Yo!! ^^ I'm so glad that finally the second chapter is done. A million of
hugs and thanks to all those who are so kind enough to take the time to
review or write me!!! You have no idea how much I appreciate your feedback.
Thank you all so much~!! ^_^ Hence, this chapter is specially dedicated to
you guys!! These past few days I was quite busy trying to get this chapter
done while making my own homepage, thinking that the experience of having
one would undoubtedly be pleasant. (And yes, it sure was! ^^) The work is
taxing, but fun nonetheless! And of course, very important. PLEASE review
or write me!!! Shhhh, I've got a confession to make, I'm actually an alien
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all of you kind people won't want me dead right? Er, right? Hello??) Last
but not least. enjoy reading!!
~Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties - Jules Renard~
Standard disclaimers applied.
Ballade Pour Selenity
~Love... like music... is magic~
Ballad 2: Meeting. Accelerando.
By, Fantasia (Milkybluestar@yahoo.com)
A young woman with golden blonde hair tied in a high ponytail waltzed into a medium-sized room, while humming a happy tune which sounded like the ones in drama series, and closed the wooden door behind her. She was wearing dark blue denim jeans and a plain blue blouse with the words, 'If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.' printed on its back. Her long ponytail whipped around as she turned swiftly to face the person sitting behind a large desk filled with papers of all sorts scattered all over.
The man looked up from the paper he was currently working on when she walked in. Probably influenced with a large grin on her glowing face, he smiled handsomely back at her in return before greeting her. "Hey."
The young woman was not one whom you could call very beautiful, the words pretty and charming fitted her most perfectly instead. When she was in a cheerful mood, she practically beamed most radiantly with pure happiness and joy. A small sweet dimple on the right cheek of her ivory face added charm and charisma to her beauty. Her pacific twinkling azure eyes were enchanting and they attracted men to her like moth to a brilliant fire. With the jolly grin still on her face, she flopped down on one of the two chairs in front of the desk and fingered with some of the paperwork on his desk. "Hey yourself."
The man behind the desk had quite a fair complexion which contrasted sharply with his jet-black hair tied into a long ponytail behind his back like the woman before him, with the exception that his was much longer. He leaned forward in his armchair so that he could speak to her better and said, "You seem to be very happy, Serena. Well, I supposed it is because of the amazing breaking news that you had written about the rock star, Sandy Shores's love affair, right? Everyone was talking about you these days since that piece of article came out in the front page of our magazine. You're already famous."
Her cerulean eyes danced with amusement and winked at him. "Nah, you gave me too much credit, Seiya. It's just part of my job, and after all YOU are the one paying me to get that job done well. Crazy frenzy over celebrities always makes me curious as to what they are really behind the posters."
Her laughter sounded like bells and he could not help but joined in as well. "Well, guess you were lucky enough that day to be able to follow Mr. Shores to his love nest."
"It wasn't luck, dear. It's talent. Besides the thrill of this job is really fun."
Serena Williams was one of the most promising journalists who had ever graced Galaxie, the magazine company he owned. Seiya Martinez could still remember the first day she arrived at his office looking for a job three years ago with nothing but a slip of paper, which indicated that she majored in Journalism from Yale University, but had no experience or whatever so when it comes to working for a huge printing company. At first he was in doubt whether to take her in or not, because at that time his father had just passed away and left the whole company into his young hands. In the end, he took the big risk and decided to give her a chance at the job, as he himself needed as much help that he could get at the moment. Soon enough, she turned out to be more than he expected with many groundbreaking news to date. She was one of the most outstanding journalists he had ever met, who was more than willing to go to the both ends of the world for a story.
There was never a time he regretted giving her a job in his company and was very proud of her when she managed to increase his company's sales to almost twenty percent in a year. He had to admit that he really admired her passion and enthusiasm for her job as it was obvious that she deeply love it. There was no other job which suit her more than being a journalist.
Seiya chuckled with amusement in his eyes. "Really? Then you came just at the right time, Serena. I have got a new assignment for you."
One golden brow raised questioningly as she leaned forward, obviously interested in what he was going to say next. His grin grew even bigger at her undivided attention and continued. "Say, have you ever heard of Darien Montegory?"
Her brows twitched together as she studied the picture he handed her. From what she could make out from the obscure image was not much. Ebony hair. Sapphire eyes. Sharp jaw. He looked a little familiar though as she tried to search her memory to connect the name with the picture. He seemed to be quite good-looking if it were not for the blur picture. However she did not allow the butterflies to start dancing in her stomach, knowing fully well that these newfound emotions of hers might affect this new job she was assigned to. Nevertheless, she could not stop that nagging feeling in her heart that she had knew him from somewhere before other than who he was now in the paper. But unfortunately, she could pick up nothing from her fogged memory which seemed to be as clouded as the picture in her hands.
"Serena?" Seiya waved his hand in front of her eyes and she looked up at him in surprise. It did not seem like her to be in a reverie. "You seem to have space out a while ago. Well, probably you don't know him but he is one of the most famous stars in the music realm nowadays. He-"
"I know I know. He's the pianist from Italy right? Yeah, I've read a little about him before in the papers." said Serena, her voice sounded a little annoyed.
"Good then. Some people claimed to have seen Darien Montegory in one of the hospitals in Paris a lot these days. Try to find out whom he was seeing. An old flame? A lover perhaps? He was after all, the most eligible bachelor around not involved in any long-term relationship. It will be quite hard to get into the hospital room because the nurses there are told to keep the information confidential. But anyhow, try to get an interview with the person in the hospital, and if possible, from Mr. Montegory himself as well. He rarely accepts interviews but hopefully this time will be an exception. Think you can handle this new task?"
She absorbed everything Seiya said into her head and made some small notes. The confidant smile returned on her face and she got up from her seat. What reporter would she be if she did not even know how to get an interview? "Of course, 'master'. Have I ever fail you?" She said jokingly before turning around to leave.
"So far, never. Good luck, Serena." He paused for a second before continued. "Love you." And he meant it.
