Winter Hearts

Plans Untold

Ravi recognised the song Mr Mikhalis was singing.

It was the song Siana had been playing inside her apartment the day he went looking for Leo, who had instead found him eavesdropping on her outside her door in the stairwell.

No wonder Siana had reacted so strongly to her father singing - the song resonated with her somehow, even if only on a musical level. Ravi was sure the lyrics were very powerful, perhaps even on a personal level for Siana, not just from a poetic point of view. He was intrigued by the unknown words, and wanted to find out more about what had triggered this reaction between the father and daughter.

He turned to speak to Leo, but was taken aback by the look on his face.

"Leo-ssi, you look like you've seen a ghost," he laughed, a little nervously. Leo looked at him with unseeing eyes. Ravi thought that if he just kept talking, Leo would eventually come back from whatever thoughts he had disappeared into in his head.

"Remember the day you found me outside Siana's door? This was the song she was listening to. It's very evocative, isn't it?" Ravi looked expectantly at Leo, sensing that Ken, who was beside him, was intrigued at the mention of Siana's name. He and Ken glanced at each other as they realised Leo was not really listening, but was in his own world, a dark frown on his brow.

Ravi realised that maybe Leo was still absorbing the news that Panos had given them, but he didn't think that it deserved this kind of sombre reaction. He wondered if there was more to what had happened that afternoon in the park, but from Ken's account, it was simply a prank that Siana and George had pulled on them, to great effect.

He wondered then, why one of Panos' staff would bear a grudge on his family, or his family business. There must have been a history between that guy and the management, or at least, an incident that coloured the man's rational sense.

He looked up to see Siana approaching the table, holding her father's hand, who trailed behind her. He noted that Leo stood up, watching her with closely-veiled concern. As she reached the table, she let go of Mr Mikhalis and reached for Leo, who held out his hand as she came to him. Mr Mikhalis came around to the head of the table, smiling at Panos as he left, and giving him a hug.

Ravi watched as Siana slipped her arms around Leo's waist and held him close, leaning her head against his shoulder and closing her eyes. Had he missed something?

When had they gone from shyly pecking each other in Arachova, to being intimately comfortable like this in public?

Ravi heard a soft sigh and then felt Ken rest his head against his shoulder. He looked down at Ken to find him staring happily at Leo and Siana, a dumb smile on his face. Next to him, N was cooing softly at the couple. Ravi frowned, almost comically.

"What is all this?" Ravi murmured to Ken, who just sighed again. Across the table, he saw Hongbin smirking at them both.

"Are you up to speed now, Hyung?" he asked Ravi, who shook his head.

"What happened between yesterday and today?" Ravi asked, laughing.

Hongbin, Hyuk and N replied all together, "Lunch." They looked at each other with mischievous glints in their eyes.

"I think Ravi-ssi missed a few episodes of our unfolding romance," Hongbin said, quietly.

Then they chuckled at each other until Mr Mikhalis joined them at the table, waving at them to remain seated as they shuffled to stand up. Ravi began to chat with Mr Mikhalis about the song, and soon they were talking about time signatures and instruments and working for others, from home.

Siana disengaged from Leo and they came to sit down as well, surreptitiously holding hands under the table.

Siana listened to the conversation, but she could feel a tension from Leo which she didn't understand. Although he had hugged her back, there was something about the way he didn't quite look at her in the same way as he had at the beginning of the night. She could see it wasn't aimed at her, but she couldn't help feeling that it was consuming him to the point that he wasn't as relaxed as she thought he would be. He was preoccupied, and she put it down to the effect of her father's emotional performance. Perhaps he felt saddened by it, perhaps he was feeling concern for her.