#9 – Fake Engagements and Broken Hearts
[April, 1832]

"Hello, Monsieur Grantaire." Hope casually greeted, as she took a seat next to the drunk man. "How is it going today?"

"Perfectly good, Mademoiselle Hope." The young man replied as he took another sip from his glass of absinthe. "May I inquire about your well-being as well?"

"Oh, I would prefer if you did not." She sighed. "Don't you think it's a bit early to be drinking already, Monsieur?"

"It's always ten o' clock somewhere, Mademoiselle." Grantaire laughed and shook his head. "Say, I'm quite curious. It's not often that you come talk to me. Actually, if I am correct, you only talk to me when you are trying to make our dearest Apollo angry. Or, in some rare cases, when you are upset and needs a drink. Which one it is today?"

"Neither, though I would gladly accept a drink." She replied, with a shrug. "But Enjolras was getting into a heated discussion about equality with Combeferre. Needless to say, it was a quite boring conversation and I figured that talking to someone would be way more entertaining for me."

"You chose my companionship instead of listening to their philosophical thoughts?" The drunk asked, blinking his eyes in surprise.

"Well, why wouldn't I?" She inquired, pushing a strand of hair away from her face. "You make me laugh with your sarcasm and your rants about Greek mythology are quite amusing. You are a good friend, Grantaire. Plus, you don't try to flirt with me, which I very much appreciate."

"Mademoiselle Hope, you are one of a kind." Grantaire mused. "You said you would gladly accept a drink, so would you perhaps like to share a bottle of wine with me?"

"I don't think my fiancee should be drinking, Grantaire." Jehan Prouvaire commented, now turning to look at Hope and offering her a yellow rose. "Afternoon, Mademoiselle Hope. How are you doing today?"

"Would you mind if I did not answered that question?" Hope inquired, giving him a smile as she accepted the rose. "Yellow rose? It means friendship, right?"

"You are getting good at it." Jehan nodded his head, pushing a chair to sit between his two friends. "Yellow roses have various meanings, though. Friendship was the one I intended, however, depending on the situation, it could also mean 'jealousy, infidelity, an apology'. Or intense emotions in general."

"You educate us, Jehan." Grantaire commented, taking one more sip of his glass of absinthe. "How is the fake engagement going, by the way?"

"My uncle and aunt are still clueless about it." Hope replied, before placing her hand on Jehan's shoulders. "I will never be able to thank you enough for what you are doing for me, Monsieur Prouvaire."

"Always glad to help a friend in need, Mademoiselle." He grinned. "The yellow rose would look lovely with your red hair. May I?"

"Of course."

"I never fully understood your logic." Grantaire started to speak once again, watching with amusement as Jehan carefully begun to braid Hope's hair. "You don't wish to get married... so you are solving your problem by getting married?"

"Not quite like that." Hope stated, trying to keep still so she wouldn't get in the way of Jehan's work. "My uncle and aunt seem to believe that a woman needs to get married in order to be fully happy. And without consulting me, they had arranged a marriage between me and the son of a prestigious doctor or something of the kind. I met the lad once and it turns out he is quite..."

"Grotesque?" Jehan offered, raising an eyebrow.

"I was originally going to say rude, but grotesque works way better." She agreed. "We went out for a walk and we ended up running into Éponine. She's my friend, so naturally, I greeted her. As soon as she was gone, though, he tried to forbid me from talking to random gamines on the street, especially Éponine. And when I told him that I wouldn't do that, he actually hit me on the face."

"So that's where that bruise you had on your cheek a few weeks ago came from." Grantaire concluded, with a frown. "Mademoiselle, please be kind and tell me that you hit the bastard back?"

"Did you honestly thought that I would let some random man just hit me like that?" Hope chuckled. "I punched him right in the nose, just as Enjolras taught me, and then I left. I went right back to my uncle and aunt's house and begged them to not let me marry that idiot. They said that I had no choice on the matter, unless I found myself a new suitor willing to marry a foreign girl... So I panicked, ran out of the house and... ouch."

"Did I hurt you?" Jehan asked, looking at her with worry.

"No, it's fine. You just pulled that strand too hard."

"Oh, pardon me." He apologized, before focusing on his work again.

"What did you do, then?" Grantaire asked, blinking his eyes in curiosity.

