Mandy had lied to Nathan, hoping that he wouldn't find out who Bruce was. She didn't like Bruce, which was why she didn't have any special feelings for him. For Mandy, Bruce was just a kind man whom she could trust like he was family. However, the relationship between them seemed to have grown a little complicated.
As she thought about this, she received a message on her phone. It was Bruce, and he was asking her if she had eaten dinner already.
When she read his message, she sat up straight, suddenly remembering what Fiona had said to her earlier. She looked at her conversation history with Bruce. Almost every day at around five o'clock in the afternoon, Bruce would ask her if she had had dinner. On top of that, he would also message her 'good morning' at the break of light, and 'good night' before she went to sleep. Since Mandy was so busy at work, she hardly got the chance to read the messages. And when she was off duty, she couldn't open his messages because Nathan was around.
"Not yet. How about you?" Mandy replied out of politeness.
"I'm eating right now," Bruce replied just seconds later.
Mandy hesitated for a while and then decided to text him back, "Okay, have your dinner first. I'll talk to you later."
With a sigh, she put down her phone and turned her attention to the piano. Her slender fingers glided along the keys. They were cool and smooth. It was obvious that this piano was cleaned every day and very well taken care of.
Mandy was in a daze as she stared down at the black and white keys. Once, there was a girl who would come play with her. Sometimes Mandy would play and take the lead, and sometimes it would be the other girl.
Now, with that girl gone, and Mandy felt that her music had lost its soul. No one else in the world could replace that connection they had. The girl was always on the same wavelength as she was. Without her, Mandy could do nothing but give up playing the piano.
Gently, she pressed her finger on one of the keys, its soft note ringing crispy in the air. At that moment, Mandy felt so lonely in her heart.
Shaking her head, she closed the lid and turned around. To her surprise, Nathan was there, leaning against the wall.
The sight of him made Mandy jump a bit, and a wave of thoughts came rushing through her head.
The sound of his leather shoes clacking on the wooden floors came to an abrupt end. It turned out that Nathan had come to stand by her side.
"Why don't you play? Aren't you any good?" he asked coldly as he looked down at Mandy.
"Ah, no. I don't like playing the piano. In fact, I hate it," she lied in a panic. At that moment, she was so nervous that her heart stopped for a second.
Once, Nathan had asked Mandy what her hobbies were.
"You can lie to me, but can you lie to yourself so easily?" Hearing this, Mandy became even more nervous.
"I'm not lying to you. I hate the piano, and I hate music. Please don't ever bring this up to me again," Mandy said, feeling a bit faint. Talking about it was like opening up a scar that would never disappear. Even touching it the slightest bit, caused a great amount of pain in her heart.
"Why not? Does it remind you of your previous lover?" There was a mocking tone in his sneer. Nathan stood there in front of Mandy, his expression hadn't changed and his hands were crossed.
"You're talking nonsense! This has nothing to do with him."
"Really? How did you know which one I meant?"
"Nathan Jin, you're going too far," Mandy said with a frown on her face. Her clear eyes projected a touch of anger as their conversation developed.
"Feeling guilty?"
Mandy turned around and looked at the closed piano lid. She stood up straight and said, "President Jin, do you live by the sea? Why do you have to poke your nose into just everything?"
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Meeting You Was Fate