A/N: So, it's been far too long since I wrote anything, but…I've been getting all my stuff together to go back to school, and now that I'm back…well, I also finished reading The Shadow of the Wind to its completion. Holy Crap. Amazing book. And you know, Clara ends up alone, Daniel hooks up with someone his own age (thank GOD), and Neri remains a womanizer to the end. XD So, my story is definitely different…lol. I blame Gossip Girl & Chuck and Blair. They have poisoned me to make me want to make bad boys good. Haha. Ah well. Enjoy the chapter, and please review if you read!

Ch.4—Revelation

It was late when he came back, and truth be told I hadn't really thought he was going to do something that night. It was almost two hours past when Bernarda had left at about ten. I had been sitting in my room, on a chair by my window, waiting for him to return or for sleep to take me. I heard my uncle coming in about twenty minutes after Neri had left. He seemed happy to see me, but didn't stay long and instead hastened up into the study. I couldn't tell if he had sensed I was upset or troubled, but all I wanted was peace and quiet until Neri returned, so I didn't press the matter further.

Neri cleared his throat as he turned the knob on my bedroom door and pushed it open. I felt a greater presence than I had been expecting and suddenly felt overwhelmed with heat.

"Daniel," I breathed. I could tell his breathing had changed when I said his name, and almost succumbed to the adoring nature I felt in him.

"I, uh…talked things through with him, Clara," Neri's voice suddenly erupted the unsettling silence. I couldn't really seem to get words to form though, and instead just turned my head ever so slightly in Neri's direction and nodded. The door closed and I hoped that Daniel hadn't gone with him. Steps approached me soon after, and I breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Your Maestro said you might want to talk to me," the still voice of Daniel Sempere said. I reached out to feel for a nearby chair, but I could not seem to grasp it properly, only air. Daniel spotted it though, and brought it about three feet away, so he could sit across from me in conversation without having to get too close. I was greatly troubled and really did not know how to go about talking to him, but I swallowed hard and my lips parted.

"I'm so sorry," I said, feeling the slight tilt of his head as he nodded. Silence watered down my words and I wondered if I'd lost him completely. Those with sight took it for granted, I had always thought, but the scarring images Daniel must have seen just over a week ago…

"I know," he responded finally, interrupting my thoughts.

"I never wanted to hurt you," I said.

"I know," he repeated, not even moving. His expression hardly shifted from the moment before. I didn't know what to say after that. I didn't know what I could say, how I could fix what I had so completely broken. I was lucky enough to get him in the same room with me, I knew, but I could have never imagined the follow-up steps were going to be so difficult and on such unknown territory.

"Do you hate me?" I asked tentatively. I heard him sigh, and swallowed hard.

"No," he said, quietly. My brows furrowed, confused.

"Why?" I asked, not stopping to think before the question burst out of my mouth. The chair screeched after that and he stood to his feet. "Daniel!" I called to him, scared he would just leave right then without speaking. His presence tensed and then grew a bit shaky. I couldn't reach him from where I sat and I immediately thought myself a fool for having let him sit so far away, even if it was a relatively close distance.

"Because," he sighed, sitting back in his chair. I relaxed in my own, having reached forward with desperation before. I waited awhile to see if he would say more and when he didn't, I grew frustrated.

"Because," I stated simply. I knew I shouldn't have been mad at him for being unable to express what still must be visible behind closed lids, but I wanted to know more. How was I supposed to fix the situation if I didn't know exactly what he was feeling and thinking?

"I'm not a mind reader, Daniel," I said, tilting my head to the side as if in curiosity, as if I were analyzing him with my blinded white eyes. "Tell me what you're feeling."

It was the wrong thing to say. I should have known. His presence grew tight, tense, and I knew he was suppressing a raging anger to what I had said.

"What I'm feeling?!" he shouted in a whisper.

