I hit a few more keys on the piano, feeling the rhythm as I played, the sound of the song entering my ears and warming my heart. I had finally learned to play this song perfectly. Father was going to be so proud. I took in one final deep breath and replayed the song again, from beginning to end, and while I played, I felt that someone was behind me, silently listening.
I finished off and grabbed the towel on top of the piano, and I wiped my sweaty face off, before turning around to face Nathalie. Nathalie smiled gracefully at me, before walking towards me and placing a hand on my shoulder. "That was amazing," She spoke, and I could sense truth in her words. "You did amazing, Adrien. Your father is going to be so proud of you."
I smiled back at her, and then stood up. If Nathalie thought this was great, then Father was sure to think so as well. Days of practicing had really paid off, and I was glad I had spent time playing this song until I remembered every bit of it. I turned back to Nathalie while I walked over to my bottle of water. "Is there anything you need?"
Nathalie seemed to come to her sense then. "Oh right. Your father has requested you to come downstairs for lunch. You missed breakfast, and he wasn't quite happy about that."
"I missed breakfast practicing the song he told me to learn," I retorted back, though not meaning to. Sometimes Father could be a lot to handle, and those times were times I just wanted to be away from him. My whole life was about making him proud, whether it was the music I played, or the photoshoots he asked me to do, or even picking the school I had to go to, I always did it his way. "I mean, I'm nervous. I have to play this song at my aunt's wedding, and he's been begging me not to mess up. I don't want to mess up but he's putting pressure on me."
"Adrien, you know your father don't mean to," Nathalie walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder again. "You know just like you are with your father? Always wanting to make him proud? That's exactly how your father is with his wife's sister and her father. While Emilie was pregnant with you, Gabriel took an oath that he was going to make you as perfect as he could. He was going to teach you, make you smarter than every other little boys he knew, make you more precious and just like him. He promised he would give you a happy life, but. . .you know how that all changed when Emilie passed."
"Actually Father has always just wanted to prove to Aunt that he's better, and well, what if I don't want that kind of life?" I whispered over to her, as if afraid someone else was listening in. "I know how he must feel, but did he have to take it out on me? Did he have to punish me for my mother's death? He became so distant, unlike a proper father, he forced me into things I didn't want to do, like for instance, the piano. . . And I may like that piano now, but I never did when he asked me to play it for the first time." I backed away from her and started circling my room. "Why do I have to be perfect? Why can't I ever make a decision on my own?!"
Nathalie didn't reply back, but she started heading towards the door. "I'm sorry about all that. You may now come downstairs for lunch."
I sighed and grabbed my water bottle off my couch, before opening it and taking a swig of it. I took a seat down and stared at the door Nathalie had closed when she left, before closing the bottle and throwing it off. A lot of people outside may have seen me as a happy rich kid who got whatever he wanted, but I was just a guy who was under his father's control, had to do whatever his father told him to do, without even getting a say in it.
"Adrien!"
I heard my name being called downstairs, and with that, I rushed out of my room and started walking downstairs, because I knew it hadn't been my father who called for me, nor had it been Nathalie either. Just like I thought. Downstairs, waiting for me, was my mother's sister. Aunt Amelie walked over to me like she hadn't seen me in years, and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug. "Oh Adrien, how much you've grown," She mumbled against my shoulder.
I patted her back with a small smile, before looking over to the boy standing behind his mother. "Hey, Felix," I waved over at him, but he seemed to give me the cold shoulder and walk off.
"Oh don't worry about him. Felix is just. . .having a bad day, that's all," Aunt seemed to want to convince me, but I wasn't all that convinced, though I just nodded and adverted my eyes over to Father. He was busy talking to his Father-in-Law, and the both of them seemed to look extremely comfortable around each other. Aunt swayed her arms in my face, getting my attention.
"So Adrien, I heard you were going to be playing the piano at my wedding day," She spoke, and I gulped. Had Father already told her about that?
"Yeah, maybe," I muttered.
"Adrien, I really appreciate this. Now I can't wait even more for that day to come. So exciting!" She clapped her hands away as she walked towards Nathalie to go talk to her. I looked back over to Father, and when I did, I saw he was looking back at me.
"Adrien," He spoke in a bold voice, "why don't you come over and greet your GrandFather?"
"Oh please," GrandFather patted Father's shoulder. "I told Adrien to call me Dad. GrandFather just makes me look old. Adrien, come give your Dad a hug."
I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him in a hug. "Hi, Dad." I peeked over at Father, and he gave me a thumbs up, like I'd done such a fantastic job by just greeting a relative of mine.
"Alright, alright," Nathalie clapped her hands and started heading over to the dining table. "Lunch is ready. Right this way, please."
I walked behind, only because Felix was walking so slowly behind everyone else. "Hey," I waved at him again, but he just seemed to ignore me. "Why are you so mad today? Shouldn't you be happy for your mother?"
"No!" Felix folded his arms like a little child would. "I mean. . ." He cleared his throat. "Just no."
