Sometimes it snows in April

horses and a lake

april pov

I ride through the woods along the stream. It's a wonderful place here the winter has decided to stay a bit longer but that doesn't prevent some flowers from blooming, like lilies of the valley. Some cows are standing in the fields, after some minutes the area gets emptier except for the woods. There are no more houses in the valley. Untill you reach the little village where the staff lives. After a while I can see the manor. It's beautiful, everyone in the area agrees on that but most people are jealous. To be honest at first I was jealous too, but after some time I realized I shouldn't be jealous because I probably have a simpler but happier life than Theo. The manor is huge you've probably never seen anything like it. Especially the inside is ravishing. The checkered floors and painted ceilings, the huge staircases and the pieces of art from ancient Egypt and acient Greece. Unbelievable, that's the place where we used to play hide and seek and catch when we were kids. I touched Rembrandt paintings and walked past da Vinci without realizing it. I still can't believe it. And besides this he used to seems so extremely mudane. I smile of course that is apart from the fact that he's a marquis and will be a Duke when his father dies. I chuckle, I have a weird friend. I stop in front of the Manor. Theo is already waiting. "Hey! there you are" we run up the enormous stairs in front of the door and open the door. I'm still amazed by the rooms. "Let's go to the study. I like the privacy there and it's the most comfortable room right now, at least in my opinion." I follow him up several stairs when we arrive at the study. The study is absolutely beautiful, it has these arches you'd see in churches. He clumsily put some books back on the shelf. "I'm sorry it's such mess." He says akwardly I chuckle it much cleaner than eny of my rooms. "it's okay I dont think it's a mess" I try to comfort. I give him the yellow flowers and he smiles "a welcome home gift! how sweet" I smile. "I try my best I guess" I sigh "how are you" I look at him. He smiles but in a tired way, you can see that his face doesn't do it often enough. "I'm okay, but you know it, dads dying, mom's forgetting, relationship fell apart, own body is exhausted. That's the short version" "so you're not so good?" I ask tenderly, "I'm okay, don't worry about me" he assures me. "You know that makes my worries worse" "do you want something to eat or drink?" "Um no thanks maybe later." "I'll just order a bottle of wine" I take another good look at him while he grabs the telephone and orders. He's wearing beautiful gray trousers and a dark blue turtleneck. Hes also wearing one silver earring which I never imagined him wearing. He sits down on the sofa "how long do you plan to stay?" I ask "I honestly don't know, I'm privileged to be able to just quit what I'm doing and help my mom but eventually I'll have a longing to my own life I think, I don't know how long I'll stick this out."

"So how's the village?" He asks while he we walk towards the stables. I can't remember the last time I rode a horse. I'm too ashamed to tell Theo that. He was a natural, he always participated with his horse Basil. He was so talented. I do know that Basil in London is at the moment. We walk through the stables. "everything is normal I'd say." "Come on April you need to give me more than that." "Ah, well mom is happy, the shop is doing fine" "Fine? I want to see it flourishing" I laugh and I look into his eyes. His eyes twinkle like they did when we were young. God I missed that twinkle. It's a mischevious twinkle. It's a happy twinkle as if for one moment, we're the only ones in this world. "Sooooo what kind of horse do you want?" I look at the horses. "What about a friesian mare." "Yeah why not." He brings me huge black horse "This is dandelion. She's kinda young but very talented. She's not hard to ride so it's great for people who haven't done it in a long time" he says. I feel all my blood flowing to my cheeks, how did he know? "Who are you riding?" "I'm riding Linzhin. A black mustang stallion." "Oh I see you like it rough" I say while not realising what I'm saying. He looks at me. "Do you know how much work it is not to laugh at that?" I laugh. He helps me unto the horse. I forgot how scary it is. We ride into the fields.

after some time I remember how to do it. Theo sees that and his horse starts to run. "Hey unfair come back." I say but my horse has other plans when Theo whistles between his teeth. I fall from my horse. Theo get off his horse. "You didn't need to fall that hard for me" he says jonkingly while he hovers his head above me. I grab his hair and ayank him towards the ground after some fighting we're both laying in the grass almost passed out from laughter. god I missed him. "Look at us..." I nod. "what if one of the horse would need to go to the toilet?" he asks. "It'll ruin our clothes." We both instantly stand up and look suspiciously at our horses. "Let's go to the lake" Theo says. "what lake?" He gets on his horse and we start to ride towards the sunset. Not long after we arrive at a beautiful lake surrounded by allkinds of flowers. "It's more beautiful in the spring or summer, it's a little too cold at the moment, but if it freezes we could maybe skate on it." I look at it, it's beautiful. I can imagine us skating there. I can imagine a little theo playing at the bank. I imagine him without the weight of his family on his shoulder. I look at him his face is wearing a grimm expression. I push him into the water. "Fuck you, it's freezing cold!!!" he screams. But he does have a smile on his face. I jump into the water. It's freesing but it's worth it.