Inside the Piano room? (1)

Selene knew there were people who looked at her strangely, as if she were peculiar, even doubting her herself.
Questions like, “Aren’t you just using the piano to stand out?” or “Do you just want to look like a hard-working genius?” were so common that the whispers were now familiar.
But strangely, it was particularly disappointing when Theron asked similar questions.
“I’m sorry if I made you misunderstand. I just thought it was important to know the extent of that passion.”
“…”
“Honestly, the only connection we have right now is the piano, isn’t it? Ah, of course, I don’t mean I dislike it! Even though it can be a little frustrating at times, I don’t want to end this relationship, so please don’t misunderstand.”
Theron explained things he wasn’t even asked, rambling on.
Only after confirming that Selene’s momentarily cold gaze had softened did Theron sweep his forehead and open his mouth again.
“…If you understood my question, would you please continue your answer?”
Selene’s gaze turned to Theron.
“The piano is still the most important thing to me.”
“What was the reason you chose the piano as a tool to soothe your grief after your parents passed away?”
“Gwendolyn’s recommendation.”
“…So there’s no complex and moving story.”
Of course, not everything can have a story.
“At first, it was just a tool, but the resonance of these keys gradually became my voice, my emotions, and my thoughts. So, it’s perhaps a natural course of action that I can’t live without the piano.”
Selene, with an expressionless face, pressed a single piano key.
Ding.
A clear and cheerful sound echoed.
“Sometimes I even think I could sell my soul for this piano.”
Theron’s brow furrowed, and his throat bobbed.
“Hah… really?”
“No. That was a joke just now.”
As Selene replied with a blunt face, Theron, who had a horrified expression, frowned.
“What kind of serious joke is that?”
“Because you’ve been frowning so much since earlier.”
“I was listening seriously. Who was the one who made me freeze by being so serious first… Anyway, you have a surprisingly brazen side, Miss Selene.”
Theron was genuinely ticked off, as if he had really been surprised by her words about selling her soul.
At his rapidly changing expression, Selene let out a laugh without realizing it.
The frown on Theron’s eyes slowly smoothed out.
“I can’t figure out the punchline…”
Even while muttering with dissatisfaction, Theron squeezed Selene’s hand he was holding a little tighter.
“And even if it’s a joke, not the soul. Words can become reality. If someone just takes your soul, I’ll be left with an empty shell, won’t I?”
“…”
“Passion is good, but sometimes it can be poison if it’s excessive. So, no matter what the story is, try to like the piano a little less. Or you can find something else you like and disperse your affection.”
After finishing his words, Theron gazed at Selene and lifted the hand he was holding to kiss the back of it.
Selene looked at Theron intently.
“You say that, but you like the piano as much as I do, Theron.”
At the indifferent remark, Theron’s eyebrow tilted.
“Who does?”
“You do.”
“Good grief. I’ve heard some strange things.”
Even if he tried his best to pretend otherwise, it was already engraved in Selene’s memory.
The sight of Theron, sitting here, seemingly trying to suppress his excitement.
Since they were sitting together at the piano stool, it wouldn’t be bad to play the piano together like last time.
Selene took his hand and placed it on the keyboard.
“You remember the etude we played last time, right? Try playing it.”
“…”
“I want to hear it.”
Those words made Theron’s hand, which had been still as if reluctant, move.
As expected, he remembered the etude he had played that day accurately, even though it had been quite a while.
In fact, he seemed to be playing better than that day, and Selene found herself focusing on him for a moment.
At the same time, she could naturally imagine him playing a jazz piece at a pub.
The jazz performance flowing from under his firm fingers would surely be powerful yet free-spirited, and also sweet.
“I’m done.”
‘I should have taught him for a little longer.’
The short performance was disappointing.
“Since I’ve diligently completed your assignment, this time, the teacher will show me a demonstration.”
Theron requested bluntly.
Selene lifted her head.
“Didn’t you not like my playing very much?”