"I didn't knew what to do. At first I was planning on running away from home and renting a small apartment near St. Michelle, so I could live happily ever after on my own." She joked. "But then I talked to Enjolras and he said he would come up with a better plan to get me out of that mess."

"And that's where I come in." Jehan added cheerfully. "Enjolras happened to share her story with Courfeyrac and me. Courfeyrac was the one to come up with the idea, honestly. The only thing that could possibly prevent Hope from marrying that arsehole would be finding her another suitor. But to attend Hope's best wishes, we came to the conclusion that a fake marriage would be the answer."

"So you offered yourself?" Grantaire questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Fake marriage or not, you two are still going to be married in a few weeks. Have that thought occurred to your brilliant minds?"

"Quite frankly, hardly nothing will change. Both of us will still have our freedom to do whatever pleases us. We'll just have to keep up with the appearances for a while. It will be like friends living together."

"And again, I could never thank you enough for doing this for me." Hope smiled.

"I already told you, you don't have to thank me. You're my friend and I'm happy to help." Jehan responded, as he finally finished braiding her hair. He carefully picked up the yellow rose from the table and placed it behind one of hers ears, a grin spreading across his face. "Ah, doesn't she look lovely?"

"She does." A familiar voice agreed.

The red-haired girl looked up, and when she saw the gamine girl standing there, everything around her seemed to disappear. She smiled widely, her heart pounding on her chest. "Afternoon, Éponine. How are you doing today?"

"Very good, Mademoiselle Hope." The other girl nodded her head. "Your hair looks lovely with the yellow rose. I wish my hair was as lovely as yours."

"Your hair is just as lovely as mine is. It's just a bit messy." Hope replied, blushing. "I don't know why you keep comparing yourself to me. You are way more beautiful than I am."

Grantaire and Jehan exchanged a look.

"You are too kind, mademoiselle." Éponine laughed, shaking her head. "You don't have to lie about it, though."

"I'm not, I swear. You have the prettiest eyes I have ever seen!" She blurted out, nervously biting her bottom lip.

"Anyway," Éponine shrugged. "Is Monsieur Marius here? I have been looking for him for quite some time now."

Hope's smile seemed to fade away just as quickly as it had appeared. There was a few seconds of silence in the table, in which Hope looked up at them. "I think I'm going home." She announced. "It's getting quite late and I promised my uncle I would be home in time for supper."

"Do you want me to go with you, Mademoiselle Hope?" Éponine offered. "Maybe we can find Monsieur Marius on the way and he could come with us too! The streets are very dangerous at this time, you see, and if anything bad happens, I can protect you both. I'm the daughter of a wolf, yes I am. People on the streets tend to fear me."

As much as she would love to take a walk with Éponine, Hope knew for a fact that Marius was coming towards the Café Musain at this time, just like he usually did everyday. She also knew for a fact that he would not know how to deny Éponine's invitation. There were many kinds of heartbreak that Hope could take, but seeing Éponine throwing herself at the arms of Marius was not one of them.

"No, thank you, Éponine... Enjolras can walk me." Hope quietly replied, before turning her attention to the boys. "Maybe I shall accept that drink offer tomorrow, Monsieur Grantaire. And Monsieur Jehan, thank you very much for the rose and for the braid."

Without waiting for any reply, Hope quickly got up from her seat and walked towards her best friend.

"I'm sorry that I interrupted your conversation with Monsieur Combeferre." The red-haired girl apologized.

"Don't worry about it, Hope." Enjolras reassured her. "It was nothing important."

They had been walking in silence for quite some time now. Enjolras had noticed the sudden change in her mood, but not wanting to force the subject upon her, he had simply done his best by offering his best friend a hand to hold. A gesture that he knew had been much appreciated – he could tell by the way she kept squeezing his hand every now and then.

The amount of pain Hope was feeling, however, was something he could never quite imagine. She had been in love with Éponine for more than three years now, and even though she had always known that nothing would ever happen between the two of them, a part of her kept on waiting and wishing that maybe, someday the gamine girl would return her feelings.

But Éponine was in love with Marius, not with her.

Love was not supposed to hurt this much. But it did.

"Hope, are you all right?" Enjolras suddenly asked, as he stopped walking. "You are crying."

