To Be A Bougainvillea

Chapter 7

Aurelia was ninety-five percent sure that she was at the wrong address. But she seemingly didn't mind as she downed another shot of rum.

"What can I get you this time, madam?" The bartender asked her, oblivious to all the noise and boisterousness in his bar. 

"A martini, please." She passed more coins to him from the pocket of her long, dark grey brooch coat and sat back, her eyes fixated on the growing crowd in the middle. 

"Hey, y'all, what time is it?" A man in the midst of the throng perched a leg on top of a stool and took off his hat, his dark brown hair fumbling out in curls.  

A couple of men sniggered and yelled back, "Showtime!" 

"That's right!" The man shouted with rigor, "No longer will we bow to the Takashima clan! No longer will we remain as their puppets!"

The bar came alive as roars and cheers erupted and Aurelia couldn't help but watch it all with unfurling interest. 

"Lets rewind four years back, when the Takashima clan thought they had it all intact. They been takin' gold and yield from us and in return, they promised to sort out the extremists's cuss." The man somehow got hold of a speakerphone and his voice amplified with passionate rage, "But hold up! What did they actually do? They ignited a civil war with no knowledge of what it might lead to!"  

Aurelia found herself entranced by his words just like every other fellow in the bar.  

"We were a country of warriors, rich in its agriculture and known for its fine austerity, but now?" He spat out, "Leidenschaft is a bleeding shard with a broken economy! But who is to blame for the deaths of our brothers and the destruction of our ships, sonars and guns?"

"The Takashima clan!" The hearers responded with the same outraged thunder.

"So stand with me or forever hold your peace!" He raised a glass with a determined spark in his eyes, "For our fathers, for ourselves and for our children! May the Takashima clan fall once and for all!"

"Hear, hear." Aurelia sipped into her martini as she drank to this wondrous man's toast. It was only then she felt someone's eyes on her and pulling her wool scarf further over her hair, she finished the content of her drink before perpetually glancing at her admirer. 

"You've been gazing at me for quite awhile now," She remarked to the man who sat beside her from a distance. "Is there something you'd like to say to me?" 

The man was thrown off guard by her bluntness but recovered from his shock quickly as he bared his sharp, yellow teeth and scooched closer to her. He stank strongly of ale. 

"As a matter of fact, yes," He looked at her as if her body was a stolen treasure, "I don't see a ring on that pretty finger. You're not with someone, are-"

                                                                                                                                                                                                        "She's with me." A shadow fell beside Aurelia and when a rough hand suddenly clasped hers, she nearly jumped out of her skin. 

Dietfried Bougainvillea stood tall beside her in a dark trench coat, jaw tightened and eyes darkened, looking like a force to be reckoned with.

The man's eyes fell on their interlinked hands and he immediately paled. "R-right, excuse me, sir." And like a terrified child, he scurried off. 

"Well, I'll be damned." Aurelia smiled at the captain through her shock, "How long have you been here?" 

"Long enough to watch you drown yourself in alcohol." His eyes trailed to her empty shot glasses, "You came here to get drunk or what?" 

"First of all, I'm not drunk." She defended herself, "When I'm drunk, I forget how to speak. Secondly, I came here by accident. But-" She grinned, "- lets be real, I'd end up in a bar sooner or later in the day."  

Dietfried peered at her as if she was retarded. "What do you mean you came here by 'accident'? 

"Well, long story short," She replied, "my psychiatrist gave me an address to a commemoration in a building called 'William' and my chauffeur must've read it wrong or something because he left me on this block." 

"Your chauffeur read it correct. You're the one who was misled by the bar," Dietfried remarked. 

She raised a brow, "I beg your pardon?"  

"There's two buildings on this block called 'William.' This bar and the community hall you would've seen if you hadn't been enticed by the cheap booze here." He retorted. 

"Never accuse me of drinking cheap alcohol," She shot back. "Plus, who the hell calls a community hall 'William'?"

Dietfried's lips tugged into half a smirk. "Who the hell calls a bar 'William'?" 

"Someone with an emotional attachment to inanimate objects," She then frowned, "Say, you haven't told me what you're doing here." 

Dietfried straightened up. "I'm here on official business." 

"Official business in a bar?" She chortled, "Sketchy." 

Before he could reply, a fight broke out between the curly haired man who had delivered the latter inspiring speech and an older, drunken man. As the older man throttled the curly haired, two men wearing the same trench coat as Dietfried appeared out of nowhere and pulled them off each other as the surrounding group of men hooted in both surprise and fury. 

A thought struck Aurelia. "Are you here to spy?" She hissed, before gasping, "Are you working for the Takashima clan?"

Dietfried didn't blink. "I'm here to keep an eye on things." 

Aurelia gaped at him, "You are working for the Takashima clan!"

Dietfried turned his gaze and looked at her in a way she couldn't describe with words. "Would that change your opinion of me?" His words were quiet, soft even. 

"You," She swallowed, unable to answer his question, "are a very sly man."

"I could say the same thing about you, Lady Aurelia." He claimed. "But here's a truth; I'm the captain. I don't work for anyone but myself."

Sudden relief and arousal flooded through her veins as she gulped, "It's too rowdy. Lets get out of here." 

A lock of hair flopped over his forehead as he glanced down. "Lady Aurelia?" 

"Hmm?" 

"You can let go of my hand now." 

"I'd rather not." She smiled innocently, enjoying the touch of his rough, calloused hand, "What if another creep hits on me?" 

He narrowed his eyes at her. She fluttered her lashes in response. In the end, he let her hold on to his hand just until they left the bar.