I pursed my lips. He held me in such reverence. All he did after that was breathe heavily and shift restlessly in his chair. I knew he wanted to get up and leave, or at least create some distance between us, but he didn't. He had always admired me so, that even when I was in the wrong, he would not accuse me of anything.

"I…" he ground out, "I think I should go," he said quietly, his eyes glued to the floor. My lips parted and I wanted so badly to know what I could do to keep him there. He stood to his feet again. This time he did it slowly so as not to screech the feet of the chair across the wood floor. He was careful in how he moved, knowing that I would make a desperate attempt to keep him still if he moved too fast.

"Please," I begged, hardly able to hear my own voice. I wondered if he could.

"I'm in love with you, Clara," his breath caught in his throat. My hands clenched on the arms of my chair, almost as if I was afraid I'd fall off, but I forced myself to remain calm. I had caught wind of his feeling gradually throughout the years, but somehow his confession crushed me like a bomb and I didn't know how to react. It was such a different feeling than Neri's fury-filled love confession had been. This swept over me with a shivering heat of helplessness. I had no power, and Daniel seemed hesitant to take any. We were ever unbalanced and hurt in our own ways, not just today, and not even in the last week.

Daniel gulped, forcing himself to stand still as I watched him. "I need to go," he forced. A tear ebbed up from the depths of my eye and I heard the quiet moan from inside of him when it slipped down the side of my face.

"You and I can never be friends…" he began again, "and though not being with you is like not breathing, living in the painful world of being with you and being nothing is…" he shook his head, seeming unable to take his own words and believe them and use them as his defense. His chair slipped back farther behind him and he turned to move.

"Why can't we be friends?" I begged. "I enjoy your company, Daniel. I always have. I don't want to lose our friendship, and I'm so sorry for what you had to walk in on."

He swallowed hard and didn't move. I feared the worst, though in the back of my mind I hoped he would reconsider the decision he had so clearly planned beforehand. "I'm sorry, Clara." He backed away again, and I knew he was getting farther and farther out of my reach. I leaned over one more time and thanked my luck for having grabbed onto the sleeve of his shirt.

"Stay," I begged, my fingers curling tightly into the fabric of his shirt. "Read to me. Just like before."

"You're blind, Clara."

I swallowed hard, knowing he didn't mean in the literal sense.

"I can't stay."

The door squeaked open half an hour later. I knew it wasn't Daniel, and my uncle's humming from above also discarded him as a possibility. Bernarda had most definitely already gone home for the night, and so only one other character could have decided to bombard me at that time of night.

"Leave," I spat. I knew he had done all he could, but I was still so very heartbroken over my conversation with Daniel, and Neri's attempts to console me would only make me furious. At that point in time I wanted to just throw away our relationship all together and just have my uncle hire a different music teacher. It was the only solution I thought might mend my friendship with Daniel.

"I take it things didn't go well…" Neri muttered, closing the door behind him. I said nothing, but kicked the chair just across from me aside. I didn't want Neri anywhere near me, though experience taught me my feeble, angry attempts would not be enough of a wall to keep him away. Soon he was looming over me, and I sighed, knowing he would say something I probably wouldn't approve of but would gradually come to appreciate.

"Were you eavesdropping?" I asked, before he could slip another word in.

"What can I do?" he asked, avoiding my question. I felt he was always avoiding my questions. It just made him look all the more guilty.

"Leave," I said, softer this time. I was being far too mean, but if he didn't leave soon, all my anger and frustration would be directed towards him. He just knew how to get to me, even when he wasn't trying. As he strung his fingers through a few strands of my hair, I just about exploded. "This is not for your best interest, Adrian."

He smirked. "You always were so selfless, Clara," he cooed, moving his fingers from my locks of hair to the curve of my chin. That was when I snapped. Shooting to my feet, I pushed at him and triumphed at the small victory that came from him stumbling a few feet backwards.

"Leave," I ground out, hoping he would finally take the hint. I should have known better.

"Why?" he taunted.

