The Painter's Amour

His Passion

Chapter 33: His Passion

"I miss everything about you. I can't believe that I still want you even after all the things we've been through." – Colbie Calliat

Julian Hartwell

The piano music sang the truest feelings he had in his heart, his long fingers caressing the keys as he pressed notes after notes and his smile never faltering for a minute. He continued to perform the music piece as if it'll be the last time he'll get to do it for me and I guess it was.

But why?

Why would he do it? Why did he decide to perform the song he once promised to perform for me? He wasn't playing it to remind me of the pain of breaking it and of the happiness of the memories we both shared back when I was teaching him.

He wasn't playing it to remind me of the past and I was sure he wasn't playing it also to compensate for the broken promise.

So why?

Why are you smiling so merrily, Dante? I thought to myself while I studied his smile throughout the piano song I once held dear in my heart.

The grandness of their mansion's interior appearance disappeared from my senses as I tried to fathom the meaning behind his odd smile but I found none – the piano tunes chanted silent riddles of his emotions, emotions that I found hard to decipher – the song carried the same melody and the same descant so why? Why did it sound different to me?

Why did it feel foreign to me?

But then I found no answers to my own questions.

He smiled until the last tune faded into nothingness.

His fingers left the keyboard, "It'll probably take some time before I get comfortable using my hand." he said, mostly to himself, and I nodded as I stared at the man beside me here on the piano seat. He admitted to me earlier late morning that he had a little accident a month ago however he didn't go further into details about what happened before it.

Though, I didn't insist to know them either.

"I hope I still did better." he turned to me, anticipation in his eyes.

"True, you did better than the last time you played it." I complimented him and his smile grew wider. The two of us talked like how we used to talk in the past but somehow, I couldn't help but noticed the invisible distance between us.

Dante was distant to me.

The distance made it difficult for me to be at ease.

"How about you play it too? Please." he asked though it sounded more like a plea but I dismissed it with a small nod before sliding my palm over the smooth surface of the keyboard.

There was a trace of warmth left behind by his fingers and it was a soothing feeling. It caused my own fingers to be indulged on such sensation that I hadn't press a note for a long minute until the man next to me cleared his throat – I pulled myself back to reality and began to play the song I once serenaded and will serenade to him for the last time.

The soft tune erased the awkwardness that had been lingering from the moment he welcomed me inside their mansion.

I felt distant to him.

The melodies were in perfect harmony and the timing was faultless but still, why? It seemed so unfamiliar to me as if it wasn't the music I composed and it wasn't the music I once played to him.

It was the same but it was different too.

I pushed the discomfort deep inside me as I continued to perform the music since I knew well that this will be the last time he'll heard it from me and I wanted to make it pleasing for him to remember as his lasting memory of me.