Endlessly

Emilia took a deep breath and covered her face with her hands. She couldn't say she was unsurprised that it was Jonna. Her last encounter with the woman hadn't left her with the impression that she was the kind of person to let things go without a fight. In a way, she respected her persistence but cursed it all the same.

She wanted to scream and cause a scene and march down to Ville’s apartment building and demand that he pack all of his things immediately so they could move to Argentina and never have to see Jonna again. But then she collected herself and spread her fingers so she could see through the mask that her hands provided.

Ville looked blessedly patient as he waited for her to sort through the emotions of everything he’d just burdened her with. She sighed and lowered her hands to the table so that Ville might take hold of them. When he intwined his fingers with hers with hers she felt herself relax, if only ever so slightly, so that she might deal with this situation rationally.

“If it's not one thing, it's another.” The pessimistic remark caused a small jolt of panic in Ville. He brought his mouth to their entwined hands just was the waitress returned with the dessert menu.

“I'll be back in a few moments,” Hana said politely.

“Actually, could I trouble you for the check?” Ville asked, noting the sour look on Emilia’s face. She had clearly lost her voracious appetite.

Hana seemed momentarily confused but nodded all the same and produced a slip from her apron pocket, placed it on the table and scurried away.

Emilia cast an apologetic look at Ville. She hadn't meant for this to ruin their date, especially if it was to be one of their last now that their time together had an expiration date for the immediate future. Ville placed a large bill on the table without even looking at the check and stood to grab Emilia's jacket and held it open for her to wiggle into. Those who knew who they'd been dining near cast furtive glances at the couple who had been all smiles when they walked in and now wore decidedly more somber faces.

Ville placed his hand on the small of Emilia's back as they made their way to the exit. He noticed that she stiffened beneath the weight of his touch and a few dozen pairs of eyes watching them leave. It was something he'd gotten so used to that he hadn't even given a moments’ thought to how strange the attention could be. Even if it wasn't nearly the worst he'd ever experienced, he certainly should have warned her.

Once out in the icy night, Ville wrapped his arms around Emilia who looked torn between screaming and crying. He relaxed when she buried her face in his chest and clutched at his sweatshirt as though he were the only thing keeping her on the ground. He pressed a kiss into her hair and heard her begin to mumble into his chest.

“I don't blame you, please don't think I'm mad at you or anything. It's not like you asked for this to happen.”

He looked down and found her looking up at him, nose already red from the biting cold and kissed it gently.

“I know kulta,” he said softly. “Come, lets go home and get warm.”

He was much too impatient to wait for a cab and the walk home would do him some good insofar as clearing his mind was concerned. He gathered Emilia's hand in his own and made his way in the direction of his apartment.

“Is this a good idea?” Emilia asked, realizing where they were headed.

“Why wouldn't it be? It's not like we can fool around at your house,” Ville said cheekily. Though she knew that he was joking and that wasn't his primary goal for the evening she still looked at him, stone faced.

“You know why, Ville. A pretty thin wall now stands between us and Jonna eavesdropping on our lives.”

“So I can't go home now? I believe I've touched on the fact that I hate hotel life, Em. That's not very realistic.”

“Well what else can we do? You really think she won't find some way to trouble you for some milk or something every time you and I are together?”

“That depends on whether or not you think hellspawn consume the same foods we do. I suppose to keep up appearances they might.”

She swatted him on the arm. “You're not funny. I'm serious.”

Ville sighed and wrapped his arm around her, simultaneously sapping some of her warmth. He was regretting the decision to not call a cab, this walk back was taking forever. “Emilia, even if she does try to pull something we already have a fairly good idea that it's coming. We just need to remember to see past her nonsense for a couple of weeks. Once everything has calmed down with the tour and the album release, we’ll see what our options are but for now let's not make mountains from molehills.”

Emilia was unsatisfied by this response but found no way in which she could change his mind. It was easy for him, he was the one with two women clamoring for his affections and while she didn't think he'd stray from her, the attention paid to him by someone so close was difficult to ignore. She wondered how he would fare if the situation were reversed as she wiggled out of his embrace.

“Em?”

Her lips were pressed into a thin line and she knew that her expression betrayed her growing ire at the situation he was so casually dismissing.

“It's easier for me to fix when you just tell me you're pissed off instead of just playing it off like you're fine when you're clearly not.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

Ville rolled his eyes and continued walking steadily forward in silence. If she wanted to play these childish games then he wasn't about to deter her. They finished their journey to his apartment in perfect silence, the only sound between them was their footsteps crunching in the snow and Ville’s occasional cough as he cranked through cigarettes.

Emilia stared up at the apartment building and cast a sideways glance at Ville as he finished up his latest cigarette. She couldn't help but admire how handsome he looked, illuminated by the streetlight as the wind tossed stray snowflakes around him. She knew it was silly to be upset with him and perhaps it was silly for her to be upset at all over a set of circumstances that neither of them could have foreseen or changed.

“Are you coming up?” Ville asked, his annoyance quite clear in his tone.

“No, I just walked all the way here in the freezing cold for fun. Now I'll walk back.”

He gave her a look and gestured for her to follow. She did momentarily contemplate leaving and calling her sister to meet her somewhere but the wind picked up and stole her breath away and suddenly filling Ville's apartment with contemptuous silence sounded great.

As Ville unlocked the door, Emilia couldn't help but glare at the door she now knew belonged to Jonna. She wished this woman she barely knew didn't have this effect on her but here she was pretending that she could set her door on fire with a look.

“You about done hexing her or whatever you're doing?” Ville tried not to look amused as he leaned in his doorway, watching Emilia glare and fancy herself a lot more fearsome than she actually was.

“Setting her front door on fire,” Emilia corrected as she walked in Ville's apartment.

She set her bag down and hung her jacket on the rack as Ville kicked his shoes off. He waited patiently for her to say something and stop this game the two of them were playing but she just went and folded herself on the couch. He groaned and walked over to her, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch and draping it over her. She narrowed her eyes in accusation.

“You can't win me over with warmth, sir.”

He smiled and rested against her, trapping her in the blanket. “Em, we can carry on all night or we can talk it out and move on.”

She sighed. “I'm really good at carrying on though.”

He laughed and sat up, pulling her against him as he leaned his head on hers. “Emilia, I'm sorry I was making jokes. I know this situation sucks, but like I said - we’re home for two more weeks and I'll be gone a while. If you really want me to, I’ll get a hotel room for that long but I feel like it would be more fun loudly making love in my apartment for two weeks.”

Emilia blushed furiously and buried her face in Ville's chest. “That does sound tempting.”

“Don't worry, Em. We’ll be spending the holidays with our families. The only reason we’ll need to be here is when you want to stay over and I'll be busy otherwise getting ready for the tour.”

“I know, I know.”

He brought his hand up beneath her chin and lifted her mouth to his. “I love you, silly.”

She smiled and kissed him on the nose. “I love you more.”

Ville took the opportunity to scoop her up in his arms, a motion made slightly more difficult as he was hindered by the blanket wrapped around her. He pressed his mouth to hers as he walked the two of them to the kitchen and set her down on the counter where he continued to kiss her. She giggled into his kisses and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“What are you doing?”

He kissed her a few times more and then bit her lip gently before pulling away. “Making dinner. You had a half a bowl of soup and skipped dessert. You'll be digging through my cupboards in about twenty minutes and demanding I order takeout.”

She smirked. “You know me too well.”