Muse [18+] • REVISING

26 | Moonlight Sonata

V E R A

━━━━━━━━━━

It was only halfway into the week and I was exhausted.

Between the renovation of my exhibit, midterms coming up, and late nights at the museum, trying to find balance in my life proved more and more difficult each day. Having to sit through three-hour-long lectures and then rushing to get to work in the same breath was entirely draining.

On top of said exhaustion, I wondered about the well-being of Damien. Aside from the other night when he opened up, he hasn't said anything more about the things going on in his life. He claims he's fine each time I ask but the empty cigarette cases scattering his study say different things. Still, I remain quiet and keep my worry veiled.

The past few hours had been spent going through the many donated pieces with the team, all from private collectors that the museum received after the break-in—everything from expensive busts to paintings and exclusive films to put on a display. It took me a while to process how much backing I got on what I considered to be an amateur exhibit. Having someone believe in you enough to give away pieces worth hundreds of thousands was something entirely new to me.

As we outlined wall layouts, color schemes, and solely focused on improving the wrecked exhibit, I reluctantly found myself detached from every introduced idea. A deluge of works scattered throughout the room and hours spent conjuring up concept after concept, yet nothing stuck the way I thought it would. It wasn't that I didn't love every bit of meaning and intention I had put into Femme de Sexe, but a novel inclination that I wanted more than surface-level exploration. There was a personal aspect still missing.

Settling on the last piece, a book medium, I found the donation rather peculiar. The only thing that tilted the cover were the words Sine Qua Non in embroidered cursive. Sifting through the pages revealed that it was a journal filled with excerpts and prose, possibly love letters of intimacy exchanged between two people.

"Without which, not." Cordelia spoke.

Across from me sat her and Nicolas, Damien standing at a chalkboard as he drew out different plans for the remodel. Retreating my gaze from the book and meeting Cordelia's, I raised an eyebrow at her statement.

"She's talking about the book you're reading," Nicolas picked up on her comment, filling in the gaps. "Sine Qua Non is Latin for without which, not."

"It's another way of saying without something, something else is impossible," Damien explained, his back still facing us. "Kind of like saying without oxygen, you can't breathe,"

"What is that anyway?" Cordelia asked.

"I think it's a couple's journal? Every other page is a response to the previous one. Two people explaining their love to one another in incredibly raw ways," I curiously responded, reading some keywords from the ink-filled pages.

"Read something," She chimed in again.

Flipping somewhere towards the middle of the journal, I landed on a random excerpt and began to read word for word.

"Cher M, you're a new language for me. Normally I would shy away from such endeavors but the feeling you give me convinced me otherwise. A rather new experience to be handled so roughly under the moonlight on that balcony of yours; a leather belt cinching my throat each time you pulled. Stifled moans and sweaty bodies, the near danger of getting caught by the neighbors across the way. My pleasure held in the palms of your hands; the very ones tightly gripped around my thighs. There's nothing like the love you give me," By the last sentence I was nearly out of breath.