"Because this is your fault!" I accused, my voice rising. In hindsight, I did feel his presence shifting from that of concerned and yet playful to angry.

"My fault? How?"

"You know how," I egged him on. "If you hadn't been here that night, none of this would have happened."

"You asked me to come. You chose not to go to his party. And you were leading him on anyway. If not last week, it would have been soon. He doesn't see you as a friend! Doesn't want to anyways," he muttered, seeming to have come down from his rant.

I turned away, frustrated. He was right. I knew he was right. But I just wanted him to leave. I didn't want him to try and comfort me, seduce me, or prove me wrong. I couldn't even consider myself grateful for what he had done for me. It didn't even amount to what had happened this night.

"But I didn't ask you to chase after me!" I almost screamed, pushing him away, he grabbed a hold of my arms and held me to him. My cries muffled into him, but after a moment I pushed him away again. "I didn't ask for anything, Neri. You know that. Besides, you're a known womanizer. I suggest you get back to that."

He was silent for a long time. I wondered if I had hurt him. He had acted so full of himself when I'd first met him. It had completely changed and only been directed towards Daniel, but that was what hurt me the most. I missed Daniel already. I was always so casual around him, like his presence didn't affect me too much, because he was just a kid after all. It was like I had taken him for granted. Maybe I had been blind to his developed feelings. I remember hearing from Bernarda in the shadows how dangerous it would be if Daniel allowed himself into obsession, and if I let him reach it. But I ignored it. He couldn't love me, I thought. And even now I tried to ignore the fact that he had blatantly placed before me. He was only sixteen after all. What did he know how about love?

"Do you…regret…us?" he asked, his breath caught in his throat.

"Yes," I said immediately, my mind thrumming with thoughts of Daniel, unable to get over what I had done to him, what Neri had helped me do. I didn't consider what my words might have done to Adrian. At that moment he didn't seem like someone who had a heart, only a dick, even if he wasn't trying to use it. After all, it had only been recently that I had noticed the softening of his demeanor. Could I really be blamed for dismissing it just this once in my agony?

"Well…" he said, regaining his strength. My attention snapped back to him, and as angry as I was about the whole situation, I suddenly realized what I'd done. "I guess I should go," he spat.

I felt him moving towards the door and knew I needed to beat him to it and stop him and explain. But it just didn't feel right. It felt too much to try as I had done with Daniel to make Neri stay. I hadn't hurt Neri nearly as much. He would get over it. I wasn't that attached to him, and surely he could adjust to his life as a womanizer again. It wasn't as if we were monogamous anyways.

So, why was Daniel suddenly the farthest thing from my mind, and my heart stretching so much as to tear apart with his every step? Adrian's name struggled to make it through my throat, but it never happened. I couldn't even whisper it once he had gone.

I thought he was going to slam the door. His final words had sounded so angry. But he had gently shut it, and I think that hurt worse. I had actually caused him pain, instead of just bruising his ego. It made me feel so rotten, like I had ruined both of them. Tears sprung to my eyes, and I forced myself to move around the room and find the light switch and turn it off. Then I slipped into bed and hoped sleep would come to me.

I heard a soft knock on my door about an hour later. I turned towards the sound in my bed and made a soft moaning sound to admit my uncle into the room. I knew it was him. There were no other options, and his large presence pulling the chair I had been sitting on to my bed definitely confirmed my suspicions.

"Clara, are you awake?" he had asked tentatively, while making his way through the room. I sighed, and he nodded as he settled onto the chair. "I'll take that as a yes." I felt as he tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear, and knew he could tell from my teary sigh that I'd been crying.

"I'm not twelve, Uncle Gustavo," I chuckled quietly. "You don't have to come and check up on me after I've gone to bed."

I could feel the light of his smile and felt comforted by the softness of his hand all the same. Growing up had been tough until my uncle chose to take me into his life on a more protective, permanent basis.

