Just for Tonight

64.

He hid his pain in the composition of new songs. This time, he abandoned the studio and the two of them settled mainly in the living room. He composed, sitting cross-legged at her feet, while she wrote in a notebook. The boys, Matti and Perttu included, came and went in their house, as usual. She needed them, and they needed to be there. To enjoy every moment with her and support Ville.

"What are you writing, honey?", he asked regularly.

"Thoughts that come to me", she would reply, enigmatically.

Freed from her treatments, she had regained some of her strength. She even managed to make him laugh. That day, she emerged from the bathroom, a black beanie pulled down over her head, her eyes wearing heavy black make-up. She had put on a Ville T-shirt, and a large pendant fell across her chest.

She took on a deep voice and began: "Hi, my name is Ville Valo, and I'm going to perform my new song for you: 'Life sucks, but it's life' ".

She burst out laughing. At first taken aback, Ville looked at her with round eyes. But her laughter was contagious and he couldn't help but smile.

"'Honestly, you're ... completely crazy", he said as she caught her breath.

"Crazy about you", she murmured with a wink.

"Aren't you flirting with me?", he asked, getting into her game.

"I am, Beautiful." She smiled tenderly at him.

He took her in his arms and held her to his chest for a long moment.

"Marry me, honey", he whispered.

She gently pushed him away and took his face in her hands.
"Ville ... no", she sighed.

He invited her to sit beside him. She took a seat on the sofa, her legs on his lap."Chlo, listen to me. I've thought long and hard about this. It's the only ... the last thing I can give you anymore. My name. It's very important to me. I need to concretize all these years of love by entwining my life with yours. It's what I've always wanted. Marry me."

She thought for a moment."Chloe Valo", she murmured. "Sounds good." She kissed him.

---

They were all there. Matti, Migé, Burton, Perttu, Gas, Eicca, Linde, Jyrki and Jussi, gathered in the large living room. A registrar presided over the ceremony. Chloe and Ville exchanged vows.

"Ville, you came into my life slowly, then suddenly. You are my evidence. I love you for the artist you are. I love you above all for the man you're becoming, day after day. I don't regret anything we've been through, and if I had it to do over again, I'd do it all the same. We are One". She quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Chloe, I've waited for you all my life. You stole my heart, I think you're a bit of a witch and I fell under your spell. I can still see that gray-eyed reporter, walking into my dressing room and taking a real interest in me. I couldn't help but fall madly in love with you. Look where it's taken us... to fall so deeply in love. We had to meet, it was written. We are One. His voice broke with emotion.

They looked at each of their friends present, who were crying uncontrollably.

This moment was perfect.

-----

"Beautiful, Migé is coming. I'd like to ...". She hesitated.

He looked at her intently. She looked so tired. Her strength was failing her little by little. They both knew that time was running out.

"What would you like, honey?", he whispered.

"Can you give me a moment alone with him? I'd like to talk to him."

He knew the special bonds that united them, both of them. Indestructible bonds, too, in another way. "Of course, love. I'll be in the studio, if you need me".

Ville stood up slowly, pausing at the doorway to glance back at her. She had turned toward the window, her gaze distant, lost in a world he couldn't follow her to.

In the studio, Ville sat on a stool, his guitar resting in his lap as he absentmindedly played a few chords. At the end of the day, when Migé walked in, Ville glanced up, and the look they exchanged said everything. No words were needed. Migé walked over, placing a firm but reassuring hand on Ville's shoulder. They stood there in silence, united in the weight of what they both knew was coming. So soon ...

-----

At the cemetery, Ville knelt for a long time in front of the grave. He paid no attention to the tears streaming down his cheeks. His face had remained incredulous for three days. The boys hadn't let him out of their sight and had been sleeping at his place since Chloe's death. They'd promised.

Migé approached him gently.

"Ville, I've got something for you".

He looked up. Migé handed him a small bag. Ville took it : inside was a slightly heavy package, in a black, vaguely macabre wrapping paper. Only Chloe could have done that.

Migé explained: "She started writing it when she learned of her illness. She finished it in the last few weeks. But at the end, she didn't have the strength to write anymore, so it's my handwriting on the last pages".

Returning home with the gang, Ville locked himself in their bedroom and unwrapped the book.

Just reading the title, his heart missed a beat. "Just for Tonight". He smiled through his tears. She'd written it all by hand, in her fine, neat handwriting. With his fingertips, he caressed the letters she had traced. The story began:

Ville was waiting for the journalist in his dressing room, right after the gig.

He felt drained, irritated by the thought of facing another interview at this late hour. The day had been tough-back-to-back obligations, rehearsals, and now, after the show, this unexpected meeting. He already knew the questions by heart: was he single? What happened with his last girlfriend? How did it feel to be labeled a "sex symbol"? It was always about his private life, never about the music-the only part of him that truly mattered.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Seppo stepped in, followed by a woman.

"Ville, here's the journalist you've been waiting for," Seppo announced, then slipped out, leaving them alone.

He eagerly read the story, their story, until the wee hours of the morning, smiling and crying at the same time. At the end, Chloe's handwriting gave way to Migé's. She had left him a final dedication :

Valo. Your name means light. You have been my brightness, the greatest and most beautiful clarity of my life. Wherever I am today, in the void or in another realm of existence, I'll be by your side. You'll feel the signs. We're linked and connected far beyond this life. We are two souls who met thousands of years ago, and had the chance to walk a brief moment of human life together. I won't have enough 1000 lives to love you, Beautiful Ville. "Until we meet again, Mr. Valo".

He sighed deeply.

"Until then, honey".

-----