Oxygen (Romance, Completed)

Chapter 7

Despite The Holborn Conservatory being a music school, I spent most of the first day talking. Or rather, avoiding talking. The teachers set up a series of ice-breakers for the old students as well as the new, and I tried to stay as quiet as possible without being out-and-out antisocial. When someone asked about my background, I could hardly explain I'd spent fifteen years living in the jungle, could I?

By the end of the day, I was exhausted, but I needed to fit in some practice before I left. I'd skipped too many sessions in the last month, and according to my timetable, I had a private piano lesson tomorrow at nine. My new teacher wouldn't be impressed if I forgot where middle C was.

"You need a hand?"

A sandy-haired guy strode towards me, smiling, as I studied the map given to all the newcomers. I recognised him from the introductions earlier, but I struggled to remember his name.

"Uh, that would be good. I'm not sure I've even got this the right way up, er..."

"Jude. Jude Radley. You're Akari, right?"

Great. Now I felt even worse for forgetting his name, although I recalled his accent. British, a little upper-class like Hugh Grant.

"Yes, that's right."

He took the map out of my hands and rotated it ninety degrees. "Now, where are you trying to go?"

"I need to find a practice room."

"The closest ones are here." He pointed at a spot just along the corridor. "But I'd recommend the two on the second floor. The acoustics are better. You want me to show you where they are?"

"That would be very kind of you."

He set off along the hallway, pausing for me to catch up at the corner. His legs were far longer than mine. At five feet four, most men towered above me.

"We barely got a chance to speak earlier," he said as we waited for the elevator. "You're a piano major?"

"I've never learned to play anything else. How about you?"

"Strings. Cello mainly, but I also play the double bass. I always thought piano would be tough, having to play on your own all the time. At least in an orchestra, it doesn't show up so much if you make a mistake."

"I hate to make mistakes."

Which was why I needed to practise.

He laughed cheerfully as we stepped into the elevator. "Avoiding mistakes is impossible. I found life's much easier if I accept them and move on."

If only it were that easy. When I was thirteen, Okasan told me not to go out alone, but I thought I knew better. A need to buy the latest magazine led to kidnap, rape, and imprisonment. How the hell did I move on from a mistake like that?

"I'd still rather get things right."

Jude laughed again then led me halfway along a wide corridor, stopping at a door on the right.

"Here you go. Have fun."

He backed away with a wink, leaving me alone with my thoughts and a Steinway grand.

As I settled down on the padded seat in my new school, in a new city, in a new country, the realisation struck me that I was looking forward to life, my new life, for the first time in two years.

There was only one thing missing.

"Wish you were here, C," I whispered to the photo of Hisashi's father that I'd drawn out of my purse and placed on the edge of the piano. It wasn't a great picture—a surveillance shot taken from afar by a man who gifted it to me later—but it was the only one I had.