Chapter 33 - 2.5 Third Small Star – Capture Me, I’m Here!
3 years later.
At Wu Wan Conservatoire.
Wan Lengya's Manor.
Wan Lengya became a renowned King of Music globally and he is now one of the most desired professors in Wu Wan Conservatoire. But ever since his marriage with Wu Xue dissolved, he lost interest in anything even towards his former attraction with Xing Ran except for music as if his heart had died.
Xing Ran, the protagonist shou, who lost the halo of the protagonist gong, Wan Lengya's protection had not gotten that far yet. One for the fact that his talents are mediocre without Wan Lengya's support his skill didn't developed properly. Because of this his title of being a prodigy become a lie in the eyes of others.
Without the pampering and care of the Protagonist Gong, the Protagonist Shou's Halo was starting to disappear. The changes in Wan Lengya's life didn't end just that. After his marriage with Wu Xue had ended, Wan Lengya cut his ties with Wan family. After losing his emotions, he lost his love for his family all together. His only obsession focuses only in music.
This is the only thing that can be considered as a connection to Wu Xue.
Music is the only thing Wu Xue loves the most aside from him.
This is their only connection.
In the small manor he owned. Within the conservatoire, placed and hidden carefully within the most secure place of the house, is a pure, white jade, grand piano. This is the piano Wu Xue had gifted to Wan Lengya when they got married. It was Xue's token of love for him and now his only remaining treasure.
Aside from him no one is able to enter the manor much less touch the piano. Once when a student sneaked inside the manor, while the security system was offline. Saw the piano and was mesmerized by it. Most musician would be able to see the allure that the piano possess on sight. An achromic piano as if made of jade. Flawless and tintless. Like a luxurious ivory that cannot be easily bought by money.
The student tried playing it. Forgetting the danger that involves the forbidden instrument in that secluded place. Everyone in the conservatoire knows that this white jade piano is Wan Lengya's only taboo. The student in the end got him caught by Wan Lengya before he could even touch a single key on it.
But as if his reverse scale was touched, Wan Lengya personally broke that student's fingers and banned him from the music industry forever. Such news caused waves in their industry which dubbed Wan Lengya the title of Demon King.
His talent is unparalleled, his identity and wealth cannot be contained moreover his cruelty and mercilessness is notorious which is why most people were afraid of him.
But at this moment this demon king is playing piano inside his manor. An etude known as the Sorrow of Love, 'Kreisler's Liebesleid'.
This etude is the turmoil of his heart. Without him noticing a person was standing by the backdoor listening to his piano with half of his face covered in a mask preventing people from knowing who he was. This person whispered the following words in French:
'Tu m'appelles? Je suppose que je devrais vous donner une réponse. Ma chérie…'
[Translation: Are calling for me? I guess I should give you an answer. My dearest…]
That person only leave the place when he saw Xing Ran coming over to call for Wan Lengya. Xing Ran was only able to see this person's side profile but even he couldn't completely see his face. He knows that this person is like a devil. His dark aura and playful demeanor shows it all.
As his presence was noticed by the latter, that person gave him a frisky smirk as if saying to him that he caught him peeking.
Xing Ran could only feel that this person possesses a heavenly beauty but had a dark and evil presence. That person has a pitch black hair and those annoyingly inhuman celestial blue eyes which inadvertently made Xing Ran felt this person is destructive but playful, and hated him for unknown reasons. There's even a hint of amusement tracing the corner of his upturned lips when looking at him nonchalantly.
Only his mischievous smile lingers in Xing Ran's mind after the man has left. Once Xing Ran arrived by the manor's front door, he rang the bell and couldn't hear any response from the inside of the house. He waited for a minute before shouting out from the outside.
"Brother Wan! Brother Wan! The test for candidate professors was about to begin. The senior tasked me to call Brother Wan to come to the venue." Shouted Xing Ran from the outside.
Half an hour later, Wan Lengya finally went out of the house with his usual white suit and a light grey silk scarf. The atmosphere around him is cold as if ice completely surrounds him. Wan Lengya's whole being excludes the aura of coldness, desolation, and loneliness.
Like when the core of his heart left, everything that made him human had disappeared at the same. Only the cruelty, madness and coldness remain in his human husk. A millennium Iceberg that cannot be melted by anything or anyone aside for that person who can make him human and melt his frozen heart.
