Return of The Betrayed Luna

Chapter 4 : Stained Cardigan

Evening came with an orange sky and a chill.

Naomi draped herself in a cardigan over her regular clothes and drank her afternoon tea prepared by Vienna. It wasn't sweet and very fragrant. Juliette was living a luxurious life for sure.

With an elegant dip of tea, Naomi sighed and hummed in content. Just as she was going to melt into a puddle of comfort, Vienna came knocking on her door saying the piano teacher was there for the lesson. Naomi's mood soured instantly. The tea cup shook and spilled some on her cardigan.

"Oh shoot!" Naomi got up quickly, grabbed a tissue and started cleaning. The tea had a strong staining power. There were small dots of red on the snow-white cardigan. Looking at it now, it looked like blood on snow.

Vienna came inside when she heard the sound. She saw the red dots and panicked, thinking she had hurt herself!

"Miss! What happened to you?!" Vienna started to search for a first aid box first. She took it over to Naomi and started searching for the wound that may have stained the cardigan with blood.

Naomi wiped her fingers with tissue and waved away Vienna's panicked arms, "It's tea. I did not hurt myself. Don't worry."

"How can I not worry, Miss?" Vienna was aggrieved, "You are not good at taking care of yourself. You even fainted before! I cannot relax for a minute!"

Naomi smiled and patted her shoulder, "Aren't I getting late for piano lesson? Let's not keep the teacher waiting. Come on."

Her hair was tied in a braid so it wouldn't fly over her face and the cardigan was still worn. The spots were still there but it was cold and Naomi did not want to change into another one. Something about this white cardigan felt so warm and fuzzy.

The piano teacher was a woman in her mid forties called Mrs Anderson. She had a few grey hairs next to her ears and wore small glasses and red lipstick.

There wasn't much to talk about her other than the fact that she liked perfection. She was strict with her students and would teach strategically. Mrs. Anderson worked as a music teacher in a prestigious school and recently started taking up private lessons.

Juliette chose her because she wanted the performance to be perfect. Although Mrs Anderson had a short fuse and often lost patience with Juliette, she endured it for the sake of Marvin's birthday performance. Juliette felt it must be her lack of practice that made Mrs Anderson mad.

However, Naomi did not think so.

She cracked her knuckles, wore wrist supporters and a smile as she greeted Mrs Anderson. The mid-aged woman had a cool face of indifference upon seeing Juliette.

"Shall we start?" Mrs. Anderson stood up from the sofa. Her short heels clicked with every step. Vienna led them to the piano room. It was connected to the living room by a door, there was a window that gave a view of the piano from the living room.

That piano had always been in that room. When Juliette moved in with Marvin, she found out that Marvin actually never played the piano but he liked it and wished to play. However, his responsibilities took up all of his time. Hence, the piano was left there as a corpse of his dead passion.

Juliette dreamt of the day when she would play the piano perfectly in front of everyone and grab Marvin's attention.

Naomi snorted. That girl had wishful thinking. Not only did she devote her life to someone like him, but she also made his dreams her own and forgot all about herself. In her memories, Naomi never saw Juliette doing anything for herself.

Everything she cooked was for Marvin. The places she went to were for Marvin or with Marvin. The way she spoke was how she thought Marvin would like it.

Marvin. Marvin. Marvin.

Juliette made him her entire life goal. And yet, her life ended but Marvin never looked at her twice.

Pity, Naomi thought, that man lost something so precious.

"We will revise what we learnt in our last lesson," Mrs Anderson opened up the book with notes drawn on it. She placed the notes in place and did a few key tests. Then she stood up and let Naomi sit on the cushion stool.

Naomi wasn't Juliette, so she naturally did not remember their last lesson together. She sat there awkwardly staring at the black and white keys. Her white cardigan was a sharp contrast to the dullness of the room and on the white cardigan, the red tea stains were like tiny blood flowers blooming in the snow.

Naomi placed her finger tips on the keys and pressed one hesitantly. The sharp sound startled her. She flinched and frowned. But she did not stop there.

She saw Mrs Anderson's expression of disappointment and suddenly there was a need to prove that she wasn't a bad student. That Juliette wasn't a bad student. Naomi wanted to show that Juliette was so much more than they thought. She wanted to fight for Juliette.

She did not remember anything about piano but Juliette did. She practiced during lessons and after lessons. Her fingers, her wrists, her ears remembered the movements and sounds.

She pressed the keys slowly one after the other. Vienna stood behind Mrs Anderson, cringing at every sound. The music was supposed to be flowing smoothly but that was nothing like it.

In her view, Juliette was testing each key as if she was trying out the sound coming from them. Although she was pressing the right keys, the timing wasn't right.

Mrs Anderson's frown was getting tighter every second.

"Did you forget everything I taught you?" She asked sternly.

Naomi stopped the movements above the keys and looked up in a daze. She had been following the combination of Juliette's memories and her muscle memory. It was difficult to keep up, since Naomi had never touched a piano before. It was impossible to be good at it.

"I am sorry Mrs Anderson," Naomi apologized, "I will practice more."

Vienna intercepted them, "Ma'am, Miss fainted earlier, so it must be difficult to play the piano."