With laughter in her eyes, she blew him a kiss and left the room, leaving him to wonder what she thought of his last sentence. Seiya sat back into his armchair and stared out of the glass window deep in thought. He had tried to pursue her once before then stopped reluctantly when he realized that her job was more important to her than he was. Even though now they maintained their relationship as plain friendship, he could not help wishing for more.
Where else for Serena Williams, as the attractive blonde went down through the lift in the tall building, she could not help but feeling that an interview was not the only thing that she might get from Darien Montegory.
~*~*~
At the age of twelve, Darien Montegory had already achieved unbelievably much under Madame Setsuna, who had sharpened his musical talents up astonishingly well ever since she had started tutoring him. He never fathomed that music could sound so beautiful before. His favourite musical instrument was none other than the pianoforte even though Madame had taught him to play many other instruments like the violin and the clarinet.
Darien held his debut concert hall in Florence when he was ten and stunned the entire nation of Italy with his first display of his musical talents. Since then, he appeared in many concerts and traveled all around the world for his recitals. No longer than a year ago, he had electrified the world with his interpretation of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons in the philharmonic hall in Milano. The Philharmonic Orchestra of Italy booked him to be one of the key pianists in its many performances and many awards were bestowed to him for his amazing gift.
All his achievements though, came with thousands of painstaking hours of practice, love, time and determination. His mentor, Madame Setsuna, whom he respected and loved like a second mother now, drilled him so hard and so strict that he sometimes nearly wanted to just break down and cry. He was made to play and study all piano works by renowned composers like Bach and Debussy, and not forgetting to mention all the scales that he had to practice everyday to refine his techniques. Practicing at least five hours a day was already a regular routine for him to mold his skills to perfection. Madame always insisted that no matter how good he was, there was always room for improvement, and he himself believed in that fact. At a tender age of twelve, already his quest in life was to attain perfection.
The paparazzi called him a child genius and the newspapers described him to be alike a small bird, which started off learning to fly and then had soared so high into the sky in such a small amount of time. His sacrifice for all the fame that he had achieved now perhaps had been his childhood. He never have to chance to do what other boys his age normally got to do, like fooling and playing around in the fields. His whole life centered on his music. He never looked back however, for he knew that music was his life itself.
A huge celebration of a Classical festival was being held in the city. Darien, being one of the youngest and most promising young pianist, was invited to perform in it along with other renowned Italian music performers who are masters in their professions.
In one of the dressing rooms, a young man of twelve raised his eyebrow, eyeing himself in a full-length mirror in his dressing room. He was wearing an elegant black tuxedo attire with 'tails' behind. A hair-stylist had surprisingly managed to tamed his wild hair by putting lots of God-knows- what into it. It did not come easy though, the poor hair-stylist had to spend at least an hour working on it just to make it look more 'decent' than it usually was. But the effort was certainly well worth it, the effects were amazing. He grinned charmingly. 'Now I really look like some sort of dashing, charming, gorgeous, irresistible.'.my, you really do have an ego the size of Canada. Suddenly someone flashed in his mind, and with that grin still hanging in his face, he went out looking for that certain person.
Making his way through the large crowd, he was greeted by some people who recognized him. Luckily, he did not have to search for long when his sharp eyes fell upon a petite girl with blond hair tied up in two golden buns in the crowd. Upon spotting her, he quickly went to her side to capture her attention. "Hey, Serena!!"
The nine-year-old girl in a pretty little short blue frilly dress looked up at him and blinked a few times in surprise, recognizing him and registering his new look. She herself had changed quite a lot in the last few years and the semblance of a beautiful maiden had begun to take shape. She had lost some of her baby-fat now but was still shorter than him by much.
Darien knew that tonight was the very first time she was attending his recital and actually going to hear him perform formally in front of thousands of people. The ticket to musical recitals were usually extremely costly therefore he perceived that it must had taken her weeks to beg her parents to allow her to come to this concert. God-knows-why however, she was suddenly so interested in his performances. He did not bother to question her though, because for odd reasons he just felt very happy and glad that she could see him perform for once.
"Meatball Head! Where have you been? I've been searching for you all over the place. So hey, how do I look?" He asked her enthusiastically and pretended to brush off an imaginary wrinkle on his tuxedo, before winking and throwing her his charming smile for extended measure.
Upon hearing the much-despised nickname, she blew him a raspberry then rolled her eyes heavenward while muttering something inaudible about his bloated ego. The corner of her cerulean eyes noticed a few girls, some younger and some older than she was, casting appreciative glances at him. Snorting, she glared at him. "Look stupid to me."
Silence.
"Oh thanks a lot...!" He muttered sarcastically as his pride went skydiving.
"Don't mention it."
Glaring daggers at each other, they were silent for a few moments, battling who could scowl the longest. Finally, Serena sighed frustrated, and threw her hands up in defeat. "Darien!"
"What.!"
Her eyes seemed to lose a little bit of their light when she turned away to stared into a distance with a small pout on her lips. A few seconds passed before she spoke again. "I'm going away."
Darien nearly could not catch what she said and was undoubtedly shocked when he figured out her words. "Huh? But why.?"
She sighed heavily then looked up at his face. Her cerulean eyes burned deep into his questioning dark cobalt ones. "Papa's company in another country, the place where my family came from six years ago, had asked him to go back last week to work at the headquarters there. Papa really needed the job, therefore we have to go back." She finished with a shrug.
He bowed his head, suddenly finding the black cemented floor interesting. Serena was practically the only true friend that he had ever had. Because of the huge amount of time he spent on his practices, he never bothered to mix with other children his age. They had known each other for years, even though they argued and fought almost half of the duration anyway.
If she were really gone, who will play with him in the hills anymore during the rare free time he had? Who then will he tease and make fun of? If so, where will he find his daily amusement? Who will he go to release the stress from his music practices? She had unconsciously without his consent left such a large footprint on his heart throughout all the years. Somehow though, he knew deep down inside that his days would no doubt be very lonely without her.
They let the silence quietly enveloped them, both deep in thought. At last he said in softly. "So that's why you came tonight, huh."
