Play my heart

Chapter XXVII

By the time Darren is back at the table from before, Lee is nowhere to be found. He cranes his neck to search for him among the other guests, but finds no sign of his silver hair. Dawn catches his gaze from the dance floor and points towards one of the lateral glass doors.

He's on his way without having to think about it. The door leads to a narrow hallway that connects the ballroom with the main lounge of the hotel. He takes long strides down the path, and skids to a stop halfway, where the hall opens into an indoor garden, with bluish-green lights shimmering from a pond in the middle.

Lee's silhouette cuts through the soft lighting. He's sat crisscross at the edge of the pond, scrolling through his phone. Sighing to himself, Darren gets closer and plops on the floor by his side.

"There you are," he says, a bit out of breath. "Why are you here?"

The pianist locks his phone and tilts his head at Darren. The wavering lights dance on his hair in a way that makes Darren feel he's from another realm, like maybe he's something magic.

"I'm not much of a party animal, surprisingly," Lee mumbles in response. "It's not my party, at least. Why are you here?"

Darren's eyes drift to the still waters of the pond. There's probably some koi fish around, but he can't see them.

"Because you're not much of a party animal, apparently."

Huffing out a laugh, Lee bumps his shoulder into Darren's.

"Who was that? The person from before?"

"Oh, that's Caesar's younger sibling," he explains, pressing his hands to the ground behind him and leaning back. "Lisa's arch-nemesis, according to them, but I don't know much about that."

"My cousin's what."

Darren nods, sharing Lee's confusion about the whole thing. They go through what each of them knows from their respective sides and gather enough information to confirm there is some kind of enemy dynamics between Ash and Lisa.

"Cool hair."

He snickers under his breath. "Funny, they said the same thing about you."

The pianist looks up at his recently-turned silver hair, the corners of his mouth curling up despite himself. "That's right, I'm in the funky hair gang now."

The conversation lulls for a moment. Darren wants to keep talking, something itches on his tongue to be said, and it only gets worse when he glances at Lee's profile, soft and pretty under the blue and green lights. It's hard finding the words when his thoughts jumble into a wiry mess. Before he gets the chance to fret over it any more, Lee speaks up again.

"Do you think I could get my feet into the water?"

Darren blinks, dumbfounded.

"It's dirty."

"Nothing in the Wang's luxury hotels is dirty."

He has a point.

Without letting Darren argue any further, Lee shifts in his spot, takes off his shoes and socks, and makes to dip his feet in the pool.

"Wait, you idiot," Darren stops him. "Your pants."

Lee tilts his head, giving him a puzzled look. Darren sighs, gestures for the pianist to turn and face him. He complies, and positions himself so that his bent legs are between the two of them. Worrying his lower lip with his teeth, Darren folds the cuffs of Lee's pants until the fabric only reaches mid-calf, it shouldn't get wet then. When he's done, he pulls back and Lee turns away without a word.