《Magpie People》9 - HARMONY
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When time makes enough space for them to breathe again, Emmeline finds that an unanticipated calm has joined them in the room. She thinks Otho can probably feel it, too - he looks as though he's existing slightly more easily. It's a paper-thin, gentle thing, a veneer, really - but a welcome one. The air's a little clearer, each sound audible like rain into still water. In this moment, life shifts into a film sequence, everything shot in close-up: the soft corner of his mouth, the crush of sheet music kissing the stand where it lies, her pulse in her wrists and neck. Velveteen.
That piece he suggested: it pulls at her. There's a specific allure to unheard music, a power that comes with being the one to give it voice, to give it form. And he'd handed it to her - his fingertips, his tight, rounded handwriting. It's... something. An offering? A bridge; a connection. The string between two cups.
She looks at him and he doesn't smile but she believes he might be thinking of doing so, and she nods and so they begin. They play the song (she knows this isn't the right word but it is, it is) that he put so carefully in front of her and that feels a lot like a metaphor for something she can't quite grasp; she can't help but close her eyes as she improvises over the main melody and she thinks Otho might have closed his, too, but she wants very much to imagine that he plays with his eyes open. He is a person who spends so much time hiding and looking away from things - even at his own house, he used to avoid eye contact with her - anxiety and invisibility cloaking him, cutting him off. So Emmeline wants him to see, unafraid; she doesn't even mind if it's her. She thinks that to be seen by Otho might not be a bad thing. It might, in fact, be the opposite.
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Playing this piece (this song, this epiphany - it's beautiful, lighter than she'd have guessed) is baring her soul - playing anything is baring her soul - and her heart. Time doesn't pass while music is played by those who breathe it. It stops and waits, respectfully, perhaps sways, loses itself in the lyricism. (Music can be lyrical without lyrics.)
Logically, she knows that the sound they're making here is just (just!) her piano and his violin, but she is flooded by the notion that they are the instruments - her and him, him and her. What if they're the ones being played by the notes? The bow is sliding, gliding over not strings but his ribs and she isn't playing the keys but her arteries - there is blood in this music, there is love and anger, it rushes hot-red through them. She knows she's never played the piece before but it's indescribably familiar, like everything about this boy. Why? She cannot for the life and death of all of her selves work it out. Maybe there is nothing to work out. People aren't puzzles, they're mysteries. There's no solving them, only unravelling. 'Mystery' is right, she thinks, likes the way it feels like a cavern barred from the outside. Unknowable without risk to both sides, but oh, the ache to find out is so strong. Temptation is an extraordinarily powerful force.
A modulation and yes- they climb higher, higher, higher until the roof breaks and the ceiling crumbles and the two of them stand amongst clouds - is it still called standing if their feet aren't touching the ground? - and the tremolo is an earthquake, and she knows the crash back down (so very far) to earth is inevitable but she clings to the skyline and feels the piano twist itself to fit her hands, wraps around them like bandages - the hills of her knuckles press all the right notes and she has not felt alive. This is alive, the sound, the human-ness, the church-like volume of the whispering hearts. Something rises in and out of her; her body stops being her limit. She is happy? No. But she is living and glad of it.
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Then, a tragedy: they don't reach the end. All the glorious tension spilling into the room; no cadence to resolve it.
A knock on the door splits the music in two and gravity answers it. They collide with the world, the real one - Otho looks at her and she sees the clouds in his face. She sees that he just tasted the same sunlight that she did and she wonders if she might be in love with it and him. She knows she can't be, but that doesn't stop the wondering. He spares - no, gives - her a glance and she is sure that he wants to say something to her as much as she wants to say something to him and what a miracle that balance is. But she hears him swallow the words on his tongue as he opens the door to a ghost. Adelaide swans into the room on feather-light feet and feather-filled wings and Emmeline gasps and hurts and grieves all at once and then she comes to and it's a student, not Adelaide at all. It's one of the ones she'd feel intimidated by (all straight lines and neat folds) if she wasn't already cut out of herself and raw. There isn't room for any more feelings in this poor young body of hers.
Vaguely, she hears the person who is not Adelaide tell them to return to the classroom. She doesn't want to, can't. Too much has just happened and to fill the space her thoughts need with other people will overcrowd her. The world is so noisy, so much, such a lot of the time that sometimes she can't properly cope. There is a vast, uncrossable difference between noise and volume - music has volume: dynamics, breadth. Traffic has noise. Traffic makes noise, and noise makes thought-traffic in turn. It's quite a fitting image, she thinks. She's stumbled across it, as she often does with ideas (the best ones are accidents or mistakes) but it does feel as though her thoughts stack up and pile into each other and beep horns, start conflicts of their own. The question is where they're all trying so determinedly to go.
Otho shuts the door behind the student as they leave and she starts. He looks at her, stops, looks at her again.
'You play beautifully.' He says, and the compliment falls awkwardly, perfectly. She smiles, glows, fully, a blush warming her face. Blush is too pretty a word.
'Thankyou,' she says, and it sounds overly fervent, religious. But it's okay, unexpectedly so. Neither of them quite abide by 'usual' as a concept and their strangeness creates a harmony between them. So it's okay that she then says: 'You play sadly.'
He meets her eyes. 'I try to play honestly.'
'You play sadly.' (She meets them back.)
He ducks his head, smiles (sadly), and nods. 'Yeah.'
