A Love Like War

On a typical Wednesday morning, Drew found himself viewing a piece of Chinese artifact over a magnifying glass in his hand. The moderately crafted jade pot was sent over from the National Museum of Taiwan just three months ago and he did not find time to examine the jade until today. His mouth fell agape as he stared at the Neolithic artifact in awe.

“10,000 B.C.,” he muttered to himself as he wrote the object’s profile in his hefty notebook.

After their briefing of the Guillotine case, Wilson let both AK and Drew off to spend their own leisure time until the CIA director sorted out their international agreement with the French diplomat of international relations. Upon his freedom, Drew did not hesitate to drive up to the Artificial Museum of Los Angeles with his black leather satchel and notebook in tow to examine this new gem.

He took note of the quality of the jade as well as note its area of imperfections, brown eyes squinting to get a better view of the details. Ever since he got here, the only sound from the vacated museum was background chatters between the receptionist and a waiting tour guide, and the scribbling of his pointed pen. However, loud chatter of a crowd disrupted the silence.

Drew looked away from his work and turned to the source of the noise. His eyebrows perked up in interest as he eyed the woman leading a group of about twenty elementary school students. Dressed in a tight-fitted white blouse and black dress pants, the young woman immediately captivated the historian. From a distance he can only tell that she has long, wavy black hair and a gorgeous smile as she flashed them at the receptionist behind the front counter.

He observed the group of children, noticing that most of them are paired off. The hottie is probably a teacher, Drew thought to himself.

“Hot for teacher,” he chuckled lamely to himself at the Van Halen reference.

The tour guide finally led the large group toward the contents of this glorious museum, allowing Drew a better look at the hot teacher. She, upon noticing eyes on her, looked up and met his gaze. He looked away quickly, nearly dropping his notebook and pen as he clumsily shifted his body away from her direction. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was some creepy gawker.

Drew dropped his notebook and magnifying glass into his leather satchel, casually zipping it up afterward. He looked back up to give the jade one last look before turning away from it.

“We shall meet again!” he said ruefully to the artifact.

Placing his pointed pen above his left ear, Drew made the decision to listen in on the tour going on a few feet from him. It was a common occurrence for him to see elementary school kids around here, but not once had they failed to tear the place apart after boredom ensured.

With an amused grin on his face, he decided to shake things up a bit and make history interesting.

“This music box belonged to Czarina Alexandra of Russia and was stolen by the Nazis during their infamous plunder during World War II,” he heard the tour guide tell the children.

Drew slowly made his way over to the group and the closer he got, the more apparent it was to him that the kids were already zoning out on the execution of the guide’s facts. He glanced at the attractive woman behind the group; she looked worried about the attention span of her students.

“I am going to change that,” he muttered to himself.

When he made it to the tour group, they were all facing the infamous pigeon blood necklace from Burma. He lingered by the group and observed the tour guide casually as she began her explanation on the artifact.

“This is the pigeon blood necklace. Yes, it is made with pigeon blood. The Burmese people killed a bunch of pigeons and made them into valuable stone.”

The explanation barely grabbed the attention of the kids in this group, meaning that the tour guide failed to interest them. Drew scoffed loudly at that and in the process, grabbed the attention of the whole group, tour guide included.

The woman, looking to be in her mid thirties, glanced at the brunette historian expectantly. She folded both her arms across her chest and pursed her lips at him. Mumbles and laughter filled the exhibit as some of the kids pointed at Drew in fascination.

“Excuse me, do you find any of this funny?” the tour guide asked, clearly annoyed by his interruption.

Drew emerged from the crowd of students and approached the woman. He beamed at the woman as he nodded profusely.

“I find it funny that you referred to the people of Burma as the Burmese people; they preferred to be called the Myanmar people. The name represents their sovereignty,” he explained as he fell in eye contact with the teacher.

A crooked smile emerged on her face as she listened in on his explanation. I am on the right track, Drew told himself and turned back to the tour guide. The older woman shifted uncomfortably in her position but she tried to stand her ground.

“And just who are you?” she asked with an assertive edge to her voice.

Smirking, Drew held out a hand for her to take.

“Andrew Radetzsky, historian for the LA Museum and various others in international nations like France, Austria, and the Czech Republic.” Drew took the time to read the nametag off of the tour guide. Roberta. “Thank you very much, Roberta, but I would like to give a little bit of my input on this one.”

Roberta opened her mouth in protest but Drew made sure to start his explanation before he loses his opportunity to do it.