She grimaced a little before quickly hiding it and replied. "Of course not, jerk! I just came to join in the merry celebration of this festival and watch other musicians perform! Everyone said that it is one of the most look-forward-to event of the year, as the festival only come once in every two years. I just wanted to join in the fun."
Darien raised his eyebrow at her and unconsciously his lips began to tug up at the corners. "Oh really."
"Oh yeah of course!" The old fire began to light up in her eyes once more making them twinkled.
He smiled at her before curiosity brought them back to the issue at hand. "So, how long are you going to be there?"
"Um, I'm not sure." What she did not tell him was her father had not said anything about coming back after they moved away.
Flashing her an understanding smile, he said, "I hope you and your family enjoy yourself in the new place you're going to. Well.take care. When are you going to leave?" Deep in his heart, he was hoping that it would take a few months or probably a year or two.
"Tomorrow morning."
His hope dashed and his smile was gone. "Oh."
The stillness which started to surround them once more was starting to get uncomfortable. In the end, he rationalized that he might as well try to brighten her up since he could not change a thing. With a small grin on his face, he tugged one of Serena's golden ponytails, resulting in a surprised yelp out of her. "Hey, then we might as well make the most of tonight! You're in luck, all the performers tonight are remarkable professionals in their fields and you definitely won't regret this once-in-a-lifetime chance to listen to them and of course, me, play."
"You're forever the arrogant jerk." Her laughter, which sounded like tiny little bells, mixed well along with his.
Their laughter was soon cut off by a familiar warm voice, which they instantly recognized. Both turned towards a lovely woman wearing a simple but elegant-looking gown who was making her way to them. "Mom!!" Darien's face was instantly radiant with happiness and rushed to embrace her tightly. The pride and love in her wise shining gray eyes were evident as she returned her son's hug. Wearing a large grin on her face, Serena walked up to the mother and son. "Aunt Elizabeth."
"Serena my child! I'm so glad to see you here!" She hugged Serena warmly and gave her a peck on her cheek. The three of them chattered warmly for a while before one of the crew of the festival found them and had to call Darien to go to the backstage because the performance was going to start pretty soon. Darien shrugged before excusing himself from the small group. His mother wished him luck and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He exchanged a look with Serena before he went off with the assistant.
The performance was simply excellent. Enchanting orchestra music filled the air every single minute three-hours' concert, binding its 30,000 of audience into an unbreakable spell of harmony. The performers on the stage unfailingly made every soul in the colossal hall felt the music vibrating deep within each and every one of them.
When Darien's turn came, he stepped out onto the stage into the crowd's awaiting applause with an air of confidence, perfected by Madame herself. He bowed politely like he normally did before taking his seat in front of the grand piano. He was going to do a piano solo recital that night and had already practiced for it for months. From the second the first note flowed into the air, a magical web begun to spin itself trapping both him and the audience into the music from the piano. Drowning himself into the Classical piece he was playing, unconsciously memories of all the good and bad times between him and Serena swam in his mind, and he poured out all his unknown suppressed feelings into the music.
His performance ended soon enough and once again, the hall was filled with thunderous applause. Standing to bow before the audience, he caught sight of his mother, Serena and Madame Setsuna all seated together in a row. He was not surprised to see Madame as she was always present to witness each and every one of his recitals. Tonight was one of the finest performances that he had ever given, because he knew that when he played, he played for three of the most important women in his life. Little did he knew that it would be the last time that he would ever see all the three of them together again.
~*~*~
After his performance that night, a twenty-six-year-old Darien Montegory accompanied by bodyguards tried to escape the masses of reporters, fans and blinking flashes of lights by making his way as fast as his legs could carry to his personal white glimmering limousine. He breathed out a huge sigh of relief when he entered the expensive vehicle and the door was closed tight after him.
Shaking his head, he knew that fame and recognition came immediately with success like a package and there was simply nothing that he could do to stop them. But Jesus, can't these people give him some peace once in a while? After all, he was usually so very tired after each of his performances. Groaning, he rubbed his nose bridge with his thumb and index finger, willing the headache to cease.
Relaxing his head on the soft neck cushion on his seat, he gladly let his body and mind to shut down to unleash all the stress and tension which had been building up before the performance. A good rubdown in the massage parlor now would be heaven.
Out of a sudden, his relaxing reverie was unceremoniously broke apart by his personal assistant, Beryl Campbell, quite an attractive woman with flaming crimson hair, whom he had hired just a few months ago. Much too tired to be polite, he snapped at her roughly. "What?!" Fatigue and anger definitely did not mix well.
Taken back a bit by the harsh tone of his voice, Beryl jumped a little before regaining her composure. "Um, Darien. I just want to ask you whether you are interested in paying a visit to the St. Joseph hospital? Or perhaps you're too tired and might want to go back to the hotel's spa to unwind?"
Darien's furious look was immediately replaced with one of alarm at the mention of hospital. Madame Setsuna! Even though a spa bath would do his tensed up muscles plenty of good, but Madame was definitely much more important than a stupid bath. "The hospital." He gave Beryl a curt nod and she passed the message to the driver.
No matter how dead tired he was, he knew he simply had to visit Madame in the hospital. It was not just because of a sense of responsibility, but she was practically his whole life since the day he became her pupil. He had no other family members or relatives other than Madame Setsuna, who had taken care of him ever since his mother left. His heart ached in sorrow remembering how her health had deteriorated throughout the years. He finally understood that the reason she made him practice endlessly before was because she wanted to perfect his skills before her own start to dwindle.
Soon enough, the limousine arrived in front of the huge white building where many of the world's best doctors worked. The best for the best.
~*~*~
A golden hair petite figure of Serena Williams made her way through the large masses of handsomely dressed people who are obviously from the high class of the society. Since she was going to do a feature about the world-renowned pianist Darien Montegory, she figured out that she might as well attend one of his concert to observe for herself was he really as good as the newspaper critics said he was.
