Sometimes, love can be found when you least expect it...
Akari Takeda walked on the dark side for fifteen years until death gave her the chance at a new life. Determined not to waste the time she has left, she moves to Boston with her young son to...
I shook my head as I shrank back in my seat, Jansen's touch bringing back memories I'd kept locked away since last year. As long as I avoided physical contact, I could keep them hidden in the dark recesses of my mind. Emmy had made it easy for me up until now—she'd ordered every man in her employ never to lay a finger on me, and none of them would dare to disobey. The only people whose touch didn't make me recoil were Emmy herself and her husband because I trusted both of them with my life. Not even my own family knew the full extent of my scars.
"Why not? You have to eat, and we can talk about our musical talents."
"I can't."
Nor could I stand being next to him for a moment longer. Leaving my lunch behind, I scrambled over the back of the seat as curious faces turned to stare. Jude called my name, but I ignored him. I didn't want to talk—not to him, not to anyone. A hundred eyes followed me as I fled towards the exit, breaking into a run as I got closer to freedom, then wincing as my wrist hit the door at an awkward angle. Only when I reached the safety of a locked toilet stall did I pause for breath.
What had I done?
I'd embarrassed myself in front of my classmates and overreacted at Jansen's innocent gesture, that's what. After all, he'd only offered to take me for some better food. A nice meal. So why wouldn't my heart stop pounding against my ribcage like a boxer with a grudge? A tear escaped down my cheek as I replayed the scene in my mind. The other students, the staff, they probably thought I was crazy, and I couldn't blame them, not after the way I'd shot out of the cafeteria like the fires of hell were behind me.
And not when I'd often had the same thought myself.
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My fingers flew over the keys as I hammered out Scriabin's Black Mass Sonata that evening, ignoring the pain in my wrist. If I concentrated hard enough on the music, I could almost forget the whispers that had stopped as I walked into class earlier that afternoon. Jude looked away from me while Jansen simply stared. I'd slunk away to the back corner of the lecture theatre and stayed there until the literature seminar ended.
Now it was just me, a piano, and my wayward thoughts. I used to wish for a magic switch to erase the horrors of Colombia that plagued my mind, but I'd stopped doing that a couple of years back when I fell in love with Hisashi's father. I'd keep the bad memories as long as he walked among them, but I needed to learn to control them better, a skill I'd thought would get easier with time but had so far proved elusive.
I paused to gently work my wrist back and forth, trying to ease the pain. Yes, I knew I should rest, but playing was the only way to get rid of the fear and agony inside. If only—
"Late again?"
A voice came from the doorway, startling me. Lincoln walked in my direction, tentatively covering the distance between the door and the piano. I shrugged, and that sent another burst of pain shooting through my wrist.
