushes the sugar closer to her. “I actually prefer it if they came up and talk to me rather than take my picture from across the street,” she says, pouring a lump of sugar into her tea and letting Ville push the sugar back in place as she stirs the liquid.

“Why?”

“Because for the most part, I’m not the person they want the picture of.” She shrugs. “So why take the picture? Think of it this way-” she says, pausing to take a sip of her drink before grabbing one of the pens that I have and a napkin. “Let’s say HIM is at the top,” she says, writing HIM at the top of the napkin. She then draws lines coming down from the napkin.

“There’s always something here in Helsinki that may get a fan in contact with one of the guys. Going to Ville’s father’s shop, taking a picture of Ville’s tower, or even visiting the rehearsal space; all of these are places where you may just see one of the guys.” She draws a few more lines. “Then you branch out from that and meeting one of the wives or significant others are just a step above to reaching your goal.

“It’s like playing ‘seven degrees to HIM’ or a warped game of ‘Where’s Waldo,’” she laughs. “Yes, you found me, but I’m the easiest thing to find on the Where’s Waldo books and I’m just one degree away from the guys. I’m not what you’re looking for, but I’ll do.’”

“But why do you enjoy talking to fans?” I ask. “Ville’s made it obvious that you don’t have to do it, and obviously you know that people aren’t talking to you because you’re you. So why bother?”

Soya smiles. “I enjoy hearing the stories.”

“The stories?”

She nods. “It’s amazing how many fans I meet that tell me how not only HIM, helped them, but The 69 Eyes or The Dudesons. How these men changed lives for the better. How the lyrics and the music helped them heal. I feel like I can relate.”

“How so?”

“HIM used to help me with my anxiety,” she admits. “Ville’s voice soothes me, and it helped me relax enough to fall sleep. When I had bad nights or if I couldn’t fall asleep, I’d pop in a CD with some of their slower songs and it would help.”

“Now that you have the real thing, do you make him sing to you?” I ask with a teasing smile.

“I do it on occasion,” Ville nods with a small smile, “When she’s restless.”

Soya shrugs. “I just like hearing the stories. I like hearing how my husband and my friends are looked up to. Out of all my girlfriends, I’m more likely to actually sit down and talk to fans. I just like it, and for the most part HIM fans are amazing and polite, and I don’t mind stopping when I’m not busy.”

“Some of your friends aren’t as fond of being stopped,” I point out.

“Ah, no.” Soya laughs. “When a person stops you and says ‘you’re Ville’s wife, aren’t you?’ it’s like you’ve lost your identity. I’m no longer ‘Soya,’ but ‘Ville’s wife.’ All of a sudden who you are gets paired with that of your better known significant other. I’m not fine with it,” She says slowly, “But I’ve come to accept it, while some of my friends don’t like that loss of identity at all, and don’t want to be linked that way to their significant other. It’s not for lack of loving their other half, but it’s not the way they want to be known, so they’re less likely to stop. I don’t blame them.”

Just as I’m about to ask the next question, a wave of brown hair and red clothes pulls Soya up from her chair, knocking into the table in order to hug the woman.

“Careful!” Ville says loudly amidst the quick chatter of his wife and her two friends, catching Soya’s tea mug before it toppled over. I look over at Soya and her friends, recognizing both of them instantly.

One of them is Rosalind Riviera, drummer and singer of the Spanish/English band Revolution, and Jyrki69’s [Lead singer of The 69 Eyes] on-again-off again-girlfriend. The second is Isolde Caspari, former model, but most recently photographer, and Jussi69’s [drummer of The 69 Eyes] girlfriend. As I write this, I realize just what Soya means by the loss of identity.

Soya pulls away from her friends to introduce me, though they don’t seem interested in the fact that I’m in the middle of interviewing them. Instead, Rosalind waves a hand and turns back to her friends while Isolde kindly smiles at me before sliding an amused gaze at her friends.

“Your aura is off!” Rosalind exclaims. This makes Ville snort as he watches the interaction over his coffee mug.

“My aura is fine, Rose stop!” Soya laughs, slapping her friend’s hands away as they’d been picking at the air around Soya’s head.

Rosalind seems to frown at her friend, and then turns back to Isolde, before looking back at Soya. “I haven’t seen your aura like this since…” she frowns again, before a grin appears. “Oh my God! You’ve gotten yourself knocked up!!!”

