la campanella

three

accompanying music for this chapter: once upon a december - emile pandolfi 

A hollow silence filled the air around us. I couldn't help but gape at Christian, wide-eyed in disbelief like a goldfish. I couldn't even formulate words. "I-I am so, so sorry."

Christian merely stared back at me. Clearly just as shocked, yet his eyes didn't betray any sort of emotion.

Once I'd started talking I couldn't stop. Apology after apology tumbled out of my lips. "I was only looking – and then the chair fell and I am so sorry. I can't even begin to express -."

Christian raised his hand to silence me, a long sigh slipped out of my lips. "No amount of apologizing can fix this. I just have to deal with it." His tone is surprisingly even.

I couldn't help but deflate from the harshness of his words. My heart, that had leapt into my throat, sunk to my butt. I couldn't even handle looking at him anymore.

"Look, I didn't mean for it to sound like that." Christian's sudden soft tone surprised me into looking up at him again. He took a steadying breath. "I only meant there isn't much to do about it now. Plus, it was an accident. I can't blame you."

My brows furrowed in disbelief. I had expected him to want to murder me, not to be treating me delicately. "I can repay you. Please, let me."

Christian shook his head. "November, you don't have to blame yourself. It was an accident so leave it alone. I can handle it."

"But ..."

"Just leave it. It's nothing you have to worry about." I couldn't help but notice the deep sadness in his eyes. He couldn't even look at me directly instead, he stared at his beloved piano, with earnest shock blatant in his gaze. My heart couldn't bear it.

"Christian ..." Reece piped up from across the room, his tone is measured and testing. Christian didn't acknowledge him, he simply collected his sheet music and disappeared back up the stairs. Once he had gone, I felt my body inwardly crumple in defeat.

I had totally broken our agreed-upon promise – I had damaged his most prized possession, the thing I had been warned about breaking only a week previous.

Reece came up behind me and snaked an arm around my shoulders as if to steady me. "Listen, part of this is my fault. I shouldn't have told you to go over there and mess with it," Reece looked bashful. "I'll help you pay for any repairs. And I'll talk to Christian."

I could only manage to smile weakly back at him.

"It's a piano, I mean how expensive can it really be to fix?" Reece tried to laugh, but even he seemed a bit dejected.

I looked over at the beautiful inky piano. The morning sunshine twinkled off of its varnished surface, making it glow from the middle of the room. The black lacquer absorbed the light and then reflected it back almost brighter than before.

The long gash from the chair exposed the light hardwood underneath. It felt like I had injured a living thing. I couldn't look at it any longer.

It was at that moment that Daniel entered the studio. It was the first time I had seen him in a while, but I was too caught up in my anxiety to give him a wholehearted welcome.

"What's going on guys?" Daniel's tone was light until he saw the state that Reece and I were in. His eyes shifted to the piano and he visibly paled.

He quickly moved the chair out of the way and fully studied the piano's injury. It looked even worse with the chair out of the way. The chair had been hiding the full extent of the gash – it was much longer than we had originally thought. "No wonder Christian seemed upset when I passed him on the stairs ..."