After the meeting, the Twelve figured they needed some time to cool off and think. Each one went in separate ways, one by one, until they fully vacated the lobby. Valeriana was left alone sitting in the chair she was occupying since a while ago.

When she decided she stayed there long enough, she found herself navigating through the long halls of the residence's ground floor. She used to clean the whole place when she first came, so she noticed the build up of dust and dirt under the carpet, not the mention the needing of the frames and smaller sculptures to be buffed and polished.

"I guess I need to start tomorrow, huh?" She whispered to herself, pausing to take in her surroundings as a surreal feeling washed over her.

Was this really happening?

So much had happened so far. It was almost hard to believe she was just trying to find a summer job and enroll herself to her dream university a few months ago. Fate had to take such an unexpected twist and lead her here instead.

As she took a stroll through the halls of the Twelve's residences, a soft melody tickled her ears that she halted and strained her hearing to find out the source. The sound was delicate in terms of pitch and tone, similar to that of a piano's.

The cadence rose and fell, filled with bubbling, building energy before slipping into a calming state. The transition between the notes, in fact, was very quick, with only a split second difference for the melody to be produced. The rhythm was varying, shifting from strong surges of an aggressive combination of notes to a slower paced one. It was a very classical piece, but what made her curious was who on Earth was playing it and how in the world they had pianos.

It seemed to be coming from the door directly ahead of her. She had never entered that room ever since she came to stay in the residences of the Twelve, not to mention she never really asked what was behind it and neither was she too interested to find out.

Pulling on the knob curiously, she cracked it open and found that the melody got louder, a sign she was on the right track. True enough, as she peeked inside, she found that the lights were open down the short flight of stairs before her.

The melody was beautiful in a haunting kind of way. Whoever was playing had exceptional training, with heart poured into the very music itself. The constant crescendo and diminuendo in the different parts was well-placed. At times the pace was aggressive and rocketing before falling back slower--like a slow trudge of some sort.

Valeriana carefully made her way down the steps, watchful of her clumsy tendencies. For some reason, it was was those times that needed stealth that she somehow kept on messing up--those important moments that actually mattered. It might be because she kept on overthinking things. Sure, Valeriana might be slow and horribly bad at comprehension, but she knew she made up for it among other things.

Running her fingers down the hall, she finally stepped on the landing. Valeriana leaned forward to peek around the corner, and saw a familiar person letting his fingers dance on the keyboard. He struck several keys all at once, his transition to the black and white keys smooth and flawless that it was obvious he must've done this a million times.

Valeriana gaped like a fish at this. It was disconcerting how good this guy was in everything! He was a sword prodigy, the first-ranker, heir to his lands, and now an astounding musician? What on Earth was he doing his whole life? How about his childhood? These must all come with a sacrifice--time, to be more precise. Time must be devoted in order to excell.

The room was illuminated by a soft, golden light. Instruments of all sorts were placed in varuous points, filling up the entire place.

He continued to play and she continued to watch. Valeriana wanted to get a better view since the angle she was watching from was a bit uncomfortable. She shifted her foot to accommodate the weight of her body as she moved further when a portion of her shoe squeaked at the movement. Panicking that he heard it, she tried to hide but found that the foot she just moved had suddenly caught with the ankle of her other foot. She released an unceremonious squeak of distress and stumbled slightly. She knocked over an instrument nearby during the course of the accident, making her sob inwardly as she failed to catch it. It was a cello, and so the noise it made was quite large as its size.

Why did her clumsiness have to manifest in the worst circumstances? At least she did not fall over.

Corvan stopped and turned to gaze at her direction, his face impassive at first before his brows rose to his hairline. A sigh escaped his lips and his lids fell close.

"What are you doing?"

She gave a humorless smile. "I was just leavin', actually!" She hurriedly turned that she did not notice the stand of the cello she just knocked over.

"Watch out!" Corvan exclaimed, jumping out of his seat and running towards her in a startling speed as she was about to fall over the second time.

She shrieked and flapped her hands helplessly when her wrist was caught and she stopped just an inch before she hit the floor.

"How many times will you fall over each day? Clumsy witch." He gingerly pulled her up.

"I fall over at least once a day, FYI." She said, shifting her foot to regain her balance. "There's just something wrong with my cerebellum."

"That is no excuse." He said, letting go of her wrist. "What brought you here?"

She did little hesitating answering his question. "Your music."

He turned his back on her and went back to sit in front of the piano. Valeriana eyed him curiously.

"Knock next time you enter." He simply said.

"Seriously?" She followed him, approaching the instrument after he had finally taken his seat. "So you actually play music? What the heck were you doing when you were a kid?"

"This is a past time I do when things feel stressing. It is not something I was forced into, unlike my training."

"Your family must be proud, huh?"

"I try not to let them know I do this." He replied, carressing the keys without playing them.

"Why?"

"I will be pressured. They will expect me to excell. Once that happens, I will find it hard to enjoy this."

"Oh. Okay."

"Have you any business with me? Leave at once if there isn't anything significant." He bluntly told her.

"Bastard. At least ask me to sit or something. You really are no gentleman."

"Then sit." He replied.

"Move aside, then." She nudged him.