In the end, she finally concluded that he was definitely as good as the critiques and even more. She was seated quite far away from him because that was the only placing that she could afford with her own money. His face could barely be seen from her place so she contented herself listening to the excellent music he was producing. The feelings which was borne from his performance still managed to tingle her soul down to her spin even though his performance ended hours ago. She shivered slightly, not due to the cold outside of the building though, and wrapped her peach silk shawl around her body tighter.
A few days ago she had already discovered whom the famous pianist was visiting in the St. Joseph hospital in Paris. Her sources mentioned that the person he was visiting was a woman named, Susanna Mayoh or something like that. Unfortunately though, the computer at her work place had no data or whateverso about this woman, so she was sure that this woman was definitely not a French citizen because her computer had all the IDs of all the people living in France in the past five years.
Pursing her lips, she dived deep in thought, while fingering a small antique pendant around her neck which she wore since she was five, all the time wondering who this Mayoh could be. Her name did not even sounded at all like a local name. Finally, after coming out with no answers, grinning, she decided that it was high time to pay the hospital a little visit.
After changing briefly into the clothes she brought with her, she headed to St. Joseph hospital in a taxi dressed wearing a simple loose white t-shirt and an old blue jeans. Before she entered the building, she stopped at the florist shop nearby, which looked as if it was going to be closed soon.
The florist greeted her with a cheerful smile and inquired what type of flowers might she be searching for. Serena pondered for a moment before deciding. "Hmm, give me around twenty dollars worth of flowers. No, I think make that.fifty! And of course, wrap it up nicely in a large bouquet please."
Not long later, Serena was strolling into the ground floor of the hospital with a cap on her head and an enormous bouquet of beautifully decorated flowers in her arms. Walking up to the receptionist desk, she asked for the directions to Ms. 'Mayoh's room, careful not to state the first name in case she got the name wrong from her sources, no matter how reliable they are.
The nurse behind the desk at first looked at her questioningly before replying that there were no Ms. 'Mayoh' here. Serena had predicted that this might happened, remembering Seiya's words, so she shrugged. With a puzzled look on her face, she blurted out to herself loud enough for the nurses to hear. "Well then, never mind. I thought I've got the right person but I guess I thought wrong. The flowers were personally sent by Darien Montegory himself to wish the receiver, which according to this card here stated 'Ms. Mayoh', well. but I guess the florist simply gave me the wrong address."
She sighed and shrugged again then turned to leave, not before noticing the nurse's eyes widened slightly. "Wait. Please wait, miss. Who do you say the sender was again?"
Serena did a little jig in her head before turning back to look at the nurse. "Why, Darien Montegory, you know the infamous Italian pianist."
The nurse appeared to be thinking something over for a moment before saying, "Um, yeah, I think there is a Ms. MEIOH staying here in one of our rooms. Please leave the bouquet of flowers here so that we could deliver it to her later." Ah, so it was actually Miss Meioh.
"Oh, I don't know.Mr. Montegory had specifically insist to our shop that we have to deliver it right to her room. Well, I guess I could leave the flowers here anyway, it could just save me less work. If anything goes wrong though, I definitely will NOT be held responsible for its loss or damaged. After all, you know, these flowers are very expensive." Serena nearly laughed when the nurse's face seemed to grow paler every minute, and she truly sympathized the nurse a little if it was not for her job.
"Okay okay, I guess you could just deliver the flowers to her door then leave right away. Ms. Meioh's room number is L163 and it's on the first floor. Please be quiet as not to disturb the patient."
Serena nodded and thanked the nurse, who heaved a sigh of relief, before heading to the elevator with a low whistle and a hidden grin on her face. The oldest trick in the book often work best! If it didn't then it won't be the oldest trick, would it? She reached the peach-coloured door with the letter and numbers, 'L163' next to it in no time and entered the room discreetly, after making sure that there was no one in the hall.
The room was really dark and there was no light in it at all, except the moonlight, which was seeping in through the binds in the window. She had to squint her eyes just so that she could see better, though it did not help much at all, she could barely made out the figure sleeping soundly on the bed. She placed the huge bouquet of flowers on the couch beside the door and carefully made her way towards the bed, hoping to get a better view on the person lying there. Standing next to the bed now, she had to skew her eyes to see the woman sleeping there.
Before she could get a better look, a large hand grasped her small right arm out of a sudden.
She gave a small yelp of fright before quickly silenced by another hand covering her mouth, preventing her from making any further noise. She began to struggle now, her heartbeat thumping painfully against her chest and the adrenaline was starting to pump in her veins. She was trapped between a hard sinew body and the awfully strong muscled arms around her, totally preventing her from any movement now.
She squirmed for some time before she finally stopped fighting in the losing battle and her breathing was very ragged. It gave her a little joy though, hearing that the assailant's breath was equally as labored as hers. Both of them stood in the middle of the hospital room in silence for a few minutes, trying to regain their breath. When she finally looked up at the face of the intruder, who dared challenged her, she gasped, either it was because of the fact that their faces are now just inches apart from each other, or that he was one of the best looking man that she had ever seen.
Dark ebony hair. Eyes which glinted sliver and bluish in the moonlight. Without doubt, the person who held her prisoner there must be none other than Darien Montegory himself. She cursed her luck for forgetting to check out his usual visiting hours, in case of situations like this might occur. Despite that, now that she finally saw him properly and very closely for the first time (which she hoped would be also the last) she wanted to kick herself for admiring his fine looks and dark mysterious eyes. The nagging feeling in her heart, which told her that she knew him from somewhere, became stronger than ever before. Pianist.Italy.
Her azure blue eyes clashed with his piercing sapphire ones, with tenacious intensity, both burning deep into each other's soul. She watched in interest when his cobalt eyes fell to the glittering pendant on her neck and his pupils became smaller as his eyes widened. She believed she saw recognition flashed through them but could not spare it much of a thought when he suddenly gasped loud enough for both of them to hear.
"Good God, *SERENA*?! Serena Tsukino Williams?!! *WHAT* on earth are YOU doing here??!"
At first she had some doubts, but now she was absolutely sure that her guess was correct after she heard his voice. Recognition clicked and all the puzzles fell to one piece. Her own cerulean eyes widened at the knowledge, suddenly finding breathing a hard task.
