Chapter 75

When she closed her locker, a grinning-like-idiot face popped out beside her. She rolled her eyes and walked to the other side.

“How was it?”

“How was what?”

“Your presentation?”

“Well,” she nodded and smiled a little. “It turned out to be great.”

“Yeah?” he asked, excitedly.

“Yeah.” She replied.

“Do you want me to walk you home?”

“No. I-”

“I think you wanna me to walk you home.”

“What the used of asking if you are going to be persist about it?”

“Assurance?”

“Gee, whatever.”

They walked out from the school area and strolled down the street.

“Oh, before I forget, I Google about your great, great, great, great, great grandfather’s wife.”

“And?”

“And I found some articles regarding her physical or something like that. Well, this is how it goes.” She coughed a bit and started reading.

“Josephine is a woman who is very good and who knows how to draw attention on to her. She’s simple. She’s not complicated. She’s not someone who makes up schemes, and she’s very gracious. Has a lot of charm and may not be very beautiful but has a very flexible gait. Someone that draws attention. She’s a real woman and that’s what Napoleon said always about her, and that she’s someone who doesn’t leave people indifferent.”

“And?” Ji Min demanded.

“When she came into the room, you'd probably be really drawn to her. She had great charisma, long eyelashes and big eyes. She wasn't a beauty, but she was really striking. She had a wonderful walk, very elegant, an indolent walk that really was enchanting. And she had a beautiful voice, what we would call a really y voice, very low and musical. So there was something about her aura that just enchanted people.”

“She was the symbol of perfection.”

“Uh-uh. Not perfection. Because while on the other hand,” she scrolled down the page on her phone before started reading again.

“Oh, he's a scruffy guy, you know, that everyone was embarrassed about. He was so serious and he had no sense of humor and he was skinny. He was poorly clothed. His boots smelled. His hair was kind of hanging and he was unkempt. He was a sorry sight.”

“So what?”

“So, are you telling me that the ‘symbol of perfection’ that drawn everyone’s attention married to a boot-smelled guy? Without any motive? I heard that Joseph's sister Edmee, who lived in France, was the mistress of Francois de Beauharnais, a man of rank and money. When his health began to fail, Edmee arranged a marriage between Francois’ son Alexandre and Joseph's twelve-year-old daughter Catherine, to ensure that Francois’ money would continue to support her and help the struggling Tascher family as well.” She said, for real, without a glance on the screen of her phone.

“Wow, you really into this thing.”

“Of course. I need something to support my debate.”

“Anyway, you remember about the arsenic poisoning?”

“Yeah, why?”

“The reason why all the speculations came out because when Napoleon was alive, the thing he scared the most is dying because of being poisoned by his enemy. So, he trained himself to drink a little poison every day until the poison itself became harmless to him. In the end, they found them inside his body.”

“Seriously?"

“It’s so much better than Shakespeare isn’t it?”

___________________________________________________________________________

“Thanks for walking me home. Although obviously I didn’t ask for that.”

“Most welcome. And don’t forget to Google more about Josephine. It’s about their wedding gift or something.”

“Alright, alright.” She assured him. “You remind me that about like 37 times already.”

“That’s random. You actually count that?”

“No. It’s really random.”

“Ugh, of course.”

“So, good bye?”

“Why must be ‘good’ bye? I believe that’s one of the bulltest words ever invented. It’s not like you’re given te choice to say ‘bad-bye’ or ‘awful-bye’ or ‘couldn’t-care-less-about-you-bye’. Every time you leave, it’s supposed to be a good one.”

“And the bulltest mind is the mind that questioning that.”

“And the bulltest statement is the one that saying the one that have the bulltest mind is the one that questioning the bultest words that ever invented on planet Earth.”

“You’re confusing me.”

“I hope so.”

“Okay, then. Good- no, only bye-byes are allowed?” she asked playfully. Ji Min laughed a bit before nodded merely.

“Yeah. They are.”

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.” He waved lazily. It’s not like he was lazy but there is no need to exaggerate in everything. Just certain things.