The Title Will Go Here - 4. Chapter 4

- IV -

“What is that?” Leon asked suddenly, and Stratos jerked, his fingers messing up a chord that was almost complete. He looked up. Leon leaned against the wall, his hands in his pockets, his expression solemn.

It has been almost three weeks since that one Sunday night. Neither one of them mentioned it the next day; Leon acted as if nothing happened when Stratos walked into the empty grand hall on Monday morning. He looked calm and serene while he was preparing the shiny, black grand piano on stage, lifting the big lid and setting it up.

“The reservations for next month are set in stone,” he said in his usual manner, and Stratos felt his back slightly relax.

He had no desire to have a face-off with his manager so close to several big performances. He was never great when it came to confrontations.

“Good,” he said in the same casual manner and pulled off his jacket, throwing it across the back one of the chairs.

Usually, he would have a couple of months between his performances. However, this year was different – he hasn’t had a break longer than a month since last February. Sometimes, it felt as if every single minute of every single day was booked for him. He didn’t mind that; it kept him busy and he always hated wasting time, even though he had to admit that it felt good. It was always difficult for him to return into the old working flow after taking even a week off playing.

The reservations Leon was talking about were for a hotel in a city that was about six driving hours away. The next performance promised to be bigger than the one that was coming up. Stratos liked traveling for his concerts – he would start feeling restless if he stayed home for too long. “You are a nomad,” Loreya said to him once, and he agreed with her.

He made his way towards the brightly lit stage and easily hopped onto it, pressing one of his hands into the wide polished rim that ran along the edges.

“You’ll get a splinter like this,” Leon noted, and Stratos gave him a quick grin.

“Splinters I can handle,” he said, and Leon rolled his eyes in his usual mockingly-irritated manner.

Ever since that morning, everything was back on the flawlessly working track, and Stratos accepted that as another gift. They haven’t even mentioned Leon’s birthday present to the blue-eyed man, a conversation that Stratos somewhat dreaded ever since it happened. He had no idea what it meant to Leon that night, and how much. When he realized that his friend wouldn’t bring up the subject, he was incredibly relieved.

Today was Thursday, the day before the concert, and he was planning on one last run through the entire program, preparing for tomorrow night. He knew that the empty grand hall only two of them occupied right now would be full on Friday evening. He sat down, thinking about warming up on a few scales (he hated cold hands) while waiting for Leon to come back with some coffee. He brought his hands to the immaculate shining keys of the instrument in a habitual gesture – the same one he had ever since he started playing at the tender age of six.

He played a few quick mezzo-forte chords, choosing G-minor for his warm-up today, and then he moved up to the scale. To his own surprise, however, a few minutes later he realized that his hands didn’t produce the scale. Instead, it was some strange, haunting melody that came from underneath his improvising fingers, making him feel suddenly melancholic and strangely uneasy, dark chords weaving their way through the melodic line that unraveled on its own somehow.

He kept playing without thinking of what should come next – it was as if his hands knew exactly what keys to touch and what harmonies to produce.

“What is that?” Leon’s voice came unexpectedly, breaking a bizarre weaving spell that the melody seemed to cast over him for the last ten minutes.

Stratos messed up the chord that was almost complete and looked up, taking his hands off the keys.

“I don’t know,” he said slowly. “Just improvising, I guess...” he shrugged and looked at the shining keys of the instrument again.

“It was disturbingly beautiful,” Leon said seriously and Stratos blinked at that.

Disturbingly beautiful – the perfect way to describe the melody that was born out of nowhere, he thought. Thinking of perfection immediately switched his line of thoughts; now he was thinking of Gemini, the strange melody slowly sinking away.

It has been almost three weeks since his birthday (would be exactly three weeks tomorrow), and the blond kelari somehow became the vital part of Stratos’ every-day life. It seemed to be the same way for Gemini as well – he wasn’t nearly as tense as he was during the first few days in the musician’s house, he talked a lot more than he did back then, and he would always radiate an aura of silent emotional satiation every time they were in the same room together.

Stratos hasn’t made a single attempt of pushing things further down the physical level, feeling strangely uncomfortable even thinking about forcing Gemini into something he didn’t want. He knew that the blond kelari would not resist and follow the orders obediently and seemingly-willingly, but he also knew that it wouldn’t be because of mutual desire, and he didn’t want that.

“Is it even possible to turn you on?” he would think quite often, usually after that slow, blink-like rising of the long eyelashes that inevitably sent the same sweet shivers down Stratos’ spine every time the golden-haired kelari did that, which was often – the manner was habitual for him, it seemed.

