As soon as Kaylee played the first chord of her song, Declan felt he was transported to a past that he has never told anyone else.
Eight years ago, Declan left New York and went to Spain to lessen his stress and pressures from probing eyes that wanting to see his downfall.
But instead of calming down, he was even more depressed. In the end, he had an accident, and it was a miracle that he could still breathe and live.
The moment he regained consciousness, the only thing he could see was pitch black. Declan couldn't open his eyelids, nor could he move a muscle.
He felt as if none of his senses were functioning. Declan knew that he couldn't see, couldn't smell, and his skin felt numb.
The only thing that still works was his ears which heard voices. The people he suspected were doctors or whoever had saved him speaking a foreign language that was not English.
He does speak some Spanish, but that doesn't mean he wants to bother listening to their conversation and chooses not to try to wake up anymore. It would be better if he was here and left to die without any of his family members knowing where he was.
Until one day, his ears caught a whisper.
"Pst, what are you doing here?"
"Who is he?"
"I have no idea. A truck driver accidentally hit his car, and he was brought here immediately. Luckily the driver's employer was willing to take responsibility and pay for the sustenance. But we don't know the identity of that person at all. He did not carry a wallet or cellphone at all. We didn't find his identification card."
Of course, they wouldn't find it because he left them in his renting-villa. That's why nobody contacted his family, so he was very sure Mr. and Mrs. Black still doesn't know his current condition.
"Is he going to wake up?"
"Well, I doubt that. No one talks to him, and he had no family here to pray for his recovery. How about you talking to him?"
"Me?"
"Instead of you wandering around this place and getting lost, it might better for you to talk to him."
"Getting lost? Am I still a child?"
"Aren't you?"
"…"
"I still have work to do. Don't go anywhere and stay here, okay?"
After that, Declan did not hear the voice again. All this time, he had listened to the voice of a person speaking in Spanish, and this was the first time he had heard an English conversation.
Is the person who just arrived a tourist?
Declan did not know, nor did he care. The important thing is there was no longer a whisper, and now he could sleep peacefully... or so he thought.
Somehow he felt someone walked over to his bed and… touched his hair??
Strange. Why could he sense that person and feel his hair moving gently?
"It's so black." muttered the same voice he had heard. "Your hair is just like mine. It's pitch black."
No. His real hair was not black. Declan deliberately dyed his hair pitch black before leaving for Europe because he thought his mood matched black very well.
"Look, today is the full moon."
Full moon? That means it is night now. Declan thought to himself.
"Black Moon. I think that name suits you. I will call you Black Moon from now on."
It felt like Declan wanted to look at this kid sarcastically. His family name was Black, but it was undeniable that his name wasn't Moon.
"Hey, do you like listening to music? I can play the piano for you. What a coincidence there is a piano in the next room. But… I don't know if you can hear it or not. No problem, the song I'm going to play is horrible after all."
Had Declan not been in a coma, he would have rolled his eyes lazily. If this kid knew the song was horrible, why would that kid insist on playing it?
Declan was still in a coma and showed no sign of responding to the kid who asked him to talk without giving up. After that, the child walked out, and the piano's sound began to be heard faintly.
No wonder the child called the song he would play was terrible because the first chord played was a minor chord.
Strangely, the longer Declan listened to the child's play, the more he felt that something foreign was creeping into his heart. Without knowing it, tears trickled out of the corners of his eyes. This caught one of the nurse's attention, who happened to enter his treatment room to check on his condition.
And now, eight years later, Declan never once forgot the music and chords that the boy played. Each tune of the first part and the impression he felt when he heard the child play was still fresh in his memory as if his meeting with that child had just happened yesterday.
Declan felt he couldn't breathe once Nicholas Larson hit the first chord and started running his fingers over the piano keys.
Same chord… same melody pattern… even the feeling he was experiencing right now was the same. The child's play was able to rouse his soul and made him find his true purpose in life.
Maybe people generally wouldn't like to hear a sad song like this, but Declan found the true meaning of life through this second-class song. He felt his heart fill with regret at the thought of giving up and killing himself.
It was this child who saved his soul. This child took him out of his despair and made him struggle to keep on living.
Finally… after years of searching for the whereabouts of this child, Declan managed to find him.
Does Nick remember him? Did the child realize that he was using the name Black Moon that he had given him?
He never had the dream of becoming a musician. He never even planned to release an album. But in order to find this child, Declan was willing to take his time to compose song after song and use the name Black Moon to become his pseudonym.
He was even willing to fight tooth and nail to become a lecturer at this campus, considering how much the child wanted to study in this place.
Now, the boy has managed to enter this campus, and Declan has managed to find him.
But…
'I want to study at M University and become a professional pianist.'
Why did this kid choose a guitar class when his dream was to become a pianist?
It was still a mystery yet to be unpuzzled.