Chapter 34 – Opening Dance
Jonathan led Liliana to the center of the stage as the lights were dimmed and the focus light shone on them.
They took the positions and bowed to each other in the standard opening as the music started.
They were both members of the upper class who had been trained in all kinds of social dancing and thus the chemistry was palpable.
“You don’t seem to have asked me for the dance,” Liliana asked as they moved as one with the rhythm.
“I am afraid you would have refused had I asked,” Jonathan answered.
“Why would you think so?” Liliana chuckled.
Jonathan shrugged.
“It is not quite like the President of Smith Group to be unconfident.” Liliana teased.
“It’s not business. I suck at pretty much everything else. I have failed and broken promises.” Jonathan answered sadly.
“My mother once said, if you are capable of remorse, you are worthy of redemption.” Liliana consoled him.
“I am sorry about your mother,” Jonathan said after taking a deep breath.
“That’s quite alright. My mother was an amazing person, she was too pure for this world. Perhaps that’s why she was taken away so early. But she has never left me. I can see her in my heart, even now, telling me to let the music flow within and let the rhythm guide me. A person like Vivian would never understand that. She knows the price of things and the use of people, not their value.”
“She sounds like an amazing mother.” He noted.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.
“She was. She still is.” She smiled.
“What’s with your beef with Vivian Stone?” Jonathan asked.
Liliana thought for a while and answered seriously. “I can’t see through her head but this is what I think happened. She had studied in a normal primary school, where she was the rich smart kid. She had been used to being the center of attention, being the most popular kid.”
Jonathan nodded, “That would not have been the case in Kings High.”
She replied, “Yeah! At least she was top of her class as Mer and I were her juniors. Later we skipped grades and suddenly she was not even top of her class. All the resentment she had from not getting the Princess treatment and not being the most important in Kings High was channeled into a rivalry she formed in her head.”
Jonathan shook his head, “The old problem, I see.”
Liliana chuckled, “I never paid any attention to her which turned her rivalry into hatred. Little by little she focused entirely on sabotaging me and not on her grades to the point she was close to getting expelled. She picked up her studies after that but trying to ruin others became a part of her nature, which I believe her parents encouraged.”
He acquiesced, “Most likely! Kings High is very transparent with the pupil’s guardian.”
Liliana sighed, “She has gone from calling me ugly and poor to calling me a third party and opportunist. If only she was not blinded she would have known that there can’t be any poor kids in Kings High. Even the kids who get in via scholarship get a generous scholarship which elevates their financial status dramatically because the student’s family is not allowed to take the money.”