Once Upon a Time…
A/N: (deep bow) I am awfully sorry for the awfully long , delay. I feel awful. D: I just entered college life and MY GAWD IT'S SO abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz... D: So...once again, I'm awfully, terribly sorry...
—7—
Naminé and Olette each had charms of their own, and what one girl possessed was the very thing the other one lacked: Olette's charm was, of course, her fresh personality and her ability to communicate with people without feeling all the awkwardness — she was always incredibly comfortable with people, be it those she had known for a long time or those she had never before met; Naminé's charm on the other hand, was not something she was very much aware of — it was her natural elegance — everything she did was quite impossible to copy, from the way she sat with such graceful a posture, to the way she scowled at someone with her blue, blue eyes.
Olette, as friendly and charming as she was, could barely earn a praise for being 'beautiful' — the closest thing she had ever received was 'very pretty'; and Naminé, beautiful and elegant as she was, was never quite easy to befriend or talk to, for she lacked Olette's confidence and was overall a reserved young girl.
It was, therefore, rather unfortunate that Mr. Matsuda preferred Olette's friendliness rather than his own daughter's presence that night. He talked and joked and laughed with Olette, to the point of ignoring Naminé, Prince Roxas and even his nephew who really deserved his attention since he was a guest.
"Did you discover anything while I was away?" Naminé asked Hayner in a low voice after dinner. They were gathered around the new baby grand piano and were listening to Olette's performance. Hayner, whose chocolate eyes were staring sharply at Olette, replied:
"Mm — he's interested to learn more about my Nitendo DS…"
"Hayner…"
"Relax, I was only joking," said Hayner, rolling his eyes a little as Mr. Matsuda (who was standing next to the piano) applauded when Olette finished the song she was playing. "Okay — he's really intelligent, like, I showed him how my laptop works and the next thing you know, he was Googling the name of his kingdom."
Naminé raised her eyebrows at this and turned to look at the prince. He was not aware of this conversation for he was once again listening intently as Olette launched into another song on the piano.
"And there's something else," Hayner said, sitting up properly. "There's something weird with the way he thinks."
"…Like…what?"
"He has an awfully strong sense of justice…I'm starting to think he's not thinking the way other people think."
"…Hah?"
"It's kinda hard to explain," he said, folding his arms and frowning a little. "He knows what's right and what's wrong, but…I dunno, something's amiss."
"Like what?" Naminé pressed on.
"I'm not sure, cousin. But--"
"Come, come, now! Stop your chitchat, people!" Mr. Matsuda suddenly said. He had a broad smile on his face as he turned to the other three youngsters. "The three of you seem a little cold towards Olette — she's trying to cheer us up for the night, you know!"
Naminé opened her mouth to say something, but Hayner cut across her by saying, "Well Uncle Matt — you seem awfully cold towards me, and I am your guest, you know."
"Ah, don't say that," said Mr. Matsuda, still smiling as if he didn't really listen to what Hayner just said. "Come, Olette, play us another—"
"And I dunno about Nami and Roxy here, but those songs were awfully boring."
Mr. Matsuda turned to look at Hayner. "Eh?"
Olette, too, directed her attention to Hayner. "And I suppose you can play better?"
Naminé knew that Hayner was totally smirking in his mind right now (but he was pretending to be cool and showed no expression on his face) — she had seen him perform dozens of times back when they were children and he was damn good. Naminé used to take classes as well, but had to quit when her parents got divorced. Her mama could not afford to buy a keyboard let alone a real piano back then (she was sure that they could afford one now, but she was also sure that her mama was too occupied with Jecht to listen to her), so she stopped playing.
"I suppose so," Hayner replied in a boring voice. Olette narrowed her eyes at him and stood up in one swift motion.
"Then please, play us something that's not boring."
Hayner stood up as well, as if accepting Olette's 'challenge'. "With pleasure."
