Time After Time

“Gustav?”

“Yes, Rose?”

“What do you say if we ask each other questions about things like first impression, favourite colour or anything like it?”

“That sounds good to me.”

Rose smiled in front of him and she looked like she was shining, twinkling before his eyes. They were both sitting facing each other between a table on a cosy little French restaurant, located four blocks away from his apartment. Gustav had tried to remember when was the last time they went for date or were they ever go to any date at all, but it was very hard for him to try to remember anything when every once in a while Rose’s knees would brush him under the table when she moved.

The staff of British Airways had delivered her luggage late this evening and they had dressed casually but with a hint of formalness, something that Gustav observed was actually Rose’s style of clothing. Sure, he never really thought about what she wore back in Australia because the weather was always nice and she always looked like she was ready to go to the beach any time with cute one piece that shows her legs and back, but now that she had to dress with something that covers pretty much all over her body, she looked interestingly formal with coat and long-sleeved dress.

“Should I ask the question first?” she inquired.

“Sure,” Gustav smiled, nodded.

He was nervous and he knew he was nervous. He didn’t know what people like Michael Jones-Andretti do on date, but he had this obligation to at least be as great as him in order to please her. He wasn’t used to eat anything overly fancy, in restaurant where everyone seemed so elegant and well mannered, where his band-mates would have to resist doing anything silly as long as they are inside the building. Rose seemed to understand this and once in a while she would ask him to join little talk she made with the waiter or waitress when they had to choose menu or wine. Sometimes, in times like this, where Gustav watched the red-haired girl who sat in front of him discussing the best yet most affordable red wine the restaurant had in their cellar, it was hard for him to believe that Rose was actually almost six years younger than him.

Waited for their entry to be served, Rose tangled her fingers under her chin and stared straight at him, smiling, and somehow Gustav couldn’t help but feel his cheeks redden and he didn’t know how an almost thirty years old man like him could blush. She opened her mouth and asked him, “So…Gustav…what’s your first impression of me?”

He stuttered, shaking his head in attempt to clear his head. “Uh- um…I remember seeing you not long after I moved in to the granny flat- I thought you have extremely long red hair. I thought of Rapunzel somehow.”

She tittered. “Rapunzel?”

“Yeah. But that was when I saw you from the distance. When Lestat ran into me and I needed to bring him to you, I realised something else.”

“What is it?”

“You’re cute.”

“What?” Rose chuckled again.

“No, I mean, the long hair gave me the wrong idea. I thought you’d be average height or something. But when I saw you closer, I couldn’t help but think that you’re so cute because you’re kind of tiny. I never bring that up, though…not until now…” he scratched his nape, trying to stare anywhere but to Rose who currently busy moaning ‘Awww’. “S-so…” Gustav coughed. “What about your first impression on me?”

“Well,” Rose leaned back, her joined fingers were now on the table. “I thought you’re really posh.”

“Posh?” Gustav repeated, snickered.

“You know, I mean your hair, your piercings, your tattoos, your clothes…at some point I couldn’t tell whether you’re just have a really good sense of styling yourself or you’re some kind of public figure,” she shrugged. “I figured out later that you’re both.”

“Yeah?” Gustav smiled, didn’t expect the conversation to be this interesting.

Their entry, a plate of soup, was served. They both backed away from the table and start talking again after placing napkin on their laps. He couldn’t help but to copy her seemingly perfect table manner up to the way she raised her spoon.

“You wore mostly black- well you still do,” she stared at the ceilings before stared at him again, probably finished remembering what did he looked like back there. “And your eyes, of course. They’re very pale, so it’s easy to tell when you’re scared on intimidated.”

“What?” Gustav almost choked on his soup.

Rose smirked, “I’m sure you understand the main factors of why our pupils are dilated?”

He nodded, waiting for her to continue.

“That or we’re in the dark, dim place. Whenever we are, I don’t care too much. But sometimes your pupils dilated rather strikingly whenever we’re close and I was wondering whether it was because I make you feel scared or uncomfortable.”

Gustav still didn’t respond. He knew that in some interviews, people would talk about his eyes, but only people who actually live very close to him like Rose realised things like this. Gustav did realise that at some point, Rose’s honesty and bravery intimidated him in the point he wondered where she had all this confidence and strength. Maybe that was when she saw his dilated pupils.

“I already thinking about you all the time since I saw you, though,” Rose stared at him.

He tilted his head a little, “Why?”

