Live, Love, Lose - 9. Chapter 9

When Karl woke up the next morning, he noticed he was alone in the bed. He pulled himself at the centre of it, laying down lazily as if he didn’t really want to get out of it. He was used to getting up pretty much early, mostly before dawn, and had never had the occasion to sleep in late. But here it wasn’t like home at all. And he wasn’t home anymore.

He could perceive the dim light through the curtained window. He fluttered his eyelashes, taking a slow look at his surroundings. Nothing had changed in the room ever since he had gotten here for the very first time. He stretched his limbs lazily and looked at the ceiling. He was only wearing a sleeveless undershirt and breeches. He had grey trousers on as well. He hadn’t dared remove them to sleep with George.

He just remained into bed motionlessly, just trying not to think about anything for once, and enjoy what he had.

Had his mother been there to see him, she would have had him get up in less than five seconds to get to work. He let out a quiet sigh.

He decided to remain lying in bed for five more minutes before he took a quick shower and got dressed. Then, he swiftly headed downstairs and headed towards the kitchen.

“Tell me, Paul, what about you and Emma? When are you two finally going to get married?” he heard Mrs Hopkins say as he entered it.

He sat next to Paul silently. Mother and son seemed to be too focused on each other to even notice his presence.

Paul looked at her with a blank look on his face before raising his eyebrows.

“Who told you we were going to get married?”

“Well, I know she likes you a lot.”

Paul’s eyes widened slightly as a very small frown appeared on his face.

“She’s just a good friend, Mum, nothing more.”

“Don’t be silly,” she responded as if she was scolding him. “You know it’s much more than that between the two of you.”

Paul looked slightly annoyed.

“Mum, could you please not stick your nose into my love life? Can’t I have some privacy?”

“But I am your mother, and it’s only legitimate for me to know this kind of thing.”

Paul just rolled his eyes as he looked away from her.

“Should I remind you that you’ll turn thirty soon?” She proceeded. “When your father was your age, he already had you.”

“I am not my father,” Paul retorted.

“Listen, I don’t want to wait to be eighty until I can finally become a grandmother.”

Paul let out a sigh.

“You shouldn’t be in such a hurry to become a grandmother, you know,” he said after a few seconds of silence somewhat casually. “You will age overnight when it happens, and you don’t want that to happen, do you?”

“Mind your words, will you?” She said as she hit him with the rag she had in one hand.

Her reaction made her son smirk.

“Come on, Paul, I’m serious, you’re not going to remain single until the end of your life, are you?” She said in a scolding tone as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Paul glanced at her, and let out another sigh.

“I still have time to get married and make a lot of grandchildren for you, you know. I want to keep making the most of my single life while I still can.”

His mother just shook her head at him.

Suddenly, her husband entered the kitchen and approached his wife.

“Good morning, dear,” he said, smiling as he kissed her on the cheek.

But he seemed to quickly notice that she wasn’t in a good mood.

“What’s the problem?” He asked her showing some concern.

“The problem is that your son hasn’t married yet,” she retorted gravely, a hint of annoyance noticeable in her voice.

“Oh, that… I thought it was something much more serious,” he said before he took a seat near his son.

“This. Is serious,” she stated as she snapped, her voice dangerously low.

But neither her husband nor son seemed to be scared.

Mr Hopkins unfolded his morning newspaper to read it.

“There’s no urgency. He’ll get married once he’s found the right woman.”

But this only earned him a glare from his wife.

“You two, stop it with your cocky attitude,” she demanded sternly.

The two men exchanged a look that probably only themselves could decipher.

Karl cleared his throat just like the first time he had entered the kitchen to get the family’s attention.

The three of them turned their heads to look at him.

“Good morning, Carl,” Mr Hopkins greeted with a warm smile. “Sorry, I did not notice you were there.”

“Oh, dear I did not either. I am so sorry. I do not want you to think we were ignoring you…”

Paul shook his head as he was smiling.

“You’re just like Emma, Mum. How could I be willing to marry a woman who is just like my mother?”

His mother hit his arm again as she had a stern look on her face.

“Men always marry their mothers,” Mr Hopkins said.

“Is that so?” Paul asked.

“Well, it is so most of the time.”

Mrs Hopkins was the one to shake her head this time. But she wasn’t smiling. She made her way near the stove as if she didn’t want to talk to any of her son or husband any more.

“So how was that first night with George? Did you sleep well?” Mr Hopkins asked Karl.

Even if he still couldn’t understand English very well, he could still identify ‘George’ and the word sleep which Mrs Hopkins had taught him amongst others.

