Motivation of Memories: The Second Book of the Labors of Love Series

Closure

Prince's POV

Rehearsal ends and I head back to the residential side of Paisley Park. I knock on the door of Genevieve's room and wait for her to answer. After several seconds she doesn't say anything and I knock again.

"Genevieve?" I peak inside the room and see her curled up on the floor. Hugging her knees with her head in her hands her body shakes lightly. That's when I realized she was crying. "Genevieve, what's wrong?"

"This week is going to be torture."

"You'll be back in your feet in time. We just have to be more careful."

"You don't understand. It's the only thing I have left of her."

"Who?"

"Mamakoko. She taught me my first dance. She's the one who pushed me to be my best. She's the reason I try so hard. Everything I have, everything I am is because of her. Every trophy, every recital, it was all because of her. I spend at least 5 hours a day dancing because I just want to be close to her again. I keep myself busy to avoid missing her but I can't do any of those things right now. I haven't slept in days. I can barely eat. I-I just want her back." I open my mouth to speak but, I know nothing I can say or do will take this pain away from her. I simply close the door behind me and sit next to her on the floor. She slumps into me, resting her head on my shoulder. I can feel her tears soaking through my shirt but I'm not upset. She needs this. I put my arm around her rubbing her shoulder gently as the tears fall. I never would've guessed this much pain was behind that bright smile and those radiant eyes.

"I can't bring her back and I can't take the pain away but I can give you something to do. Come with me." She sits up and I stand holding out my hand to help her up. We make our way through the hallways before finding ourselves near the studio. I stop one door shy of it and open it. I hold her hand, leading her into the room slowly.

"Wow." She says in a breathless whisper. "It's beautiful."

"I think this could be a perfect time to start learning the piano." She walks up and touches the grand piano cautiously. Her fingers gliding over the polished wood as if the slightest pressure would break it.

"Will you play something?" I sit down at the bench and begin playing softly. She lies on the floor with her eyes closed. Her legs crossed at the ankles and her hands folded over her stomach. She lies perfectly still, her chest rising and falling.

I continue to tickle the keys not playing anything in particular just what sounds nice. Guitar my be my first love but playing the piano has always been something I enjoyed. The cold ivory against my fingers, my foot on the pedals, the glossy finish. It's a very sensual instrument. You can play soft delicate tunes or you can smash the keys and make aggressive powerful ballads. I love the way this instrument sings.

I look over at her again and now she's sitting up watching me closely.

"Come here", I make room for her on the bench and wait for her to have a seat beside me.

"So I'm gonna teach you the hand placements for most chords. Then we'll advance to chord progressions. If you know them you'll know like 75% of all music." We go through each chord and she listens attentively, her eyes constantly flickering between my hands and my face. I've noticed that she does that a lot. It's like she needs to see facial expressions to understand.

I tell her the notes for each chord and I can see her committing them to memory. After a while, I start to test her.

"G major."

"G, B, D."

"A minor."

"A, C, E."

"E minor."