Four To Two [Elisop]

Chapter 3

Saturday arrived very quickly. Eli was the first to arrive at the meeting place, which turned out to be the square in front of the main university building. Actually, he was ten minutes early. He was in such a hurry to be there today that he left his house in a hurry. The young man was sitting on the edge of the fountain, waiting for the others to arrive.

However, he didn't wait long before someone finally showed up. It was Aesop accompanied by Luca. It was a strange pair here. He noticed that Aesop was wearing a sweater a little lighter than usual, it was sunny unlike other days so it was understandable. Luca raised his arm to wave at Eli and then the duo came over to meet Eli.

"Hey ~ you're early !" shouted Luca.

"I could say the same for you two. Did you guys arrive together ?"

"We just ran into each other on the way..." replied Aesop.

"I recognized him right away from the description you gave me !"

"Oh, I see ! The others should be here soon I think..."

"Hm, Norton will probably arrive late so no need to wait for him. He'll join us directly on the spot..." said Aesop.

Eli nodded. A few minutes passed and finally the last one they were waiting for had arrived, Naib. The little man was a bit shocked to see everyone already there, he was sure he arrived right on time so how come they were all already there ? The trio didn't give him time to question himself and went straight to the street, leaving him behind.

They crossed a few pedestrian streets and eventually arrived at the art gallery. When they arrived, a young man came out of a room reserved for the staff and walked towards them. He was wearing a beret and a red cape, his medium-length hair tied back in a light ponytail. Eli stepped forward to exchange a few words with him before returning to the group with the new individual.

"Meet Edgar Valden, he may look young but he is an incomparable artist and he owns this gallery !" said Eli proudly.

"You talk like you're the one to credit for my success." replied Edgar in a sarcastic tone.

"Ahem-, I managed to convince him to show us his work himself !"

"Be grateful that I am willing to spend my time on Eli's friends."

The young man seemed a little rough, but if he was friends with Eli, he must not be that bad. Edgar took the quartet through the various aisles of the gallery. Luca looked around curiously while Naib seemed to be slightly bored, this kind of thing not being really his cup of tea.

Only Eli and Aesop were really captivated by the works on display. Well, Eli didn't know much about it to be honest, he just found the fact that Edgar could paint like that a feat in itself. As for Aesop, he seemed to get along well with the painter. Both of them sometimes talked about subjects that the blue-eyed man didn't really understand. Then they arrived in a special wing, apparently they were exhibiting works of other lesser known artists in this part.

There was everything, sculptures, paintings, models, mechanisms... Eli then noticed Aesop frozen in front of a photograph. The latter approached to see what the man with the snowy hair was observing. It was a magnificent photo of a field of yellow roses. He looked at the label indicating the name of the person who had taken it, a certain "Joseph Desaulniers". The name was strangely familiar to him for a reason, he was sure he heard it before.

"Hm... Isn't he that popular guy from French class ?" asked Eli.

Aesop looked confused for a second but that unusual look quickly disappeared. He didn't answer Eli and walked away to another corner of the room. Eli didn't understand Aesop's reaction, did he say something wrong ? 

"You just landed on a sensitive subject ~"

Eli turned to find none other than the latecomer, Norton.