Closed Expectations

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius was waiting in the front of the great hall, adjusting his suit to make sure it fit perfectly. He felt a little guilty, peeking through the crowd to see if he could catch a glimpse of Margo. But he shook his head. He had asked Aika to the ball. She was everything he was sure his father wanted. A good, proper girl with a respectable family that could handle his world easily. He composed himself, content to wait for his date.

 

[Aika Chen]

With Valerius, Aika knew that she definitely had a class that she had to meet. So, since he invited her to the Yule Ball, she worked on her outfit a lot, and decided to go with a long white dress that had a corset on the upper part. As jewelry, she wore a golden snake type necklace around her neck and a bracelet. She thought that she looked really nice and hoped that Valerius would feel the same. "I hope you're waiting for me," she easily said as she softly touched his shoulder with her fingers and charmingly smiled at him. She enjoyed Valerius, maybe even liked him, but she couldn't put her finger to why she felt like it wasn't both sided or as she liked him more than he liked her, even if he made more steps than she did. But she decided to go with a flow, maybe she was just being paranoic.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius smiled when he heard Aika's voice, turning. His breath caught at the sight of her. He couldn't deny that she was beautiful. He took her hand, bringing it up and pressing a soft kiss to the back of her hand. "You look radiant," He told her. "I brought this for you, but if feels inadequate." He offered out a rose, a pure white one, smiling gently.

 

[Aika Chen]

All Aika's thoughts faded away when she saw his reaction to her, and she softly continued to smile as Valerius kissed her hand and automatically did a little soft curtsy. "I'm grateful. Thank you," she said to both the rose and compliment. "You look astonishing, Valerius," Aika finally said the compliment back to him. "Did you know that white rose means purity and a fresh beginning?" Aika loved Chal, so she definitely had learned some facts about plants, and she loved roses so she learned the meanings. This rose had more meanings but she decided to go with the most neutral ones.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius smiled, offering out his arm to lead her into the room. "Thank you, Aika," He told her with a gentle smile. "I didn't know that, but it seems fitting." He was giving all his attention to her, trying to focus solely on her needs for the night. "You like flowers?" He asked her.

 

[Aika Chen]

Aika nodded softly and smiled at him. "More like plants, I enjoy gardening," she definitely didn't seem the type of person to like gardening but she actually did, it was her quite newly discovered hobby. "So what are your secret hobbies?" She teasingly asked, hoping to maybe find out more about him.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius chuckled. It was a bit surprising that she enjoyed gardening, she didn't seem the type to like dirt. As she returned his question, he considered it. "I have a secret knack for languages, does that count?" He asked, giving her a gentle smile.

 

[Aika Chen]

"that definitely counts. So, what languages do you know?" Aika curiously asked. She was curious to find out more about him as they seemed to be getting closer.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius smiled softly. "I'm fluent in English, of course, and conversational in Russian. And I'm getting mildly conversational in Japanese," He offered with an easy smile. "Professor Aoki has been teaching me," He looked over to the dance floor and back to her, offering his hand out with a smile. "Would you like to dance with me, Aika?"

 

[Aika Chen]

"Oh, so you decided to go for the two of the hardest languages?" Aika chuckled a little but nodded her head approvingly. Valerius seemed like the perfect guy, he was everything. "Oh really? And how is professor Aoki? Do you like him? I speak Japanese too by the way," which made sense. She spent long eleven years in Japan as it was her origin country. "I would love to, Valerius," she put her hand in his. "Let me guess, you had dancing classes when you were younger?" She teasingly offered while still quite sure that she was correct. It made sense for someone with his status.

 

[Valerius Bianchi]

Valerius chuckled. "My older half sister is Russian. And Japan seems like a cultural center worth partnering with. Give it a few years and we'll throw in Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, French, German..." He chuckled. "There are so many languages. I'll probably never be done learning." He led her out onto the floor, taking the proper stance- his hand in hers and the other on her waist. "A true gentleman has at least a year of dance lessons under his belt." He smiled. "Perhaps, over the break between years, you'd like to go to a gala my father is hosting?" He offered.