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La Vérité (AU: Anatomy of a Fall (2023), Vincent Renzi x Original Female Character fanfic) (work is in the process of writing)

• chapter 1

• chapter 2

[corleonewrites]

La Vérité

AU: Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

Vincent Renzi x Original Female Character fanfic.

Summary: Two people connected by the same past. Two lawyers. And one tangled case which brought them back together again, giving them the opportunity to sort out their feelings towards each other, no matter how painful memories are to both of them can be.

Chapter 2. Nocturne No. 8 In D Flat Major

Underground train was running fast, taking me to my destination: to the café, which was situated in the heart of Paris, right in the Place Vendôme, to meet Vincent. Chopin’s compositions in headphones were passing my ears by without notification as memories started to pop up in my head. I didn’t want to fall into them, but I couldn’t help it just how couldn’t delete old conversation with Vincent from my messengers. It was a habit of mine to reread them from time to time, making me hurt once again.

______________________________________________________________

“Have you heard that there’s going to be teachers exchange this year, Camille?” – Loise, a friend of mine when we studied at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

It was the final year of master’s studies. I just turned 24 and looked forward to finish studying and start new chapter in life after my graduation. At that time, I wanted to make a pause in studies after receiving my master’s diploma and return to them to get PhD in a couple of years later.

Nothing was extraordinary in exchanging teachers and tutors, as it happened during my BA studies and I myself had one year study exchange and lived in London for final year during receiving bachelor degree.

“And I’ve heard from Estella that he’s quite handsome”, continued Loise, “She saw him in the corridor, he was asking for our lecture room.”

“Oh, please, you’re only thinking about these kinds of things when our exams and degree essays are soon”, I rolled my eyes, taking pens and notebook with student book out from my bag. Sometimes it was pissing me off when everyone was talking only about boys. And yes, sometimes I was jealous for my friends who actually was in relationships, but at that time I concentrated only on my studies.

“And she’s not the only one who thinks the same way! Helene and Annie think that he’s handsome too!”, finished Loise when the door to the lecture’s room opened and the man entered the room: slim figure in grey jacket and black turtleneck, slightly tousled grey hair, and blue-green eyes which caught my attention. I must admit that he was handsome indeed, but at that time I just sat on my desk and opened the notebook, giving to the man zero cunning affair-like attention whatsoever.

Meanwhile, almost every girl in my group, and there weren’t many of them, got all their eyes on him and I felt embarrassed because of it.

“Good morning, class”, the man said and placed his bag on the desk’s chair, “My name is Vincent Renzi and I’ll be your tutor and mentor for this whole study year of your final studies.”, Vincent said and turned to the chalkboard to write his name on it.

I wrote his name in my copybook and looked at him once again, this time paying close attention to what he was about to say to us. How good was his handwriting. I could say it definitely when I looked at the chalkboard with Vincent Renzi name on it.

“I know that we don’t have a lot of time for fooling around, because your final essays are about to be written, but because I don’t know you at all I’m offering you one task for today’s class: take a piece of paper and write a small essay about you. It can be anything you like: why did you decide to study law, what was your favourite subject at school, what’s your favourite colour, just anything”, he smiled a little when he heard how students laughed at his offer cheerfully, “And if you don’t want to write about yourself – write an essay about something you like or want to discuss. Or don’t write at all, and do what you want, but just be quiet.”, he sat on his desk, “You can take your time, you have it until lunchbreak”, Vincent finished and opened his small red notebook and started making notes.

“I’ve told you he is cute”, Loise whispered to me, smirking, but I just rolled my eyes.

“Oh, stop it, Loise, and start writing”.

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“Pyramides Station”, the voice of the underground train informed me. It was my stop.

Trying not to fall into the memories completely, I excited the underground. The street was quiet and snowy. Crossing through the traffic lights and crowds of people who were shopping gifts for Noёl, I was getting closer and closer to my final destination.

