Abandoned

"Excuse me!" she hollers into the empty room. "May I come in?" she asked in an unsure voice.

Dana checked the address again that Nancy gave her. She is in the right place, but no one is here in this room. She is thinking if she should wait outside or not. There's isn't any place to sit down here, except for the piano bench in the middle of the room.

She dropped her red Michael Kors sling bag beside the piano, removed her coat, and put it on top of her bag. She decided to stay inside the room and wait. She doesn't want to go out in the freezing cold.

Sitting down on the piano bench, she sits straight, her fingers hover on the piano keys, she takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and plays the music piece she was able to compose last night.

Every note her fingers touch whimper with dejection that echoes through the room. She could hear the heavy rain outside battering the tin rooftop as her fingers jump across the ivory and ebony keys of the piano.

She repeatedly plays the notes from the beginning to the end, jumping in between, skipped to the last part, and then a full stop to start all over again.

Dana lost track of time.

She blinks when artificial lights flood the room, and a slow clapping sound is heard behind her.

She puts down her hands and swivels around to face the person who enters the room without a word.

Dana meets a woman about the same age as her aunt. She is wearing a navy long sleeves dress with a bow collar. The dress material moves with her body, giving it an illusion of drifting through the air.

"Bravo!" she said with a smile.

Dana, feeling red in the face, gives a polite bow before the woman, and introduces herself.

"My name is Anna Hoffman, you can just call me Anna. It's a pleasure to meet you too Miss Hasegawa," she said, also bowing in front of Dana.

"May I ask about the piece you played? Was it yours?"

Dana blushed that her new piano teacher heard the composition that she wrote out of whim.

"Yes," she said in a small voice, gripping her own hands.

"Can you play it again?"

Dana gaped at Miss Hoffman. She was surprised that she would find the piece interesting to listen to.

She returned to the piano and played the music she composed.

---

She holds the lapel of her coat closer to her chest as she skips alternately in position while standing on the curb waiting for Ting to bring the car. As the cold is seeping on her skin, she murmurs for Ting to hurry up.

Dana really hates the cold, that she grabs the door handles even when the car is not yet on full stop. She slides inside and asks Ting to have the heater on full blast.

She's removing her coat and gloves when her phone rings.

The caller is Ellise telling her to come straight to Madame Bae's house after her piano class, which she answered that she's already on the way home.

After hanging up the call, she checks her WeChat and sees that she still has no message from Grand. Her previously sent messages were still unread. She tries calling him but the line is always busy.

She's anxious to hear from him but she doesn't want to ask Bobby about Grand's whereabouts since Grands has been showing jealousy every time she interacts with Bobby. And Ellise is no help at all. She always gives her a disapproving look whenever she asks anything about Grand.

---

"So, you're back to staring at your phone nowadays? I thought the two of you were okay?"

Kai Hern found him at the fire exit staircase, twirling his phone in the right hand, a cigarette burning in his left hand. He is now fully back with the habit he thought he will never pick up again.

"You're done with your game?" he asked him while blowing circular smokes.

He didn't answer, instead, he sat down beside him and picked up his lighter and the pack of cigarettes and lit one himself.

He drags a smoke and asks him, "Are you having a personal problem? I could listen if you want to rant."

"Kids should not worry about adult problems, and kids should not smoke!" he said, snatching the newly lit cigarettes from Kai Hern mouth.

His phone vibrating on his hand stopped Grand from scolding the youngest member of his team. He swipes his phone to open and looks at the message pops on the screen. The same message he's been getting since he stopped contacting her.

Grand sighs a heavy breath of frustration. He angrily put his phone to his jeans pocket as he stood up. He slaps his own butt to remove dirt from sitting on the cement floor, then he grabs Kai Hern back collar and pulls him up.

"Time to practice again," he said pretending to be angry.

---

"Are you going home for Christmas Dana, dear?" she asked while cutting the bloody meat on her plate.

"I've talked to my mother, she is still angry and doesn't want me to be home for the holiday, and since aunt Joy is celebrating the holiday season in Spain with her grandfather, it's okay for me not to go home."

"We are flying to the Philippines. Who are you going to spend the holiday here in Shanghai?"

Dana didn't answer and just wrinkle her brows towards Ellise.

Ellise smirked at her and said, "Grand will be in Oslo until next year."

Dana's knife halted midway from cutting the steak on her plate. She looked at Ellise from across the table. She gawked at her for a long time, before she got the courage to ask.

"Grand is in Oslo?" she asked in a shaking voice.

"Yes, they left a week ago and will be in Oslo until next year."

Dana put her knife and fork down. Picked up her napkin and dabbed the corner of her lips, thinking a possible reason why Grand didn't say anything to her.

The corner of her eyes felt warm as she blinked her eyes to clear her blurry eyesight. Why?- is the question running on Dana's mind with no answer in sight.