"I... I am?" She asked, feeling slightly confused.

The young man hesitated for a moment, before reaching out to her with his free hand, and wiping away the tear that was rolling down her cheek. "Is everything okay?" He asked again. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?"

"It just... hurts." Hope replied, letting go of his hand and looking down at her own feet. "I knew from the start that nothing could ever happen. I knew that it was not going to end the way I wanted to end, but... I love her, Enjolras. I love her."

"I know you do." He mumbled, slightly uncomfortable with the situation. "I'm sorry, Hope, but maybe... it's for the best."

"How can it be for the best, though?" She asked, trying to repress a sob. "It shouldn't end this way. It shouldn't hurt this much. Everything is just... wrong."

"Come on, Hope. Don't be sad."

"She will never love me, will she?"

"But that's just the thing." Enjolras sighed, before slowly pulling Hope into a hug. She hesitated for a moment, before hugging him back, wrapping her arms around his waist. "She is not in love with you, but she does loves you. But she loves you in the same way I love you. As a sister. You are probably the only friend besides Marius she has, and maybe, the reason why she fell in love with him it's because she met him first." Hope buried her face in her best friend's chest, mumbling incoherent things under her breath. Enjolras chuckled, gently stroking her hair. "I know you hate the situation you are now and you have all the reasons to do so. But you shouldn't let your pain blind you from what's around you. Éponine may not return your feelings, but you have a bright future ahead of you."

"Yes, but what about love?" Hope asked.

"Love is not the most important thing. You can live without it."

"A life without love?" She inquired, with a frown. "That's a life that's worth no living."

"That's not what I mean." Enjolras rolled his eyes. "There are plenty of people who loves you, Hope. For example, your uncle and aunt. Me. Or maybe Jehan. It may not be the common love shared between husband and wife, but he sees you as a good friend of his. The other boys as well. We all see you as a part of the group, even though you have zero interest in politics and even though sometimes I have to drag you to some of the meetings. Let's not forget Courfeyrac's small crush on you..."

"Charming and yet scary." She quietly commented.

"Indeed." The blond agreed, deciding he would not like to dwell on the subject of Courfeyrac's interest on Hope. "And then you have that Cosette girl you met on the gardens. I think you are her only friend, if I'm being honest. She seems lonely. Maybe you should invite her to the next meeting. We need as much help as we can get." He mused, before clearing his throat. "And you love all those people just as much as they love you. You wouldn't be living without love, Hope. You would be living without being in love. Without a broken heart and very happy for a change."

"Sounds wonderful." Hope sighed. "How do you do it, Enjolras?"

"Do what?"

"How do you not fall in love with anyone?"

"I don't know. I never did." He shrugged. "Maybe it's because, unlike the others, I do not idealize the idea of love and I do not have the need for it."

"You are in love with your country, though." She pointed out, raising an eyebrow. "You are willing to die for the people and you wouldn't even think twice about it. That's the most pure form of love there is."

"No. You are just confusing love with patriotism."

Hope let out a small laugh, causing Enjolras to smile as well. The red-haired girl stood on her tip-toes and pressed a kiss on his cheek. "You are the best brotherly figure that I could have ever asked for."

"Quite right." He agreed, happy to see that his best friend was back into her normal state of cheerfulness. He kissed her forehead, breaking their hug apart. "Éponine is probably gone by now. Do you wish to go back to the Musain or would you rather finish the walk home?"

"I would very much like to go home." Hope simply replied, with a shrug. "I did actually promised my aunt that I would be back today in time for supper... I think she wants to spend as much time with me as possible before the wedding."

"Fair enough." Enjolras nodded. "Have you picked you wedding dress yet?"

"I'm not discussing my fake-marriage details with you."

"Again, fair enough."

A/N: One shot number nine, and counting! Eleven more one shots and this will be done, yay. So, I would like to thank everyone who favorited and followed, and a special thanks for BurningStorm who left me a really kind review. Thank you so much! Anyway, I am sorry that this is taking so long to update. I had some really bad writer's block over the past few months, and I'm also trying to write a doctor who/les misérables crossover so there's that. So, what do you guys think about the fake marriage situation and Hope's friendship with Jehan and Grantaire? What about Éponine? Well, drop me a review and let me know what you think! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)