He wasn’t fond of hair bands – he would always wear his hair loose without even pulling it into a ponytail, letting those long silky strands fall over his eyes every time he turned his head or looked up. He wouldn’t get startled anymore every time Stratos would reach out and tuck those strands behind his ear – that became habitual as well, it seemed – but his cheeks and neck would always blush with a rosy glow the minute Stratos’ hand got anywhere near his face. Stratos took that glow as a good sign at first, figuring that the blushing was the kind of excitement he expected, but then he realized that was as far as it went – rosy blushing was the only thing that would happen.

...“What are you thinking about?” Leon’s voice jerked him back to reality once again, and he sighed and got off the piano bench, slightly stretching his arms.

“This and that,” he answered vaguely and jumped off the stage, heading towards the small table in the back of the hall that had two cups of coffee on it.

He grabbed a packet of sugary sweetener and shook it several times before ripping it open and letting the white powder to sink into his coffee cup. Leon followed him to the table, grabbing his cup as well. He watched his friend with slightly narrowed eyes while sipping his drink.

“Thinking about the concert,” Stratos lied easily in spite of his usual dislike of lies when he caught the intense look of brown eyes. “I will probably take a couple of days off after it’s over, but not more than that...” He paused and drank some of his coffee. “The next one is in less than two months.”

“Yeah,” Leon’s posture slightly relaxed, his eyes losing some of the intensity. “Want me to drive us there?” he asked suddenly, and now it was Stratos’ turn to narrow his eyes.

“Sure,” he said slowly after a minute. “Beats going alone...”

“Definitely,” Leon agreed and set his cup on the table. “Come on,” he said. “Run through the program and let’s call it a day... Go home, get some good sleep, and just relax for a few hours... It would do you good,” he nodded, and Stratos gave him a small smile.

“Did you just call me rigid?” he asked in a low voice.

“Maybe,” Leon answered seriously. “You have been quite tense the last few weeks... Lose some of it before tomorrow night.”

“I will,” Stratos sighed in defeat and set his coffee cup on the table as well. “I wonder if I should...”

He almost said, ‘...bring Gemini to the concert tomorrow,’ when he bit his tongue, immediately remembering Leon’s mood darkening every time Stratos would even mention that name.

“Why do you call him that?” he asked him some time ago.

“Because it’s his name,” Stratos answered in a slow, puzzled manner.

“You call him by his actual name?” Leon was genuinely amused, it seemed.

“What else would I call him?” Stratos frowned at that.

“I don’t know,” Leon shrugged almost indifferently. “Rover...?” he offered, and musician’s expression darkened.

“He is not a dog,” he said quietly, and Leon shrugged again without saying anything else.

...“If you should what?” Leon asked casually, and Stratos slightly shook his head.

“Nothing,” he let out a quick smile. “Let’s finish this; calling it a day sounds better and better.”

Leon silently agreed with that and followed his friend back to the stage, making the same note about splinters as soon as the musician pressed his hand into the polished rim. Stratos smiled at that – the repetitive joke meant everything was fine.

****

His phone started ringing as soon as he got into his car and turned the key in the ignition. He let out an irritated sigh, feeling familiar anxiety creeping up on him, as it always did before the performance. He looked at the silver screen of his phone.

“Loreya...” he muttered with a tight frown – his sister should’ve known better by now than to call him before the concert. She was perfectly aware of the way Stratos would get before he had to go on stage. Anxiety would usually hit him twenty-four hours before the performance – give or take – and he would do his best to avoid everyone but Leon during that period of time (well, now it also included Gemini, of course).

“What?” he asked sharper than he intended after he flipped the phone open.

“Going home?” Loreya didn’t seem to notice his hostile tone of voice.

Stratos sighed and glanced in the rearview mirror.

“Yes,” he answered in a milder manner.

“Come to my place,” she said, and he frowned and threw the gear in reverse, letting go of the brake pedal.

“Why?” he asked after the car rolled out of the parking spot.

“Let’s have dinner,” she said brightly, and Stratos rolled his eyes.

“Lo,” he said a second later without taking his eyes off the road. “I am going home and doing nothing until tomorrow afternoon, okay? You should know that by now!”

“You could spend the night at my place,” Loreya sounded unshaken.

“Why?” Stratos let out a tired sigh – his sister was not the one to give up easily, he knew that ever since they were kids.