Oh bloody shit.
There~!! *Did a little dance around the room* Hope you had a good time reading! ^^ The next chapter will be out some time in the indefinite future I guess. I really hope and pray to get some feedback. Please review or write me!!
Cheerios~,
S.Fantasia
~Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties - Jules Renard~
Standard disclaimers applied.
Ballade Pour Selenity
~Love... like music... is magic~
Ballad 2: Meeting. Accelerando.
By, Fantasia (Milkybluestar@yahoo.com)
A young woman with golden blonde hair tied in a high ponytail waltzed into a medium-sized room, while humming a happy tune which sounded like the ones in drama series, and closed the wooden door behind her. She was wearing dark blue denim jeans and a plain blue blouse with the words, 'If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.' printed on its back. Her long ponytail whipped around as she turned swiftly to face the person sitting behind a large desk filled with papers of all sorts scattered all over.
The man looked up from the paper he was currently working on when she walked in. Probably influenced with a large grin on her glowing face, he smiled handsomely back at her in return before greeting her. "Hey."
The young woman was not one whom you could call very beautiful, the words pretty and charming fitted her most perfectly instead. When she was in a cheerful mood, she practically beamed most radiantly with pure happiness and joy. A small sweet dimple on the right cheek of her ivory face added charm and charisma to her beauty. Her pacific twinkling azure eyes were enchanting and they attracted men to her like moth to a brilliant fire. With the jolly grin still on her face, she flopped down on one of the two chairs in front of the desk and fingered with some of the paperwork on his desk. "Hey yourself."
The man behind the desk had quite a fair complexion which contrasted sharply with his jet-black hair tied into a long ponytail behind his back like the woman before him, with the exception that his was much longer. He leaned forward in his armchair so that he could speak to her better and said, "You seem to be very happy, Serena. Well, I supposed it is because of the amazing breaking news that you had written about the rock star, Sandy Shores's love affair, right? Everyone was talking about you these days since that piece of article came out in the front page of our magazine. You're already famous."
Her cerulean eyes danced with amusement and winked at him. "Nah, you gave me too much credit, Seiya. It's just part of my job, and after all YOU are the one paying me to get that job done well. Crazy frenzy over celebrities always makes me curious as to what they are really behind the posters."
Her laughter sounded like bells and he could not help but joined in as well. "Well, guess you were lucky enough that day to be able to follow Mr. Shores to his love nest."
"It wasn't luck, dear. It's talent. Besides the thrill of this job is really fun."
Serena Williams was one of the most promising journalists who had ever graced Galaxie, the magazine company he owned. Seiya Martinez could still remember the first day she arrived at his office looking for a job three years ago with nothing but a slip of paper, which indicated that she majored in Journalism from Yale University, but had no experience or whatever so when it comes to working for a huge printing company. At first he was in doubt whether to take her in or not, because at that time his father had just passed away and left the whole company into his young hands. In the end, he took the big risk and decided to give her a chance at the job, as he himself needed as much help that he could get at the moment. Soon enough, she turned out to be more than he expected with many groundbreaking news to date. She was one of the most outstanding journalists he had ever met, who was more than willing to go to the both ends of the world for a story.
There was never a time he regretted giving her a job in his company and was very proud of her when she managed to increase his company's sales to almost twenty percent in a year. He had to admit that he really admired her passion and enthusiasm for her job as it was obvious that she deeply love it. There was no other job which suit her more than being a journalist.
Seiya chuckled with amusement in his eyes. "Really? Then you came just at the right time, Serena. I have got a new assignment for you."
One golden brow raised questioningly as she leaned forward, obviously interested in what he was going to say next. His grin grew even bigger at her undivided attention and continued. "Say, have you ever heard of Darien Montegory?"
Her brows twitched together as she studied the picture he handed her. From what she could make out from the obscure image was not much. Ebony hair. Sapphire eyes. Sharp jaw. He looked a little familiar though as she tried to search her memory to connect the name with the picture. He seemed to be quite good-looking if it were not for the blur picture. However she did not allow the butterflies to start dancing in her stomach, knowing fully well that these newfound emotions of hers might affect this new job she was assigned to. Nevertheless, she could not stop that nagging feeling in her heart that she had knew him from somewhere before other than who he was now in the paper. But unfortunately, she could pick up nothing from her fogged memory which seemed to be as clouded as the picture in her hands.
"Serena?" Seiya waved his hand in front of her eyes and she looked up at him in surprise. It did not seem like her to be in a reverie. "You seem to have space out a while ago. Well, probably you don't know him but he is one of the most famous stars in the music realm nowadays. He-"
"I know I know. He's the pianist from Italy right? Yeah, I've read a little about him before in the papers." said Serena, her voice sounded a little annoyed.
"Good then. Some people claimed to have seen Darien Montegory in one of the hospitals in Paris a lot these days. Try to find out whom he was seeing. An old flame? A lover perhaps? He was after all, the most eligible bachelor around not involved in any long-term relationship. It will be quite hard to get into the hospital room because the nurses there are told to keep the information confidential. But anyhow, try to get an interview with the person in the hospital, and if possible, from Mr. Montegory himself as well. He rarely accepts interviews but hopefully this time will be an exception. Think you can handle this new task?"
She absorbed everything Seiya said into her head and made some small notes. The confidant smile returned on her face and she got up from her seat. What reporter would she be if she did not even know how to get an interview? "Of course, 'master'. Have I ever fail you?" She said jokingly before turning around to leave.
"So far, never. Good luck, Serena." He paused for a second before continued. "Love you." And he meant it.
With laughter in her eyes, she blew him a kiss and left the room, leaving him to wonder what she thought of his last sentence. Seiya sat back into his armchair and stared out of the glass window deep in thought. He had tried to pursue her once before then stopped reluctantly when he realized that her job was more important to her than he was. Even though now they maintained their relationship as plain friendship, he could not help wishing for more.
