Clara pushed opened the door and entered the dressing room, mentioning, "Rae, Olivia's up. You're asked to get ready at the backstage soon."

Nodding, I rubbed my clammy palms together nervously as I stared blankly at my own reflection in the mirror. Clara walked towards me and waved her hand in front of me, snapping me back into attention immediately. She asked, "Are you okay, my dear?"

"U-Um, yeah," I stammered, but the nervous tone in my voice gave me away. 

"I'm sure you'll do well," Clara assured, patting lightly on my shoulder. "Just treat it like any other performances you had before." 

"You're right," I comforted myself, even though my fingers were still interlocked in a way that showed how jumpy I felt within. 

Today's performance wasn't exactly of a grand scale, it was simply a grading examination that was opened to the public. It only felt a little bit different this time because I had invited Leon over and the fact that he texted me yesterday night saying that he would be here made me feel all jittery and tensed. I could only hope that I wouldn't screw this performance up for the important audience I had tonight. 

Beside me, Clara said funnily, "Funny to see how scared you'd always become when you had been performing for your whole life." 

"Every performance felt like the first in my life," I exhaled a breath. 

"Well, I guess that's why you do really well each time round since you're serious about each and every opportunity you had," she smiled. 

A knock sounded from the door to my dressing room and a performance staff pushed the door ajar while reminding, "Ms Anderson, please head over to the backstage soon." 

I gave her a signal, acknowledging her reminder before I moved to pick up the bow of my cello and applied rosin along with the hair. Clara was with me as we moved to the backstage together and my gaze went towards Olivia, who was on the stage while hitting the last note of her piece. With grace, she slowly positioned her flute away and bowed to the audience. Sounds of applause echoed through the concert hall as the curtains cascaded down slowly. 

Olivia made her way towards the backstage and a few staff members worked to get my cello on stage. Smiling at me, Oliva gave me a light pat on my shoulder to cheer me on as I inhaled a deep breath before walking towards my seat. 

My accompanying pianist whispered with a smile towards me, "All the best, Rachelle." 

"Thank you," I returned with a smile. 

A moment later, the curtains raised and I stood up to bow to the audience. Holding onto my cello firmly and positioning it between my knees, my eyes darted across the audience and stopped when I spotted Leon smiling at me. 

Before this moment, I thought that seeing him would make me more nervous than usual. However, the sight of him smiling confidently at me washed me over with a sense of calm and made me feel more at ease. Placing my bow against the strings and positioning my fingers on the fingerboard of my cello, I turned towards the pianist and gave him a nod. 

Following the soft sounds of the piano, I closed my eyes while my hands danced — swaying the bow in graceful movements while tapping on the stringers in the way my body remembered from all the rehearsals leading up to this day. The tension I felt were all forgotten and lost to the melody from the bow against silver strings. 

One last pull, I ended my piece with a decrescendo. My eyes fluttered open and I bowed towards the audience, who rewarded my performance with firm rounds of their applause. My gaze went straight to Leon and he nodded proudly at me. The happiness was brimming within me as I headed to the backstage to join Clara. She was quick to jump on me and crush me within her arms. 

"How was my performance?" I giggled, trying to pry her off me. 

"Pefect as always," Clara replied. 

The staff behind us frowned and gestured, "Ladies, please move on to the rooms behind." 

I raised my brows towards my best friend and she jokingly made a face before pulling me back to my dressing room. Grabbing a hair tie from the dressing stall, I gathered my hair into a ponytail and packed my cello into the case. Clara pulled on a chair and sat beside me, going on and on about the inspiration for her new piece before mentioning her plans with Max for the night. She grinned, "We're going on a movie date."

"Midnight movie?" I asked, tapping on my phone to check the time on my watch and realised that it was already past eleven in the night. 

Then, the doorknob to my dressing room was turned and Leon appeared behind the door. He was smiling charmingly while holding a bouquet of flowers in his arm. Passing the bouquet to me, he praised, "You delivered an amazing performance, sweetheart." 

I jumped from where I was and hurriedly received the bouquet from him. By our side, Clara burst out laughing when she saw how flustered I was in Leon's presence. Leon turned to greet Clara, "Hi Clara, it's been a while." 

"Always a pleasure to see you, senior," Clara laughed heartily. "Never felt too strange with you since Rae's always talking about you." 

"Same here," Leon chuckled. 

I jumped from where I was and hurriedly received the bouquet, Clara burst out laughing when she noticed how flustered I had become. 

"Hi Clara, it's been a while since I saw you," he turned to greet Clara. 

"Always a pleasure to see you, senior," she laughed. "Rae is always talking about you." 

"Same goes for you," Leon chuckled.

"You don't have to bring me flowers," I quickly interrupted their conversation before they could start talking about what I had been telling them about each other. 

Leon directed his attention back at me, pinching one side of my cheek lightly as he said, "I know you would like it." 

Clara clasped her hands together and looked at me teasingly. I made an expression to dismiss her playfulness and continued to pack my things up. Making sure that I had gotten all my things, Leon helped me into my coat and wrapped a thick scarf around my neck. When I was about to bend forward to pick up my cello, he beat me to it and strapped it across his shoulder. Clara was on her phone before she jumped from her seat and came towards me to plant a brief kiss on my cheek, "Max's here and I'll make a move first! See you soon, lovebirds!" 

I waved goodbye at her while she ran out of the door and Leon laughed, "I'm so amazed by how Clara is still energetic as ever." 

"Right," I replied. 

"Ready to leave too?" 

"Let's go," I smiled. 

-

Leon drove us back to my apartment. As we entered, he placed the cello at the usual place in my apartment entryway before removing his boots, coat and scarf. I sat on the small bench to untie the laces of my boots as I kicked them off and struggled to get out of my large coat. Looking towards Leon, it always made me wonder how he managed to get everything done so systematically and gracefully because winter coats were a chore to remove and boots were just as inconvenient. 

I unwrapped the scarf from my neck and before I could it on the coat hanger, a large hand gripped my wrist. Shocked by the suddenness, I let go of the scarf and it dropped on the floor. I turned around and looked at Leon, only to realise that he had leaned his face close to mine and his lips closed over my mouth. My eyes widened in surprise but I recovered from it relatively fast enough to close my eyes and kiss him back. 

Leon's hands moved to my waist and gripped my sides firmly, lifting me up and entered my apartment. My arms wrapped around his neck and my legs folded on his hips from support, too drowned within the sweetness of his kiss to even speak. Pressing me against the wall, Leon broke off the kiss and whispered in my ear, "I don't think I can hold myself in any longer." 

I felt the heat running up the length of my neck and when I opened my mouth wanting to say something in return, he silenced me against with his lips on mine. The kiss was fierce, passionate and I was once again drowning in the sensation of it. Breathless and heady from the heat, I murmured, "To the b-bedroom?" 

Leon pushed himself off the wall, holding me tightly in his hold as we moved towards my room. Cotton purred softly from the outside and I glanced down at my little boy but Leon didn't respond to the sound. All my man did was to close my room door, shutting poor Cotton outside. 

- 

✿ 
 
What do you consider a sweet gesture to be?