She said something about the importance of a good company, and suddenly, Stratos knew what this was about. Ever since his birthday three weeks ago, Loreya would become strangely irritated every time she would see or hear about Gemini. “Screw him already and kick him out!” she told Stratos once. “In case if you haven’t noticed, there is a whore in your house! Hardly great publicity...!”

That outburst left Stratos startled – he did not expect that. “Why do you even care?” he asked back then. “Because you are my brother,” she snapped. “And because I feel ashamed of the fact that you are providing free room and board for something that had been used more times than a portable toilet seat!”

Stratos remembered rage that bloomed inside his chest after she said that. Usually, he wouldn’t argue with her (or anyone else, for that matter), dealing with issues in his usual mild, denying way – no confrontations. That time, however, he felt completely different. He snapped back at her, saying that it was none of her goddamn business, and if she had nothing better to say to him right then, she should get the hell out of his house. She was mute after his sudden angry explosion – he had never acted like that when she would press some issue. All she had to do usually was to turn up the demand, and he would do as told sooner or later – her brother had never had much of a strong character. That furious explosion caught her completely by surprise, and she backed off without even realizing that at first.

After that argument, things calmed down somewhat, even though Loreya would get a mad twitch in her eye every time Stratos would even mention the golden-haired kelari. Apparently, she expected her birthday present to entertain her brother for a couple of weeks at the most, after which it would end up back where it belonged – the whore house.

...“Lo,” Stratos said tiredly. “I am going home, all right? I will talk to you tomorrow after the concert.”

He snapped the phone shut without waiting for her reply, and after a few seconds, he turned it off completely – anxiety started to come to its full bloom and he had no desire for arguing with his sister right now. He threw the phone in the passenger’s seat and turned into the main road, turning up the volume of the radio.

****

When he came home, it was 5:30 in the evening. He kicked off his shoes and shook newborn snow off his jacket. It was the first week of December, and as he predicted, the cold weather took its revenge with gusto, unleashing wind, cold, and now snow onto the unsuspecting, used to sunshine population of the city.

He ran his fingers through his damp with snow dark hair and walked into the living room, feeling better the minute he thought of the golden eyes that would look up at him from one of the chairs from behind one of the thick books – to Stratos’ surprise, Gemini all but dove into his collection of books. It seemed strange to him at first, but the blond kelari loved to read.

He was about to say his usual ‘Evening,’ when he walked into the living room, and then he stopped frozen in his tracks. The room was empty. He frowned and glanced around, wondering if he managed not to notice a slender figure in one of the large chairs. Nothing changed – the room was as empty as he thought. He thought for a few seconds, and then headed upstairs.

He quickly walked towards the right bedroom and pushed open the door without bothering with knocking. For some reason, he started feeling uneasy. The bedroom was empty as well, the bed neatly made, the window closed. Stratos frowned and went to his own bedroom. It was empty.

He stood still for a minute, tapping his fingers on the wall in some rushed, nervous rhythm, and then turned around and went back downstairs.

“Rose!” he called loudly when he got closer to the kitchen. “Rose...!”

There was a sound of a cabinet door closing, and a couple of seconds later, his housekeeper stepped from around the corner, her expression calm and professional as usual.

“Stratos,” she said, slightly bowing her head. “I made some late lunch if you would...”

“Where is Gemini?” he interrupted her, and she blinked at the intonation of his voice. “Where is Gemini?” he repeated louder when she just stood there as if considering something.

“I thought he would be back by now...” she muttered finally, and Stratos felt cold all of a sudden.

“Back from where?” he asked sharply, and she blinked again. “Rose...” he briefly closed his eyes, suppressing an unpleasant desire.

“I don’t know,” she answered quickly, her professional armor giving a small crack, making her voice tremble. “He wasn’t here when I came back, and your sister didn’t...”

“My sister?” he interrupted her loudly, and her armor cracked even more. Stratos took a deep breath. “Tell me from the beginning,” he said calmly.

Rose cleared her throat.

“Madam came around three in the afternoon,” she said carefully, her hands absent-mindedly wrinkling her apron. “She told me that she wanted fresh cranberry juice, so I left the house to get some...”

Stratos locked his jaw tighter than usual. Cranberry juice was Loreya’s non-alcoholic drink of choice, ever since she was a kid, he knew that. He couldn’t care less about that particular juice, so he rarely had any in his fridge.

“Go on,” he said evenly, and Rose cleared her throat again.

“When I came back...” she continued a second later. “...she seemed to be in a hurry... She had a glass of juice, and then left. She said she had something important to attend...”

“What does this have to do with Gemini?” Stratos frowned.

