AGE NINE,
‘She worries me, son,’ Elena, his mother, sighed as she took a seat next to him.
The room was quickly filling as they waited for the piano recital to start.
Noelle, Cisco’s sister, was expected to take the stage second to last. Though it was only a school event, Elena had insisted Cisco accompany her to make Noelle feel more confident. Deep down, Cisco suspected his mother wanted the opportunity to talk about his sister and suggest—not for the first time—an intervention.
‘She’s odd—asocial. All the kids are too scared to approach her or play with her,’ Elena continued, pursing her lips.
Cisco didn’t reply, simply regarding Noelle as she stood far apart from the other kids, seemingly minding her own business. He didn’t understand why that was frowned upon. Maybe she wasn’t like the other kids, but she had her own—some harder to spot—charms.
She was a piano prodigy, having such an exquisite talent anyone who listened to her, be it laymen or experts, were touched by the sound of her music. So what if she wasn’t exactly…social?
Genius rarely fit into a mold.
‘Of course, you wouldn’t see it,’ she chuckled when she noted his confused expression. ‘You were the same when you were her age. With your nose buried in those books of yours, always looking for answers even when there are none.’
‘I always find the answers,’ he answered curtly. ‘I have yet to encounter a question without an answer.’
Except he had. Something that had stumped and shook him to his core. But that was not for anyone else to know. It was his secret shame—his everlasting delirium. One he never wanted to wake up from. To divulge that would be akin to revealing its mysticism to the world, and he was too greedy to do that. No, that was for him and him alone—for his ever-revolving thoughts and no one else’s.
‘The same goes for your sister,’ she shook her head. ‘There is one thing that characterizes the both of you.’
Cisco frowned.
His sister was sixteen years younger than him. He didn’t see how his mother could compare the two of them when there was almost a generational gap between them.
Elena turned to him.
‘Obsession,’ she stated, unblinking. ‘Just like you, your sister has…obsessive tendencies.’
‘I prefer to call it consistency,’ he muttered, hating that she was putting him on the spot. Yet he would never dare say a bad word to his mother. He loved and respected her, that affection only growing as he’d seen her care for his invalid father, wholly dedicating herself to his well-being.
His mother smiled.
‘Of course you would,’ she chuckled, patting him lightly on the shoulder. ‘But I worry about her more than I ever worried about you.’
His eyebrows shot up.
‘I didn’t know you worried about me.’
‘It took me a while to get used to your…peculiarities. I’m not saying this as a bad thing. You know exactly what I mean.’
Cisco frowned.
It had taken a long time for his mother and father to get used to him and his patterns. As the eldest, it was his duty to continue the family legacy and take on the business. He’d never shied away from his responsibilities, but he’d also let everyone know that he was going to do things his way—which always meant an unorthodox way.
Maybe he was obsessive—though he would only ever call himself consistent—about seeing things to the end. He liked to see the beginning, the middle and the end of a task, and he never strayed from course. Once decided, the plan would be enacted minutely.
Any deviation could prove fatal. To his carefully crafted plans, and to his extremely organized mind.
Yes, he was obsessive about that.
Point A had to lead to point B and then to point C. If it ever happened that point A led to point C, mayhem would be unleashed and everyone knew to not be anywhere within Cisco’s destructive path.
Fine, so he had some peculiarities. But he didn’t see what was so worrisome about his sister. So she had her own peculiarities. He had to admit he sometimes saw himself in her and pitied her for it. As a male, he could make people accept his eccentricities. As a woman, she would be castigated for them.
‘Her peculiarities aren’t greater than mine,’ he told her evenly.
‘She has no friends, Cisco. She doesn’t want to make any friends. Why, last time I was told she embarrassed her teacher in front of the entire class for suggesting she join her classmates for a project. She embarrassed an adult!’ his mother exclaimed uneasily. ‘All day she’s just…there. She loses herself in her music and sometimes I wonder if there’s anything to her aside from that,’ she paused, pursing her lips. ‘She scares me sometimes,’ she whispered. ‘And I think she scares everyone else too.’
‘She’s only nine, mamma. She’s a child.’
‘You were nine once, too. And though you were a loner as well, people loved you. You had that little clique at school that always looked up to you,’ Elena laughed. ‘I can still remember them following you around everywhere and trying to be like you.’
‘You’re remembering wrong, mamma. I didn’t want anything to do with them. I just wanted to read my Descartes,’ he added dryly.
He could still picture those days. He’d always been more attracted by metaphysics, by principles of knowledge and scrutinizing an issue until he got to the root of it. He preferred abstract principles to the dreary reality he lived in.
From the moment he learned how to read, he eschewed the normal texts for kids his age, going for more difficult ones—so difficult, in fact, that everyone around him had reacted with equal awe and mockery. His peers, in particular, thought him condescending because he didn’t want to engage in what he thought were inane, childish games. But there had also been those that had seen him as cool—those that tried to emulate him.
