The Girl In The Louvre - Chapter 8 Farewell 1

Julian’s face became stiff as he was frustrated at being interrupted at such an important time and he rolled off of her.

“Yes teacher, oh, oh… Ok..” said Zhi Rou, her face falling further as the call went on. When the call finished she got up dejectedly, her hair gently flowing in the wind. “I have to go,” said Zhi Rou in a soft voice. “My teacher said that our flight has been pushed forward due to the weather.” She looked over at Julian and smiled. “I knew that we would have to part at some time but it all seemed unreal, like this moment would last forever.”

‘You don’t have to leave you know,’ Thought Julian. ‘You could always stay here with me.’ Outwardly though, he said nothing as he knew it wouldn’t be fair to keep her here with him. After all, she still had her friends and family in China. If he made her conflicted about going back to China it would only cause undue stress as she wouldn’t be able to stay in France anyway. Her parents most likely wouldn’t let her stay here with a boy that she just met.

“I’ll walk you back then?” suggested Julian. Although he was feeling dejected about her departure he still tried to put on a happy smile for her.

“Sure,” Zhi Rou easily accepted. If they walked slowly it would take them about twenty minutes to reach the park where her class was gathering to get on a shuttle to the airport.

Julian grasped her hand gently and slowly pulled her forward. “Where do you want to go to university?” he asked out of the blue.

“Hmm, I am not really sure yet, but there are a couple of art restoration schools around Paris that I am looking at but I haven’t decided on one yet,” she said.

As they walked to the edge of the small park and onto the sidewalk they talked softly while sticking to each other like glue.

“I’m thinking of studying art, what do you think about it?” asked Julian.

Zhi Rou leaned her head on his shoulder. “Why do you want to study art?”

He looked down at her and replied. “So I can understand my wife better.”

Blushing she asked, “whose your wife?” she didn’t really mind though, after all, isn’t it normal to call your loved one your wife or husband? Poor Zhi Rou didn’t realize that she had been conned into being his wife without even a proper ring to show for it.

Ignoring her question Julian kept walking as he had already received his answer from the small smile that she had made when asking him why he wanted to study art.

After that, they talked about both little and big things such as what food they liked and what they wanted to do with their lives.

Slowly munching on their macarons, they stopped for a bit and cuddled on a bench before continuing on their way.

By the time they had already almost eaten all twenty macarons, they were almost at their destination.

Looking across the street Julian smiled and said, “wait here for a second.” Before running crossing the street and getting a rose from a sweet little girl selling flowers. Paying her five Euros he quickly returned, holding it in front of her he said, “I would like to give you something better as a parting gift. Sadly we don’t have enough time and so I can only give you this.” Slightly blushing from giving a girl a rose for the first time he continued. “The next time we meet I’ll make sure to give you a proper gift.”

Leaning forward she slightly inhaled to take in the scent of the rose. Looking back up she accepted the rose with a smile and wrapped her arms around his neck to give him a kiss.

staring deeply into each other’s eyes they tried their best to remember this moment and imprint it deeply into their minds.

“This is the best gift that I could ever ask for,” said Zhi Rou. “I wish we could live in this moment forever, just the two of us.” Just as they were going to start walking again she stopped.

“I really love you,” she stated without warning. “I don’t really know why as we have only known each other for half a day but I really do love you, of that I am certain. Right now I don’t have any control over my own life. I still have my school, parents, and future to think about but in three years I will finish my school and come to France for advanced education. By then I will be qualified to go find you again, I just don’t know if you will be here waiting for me.” By the end of her speech, her voice was shaking slightly from the nerves and her stomach was filled with butterflies as she waited for a response.

Looking at her face which was flashing between red and white with anticipation and nerves, Julian reach out and took hold of her hands. “I will always wait for you, no matter how long it takes. I just hope you don’t take too long or I will have to come to find you,” said Julian deadly serious. “I will give you three years, and if you don’t find me by then I will come to China myself and kidnap you.” Aware that he just said something that was kinda creepy he laughed and kissed her to distract her from processing what he just said.

‘They say that love is blind,’ thought Julian. ‘Hopefully, she can be blind for me.’