Where else for Serena Williams, as the attractive blonde went down through the lift in the tall building, she could not help but feeling that an interview was not the only thing that she might get from Darien Montegory.
~*~*~
At the age of twelve, Darien Montegory had already achieved unbelievably much under Madame Setsuna, who had sharpened his musical talents up astonishingly well ever since she had started tutoring him. He never fathomed that music could sound so beautiful before. His favourite musical instrument was none other than the pianoforte even though Madame had taught him to play many other instruments like the violin and the clarinet.
Darien held his debut concert hall in Florence when he was ten and stunned the entire nation of Italy with his first display of his musical talents. Since then, he appeared in many concerts and traveled all around the world for his recitals. No longer than a year ago, he had electrified the world with his interpretation of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons in the philharmonic hall in Milano. The Philharmonic Orchestra of Italy booked him to be one of the key pianists in its many performances and many awards were bestowed to him for his amazing gift.
All his achievements though, came with thousands of painstaking hours of practice, love, time and determination. His mentor, Madame Setsuna, whom he respected and loved like a second mother now, drilled him so hard and so strict that he sometimes nearly wanted to just break down and cry. He was made to play and study all piano works by renowned composers like Bach and Debussy, and not forgetting to mention all the scales that he had to practice everyday to refine his techniques. Practicing at least five hours a day was already a regular routine for him to mold his skills to perfection. Madame always insisted that no matter how good he was, there was always room for improvement, and he himself believed in that fact. At a tender age of twelve, already his quest in life was to attain perfection.
The paparazzi called him a child genius and the newspapers described him to be alike a small bird, which started off learning to fly and then had soared so high into the sky in such a small amount of time. His sacrifice for all the fame that he had achieved now perhaps had been his childhood. He never have to chance to do what other boys his age normally got to do, like fooling and playing around in the fields. His whole life centered on his music. He never looked back however, for he knew that music was his life itself.
A huge celebration of a Classical festival was being held in the city. Darien, being one of the youngest and most promising young pianist, was invited to perform in it along with other renowned Italian music performers who are masters in their professions.
In one of the dressing rooms, a young man of twelve raised his eyebrow, eyeing himself in a full-length mirror in his dressing room. He was wearing an elegant black tuxedo attire with 'tails' behind. A hair-stylist had surprisingly managed to tamed his wild hair by putting lots of God-knows- what into it. It did not come easy though, the poor hair-stylist had to spend at least an hour working on it just to make it look more 'decent' than it usually was. But the effort was certainly well worth it, the effects were amazing. He grinned charmingly. 'Now I really look like some sort of dashing, charming, gorgeous, irresistible.'.my, you really do have an ego the size of Canada. Suddenly someone flashed in his mind, and with that grin still hanging in his face, he went out looking for that certain person.
Making his way through the large crowd, he was greeted by some people who recognized him. Luckily, he did not have to search for long when his sharp eyes fell upon a petite girl with blond hair tied up in two golden buns in the crowd. Upon spotting her, he quickly went to her side to capture her attention. "Hey, Serena!!"
The nine-year-old girl in a pretty little short blue frilly dress looked up at him and blinked a few times in surprise, recognizing him and registering his new look. She herself had changed quite a lot in the last few years and the semblance of a beautiful maiden had begun to take shape. She had lost some of her baby-fat now but was still shorter than him by much.
Darien knew that tonight was the very first time she was attending his recital and actually going to hear him perform formally in front of thousands of people. The ticket to musical recitals were usually extremely costly therefore he perceived that it must had taken her weeks to beg her parents to allow her to come to this concert. God-knows-why however, she was suddenly so interested in his performances. He did not bother to question her though, because for odd reasons he just felt very happy and glad that she could see him perform for once.
"Meatball Head! Where have you been? I've been searching for you all over the place. So hey, how do I look?" He asked her enthusiastically and pretended to brush off an imaginary wrinkle on his tuxedo, before winking and throwing her his charming smile for extended measure.
Upon hearing the much-despised nickname, she blew him a raspberry then rolled her eyes heavenward while muttering something inaudible about his bloated ego. The corner of her cerulean eyes noticed a few girls, some younger and some older than she was, casting appreciative glances at him. Snorting, she glared at him. "Look stupid to me."
Silence.
"Oh thanks a lot...!" He muttered sarcastically as his pride went skydiving.
"Don't mention it."
Glaring daggers at each other, they were silent for a few moments, battling who could scowl the longest. Finally, Serena sighed frustrated, and threw her hands up in defeat. "Darien!"
"What.!"
Her eyes seemed to lose a little bit of their light when she turned away to stared into a distance with a small pout on her lips. A few seconds passed before she spoke again. "I'm going away."
Darien nearly could not catch what she said and was undoubtedly shocked when he figured out her words. "Huh? But why.?"
She sighed heavily then looked up at his face. Her cerulean eyes burned deep into his questioning dark cobalt ones. "Papa's company in another country, the place where my family came from six years ago, had asked him to go back last week to work at the headquarters there. Papa really needed the job, therefore we have to go back." She finished with a shrug.
He bowed his head, suddenly finding the black cemented floor interesting. Serena was practically the only true friend that he had ever had. Because of the huge amount of time he spent on his practices, he never bothered to mix with other children his age. They had known each other for years, even though they argued and fought almost half of the duration anyway.
If she were really gone, who will play with him in the hills anymore during the rare free time he had? Who then will he tease and make fun of? If so, where will he find his daily amusement? Who will he go to release the stress from his music practices? She had unconsciously without his consent left such a large footprint on his heart throughout all the years. Somehow though, he knew deep down inside that his days would no doubt be very lonely without her.
They let the silence quietly enveloped them, both deep in thought. At last he said in softly. "So that's why you came tonight, huh."
She grimaced a little before quickly hiding it and replied. "Of course not, jerk! I just came to join in the merry celebration of this festival and watch other musicians perform! Everyone said that it is one of the most look-forward-to event of the year, as the festival only come once in every two years. I just wanted to join in the fun."
Darien raised his eyebrow at her and unconsciously his lips began to tug up at the corners. "Oh really."