"How about we eat together in my room and talk?" I suggested with a half smile. "Something tells me you'll be uncomfortable eating with the grown-ups, especially with the way you look right now. They'll question why you're so angry."
"Yeah, I believe you're right, and yeah, we can eat in your room. That'll be better. We can catch up. I haven't seen you in a while." Felix hung his arm around my neck and I smiled again.
We entered the room and the smell of amazing food hit my nose. "Nathalie is sure amazing at her job," Felix commented, and I had to agree. The food Nathalie made always tasted delicious, something I was always looking forward to whenever I was at home. Not only was she just my Father's personal assistant, she was also my friend, and ever since she came here, she had been treating me like how a mother would treat her son.
I took a seat right between Felix and Father. "We'll go to our room after Nathalie finishes passing our foods, okay? Try to look as happy as possible." Felix nodded at my words, so I just put my hands on the table and waited while the grown-ups talked with each other.
"Oh, what an exciting day it would be for you, now wouldn't it, Amelie?" Father raised a glass as he spoke. "Getting married. . . For the third time. Excellent!"
I slapped my forehead at the words and sent an apologetic look over to Aunt. She seemed to smile at it though, not looking to be bothered. "I know it's the third time," She looked down, "but I just want to get the perfect father for Felix, and this guy that I'm getting married to, he's good enough."
"No, he's not," Felix suddenly shouted, and I looked over at him, giving him the face of reminder that he needed to keep his cool, but he didn't dare listen. "I don't care whether I have a father or not. Look at Adrien and Uncle over here. One of their family members is gone, and are they replacing her? No, they're not!"
I bit my lower lip, glancing over at Father. Just like I thought, he had a displeased look on his face. I guess it was still the same, not wanting anyone to talk about his wife or bring her up. I looked over at Aunt, and she looked shocked. I cleared my throat and turned to Felix. "We can go to my room now if you'd like."
"No, forget it!"
Nathalie placed the last dish on the table and took a seat. "I hope you enjoy."
"Nathalie, this smells wonderful. How could we possibly not enjoy?" Dad chuckled as he grabbed his spoon and dug in. "Ah, I've been meaning to ask. Not trying to push you, or anything like that, Adrien, but when are you going to get yourself a girlfriend?"
I almost dropped my spoon to the floor when he said that, and I noticed out of the corner of my eyes, Father placing his glass down on the table in such a manner that showed he did not tolerate the question.
"Did I mention that Felix is dating a girl?" Dad continued, and when I looked over at Felix with a look of amusement, he just looked away with a small tint of red on his cheeks. "Ah, what was her name again? Bridgette, was it? That was her name, right Felix? Yes, of course it was. I may be getting old but I can still remember as good as I could back when I was 20."
"Mother told us you had the worst memory back then," Aunt chuckled a little, meaning to tease her father.
"Oh, why is your mother telling you these childish things?" Dad looked back at me. "So, Adrien. . .?"
I didn't know how to answer the question. Yes, I had all these girls coming after me, but how could I be sure that any of them really cared for me? What if they just wanted me for my money? Or it could have been because they would get noticed by all people in Paris if they got together with me?
"Adrien will not answer such question," Father spoke up for me before I could. "Just drop it."
"Oh Gabriel, Adrien is old enough to make his own decisions." You don't know how happy I was to hear those words come out of Dad's mouth. At least, someone understood my situation. "And Adrien is also old enough to get a girlfriend, but he hasn't, and I have a feeling it's because of you!"
"Actually," I wiped the sides of my mouth with a napkin and faced him. "I just haven't met the right girl yet." Father sent me a look when I said that, and I wondered if I was going to get into trouble because apparently I chose the wrong words to say out loud, especially with him around.
"So what's your plan on getting the perfect girlfriend?" Dad was still pushing it. He looked to be really curious about my love life.
"Alright, enough!" Father slammed a fist against the table, shocking a lot of us. He wiped his mouth and stood up, before walking out of the room.
"Did I push it? My fault?" Dad looked back at me and I shook it off, convincing him that Father was just a little angry with the whole topic because of Mother. "Ah, Emilie," Dad looked down. "Gabriel needs to know that he's not the only one who's pained after Emilie passed. He may have lost his wife, but I lost my beloved daughter, and although I have another one, it still hurts."
I nodded. "I'm sorry."
"It's hard for all of us. Emilie was very precious and was in everyone's heart. Maybe it's just because we're handling the pain better than Gabriel is. He must think that we don't care for her if we're all being this happy," Aunt put a hand on her chest. "But I care for my sister. Everytime I look in the mirror, I see her. It's hard because she looks like me."
"Is it bad that I've already moved on?" I muttered. "That I still don't feel as pained as I did when I heard she passed away?" My voice was so low that I was sure no one heard me. But then Felix patted my back and shook his head in reply.
We all sat in silence, before I stood up as well. "I'm going to my room." And I walked out of the room in silence.
~ Edited ~