Chapter 8. The enthusiastic student

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height


Tired from a day's work, Zane leaned on his office chair, with one hand massaging his temple.

'Did you call me, sir?' Ryan knocked on the door, and quickly entered his office.

'Yes. Get me the report for the last project printed, I will take it home and read it there. Have it ready in fifteen minutes! Also did you get the book I asked for?' He said with his eyes closed, still massaging. He had meetings after meetings today, and he had also not eaten anything other than breakfast in the morning, and even then he only had a few bites, so he was in a sour mood.

'Did you hear me, Ryan?' He asked, when the latter did not say anything.

'Y-yes sir, I will bring the file immediately! And the book is already in your briefcase!' The assistant finally replied, it was unusual that his boss was going home so early, it was only 6pm, usually the latter would work until 9 or 10pm, before going back to his apartment. He had never gone home at this hour, so he had been too surprised to answer in time.


Pacing up and down in front of the doorway, an impatient Aria, could not take it anymore and opened the door. She looked in the distance, but his car couldn't be seen. She sighed upset, before going back in, and once again began pacing up and down.

The previous day, Zane had promised her he would teach her how to play the piano, which thrilled her. She was so happy that she had wanted to start practicing from that moment onwards, but unfortunately he had an urgent meeting or something at the office, she was not certain what, but anyway, the point was that he had to leave, and did not return at all, for the rest of the day. In fact, since yesterday he had not returned even to sleep at night.

'My lady, master will arrive in another half an hour, you are tiring yourself. Wouldn't it be better if you waited in the living room?' The butler asked,  as he passed by her.

'Are you sure? Ahh... I forgot, is dinner ready? We should eat quickly, so there will be enough... '

'Enough time to have the master teach you how to play the piano. I know my lady, don't worry, the food is almost ready. We are keeping it warm, so we will immediately serve it as soon as the master comes home.' Replied the butler, interrupting her. He knew what she wanted to say, she had asked about dinner a couple of times already.

He sighed resigned, this was not the kind of attention he wanted Aria to show towards the master, but it was still an improvement. Spending time together, something should come out of it. Not to mention, the master, he was also showing some interest towards Aria, so there could be something there... otherwise he would have never come home so early from work. Well, only time could tell.

Losing her patience for good, she opened the door again rather briskly, thinking to descend the stairs of the mansion to get a closer look, but as she moved her glance from the doorknob to her front, she finally saw the teacher she had been waiting for.

With a big smile on her face she hurriedly stepped aside, leaving Zane some room to step inside through the doorway. Realizing her intention, he entered, but did not greet her. He was a bit shaken of her warm welcome. That dazzling smile directed at him, when previously she had ignored him and did not even ask about him for the two previous weeks he was away, left him a bit wondering.

No, wait perhaps she had only wanted to step out to take a walk, but she gave him priority to enter the house first? Zane thought better.

Still, even though he was wondering what Aria was thinking, he did not let it show on his face, and as usual took off his overcoat and briefcase, which the butler was already arranging inside the wardrobe for him.

At this time, Aria's eyes were already sparkling in anticipation, she had even forgotten to greet him, although the butler already did so as he took over his belongings.

Feeling her intent stare and seeing that she still did not exit through the door, although there was enough space for her to pass by him, but also did not appear as if she had wanted to speak to him, Zane was confused. He realized she was not thinking of going outside, but did not grasp what she wanted to do. And for some reason, he felt it was awkward to ask her frankly.

'Miss Aria has been waiting for Master to come home!' The butler replied to the question his Master seemed to want to ask.

She blushed a bit, as her intentions were spoken frankly. Perhaps, Zane had only politely offered to teach her the piano and did not even remember he had made such an offer to her. Not to mention, he had said he would teach her after work, but to wait for him by the door, not leaving him a moment to relax before having the lesson, he might find her pesky and annoying.

'Ahhh... that...' She was trying  to say, but found it difficult as if her throat felt choked. She was truly embarrassed. To ask someone she was not close to, to teach her, this was indeed a bit too presumptuous of her. Aria was still not realizing the true nature of the identity of the man before her, as she had only thought of him as an unwanted roommate previously.

Zane only looked at her, waiting for her to speak. The petite woman seemed like a frightened hamster, and knowing how his hoarse voice always had a harsh tone, even if he tried to speak slowly, he thought she might not say what she wanted to inform him, were he to actually say something. Each time he talked to her before, Aria replied with only small phrases and seemed reluctant to speak more with him, so he could not be blamed if he thought so.

'the piano lesson...' She still said, no matter what her small courage and her fervent wish overcame her shyness.

'I will go change, and after we eat I will teach you. I have also brought you a beginner's book.' Zane said still expressionless, but his eyes did not stray from her slightly red face. It baffled him, why he seemed unable to take his eyes away from her. Especially now when hearing his words, the smile from earlier returned to her face, with the small changings in her expressions making his heart skip a beat. 

Could something have happened to his heart? He was not one to have an irregular heartbeat even when dealing with the most tackling work problems. Well if the problem persisted then he would think of what to do, it could be just a passing matter. 

He had his annual health checkup already , and it had also included an analysis of his heart, so surely nothing was wrong with it, Zane thought descending the stairs to go to the dining room, after he changed in comfortable home clothes.

At the table, for the first time Aria was sitting obediently waiting for him, even though the previous times he had been the one to wait.

She did not even start eating, and only took the fork and knife in her hands when he sat down and took his. This gesture of hers pleased him, as he thought she was slowly getting accustomed to him, not for once reckoning that Aria had changed from regarding him as a roommate to a teacher, so of course she would show respect towards him.

After dinner, as promised Zane and Aria headed to the music room on the second floor.

