Chiara did not even know how many days had passed since her eldest son laid in the cold hospital bedroom. As a mother, she could not bear to watch any of her children in such state, unlike her husband who had shown clear favor to Alessio, she loved all of her children equally, if it was Valentino who had fallen ill, then she would have shown the same amount of concern. The past few weeks had been extremely difficult, among all family members and friend, she was the one who had accompanied him the most, though her husband had advised for her to rest at home and he would have someone else watching over him, she refused. That morning, like usual, she woke up early and made herself some breakfast, took a quick shower and headed to the hospital. Her husband had gone to work, so she left the house to her trusted maid, Helda, an elderly woman who had been taking care of the children for over twenty years, she was basically a part of the family already by then.
She spent the entire day in the hospital as she managed her work through her laptop, since she worked along with her husband, she could work on her own schedule. She was so focused on working she had not realized the sun outside has started to set. The sky was slowly turning into a beautiful mix of dusty purple, orange and red, the dusk had come to play. Upon this realization, she stood up from the couch where she was seated and walked to close the curtain. She felt like such a beautiful view was a waste if she could not look at it with her family. As she lowered her head down, she stole a glance at her son and sighed. She thought of walking back to her couch when she suddenly noticed a tiny movement of his finger behind the steel railing.
Her eyes widened as she rushed to his side, she examined the finger once more to make sure it was actually moving, his lashes started to flutter lowly as well, though the movement was limited, it gave her hope. She quickly went to call a nurse, and came back to an empty room.
***
Valeria was walking around her house with a navy night gown, her hair was semi dry as she had only taken a shower half an hour earlier. She had done everything she needed to do for the day and it was time for her to relax. When the water was boiled, she fixed herself a cup of chamomile tea. That day had been awfully quiet, she was sitting in her couch as her mind wandered to what happened inside the car that day between her and Valentino.
She had tried to forget about it but for some reason she could not, the scene replayed itself in her head over and over again, it haunted her at night, whenever she tried to close her eyes, the image of Valentino kept on appearing, she had to cover her face with a pillow as if that would change anything, but it's true.
Why did he do that? She wondered.
Her fingers slowly trailed over her lips, it was as if she could still feel his warmth against her own. Though their encounter was relatively brief, it was one she could not forget. She had known for the longest time that Valentino bore feeling for her, it was the reason why he eft when she announced her engagement with Alessio. Valeria was not naïve, she was aware of his feelings, buts he had tried to ignore it though she knew she was hurting him, and years had passed by since then, she thought he would have given up, but human's feeling is a strange thing, you would never know what someone has in their heart.
It was troublesome, what made her felt guilty was not the fact that he was still in love with her, what truly worried her was the thumping in her heart she felt as he kissed her. It had been a while since she felt something like that, even when she was with Alessio, sure, they kissed and all, but she had not felt her heart beating so quickly like when she stared at Valentino. It was strange, she did not even know herself anymore.
She thought she would give Alessio a visit the next day, perhaps looking at his face would bring relief to her, maybe then she would remember the man she was engaged to, Alessio, and not Valentino.
To clear her mind, she walked to her piano, her fingers carefully lifted up the cover, she sat there and started playing with the keys, she played the first song which came to her mind, Adagio in G Minor, it was such a serene music which resonated in her heart. It would be better accompanied with violin. She closed her eyes as she played, her fingers have memorized each keys it came so naturally, one beautiful thing about music which made her fell in love with it and decided to pursue it was the soul which laid within the every instrument, when combined, create a harmony in the universe. It was a powerful expression of human's emotions. Music could change people's mood, and their feeling. Even God's fallen angel was the angel of music. Such power it bore to influence even God's angelic creatures.
As she felt the melody through her fingers, she was suddenly stopped by the knocking sound which came from the front door. She stopped mid-air, wondering who could pay her a visit that late in the evening without further notice, but she didn't want to think ill, so she rose from her seat and opened the door to find none other than Valentino. He was wearing a navy shirt and pants, looked like he had just gotten back from work like usual.
"Valentino, what are you doing here?" she asked, he gestured as if asking for permission to come in, she understood right away and tilted her body slightly, allowing him to enter. He got inside her house for the first time in a while, like usual, the style was incredibly reminiscent of her. Everyone was pretty much covered in mostly ivory and black, with brown and gold accent here and there. She had always been a neutral woman, it was one little details he loved about her.
He immediately caught the sight of her piano, she noticed it and led him there, she sat down and started playing, then before long, he came to sit beside her and started playing the same tune again, it was a strange duet, she was a bit off guard at first but as the music played, she started to feel much calmer, as she allowed him to play along with her.
The song they played was All I Ask of You from The Phantom of The Opera, it was a daunting romantic song, a duet sang by Christine and Raoul from the movie. Then it came back to her, the long lost memory which she had forgotten, it was a brief memoir from the past, soon after the movie was released, she was practicing the song, and often, in the middle of her practice, Valentino would come to visit her, and then he would gather a space for himself right beside her, then he would start playing along with her just like then, back then he was around the same height as her, but he had grown a lot since then, his hands became larger and stronger, but they still played the keys so flawlessly.
As the tune started to flow, she closed her eyes and a small smile appeared on her lips. All the tension in the air had vanished, all that was left was the sound of the music dancing around the room.
When the time came, the song was finished and their hands accidentally touched each other. It was as if time had frozen, or perhaps she was frozen, he turned to look at her, she was still unsure, then, he spoke lowly.
"Do you remember. It was me who was always by your side" she knew exactly what he meant. It was both a figurative and literal statement and she knew he was right, if only she could just ignore everything and admitted it, but her conscience knew it was wrong for him to even have such an attraction for her, she was, after all, his future sister in law.
They were so close to each other, their lips was only a few inches away from touching each other.
"Valeria, until now, I have tried so many times to forget about you, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not. You once told me to be true to myself, right now I am doing that. I have to tell you this. I love you, Valeria. I-" just then, suddenly his phone rang, he closed his eyes in annoyance, it was such a mood breaker.
Who would have called him?
He lowered his head in embarrassment and picked up his phone, he stood up and walked near the front entrance, creating a distance between the two of them, before he pressed the green button.
"Papa, why are you calling?"
"Valentino. We have a great news, your brother, he's awake"
YOU ARE READING
The Devoted Gentleman (EDITING)
Romance"My brother does not deserve you, Valeria. He could never love you as much as I do" He stepped in closer to her until she could feel his breath on her neck. 'Valentino, we shouldn't..." she tried to push him away. He froze where he was and placed h...