I asked myself all the time if I was sure that I wanted to take new case, believing ahead that it’d be as tough as my recent one was, when I promised myself to relax and have couple of days off before starting a new one. But at the same time some thoughts were eating me: that I would miss something very great but very emotional and life-changing if I wouldn’t agree.

This uncertainty was in the air when I finally reached the café and opened the door immediately finding a very familiar man, who was sitting in the left corner, near big windows: same slim figure, his same slightly tousled grey hair which now was covering his eyes a little as he was writing something in the small red book, a cup of black coffee was standing nearby. He heard the sound of my footsteps and raised his head up and smiled with a slightly surprised look on his face when I wanted to fall into the ground, and my legs felt like they weighed a ton.

“I’m so happy you could come, Camille”, - his voice was soft and soothing as it was when I’ve heard him for the first time, years ago.

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure that I’d be here at all”, I replied dryly and ordered the cup of coffee as the waiter approached our table, “I’m still thinking about your question and I need to know the details before I’ll make the final decision”

He paused a little, probably astonished by my reply. His gaze quickly ran from my eyes to my hands, which were lighting a cigarette in my mouth.

“Of course, I understand you”, he said and moved closer to me

“Also, I still have the question: why did you write me? You could pick someone else, your colleagues, or another student from my class if you’re this kind of a picky person”, I exhaled the smoke of my cigarette”

Vincent laughed a little, when my heart started to beat faster once again.

“But you’re one of the most successful lawyers in Paris, right? And you’re free”

“Free in what way?”

“I heard you’ve just won the hearing. Congratulations, by the way, I’ve heard it was a tough one”

I smirked “Ah, that’s what’re you talking about. I got you, Vincent. And thanks, it was indeed very hard. Anyways, we’re here not to discuss my successful work, right? What’s the case that you’re working on?”

And Vincent began his story about the tangled and strange case on which he just started to work on, when all the details were still unknown and complicated.

______________________________________________________________

“What were you writing about?”, Vincent suddenly appeared behind my back when I just finished writing my essay about law in cinema.

He picked my paper, when I raised my glance at him looking unemotional.

“You told us to write about anything we like. Here’s my essay about law in cinematography”

“She’s François Truffaut of our class”, Jean-Louis, my classmate and future co-worker said out loud and some of students started to laugh. I just turned back and gave them the look, when Vincent looked at them, then back at me with cunning glance, and placed my papers back on the table.

“Well, at least I now know that with mademoiselle Cadieux I can talk about films and she has a very good taste in them”

I looked at my tutor once again, because I wasn’t sure if he was mocking me or talking seriously, but he wasn’t laughing at all. And in that exact moment I understood that it’d be a very unforgettable final year of my master studies.

______________________________________________________________

“It sounds tricky”, I played with a spoon in my empty cup of coffee, trying to place all the information about the case in order inside my head, “It honestly looks very bad, especially with the fact that your client isn’t French. The law for foreigners is way harder and with the accusations that she has, it looks lost in advance”

The café started to be filled with people who came to have their weekend brunch or just a cup of coffee, couples and friends were laughing. Me and Vincent were still sitting at the same table near the big window. The snow just stopped.

“I know, but I’m sure that this case can be won and that she’s innocent. Well, at least she looks like one.”, sighed Vincent, finishing smoking his cigarette, “And the whole process is taking place in a town near Alps, I just got from there to take all papers and documents that I needed with me, I’m heading there tonight. So, if you make up your mind, Camille, I’ll help with you with accommodation”

“Many thanks, Vince, but I’m not a little girl, I can sort these kinds of things by myself”, it was really irritating sometimes when he was treating me like a small girl, he was always like that, “I’m not sure neither about the case nor about your client, but I love taking risks, so, I’m up for it”, and before Vincent tried to say something else, I finished, “And let’s just make it straight, I’ll help you out and this will be only work-related talks, nothing more than that”

Vincent looked straight into my eyes as he was trying to read my thoughts which were screaming for my loneliness and how much I missed him but hated him at the same time.