“He was here when I left the house,” Rose explained. “When I came back...” She shrugged. “He was gone,” she finished with a small nod. “I haven’t noticed that at first, but then, around four-thirty in the afternoon, I went upstairs to get him, since I made some salad with the kind of cheese he likes...” She cleared her throat again, and Stratos closed his eyes for a few seconds.

Rose liked Gemini, he knew that. Ever since she saw him for the first time, she was intrigued with him; by now, she was acting downright protective around him. Sometimes Stratos thought that it was because she never had any kids of her own, so her motherly instincts found a perfect outlet when she met the blond kelari. The fact that Gemini would help her with the chores around the house, definitely played in his favor as well.

“...I checked everywhere,” Rose continued meanwhile. “He wasn’t in the house. I know that he was here when I left. I was gone for thirty minutes at the most. He left around three-thirty in the afternoon...” She took a quick breath. “He hasn’t come back since.”

Stratos gritted his teeth, his mind immediately making the painfully obvious connection.

“That’s why she called me,” he thought furiously. “She didn’t want me to know... She didn’t want me to find out until much later... Until it was too late... Goddammit...!”

Rose let out a startled sound, and Stratos looked up. He said that last ‘Goddammit!’ out loud, he realized and looked at his hand that was twisted into a fist, slammed against the wall. “Yeah,” he thought. “Break your hand the night before the concert, that’s smart!”

For some reason, he didn’t care about that as much as he should have.

“When did she leave?” He asked sharply. “My sister!” he said impatiently when Rose looked at him with a frown.

“Around three-forty-five,” she answered almost immediately, and he closed his eyes again.

His first thought was turning his phone back on. Then he decided against that. It was too easy to lie and avoid answers while you were on the phone, he thought and pulled his keys out of his pocket, turning around and heading back towards the front door. He grabbed his jacket on the way and went outside without saying anything else, barely noticing cold snow that decided to start getting heavier, covering him with fat, round snowflakes.

****  

At first, he considered kicking the tall dark door as hard as he could. Then he changed his mind and pressed his finger against the black button of the doorbell without letting go, making the chiming sound to roll throughout the air in a broken, stuttering howl.

The door jerked open a minute later, and Stratos walked in, shoving aside a man in a black tuxedo. Loreya had a lot more members of the staff than Stratos did, and she would always make sure they were dressed ‘properly.’ In Loreya’s book, ‘properly’ meant that they had to look like clichés from a bad movie. Stratos would roll his eyes every time he would see her butler’s black tuxedo and a bow tie. Right now, he didn’t care.

He quickly walked towards the living room, ignoring the butler’s ‘How may I help you?’

“Where is he?” he asked loudly the minute he saw his sister.

She looked up and frowned when she saw him.

“Changed your mind about that dinner after all?” she asked, and her frown traded places with a smile. Stratos gritted his teeth.

“Where is he?” he repeated tightly.

“Who...?” There was that frown again, twisting the thin eyebrows and wrinkling the smooth forehead. “Stratos, what are you...”

“Cut the crap!” he said shortly, and she blinked at that with genuine surprise this time.

“Excuse me?” she asked in a low voice and stood up, leaving the big chair she was sitting in.

“I said cut the crap!” he repeated without looking away. “Where is Gemini? What the hell did you do?”

Her mouth twisted into an irritated, tight line.

“How would I know?” she said sharply, not a shadow of a smile on her face anymore. “He took off? Well, that’s a relief!” She curled the corners of her mouth in a sarcastic grimace. “Something that should’ve been done by now...! Did he rob you?” she narrowed her eyes almost mockingly, and Stratos gritted his teeth again. “Can’t say that it surprises me...” she shrugged. “What did he take?”

“What were you doing in my house?” he asked in a low voice. “Why did you send Rose away? What did you do?”

“Nothing!” Now her voice was louder and more irritated. “I didn’t see him...! And even if I did...” she added a second later. “...I wouldn’t talk to him anyway! Unlike you, I don’t enjoy exchanging pleasantries with some filthy...”

“What were you doing in my house?” he interrupted her, raising his voice. Loreya rolled her eyes with unhidden annoyance.

“Came to see if you were there,” she answered in the same sharp manner. “Wanted to find out your plans for dinner...! I am so sorry! What the hell was I thinking, wanting to please my brother?”

“Loreya...” he said quietly, and she interrupted him.

“I don’t know where he is, okay?” she said coolly and threw a quick glance at the thick by now curtain of snow behind the window. “The weather is a bitch though...” she said in the lower voice. “Maybe he’ll do me a favor and get pneumonia!” She snorted. “That black shirt of yours is hardly a winter coat...!” She stopped talking, snapping her lips tightly as soon as she realized what she just said.

