Bastian - Chapter 146 - Opened the Door - WoopRead
7-9 Minutes
✧Opened the Door✧
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By the time Odette had come out of the bath, the maids were done cleaning the room. The bed sheets were replaced and the patient that was supposed to be in them was no where to be seen. Already Bastian was being stubborn and not taking the doctors advice to rest as much as possible.
Then she saw them. A bouquet of Irises lay on the table, next to a velvety box.
"These are birthday presents for you, Madam." the had brought in a huge pile of gifts and flowers.
Odette looked at the greetings card on the bouquet. They were from some military family who had close ties with Bastian.
Since she had gotten married to Bastian, every time her birthday came around, the gifts poured in from all sorts of people she had never met. She never thought others would show such enthusiasm for her birthday this year, when her reputation fell to the ground due to various scandals.
She was relived that Bastian had not died from the infected wound. They'd hurt each other enough and she didn't want to spiral any more. She was done with mounting up debt.
Odette busied herself organising all the greetings cards and getting the flowers into vases. Although they were all addressed to her, they were solely to curry favour with Bastian. She would have to leave him a list of people for him to look at.
Odette found a gift that didn't have a name on it. It would be a simple matter to call the maid and ask them who sent the gift, but she decided against it.
She put the flowers into a spare vase and went to the bathroom to fill up the water. She stared absently at the swans on the tap and didn't realise the water overflowed. Odette panicked and shut off the facet and dropped the flowers in her panic. The flower scattered over the now drenched bathroom floor.
Subconsciously, she counted the flowers as she picked them up. There were twenty four of them, the same as her age. She looked at them lovingly as she brought them back into the bedroom and placed them on the table next to the red velvet box. When she carefully opened the lid, she found wonderfully wrapped chocolates in little, tiny compartments.
There was one chocolate that was coin shaped and it reminded her of the chocolate she had bought in celebration of getting a new job. Her heart broke when she remembered she had dropped it in her attempts to run away from Bastian.
Odette held the chocolate in her hand, her eyes filled with confusion and helplessness. Just as she was examining the twenty-four irises, she heard Margrethe barked and pawed at the glass doors leading out onto the balcony.
Odette looked up, confused and saw that Bastian was stood out on the balcony, staring out of the sea with cigarette dangling between his fingers.
Doctor Kramer told her that it was lucky Bastian was in such peak physical condition. They would still need to monitor his progress, but so long as he did not get another fever, he should be fine. She was pretty sure that smoking in the cold air was not going to help.
Odette stood at the door for awhile, watching him as he smoked. As he finished and turned to the door, Odette jumped back and pretended she was pottering about the room. She felt a cold blast of air as Bastian opened the door to let Margrethe out, he did not close it again and went back to the railing.
Odette gathered her courage and stepped out onto the balcony. The world, caressed by overnight snow, dazzling in the beaming innocence of pure white.
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