They switched places: Hayner was now at the piano, and Olette sat down on the sofa next to Naminé and folded her arms. "Is he good?" she asked without looking at Naminé.
"Uh…well, he's been taking classes since—"
Whatever Naminé had to say couldn't possibly describe how good cousin Hayner was, but the sound they heard next described everything. Olette was good, yes — but Hayner was simply better. Naminé's mouth hung open slightly as Hayner's hand flew across the piano — Prince Roxas was listening even more intently this time, and Mr. Matsuda stepped back a little, observing his nephew with an impressed look on his face. Olette, on the other hand, was steadily glaring across the room at Hayner as he performed.
"Your cousin is indeed talented on the pianoforte," came Prince Roxas' low voice — Naminé jumped slightly, and blushed when she noticed how close he had leaned in to say that.
"Yes, no one would've guessed that a loudmouth like him could play the piano," Olette snapped back as Hayner's piano performance launched into its dramatic phase. "I should think people wouldn't be able to concentrate on the song with him boasting about every single thing he owns while performing—"
"With all due respect," came Hayner's voice, but he did not stop playing, "but I should think my audience aren't able to concentrate on the song with you being a loudmouth right now, Miss Olette."
An amused smile came across Naminé's face as she witnessed Olette's face turned red. Yes, she liked this so far… Olette had always received nothing but praises — from the teachers, from the students, and even from Naminé's own father — Hayner must be something really unpleasant in Olette's life right now. How dare an outsider insult Princess Olette! Naminé almost laughed out loud at this thought of hers, but she managed to hide her grin by pretending to fix her dress.
"Oh, bravo! Bravo, Hayner!" Mr. Matsuda said, nodding and clapping as Hayner's song came to an end. "You've gotten way, way better since the last time I saw you!"
"Uncle Matt, I was seven when I last saw you," Hayner said nonchalantly, "but thank you for that comment, anyway."
"Well now!" said Mr. Matsuda, "you and Olette could practise together or something in the future, don't you think so?"
Olette's face turned scarlet once more and she could only scowl while trying to come up with a fowl response, but Hayner coolly said, "Nah — I'm here to spend my time with Roxy and Nami here."
"Oh?" said Mr. Matsuda, mildly surprised. "Well, Olette is in the same class as Naminé — maybe all of you should be friends!"
Hayner pulled a thinking face, and Naminé could see a mischievous glint in his eyes as he opened his mouth to reply, so she cut across him briskly, "What's that song you just played, Hayner?"
"Meh?"
"The song you just played," she repeated, smiling innocently, "what's it called?"
"Oh…ah…I don't really know," said Hayner, and Olette started to snort, like, 'How can you NOT know what the song is called??' and so Hayner added, "yet."
"You do not know what the song is called yet?" Prince Roxas repeated. Everyone looked at him — he had not spoken much since dinner started.
"Yeah, Roxy," said Hayner, approaching the prince and sitting down next to him, "I dunno what it's called yet. I started composing it around two weeks ago."
"Two weeks ago?" repeated the prince. "My word, that is a short period of time!"
"I have to agree, Hayner," said Mr. Matsuda, his attentions no doubt transferred towards his nephew, "does your father know about this?"
"Eh. Dad never bothers. He has no talent in music."
Both Naminé and Mr. Matsuda laughed at this because it was true.
"I guess the family's musical talents don't flow in him," said Naminé, refilling everyone's glasses as they all sat down around the small coffee table (except for Olette, who was still standing with her arms folded). Afterwards, Mr. Matsuda interviewed Hayner about his piano classes and how he had progressed throughout the years — and Naminé couldn't help but feel satisfied as the star of the night changed from Olette to cousin Hayner.
A/N: Was it short? I know it's short... D: It's more like a filler chapter, I think. But I really, think I should post this, just so people know that I'm, er, still alive? XD Yeah. And also as a motivation for me to keep this fic going, I guess. Well. Till we meet again.