“You didn’t change a bit, Camille. You were always a cold-hearted strong and mysterious woman from when I saw you for the first time”, he tried to hide his little smile, but I saw it, pretending that I didn’t and smoked the rest of my cigarette.

For other people I looked serious and cold-hearted, and I tried to convinced myself the same way, and it worked really well during my work. But no one knew that sometimes I cried in the night when I couldn’t keep my emotions inside me no more. No one knew about my weakness. Not even Vincent and he was one of my closest people who I used to know.

[corleonewrites]

La Vérité

AU: Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

Vincent Renzi x Original Female Character fanfic.

Summary: Two people connected by the same past. Two lawyers. And one tangled case which brought them back together again, giving them the opportunity to sort out their feelings towards each other, no matter how painful memories are to both of them can be.

Chapter 1. Consolations, S. 172: No. 3 Lento placido

Life is full of unexplainable chances, turns and vicissitudes, which are leading to the mind-blowing conclusions. By these forces people can meet again after years apart, when they promised to never see each other. And it happened to me.

It was the regular cold winter morning in Paris, when I left my apartment, listening to classic’s music playlist in my headphones, while heading to the bureau where I work, reading a book while in the crowded underground. Paris was slowly waking up for the last day before the weekend, streets were busy with people hurrying to their working places, but I made my trip to the bureau fast as I usually do, and I opened the door to the lawyers' office when Franz Liszt’s composition was finishing its tune in my headphones.

“Good morning, Madeleine”, I said to my colleague, entering the bureau.

“Morning, Camille”, she replied, checking her makeup in the small mirror, “I hope you didn’t forget that we’re celebrating your solved case tonight at Brasserie Lipp”, she said, before I disappeared in my cabinet, “I’m not giving up my plans to find you a handsome boyfriend there”, I rolled my eyes when I heard the ending of her sentence but thankfully, she didn’t see it.

“How could I forget about this evening, especially after that hard case, we deserve the celebration”, I turned to Madeleine and smiled, “But I’m working just fine without boyfriend, but thanks for your consideration” I finished, and closed the door behind me, when she replied: “I won’t give up, Camille, you know me” which put a smile on my face.

I didn’t like to discuss my private life with anyone, not with my friends nor, of course, with my colleagues. Besides, I had my own love secrets which never led to anything and after which I decided to give up finding someone for me. Probably I wasn’t designed for love and I was full of hard job as a lawyer, trying to find balance between work and my life, and enjoyed every minute of my free time. I didn’t need no one. Or I thought I didn’t.

______________________________________________________________

During her teenage years, my mother read the play Camille by Alexandre Dumas and was so impressed by the name that she decided to name her future daughter the same way. So, when she married my father and when I was born, I got that name. Camille Cadieux. My parents were successful and very important lawyers and both of them came from lawyers’ dynasties: English and French. And since my childhood I spent summer vacations both in countryside in Cambridgeshire and in Provence, where my grandparents live. My childhood was full of literature and old films, I loved to get lost in stories that they were telling me through pages of a book or film frames. As a grown-up woman I continued to enjoy these hobbies of mine, they helped me not only to relax after hard long working day, but also to forget my thoughts.

I always knew that I would be a lawyer, just like my parents. For a 27-year-old lawyer I’ve achieved great heights in a short time, taking a couple of factors in mind: I’ve known a lot about law since I was a teenager, with the help of my parents of course, and I didn’t want and had no right to let them down.

______________________________________________________________

My computer was turned on, I poured fresh coffee in my cup and started to check e-mails. Regular morning routine. But suddenly my eyes caught an e-mail with painfully familiar name and surname, which I wanted to forget and thought that I succeeded in it:

“Hello, Camille,

You are probably surprised to see this e-mail from me, after a long time since we’ve spoken for the last time. But I recalled how good you were at your studies in my class and I’ve heard about your successful cases at court in the past year, so I’m asking you to help me with one case on which I’m currently starting to work. I will understand if you decline it, and I will be happy if you agree.