Isolde’s eyes widen comically, before both women are squealing and screaming over Soya.

“Soya, get those damn screaming harpies you call ‘friends’ out of here!” Ville says good-naturally, although he winces when Rosalind and Isolde turn their attack on him and hug him.

“Oh this is so exciting! And the fact that it’s a-”

“No! No!” Ville says quickly. “We don’t want to know the damn sex of the baby!”

“I’ve only just found out today, Rose,” Soya admits.

“Isolde grab the coffee; baby shopping takes a lot of energy.” Rosalind kisses Ville’s cheek and laughs. “Stop wincing Valo, you’re going to be a daddy again!”

“If that’s your way of congratulating us, then thanks Rose,” Ville nods.

“How about you name me godmother this time?” Rosalind quips back, kissing his cheek again before straightening and turning back to Soya. “Say goodbye to your husband; you won’t see him until much later tonight.”

“Thanks,” Soya laughs, “I’ll meet you outside.”

“Congrats on the news, Valo!” Isolde grins, handing Rosalind a to-go cup of coffee.

“Thanks Iz!” Ville calls, as Soya wraps her arms around her husband, leaning down to kiss his cheek. She turns to me with a smile.

“Sorry about my friends; they’re a bit loud.”

“How did Rosalind know you were pregnant?” I ask.

“Rosalind’s psychic.” Soya laughs. “Or so she says.”

“I feel bad. Our friends know, but my parents still don’t,” Ville says with a frown.

“Mm, they know.” Soya laughs. “You have your phone off, love; your mother called you the minute she found out.”

“You told her without me!” Ville accuses.

“I did.” Soya laughs. “But you told your parents about Poe without me, so we’ll call it even.”

“Deal.” Ville chuckles.

“Anymore questions for me before I leave you two alone? Soya asked.

“Yes,” I laugh. “Just one more.”

“Shoot.” Soya says.

“What about Ville turns you on?”

It’s amazing how red a person’s face can get. Soya seems to feel her bright, red blush, and hides her face in her husband’s neck as he laughs. Ville kisses her temple before pulling away slightly.

“You don’t have to answer Soya,” He teases.

Soya looks up at me with a shy grin. “His hands,” she laughs, “Especially when he’s strumming at his guitar.”

Ville whispers something in her ear that only causes Soya’s face to get redder and her to snatch up her purse from her chair. “Be nice!” She laughs smacking his arm.

He grabs her hand, bringing her down for a kiss. “No baby stuff.”

“No promises,” She laughs, kissing him quickly, says a rushed good-bye and leaving the coffee shop. We watch as Soya joins her friends, who hug her again, before they start down the street, laughing over something that was said before disappearing from view.

“And those would be my wife’s best friends,” Ville laughs, causing me to laugh as well. “So, next question…”

“Well I guess the same thing I asked Soya; what turns you on about your wife?”

Ville chuckles and oddly enough I see red start to flush his cheeks as he blushes. “I don’t…” he takes a drink of his coffee before pushing his empty mug away. “It’s odd. I used to have no issue talking about sex, and what I enjoyed and what I didn’t.”

“And now?”

“I…” Ville laughs. “I have a very fulfilling sex life. I mean, obviously I’m having it if my wife is pregnant.”

I laugh. “I take it you don’t want to talk about sex?”

“I have no issues talking about sex, but my sex life with Soya in particular has always been different. It’s funny that I don’t really share much with my friends either. And after knowing the same set of guys nearly 20 some-years, you learn that there’s not much you can keep from them. My sex life with Soya though tends to be something I keep a bit quieter. We’re not huge on PDA’s, and it’s hard to kiss your wife even in private when a nine year old pretends to gag every time she catches you.”

“The rumor is that once you’re married sex tends to dwindle, true for you?”

Ville shakes his head, obviously amused by the rumor. “No.”

“Nothing else to add to that?” I ask with a laugh.

Ville smiles and taps his fingers against the table. “I don’t know what you want to hear, or even what fans want to hear.”

“Are you guys adventurous?”

Ville laughs. “Sure.”

“No stories to share?”

Ville laughs. “I really don’t know what to say.” He groans. “She’s going to kill me when she reads this; in everything Soya’s done -relationship wise-, I’m very much her first.”