"I'm twenty-six," I said, a hint of uncertainty in my voice. I couldn't understand why I had said it. Uncle Gustavo knew my age, and with Daniel around it was easy to not forget. He paused for awhile and when his lips finally parted, I felt a lecture coming on – a lecture, as if I were a teenager.

"And yet, here you are, getting overly dramatic about the after-effects you've bestowed on a sixteen-year old."

I sighed, knowing he was right. All of this was so foolish. Daniel was like a little brother, but more. He was a friend, but…a special friend. But nothing more, never more. He just…I felt so awful.

"I just talked to Maestro Neri," my uncle began again, gently switching my gears back to what he had to say. I could sense him shifting uncomfortably on the chair, and I tucked my face deeper into the pillow. I knew whatever he was going to say couldn't be good. I had been so awful to Neri, regardless of what he had done. This time around he had been helpful, and I just pushed him off. I told him, even if it was in the heat of the moment, that I regretted our union all together.

"He was in quite a rush to get out of here, Clara…"

I gulped silently.

"He said he won't be back for two weeks, something about some huge opportunity to help finish his symphony…" he gestured his hand around as he spoke. His voice was lighthearted, but I felt the underlining tone that he no-doubt was about to explain. "Clara—"

"I'm really tired, Uncle," I cut him off, not wanting the lecture, or even the concern. I was twenty-six – blind or not – I didn't need it.

"Of course," he nodded silently, standing from his seat and pushing the chair back from where it had come against the wall by the window. He turned back towards me before making to leave the room. "I won't ask you to explain your involvement in Maestro Neri's actions, but I am not oblivious to how people move around you, Clara, how they have moved around you your entire life."

I pulled the blanket tighter around me, hoping he would just drop the subject and leave me to my thoughts. I was definitely going to dwell on his words. I had always avoided thinking too deeply about the boys in my life and how I affected them. I was just always free-falling Clara, without a care in the world. Now suddenly I had lost the boys I held most dear, besides Uncle. And I couldn't stop thinking what that said about me.

"You are very beautiful, and very charming, Clara – usually without even trying."

I breathed uneasily, but stilled myself so as to hear more clearly what exactly it was that he was trying to say. My head was spinning, and I was sure it was from all the stress that was so obviously not a part of my daily life. It seemed dangerous to even be surrounded by it, let alone think about it and have to deal with it.

"It might be in your best interest to depend on more than that to get in people's good graces."

I sighed wearily. "Uncle, I'm—"

"You're tired," he laughed lightly, "Yes, I know, and I hope you sleep well. Just…"

…think about it, I finished in my head.

"I will," my lips pursed in a smile. It was an unwritten agreement between the two of us and a wave of contentment, or at the very least hope, passed over me when my uncle's lips pressed to my forehead. I knew what he was thinking. I knew he thought I was just a little vain, just a little bit a teenager in a woman's body, just a little overwhelmed by what I felt by Daniel and Neri, and how much they felt for me, and what I was to do with it.

But he said nothing in regards to that, and for that I loved him.

"Goodnight, Clara," he said, making his way to the doorway as quiet as he could with his large clomping feet. The light that crept in through the door in the hallway gave me a sense of hope even if the darkness seemed to be consuming me only moments earlier. My uncle hadn't spoken anything of what positive decision could be made to fix any of the drama that, though I blamed Neri almost fully, was caused by me.

My uncle had called me childish, had accused everything of being my fault, and that I was so vain it was the only reason men were drawn to me. It seemed to me like in those stories with the beautiful women and the leering men. They always fell in love with her, but when her beauty started to fade with age, so did their admiration for her, and in the end she was all alone. It scared me that Uncle Gustavo might see me as that beautiful woman. It was flattering at first, to be sure, but…

…nobody wants to end up alone.

"G'night," I murmured, my eyes closing and my mind finally giving into sleep's ecstasies.

A/N: Please review! It'd be much appreciated! ;D