3. Knowing the Past

As I graced the floors of the corridor, I locked my teeth on a sucker (lollipop) and eventually found my bedroom door, twisting the knob and pushing forward.

The room bounced off brilliant sun rays, and I let out a soft gasp as my eyes witnessed a beautiful angel for the second time.

Lucas made his appearance right in front of my window, but no shadow stretched across the ground where it was supposed to.

After all, he wasn’t flesh and blood anymore.

As he did last night, he extended his arms and let his fingertips graze my head gently.

I didn’t resist. I wanted to know about this guy’s existence on the face of the Earth; I wanted to know his past with that Sofia girl.

”You go to my school?” Sofia blinked, staring at the nonchalant blond that was trying to clean his locker.

“I do now.” Lucas, the handsome blond, let a grin spread on his lips.

He stacked some binders in the shelves of his locker and rammed his coat and toque (hat) on a hook inside, slamming the locker door shut afterward and tousling his hair with his hand.

He faced the auburn-haired girl that practically had her jaws dangling close to the ground with her eyes a widened pair.

“Well, welcome to our school, um...” Sofia bit onto her lip reluctantly. She had forgotten the boy’s name already, and her embarrassment showed on her glowing red cheeks.

“Lucas,” Lucas sighed. “You forgot my name, didn’t you?”

“I’ll buy you lunch,” Sofia said, “since I owe you that much.”

Lucas now rolled his eyes. “You don’t owe me anything, Random Girl.”

“That night...” Sofia faltered. “You confronted Jerry that night, right? He was drunk at the time, and you guys had a fight or something because of what I said to you. I heard that from people. Are they right?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Lucas started walking, and Sofia had to jog a little to match his quick pace.

“The night I almost attacked you because I thought you were the one who hurt Nina,” Sofia explained, annoyed. “Remember, two months ago? The night we met?” she pressed further.

“Oh, that,” Lucas chuckled. “Yeah, I had a little talk with Jerry that night.”

“No.” Sofia shook her head, disbelieving. “You confronted him because of me. You told him off, and he was drunk. Then you guys fought. You were in a hospital for more than a month.”

Lucas’ lips had a smirk playing on them. “And you know all of this, how?”

“Friends,” Sofia shrugged, “Gossips. News spreads through town more quickly than you think.”

Then the school bell rang loudly, a reason for Lucas to swerve to the nearest classroom door and stray from Sofia.

He didn’t really like clingy girls, and Sofia was definitely one of those.

His first intention was to avoid her, even though she was the reason he was confined in the hospital for the past two months.



Band Class.

Lucas would never have even thought of joining the school band if it wasn’t for the already full elective classes this year.

It bugged him how he had to pay for the stupid music class, and that he was bound to suffer it nonetheless.

The band members played nothing but classical music anyway, or if not, maybe jazz.

Lucas strolled in through the band room doorways and heard a beautiful melody being played.

Sofia was perched on a chair with her spine in a confident posture and her fingers pressing against each key with delicateness.

As her hands shifted quickly, fingers streaming across the piano keys in a supple manner, she paid no attention to whatever presence was in the room.

She looked like she was enjoying her time alone, performing this euphonious piano piece.

Lucas cleared his throat, and Sofia cut the song short, halting her hands and quickly turning around to see who disturbed her leisure time.

“Uh, hey,” Lucas said awkwardly and soon stood beside Sofia. “Why’d you stop?”

Sofia cracked a faint smile. “I thought you were the teacher. No one’s allowed to touch the piano at all, but since I was alone in here, I couldn’t resist it.”

Lucas leaned close towards her, meaning to look closely at the piano, and he chuckled. “That was a good piece you played.”

“Thanks,” Sofia blushed, averting her gaze down to her lap. “I just made it up right now. If you want, I can teach you how to play the piano.”

She was beaming and smiling, as if a string of light was emanating from her.

“No thanks.”

“Come on,” Sofia urged, “It’ll be worth it. I promise.”

She pulled him by the arms and let him scoot beside her. The two sat peacefully on the piano bench, with Sofia trying to show Lucas’ fingers where they should go.

“Okay, this piece only needs the left hand, so it won’t be that hard,” Sofia assured. She placed her fingers over the correct keys, looking at Lucas to see if he was paying attention.

He scoffed. “How the hell is that not hard? That’s five fingers all at once. My fingers aren’t ninjas.”

Sofia paused, thinking deeply for a moment.

“Well,” she said slowly, “I have a melody in mind, but you have to keep your mouth shut the entire time, okay?”

Lucas rolled his eyes, but kept his words to himself anyway.



Weeks passed, and Lucas improved on his piano skills, working his way up the fresh talent he discovered and soon being able to play 'Time Forgets' by Yiruma.

Ever since he mastered the song, he's been playing it a whole lot.

Lucas didn’t look for showing off speed when playing the piano; he looked for the beauty in the piece and its depth.

Sofia mentioned to him that he could be some type of genius, judging by how fast he could mimic Sofia’s hand movements just by watching them twice, but Lucas disregarded that theory with a disbelieving scoff.

“I told you it would be worth it,” Sofia smiled, nudging Lucas as he sipped his ice cappuccino.

They were sitting on a bench outside of school, even though classes had long been dismissed.

“Watch it,” Lucas said, trying to keep his drink from spilling.

“Care to share, Mr. Grump?” Sofia stuck out a tongue childishly, then eyed the coffee-flavoured drink hungrily. Noticing her thirst, Lucas handed her the drink, and she sipped away merrily.

“So your friend Nina’s okay now?” Lucas glanced at Sofia quickly and looked away just as fast.

“Yeah, she recovered quickly,” Sofia said, imbibing more of the drink. “You should come meet her sometime, but you have to be a bit more attentive because she’s deaf. She’s been deaf all her life.”

Lucas didn’t know what to say, until he noticed her finishing up the drink he only intended to let her sip twice.

“Hey, don’t drink all of it,” he glared.

“Too late.” She gulped for the last time, and the ice cap was done.

“You have to come with me to buy another ice cap, smart one,” he said, standing up and pulling her up as well.

“Are you asking me out on a date, Lucas?” Sofia was only joking, and she expected him to chuckle or roll his eyes at her jest.

But she expected wrong.

“Yeah, actually, I am.” He was not joking.

He grabbed her hand and led her to Dairy Queen, with her face as shocked as could be. The two’s silhouette marched down the street, with Lucas’ hand firmly holding Sofia’s.