"Where are they all going?" asked Sang, rotating slightly to face the door.
"They've been called in, they probably have a job to do." Answered Victor, his eyes intense as he watched her. Sang found it difficult to hold his gaze so she turned, eyeing Luke.
"Does he do this to your hair too?" she asked, as she took in Lucian's long hair currently tied behind his head in a low ponytail.
"As if I'm letting Gabe anywhere near my hair," snorted Lucian. Although long, his hair was well kept, and it framed his face nicely.
"Oy, you little shit. Tell me then, Luke, who trims your hair every month and keeps it so lush?" retorted Gabriel; offended that Lucian - Luke - would say that about him.
"That would be the barber..." joked Luke, causing Gabriel to snort.
"Barber my freaking ass, dude. You haven't been to a barber in, what is it, twenty years?" joked Gabriel, as he brushed through Sang's tresses with his long fingers.
"I may be twenty, but that doesn't mean I haven't been to a barber before in my life. Not all of us are as skilled with hair as you are, Gabe."
"Damn straight, and I aim to keep it that way." He responded. Sang could feel him doing something to her hair. She reached up to touch it but was immediately swatted away by Gabriel's hand.
"Oy! No touching till the job is finished...Trouble."
"Did you really just call me Trouble?"
"What's wrong? I think it suits you, you know? You got into trouble with some thugs and now you want to touch my masterpiece before it's done? Yep definitely asking for trouble, you are." Sang grinned. How could she have a nickname already? With people she was supposed to be against? She really had to try hard to keep her distance now. Luke had turned off the television and had decided to lie down on the other couch, probably taking a nap. He stretched out like a cat and Sang caught the quick view of some very nice abs before he pulled his shirt down and lay facing the back of the couch. Victor was sitting at the piano and had pulled up the lid. Sang wondered what he was going to play. As soon as he played the first few notes she gasped and Victor turned to look at her, pausing in mid-play.
"What's wrong?" he asked, running a hand through his dark locks.
"That-that's Vivaldi right? W-winter?" She couldn't believe he was playing this piece out of all the classical pieces there were to play; he was playing Winter, by Vivaldi, no less! He looked rather sheepish as he turned towards the piano again, blocking Sang from seeing his expression.
"Y-yeah. It's one of my favourites. I like Mozart and Bach, but Vivaldi even more." Sang couldn't believe what he was saying. This day just kept getting weirder and weirder.
"You're kidding me, right? Vivaldi is literally my favourite composer of all time. 'Winter' is my favourite song," she said shyly, her voice soft.
"You didn't really peg me as the classical music kind of girl. I thought you'd be more into, I don't know, mainstream music?" What on earth was that supposed to mean?
"I don't really listen to music," she admitted. "I prefer the classics, there's just something so beautiful about the way each piece is composed with such care and how each piece is so unique in it's own way. I hear all these popular songs on the radio but I think I connect more to music without words. I like to let the melody do the talking rather than the singer."
Stunned, Victor had turned around; even Luke was awake from his half-slumber, both guys staring at her strangely.
"What? I'm sorry. I probably made it sound deeper than it really is. Sorry." She apologised after seeing their expressions of disbelief and bewilderment at her statement. A gentle smack graced the side of her head.
"Oy, what the hell do you think you're apologising for? That was a beautiful speech, Trouble. You keep surprising all of us, I mean I love Lady Gaga, but I think your speech made me shed a tear. Don't say sorry for things that fascinate you."
"Sorry," she repeated, giggling, causing the guys to laugh along with her.
"Sang, wanna come sit with me on the bench? You know how to play?" asked Victor, his fire eyes twinkling in the sunlight that streamed in from one of the windows.
"I don't know how to play but I wish I did. I love pianos, there's just something so graceful about playing on them that I wish I had the opportunity to take up lessons when I was younger."
"It's not to late to learn... if you want, I could teach you?" Sang was stunned by his offer. What better way to get information than frequent visits to their apartment for piano lessons? Sang couldn't help but feel guilty about using him like this but she understood that she had to do this to get the job done. If they ever found out about what she'd done they'd probably hate her anyway, so she might as well take the opportunity while she could.
"You'd do that... for me? I'm sure you have better things to do than help a silly girl learn piano. I'll probably be rubbish anyway," she argued, knowing he'd persist in his offer.