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The Bonding Love (Ver. English)
Today's husband is yesterday's benefactor."Mirawadee" was betrayed by his fiancée, prompting her to flee. She still has to meet with a benefactor and follow her everywhere. Later, to survive, she had to consent to marry him. After that, she fell in love till she couldn't stop herself. Until one day, she knew he was roughly a hundred years old.But fate has placed her right in the rank fate of this endlessly agonizing love. When the story from the past resurfaces, a mysterious spirit arrives and offers to 'Give her a body' to atone for the previous misdeeds she has committed!!
8 113ALPHA’S EX-MATE
My name is Elizabeth Sylvera Addyson. Being a 17-year-old werewolf is a real pain in the ass. Who would have thought that my mate would be the most insensitive prick in the pack that is also the future Alpha? It's not that we hate each other......wait, no, that's exactly it. I do not want, nor need, an asshole for a mate. Especially not one that bullies me. Nor date one that has caused me immense pain and emotional trauma. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In her fourth year if high school, Elizabeth Vernisher's friendships are tested on the first day back to high school with someone almost betraying the secret of werewolves, finding a new unexpected friend and having to fight for the emancipation of that friend later turned lover from a toxic friendship with a person she knows and this being the year she finds her soul mate, this is going to be quite an interesting year for dear Elizabeth. But she can handle it. Can't she? She is the next Delta after all and a very important position in the pack awaits for her. That is if she accepts it. Or will she reject it? Participant of Royal Road Writeathon
8 190The Marriage Deal
Khushi means happiness but not in Khushi's life.Khushi is the total opposite of her name.Her life is filled with sorrow,hatred and unhappiness.Khushi only had one wish in life that her husband will take her away from this sorrow and hatred life and will give her that happiness,love and care life which every girl deserves.But her wish was broken when she was married to one of the most eligible bachelor of India,Armaan Kapoor just because of a marrige deal.
8 280Stuck With Mr. Billionaire
"Curiosity killed the kitty Miss Adams." My body stiffened. Slowly I turned around just to see Mr. Parker standing in front of me with hands in his trouser pockets. I bit my lip. I thought he would be angry but when I looked at him. His face showed no emotion. He then started walking towards me I moved back. This continued until my back hit the door. Then he placed his one hand on my side, leaning forward, close to me."What was rule number three Miss Adams." His face was extremely close to mine my breath got hitched. I couldn't answer his question why? Because I was more focused in the distance between us."I asked you something Miss Adams." He said again."T-That t-there a-are prohibited areas i-in the house where I shouldn't g-go.""It seems like you remember the rules. This room is one of those prohibited areas. So, from next time think before you put yourself into trouble."I just stared at his eyes. I was lost in those pair of sea-coloured eyes. No other guy has ever affected me this much as Mr. Parker. I get nervous around him. I don't know what this feeling is but this feeling is different. A feeling that I have never felt for anyone."Understood?" he said again.I nodded. "Yes Mr. Parker."*****************Liam Parker, 25 year old billionaire. Arrogant, handsome, ruthless, the only thing matters to him is his son and his work.Bella Adams, 24 year old simple and bubbly girl, who lives with her Nanny in an orphanage. What will happen when Bella comes as a babysitter of Liam's son? Let's find out in the story.....
8 627Pretending
Juliet Grayson and Warner Brooks could not be more opposite.Juliet has struggled with body image issues and bullying her entire life. Being 40 pounds overweight with braces, acne and horn-rimmed glasses did not make it easy for her especially at her high school. She spent the entire four years being bullied by the kids at her school until she reached her breaking point. After graduation, she vowed to change her whole appearance and start over at the college of her dreams leaving her past behind.Warner Brooks is the epitome of every girl's dream. Godlike handsome. Star of the soccer team. He's got the looks and the brains. He was the typical playboy hot shot of their high school getting whatever girl he wanted and his ego couldn't be any bigger. The only thing Juliet and Warner have in common is school which they have been in constant competition over since childhood always competing for the top grades.Juliet goes to college a new person, determined not to be weighed down by the scars of bullying that plagued her before. With a whole new look, It is her chance to start over where nobody knows the loser she used to be. More importantly, she could finally get away from all the people who made her high school experience hell.Until she finds out Warner Brooks the high school hotshot who got under her skin like no other was attending the exact same program at her college. Her plans to start over are disrupted when Warner re-enters her life knowing her past and he doesn't plan on leaving her alone anytime soon.Both Warner and Juliet are pretending. Juliet is pretending that changing her appearance fixed all her problems and Warner is pretending he doesn't care.WARNING: Mature themes and ED content
8 121Chongfei Manual pt. 1
Before her rebirth, Wei Luo was an innocent little girl.After rebirth, she appeared lovable on the outside but was a different person on the inside.Those who learned of her true nature yielded to her.Only the prince regent regarded her as a treasure; no matter how much he pampered her, it was not enough for him.Anything she wanted, he gave her, including the princess position that she didn't want, which he stubbornly pushed onto her.I don't own the story!Posting it only for offline reading purposes!Author: Feng He You YueTranslator: 1-30 Girly Novels 31-171 Fuyu NekoREST OF THE CHAPTERS ARE ON PART 2!!!Link https://www.novelupdates.com/series/chongfei-manual/?pg=22If you can, go read the story from the original source!
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