“Her…?”

Ville nods with a laugh. “So as cheesy as this sounds, everything we do is adventurous.”

“Because Soya hasn’t-”

“Yeah.” Ville laughs. “Again, she’s going to kill me when she reads this, but I figure she shares with her friends, so I have a bit of leeway.” He snorts.

“All right, so I’ll ask again. What turns you on about your wife?”

“Ah, everything,” Ville admits. “The way she moves, the way she holds our son… the moment I see her loose herself in dance, when she runs her fingers through my hair; everything about my wife turns me on, but if you’re looking for one specific thing that’ll get me every time, it’s when she gets this look in her eye and bites her lip a certain way.” Ville chuckles. “Yeah, my wife knows exactly what to do to get me to drop my pants.”

I can’t help but laugh with Ville at the statement. “Going back to online rumors, most of your life is online you know.”

“I do know.” Ville nods.

“Interviews -both written and filmed-, pictures and speculations from fans.” I say. “How are you going to handle it when Poe or even Aida comes to learn to find this information, or even second hand from their friends?”

“Well Aida’s already seen me in makeup, as she loves the cover of Razorblade Romance.” He laughs. “But when it comes to them finding things online, I’d hope they’d be able to come to me or Soya and talk with us about it instead of believing everything that’s written.”

“Would you be honest?”

“I’d like to think I’d be an open-book to my children and my sister. I know there’s a lot out there,” He laughs. “Pictures of me kissing other men, articles about my stint in rehab… and yeah, I hate that when they get to that age of realizing just who I am that they may get that information from a second hand source, but again- I’d hope they wouldn’t take everything at face value and would come and talk to me or Soya about these things.

“As for being honest, I have no reason not to be. If I say shit for the world to read or hear then why would I bother hiding it from my kids? I wouldn’t censor my answer, and I wouldn’t stop them from asking questions. I’m not ashamed of my past and I regret very little of it, so any question they bring up to me, I’ll answer truthfully.”

We end the afternoon with another cup of coffee and talking of nonsense things: How the planning for his little sister’s birthday party is coming. How he and Soya are starting to talk about Poe’s first birthday, and how ridiculous he thinks it is to plan a party for Poe when he won’t even remember it. He talks a bit more about summer plans and how if they end up doing a summer tour, how excited he is to have his family with them for a bit of the trip. According to Ville, since Soya’s the boss of her two studios, she planned on spending half the summer in Helsinki and the other half in New York visiting her friends in the states and checking up on her studio there.

“We’re figuring things out,” Ville says, pushing his second empty mug with the others. “She doesn’t like burdening people with things that are her’s alone, so we’re talking about it. But I’m excited to get to travel with Aida, as she’s never really been outside of Helsinki and Sipoo when it comes to Finland, and she’s only been to a few U.S. states, but no other countries.”

“Excited to get her to be a traveler?”

“She loves it; she loves the process of packing and getting on a plane. She loves seeing new places and oddly enough she’s one of those kids that are content in going into a museum and staring at things and learning things; she’s not fussy at all, which is amazing. Seriously, Soya and I lucked out on Aida and Poe. They’re both really calm and easy.” He groans. “The next one is going to be such a hell-raiser, I just know it.”

We gather our things and leave the coffee shop after Ville says he needs to get to his parents’ house for dinner. We stand outside of the coffee shop, and Ville’s grinning as he listens to the message his mother left him on his phone. I can hear the excited chatter coming from his phone before he hangs up.

“Sunday family dinner; now that my parents have grandchildren, they refuse to go a week without seeing them,” Ville laughs. “They could care less if Soya and I are there, but if Aida and Poe aren’t, they throw a fit.”

I laugh. “I’ll repeat, you’re life seems so normal.”

“We try.” Ville laughs. “No, it’s far from normal, but right now with the band on our break and figuring things out, it’s as normal as it may get. I don’t know; I’m quite happy with life right now.”

And I can see it, with the way he talks of his wife and kids. I can see it in the way he walks away, with a near skip in his step after we say goodbye. And I see it in the smile he wears in the family picture he sends me about a week later attached to an announcement that their little family are expecting another Valo. Ville Valo is not only a rock star; he’s a husband, a father, a family man, and he really couldn’t be happier.

Fin