When he saw Xing Ran before him, his icy eyes couldn't help but turn even colder and darker especially when he heard how this man called for his name. The privilege of calling his name is something only that person is allowed to do so.
A mere dirt shouldn't even be allowed to speak much less utter his divine name.
"Xing Ran. Next time call me Sir instead of brother. You are forbidden of calling me with such intimacy. We are nothing, but superior and co-worker." Said Wan Lengya as his voice is deep and emotionless.
After secretly investigating what really happened behind Wu Xue's accident before he crippled his fingers. It was said that the last person to meet his wife is this two-faced person before him.
As if the mist in his eyes were cleared, the former attraction Wan Lengya felt for Xing Ran and turned ultimate to hatred and disgust. He hated him so much that he didn't even want to see his face but because he is one of the conservatoire's popular teachers, he couldn't just kick out the guy without sufficient proof and solid evidence. Else his demon king title will upgrade to tyrant instead.
Hearing what Wan Lengya just told him, Xing Ran didn't dare to show his indignation but his hands, hidden on his back, were bleeding from him gripping it hard just to control his anger. Wan Lengya gave Xing Rang a gauging gaze which only last for a few seconds. They left the manor and heads to the venue where the candidate professors will be tested.
During the test, Wan Lengya kept his eyes close while listening to the instrumental sound echoing in the area. If he heard even one mistake, the candidate will be stopped in the middle of his play and sent out. This signifies that the candidate failed. During the audition, Wan Lengya had never opened his eyes even once. Beside him, his wife's friend who ended up being one of his few close friends tried to convince him to properly do his job as a judge.
Seeing Lengya's closed eyes as if sleeping, Yue Wuya had to nudge his friend to check whether this demon king is really asleep or not.
"Are you even really listening, Lengya?" asked Wuya.
His voice showed not even a hint of emotion but only aloofness, "I'm not deaf and have ears. Even if I don't want to listen, I could only do so. As I didn't cover my ears." replied Lengya.
Hearing his friend's sarcastic answer, Yue Wuya could only sigh in his heart.
"Then, at least listen properly for the last one. This person is someone I've personally invited over when I've attended the concur in France to teach here. Don't be rude! At least listen properly this once!" said Wuya but he had only seen his friend uncaringly nodded once.
Just as the last candidate entered the venue caused a sudden silence as if they'd all stopped breathing.
All eyes were on the stage. The figure that appeared on the stage looked like a fallen angel. He was wearing a tailored suit which has a bit of a touch of femininity and royalty. The suit was a mixture of black and dark sapphire, tightly fitting in that sexy, body line. He doesn't look completely slim nor muscular.
His body has the perfect proportion of muscles and flesh. With that thin waist that can be held by one hand. If his clothes were removed those lascivious mermaid lines connected to his abs would make anyone feel lustful. The body is already perfect if you add up his snow-white skin which looks delicate as a baby and that heavenly beauty that was hidden behind that charcoal colored mask.
He looks like angelic being with hints of darkness, liveliness, and seduction. This person can only be called a little devil or an evil fairy. He can capture everyone as long as he gives them a single glance. Taking not only their eyes, their breath but also their souls.
Recognizing that enchantress on the stage, "Isn't that the person from this morning?" whispered Xing Ran.
Even he couldn't help but feel enchanted by that figure on the stage.
His entrance caused stillness. They watched quietly as the little fairy sat in front of the piano. A soft light focused on his head, making his obsidian hair sparkle with a bit of light as if a dim halo enveloping his whole being. Then everyone saw those long and thin fingers covered with black gloves hovering above the piano keys finally landed on its target.
The etude he had chosen to play is one of his original works called 'Mon cher diable' (My Dear Devil), an extremely difficult piece that was considered a devil's music and that only a devil can fully express the deep emotion in it. This piece is a music of sorrowful love, passion and tragedy.
This was his answer to Lengya's etude of Sorrowful Love. That moment when he looked at Wan Lengya's appearance 3 years ago is the day that he decided to leave. His heart once again skipped a beat and made him realize that the protagonist gong of this star is that person. That person who he solely loves in the whole cosmos.
