The night breeze caressed Angelique's cheeks. She found it comforting enough to lean against the pillar on the roof and simply close her eyes.

It had been one of the, if not the most eventful days of her life. She met Elizabeth and Jack from Lost Eden and had a drive 'date' with Eclipse. The best thing that took place was definitely listening to Ange's song. Yet, after so much happened, she was there standing all alone on the roof, in her pajamas when it was so late at night. It was so late that even the vampires had gone to sleep.

She should've been worn out after everything: fangirling over her admired singers and crying her heart out having listened to Ange's song. And she was indeed tired. But some unknown forces had woken her up in the middle of her slumber and she couldn't fall asleep after that, no matter how much she tried. In the end, she came out onto the roof.

The solitude in the roof made her think about all that occured in the last few weeks. It all felt surreal, too surreal actually. She and her brother had arrived in Harajuku only to find out her brother was a vampire and then they started living with vampires. Ange's life changed, didn't it? While her life also took an unexpected turn, she was thankful for all the meetings it had led to: Guiltia, Eve, Robin and even Eclipse and Lost Eden.

Her open black hair escaped from behind her ears due to the breeze. She didn't bother putting it back to place and silently stared at the night sky. I can't see the Scarlet Moon. Not that she expected to suddenly see it. What a mysterious object. Lost Eden hates the Scarlet Moon but Eclipse is so loyal to it. . . I wonder what OZ will follow....

Speaking of OZ, she was curious and excited to hear what kind of music they'll create. Would it be as warm as Ange's music? Unknowingly, she began humming Ange's song under her breath. It had immediately become her favourite song ever. It could be that she was biassed towards her brother. Still, no other song had created such feelings of happiness inside her before. And there was a strange burning desire in her chest.

"What an amazing thing music is..." As she whispered that, her gaze fell on the grand piano. Her legs automatically shifted her closer to the instrument. It seemed to pull her emotionally, if that was even possible.

Her fingertips lightly touched the lid of the piano. Gently, she traced her fingers along it. The smooth surface felt nice under her touch.

"Do you want to play it?"A deep masculine voice cut through the silence.

!!!! "Eek!" Angelique squeaked and jumped. Her heart was thrumming in her chest because of the sudden scare. Turning around, she found the person who scared her. "G-Guil-san?"

It was only Guiltia standing by the door. Her tense shoulders loosened because it wasn't some unknown weird person lurking in their home at night.

"I apologise. I didn't mean to scare you," Guiltia walked further into the roof. "What are you doing up here?"

"Oh...I woke up for no reason and haven't been able to fall asleep since then." She realised he had been wearing his usual turtleneck shirt. Did he not go to bed? She voiced her question, "what about you,Guil-san?"

"I went out to meet with someone from the past."

 At this hour? Robin had been affecting her too much because the first reason she could think of was... "A-A past lover..?!"

Quickly, she covered her mouth with her hands when she let her thoughts escape. Did he hear that? Of course he did, and it caused him to heave an exasperated sigh.

"No. Hyde, Dimitri and Saga are certainly not my past lovers."

"O-Oh. But why meet them now?"

His usual rational look returned. "I told them I'll sing." Angelique decided not to pry further into the old Eclipse's business, even though her ears perked up at the name of Eclipse and Saga. So she simply nodded her head.

Guiltia was now standing on the other side of the piano, opposite to her. He looked down at his favourite instrument. "Do you want to play it?"

Caught off guard, she nervously stared at him for permission. "Can I?"

She wondered if she had imagined the soft look on his features as he replied with an, "of course."

Excited, Angelique took a seat on the piano bench. With utmost care and gentleness, she opened the lid of the piano keys.

"Do you know how to play?" Guiltia asked as he opted to stand beside her.

"Mm." She nodded, her delighted eyes meeting him. "Though I've never learned it from a professional." Her gaze went back to the keys. "There was a rundown keyboard in our house and even though it was old, I loved playing it. . It was probably my mother's from when she was much younger."

The raven stopped talking and stretched her fingers. She took a deep breath and finally pressed on a single key. The reverberating sound of a chord echoed around the silent roof.

Angelique felt the adrenaline that started flowing through her blood. It was just a single chord, yet it sounded so beautiful. Music was so wonderful. She wanted to hear more. She wanted to play more.

Guiltia watched the female play the piano. He was quite taken aback actually. She was always worried about Ange and would easily cry. So he didn't expect her to have such a look now. Instead of the Scarlet Moon, it's as if the silver moon was radiating down only on her.

There was a calm smile spread across her lips, her eyes closed. With each subtle movement, her black hair swayed attractively. For a moment, his breath almost got stuck in his throat. She resembled so much. . . of her mother.

Her fingers pressed down on the final key to end her short play of Ange's song. She couldn't help but play that song. She loved it that much. Once the final note rang out, Angelique lifted her gaze. Her grey orbs were shy to meet Guiltia's lavender orbs. Umm... 

She didn't expect to find the man smiling. It had been one of the rare moments to see Guiltia smiling. Wait, has she ever seen him smiling like this before?

"Well played, Angelique."

His smile was such a gorgeous sight, rendering her speechless. "T-Thank you." Guiltia's compliment compelled her to play some more. Was the compliment the only reason? No.

Deep down, she wanted him to smile like that more. He looked so handsome with a smile. Shouldn't he smile more often? But then again, that would go against his 'cool beauty'.

Despite having so many thoughts, she made sure to give her full attention. Her fingers flew beautifully across the keys. Guilty Cross. She had played it many, many times. And it also held many memories. She would play it for Ange because her brother had always loved this song.

