In the Storm of Words (Love in Paris) (eBook)

Anna Teleki (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
130 Seiten
Publishdrive (Verlag)
978-0-00-099619-0 (ISBN)

Infos

An impossible lie. A perfectly fabricated weekend. A storm that washes everything ashore.
Alice is trapped by a ridiculous lie she can't face her parents with. Instead of admitting the truth and being exposed, she concocts the wildest plan: she needs to get a husband, and she needs one immediately.
Her savior is the least likely candidate: Yvon, a grumpy, divorced literature teacher she sees on the train every morning. Alice asks him for one weekend: to play the role of the non-existent, perfect husband in front of her family.
Is the absurd meeting the impossible?
Yvon, surprisingly, says yes. Two strangers who assume the mask of a perfect marriage for a single weekend. Every smile, every touch, every kind word is an act to maintain the ruse in front of her suspicious parents.
But in the midst of the performance, something else awakens. The invented love turns real as quickly as the lie becomes more fragile.
The Storm of Words shows no mercy. It hits them precisely like a hurricane striking the coast, washing ashore with its salty waves the long-buried, most painful truths.
What happens when the weekend is over, but after the storm of words, the two characters can't step back into their old lives? When the lie ends?

Textauszug

"The grades reflect reality," Yvon says, handing out the papers. "In this current moment... spelling and analysis..." He gives a paper to a blonde girl whose gum pops loudly. "Do you know what functional illiteracy is?" He gives out the last paper, but gets no answer. "It's a condition," Yvon writes on the board, "where a person doesn't understand what they're reading or what's being said to them." He turns back to the class, crossing his arms. "You wonder why we analyze novels so much? Well..." he sighs, pointing to the board, "this is why. Because you don't understand what they're about. Tomorrow is Thursday. We finish Monte Cristo. Friday is the exam. It looks like Le Rouge et le Noir didn't make it to its destination. Pray it doesn't end up on the final."

The bell rings.

5:58 PM.

Yvon rushes into the car and sees the girl sprawled across two seats, a cell phone in her hand. He barely touches her shoulder, and she looks up, lifting her bag.

Yvon sits down next to her, but the girl just leans her head back and sighs. The book opens, and Yvon turns a page.

6:08 PM... Alice slowly leans over. Slowly... until her head rests on the black coat. Yvon turns a page.

6:18 PM. Alice sighs, rubbing her face against the fabric of the coat. Yvon holds the book to the side but places his bag on his lap. The girl moves, and her head settles on the bag. She fidgets, searching for a more comfortable position, then stops. Half a second later, she snorts softly, descending into the depths of her exhaustion.

Yvon just looks down at her. He rests his right arm on the edge of the other seat, careful not to touch her. The book is in his left hand, and he continues to read.

6:45 PM. The piercing beep of a phone breaks the monotonous clatter. Alice's eyes open, her drool staining the fabric. She stirs groggily, shuts off the alarm, wipes her chin, and looks with small eyes at Yvon, who is turning a page.

"Did I wake you up?" the man asks.

Alice just moves her neck. "Thanks," she smiles. Yvon puts down his book and looks at her. He smooths a stray lock of hair from her lips. The train slows.

"Get some rest."

"Yes, sir," Alice says, standing up and grabbing her bag. She leaves.

Yvon stares at himself in the mirror. The razor is in his hand again, but it doesn't move... He closes his eyes.

"Why are you shaving now?" the question echoes in his memory. His hand tightens on the edge of the sink.

"That's not true," he sighs heavily, and puts more foam in his palm.

Alice is hugging her pillow when her eyes fly open. She has to go next week. Is tomorrow Thursday?

4:50 AM. She looks at her phone and sighs.

"Got it? What are you going to tell them?" Jeanne yawns, slowly pouring coffee. Alice shakes her head. "Maybe the truth?" But she shakes her head again, her lips pursed.

"I can't."

"Why?" Jeanne asks.

"Oh, God," Alice flops back. "How can I explain it so you'll understand?"

"Logically..." Jeanne sits down next to her, but Alice gets up and starts getting dressed.

"They can't find out that I'm a failure. Do you understand that?" she says, nervously tying up her long hair, then pulling on a white turtleneck.

Oh, no, they can't find out what?

"A failure?" Jeanne looks at her, stunned.

"Yes," Alice says, grabbing her bag and opening the door.

"But your parents!" Jeanne yells, rushing to the door and calling after her.

"Exactly."

Oh, yes... Exactly... Her parents... And she's the only child...

5:08 AM. Alice sits in her seat. The man across from her is dissecting a page with glasses on. He has a red pen in his hand, but a blue ballpoint pen rests in his mouth.

"Are you saving what you can?" Alice laughs, the sound a soft, surprised chime in the quiet car. Yvon uses the blue pen to fill in a missing letter in a French word. "No!" Alice's jaw drops. "You're serious? It's not spelled like that?"

