'Ryan!' A small beautiful blond girl, dressed in a professional blue suit, called out to the assistant who was at the moment passing by her office.
'Yes, manager Leah. Can I help you with something?' Asked the assistant, stopping in his tracks.
'I have a report I must give to the president. Is he meeting with someone now?' Informed the beautiful lady, smiling a bit.
'Ohh... I can give him the report if you would like!' The assistant offered, and had already extended his arm to take the report from her hand.
Holding the report even tighter in her hands, as if embracing it, the young manager seemed reluctant to give it to him.
'It is better if I give it to him myself, I also have some things that I must point out to him personally!' The manager explained her reasons, when she realized her actions had been too abrupt.
'Then you will have to wait until Monday. The president already went home!' Ryan explained, and waited to see if she changed her mind regarding the file in her hand.
'Really? Then I will give it to him Monday morning! I am sorry I stopped you for nothing.' She apologized, showing a truly regretting face, although one could not determine if she was sorry because she had held the assistant's time, or if she was sad she was unable to meet the president.
The assistant nodded, smiling a bit, and did not accept her apology. There was nothing for her to apologize about. And then making sure she did not want something else from him, turned around and continued walking away.
'It's only 6 pm, the president is always at the office at this hour. What could have happened today?' She said slowly, as if she was talking to herself, but her secretary that had her desk just outside her office still heard her.
'The president has left at 6 pm, if not earlier for this entire week, not only today. I heard his secretary joyfully saying this, the poor girl could finally go home at a normal hour after so many years. She was ecstatic when she told her friend in the small pantry.' Her secretary slowly whispered, afraid to also be heard by others. Surely, nothing good would come out if others caught her gossiping.
'Ehhh... Really?' She asked, widening her eyes.
'Yeah. I heard it with my own ears.'
The manager frowned, and did not continue the discussion, turning around and entering her office. Her secretary was quite a gossiping girl, if she had known more she would have told her already, it was not necessary to ask her. But she truly wondered what could have made the hard working president, the man who always left the office last, leave before everyone else.
At the mansion
Satie's Gymnopedie number 1 resounded slowly inside the mansion, it was a song which made one's heart peaceful and calm, but ironically at the same time, it was a song that could stir and bring forth emotions of sadness for the one listening to it, depending on their own life experiences. As it was a mild song that had melancholic and grave nuances to it, this was perhaps to be expected.
Watching the slender hands playing skillfully across the piano, Aria's heart felt wretched as she listened to the song, but pleased at the same time. Satie's Gymnopedie number 1 had been the song she most liked to listen to in the later part of her last life.
It was a song that lamented her immobile state, but it was also the song that ironically calmed her when all she had wanted to do was cry.
Hearing this song played by him now, it felt like it was even more sentimental than when she had heard it on the radio before. Was it because his image fitted perfectly with the song? Or was he just that wonderful at playing it?
Well in her eyes, although she was no expert, Aria felt like Zane was no different from a professional player, so it was only logical for him to play it like he currently was. As such she could not even dare breathe too loudly to disturb Zane, and interfere with the song's rhythm.
Each bell like note seemed to remind her of the sound of the steadily falling raindrops that hit the window on that last day, the melancholic feel of them only refreshing the grayish undertone of the outside light that ever so lightly could barely be seen through her window then.
And the peaceful and slow rhythm of the song which had the themes of pain and hurting as its main structure, only emphasized the quietness and solitude she had felt just before she closed her eyes for the very last time.
It had already been a month since her rebirth, each day surrounded by friendly people and the joy the children had brought her, it made her previous life feel like it was only a dream.
But his song just now, vividly accentuated what her mind had perhaps refused to acknowledge... she was only living someone else's life, her own life felt like a fleeting memory of a person no one would bother remembering or mourning after.
Pushing the final claps, Zane had his lips already in a small smirk, waiting for her reaction. But several moments passed and no words could be heard beside him, although normally each time she made him play a song, she would cheerfully clap as he reached the ending, and sing praises to his songs.
Could it be possible that Aria had not liked the song? Did he miss a note somewhere? The solemn man thought. Though if he would just stop to think properly about it, Aria could not be considered even a beginner player, as he had barely been teaching her for five days, and thus most likely could not detect one or two missed notes, not that he had missed any.
But this would only happen if he actually did think more about it, but accustomed to her praises, by now Zane indeed was not at all considering properly that she was no music expert, and truly wanted to please her with a perfect play each time.
Moving slowly his head to see her face at least with the corner of his eyes, and perhaps gain insight to her opinion, as she was, nowadays, a person who seemed to always have her honest emotions displayed without guard on her visage, he froze as he did not expect it to look like it did now, and quickly shifted his entire head to openly check her state.