Mrs Anderson pursed her red lips for a while. She must have many things to say, but after Vienna reminded her about the fainting issue, she couldn't say them without sounding insensitive.

"You got the keys right, so practice your coordination today."

Mrs Anderson helped Naomi with the positioning of her fingers, how to coordinate the keys and other things that were taught to a beginner. Mrs Anderson wasn't happy about it but she was getting paid well for teaching it, so the complaints were swallowed.

"Ma'am, please have some snacks," Vienna brought tea and small cakes for her to eat. Mrs Anderson took a seat on the nearby chair and relaxed while watching Naomi practice. Vienna stood by her side and watched as well.

The room was full of music, sometimes harsh, sometimes smooth. When Marvin came back, he heard the piano with a complicated expression.

"She's still practicing?" Marvin subconsciously asked.

Next to him was his beta, Eric, who heard him.

"It does look like it," Eric said, "Didn't you say that she fainted earlier? Is she alright now?"

The Alpha shrugged, "She must be fine."

Marvin passed by the piano room and took a peek inside. He recognised the piano teacher. They met a couple of times after Juliette started taking lessons from her. Marvin's eyes fell on Juliette in front of the piano. His eyebrows were raised when he saw the snow white cardigan.

"Is that the cardigan you got her a few years back?" Eric asked when he saw the way Marvin was looking at her.

The Cardigan was also one of the items given by Marvin that wasn't touched by her. But the reason was completely different from before. Juliette never wore it because she was afraid of staining it and ruining the piece.

Marvin did not care back then, but today he saw her wearing it. Was she not worried now? He was about to leave when he saw the red spots on the cardigan. The material of the cardigan was pure white and the spots stood out particularly well.

"Is that blood?" Marvin whispered. Before thinking, he went inside the room. Mrs Anderson and Vienna were startled by the sudden arrival of the Alpha.

Mrs Anderson stood up in respect and Vienna bowed lightly. Naomi was focused on the piano and faithfully practicing. She did not notice Marvin and Eric. The sound of the piano was raining in her ears so loudly that the loud footsteps were not registered by her brain.

It wasn't until her wrist was caught by a force that she stopped playing the piano. She looked up, startled. Her instincts were still the same. Upon being grabbed, her first reaction was to beat up the person who did it. She stood up and twisted her wrist out of his grasp. It hurt.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Marvin was taken aback by her tone of questioning. There were too many things wrong in this situation. Juliette would be happy to see him at any time or place. Her first words would always be 'You are here!' Or the likes. Today she looked pissed at the sight of him, which had never happened before.

Not only that, Marvin rarely touched her. On occasions when he had to hold her hand or touch her hand, she'd blush and become shy. It was a rare thing but always the same.

Today, Juliette went as far as to hurt herself in order to get away from his hold. Nothing seemed right about that. Was this person still Juliette or someone else in her place?

"What is this?" Marvin touched the cardigan where the red spots were. It had dried and hardened over time, so it was hard to tell what it was.

Naomi lightly swatted her hand on the cardigan and took a step back. Although it wasn't her intention to offend the Alpha and maintain a lukewarm relationship with him for the sake of her future, she wasn't able to tolerate him right now.

Not only was she pissed at him for Juliette's sake, but also because her wrist hurt from practicing the piano that had to be played on HIS birthday. Her fingers were about to break into pieces and he had the audacity to come to get them and ask about some random stains on her clothes?!

"I dropped tea on it," Naomi's tone couldn't be controlled. She sounded like a brat and did not intend to correct it.

Vienna quickly added, "Accidentally!"

Marvin looked sideways at Vienna.

"She accidentally dropped some tea on the cardigan. It wasn't intentional!" She stressed on those words to make sure he did not misunderstand.

"Alright," Marvin's eyes stayed on Naomi for a few seconds. Unlike before, her eyes did not lock on him, not light up at the sight of him. Strange. Was it possible for a person to change so much within a day?

Marvin left the room after inquiring about the stains. Eric followed him out. After he was gone, Naomi wasn't in the mood to practice anymore. She excused herself and went back to her room.

Vienna apologized to Mrs Anderson and saw her out before rushing back to Juliette's room.

"Miss, are you feeling sick again?" Vienna asked. Naomi was lying flat on the bed with her eyes closed.

"I am meditating."

"M-Meditating?"

"Yeah. I don't want to burst into flames. Go do your stuff. Call me when it's dinner time."

Vienna was hesitant to leave her alone. Today Juliette was behaving strangely. She never lost her temper over anything, but today her action snapped at the Alpha. Vienna was worried about her!

"Miss, do you need anything?" Vienna asked, "Or, would you like to meet Master?

Naomi turned her head to the side and opened one eye, "Why would I want to meet him?"

Vienna gulped. Why did she feel like saying a wrong world would make her more angry?

"Maybe I apologize for the way I spoke to him..."

"No," Naomi straight out refused, "leave me alone for a while."

"Alright," Vienna closed the door behind her. She sighed after leaving the room. Her feelings were complicated.

Although she was happy that Juliette wasn't wasting her life with master Marvin, she was also concerned about the sudden change. Anything can happen in one night.

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