"Oh yeah of course!" The old fire began to light up in her eyes once more making them twinkled.
He smiled at her before curiosity brought them back to the issue at hand. "So, how long are you going to be there?"
"Um, I'm not sure." What she did not tell him was her father had not said anything about coming back after they moved away.
Flashing her an understanding smile, he said, "I hope you and your family enjoy yourself in the new place you're going to. Well.take care. When are you going to leave?" Deep in his heart, he was hoping that it would take a few months or probably a year or two.
"Tomorrow morning."
His hope dashed and his smile was gone. "Oh."
The stillness which started to surround them once more was starting to get uncomfortable. In the end, he rationalized that he might as well try to brighten her up since he could not change a thing. With a small grin on his face, he tugged one of Serena's golden ponytails, resulting in a surprised yelp out of her. "Hey, then we might as well make the most of tonight! You're in luck, all the performers tonight are remarkable professionals in their fields and you definitely won't regret this once-in-a-lifetime chance to listen to them and of course, me, play."
"You're forever the arrogant jerk." Her laughter, which sounded like tiny little bells, mixed well along with his.
Their laughter was soon cut off by a familiar warm voice, which they instantly recognized. Both turned towards a lovely woman wearing a simple but elegant-looking gown who was making her way to them. "Mom!!" Darien's face was instantly radiant with happiness and rushed to embrace her tightly. The pride and love in her wise shining gray eyes were evident as she returned her son's hug. Wearing a large grin on her face, Serena walked up to the mother and son. "Aunt Elizabeth."
"Serena my child! I'm so glad to see you here!" She hugged Serena warmly and gave her a peck on her cheek. The three of them chattered warmly for a while before one of the crew of the festival found them and had to call Darien to go to the backstage because the performance was going to start pretty soon. Darien shrugged before excusing himself from the small group. His mother wished him luck and kissed him lightly on the cheek. He exchanged a look with Serena before he went off with the assistant.
The performance was simply excellent. Enchanting orchestra music filled the air every single minute three-hours' concert, binding its 30,000 of audience into an unbreakable spell of harmony. The performers on the stage unfailingly made every soul in the colossal hall felt the music vibrating deep within each and every one of them.
When Darien's turn came, he stepped out onto the stage into the crowd's awaiting applause with an air of confidence, perfected by Madame herself. He bowed politely like he normally did before taking his seat in front of the grand piano. He was going to do a piano solo recital that night and had already practiced for it for months. From the second the first note flowed into the air, a magical web begun to spin itself trapping both him and the audience into the music from the piano. Drowning himself into the Classical piece he was playing, unconsciously memories of all the good and bad times between him and Serena swam in his mind, and he poured out all his unknown suppressed feelings into the music.
His performance ended soon enough and once again, the hall was filled with thunderous applause. Standing to bow before the audience, he caught sight of his mother, Serena and Madame Setsuna all seated together in a row. He was not surprised to see Madame as she was always present to witness each and every one of his recitals. Tonight was one of the finest performances that he had ever given, because he knew that when he played, he played for three of the most important women in his life. Little did he knew that it would be the last time that he would ever see all the three of them together again.
~*~*~
After his performance that night, a twenty-six-year-old Darien Montegory accompanied by bodyguards tried to escape the masses of reporters, fans and blinking flashes of lights by making his way as fast as his legs could carry to his personal white glimmering limousine. He breathed out a huge sigh of relief when he entered the expensive vehicle and the door was closed tight after him.
Shaking his head, he knew that fame and recognition came immediately with success like a package and there was simply nothing that he could do to stop them. But Jesus, can't these people give him some peace once in a while? After all, he was usually so very tired after each of his performances. Groaning, he rubbed his nose bridge with his thumb and index finger, willing the headache to cease.
Relaxing his head on the soft neck cushion on his seat, he gladly let his body and mind to shut down to unleash all the stress and tension which had been building up before the performance. A good rubdown in the massage parlor now would be heaven.
Out of a sudden, his relaxing reverie was unceremoniously broke apart by his personal assistant, Beryl Campbell, quite an attractive woman with flaming crimson hair, whom he had hired just a few months ago. Much too tired to be polite, he snapped at her roughly. "What?!" Fatigue and anger definitely did not mix well.
Taken back a bit by the harsh tone of his voice, Beryl jumped a little before regaining her composure. "Um, Darien. I just want to ask you whether you are interested in paying a visit to the St. Joseph hospital? Or perhaps you're too tired and might want to go back to the hotel's spa to unwind?"
Darien's furious look was immediately replaced with one of alarm at the mention of hospital. Madame Setsuna! Even though a spa bath would do his tensed up muscles plenty of good, but Madame was definitely much more important than a stupid bath. "The hospital." He gave Beryl a curt nod and she passed the message to the driver.
No matter how dead tired he was, he knew he simply had to visit Madame in the hospital. It was not just because of a sense of responsibility, but she was practically his whole life since the day he became her pupil. He had no other family members or relatives other than Madame Setsuna, who had taken care of him ever since his mother left. His heart ached in sorrow remembering how her health had deteriorated throughout the years. He finally understood that the reason she made him practice endlessly before was because she wanted to perfect his skills before her own start to dwindle.
Soon enough, the limousine arrived in front of the huge white building where many of the world's best doctors worked. The best for the best.
~*~*~
A golden hair petite figure of Serena Williams made her way through the large masses of handsomely dressed people who are obviously from the high class of the society. Since she was going to do a feature about the world-renowned pianist Darien Montegory, she figured out that she might as well attend one of his concert to observe for herself was he really as good as the newspaper critics said he was.
In the end, she finally concluded that he was definitely as good as the critiques and even more. She was seated quite far away from him because that was the only placing that she could afford with her own money. His face could barely be seen from her place so she contented herself listening to the excellent music he was producing. The feelings which was borne from his performance still managed to tingle her soul down to her spin even though his performance ended hours ago. She shivered slightly, not due to the cold outside of the building though, and wrapped her peach silk shawl around her body tighter.
