Angel Of Music

Chapter 3.

  And the opportunity came soon. Not much time passed after their first encounter outside the opera and Tuomas came to her concert again. When the concert finished, he came out and stood outside the building, waiting for Tarja to walk out. He tucked his coat tighter around himself, it was freezing outside and as if only the cold wasn't enough, the skies decided to send Helsinki a blizzard too, that started several hours before and refused to stop. Soon, Tarja walked out, and Tuomas noticed that she was alone this time. The woman halted, observing the terrible weather and frowning to herself. She pursed her lips and dug into her handbag, looking for something. Just then, Tuomas walked away from the wall he had been leaning on and approached her.
Tarja flinched when a familiar voice wished her a good evening.

"Oh my God, you scared me!" she exclaimed, turning around and staring straight into the blue eyes of Tuomas. "Good evening to you too, although this evening can't really be called good." She smiled at the man and he chuckled.

"I wanted to tell you that you were wonderful this evening, as always." He said quietly, smiling at her.

"Thank you." Tarja beamed. "It means a lot for me."

"Speaking of weather," Tuomas said suddenly, changing the subject, "Do you mind if I drive you home? The blizzard's pretty strong, you can't go home by yourself."

The woman started at him, lost for words. Was he crazy? Of course she wasn't ready to jump into some stranger's car, they'd only talked once before. No, she wasn't doing this. What if Agnes had been right, what if he's a maniac?

"No, thank you, I live nearby." Tarja told Tuomas, trying to sound as pleasant as possible. "Alright, I can't persuade you. Take care." Tuomas gave back and touched her arm lightly. Tarja just smiled at him and stayed still as he turned away and walked towards his car. Tarja waited for him to sit in the car and then walked down the steps and started walking in the direction of her house.

  She hadn't even been walking for five minutes when her foot slipped and she landed on the thin layer of ice, which immediately broke and Tarja found herself sitting in a cold puddle. "Fuck!!" She swore and threw her bag, which landed with a thump and slid on the frozen road farther away from the woman. It made her even angrier. Suddenly, anger gave way to tears and they poured out of Tarja's eyes, leaving burning traces behind. As she sat in the puddle, crying her eyes out, a car stopped beside her, somebody walked out and familiar voice called her name. She looked up and saw Tuomas grinning down on her.

"I offered to drive you, didn't I?" He said and reached out to help Tarja stand up. She gladly grabbed his hand and let him pull her up. "Now go sit in the car." He told her strictly, "I'll bring your bag." Tarja obeyed and walked to the car, while Tuomas went to collect her bag.

"Thank you." The woman said, when Tuomas started the engine.

"Nothing to thank me for, I was just driving by and saw you. You shouldn't have been so stubborn, I'm not a maniac, I promise." The man chuckled and Tarja laughed too. The rest of the drive was quiet, both avoided eye contact and both felt too shy to start a conversation. Tarja stared out of the window, praying that Tuomas would drive faster so that her butt didn't turn into ice until they reached her home. Finally, after what seemed like eternity, Tuomas stopped the car. Tarja left the car and saw with surprise that the man went out too.

"Come on, let me help you with your stuff," he said, taking the bag from her and only letting her carry the stage dress. In front of her door, Tarja thanked Tuomas again.

"I don't know what I'd do if you didn't show up." Suddenly, overwhelmed by gratitude and affection towards the man, she stood on tiptoes and softly brushed her lips against his cheek. "Goodnight Tuomas." She smiled and entered the house, closing the door behind herself.