“I never did.”
“It seemed like you did.”
“It is just your feeling, teacher, don’t blame me.”
‘Blame him?’
She vividly remembered him praising her performance with a sullen face, as if being sarcastic.
But strangely, Theron’s words now, asking for a demonstration, didn’t seem like a polite suggestion either.
Selene thought Theron also had a rather selfish side and placed her hands on the keyboard.
It wasn’t a difficult thing anyway, so just one simple piece.
But there was one thing that was disturbing her playing.
As Selene paused, Theron asked with a puzzled look, “Why aren’t you starting?”
“Theron Cox, you’re too close.”
Theron, who was so close that she couldn’t play the piano, seemed like a person who would die if he were separated from her for even a moment.
At Selene’s remark, Theron moved away a little, a very little.
Selene wasn’t pleased, but since she wasn’t going to play seriously, she let it be and started playing.
The piece was a short romance that Selene used to play often when she was young.
When she was young, she just tapped the keys without even reading the sheet music properly, but later, it became a piece she could play well without much effort because her fingers were so used to it.
“Carlo Lockwood’s ‘Red Rose’.”
Theron immediately identified the piece.
“You know it?”
“My piano teacher liked that piece.”
‘I see.’
Selene was soon so immersed in her playing that she forgot she had started lightly.
Perhaps she was a little glad that Theron knew this piece that not many people knew.
But even while playing happily, she felt Theron staring at her intently at some point.
His gaze was so intense that she couldn’t ignore it.
Not only that, but Theron sat closer to Selene again, as if to close the gap he had made.
“Theron.”
“Yes.”
“You’re too close.”
“What is?”
Even while asking nonchalantly, he stealthily wrapped his arm around Selene’s waist.
She hated being disturbed when playing the piano, and since he was the one who had asked her to play first, Selene did not like Theron’s attitude right now.
“If you were going to be like this, you shouldn’t have asked me to play…”
“I shouldn’t have. I’ve been holding back since earlier, but now I can’t hold it back anymore.”
Saying that, Theron turned Selene’s head and immediately kissed her lips.
Ah.
At the lips that touched without any signal, Selene’s hand stopped awkwardly on the keyboard.
Just as she was contemplating whether to push away this ill-mannered experimental subject, Theron pushed Selene’s body and laid her down on the piano stool.
Theron, who had pulled his lips away for a moment, was breathing heavily.
“Of all things, the piece had to be ‘Red Rose’. You probably played it without knowing how lewd a piece it is, right, Selene?”
Selene’s brow furrowed.
‘This is a lewd piece…?’
“Looking at your expression, you probably don’t know. That piece was written by that pervert, Carlo Lockwood, after seeing his lover’s naked body and thinking of a rose.”
Theron was untying his tie for some reason.
“It’s understandable that you don’t know. It’s not a famous anecdote.”
She was about to tell him to get off her, but Theron, who had thrown off his tie, bit her lips again.
Gasp.
As Theron suddenly took her breath away, Selene clutched his shirt.
As if that reaction were another stimulus, Theron’s kiss became rougher.
As if that wasn’t enough, Selene’s eyes widened as his large hand went under her skirt.
Selene, who had finally pulled her lips away, frowned.
“…Not here.”
“But it’s okay somewhere else?”
As he asked that, the corners of Theron’s mouth rose.
His lips were smudged with Selene’s lipstick.
That sight was strangely sensual, and Selene was at a loss for words for a moment.
Anyway, he was a man with an ungentlemanly side.
“First, get off me…”
“Selene. I’m telling you, doing it in a new place will be a different experience.”
It was a transparent ploy that anyone could see through.
But Theron Cox’s languid voice whispering in her ear and his hand groping somewhere around her waist were slowly breaking down Selene’s will to escape.
“Because I want you to think of your panting self when you play the piano here, not my panting self.”
“…”
“And of course, while recognizing that I’m the one who made you feel that way.”