Stratos stared at her without blinking.

“I need a drink,” she said shortly and stepped towards the door of the room.

Stratos grabbed her upper arm, forcing her to stop, and she frowned when she couldn’t pull away.

“What are you doing?” she asked sharply. “Let go...!”

“How did you know that he was wearing my black shirt?” Stratos asked quietly without releasing his grip on her arm.

“Stratos...”

“How did you know?” he interrupted her in the same eerily quiet manner.

“Stratos, you are hurting me!” She said quickly after his grip tightened significantly.

“How did you know?” he repeated, squeezing his fingers on her arm, knowing that he would leave bruises on the smooth skin, and not caring about that in the slightest.

“Maybe I did see him...” she said and tried to pull away. “Without realizing it...”

“What did you do?”

“You are hurting me!” she said louder, and he squeezed his fingers even tighter.

“I don’t care if I break your bone,” he said darkly. “What the hell did you do? Where is he?”

“I don’t know!” she screamed with frustrated fear. “I don’t know where he is! I was in the bathroom washing my hands when he took off! Didn’t even take the money...”

“The money?” Stratos repeated quietly. “What money?”

“Is everything all right, madam?”

Loreya’s eyes darted towards the door the minute she heard her butler’s concerned tone of voice.

“What money?” Stratos repeated, ignoring the man.

“Madam...?”

“It’s fine...” she said forcefully and looked at her brother. “Let go of my arm!” she said through her clenched teeth. “Let go or I am not going to care that you have a concert tomorrow night and that you are my brother!”

Stratos took a deep breath and slowly released his tight grip. Loreya hissed something when she pulled up her sleeve and saw freshly blooming bruises on her skin.

“Goddammit...” she muttered and looked at the butler. “Bring me some ice!” she ordered sharply. “And the phone!” she added a second later.

The man nodded and walked away in a hurry. Loreya threw a dark, almost hateful look at Stratos.

“Unbelievable...” she muttered. “Hurting your own sister because of some cheap whore...! Why the hell did I even think of getting him in the first place?”

“What money?” he asked again, ignoring her look.

“I gave him some money,” she snapped and took a small tray of ice when the suddenly appeared butler handed to her. “Put it on the table,” she briefly nodded at the phone, and the man gave her another nod and did just that. “Leave for now,” she said and received another nod in return. Loreya looked at Stratos once more, slowly rolling a cube of ice over her bruised skin.

“I gave him some money,” she said again after a few seconds. “The idiot didn’t take it! A proud whore...” she muttered and threw the half-melted ice cube back into the tray. “Adorable...”

“Why did you give him money?” Stratos restrained himself from hurting her again. “Out of goodness of your heart?”

She threw another dark glance at him.

“Because I didn’t want him to come back,” she said slowly without looking away. “I gave him money so he could get on the first bus that he saw and get back to that hole I found him in! Unlike you, I care about our family name and reputation,” she continued as slowly as before. “I had to do something before you turned all that into a joke! People are already talking about the fact that you are courting a whore...! I have received several raised eyebrows and questions, and it would only get worse if he stayed there. Your ‘celebrity’ status...” She made air quotes with one hand and picked up another ice cube. “...is still holding up, but it wouldn’t last much longer... There is eccentric, and there is pathetic! You were slipping out of eccentric fast!” She narrowed her eyes and raised her voice when he tried saying something. “So yes, I sent your housekeeper to the store, out of my way, and yes, I told him to get the hell out of your house and not even think of coming back! I don’t know where he went and I don’t care!”

There was tight, heavy silence hanging over the room for almost a full minute, fat snowflakes attacking the window soundlessly, dying as soon as they touched the glass.

“Loreya...” Stratos said finally, and he sounded calm.

“You are welcome,” she wouldn’t look away.

“Do me a favor,” he continued as if not hearing her.

“What’s that?” now her voice sounded almost pleasant.

“Stay the hell away from me for the next few months,” he said in the same calm manner, and she frowned at that. “I really don’t want to hurt you again. Don’t talk to me, and don’t come anywhere near my house.”

With that, he turned around and left, almost bumping into the butler who was standing by the door with a concerned look on his face. He looked as if he was considering calling the militia if things decided to heat up any more.

Stratos ignored the man and went outside, slamming the heavy door shut behind him. He quickly walked towards his car, slipping in the snow a few times, and he didn’t look back.