“Yeah,” he simply replied.

Mr Hopkins nodded as he smiled at him.

Karl just couldn’t help wondering where George was.

“George….” He uttered still with his thick accent.

He tried to make gestures to express what he wanted to say, hoping it would help.

“He’s gone to university,” Mrs Hopkins replied with a big smile on her face as she appeared right next to him and put down a plate before him. “Here you go, my dear.”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime. George, out,” she said as she showed outside the kitchen. “Not in. Not here,” she added as she showed him where they were.

Karl nodded as he understood he had left the house.

She then disappeared again before coming back swiftly with cutlery.

“Here,” she said as she handed them to Karl.

“Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

Shortly after, he began eating.

“I really hope he doesn’t skip his classes though…” He heard Mrs Hopkins say after a few instants of silence, concern obvious in her voice.

“You’re not going to spy on him, are you?” Her husband said earnestly as he was reading his newspaper.

The woman seemed to be somehow annoyed by his words, or maybe more about the way he said them.

She waited for a short while before she spoke again as she was staring at him.

“I’m just worried about him, you know,” she responded, offended.

Mr Hopkins looked up from his paper to gaze at her.

He seemed to be considering what the best answer to this would be.

“George is a serious boy, he would never do such a thing. Even if it is hard, he will not give up.”

“How can you be sure of that? You may know him very well, but you are not in his head,” the woman protested as she put her hands on her hips.

“If you wish I can go and check out during my break,” Paul suggested, sounding rather nonchalant.

Both parents looked at their son before gazing at each other. His mother seemed to be suddenly relieved as she smiled again.

“That would be lovely.”

“And Carl can come with me.”

“What do you mean ‘come with you’?”

“Well, I could take him with me at work today and that way we’ll be able to go and check it out together.”

“But he can’t stay with you while you’re working, can he?”

“Of course he can, Mum. No one will mind. He just can’t stay all day long at home every day. He needs to go out, to see new places and meet new people, you know.”

“But I’ve already taken him out once. And I’m perfectly aware of this,” his mother retorted, looking slightly offended.

“Yeah, I know. But it will be more interesting for him to see how one job works.”

“We can do other more interesting things too. I can show him a lot of things you have no idea how to do.”

“I know you can, Mum. Don’t take it that way.”

“I take it the way I want, young man. I don’t really like your innuendoes,” she retorted as she was now frowning and had her arms crossed.

“I didn’t mean to offend you, Mum. But you’ll be able to go out or do whatever you like with him again tomorrow. Or any other day.”

His mother seemed to be much more pleased by that.

“Very well, then. You can take him with you.”

Paul could catch his father smiling at him as he glanced at him before he looked at Karl who was chewing on his food.

“You and me, go out, okay?”

Even if Karl could get what he meant, he simply nodded with a small smile.

“Great,” was his reply as he smiled back.

Once Karl was done with eating his food (which he did quickly), they headed outside and went into the city centre.

~

Paul worked as an engineer, a job Karl didn’t know at all, well just by name. But thanks to Paul he learned the basics of how it worked. He definitely wasn’t an expert as regarded all the different kinds of jobs that existed. Still, he found what Paul showed him rather interesting. Or maybe he thought so because it meant sharing something else with Paul and spending more time with him.

When lunchtime finally came, Paul took him to the university where George was supposed to study.

“In times like these, you’d better not be too hungry,” Paul said on their way there. “But don’t worry, we’ll have a good meal tonight,” he reassured the younger male.

Karl smiled at him as an answer.

After walking for a while, they finally got there. The building was huge and quite impressive, and Karl was really amazed as he was staring at it intently.

“I don’t know precisely his lecture schedule, but that’s alright. We’ll just go and ask his professors directly,” Paul said as if it were no big deal, making Karl glance at him.

“You have already seen a university before in Denmark, haven’t you?” The older man then wondered aloud.

His statement caused Karl to look at him with interest.

Paul met his gaze before he gestured at the building before them with his head.

“School. It exists in Denmark too.”

And Karl could understand what he meant because most of the words were similar to Danish ones. There was something fascinating somehow in the way both languages looked so similar as yet they weren’t the same. Karl was really thankful for that, because had it been any other language than English, he didn’t know how he would have dealt with that.

“Yeah,” he just said with a small smile.

This was the kind of building you could see in Copenhagen, but not where he came from. He could remember his elder brother showing the university there that looked just as impressive as this one when he showed them around the city a few years ago.

“Let’s go, shall we?” Paul said with a confident smile.

