Page 45 of Neptune

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CASSIE

A soft smile touches my lips as I watch the maids moving my things into Luke's bedroom. Luke and I have talked about sleeping in the same bedroom now that we practically can't be away from each other.

Shaking my head in disbelief, I let out a small chuckle. When I first met him, I wouldn't have imagined that something like this would happen to us, that my feelings for him would change.

I stare out the window of Luke's bedroom, and my gaze darts to the daisies planted in the garden. It's such a beautiful sight, one that I couldn't get in my previous room.

I can only get this perfect view of the garden filled with daisies from this room and the music room. It's like Luke already knew beforehand what would make me happy.

How strange.

A small sigh escapes from my lips. I can't wait for Aiden and Luke to get home today so that I can spend time with them again.

Another chuckle leaves my mouth. Why am I sounding like a desperate housewife? Perhaps, were I not taking a break from the spotlight, I wouldn't feel this lonely when they aren't home.

My phone rings, and I see Oscar's name on the screen. What a coincidence.

"Hello," I say, putting my phone on my ear.

"Morning, Cassie," Oscar chirps from the other side of the line. "How are you doing these days?"

"Never better." I smile. It turns out that the hell I once expected is now my safe haven, so different from the real hell I was in when Morgan was exploiting me. "How are you guys doing over there?"

He sighs.

"We all miss you so badly here. But what can I say? It's not like we dare disturb the wonderful life of a newlywed," he jokes.

I laugh. Like, really laugh. Who would have thought that the word that once annoyed me to the core would now make my heart flutter?

"Oh, God. You're really doing good," Oscar says, noticing my happiness. "I'm so happy for you."

"Thank you, Oscar. I can hardly believe it myself."

"Well, I'm not planning to disturb your new peaceful life—"

"Oscar, please," I cut him off, rolling my eyes. "I have so much spare time now that I can't wait to hop into whatever project you have in mind. Spill it."

Oscar sighs again. "As you know, we've been telling the world that while you're taking a break from the spotlight, they should expect one or two singles out.

You won't have to do anything much. In the meantime, your fans would be able to access the music tracks and lyric videos on your channel.

I'm not talking about a whole album here.

Neither am I talking about tours. But you may be required to have a few acoustic sessions in some radio stations. "

"That's cool," I say. "It would be fun."

"I'm thinking about your new collaboration song with Cal Jackson," Oscar suggests.

Now that I think about it, I remember what Morgan said. She also suggested that I should blow up this song, but by going the extra mile of joining Cal's tour in Italy back then and performing it again at the AMAs even though there wasn't much time left for the preparation.

I'm glad that Oscar has decided to take a more realistic approach.

"I think that would be great," I say. "I love the song. Cal gave me plenty of great ideas when we worked on it together. I'm sure that it would blow up and help him soar even more as a newcomer."

"Lovely," Oscar says, excitement in his voice. "Now, for us to work on this, can you send me the lyrics again? I think I lost them somewhere while I was cleaning up my email."

"Sure," I say. "I can resend it to you."

"Perfect," Oscar says. "Cal has agreed to this too. I'll let you know about any updates. I'm going to settle some promotion deals and pass your email to the other team so that they can work on the lyric video."

"Okay. Thanks, Oscar."

"Anytime, my dear."

With that, we hang up. I check my email on my phone and type "lyrics" on the search tool so that it's easier for me to find what I'm looking for.

I'm sure that I sent it to Oscar a few months ago.

And there it is, showing in my sent items. I'm just about to click the subject to resend it when something catches my attention.

As my eyes scan the search results, I find one email that has a weird subject.

Winter escape. I'm a crazy winter bear, but he's a lunatic anyway.

My eyebrows rise. I must have been desperate when I wrote that email, because I was rambling. I decide to go to that after this.

I resend the lyrics of the song that Oscar asked me about and go back to the search results. Curious, I click on the weird email subject.

When I open it, I frown. I read the body of the email thoroughly.

Lyrics

Staring out the window of this cab My gaze darts to the blue sky Are we under the same sky? But I don't know where you are It seems surreal what we ar e

Staring down at my luggage There's nothing left of you Only our last kiss at the airport Still lingers on my lips

Winter, why did you have to go? It's not winter anymore without you I miss our snowball, our fireplace Our safe haven, our special place

There's this ring you gave me Staring back at me Reminding me of you Of my memories of you

I'm still trying to drink in every word. How strange. I usually write my songs on a note or paper while I try it with my guitar or piano.

