Oh, they said well that he was going to hate them for it!
Sixty five years later and he listens to it again.
He immediately closed his eyes, trying to feel the music. They were the same notes, the same chords, the same instruments, but it felt completely different and that made him smile. It was no longer Chords of Life by Judd Faez and Rei Faez. It was Chords of Life by Ja Ryung Song and Eadwyn Faez.
He was happy. The 93-year old Judd Faez was happy to hear it again, to feel it again even if it was not the same.
He wondered what his grandsons felt while playing it. If they felt the tug, the ascension, the state where your soul comes out of your body and gets cleansed by the notes, the feeling of everything being right. Maybe not. They put their own touch to the chords and the feeling must have been different.
He opened his eyes when the opus was about to come to an end. He turned his head to his left where Eadwyn was playing the cello. His eyes watered from unshed tears, and the sweetest smile they had ever seen adorned his face. He mouthed something, and then rubbed his face to avoid crying in front of his whole family.
The family sat quietly listening to Ja Ryung and Eadwyn. when the teens ended their performance, they clapped vigorously. Ja Ryung stood up, and went to hug his grandpa.
"Happy Birthday, Grandpa. And thanks for everything."
Many more greetings from his huge family came one after the other; he practically went from one person's arms to another. He didn't know how much they spent congratulating him, but to Judd one thing was for sure. He was more than happy and proud of his family.
A family composed of people of all kinds, from laid back ones like he learnt to be throughout the years, to hysterical ones, to happy ones, to mischievous ones, to problematic ones, to serious ones, to shy ones. A varied family indeed, but what they all had in common was one thing: him.
They might have been so different from each other, yet the one thing, or person in this case, they looked up to, were proud of and loved the most was the 93-year old Judd Faez.
If the whole morning and afternoon was hectic, then the night was a complete nightmare. Kids were running everywhere; mothers were running after their children to put them in bed, or at least get them to brush their teeth and wear their pajamas; men were laughing at the antics of their own children before being chastised by their wives to help.
A few grunts, more screeches from the kids, and then not only women and children were running, but men, too. The youngsters moved to the vast, dark forest behind the house, trying to prove themselves as brave in some sort of test they liked to do every year.
In a corner, an old Judd watched all the things happening around him, a smile plastered on his face. Such a long journey for him. One full of hardships. More than that, full of happiness, and full of people around him.
He enjoyed spending time with them, laughing with them, listening to their troubles, their good deeds, advising them, and scolding them more times than he could remember. Without a doubt, he loved them all. It was a good life, he thought.
With a sigh, he stood up and walked down that hallway he could traverse with his eyes closed. He had it well engraved in his mind. He unlocked the door and walked in, then he closed the door behind him.
Once inside, his eyes immediately fell on the paper sheets spread on a small table in the corner of the room. He sat and began to scribble after reaching for a pencil. A yell and more laughter made him pause. With a smile plastered on his face, he wrote until the night began to get more silent.
Only a lamp accompanied him.
From time to time, he could hear the whispers of a conversation inside and outside the house. The loud voices of the young ones told him they were back from their expedition, and had settled in their campsite. As time went on, only the sound of his pencil on the paper could be clearly heard in that room. He was sure it was pretty late but there was one more thing he had to do.
After standing and stretching until he heard his back crack, he walked to his piano. That black and shiny piano that didn't look as old as his own person, yet there it was, standing all proud and without a trace of the years unlike him. He gently passed his fingers on it, feeling that smooth and firm wood.
His eyes then fell on the cello beside the piano.
He rarely touched it, unless it was for cleaning, same as his piano. This time, though, he wanted to really feel them. Feel the energy stored from those years ago when they were played day and night. Even when not used, they were as good as new and for some reason they still felt warm.
Warm from all the love he and his wife devoted to the instruments. As if they weren't mere things but a part of themselves, an extension of their minds, a catalyst of their desires and a window to their feelings. There was so much enclosed in those instruments, such a huge meaning in his life, such a long journey.
He slid his wrinkled fingers down the strings of the cello, gently, as if he was caressing his wife. The same love, devotion and softness with which he held her during their six years of love. Not even one day he missed to tell her he loved her, that she was the best that could ever happen to him. Not a single day he missed to hold her and caress her, brush her hair and place a kiss on her lips.
A sad smile crossed his face when he saw it.
A hand he constantly held for six years. The same smooth and silky hand. Her hands were soft to him despite her protests. His fingers trailed those white and delicate fingers until they entwined with his. He took them to his mouth and laid a kiss on those small knuckles.
A chuckle made him look up to encounter those blue, like the sky, eyes staring at him.
"I saw you." He whispered, his voice no longer tired or rough from his continuous usage throughout the years. It was the same deep yet gentle voice from back when he first met her in that cold night in that park in Newcastle.
"I heard it." She replied, her thumb caressing the skin on his hand. She was the same with that short, black hair, those white clothes, that doll face and those incredibly blue eyes.
"Want to play?" He offered, not taking his eyes off her; afraid that if he did so, she would disappear.
"You know what that means, right?" Her eyes turned a bit sad, but the smile on her face reflected how happy she was to see him. That foolish smile she learnt to wear beside him. It was only with him that she was the happiest in her life.
"I do." He nodded and ventured to hug her. Her small and slim body was made perfectly to his body. His arms automatically rounded her and placed themselves in the same places they felt the most comfortable with. Around her waist and her middle back. "It's ok. I want to be with you. I've waited too long."
She nodded. Her head leaning on his broad chest, where she could hear his heartbeat. She loved to change the rhythm of that soothing pumping with words that excited excite him. It was fun and stimulating to her. To know that it was all because of her. Only she could make his heart beat like that.
Whenever he hugged her, she never hugged him back because she loved to be held, she loved when her body disappeared into those arms and that chest. She had spent so long protecting herself, that she only wanted to spend the rest of her life being protected. By him.
She looked up to those sparkling eyes that belonged to her dear husband, those that were always full of love for her, the ones that reflected the purity of his soul, his childish heart and his matured mind. All in all, they reflected the unmatched existence of Judd Faez, genius pianist, her best friend, her husband, lover and father of her two children.
Her arms rounded his neck. Standing on her tiptoes, she kissed him, gently and warm, with no rush, just enjoying the union of their lips. She had forgotten how it felt to kiss those plump lips of his, to feel the warmth his body radiated, and how his heartbeat rushed whenever she initiated a kiss and he wasn't expecting it.
Her husband was always the innocent type. Unless they were going further into their contact. Only then, he overflew with love. But, at that moment, she wanted her innocent husband.
After separating, they stared into each other's eyes for seconds that seemed minutes, hours, months, years or decades. They smiled at the same time, and he nodded.