Chapter One

        The leaves turn yellow and orange. It sure is fall now. Richard has been teaching Rae for almost half a year. It was summer when he first met this little talented singer. Now since the little girl has to go back to school, he does not need to train her every day, so he has extra time for himself.

        As he walks along the riverside, he suddenly has an idea of what to write for his new song. Maybe he can write this cute young lady a song.

        It is not like he is in love with Rae as many people (including Rae’s young man, Erik, and Louis Tucker, a working partner of Richard himself) think (or had once thought) that he is in love with her. One of the reason why he likes her so much is because she looks like her, Cecilia.

        Thinking about Cecilia makes Richard feel bad. It is a memory he hates but cannot refuse to think about. It is not like there was no any good memories in the whole, but he just feels like his head aches when he thinks about her.

        Sometimes he cannot help but think about Cecilia, a lot. The woman who was once his dearest, had already left him and disappeared forever. There always seems to be a special timing when he starts thinking about her. Probably four o’clock or so in the afternoon. This brings back another memory.

        Cecilia and he went to this music hall and the opera was at four, but because of the bad traffic, Richard was late. When he arrived, Cecilia was not angry at him, nor did she feel sad or pity. She just grabbed his arm and took him to a café near the music hall.

        Well, as he can remember, the opera was sung by one of Cecilia’s friend, so it was totally free. They did not really lose anything, he guesses.

        Well, at least not for the money part.

        Finding a place to sit down, Richard opens his book, “Le Petit Prince”. This is a cute little French book. The language used in this little book is way too easy for him, but this book has a deep meaning inside it that makes him want to reread it again and again. If he has a kid, he will sure give the book to his kid. His kid must know French, because Richard’s father is a French. The tradition is that the father (or mother) has the duty to teach the kid French, and Richard’s father, Peter, will test the kid himself.

        “Hey,” Louis Tucker runs past Richard. Richard notices that the lad is doing his everyday jog.

        “Hey, young man,” Richard waves, “keep up the work!”

        “Yes, sir!”

        Rae will be having her class at six in the afternoon, so Richard will have to be back by five thirty.

        He walks down the street and gets some coffee. Thinking about Cecilia makes his headache and dizziness even worse.

 

        “Hello, Richard,” Rae places her bag by the wall, pulling out some white papers and a pencil, sitting down next to Richard.

        “So . . . how’s the songs with Erik going?”

        “Not bad, but I still need more inspiration somehow.”

        “Sure,” Richard looks at Rae, “you sure do. What are you gonna do about it? There’s no way you can write lyrics without experiencing what you’re writing in them yourself. If not so, it’ll be out of true emotion.”

        Rae nods, half-understood, giving Richard an adoring look from her beautiful black eyes. Those eyes look so much like Cecilia’s . . .

       No, Richard thinks to himself, stop thinking about Cecilia. Your duty is to teach this young woman music. This young girl in front of you. You . . .

        “Richard, do you know that my mother usually has a glass of milk every night?”

        “Really? That’s really healthy,” Richard replies, not really focus on Rae’s words. Then an old memory suddenly pops into his mind. Cecilia used to have milk before she goes to bed.

        Coincidence, he tells himself, it’s just a coincidence.

        “She also likes to eat chocolate. But she’ll never gain weight.”

        “So you copy her?”

        “What do you mean?”

        “You like chocolate because your m0ther likes it, too. Am I right?”

        “No!” Rae giggles, “I always love chocolate!”

        Richard chuckles. Then silence comes between them. Richard decides to tell Rae something more about the woman who he has loved for a lifetime.

        “Rae, let me tell you a story,” Richard says, moving closer to Rae. Rae nods, looking forward to knowing all the details.

        “Yes?”

        “Remember the woman I told you about? The one that left me?”        “Yes.”

        “So this is a story about that woman and I,” Richard begins, “and it was a fall like this when we first met. She just graduated from college and was going to find a job. She’s really cute . . . well, I might say delicate, that she’s always forgetting things, breaking stuff . . . But she’s a nice person . . . We met at The Lost Bar actually, and she was a waitress there.”

        “A waitress? Like me?”

        “Yes,” Richard smiles, “like you, little thing.”

        “Go on.”

        “Well, so this woman . . . she came into my life. Umm, she actually bumped into me when I was walking around trying to figure out if my band is ready and stuff . . .”

        “Wow, it sounds like a drama show on TV, you know,” Rae blinks, looking at Richard with her cute, big eyes, all curious.

        “Yeah, exactly. Actually, the whole thing is like that,” Richard keeps on, “it’s a long story. Anyways, the first night we met, we felt like we were long-lost friends and we talked for a while after my first show.”

        “Wow,” Richard hears the young girl whispers. He smiles as Rae tells him to goes on.

        So he does.

        “. . . Anyways, the most beautiful thing I remember is that time when we were in Paris for my Europe Tour and we sneaked out of the party after the performance one night and we were talking about the future. Then, as you know, the things turned out perfectly. It was starry night, and we were lying on the glasses, we counted those stars and found many . . .”

        Richard suddenly wonders why he is telling a little girl all these, and probably, for him, these old memories, are just memories, something that he wants to forget but can never do so. Maybe Rae will take all these as stories, but she might not understand the feelings behind . . .

       “You know what, Richard,” Rae says, sounding mature, “I think maybe it is good for her to leave you . . . even though it hurts.”

        “I’m listening.”

        “Well,” Rae takes a long and deep breath, “what I want to say is . . . I think the woman only leaves because she didn’t want to break your career. She was doing it for your goods. I know it hurts. I really do. I can imagine what will happen when Erik leaves me, you know . . .”

        Richard nods. He just figured out that this girl has some kind of special, mature personality. Well, maybe he had already found out long time ago. This time is just to confirm.

        “What you say is true,” Richard considers, “but it still hurts so much when I think about it . . .”

        “I know.”

        Richard now decides to test Rae. If this girl is really mature enough, she will be able to answer.

        “Rae,” he says, “what if one day Erik leaves you?”

        “If one day he really leaves me, not because of the death but because of the same reason as the woman,” Rae looks into Richard’s eyes with concentration and firm mind, “I’ll wait for him to come back, I’ll wait. But I’m never going to find him because I don’t want to give him any pressure. He might or might not come back, and it’s something that I cannot control. So I’ll just wait and see . . . until I must get married, I’ll do what is my duty . . . If only I can find a man like him.”

        Richard nods, “Do you think I should consider remarrying?”

        “What? Why? You’ve been waiting for too long? Is there somebody you think is worth for a new marriage?” Rae asks in shock. She cannot think of any possibility for Richard to have another love. She had seen him with many women, but they are all just friends.

        “No, I was just joking. I guess I’ll just stay where I am for now. If, only if, she ever comes back again . . . I’ll consider remarrying her, if she agrees.”

        Rae, again, nods and says nothing. She starts imagining Erik leaving her and she crying for days. That’s not going to happen, she tells herself, I won’t cry for a man’s leaving, not even him.

Author's Note

Enjoy! ;-)

Reviews

[Ufi Auttorri ~ UfoAutho..]

Very nice. Thank you!