But here, I've saved the lyrics in my email. Maybe I didn't have any paper to write on back then, and I might have saved it in my email before the idea went away.

Maybe I was inspired by a movie because I definitely don't have any idea what I was talking about in these lyrics.

I don't remember any of it.

I check the date of the email, and my eyes widen as I look at the year written on it.

2014. Seven years ago.

Wow .

???

Later in the day, after Aiden comes back from school, I help him with his music assignment in which he has to guess songs based on the partituras that the teacher gave him.

I gladly play those songs with my piano, and he's delighted to know that he's going to nail this assignment .

After that, while he's finishing his math homework in his room, I decide to compose a new song on the piano based on the lyrics that I just discovered earlier in my email.

Now, I've been working on it for two hours, and I'm amazed that the song just flows effortlessly like water. I can't get the lyrics out of my head, then the melody just comes to me out of the blue.

My heart beats in excitement—it has been a long time since I felt this refreshed. In such a short time, I've composed a new song that I believe is far better than my latest songs.

It feels like a miracle.

I decide to call Oscar—I can't wait to tell him about this.

When he picks up, I say, "Do you remember telling me about another new single that I should prepare too? Guess what? I have it."

Oscar is silent for a while. "What do you mean? Is it one of the songs that you drafted and sent me the recording of? I've checked all of them, but I haven't—"

"No," I interrupt. "It's a new song. And I mean, a brand new song. I can't believe this either, but you'll be surprised. I think that I'm going to kill it with this song."

Oscar is still speechless. "Well then, I can't wait to hear what you have." Curiosity is evident in his voice.

"I'll just have to work on it a bit more, and I'll send you the recording so that you can tell me what you have in mind." My heart is about to burst with anticipation.

I didn’t expect that today would be such a productive day.

"Can't wait."

After I hang up the phone, I play the intro again on the piano, a big smile on my face. But then I stop when a voice interrupts me.

"I wonder what has made you so happy. Thinking about your husband, aren't you?" Luke appears at the door, still in his office suit, a playful smirk on his face.

I roll my eyes but can't help the small laugh of happiness that escapes from my lips. I must admit that I missed his narcissistic comments. "You're early."

It's barely evening, but Luke has gotten home—not that I'm complaining about this.

He tosses his suit jacket onto the couch, striding toward me. I stand up from the piano bench and circle my arms around his neck, while his arms wrap around my waist.

He pecks me on the lips. "I couldn’t wait to see you again. I worked overtime yesterday, so I deserve to be early today."

Now it's my turn to peck his lips. "Well, you just made me even happier than before."

"Glad to hear that," Luke says. "How's your day today? Anything good?"

I smile, loving his attention. I feel like I should be the one who asks my husband that question first, knowing how tiring it must have been at his office.

"Yes, there's something wonderful," I say. "I've just composed a new song, and I've never been so happy about it. Would you like to listen to it?"

Luke grins. "Am I the first person to listen to it?"

I giggle. "You are."

"I feel honored."

I sit on my piano bench, but when I'm about to play, I remember something.

"I have to record the song too," I say, looking around for the recorder, which is lying on the counter near the shelves.

Luke notices it. "Let me get it for you."

I smile, watching as he walks to get it. Focusing my attention back on my piano, I take a deep breath and begin playing the intro again.

Then I start to sing, the lyrics escaping from my mouth, echoing in the air.

I wonder why this song feels so close to me even though it's just a random song that I drafted years ago that I can't even remember now .

My heart can feel each melody like it has been there for a long time, and my emotions just flow through it. I can feel the joy of winter and the sadness of leaving it.

Maybe it's because the lyrics are beautiful—I can't believe that I wrote it when I was much younger.

While I continue singing, the sound of something crashing to the ground startles me. I snap my head toward Luke, who has just dropped the recorder in his hand.

His eyes widen, disbelief skating all over his face.

I frown. He seems to be at a loss for words. I wonder what has gotten into him.

"How..." he whispers. "How did you get that song?" His voice is shaking. Slowly, he walks closer to me, still looking starstruck.

"It's unexpected, really." I shrug. "I found an old draft of lyrics in my email from years ago. I must have written it but then forgot about it."

Luke stares at me intently but then sighs—I don't miss the slight disappointment on his face though.

Then his eyes soften, and a soft smile touches his lips.

"Is there something wrong with it?" I gulp, feeling my confidence level drop. "Is it bad?"

Luke shakes his head, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear as he stares into my eyes lovingly. "No."

"No?" I whisper.

"It's the most beautiful song that I've ever heard."