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I stand silent and still at the arched entryway leading into the piano room And I watch her unlike I’ve ever watched her before She owns me in this h me; shivers sweep over my skin like faint ripples on the water’s surface
But I’m awoken from the lure all too quickly
The h disappointed that it ca that she’ll pick up where she left off and finish the piece out Her soft forht enveloping her fro the ends of her hair
Please, just play it, Sarai Don’t think about it, just play it
She starts again froives up Frustrated with herself, her upper-body arches forward, her hands gently touch her forehead
I sit down beside her on the bench
"I’ll teach you," I say, arching ers on the keys "If that’s what you want"
She turns her head to look atif I’ to theand play the piece all the way to the point where she stopped And then she tries again And again, until h and she’s in control of the keys the way she was before, the way she brought me into this room It haunts me, every somber second of it, so much so that e to shed them
The piece ends at the end this time and silence fills the space around the two of us
"I don’t want to sleep alone," she says gently
And I don’t force her to Sarai falls fast asleep curled up next to ht where I want her
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Sarai
When I wake up the next h the h the curtains have been drawn I’m alone in the bed, but I know I’ against the floors outside the room that woke me My heart is exhausted, but my mind and my body feel refreshed I can’t remember the last time I slept that soundly
I don’t think I ever have
I raiseht, but I did and it’s over with and I can either face Victor and not be ashamed, or hide away inside this room for the rest of my life
I choose the realistic
As I step outside of the rooet up before dawn to leave like he had planned
He’s sitting in the living room alone when I walk in, fully dressed in his best suit with his usual bags sitting on the floor next to his feet,with theof black coffee on the table next to the chair
"Why didn’t we leave earlier?" I ask walking the rest of the way into the room
He lowers the newspaper and then decides to fold it halfway and set it on the table next to the coffee
"I thought you could use the sleep"
My face flushes inwardly, failing at my attempt to not be ashamed ofto do with that
"Thank you," I say
I raise ain "Looks like you’ll have to buyether lying on ht et out of there in a hurry I’ve not had the best of luck with shoes as of late
"It has already been taken care of," he says crossing one leg over the other and straightening his vest
I gaze around the roos or maybe some women’s clothes that had been left here for whatever reason
A shorta navy blue scrub uniforaudy purse on one ars on the other A set of keys jangle in her hand after she closes the door with her hip Sheher wrist aardly to reach it
"Oh, you ht-eyed "I’m Ophelia It’s nice to h she apparently already knows ave me, anyway
She drops her purse in the e space into the living roo on her ar to cut off the circulation
"You were right about the size," she says looking to Victor She sets the bags down on the ihter your size," she says looking at rowing up, that’s for sure" She gestures her hands draers "Of course, it washer on Versace and Valentino but she is the irl when she walks into any rooave me and my bank account orth it Here, let iving her as she pulls a cute sun dress of sorts froainstmaybe he’ll tellhere