Imaginary Notes part 12

The arrangement was pretty fast. After all thirty people of musical drama team get into the two big busses, they drove. The travel was about three until four hours.
“Here we are,” Vanz said to everyone. The busses stopped in front of a magnificent iron gate. Vanz told the driver to honked the bus’ honk while she herself popper her head out of the window.
Once she popped her head out, two men appeared from a stone house beside the gate and opened it for them.
“That’s my gatekeepers and their shed.”
Sebastian hardly could believe what Vanz was telling him. What the girl called gatekeepers’ shed was more impressive that the house she lived in near school!
The road continued a long way from the gate; lined on both sides with trees. There was no sign of the manor yet. The car passed through several more gates, covered a sprawling meadow, and crossed a stone bridge. They had easily gone two kilometers when suddenly, the trees cleared away and a magnificent building truly deserve the name ‘manor’ appeared before them.
Sebastian’s mansion was huge—all of the members knew it so well—but Vanz’s mansion was more liked gigantic, covered with full luxuries. A bit old fashioned, yes, but it didn’t lessen the perfection of it.
The busses pulled up the driveway in front of the entrance. As they all got out of the car, the doors opened. An old man in an impeccable black suit appeared and bowed before Vanz.
“Welcome home, miss.”
Vanz smiled. “Oh, hi, Chris. Dad’s home yet?”
“Not yet, but he said that he would be home for dinner. He was pleased that you finally decided to come home.”
“Wow,” Lizzy exclaimed, amazed, when they all stepped inside the hall.
A marble checkerboard floor spread out before them, below a beautifully painted high ceiling, which led to a stairway covered in red carpeting. Numerous paintings decorated the walls, and statues were arranged around the room. And on either side of the hall stood several dozens of servants, who had lined up to greet Vanz on her return.
“You are a lot richer than Sebastian, Vanz,” Grimsby quickly highlighted it. “There’s not even a single dot of doubt.”
Sebastian blinked, a little bit flustered. “You've gotta be some kind of idiot of saying only God knows it. You really are richer than us,” he said, and Reo nodded in agreement.
Vanz giggled a little and said, “Chris would show you all your room. I think it would be on the second floor, right?”
Chris nodded. The crowd quickly followed the man.
“And oh, band members, let’s go to my room!” Vanz said, “We could play together!” She paused, and then cried aloud to Chris, “Chris, you clean my room while I’m gone, right?”
“Yes, miss.”
Vanz bowed slightly with a smile and grinned at the amazed band member. “Make yourself like at home. Now follow me!”
Vanz lead them all to the third floor. And really, it was really white.
The room was, as one might imagine, a suite. The immaculate space spread out before them, highlighted by luxurious decorations.
And really...
There is nothing in this huge suite that is not either white or covered in white-ness!
All band members made their comments about Vanz's extreme white fantasy and dispersed from the entrance door to Vanz's room, slouching down on either the white fluffy carpet floor, the huge white bed that could fit many people, or the white couches and chairs covered in more fluff.
The first thing to notice was the canopied bed. It looked like a king’s bed from a fairy tale. Sebastian was impressed by the fireplace, taller than he was, that actually had fire burning in it—he really thought that it was really old fashioned. A large white Persian rug was spread out on the floor, and on the wall hung white tapestries by Gobelins that looked like they belonged in a museum.
Lizzy apparently found a second door in that room and peeked inside it. It was the bathroom, but it was big enough for someone to live in.
Everything was outrageously grand and luxurious.
"You've gotta be some kind of idiot," Sebastian said, "Having this colorless room..."
Vanz pouted. "I love white. Don't mock it."
Sebastian smiled at how cute Vanz could be, and he could not help but nodded to her word.
Vanz screamed in joy when a snowy white puffball ran toward her. “Fluffy! Don’t you miss me?”
James and Grimsby was still frozen on spot, still trying to understand all the white-ness inside the room. Lizzy was sitting on the carpet floor, enjoying the softness of the fluff. Reo was already busy playing video game on the white TV at the corner of the room.
Sebastian, however, directly plays with Fluffy—a white, fat puppy that Vanz loved the most—and most importantly, Vanz.
“Hey, could we just all sleep here? Like, hell yeah, this room was big enough for another ten people to sleep in,” Lizzy said, yawning, and then quickly realizing the deep gaze at her from Vanz's direction. "I mean, Senior Vanz, could we just all sleep here?"
“It’s four, and you already think about sleeping?” Grimsby rolled his eyes.
“It’s fine,” Vanz laughed--it seemed that she was pretty satisfied with Lizzy's correction, “My bed is pretty big, as all of you can see, so name at least one person you don't mind sleeping next to and go stand or sit next to them. This way, we all can sleep here together. I have a lot of DVDs and video games, so maybe we can sleep rather late.”
The two boys—Grimsby and James—quickly formed some kind of a group, Lizzy to Vanz, but both Mezuella brothers just shrugged.
“Okay. Since we have that all figured out, who wants to sleep on the bed? It's big enough to give enough room for all of us.”
Everyone nodded or said 'yes' to sleep on the bed.
“Does anyone want to sleep on the end so they don't – “
SMACK!
“ – someone in the face?” Vanz grinned; lighten up the situation, laughing as Sebastian pushed her off the bed in retaliation as he just got smacked in the face.
At the end, Lizzy sleep on the end of the bed, then beside her was Vanz, followed by Sebastian, Reo, James and finally Grimsby. Apparently Fluffy has his own bed beside Vanz’s bed—a bed half Vanz’s—with the same color and fluff as his own body.
A knock.
“Excuse me, miss, but dinner is ready.”
