FALLING | MxM (completed)

Chapter 10

Edited

'I was friends with that piano at the back of the house everyone seemed to have forgotten about. I can't play more than a few chords. You can't really call it playing, but it was nice to be a creator. But then they sold the piano, and I became lonely again. They sold my only friend. Why would they do that? Though you can't blame them. I told them to. I hated that thing.'

"You can play the piano? You never told me that!" Aiden stopped reading and looked at Lili approaching him.

"However, I do believe I told you to throw that book away." She was about to sit down when Aiden grabbed her hand and dragged her after him.

"Where are you taking me?"

"You're gonna play for me."

"There are no pianos here, Aiden!"

"Yes, there's one!"

They arrived at the room with the grand piano. Aiden entered the password he had memorized from the few times he had come while never letting go of Lili's hand, afraid she'd escape.

He made her sit behind the instrument and pointed at the keys. "Play." He paused for a second, then added, "Please."

"Aiden! If you read that page, you should know very well I can't play that much."

"Play what you can, then. It's not like I'm Mozart. Come on." Lili sighed. She knew once Aiden set his mind on something, there was no escaping it.

"Okay. To protect my nonexistent pride, I'm gonna play you something, kinda a song I wrote back then. But it's not good, so don't get your hopes up."

Aiden smiled widely and nodded. Waiting for Lili to start and when she did, her fingers flew so smoothly on the keys, then she started singing. Aiden knew her voice had a sweet tone, but it was nothing compared to how she sounded when singing. Her voice was like vanilla, warming the heart. He got completely lost in the moment.

Aiden was left utterly speechless. Literally. Lili had left the room after playing. Her voice and the melody were still lingering in his head. He knew it was already too late to catch up to her, so he just gave up and sat behind the piano himself. He just played freestyle for a while and, to his surprise, Lili came back with 2 mugs in her hands. She handed one to Aiden. It was hot chocolate. He raised an eyebrow to Lili as to why she was handing him a beverage all of a sudden.

"I needed some chocolate in me to cool my nerves down. Don't judge!" She said while taking a sip.

"Not judging."

"Your turn. Play something."

Aiden smiled and put his mug down on top of the piano. He then started playing an old melody that he never wrote down. Some lyrics came to his mind. He decided to sing them. It was only fair to sing back.

'Hey you there calling me in

Come and sit beside me here

This piano's got room for both of our broken wings

You've never loved, said you don't even feel for yourself

But if you've never felt, then how come there's so much in the way you sing?

Sit beside me and let us play the night away

'cause I'd rather sing with you than go back to living alone day by day

and we could even-'

Aiden didn't get the chance to sing for long, just a few lines, before someone interrupted their moment. Lucas. That heartless nurse. Not really heartless, but dude, did you really have to come in at that moment?!

"All your nighttime meetings and piano playing sessions have made other patients annoyed. Care to tone it down a little?"

"It should be a lullaby to them, though. Just saying." Aiden shrugged sassily.

"You're so confident with your voice, I see." Lucas teased him.

"I'm so confident with everything about me, Loco Lukie." He wiggled his eyebrows toward the nurse.

"The fuck is Loco Lukie supposed to mean?" Lucas grimaced at the given nickname.

"It's your nickname given to you by me. You should feel so honored right now." Aiden smirked at the nurse, loving their little arguments.

"Oh, how can I ever thank you enough? Come on, time to go back to your rooms." Lucas said while stretching his hands toward Aiden.

"Oh, but I'm not sleepy yet, mom!" He pouted and slapped Lucas's hands away. "Lili doesn't wanna go yet either. Right, Lili?" Aiden turned to her when there was no reply. She had her head on her hands, lying on the piano stool, asleep.

Lucas giggled. "Your partner in crime has betrayed you so harshly, I literally feel bad for you now! Let's get her to bed."

Lucas gathered the mugs, and Aiden carried her bridal style to her room. After putting her on her bed, he was too tired to go all the way to his, aware of all the stairs he had to climb up and down. He decided to just crash on the couch, he would explain it to Lili later. He knew she would be okay with it.