The person he thought he had lost forever. That malignant being who haunted his soul all the time in his dreams and his only loss in reality. The only owner of his heart, soul and his whole.
His beloved, his other half!
The moment he recognized him, Hei Xue wanted to cry out his heart, his desires of his warmth, his love and his everything but... remembering his agreement to their divorce he couldn't help but get angry. Hatred filled his heart which led him to continue his plan on leaving.
When his rage subsides, he lets Hei Yu keep sending his reports about Wan Lengya's daily life. He knew that the moment he leaves, this person will change completely. His tenderness was gone. The admiration Wan Lengya thought he had towards Xing Ran disappeared without a trace.
Even his familial love towards his clan dissolved like water in summer. Wan Lengya becomes something akin to a soulless doll and the only thing that keeps him for living is music.
Music that he knows that can remain forever connected to him, Hei Xue, who loves music aside for himself. These memories of that blank 3 years where they are not together. He compiled them all in this dark etude.
In the end Hei Xue couldn't control his heart that desired this person and could only look for him, playing around in front of him to be captured once again. Accumulating his feelings which he closed up when he finished his task in that first world. In that world which he had fallen deeply in love for the first time that he couldn't even remove himself from such a passionate and indulgent love.
As well as his greatest misery and agony as he thought that he lost his only love forever. The only way he could have done so is to kill his emotion and seal off his feelings of love. Killing his soul slowly to ease the pain of losing that person. Controlled by his feelings, Hei Xue violently pressed the first note. He had also expressed the warmest love and endless suffering.
He struggles to stop himself from completely falling into madness, losing his mind, and grabbing that last straw of hope that they may see each other again. He hated that world that gave him that man, he also hated this man for giving into his heart's desire and also hated himself more for falling so deeply that he almost couldn't control himself. Then he returned to that empty world only by himself.
The coldness and desolation filled his heart that became empty after losing him and his last struggles, wishing with all his heart that they will once again meet. To have that demon king captured him once again and forever stayed caged within that warm embrace.
Wan Lengya has long been captured by the sound of piano the man on stage is creating. The moment the first note was heard, his eyes opened and looked for the source that was making his heartbeat beyond his control.
As if the millennium iceberg frozen in time started to melt and then he saw that little fairy on stage with his face half covered. That person's pain, anger, hatred, suffering, passionate love, hope, and helplessness warped in that dark sonata he is playing. Every note that little fairy pressed is like a knife that stabbed his heart, Lengya could hardly breath.
Pants~
His breathing ragged as he watched that little one on stage showed his defenseless state, his heart, his core, his pain, and his endless sorrow. He couldn't even blink his eyes afraid that the little fairy will disappear like before and cause his soul to go even crazier.
To be captured in that possessively warm embrace and that is Hei Xue's only wish, his only hope. His playing paused as if he lost his soul in dazed. Silence descended when Lengya saw that, he couldn't stop his tears from falling as his silver eyes that locked onto that soulless figure on the stage. The audience endured the empty silence waiting for him to helplessly make his timid exit.
They did expect for that motionless body to strike the remaining notes as if he had gone mad. The excessive force the man used to press each note made the audience feel in trance that their own heart is being hammered by a steel nail. The shrill notes that hit the jammed pack high notes struck the audience eardrums going straight to their heart and lungs.
Each note caused holes making their heart pumped loudly wanting to escape their chest and their lungs aching hindering them to breathe properly. Making them breathless. They watch the youth bent his body as his black hair is soaked with his sweat making an illuminating but enchanting effect. They watched him engrossed in music, and fell into it completely.
They could feel his desperation and hope all together mixing into an unknown world of madness. Channeling his last struggle, he pressed the last note and gasped as if successfully escaping hell. With that, the music of the devil ended encapsulating them in a trance of silence and fear.
Gasped!
His gasping was a sign of him breathing, followed by his uncontrollable pants that echoed in that quiet hall and then a long silence was heard. The audience remained silent in fear of waking up the devil once again.
The silence is terrifying that even a needle dropped could be heard.
Thump. thump. THUMP!
They could hear their heartbeats ringing in their ears, some of them were crying in fear, some held on their chest breathless.
They watched the boy hopefully looks in the distance and only muttered a few words of desperation.
The silence in the hall allowed them to hear his only wish.
'Capture me. I'm here.'