Live, Love, Lose - 7. Chapter 7

Hey!
So all I can say is that a new character is going to appear in this chapter...for better or for worse?
Take care and stay safe! ❤️

Toward the end of the week, Karl spent the whole afternoon in the city centre with Mrs. Hopkins. The sun was still high in the sky when they went back from there.

“Thank you so much for helping me with that, Carl,” She said with a warm smile. “In times like these, we all need to be united and help each other, especially those who are in need.”

Karl just smiled at her as a response.

“Well, I think you would like to rest now. It is well earned,” she then said, still smiling at him.

But she seemed to see he couldn’t really understand…

“You,” she pointed at him. “Go upstairs,” she then pointed at the stairs. “To rest,” she imitated someone who was sleeping.

Karl figured out what she meant more or less. Yes, he would go to the room that was temporarily his, but he didn’t feel like sleeping. He wasn’t that tired. He was used to doing things that were much more exhausting than what he had done with Mrs. Hopkins.

He nodded, a small smile on his face, which seemed to please Mrs. Hopkins. He went upstairs wordlessly and headed for the room. But as he opened the door, he was met with an unfamiliar sight.

There was another male in it. Despite his quietness, the unknown guy soon noticed his presence. He stared at him with an unreadable look on his face.

Karl closed the door without looking at it as a reflex. The stranger had been unpacking stuff from some rucksack on the bed. But he stopped the second he laid eyes on Karl.

It seemed that neither of them knew what to do or how to react.

Karl examined his face thoroughly. He had brown eyes and was wearing glasses just like Paul’s father, dark brown and smooth hair that was neatly styled unlike his own that looked completely dishevelled.

Like the farm boy he was, he had never paid any particular attention to his hair and had never styled it, and he intended to keep it that way. The fact that his blond one was wavy and a bit too long than it should have been for a man at the time made him look even more dishevelled actually, but he couldn’t have cared less.

Given his looks, he must have been in his late teens, Karl inferred. Or hardly twenty, it was hard to tell.

He had rather soft features, an oval face, rather thick eyebrows and lips. He was slim and didn’t seem to be particularly fit or toned. It must have been so because he was a city boy. Unlike Karl.

Karl’s features were rather sharp compared to his.

The other male seemed to be examining him carefully as well, probably wondering who he was and what he was doing here. After all, they hadn’t had the chance to meet before, let alone to be introduced.

“Who are you?” The English male suddenly asked him, his eyes focused on him.

He sounded somehow suspicious as if Karl were an intruder.

It would be too complicated for Karl to explain his situation to this stranger. How he had got to England in the first place and the Hopkins family kindly taking him in.

“I’m Karl. I’m Danish.”

That’s pretty much everything he could say so far.

The unnamed male raised one eyebrow at him before he frowned slightly. It almost seemed that he didn’t believe him.

“Danish? What would a Dane be doing here?”

Karl just remained silent. It seemed that it ended up getting on the other’s nerves at some point.

“I asked you a question.”

It seemed that he hadn’t figured out that Karl could hardly utter a few words of English…

“I’m Danish,” he repeated, hoping he would this time.

But the other male didn’t seem to be really pleased by what he said.

“Yes, I know you are. You said it a few seconds ago. But I want to know what you’re doing here! In a house that isn’t yours.”

He sounded a bit aggressive as he said that. But Karl couldn’t blame him.

Karl just blinked at him in silence.

“You,” he said instead, nodding at him. “Who are you?” He managed to ask.

“I asked you a question first, so just fucking answer it!”

Karl wasn’t impressed or scared. He just remained impassive.

He thought about leaving to go and see Margaret. But first, it would be rude to leave just like that. Then, he wasn’t really sure it would help him clarify the situation…

Anyway, he didn’t need to go anywhere because a few instants later, there was a knock on the door.

They both looked away from each other to stare at the door. Karl opened it after a few seconds, revealing Paul.

“Hey,” he said with a smile. “Can I come in?” He then asked pointing at the inside of the room.

“Yeah,” Karl replied, stepping aside to let him in.

He heard Paul murmur a small thanks.

“George! Long time no see.”

“What is this Dane doing here?” The male barked.

Paul gave him a long level look.