A few days ago she had already discovered whom the famous pianist was visiting in the St. Joseph hospital in Paris. Her sources mentioned that the person he was visiting was a woman named, Susanna Mayoh or something like that. Unfortunately though, the computer at her work place had no data or whateverso about this woman, so she was sure that this woman was definitely not a French citizen because her computer had all the IDs of all the people living in France in the past five years.
Pursing her lips, she dived deep in thought, while fingering a small antique pendant around her neck which she wore since she was five, all the time wondering who this Mayoh could be. Her name did not even sounded at all like a local name. Finally, after coming out with no answers, grinning, she decided that it was high time to pay the hospital a little visit.
After changing briefly into the clothes she brought with her, she headed to St. Joseph hospital in a taxi dressed wearing a simple loose white t-shirt and an old blue jeans. Before she entered the building, she stopped at the florist shop nearby, which looked as if it was going to be closed soon.
The florist greeted her with a cheerful smile and inquired what type of flowers might she be searching for. Serena pondered for a moment before deciding. "Hmm, give me around twenty dollars worth of flowers. No, I think make that.fifty! And of course, wrap it up nicely in a large bouquet please."
Not long later, Serena was strolling into the ground floor of the hospital with a cap on her head and an enormous bouquet of beautifully decorated flowers in her arms. Walking up to the receptionist desk, she asked for the directions to Ms. 'Mayoh's room, careful not to state the first name in case she got the name wrong from her sources, no matter how reliable they are.
The nurse behind the desk at first looked at her questioningly before replying that there were no Ms. 'Mayoh' here. Serena had predicted that this might happened, remembering Seiya's words, so she shrugged. With a puzzled look on her face, she blurted out to herself loud enough for the nurses to hear. "Well then, never mind. I thought I've got the right person but I guess I thought wrong. The flowers were personally sent by Darien Montegory himself to wish the receiver, which according to this card here stated 'Ms. Mayoh', well. but I guess the florist simply gave me the wrong address."
She sighed and shrugged again then turned to leave, not before noticing the nurse's eyes widened slightly. "Wait. Please wait, miss. Who do you say the sender was again?"
Serena did a little jig in her head before turning back to look at the nurse. "Why, Darien Montegory, you know the infamous Italian pianist."
The nurse appeared to be thinking something over for a moment before saying, "Um, yeah, I think there is a Ms. MEIOH staying here in one of our rooms. Please leave the bouquet of flowers here so that we could deliver it to her later." Ah, so it was actually Miss Meioh.
"Oh, I don't know.Mr. Montegory had specifically insist to our shop that we have to deliver it right to her room. Well, I guess I could leave the flowers here anyway, it could just save me less work. If anything goes wrong though, I definitely will NOT be held responsible for its loss or damaged. After all, you know, these flowers are very expensive." Serena nearly laughed when the nurse's face seemed to grow paler every minute, and she truly sympathized the nurse a little if it was not for her job.
"Okay okay, I guess you could just deliver the flowers to her door then leave right away. Ms. Meioh's room number is L163 and it's on the first floor. Please be quiet as not to disturb the patient."
Serena nodded and thanked the nurse, who heaved a sigh of relief, before heading to the elevator with a low whistle and a hidden grin on her face. The oldest trick in the book often work best! If it didn't then it won't be the oldest trick, would it? She reached the peach-coloured door with the letter and numbers, 'L163' next to it in no time and entered the room discreetly, after making sure that there was no one in the hall.
The room was really dark and there was no light in it at all, except the moonlight, which was seeping in through the binds in the window. She had to squint her eyes just so that she could see better, though it did not help much at all, she could barely made out the figure sleeping soundly on the bed. She placed the huge bouquet of flowers on the couch beside the door and carefully made her way towards the bed, hoping to get a better view on the person lying there. Standing next to the bed now, she had to skew her eyes to see the woman sleeping there.
Before she could get a better look, a large hand grasped her small right arm out of a sudden.
She gave a small yelp of fright before quickly silenced by another hand covering her mouth, preventing her from making any further noise. She began to struggle now, her heartbeat thumping painfully against her chest and the adrenaline was starting to pump in her veins. She was trapped between a hard sinew body and the awfully strong muscled arms around her, totally preventing her from any movement now.
She squirmed for some time before she finally stopped fighting in the losing battle and her breathing was very ragged. It gave her a little joy though, hearing that the assailant's breath was equally as labored as hers. Both of them stood in the middle of the hospital room in silence for a few minutes, trying to regain their breath. When she finally looked up at the face of the intruder, who dared challenged her, she gasped, either it was because of the fact that their faces are now just inches apart from each other, or that he was one of the best looking man that she had ever seen.
Dark ebony hair. Eyes which glinted sliver and bluish in the moonlight. Without doubt, the person who held her prisoner there must be none other than Darien Montegory himself. She cursed her luck for forgetting to check out his usual visiting hours, in case of situations like this might occur. Despite that, now that she finally saw him properly and very closely for the first time (which she hoped would be also the last) she wanted to kick herself for admiring his fine looks and dark mysterious eyes. The nagging feeling in her heart, which told her that she knew him from somewhere, became stronger than ever before. Pianist.Italy.
Her azure blue eyes clashed with his piercing sapphire ones, with tenacious intensity, both burning deep into each other's soul. She watched in interest when his cobalt eyes fell to the glittering pendant on her neck and his pupils became smaller as his eyes widened. She believed she saw recognition flashed through them but could not spare it much of a thought when he suddenly gasped loud enough for both of them to hear.
"Good God, *SERENA*?! Serena Tsukino Williams?!! *WHAT* on earth are YOU doing here??!"
At first she had some doubts, but now she was absolutely sure that her guess was correct after she heard his voice. Recognition clicked and all the puzzles fell to one piece. Her own cerulean eyes widened at the knowledge, suddenly finding breathing a hard task.
Oh bloody shit.
There~!! *Did a little dance around the room* Hope you had a good time reading! ^^ The next chapter will be out some time in the indefinite future I guess. I really hope and pray to get some feedback. Please review or write me!!
Cheerios~,
S.Fantasia