He liked bringing Catalina to events like this. She made him look good.
“Wait… wasn’t there a grand piano here before?” Catalina asked, pointing toward the opulent center of the lobby. “When did it get replaced by that double keyboard?”
“It was still a grand piano last week when I came by,” Brayan replied. just as surprised.
There had always been a live pianist in the Royalpine Hotel lobby.
“Maybe the pianist got fired for being too awful?” Ronan jumped in, shifting his gaze to the new instrument. “Didn’t you once say, Brayan, the piano itself was great but the player–meh–not even one percent as good as your wife?”
He scratched the back of his head and mumbled, “Still, if the issue was the pianist, why not just get a better one? Why swap out the whole piano? Doesn’t add up…”
Brayan glanced down at his arm–more precisely, at the hand that was holding onto his.
“If only your hand hadn’t been injured…”
He reached over and gently took Catalina’s hand, his voice low, tinged with regret.
Catalina forced herself to stay composed.
“Sometimes setbacks turn out to be blessings in disguise. If I hadn’t
0.00%
ווו
28 Neachers
hurt my hand, I probably wouldn’t have ended up in jewelry design.
“You’re right.” Brayan said, wrapping his warm palm around her cooler hand.
“Catalina actually ranked first in the intern evaluations!” Ally chimed in proudly.
“She’s got that natural spark,” Ronan added with a grin, giving her a thumbs–up. “Whatever she does, she’s top of the class.”
Brayan nodded. “Catalina’s talent speaks for itself.”
As the group strolled forward, they drew closer to the double. keyboard. Beside it stood a hotel staff member in a navy–blue cleaning uniform, hunched over and wiping smudges from the keys with a
tissue.
Bravan suddenly stopped walking.
Catalina paused too and glanced over, noticing his frown–and the way he was staring, unmoving, at the cleaner’s back.
Then the figure straightened up.
At that moment, both Brayan and Catalina said in unison, “Jennifer?”
Jennifer turned around. Of everyone in front of her, the first person she locked eyes with was Brayan.
Dressed in a sleek black suit, he didn’t need any special effort to look impressive. He had the height of a runway model and the face of a movie star.
But his expression was dark–and Jennifer could feel it. He was angry.
“Oh my god… are you working here as a janitor?” Ally blurted out in
2114
ווו
O
shock.
Verify captcha to read the content
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Ex-Husband's Apology (by Sebastian Grey)