“So this pigeon blood necklace is very interesting because of its beauty. This little gem has been in the maharajah’s private collection for a couple of decades. Maharajah means great king. The great king of maharajah had this beautiful necklace. It was his most favorite piece, and very expensive too!” He grinned at the children pleasantly, hoping to captivate them.

All he got was bored glances back at him. He has not completed his mission yet.

“For all the lovers of fairy tale endings…” Several of the girls in the front row perked up. “There was a servant girl who was madly in love with the maharajah and all in truth, he loved her too! She was very beautiful and he took notice to her undeniable beauty.” Drew side glanced at the equally beautiful teacher. She smiled at him in encouragement. “Because he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world, he gave her his most valued pigeon necklace. He thought that the most beautiful woman in the world deserved the most beautiful artifact in the world. She was very happy when she received it. But can anyone tell me who didn’t like what the maharajah did?” Drew asked as his eyes scanned the crowd.

A few eager hands shot up as a response and Drew took the moment to applaud himself for managing to grab their attention. He spotted a small, freckled boy from the second row and chose him.

“What is your name?” Drew asked kindly.

“Timmy!” he exclaimed enthusiastically.

“And what is your answer, Timmy?”

“The king’s wife!”

Drew laughed, nodding in agreement. “You are brilliant, Timmy! The queen did not like it very much! She told the servant girl that she would kill her if she did not give up the pigeon blood necklace and her love for the maharajah. And do you guys know what she did?” It was a rhetorical question. Drew did not wait for any hands to go up, he went straight for it. “She took the necklace and ran away! And even years after she did, she kept the necklace. If she sold it, she would get a lot of money. She would be rich. But she did not sell it because it was the only thing she had left of the man she loved. And because the necklace was so beautiful, she’d rather be poor than hand it over to someone else!”

Drew opened his mouth to say more but Roberta quickly cut in and made drastic actions to direct the kids to the next exhibit, which was the Neolithic jade pot he had been observing. She started leading the group away from the pigeon blood exhibit, desperate to get the kids away from this crazy historian.

Some kids smiled and giggled at him in fascination as they walked past him. Drew nodded at them with equally compelling smiles, watching as they walked off.

“That was really interesting!”

He turned to the woman, feeling his heart skip rapidly as he took in her beauty. Her mesmerizing hazel eyes gave him a once over and it made him even more nervous. He should have dressed in something from AK’s closet instead of his own collection of geeky dress shirts. She was going to think that he was a total dweeb.

She grinned at him as she extended out a hand for him to shake. He took her hand and internally sighed in relief when he realized that they aren't at all sweaty. “Miss Winborn, but call me Vicky!”

“And I’m…”

“Andrew, you just said,” she chuckled.

Drew scratched at the back of his messy brown head.

“Please don’t call me Andrew, only my mom does!”

Vicky’s beautiful hazel eyes brightened up at his embarrassment, clearly amused and captivated by the flustered historian in front of her.

“Call me Drew.”

She laughed again. “Then why’d you introduce yourself as Andrew, silly?”

“I thought I’d be taken more seriously by the tour guide if I was introduced by my full name.”

He ran a hand through his brown locks because he did not know what else to do with them. This gorgeous woman is talking to him, and not actually repelled by his nervous banter with her. He cannot bring himself to believe that it is happening right now.

“Speaking of… was that story about the maharajah and his servant girl true?” Her eyes twinkled in interest as she asked.

Drew snickered as a response.

“Most of the story was a slight fabrication for the children,” he said humorously and added, “Actually, the servant girl had sex with the maharajah and when the queen caught them, she snatched the pigeon blood necklace and just totally peaced out.”

Vicky chuckled at the story, shaking her head at him. “I see why you had to fabricate a story!”

“Yeah, and what better way to practice my story-telling skills right?” He beamed.

The dark haired woman nodded at him as her eyes diverted away from him.

“Hey listen, it was nice of you to lighten up the atmosphere before, but I have to… I have to make sure they don’t burn this museum down because I can tell how much you value this place so…”

She turned from him and started to make her way back to the tour group. Drew decided to step out of his comfort zone, making a last minute decision to go through with it.

“Hey Vicky?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I have your number?”

She stared at him and bit her lip. “Well…”

“I mean, in case you need someone to come in and talk to your kids, or um… if you are interested in me. Oh god, I’m so sorry. You’re probably dating someone because you are definitely a ten and drop dead gorgeous and I’m just a…”

“310-672-8808,” Vicky interrupted with a sly smile on her face.

Drew took out his phone and quickly typed that number into his phone. By the time he was done, Vicky was already gone.

“Damn, she’s definitely a ten!”