However, playing that song countless times didn't mean she wasn't prone to mistakes. Angelique mistakenly pressed on the wrong key, resulting in the harmony being broken.

"Ah, I've done it again," she muttered, biting her lower lip. "I always mess up during this part."

Guiltia, who had been silently enjoying her music, stepped towards her. Aside from simply hearing her play, he made sure to observe her. So, he easily found the flaw she made.

"Let's see..." Oh... Angelique's heart thumped in her chest.

Guiltia leaned down to match her height and placed his gloved hand over hers on top of the keyboard. His other hand on the stretcher bar supported his weight and kept his balance. 

"You're doing it wrong, Angelique." His mouth was so near her ear, making him sound deeper than usual. "During this part, you need to...."

Guiltia guided her hand across the keys and showed her the proper way of playing that part. She thought how small her hand was compared to his. Her hand moved according to his wishes. The necessary tune was produced when he pressed their fingers together on the keys.

"Now, try it again." The warmth of his hand disappeared from over hers. But he didn't move away. He was still right beside her, having decided to watch the movement of her fingers closely.

"Okay." Thanks to memorising what Guiltia taught her, she got past her difficulties much more easily than she had anticipated. Her fingers didn't get entangled this time and the song came out as perfect.

"I did it." Angelique marvelled. I always mess up but just now, I did it so smoothly. With a wide smile, she turned her head to the man. "Guil-san, I did it!"

"Yeah." It was only Guiltia who realised how close their faces actually were. So, he stood straight up. He could still subtly smell her sweet vanilla scent. Shaking his head to get rid of the unnecessary thought, he maintained his straight face.

"Angelique."

"Yes?"

"Have you thought of what you want to do in the future?" The abrupt question took her aback. Why is he suddenly asking me this?

Taking note of her confusion, he explained, "It's just... unlike vampires, humans have a short lifespan. They need to decide their future carefully."

"Oh..." She understood his meaning. She pressed her lips in a straight line, immersing in deep thought. ". . To be perfectly honest, I haven't thought about it yet."

He didn't think of beating around the bush and confessed to her what he truly felt. "What do you think about pursuing a career in the music industry?"

"Huh?" That was certainly unexpected. She looked up at him, wide eyed.

"You said you learned the piano by yourself. But the way you played it earlier... it appears that you're a natural at it."

"Me?" With a strained laugh, she shook her head and hands to deny his statement. "That's not true."

"No, it's true. It applies to both you and Ange." The blonde smiled fondly. "You're pure and loved by music."

It was the first time someone said something like this to her. And Angelique couldn't deny that it made her happy to be on the receiving end of such words. Especially when it comes from a fine musician such as Guiltia.

Her eyes left his lavender ones to gaze at her palm. "I just want to be with Ange and for him to be truly happy. That's all I've ever wanted through my life."

"Angelique." Guiltia felt like frowning. This aspect of not thinking about herself..... she seemed to have inherited it from her father who simply didn't care about himself as long as he could make music. "Ange is a vampire now," he informed, "...the two of you can't always be together."

"I know," she smiled. "I suppose I really have to think about my future seriously from now on."

He nodded in agreement. There had been something in his mind for a while which he chose to voice out. "I've been curious about this before. But why are you so concerned over Ange?"

"That's. . ." She lightly scratched her cheek with her index, not sure where to start. ". . You see, back when we were in middle school, Ange. . . decided to quit singing because music used to remind our grandma of her late daughter, our mother."

Guiltia paid attention to her words. He hadn't expected her to open up. "On the other hand, I....couldn't. It was as if music... the sounds were calling me and I ended up joining the music club then."

Those words of hers.... he had heard those before. From his dear friend.

"I kept telling Ange to sing but he refused to, saying that he can't. I wonder why but he slowly lost his confidence in his songs."

"Yeah. Ange told me about this part earlier." Guiltia sighed quietly. "It could have been that he thought his music only brought sadness to his grandmother."

"Mhm. Maybe that's why I slowly grew overprotective of Ange. I couldn't let him let go of music and lose what's most important to him. I wanted him to return to his bright and happy self, the self that only music brought out."

"I get your point." The blonde understood her concerns. "However Angelique, Ange's not as weak as you consider him to be."

"Yeah. I know." Her lips curled into a smile. "He has changed and grown stronger. Meeting everyone and more than anything, meeting you had changed him. That's why," Her head tilted sideways to give him a brilliant smile. "Thank you, Guil-san."

"In any case, I should think about what you said, about following a musical career." Embarrassed, she tucked a strand of raven hair past her ear. "But I've only played the piano as I've wanted and as you saw earlier, there's so much I don't know."

With a shy smile, she continued, "One thing that I'm sure about is...." She pressed some of the keys to create a harmonious sound. "I want to keep playing the piano and improve myself."

"In that case," Guiltia offered before he could think. "Shall I guide you?" The words had escaped his lips naturally, leaving himself puzzled too. Huh?

"...Guil-san, won't you be busy from now on?" What she wanted to ask the most was why he suddenly offered himself.

It wasn't because of kindness. When he asked himself, the only reply he could come up with was.... "I want to." Was it because she was their daughter? It would be the most plausible answer. "I can teach you at night before you head to bed. It won't be a problem for me."

The thought of Guiltia as her piano instructor didn't seem bad. In fact, she found herself looking forward to it. To have someone as amazing as Guil-san teach me piano.... it's such a huge honour!

Angelique returned Guiltia's tender smile with a dazzling smile of her own. To him, her smile shined as bright as the sun. "Then I'll take up on your offer, Guil-san!"

To be continued...