As a conscious student, Aria had even brought a notebook and a pen to note down every information Zane would impart with her.

Her carefree appearance was nowhere to be found, as her face was as solemn as possible. She meticulously wrote down with swift speed as Zane explained to her a bit the posture she should have, the parts of the piano and their role, the keyboard and the tones they would make and so on. With her brows frowning in concentration,  as she tried to absorb the new information, she realized there were so many things that one had to do even before touching the claps. 

She was not aware that her back should stay as straight as possible, and her elbows slightly elevated in comparison to her hands, and that the hands should stay on the keyboard as though they would hold a ball and not straight like she was holding them when she was playing "Twinkle, twinkle little star". 

Well it was to be expected, the teacher at the orphanage had so many things he had to do each day, he could not handle teaching only Aria, and neglect the other children. The fact that he had taught her just one song, was already to be appreciated in itself.

Finishing writing the technical part, she was happy and anxious to copy Zane's posture, so looking once more towards him as he was demonstrating to her the position a player should have, she also straightened her back, and looking at his hands and feet, moved her own in a similar matter. 

Zane noticed her actions, and although his face was still stone like, his eyes squinted and his jaws clenched, trying to hold in a chuckle. Her awkward form, and with the big belly that obstructed her having the proper posture no matter how hard she tried, not to mention the serious face that seemed more adorable than solemn, all of it threatened to make him lose his composure. But he knew that he could not laugh, it would discourage her from learning, and he would feel guilty because of it.

Railing in his true emotions, Zane acted like a true teacher and gently put his hands on her back and shoulder to help her a bit more assume the normal posture.

It was the first time that he had touched her of his own accord since she woke up from the coma. As the day before when he had held her up from falling did not count, he had been too preoccupied to admire her face then, so he did not notice how her touch felt.

And although he had touched her numerous times before in the past, and she had the same warmth and softness to her as before, he felt like he was touching a different person altogether. Surely it was because she had gained a little bit more weight than before, he immediately thought.

For Aria, having already recognized Zane as her teacher, his touch directed towards fixing her position was normal, so other than a small flinch at the beginning, she did not pay more attention to her slightly elevated heart rate, and concentrated on the explanations that accompanied his touch.

Satisfied to  how she sat in front of the keyboard, Zane then instructed her how to play some minor group of notes, practices she should do each day for her hands to become more flexible and her ears to recognize the different tones.

Explaining the first group of notes and showing her the sequence in which the claps should be pushed, he looked towards Aria, who had immediately followed suit and copied his movements, but she was a bit confused as the few notes together did not make much sense, they did not appear to resemble a part of a song. 

Repeating them several times, she still did not hear a melodic rhythm, but did not question his teaching style. Someone capable of smoothly playing La campanella, how would he not know what he was doing.

Zane listened to her and after several more repetitions, he showed her another group of notes, with a slightly increased difficulty as it required for her hands to move by themselves, independently one from the other, with different movements.

Listening to him, Aria felt it was still not difficult, as his hands made it seem quite easy, so she immediately put her hands on the claps. But after only pushing several claps, she realized that no matter what, she could not copy his previously organized sounds.

When she tried to concentrate on one hand, directing it to make the right movements, she neglected the other, so the collective sound made no sense,  and the same happened when she directed her attention to the other hand.

The nursery rhyme she previously learned required that both hands make the same movements, so it was quite easy. But now trying to make her hands move differently, it felt impossible.

She frowned more and more, not giving up. If she could not pass this small hurdle, how could she play even a slow song like Canon, not to mention other more difficult songs. She was so concentrated on her hands, that she did not  notice the handsome man was no longer by her side.

Pushing the claps  more, and trying to figure out how to make her hands move distinctly, she realized that she had forgotten under her helplessness the exact order of the tones, and finally looked to her side to ask him again.

Only then did she notice he was no longer sitting, it made her feel like crying. Zane must have thought she was not worth teaching, as she could not even keep up with such a small instruction and left.

She was about to retrieve her hands from the keyboard gloomily, when her hands were caught by two bigger hands. Feeling his warmth from behind her, as he hovered above, she did not have time to feel flustered as he gently put the smaller hands once more on the keyboard and helped her push the claps.

Learning the movements directly, as her small fingers were pressed onto the claps by the bigger fingers that rested on them, Aria finally retained the order of the sounds.

Zane repeated several times the group of notes, and slowly raised his hands from hers, when she could already press the claps on her own.

Listening to the notes that finally resembled a small song, she felt happier than she had ever been. It was not much, practically speaking, you could not call the several notes a song, but for her who only knew that one single song it was a major improvement.

Enthusiastically, she let go of the claps and looked at Zane who had already sat on the bench once more, and showed her brightest smile yet.

'Thank you!' Were the only words she said, but the honest heartfelt gratitude behind them could easily be felt by anyone.

But anyone was not Zane. Seeing her smile up close and her slightly moist eyes, he did not feel her gratitude. He could not, as he could only feel his heart thumbing louder with each passing second.

When the shares of his company slightly declined during the last economic crisis, he did not bat an eyelash, much less have his heart disturbed. When he had seen the previous Aria looking the most beautiful she had ever been dressed in fancy clothes, he had not spared her a second glance.

Even during his own wedding the girl before him did not make his heart skip a beat, as she did now, even though she was dressed in a simple maternity dress and without the slightest bit of make up on her face.

Perhaps it could be because he was not used to seeing the previous expressionless face of his wife show such pure and honest emotions, unlike before when she had treated their marriage as a simple business transaction.

Otherwise if it was not this, if it was not because of the surprise of her innocent looking face, than the only explanation was that something could truly be wrong with his heart.

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net