Love & Misunderstanding

Chapter One - Jonathan's POV

- 1855 -

As I walked through the elegantly furnished corridor of the Seymour Family estate, my eyes came to rest upon the large ballroom at the very end. As usual, it was already filled with dancing guests. I did not want to take part in another ball, but unfortunately I knew that I had no choice. I had already stalled as long as I possibly could by touring through the family's personal library, with permission from them of course. My family was without a doubt already socializing and dancing to their heart's content. In fact, I was fairly certain that I could see my ever-so-charming brother, Vincent, dancing with a young lady from church.

Taking a deep breath, I reluctantly crossed the threshold into what I liked to consider the sanctuary of madness. Much to my surprise, the first person that I spot is my brother, who is happily dancing in the center of the room. I rolled my eyes at him. Naturally, he had become engaged to a noblewoman at infancy; however, he had made it no secret that he had no intention on getting married, or at least not to her. I suppose you could say that he was considered the town flirt. I could not entirely blame him for his actions, for I myself found the idea of an arranged marriage to be repugnant. However, because of his actions, Mother's high expectations were forced onto me.

I began to walk along the sidelines of the room, hoping that no one would approach me and pester me in their irritating attempts to introduce me to their daughters. How tired I was of those nuisances. Why could they not just leave me alone for once? Usually when I was forced to attend balls, I would pass the time by trying to blend into the background, and when I was not able to do that, I was with Matthew.

It was strange to think of how drastically he had changed in the last few years. The very boy who had once been infamous for getting into trouble, as well as causing trouble for everyone else, was now reduced to a troublesome love-struck fool. As for me, well, I did not think that I had changed too much. Although, most others begged to differ. Both my brother and Matthew claimed that I had become much more gloomy than I was as a child. To a certain degree, I understood what they meant, but there was nothing I could do about it. It was simply the way life had sculpted me.

After a while, I managed to spot Matthew, who was crouched behind a large plant in a corner, occasionally peaking around the corner. If this were not a formal society event, I would have thought that he was trying to relieve himself, but such was not the case. He had not done that since he was five years old. There had to be some other reason.

"Matthew, what are you doing?" I asked, sneaking up on him.

I must have startled him as I had hoped because he jumped the moment he heard me, which in turn almost caused the plant to fall over. Luckily he caught it before it hit the floor and made a mess. "Jonathan, do not scare me like that!" he declared, the sound of the music and chatter was loud enough to drown him out.

"I am ever so sorry for having scared you out of your wits," I said sarcastically. "Now, would you kindly answer my question?"

"For your information, I am not doing anything in particular," he answered, rising from his crouched position on the floor.

I sighed, shaking my head disapprovingly. Of course, I knew that he was lying. However, the fact that he denied it led me to the conclusion that I already knew what he was doing.

"The Hoffman's have not arrived yet."

"And why would I be searching for the Hoffman's?" he tested me.

I cocked an eyebrow at him questioningly. "You just said that you were not doing anything."

His mouth opened to say something, but it closed a moment later as he realized that I was right. Once again I had outsmarted him. I let out a small laugh at that. He was so predictable. He always wondered why he was never able to beat me at chess, and that was the exact reason. I knew him too well. I could often predict what he was going to do and which piece he was going to move next. Not always, but most of the time.