“Yeah, I’m glad to see you again, and I’m fine, thanks for asking,” he said, sounding ironic.

George sighed.

“Sorry, but I…It’s quite unexpected. Would you please care to explain? Who’s this Dane and what is he doing here?”

“His name is Carl.”

“I know. He told me so before you came in. But why is he in your former room?”

There was a short moment of silence before Paul spoke again.

“If you want to stay here, you’ll have to share my former room with Carl.”

George didn’t seem to be happy with what Paul had just said.

“Are you serious?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” Paul retorted.

George seemed to be thinking about something for a few moments.

“You are renting your own room for foreigners now?” George asked.

“We’re not renting him a room. We are putting him up for free. Otherwise, he would be homeless.”

George looked much more surprised than unhappy now.

“And so… How come? I mean why would you do that?” He asked him with his brows slightly knitted, breaking the silence. “Doesn’t he have a family? And why is he even here in England?”

“Because it’s war. Haven’t you heard the latest news on the radio?”

George waited for a little bit before he replied.

“No, I haven’t really been listening to the radio recently if you see what I mean.”

Paul kept staring at him as he remained silent for a very short while.

“No, I don’t. And for your information, the Nazis invaded Denmark.” A pause. “He was attacked and knocked unconscious one night in a deserted alley while I was coming back from Emma’s pub. He had nothing with him but a small bag. So I decided to bring him home. Where he could have my room since my flat is just big enough for me.”

George remained silent, now looking thoughtful.

“He’ll go once the war is over. But you’ll probably have left long before it is.”

Silence.

“Wait, that means… that we’re going to have to sleep in the same bed?” George said, his voice low as he looked horrified.

“What a sharp insight, Sherlock,” Paul answered.

George’s stare turned into a glare at the words.

“Quit it!”

“Listen, in times of war, we have to make do with what we have and stick together, even if it’s difficult. So, either you accept to share the bed with him or you sleep on the floor, okay?”

“And how can you be sure he’ll be willing to share the bed with me? Did you ask him if he would agree?”

“Well then, if he doesn’t want to, you’ll sleep on the floor,” Paul retorted as he shrugged casually. “After all, he was there before you, so that’s only fair,” he added nonchalantly.

George looked as if he were about to tear Paul apart. But it seemed that Paul just chose to shrug it off.

“I’ve already been here long before he was,” George said.

“Yeah, but unlike you, he doesn’t have anywhere else to go,” was Paul’s reply.

The room became silent, and the more they were speaking the more the atmosphere seemed to be becoming tense.

“Your father never told me I would have to share your former room with a Danish refugee,” George said, his face and tone grave.

A beat.

“I guess he was too preoccupied with you to even think to mention Carl.”

There was silence again.

“Great…” George muttered, really not looking happy again.

“Hey, this is only temporary. So grin and bear it. And please, try to be nice to him,” Paul told him. “He’s a human being, and what’s happening to you is not his fault.”

“I know it’s not. But I would’ve preferred not to have to share your room with him.”

Karl had the impression he had become invisible. He was sure that if he silently left the room they wouldn’t even notice. It seemed that he was not needed here.

They seemed to be well acquainted with each other, to the point where they could argue. Karl tried to infer what George could be to him and his parents.

Given his young age, he was probably not one of Paul’s friends. Perhaps he was related to him in some way. But he couldn’t assert that this was actually the case. They didn’t have the same facial features.

“Sorry you had to witness that,” Paul suddenly told him, making him stop thinking.

“You’re lucky he doesn’t understand English well,” he then said, looking back at George.

“That’s why he didn’t answer when I asked him what he was doing here…” the younger male said in a low voice.

“That’s not surprising. He can only speak a few words and make a short, easy sentence for now. We’re trying to teach him some, well, especially my mother actually, but it hasn’t even been a week since he started,” Paul said. “So don’t be offended if he doesn’t reply when you say something to him.”

“I see…”

George seemed to be thinking again momentarily.

“Then, how am I supposed to ask him if he is okay to share the room with me now?”

Paul shrugged as he put his hands in his trousers pockets.

“Try to speak with easy words and gestures. Don’t worry, he’s not dumb.”

Again, there was an unreadable expression on George’s face.

“This is going to be complicated…”