He glared at her. "Why should I?"

"Because you asked me to sit!"

"I did not say where I'm sitting."

"That stool looks big enough for two people. Now move aside." She forcefully made him scoot so far he almost fell over if he hadn't braced himself properly and resumed a more comfortable spot when she finally sat down.

He frowned at her. "You should've gotten your own stool. There are many here."

"My laziness struck." She reasoned out, making him sigh once more. "Okay. So um . . . when did you start playing the piano?"

"When I was a child. My older sister taught me." He answered simply.

"I see." She nodded. "You're really good at everything."

"I am not. What I am now is a result of hard work. You might see it as effortless, but it is not like that at all." He gave her a sideway glance and struck a key so softly, followed by swift notes that gave the room a very calm ambiance. "I have invested much of my time to work on my skills."

"How humble of you for a change."

"I think I have the right to brag since I am not all bark and no bite. Unlike a certain someone sitting next to me."

Valeriana's lip twitched at the insult that she pretended to look over his shoulder and said, "Oh, great. What hallucinations you've got. There's no one there."

"Fool." He huffed. "I clearly meant you."

"I know, sucker." She rolled her eyes. "I was obviously being sarcastic. Did you really think I was that stupid?"

"Well, you are most of the time."

"If that's true, then this isn't one of those times."

"So you admit it."

"I said if! If that's true!"

"If you came here to ruin my time alone, you should leave."

"You really are a jerk, you know! That's why no one even likes you!"

"I don't care about such things. Liking and whatnot."

"Cold-hearted bastard. No wonder you don't have a girlfriend!"

"And a girlfriend is?"

"A lover, idiot!"

"Your terms are very unusual. Why say a girlfriend is your lover when she is just your girl friend?"

"Haha. Very funny. English is like that you know. It's like saying eggplant when there are really no egg in plants. Or maybe French fries when they aren't even from France."

Corvan chuckled and shook his head at her reply, the smallest of smiles curling on his lips and revealing dimples Valeriana hadn't even noticed he had until then! They were really small dots on the side of his mouth, barely even noticeable with such a small smile.

"You've got dimples!" She gasped. "Gosh, you frown all the time I just noticed! They're really small though! Maybe when you smile bigger, they'll be more obvious!"

He frowned at that, as though on instinct.

"There you go again! Stop frowning for once and be more like Rowe! He never runs out of smiles! It's the reason why you're starting to look as old as a grandpa." She leaned forward and started pulling on his cheeks, pulling to all sorts of direction that he winced. "Do it! Smile again! I wanna see those--"

"Valeriana." He warned. "Stop it."

"Don't be a killjoy!" She grunted in annoyance, tapping her foot impatiently. She pinched him some more. "Come on!"

When he refused to comply, she drew back and put on an angry expression and crossed her arms.

"You leave me no choice. I'll have to pull out my best move."

"What is--"

She started poking his sides and the spot under his arms that he inched back so far. His face started to turn red he growled in anger, the muscles on his face twitching as he held back his laughter.

"Stop--" He hissed, gritting his teeth.

"Geez! Nothing works on you." She withdrew. "Though you are ticklish!"

The frustrated look on her face and her seething was unbearably comical he finally started laughing. Though it wasn't a full-blown laughter, it was enough to see his whole face light up along with his eyes. It wasn't anything she had seen on him before. It was quite a nice change of pace.

She started chuckling as well. "So you do laugh. You should keep doing it. I only see you frowning all the time, it isn't good for your health you know."

He sighed again for the third time that hour--if she had been counting right, that is. Knowing they've been dwelling too much on nonsense things, she decided to change the topic.

"You know, I may not look like it but I do play an instrument myself."

"You do, huh."

"Yup. I like rocking it! I was a part of a small band formed by my friends and myself. We really liked music." She smiled at the memory. "Since I wasn't really good in singing, I did the drums. Played the beats, ya know?"

"And who taught you?"

"My father." She told him, nostalgic. "Though he was one hell of a weirdo." Valeriana chuckled at the image of his father popping into her head, telling her he was no weirdo but merely too unique to be called ordinary. "And awesome." She added.

"Where is he?"

"He's no longer in this world."

Corvan laughed lightly at her words. "I'm assuming Earth, then?"

"Gosh." She gaped at him, bursting into laughter. "Did you just joke? You? Who knew you had a sense of humor!"

He did not answer her, merely shook his head as his smile faded.

"How about you, though? Who taught you the piano?"

"My older sister."

She felt saddened all of a sudden. "I've heard from Tamara. Where is she?"

He seemed serious, but he could not hide the brief movement from the corner of his lips. "She is no longer in this world."

Valeriana could not help it. She cracked up. "Shucks, was I supposed to laugh?!" She wiped off her tears and said, "But seriously!"

"It's true." He said, this time turning a bit solemn. "Adelline was supposed to succeed, but she died in an encounter with demons shortly after graduating from the academy."

Valeriana's mood fell with him. "I see." She patted his back. "She must be awesome."

"She was briliant."

Corvan might be a huge block of ice sometimes but Valeriana was glad she was able to see this side to him and discover his melody. No matter how clandestine it was.

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