“Because you look angry. Constantly,” she smiled sadly. “British people moved to Australia for reason, Gustav, and for a lot of time, I couldn’t pin your reason. Why would this posh, London-accented man moved to a small house in a small place, far from town or even beach? I mean, I bought my house there because it was quiet- and cheap. Cheap is more important. But you? Your level is higher than me.”

Gustav somehow muttered “Sorry”.

They both had finished their soups and Rose extended her hand to squeeze his hand that rested upon the table gently. “It’s okay, Gustav, don’t apologise. I think you’ve tried your hardest and everything is going to be okay from now on.” He saw their hands and then up to her smile and that was another moment where he felt so intimate with her; she saw him- who he really was. The waiter with the main course arrived and they quickly withdrawn their hands from the table, replying the waiter’s smile awkwardly until he left.

Both chuckled into their hand, trying to not laughing too loud, when they was sure the waiter wouldn’t hear them anymore.

The rest of the night was, as Gustav recalled it, magical. Everything felt perfect, from their main course to the wine Rose chose for them and they went home a little light-headed, crashing to bed together, chuckling and joined their lips together, savouring the flavour of the wine they taste once again. He was full from delicious food and the woman of his dream was currently on his side, her hips on his left arm and her head on his shoulder.

After five minutes of lying down without doing nothing but occasional nuzzle from Rose against him or Gustav stroking the side of her body gently, she sat, eyeing their shoes scattered on bedroom floor and pouted.

“Rose?” Gustav yawned, ready to fall asleep.

“Are you tired? I want to at least change to pyjama and put our shoes back to its place,” she turned around to stare at him. The room was dim and some light left from small lamp in bedside table shone into her face. Gustav smiled at her discipline attitude and nodded.

“Of course. I’ll join you.” He sat too and they took their time to change clothes and cleaning up a little before they threw themselves at Gustav’s bed again, laughing merely just because they were happy. Rose muttered her ‘Good night, Gustav’ and he replied after kissed her forehead. It took him awhile to fall asleep and Gustav knew why.

Because he always felt that he’d miss a lot of thing if he spent just another minute to sleep when he could see her- even though if she was sleeping.


A week passed since Young Guns was back England. Gustav kept contacting the rest of his band-mates and letting people like his mother and his brother knew that he was back in London, while Rose contacted the hospital people’s, Michael, and helping them to schedule when the surgery could take time and place.

One evening, when dark had already approached the horizon, because summer sun always set a little earlier in the winter, Rose went home to find Gustav in the kitchen, trying to make her a stew. Lately, because they didn’t really had anything to do and it was mostly too cold to go outside to enjoy the city, they had been trying to cook various kind of menu and Rose wasn’t fully surprised to find out that Gustav was pretty good at it. He then insisted on making them food and said that he had experienced more food from more places compared to Rose, who only laughed at his remark.

“It smells amazing,” Rose smiled, inhaling the air for a second, before walked to Gustav, who smiled smugly, proud that he cooked something that smells this good. “What is this you’re cooking, Gustav?”

He reached his iPhone to show her the recipe on the screen.

“Uh huh,” Rose nodded, smiling to him before she tiptoed to kiss him on the lips, something that he replied rather eagerly. “All right, I’ll clean up and we can sit for dinner, then.” She pulled back and smiled once again before walking towards the stairs.

“Oh Rose?” Gustav shouted before she disappeared on upstairs.

“What?” she stopped.

“My brother would be in London for a couple of days for work before Christmas. He wanted to see me. Do you want to join us for drink or maybe lunch next Thursday?”

At this point, Rose was already backing downstairs. “Of course. I would love to meet your brother, Gustav.” He had turned off the stove and they hugged, Rose mumbled. “You never really talked about him before. I don’t even know his name. Where is he? What is his occupation?”

Gustav buried his face on her hair, hummed. “That answer, Young Lady, would have to wait until you clean yourself up.” They pulled back. “I’ll explain everything to you while we have dinner, okay?”

Rose smiled. “Okay.”


“You know, you can actually get really good at cooking, Gustav.”

“I reckon- too bad that usually I don’t have time to do it.”

Rose seemed to be pleased by his cooking and Gustav didn’t remember the last time he felt this happy over something he done. The red-haired girl put her spoon down on the plate and she squinted her eyes. “So…you’re going to tell me about your brother?”

