Glass Melody

Chapter 1

In an expansive concert hall surrounded by brilliant lights and crowded with members of the noble audience, spotlights trained onto a single figure in the centre of the stage. The figure sat upright in a chair playing the cello with grace and elegance found only in those of noble upbringing. Notes of Vivaldi's Summer Storm echoed throughout the hall with the urgency the song demanded, and the composer intended. As long finger constantly changed positions at a rapid pace to match the piano accompaniment, the figure's bow moved with the accuracy of a hawk hunting for its prey. Reaching the summit of the song, the bow moved in quickly in succession as forceful vibrato drifted towards the audience who listened with eagerness and awe. The final notes of the song drifted off as the figure's head snapped backwards to look upwards towards the light.

Thunderous applause reverberated throughout the concert hall as the audience stood up demanding another song. The figure's grip on the instrument tightened as he looked towards hundreds of audience members who stood crying out for another song. His eyes moved towards the control room above the audience as he shook his head ever so slightly. The slight gesture was only noticed by the people in the control room whose eyes were trained on the screen showing the figure's face up close.

The curtain dropped. The curtain was pulled closed despite the audience's pleas. It was well known that 'he' never returned for a standing ovation, so despite mild protest, the audience began filing out slowly. Behind the bold red curtain, the performer slouched back in the chair with sweat rolling down his face and exhaustion visible on his face.

"WangJi, how are you feeling?" Lan QiRen asked as he walked onto the stage.

Lan WangJi's eyes opened as he looked towards his uncle. He shifted his position to sit bolt upright as he nodded. Lan QiRen, having basically raised his nephew, had a good grasp of his personality and nodded in response. He stepped forwards and held out his hands in a practiced manner. In a similarly practiced manner, WangJi handed over the cello and bow as he motioned to another person behind the stage.

"Come," WangJi commanded.

A figure stepped onto the stage. QiRen's brow furrowed unhappily as he noticed the other person on stage; however, he made no comment as he walked away with the cello.

Dressed in a black and red swallowtail suit carrying an unusually shaped object, Wei WuXian took measured steps towards the chair in which Lan WangJi sat.

WuXian's placed down the object as he smiled, "Master, you performed very well today as well."

"Mn," WangJi responded.

WuXian continued to blabber as he reached out towards WangJi's hair. With gentle strokes, he brushed out the long silken threads with dedication as he helped WangJi tie his hair with a white silk ribbon embroidered with blue clouds. With his master's hair in place, WuXian then held out a mask for his master. As WangJi took the mask, his fingers grazed across WuXian's for a brief moment.

For a brief moment, WuXian's body trembled unnoticeably. He bit his lip as he watched the mask he'd just handed over slip over his master's lips. Turning away with a heavy beating heart, WuXian prepared the object with which he had brought onto the stage, a wheelchair.

WuXian manoeuvred the chair next to WangJi and applied the brakes; he then took two steps back. WangJi turned to stare at the chair. His ramrod straight back curled slightly as the satisfaction of the performance wore off and he was brought back to the cruel reality of being paralysed. His teeth grit as he bore the self-perceived humiliation and moved himself from the glory of the concert chair to lower himself to a wheelchair. It didn't matter that the wheelchair he used was the best of its kind or the most functional amongst its peers, in this day and age where medical care was so vastly different to that of the past, wheelchairs shouldn't have even been needed. Yet here he was, still unable to walk with barely any feeling in his legs at all. His body was a traitor to him and still, he could do naught about it.

Settling into the chair, WuXian stepped forwards, removed the breaks and pushed WangJi towards the elevator. This concert was the finale of the tour and there was to be a closing party in the function room of the facility paid for by the GusuLan company, but WangJi had little interest in festivities such as those. Having worked for his master for a fair amount of time, WuXian had a good grasp of his personality and without instruction, pushed the button for basement floor of the elevator.

"Master, did you read the news about master Jin? I heard he broke up again with another woman," WuXian gossiped.

WangJi remained stoic without response.

"Oh, and the Nie clan's youngest supposedly lost all his money at the casino and was chased by his brother all the way to the QingheNie ancestral home. How shameful is that!" WuXian continued.

WangJi's brows furrowed slightly.

"My younger brother Jiang Cheng got rejected by another girl too. Ah, it's so hard to get girls in this day and age. Even as an alpha he has so much trouble. What will the Jiang family do when they can't get a successor. YanLi still has a crush on the no-good young master Jin, too. What to do? Ne, master, are you going to get a girlfriend too?" WuXian teased jokingly.

WangJi's face blackened, "Shamelessl!"

WuXian's smile grew even larger, "Master, you're always so uptight. Aren't you worried about becoming an old man in your youth? Young people need not be so principled."

"Silence," WangJi demanded.

"Ok, Ok. I'll listen to the lord and keep my mouth silent," WuXian pouted with a smile.

The bright sunny smile contrasted greatly to the frosty stoicism, but there was a harmony between the two that was strangely uncommon between alpha and omega.

The dinging elevator broke the harmony between the two. WuXian pushed WangJi towards the modified car. The excited murmurings of exiting audience members flowed downwards from the upper level civilian car park as WangJi entered the car.

"I heard that Lan WangJi never gives standing ovations because he can't stand. What else can explain it? Which musician wouldn't oblige to the audience?" a voice cried.

"What are you talking about? There's no way my idol is crippled," another hmphed at the thought.

"It doesn't matter. Whenever the reporters try to get information, that omega servant of his gets in the way. We'll never know," a third complained.

"What are an alpha and omega doing together anyway. Doesn't that servant worry about being raped? What about his pheromones? Those omegas really should just stay at home and not appear in society," a final voice commented.

Hearing the comments, WangJi paused with eyes narrowed, "Ridiculous."

WuXian's smile faltered momentarily, "I'm an omega, so there's no helping the gossip. Maybe if I cover up my handsome face they'll go find someone else to bother? It would be a pity though. This face is so handsome."

"Shameless," WangJi snorted as he pushed himself into the seat.

WuXian smiled as he folded the chair away and stowed it in the trunk of the car beside the cello case.

"Took too long, "QiRen commented as WuXian slipped back into the car.

WuXian apologised as he sat silently in the car.

"WangJi, from tomorrow onwards I've organised for you to have two weeks off to rest. Take it easy these two weeks and afterwards you have some magazine and television stations wanting an interview," QiRen stated.

WangJi's dark expression turned even darker until QiRen followed up his statement, "If you don't want to talk just write it down and give it to your omega to read. Otherwise I'll make sure the questions are all yes or no questions."

WangJi nodded seriously as listened to his uncle who'd taken on the role of manager.

WuXian, who sat in the backseat, made note of the time off in his notebook next to all his bored doodles with a satisfied grin. The car eventually pulled up to an expansive, gated Cloud Courtyard home that had been modified to allow vehicle entrance.

When Lan QiRen had pulled up into the gravel road leading to the Cloud Courtyard, he turned to warn his nephew, "Rest easy these two weeks. Don't over do it. I'll call you again close to the time of the interviews."

"Hm," WangJi responded.

"Don't forget to take your suppressant," QiRen warned as he eyed WuXian suspiciously.