Taking into account that she had not voiced her like or dislike verbally, at most her face should have looked a bit displeased if she hated the song, or a bit pleased in the contrary, it was even possible that her face did not look in any way and would just have a serene expression.
These were the extent his thoughts regarding her appearance could be like. So seeing the small face with a red nose, red rimmed eyes, a scrunched up chin as if to hold in the weeps that she did not want to voice, and the small pearl like tears that threatened to fall without warning... he did not know why, but at this very moment all of them made him feel like he would agree to any request she would have, just for her to resume her cheerful appearance.
Her usual bubbly appearance that he had become familiar with during the lessons these past few days, only serving to contrast even more her tears and sad state, accentuating and making them more grave than they actually were.
So unbeknownst to him, he slowly raised his hand and gently cupped her cheek, removing with his thumb a pearl tear that had just fallen. Feeling the warmth of the tear against his skin, he felt shaken, and regained his composure, realizing how uncharacteristically this action was of him.
But he could not just briskly take the hand away, and still kept it on her cheek, awkwardly opening his mouth.
'What's wrong?'
Finally noticing that she had let her true emotions show in front of him, Aria quickly stood up, leaving his hand empty.
'Ahhh... I am sorry the song was just too beautifully played, so my emotions got the better of me. I am a bit thirsty, I will go and get a glass of water.' She said, and did not wait for his reply, before hurriedly running away.
Zane could not tell if she was speaking the truth just now, as she had shifted her face and he had not been able to check it, leaving him wondering about the truth, and his heart feeling a bit bitter as he kept his hand that had previously touched her cheek, tightly forming a fist, still trying to retain the lingering warmth of her soft skin.
But what puzzled him more was the fact that he could not understand why her sadness would affect him, when in the past her mood or actions had not even the slightest of effects on him.
After briefly returning to her room, to check her face and wash it clean, she made her way downstairs to get a glass of water.
She could have just as well called for a maid to bring her water, but she could not sit still, as thoughts would flood her mind if she stayed in one place. She had truly made a blunder, one that she did not know if she had managed to successfully cover.
Well it was not like one could tell who she really was or that she had reincarnated, but in that last moment when Zane had looked intently into her eyes, she felt like he could see her real soul. Thinking more, she relaxed her mind and reckoned to act normal the next time she would see him, anyway she could do nothing but this.
The following morning, coming downstairs to have breakfast, Zane found a smiling and cheerful Aria, but for some reason it felt like she was even more cheerful than usual.
For the last week, since he had come each day to teach her how to play the piano, Aria had grown more and more familiar with him, and even during meal times the following days, he could talk to her a bit as long as the subject revolved around the piano.
But even though he could talk to her a bit more each day, it was still noticeable how she had tried to keep the conversation flowing today. Perhaps, she was afraid that he would bring up the subject of her crying from the previous night so to reassure her, he complied with her wish and answered each question she had, without mentioning at all what happened.
'Sir! Madam! The hospital called today to confirm the madam's prenatal checkup, the appointment is today at 1 pm.' The butler spoke, just as Aria was about to run out of things to ask Zane, making her sigh a bit relieved.
Because of the coma the previous body owner had been in, the doctors were more attentive than usual with her pregnancy and required for her to visit the hospital once a week to check the twins. And also considering that even if her body was not frail because of the accident, a pregnancy with twins posed a greater risk than a normal one, so it was better to be safe than sorry.
She nodded acknowledging the information, though she did not understand what need was for the butler to also inform Zane of the checkup, as he did not go with her the previous two times. He could have just as well informed her after the breakfast.
But she understood soon enough, when the butler continued his words.
'Considering it is a Saturday, and it was also announced on the news that it would be sunny and warm for the entire day, could master perhaps spare some time to accompany the misses to the appointment and to also take this opportunity to renew her wardrobe? The servant in charge of it has informed me that the clothes the misses has no longer fit her.' He serenely asked, overstepping with a clear conscience his position.
Aria frowned at his words, she knew for a fact that she still had many loose clothes that she had not worn even once, and that also even if she no longer had any that fit, the maid would order some stores to bring some for her to try at home, as she had done so when Aria had just come from the hospital.
Not to mention, it was one thing for Aria and Zane to talk a bit during meals, to keep up a friendly atmosphere, and to also have piano lessons, but other than that, they did not share a closer relationship.
So there was no need to make him change his previous schedule for her, as such she was about to refuse the suggestion of the butler, but she did not manage to as Zane took the lead in answering him.
'Alright. Inform the driver to have the car ready. We will leave at 12 pm to avoid traffic!' Zane expressionlessly replied, and began to eat his breakfast again.