“Oh, right. His name is Thomas. I call him Tom- well, my mum and I used to call him ‘Tommy’ but he refused to be called that since he got his first girlfriend at fifteen,” Gustav chuckled and watched Rose staring at him amusedly. “He’s Irish- well, half-Irish actually. We don’t share the same father. We’re close, obviously- very close. Of course we have our own lives now, but he’s the one that got me into music.”

She nodded and grinned widely, “That’s fascinating.”

Gustav pursed his lips, “Really? I thought it’d be considerably boring.” He gulped and then attacked the food left on his plate when he asked, “Didn’t you ever hear about your boyfriend’s siblings before? What about Michael? Did he have brother or sister?” As he spoke, the half-Norwegian man couldn’t help but think of the Jones-Andretti siblings; all of them would be as intimidating and as unapproachable as Michael.

Rose shook her head, “Well, maybe Michael have sibling, but we never know. He didn’t know his father.”

Gustav nearly spitted the food on his mouth. He slowly raised his head so his gaze met Rose’s, who seemed serious and saddened. “He didn’t?” It was hard to believe that someone so mighty like him grew up not in a perfect family with rich mum and dad.

“He was poorer than me now when he grew up,” she chuckled. “His mother raised him alone. Before she passed away two years before I met Michael, she told him once that his father was some kind of Italian mafia- quite high in rank, too, I must add.”

Gustav raised his eyebrows. That would explain a lot of why he scares people even when he didn’t mean to.

“People like him, like Michael said, probably didn’t only have one child, but we never know. Michael was never proud of his biological father, but sometimes, mostly when he was sleepy or a little drunk from good Italian wine, he said that his father- until this second we don’t know whether the man is alive or dead- must have been smart, because how else could he ace on his class and job? His mother was just a simple village girl from a distant moor in England, with Michael’s grandparents spending their time getting drunk because they felt like the factory never paid them enough.” Rose sighed. “And then-“

He put his index finger into her lips, stopping her from talking.

“Huh?” she stared at his finger on her face. “Why?”

Gustav smiled, “I’m a little jealous when you talk about him. Can we talk about me or my brother instead?” He pulled his hand back, resting his cheek on his palm with his elbow on the table. As some kind of the leader for his mates in Young Guns, it was rare for him to act so self-centred like this, but he had to admit that it was fun doing it once in a while, especially when he knew that Rose would follow him everywhere in the house like a dog waiting to be forgiven for its mistake. He liked the feeling that she was there, following him. But he mainly loved to feel, hear, and see her there.

“Okay…” she already pouted in a way that made him fascinated, while Gustav tried so hard to not giggle. “So…” Rose finally looked up at him again. “Where are we going to meet him?”


The pub where Gustav’s brother would come to meet them was pretty, mainly made out of wood, and everything seemed to be bathed in warm, orange light. Rose did visit some really enchanting place with Michael, but any place in London seemed to be fairly different in a way she hadn't been able to put her finger at. The red haired girl looked around. They arrived here less than two minutes ago and Gustav got a call. Rose knew that he started to contact Young Guns’ record label again, so that was why he said that the phone was important and work-related and he need to take it. She saw Gustav outside, still talking to his iPhone.

"Well, hello there.”

Rose turned her head to a tall man smiling at her. He didn’t expect anyone to greet here there but she was glad that he did. The man who greeted her had strawberry blonde hair with dark brown eyes, and dressed in an unbuttoned suit. She smiled back at him and he spoke, "You're alone here?" He was speaking with an accent. Not London accent, but not something that isn't British. An accent she couldn’t pin down the name yet.

"I'm currently waiting for someone- well, two men, actually," Rose referred to Gustav and his brother. She felt strangely comfortable talking to this man, who whistled in a joking manner to her words.

"Two men, eh?" He tittered.

Rose chuckled, "Not my man. Well, one of them is my man." She couldn't help but to smile when she referred Gustav as her man.

They continued to talk without even bothered to introduce themselves properly. He was from Ireland and he taught at a Uni there. He had never been to Australia and was listening to Rose's story about brown snake when Gustav was back.

He looked at the strawberry blonde man next to Rose, his expression was a little shocked.

"Gustav, hi, you done with the call? I was just chatting with this gentleman here, uh, Mr...?" Rose then realized she didn't know his name.

"Thomas," Gustav was the one who answered. "Thomas Wood."

"Huh?" Rose tilted her head a little like a confused dog.

"He's my brother," Gustav laughed.

Tom Wood smiled at Rose, then his brother. "How are you, Gus? I didn't know I was chatting my brother's partner." He laughed and extended his right hand to Rose. "Tom," he introduced himself.