Please, reply to this message as soon as possible. I will be glad to hear from you again.

Best regards,

Vincent”

I reread this message a couple of times trying to process what was written there. I knew only one person named Vincent. Vincent Renzi. Maître Vincent Renzi, who was my tutor when I was studying MA at law school, whom I wanted to forget and never meet again. But at the same time deep inside me I wanted to meet him once again, even though it’d probably be hard, but couldn’t resist.

After tapping the reply to my ex-tutor, I took a sip from my coffee, stood up from the desk and looked at the streets of Paris from the window, opening it slightly to have a smoke. Funny how our paths connected again in the strangest way possible. But it wasn’t so strange, because we work in the same sphere, solving cases and being presented during courts. We never met in courts before nor worked together. Maybe it was the right time to start.

The reply came fast. We agreed to meet each other the next day, on Saturday, at the small bistro to discuss the case and after we confirmed the meeting my heart started to beat a little faster, so quiet, like hidden and almost forgotten feelings which I have towards Vincent started to wake up. I wish I couldn’t feel anything, but it just won’t stop easily, all that I needed to do was to be professional, just how I always was at first during my studies and now during my work.

______________________________________________________________

Office hours finished fast and the computer with lamp on the table were switched off, and I stood up from my chair, taking the coat and tying scarf around my neck, brushed my long dark brown hair a little with right hand and exited my cabinet agreeing to meet Madeleine before the Brasserie Lipp’s entrance at 20:00.

______________________________________________________________

Brasserie Lipp was crowded and loud as always, with a big queue of people waiting outside to have a seat at the famous bistro. The atmosphere at our table was busy: me and Madeleine were discussing solved cases, thinking about future ones, when my thoughts were interrupted by the memories and anxiety to meet Vincent the next day. The ideas about the case on which he wanted to ask me to work on together with him combined together with bubbles from champagne which I was drinking at Brasserie Lipp’s and this strange mixture was circling around, trying to build the right narrative and thick line of evidence even though I had no idea what the case was going to be like and how it’d turn everything upside down.

______________________________________________________________

The taxi drove me away from the noise of working Friday and evening at Brasserie Lipp as I was heading back home, with the only aim to get inside my bed and have a good sleep, which I didn’t have for a long period of time and thought that wouldn’t have if I’d agree to help Vincent with the case. But one thought still couldn’t leave me: why did Vincent write me after all these years of silence and why even me? It wasn’t a lie when he said that I was very good and very successful lawyer, I was flattered when he said in this letter that I was one of the best in the class, because it was true, not only because he wanted to satisfy my ego. Leos are all the same, we need to please ourselves and our egos.

I took a quick shower, put on my pajamas and after I finished my evening skincare routine, I looked at myself in the mirror while brushing my long brown hair: gray-green eyes which looked a little tired after a hard-working week, a scar on my right cheek, which I got as a child. My scar especially was my highlight which I loved, together with my short height. I sighed and walked into my bedroom, turning off the main light leaving one lamp on bedside table on.

The bedside table was occupied with everything: a book which I was reading at that time, a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, lip balm for my dry lips, small photo frame with a picture of me when I was a child and the clock which was showing almost 1 o’clock in midnight. I turned off the vinyl player which was playing beautiful jazz compositions and finally jumped inside the warm blanket hoping that I’d fall asleep very fast as I was afraid to drown in endless thoughts and memories about my past with Vincent and anxiety about meeting him the very next day, acting that nothing never happened between us.

[corleonewrites]

welcome to my writing page! i used to have ao3 page, but now i decided to write all of my past and future works in here. i mostly write fanfics based on films, but planning to write fics based on tv-shows and maybe even originals. we'll see how it'll turn out.