Karl nodded with a smile of his own.

“Yeah.”

They resumed walking and headed towards the main entrance in silence, but there was nothing uncomfortable in it.

Karl was even more impressed as they entered the building. The halls, as well as the main campus, was crowded with people, a majority of women actually, but there were also a few men.

None of them paid attention to them, as if they were just some ghosts. After crossing the campus, they reached a big wooden door toward the end of the university, and Paul opened it, holding as Karl could enter the room. He quickly thanked Paul as he stepped in, and waited for Paul to stand beside him to keep walking. Then, they went upstairs, the staircase large and made of marble.

“Have you…” Karl trailed off still with his Danish accent, earning him a glance from Paul.

He wasn’t very sure of his capacity in forming too long and proper a sentence in English. Still, that didn’t prevent him from trying.

“Studere…” he said the word in Danish because he didn’t know how to say the right word in English. “…here..?”

Anyway, the Danish word must have been similar to the English one, since Paul seemed to understand.

“Yes, I have,” Paul replied immediately and in a confident way. “And so did my father.” He paused before he proceeded. “Before he had to go to war,” he added gravely.

“War?” Karl repeated the word out of curiosity, having some trouble to pronounce it, and not knowing what it meant.

The truth is that this one wasn’t similar to the English one. Otherwise, he would have recognised it.

“Krieg,” Paul suddenly said, with a weird accent.

Karl instantly recognised the word, even though the accent was unfamiliar. So he doubted that Paul meant to say the Danish word. Had he spoken Danish, they could have communicated properly and it would have been much easier for him to learn English this way.

He wasn’t blaming him for not speaking Danish though.

“Krig…” Karl repeated thoughtfully as he glanced down at his feet.

Karl didn’t know what it was… Well, he had never experienced it, had never gone to fight. And his parents had never really talked of this particular subject to him.

“We’re at war right now. That’s why you were forced to leave your country.”

Karl just remained silent as he was somehow thoughtful. Also, he couldn’t really understand the words Paul had just said. Though he guessed what he meant with them just because of the mention of war and ‘you'.

“War isn’t pretty. It always causes collateral damage.”

A pause.

“But I don’t even know why I’m saying that. You must know that already.”

By now, they had finished going upstairs and were heading toward another door, which was smaller than the other one.

Paul opened it without bothering to knock, due to the fact that he was quite familiar with the place. They entered into what looked like a kind of office. There was a woman sitting at a desk and talking to someone on the phone.

She had dark blond curly hair that reached the upper part of her chest and a green dress littered with white polka-dots. She seemed to be in her mid-forties.

Paul waited for her to hang up to make their presence known. He cleared his throat once she had, causing her to look up from the papers on her desk.

“Hello,” she greeted them. “Do you need anything?”

“Yes. We would like to know if Professor Hughes is around.”

“What for? Do you have an appointment with him?”

“No, but I am one of his former students and there’s something I need to see with him that can’t wait,” he lied.

The woman stared at both men in turn with a stoic face for a few seconds before she spoke again.

“Yes, I think he is. Generally, at this hour of the day, he is in his office.”

“Alright. Thank you,” Paul replied before nodding at her and leaving the room, Karl following closely behind him.

Paul closed the door before he made his way towards another one. This time he knocked on it and waited for the usual “come in” to open the door. He gestured for Karl to enter first, which he did.

His eyes landed on a man who was standing behind a large desk, looking at some papers that were in his hands. He was wearing a dark grey suit and had grizzled hair that was a dark brown colour, and he was wearing glasses just like Paul’s father.

Paul closed the door carefully and went to stand close to Karl who didn’t know what to do. Paul put one arm around his shoulder and had them move together closer to the desk.

“Who’s there?” The professor asked solemnly before looking up swiftly.

“Oh Paul, it’s you.”

“Good afternoon, Professor,” he greeted politely. “I’m sorry to disturb you and come here toes you so unexpectedly but there’s something I really need to ask you.”

“Oh, well. It’s fine then. What that might be?” He asked as his gaze was focused on the brown-haired young man.

Karl noticed how blue his eyes were, unlike Mr Hopkins's.

“My mother and I were wondering if George attended lectures and other courses diligently.”

“George? Yes, absolutely. I’ve never seen such a hard-working and determined student. Thank God he was exempted from enlisting. It would’ve been such a shame to lose him.”

“Yes, indeed.”

The professor’s eyes suddenly shifted to Karl.

“And who is this young boy you brought with you?” he asked curiously.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot to introduce him. This is Carl. A Danish boy who is currently living with us.”