The sun had already set and the windows were filled with deep black shadows. Passing through the dim gallery, they went downstairs. All members were escorted into a spacious dining room and were seated at a dinner table that could easily seat thirty people. A lit candelabrum was placed on the table and the silver tableware was meticulously set out.
At the end of the table was an old man. It was easy to figure out that the person was Vanz's father, but what made it easier were his looks. His eyes were closed but Sebastian knew they were the same shade of brown as what Vanz own, but of course his face was a lot sharper than her, especially his jaw line. His hair was dark brown, and even though Vanz's hair was just starting to grow out of its style, it was the exact same dark brown, only it still had a hint of red to the brown. Last year she had dyed it red, but a couple of weeks ago before they travelled here, she had decided to go back to her natural color.
Vanz sat a little bit forward but beside him, and Sebastian had to race with the other fifteen boys from the musical drama team for a seat exactly in front of her.
"Dad," Vanz started the conversation in the awkward situation, "I'm home."
"You've change," her father smiled, caressing her cheek with his hand. "What made you change your mind?"
"I've never change my mind," Vanz looked at Sebastian and smiled--even Sebastian could not figure out what did it mean.
Then again, it was little things.
Meaningless, but heart-warming.
"I brought friends along. They said they want to play to Knoxville, so I decided to bring them along..."
Her father sighed, but the smile seemed to never leave his face. "At least, you decided to come home."
"Yes, dad," Vanz grinned.
"Good. I miss you," he said, and then he raised his wine. "Well, let us begin the dinner, then. Enjoy your meal."
He glanced at Sebastian. Sebastian didn't know why, but he felt that he was watching him all over since the beginning of the dinner.
When the dinner was over, everyone backed off to their own room.
"Guys, you can go back to my room now. I need to talk to dad," Vanz said, almost like a sweet hypnotize to others.
Lizzy, James, Reo and Grimsby were quickly trapped and nodded slowly, making their way to the bedroom. Unfortunately Sebastian was better than others, and they were the only people left in the dining hall--Sebastian, Vanz and her dad.
"Is this my future son-in-law?" Vanz's father asked quickly. Vanz almost fainted, Sebastian almost tripped himself.
"Does he look like it?" Vanz asked, pissed at her ridiculous parent.
"So it's no? Too bad, you look good together."
Sebastian didn't know what just happen exactly and how they got into that kind of conversation, but he couldn't help but blushed furiously to the compliment. On the other side, Vanz was blushing slightly--out of Sebastian's reach but definitely caught by her father.
"Whatever, I'm going to bed," Vanz rolled her eyes, now making her way back to her room.
Sebastian never ever like it being alone with adult--for him it was extremely awkward and mind consuming--but this one made him more nervous than ever. It was Vanz's father! What if he didn't like him? What if he told him to get out of her life?
"So..." Vanz's father patted Sebastian's shoulder. "You like her, don't you?"
Sebastian was a little bit shocked, but then slowly shook his head. "I fell for her."
"And it seemed to be the other way as well," he said, smiling at Sebastian. "I had never saw Vanz smiling to a boy the way she smiled to you."
"We're best friend."
"It doesn't matter."
"It does."
"You're special."
"I'm not."
Little, meaningless things that happened between them.
Vanz's father grinned and walked on, signing to Sebastian to follow him. They walked pass the corridors and ended up at a big room, that again, covered with luxuries.
And there, hanged a huge picture of the family. Vanz was around ten, sitting in-between both of her parents. The sight of Vanz's father wasn't really surprising--even though it seemed that his face haven't change even a little bit--but the sight of Vanz's mother was quiet shocking.
A perfect copy of Vanz.
"Where is..."
"Dead," the man answered before Sebastian even finish his line. "A year and a half ago, cancer."
"Sorry."
"It's fine."
Sebastian looked at the picture again. After quite awhile, it wasn't that similar. Vanz was prettier than her mother--she has the most beautiful smile he had ever seen--and Vanz had inherited the soft skin and gentleness of her mother, only paler and gentler by any side. Vanz looked happier in the photo, though.
"What happen to her?" Was the only sentence Sebastian manages to voiced out.
"Vinnian was secretive. She hid the fact that she has a cancer until it was too late. And... She lose her memories. About me, about the family... About Vanz. And Vanz, knowing that she is the only one remembering their moments together... She was shocked. She was really close to Vinnian and it really hit her. She even ran away and said that she would never come back until she was fine. But then look, she came back with you, with a perfect smile, toward you."
Sebastian was silenced.
Total silence.
"Let's take a look around the house, shall we?" Vanz's father grinned brightly, guiding him to another room.
Sebastian looked around until his eyes landed on a white piano. His eyes sparkled and ran over. Vanz's father saw how Sebastian was staring at the piano like a 5 year old kid. He chuckled a little and said, "Do you know how to play it?" Soon after he nodded, her father added. "Can you play for me?"
Sebastian smiled his tiger toothy smile and sat on the chair. He laid his fingers on the keys and started playing 'It Has To Be You'.
It was sure that Vanz came down to the room once she gets the music inside her ears. She saw a smiling Sebastian with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen.
She lay down in front of Sebastian, and enjoyed the music. Vanz sat exactly beside her father, who was smiling at both of them.
The music ended and Vanz's father clapped for Sebastian. "Where did you learn to play the piano like that?" he asked.
"My parents taught me," Sebastian replied.
"It was beautiful," her father complimented him, making him blushed.
"It was our theme song," Vanz smiled.
Rare, perhaps, but Sebastian had never seen such a victorious smile on anyone ever before. Vanz's father looked at Sebastian with confident eyes and his teeth showed slightly. "I had guessed correctly."