"Rose,” she beamed her smile at him, glad she finally met Gustav’s brother.


They took their seats on the corner of the pub, where Gustav and Tom ordered beer while Rose chose Coke. Gustav mentioned that the place have one of the best fish and chips in town, so they ordered one portion for each person and chatted while they waited for their order. In the beginning, the three of them chatted together, but then slowly Tom and Rose were intensely chatting about pop culture to the point where Gustav felt like they were talking in an entirely different language.

They were halfway discussing about post-modernism in movie score when their food arrived. That was when Tom and Rose realised that they were sort of ignoring Gustav. Both of them quickly apologised and Gustav replied with a laugh and smile.

"Don't worry about me. I actually enjoy watching you two chat," he raised his beer and smirked. "I knew you two would suit each other pretty amazingly."

Rose looked a little shy, but Tom just smirked at him, before they finally eat, not chatting as much as before and the topic was the comparison between the most expensive fish and chips they had eaten in their life. After they were done, Rose politely stood up and smiled.

"If you gentleman excuse me, I'd like to use the lavatory.”

Rose left them and Tom waited until she was far enough before he whistled.

"Brother, you are the luckiest bastard in the world," the older brother laughed.

Gustav only managed to blurt, "What?"

"She's really sweet and cute, but this is the first time you date a girl who could keep up with your workaholic attitude- and talk about art movement in the twentieth century with me."

The younger Wood couldn't help but smile proudly. "So you think she really is something, huh?"

Tom looked at his little brother and laughed, "Basically, I'd be very disappointed if she didn't join our family."

And Gustav never knew he could like his older brother even more.


Tom was a little busy and he needed to leave not long after they finished their meal in that place, so after Gustav told him he’d be in touch and that they would soon meet their mother, Rose and him parted with Thomas Wood. Rose smiled all the way home. Gustav was wondering what made her smiling like that, but he waited until they were both inside his flat and he already closed the door behind him before he pulled her from behind, hugging her and demanding.

“So what makes you smiling so much, huh?” he kissed her head and Rose chuckled.

“I think Tom’s existence pretty much explains your career and the way you talk,” she giggled.

Gustav released her. “The way I talk?”

“And write, too, I must add,” she turned around, pulling him closer by wrapping his hips on her arms. “You’re really smart- I’m not sure whether people had pointed that part of you often. You also have extensive collection of vocabulary and you always use them in interesting sentence. And you can’t just obtain these by reading…I don’t know… rock magazine?”

He laughed and hugged Rose by the neck. “Well, yes, I think I should agree with you on that.” Gustav then lifted her easily, holding her bridal style until they reached the living room.

The just hugged each other in silent, just another part of the routine that Gustav had become highly customized with since they almost always do that whenever they went home from going somewhere together- they’d stay in silence for sometime. He formed an idea in his mind and lifted himself from his lying position by resting on his forearm, facing Rose.

"Rose, what do you think if we make a Christmas party here in this place? I'll invite some of my friends and maybe you can ask them for their signatures."

Rose was clearly almost forgot that she had a whole empty sketchbook to be filled with band members' signatures. She nodded slowly and looked up at Gustav who just smiled down at her. She seemed touched by the fact that he remembered that Gabriella would want her signatures and that he gave her something to look forward for in Christmas.

"Thank you," she muttered. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She started to jumping up and down in excitement.

Gustav laughed.

"Thank me when Gab cries because she has a book full with signature."

Rose laughed and jumped at him, trying to hug Gustav's tall figure with her arms and her legs. He yelped before stumbled backward, fell into the sofa behind him, back first. Gustav chuckled, laying on the sofa sideways with his legs tucked on one side of the furniture, stroking Rose, who lied on top of him while nuzzling her head to his chest, on her back and she hummed like Sampson would be purring if Gustav patted him.


After a while- five minutes? Ten minutes? Rose didn't know and she hardly could care- Gustav shifted his position a little so he sat sideways on the sofa with Rose sitting on his lap. She stared at him, waiting for explanation of his movement, but he just tucked her stray hair behind her left ear and kissed her cheek and then neck.

She hummed again, mumbling, "What is it, Gustav?"

"You know,” he mumbled back at her, tugging her even closer to him. "…Sometimes you just like someone so much you want to let them know all the time."

"Mm," Rose nodded. "I think I kind of know how does that feels."

He chuckled and placed his right hand on the side of her face, tilting her chin upwards to kiss her.