"Of course I would. We all have to start somewhere, right? Perhaps if I hadn't been so good at piano I would've had a better name than Victor," he bantered, her face heated remembering what she'd said about his name before.
"I like your name." Sang admitted quietly. His expression changed and his gaze became heated.
"Could you guys play something soft and calming? I'm trying to nap here." Luke requested, grinning at Sang before he turned around once again and closed his eyes.
"Sure. Sang are you alright to walk over here?" asked Victor.
"Yeah, I'm fine, it was just a scratch anyway." She replied. She felt Gabriel's hands leave her hair. "Have you finished Gabriel? What did you do, anyway?" Gabriel came round and sat back down next to her.
"Have a feel and tell me if you like it," he whispered to her, his mouth dangerously close to her ear. Sang blushed at his proximity and what he had just said. She reached behind to touch her hair and found it to be ridged and corrugated. He had done a French plait to her hair, which trailed down into an interlaced fishtail braid that reached her below her chest. He was quite unique, mixing two hairstyles together. He fetched her two mirrors so that she could examine her hair from the back too. It was intricately and neatly done, Sang never had the knack for doing cool hairstyles; she usually just kept her hair in a bun or in a plain plait down her back for practicality reasons. She was overwhelmed that she had been shown such kindness and compassion by people she'd merely known for an hour. They had shown her more kindness in this short period than her family ever had, and she'd been with her family for years and years. Daringly, she turned her head and gave Gabriel a soft kiss on the cheek, her mouth lingering there for a second before she backed up. Gabriel's cheeks were flushed pink, but he didn't avert his gaze from her sparkling green eyes. "Thank you, it's gorgeous. I love it," she gave him a warm, appreciative smile and he smiled back, his cheeks becoming even pinker.
"The only thing more gorgeous than your hair is you, Trouble," he flirted, taking her plait between two fingers and rubbing the ends of her hair. Sang blushed vigorously and turned back towards Victor, who had seen the whole encounter. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty. He had a guarded melancholy expression on his face, his small smile tight. She broke away from Gabriel and limped slightly over to Victor. He moved a little to the left to give her some space on the padded wooden piano bench. She sat down next to him, making sure they were slightly apart so that he had the space when he began playing. He placed the sheet music on the small bracket and Sang read the title 'The Four Seasons: Winter by Vivaldi'. It would be like her own live concert of sorts. She felt excitement and anticipation growing in her stomach. Instead of playing the piece like she expected him to, he turned towards her and asked her if she would like to learn to play it herself. Her eyes grew wide at the thought; she would love to be able to play her favourite piece by her favourite composer. She nodded in affirmation and he took her through the basic notes and steps of playing piano. He explained to her that she could start off with one hand to play single keys and when she became confident in that, she could move on to two hands and he would start introducing the chords, which were a combination of three or more keys played simultaneously.
"Do I have to learn to read sheet music? It looks so confusing. I don't know if I'll be able to do it," she said worriedly. Victor chuckled.
"You don't have to learn to read it if you don't want to - it'll be better if you can though, because then you can play whatever piece you want. I can teach you simply using the letters, if you really want."
"No, I think I'll just suck it up and learn to read sheet music. It would be amazing to be able to pick a random piece and be able to play it immediately," she spoke, thinking about all her favourite composers and pieces wistfully. Victor watched her expression carefully, noticing she was really passionate about learning to play.
"Like, I told you before, the letters go from A to G, and the piano actually starts with a C note. These are all the white keys, and the black keys are the sharps and the flats." He demonstrated both the white and black keys, naming which key was which letter, and how the black keys sounded slightly different in tone to the white keys. Sang listened attentively, fully absorbed in what Victor was teaching her. She was given the opportunity to practice on the piano, finding the keys harder to push than they looked. She noticed how she really had to push hard with her small fingers in order to produce a loud sound from the piano, and that amount of pressure placed on the key would produce a corresponding sound. As she mimicked Victor's fingers, she noted how his fingernails were short, and how he used his fingertips when playing. He caught her looking and explained to her how pianists tended to keep their nails short because they got in the way of playing and could break easily if kept long. This made sense to her and Sang made a mental note to keep her fingernails short if she was to continue these lessons with Victor. She actually found herself looking forward to these future lessons and smiled inwardly.