"Cafouillage," Yvon says, articulating the word with a calm precision, "not Cafoillage."

"Oh my God," Alice laughs, watching as Yvon continues correcting the paper, the red and blue ink creating a vivid contrast.

"This is still just average..." Yvon huffs, the sound a low sigh of disappointment. Alice takes the paper from him.

"You corrected almost half of it in blue. Doesn't that count as cheating?"

"Yes," Yvon says, and starts on the next one. "Half of the class is barely keeping their heads above water."

Alice just looks at him as he corrects another missing letter in blue. "You're supposed to learn from your mistakes, aren't you?"

The man's hand stops over the incorrect word. He sighs and looks at the girl.

"How many times do you think Amar will write Cafouillage?" He gets no answer. "Not once," Yvon nods. "It's not good to have expectations."

"But this is a school grade!" Alice blurts out, a hint of desperation in her voice. Yvon takes the paper from her hand. He says nothing, just continuing his work.

Alice just watches him, her thoughts a whirlwind. "What did you say?"

"Nothing," Yvon says, crossing out a sentence on the paper.

"Just now..."

"That it's not good to have expectations."

"Why?" Alice looks at him, bewildered. Yvon takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes.

"When a person is faced with expectations, a desire to perform is born in them, which forces them to conform."

"It's useful in sports," Alice shrugs, a defensive posture.

"Maybe," Yvon nods. "But not everyone is a professional athlete." He leans on his knee and moves closer to the girl. "The constant pressure to conform causes tension, and at the first mistake, the glass castle of self-confidence can crack. A single, well-aimed word can crack it, a few sentences, and it shatters into pieces. And all that's left in the sparkling individual's mind is: I'm not enough, I'm not good enough, I can't live up to the level they expect... I am nobody," Yvon says, his voice a low, heavy rumble.

A silence settles between them, thick and meaningful. The gentle rhythm of the train sways them slightly. Alice is lost in thought, just looking at him. Yvon smiles and puts his glasses back on. His eyes return to the battle of blue and red.

"Unfortunately, many people are raised with expectations from childhood. The result of this in today's world is a lot of anxious, depressed, deceitful, and jealous people."

Alice looks out the window at the gray landscape.

"So how should you live if not by conforming to expectations?"

Yvon looks at her. He looks at the pensive girl for a long time.

"With goals," Yvon answers, the word a solid anchor in the uncertainty. Alice laughs a little, then starts stroking her long hair to the side, and leans back. "The difference between a goal and expectations..." he begins to say.

"Is an abyss," Alice cuts him off, but the train slows. "Oh, great!" She grabs her bag and stands up.

She's just taking a step when Yvon grabs her hand.

"How old are you?!" the question blurts out of him, and Alice's face flushes.

"Why?"

"Just," Yvon runs a hand through his hair.

"By the way, it's disrespectful for a man to ask that," Alice says seriously.

"We could debate that," an awkward smile appears on Yvon's lips.

"Twenty-eight," Alice turns her back and leaves.

Twenty-eight... Yvon mutters to himself and starts walking too. "Great..."

Today, however, passes agonizingly slowly... Alice looks at her notebook, with squares marking the different points of her job, waiting for a graceful checkmark. But she's just lost in thought...

"Goals..." she says the word to herself.

"Well," Yvon says, clasping his hands, leaning against the podium, and crossing his legs. "Edmond Dantès versus the Count of Monte Cristo," he picks up the thick book, showing it. "This little monster here shows us a negative character arc that anyone can experience. The evolution of a character, triggered by reactions to the following events..." He walks to the board and begins to write: "exploitation; deception; injustice." He underlines the words. "This is a series of blows for a young, inexperienced, naive, and honest soul." He turns to the class. "Edmond is young... and he lacks something. What is it?"

"Doubt?" a teenager asks, and Yvon just nods.

"Actually, it's awareness. Many events happen to him throughout his life." He puts the book on top of the other two on the podium, his fingers resting on them. "The lack of experience and guidance permeates the first half. There is no one to guide him or open his eyes to the events. Then..." he crosses his arms. "He walks through his own hell, to the point that he wants to throw his life away. He's lost, with no one to understand or help him. He's in a hopeless situation, with no way out... in his opinion," he adds. "The change is brought by a voice. Abbé Faria. Who gives him what he needs. What is it?" He spreads his hands, but no answer comes. Yvon steps to the board: KNOWLEDGE he writes in big letters. Next to it: information, and next to that, self-confidence.

"Self-confidence?" a voice from the class asks, and Yvon turns around.

"The naive sailor becomes a sharp-witted, extremely well-informed, and determined man. Although he is driven by a...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 17.8.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Gesundheit / Leben / Psychologie ► Familie / Erziehung
• ISBN-10: 0-00-099619-X / 000099619X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-00-099619-0 / 9780000996190