Said boy was definitely not used to being the centre of attention, and to meet people he didn’t know. So this was somehow a bit unsettling.

The professor nodded at him with a smile, blue staring into blue.

“It’s nice to meet you, Carl.”

Karl nodded at him with a small and polite smile.

“Wait, now that I’m thinking about it. What made you and your mother think that George could skip his courses?” The professor asked Paul with great interest.

“Well, he admitted it was hard and exhausting, and he looked rather...weary.” A pause. “He even admitted he had thought about quitting…”

“Did he?” The professor asked looking a bit shocked.

“Yes. That’s why my mother was especially worried about him. And that’s why I told her I would go and check by myself to make sure everything was alright.”

There was a short moment of silence as Professor Hughes looked down thoughtfully.

“I will make sure he won’t. I know the situation we live in makes things particularly tough. But if we stick all together we will make it through.”

“Hopefully.”

“Well, I’m supposed to have a lecture with him in a few minutes,” the Professor suddenly said as he looked at his wristwatch.

“And I’m supposed to go back to work soon. So I’m not going to bother you any longer,” Paul immediately replied.

“You haven’t bothered me at all. I am glad I could assure you that George is as studious as he was on his first day here.”

“Thanks Professor,” Paul said with a grateful smile.

By now Professor Hughes had left the spot behind his desk and put his papers down and was now facing Paul.

“No need to thank me,” he said as he shook hands with Paul. “It was only natural.”

“Goodbye Professor.”

“Goodbye, Paul. Please, give your father my regards. It’s been a while since I last heard from him.”

“I will,” Paul assured him. “Well, he hasn’t gone out very often lately.”

“Well, I haven’t myself,” the blue-eyed man admitted before he let out a small chuckle. “In such hard times, we really don’t feel like doing this kind of thing.”

“But even if the situation is complicated, it doesn’t mean we have to stop living. Otherwise, it’s as if we were all dead.”

“You’ve got a point there,” the Professor answered, smiling. “Well, have a good afternoon despite all the work you have to do.”

“You too.”

After they said goodbye one last time to each other, the Professor saying goodbye to Karl in the process, they left his office swiftly to go back to where Paul worked.

On their way out, they came across George.

“Paul? Carl?” he pronounced their names with slight puzzlement in his voice. “What are you doing here?”

“We just wanted to pay you a friendly visit before your next lecture,” Paul replied nonchalantly.

But George didn’t really look convinced by his answer.

“Really? But why would you do that? Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“Since when are you worried about me not being at work?” Paul retorted wittily.

“I wasn’t worried. And since when have you decided to pay me unexpected friendly visits at university. You’ve never done that before.”

“Well, that was also a good opportunity to show Carl the university.”

Before George could reply anything, Paul proceeded.

“Maybe you could show him around in detail once all your courses are over,” he suggested with his hands in his pockets.

“Why should I? I’m not a touristic guide,” George retorted. “Why can’t you do it? You studied here just like me.”

“Well, if you have to share a room with him for an undetermined span of time, you might as well spend with him.”

But George didn’t seem to agree with this.

“I don’t see why; sharing a room and a bed is already quite enough.”

“But sharing such an intimate space is better when you get to know the person you share it with, don’t you think so?”

George said nothing for a few seconds as if pondering over Paul’s words.

“And how am I supposed to get to know him if we can’t communicate properly?”

A beat.

“Just make some effort.”

Karl just listened to their argument silently. He couldn’t get much of it, actually. He mainly understood they had mentioned work, university, and tourist guide, and he guessed they were talking about him since Paul mentioned his name.

He was just feeling so out of place. He was just a silent observer, hanging out with a man he had hardly known for a week, yet who treated him as if he were a long-standing friend of his, and who showed him his world that was so different from his.

“Whatever,” George uttered seemingly a bit annoyed. “I’m going to be late because of you.”

With that being said, he hurried to go to class without even saying goodbye or anything else.

“Well, we’ll see you tonight at home then,” Paul shouted as George was moving away from them.

“He can be such an ass sometimes,” Paul said in a low voice. “But don’t worry, he isn’t always like this. I just don’t know what’s got into him lately.”

Karl glanced at him as he was watching George, or rather his back, fade into the distance and the crowd of people that were around.

“Come let’s go back to work.”

He wanted to know what was up with George, but he felt that it was none of his business. Besides, his poor knowledge of the English language was a great hindrance.

So he just nodded in silence as they left the university, his mind wandering to his family on the way.