He’d never made an effort to be friends with them, but they’d followed him for so long that at some point he’d decided to allow them in his vicinity, sometimes even imparting some of his knowledge.
Yes, one might say he’d had a posse. But it had never been of his making. It had simply…happened.
Yet Cisco could understand the parallel his mother was drawing.
Noelle went out of her way to keep her distance from people.
Cisco might not have been a regular kid, playing or engaging in the same activities as others. But he had, on occasion, pretended to be normal.
He’d always known he was different from the rest, but he’d also sought to assimilate because he’d realized early on that different—other—made him stand out more than he wanted to. And if there was one thing he despised more than the slightest deviation in his schedule, it was having to explain himself.
Noelle was the opposite.
She didn’t mind being different—she reveled in it. She didn’t mind standing out like a sore thumb in a crowd. She just wanted to be alone.
Alone with her music.
So she did everything in her power to drive people away.
Elena had always encouraged her to play and be like other kids. As the only girl in the family, their mother had been awfully excited at pampering her and teaching her how to be a lady.
But Noelle wasn’t receptive to any of that.
She didn’t like to play. She hated other kids. Sometimes she came across like an adult in a child’s body—jaded about every aspect of life.
Even her clothes exemplified that.
Elena had always tried to get her to wear girly clothes in light, cheerful colors, but Noelle had been entirely adverse to the idea. Though she was just nine, she would not let anyone dictate how she dressed.
At first, Elena had taken it as a sign of a strong personality, allowing her to have an input into her wardrobe. But when she’d seen all Noelle wanted to wear were gray and black clothes, she’d put her foot down.
Easier said than done, because that was exactly when Noelle’s strong personality had poked its head to the surface.
When Elena had forced her to wear a pink dress to school, Noelle had simply used the school’s art supplies to paint it black.
Elena had been incensed when she’d been told by the principal what Noelle had done. She’d been even more taken aback when she’d seen her daughter smeared with black paint from head to toe. And though she’d chastised her, threatening her with all types of punishments, Noelle had simply looked into her eyes with a blank expression. Slowly, the corners of her mouth had tipped up in a you can do whatever you want, I’ll still find a way around it.
And that was the core of Noelle’s personality. She was tenacious and too clever for her own good, circumventing any and all restrictions placed on her.
Ultimately, Elena had simply stopped trying. If she couldn’t change her daughter, then she could bemoan about her to anyone listening—and that happened to be Cisco at the moment.
‘I don’t know what to do about her anymore,’ Elena released a dramatic sigh.
‘Why don’t you just leave her alone?’ he muttered dryly.
That was what everyone had done with him, giving him a wide berth. He supposed it was another advantage of being born a male. He was celebrated as ruthless and intelligent in the business world, and though Noelle showed the same promise, she was chastised and put down for it.
‘Cisco,’ Elena gasped. ‘She’s my daughter. A DeVille,’ she mentioned in a scandalized tone. ‘She needs to uphold our family’s standards. Just thinking what others must be saying about her and I’m getting a headache,’ his mother muttered, bringing two fingers to her temple.
Cisco gave her a side glance but refused to respond. He usually refrained from commenting when said comment would likely offend his mother. He might love her, but that didn’t mean he agreed with her.
She’d never been so unyielding with him, or his brothers. As the first born, she’d attempted to fuss over him until she’d realized it was all in vain. Cisco lived in a completely different world, and it was impossible to change his ways. She’d mellowed a little for Thadeo before going in full force over Amo, coddling him to the point that when he’d broken off, he’d gone off the rails—still was off the rails. When Noelle had been born—a surprise to everyone—Elena had seen it as her last chance to fulfill her parenting dreams. Even better that she was a girl, since he knew his mother had wished for one all along. Too bad that Noelle wasn’t a team player.
Cisco’s lips curled up at that thought. He couldn’t blame his sister. Not when their mother had very rigid ideas of what being a DeVille girl meant, and Noelle didn’t fit any.
Elena might have wanted her little princess. Instead she’d gotten a little devil.
‘There’s this school I’ve been reading up on,’ his mother suddenly said. Cisco lifted a brow in question. ‘It’s structured like a camp, so the kids live on the premises. The school promises to teach the kids discipline and manners…’
‘Mamma, don’t,’ he shook his head. ‘Those schools are nothing more than prisons. And with Noelle’s personality, you would just be doing her a disservice. You know how stubborn she can get. If you send her away to have some discipline nonsense drilled into her she is more likely to rebel than turn into the perfect lady.’
Elena pressed her lips into a thin line. She was about to say more when the recital began. In the order announced, the kids played their pieces one by one. When it was Noelle’s turn, the difference in the audience was visible.
No one moved, not even one inch, their attention riveted on the stage as her hands glided over the piano keys, each note richer than the previous.
‘She’s so talented, isn’t she?’ Elena whispered, her eyes moist with tears.
‘She is,’ Cisco grunted.
He refrained from adding that by interfering with who Noelle was at her core, Elena would also be interfering with the way she played. The two were irreversibly linked, and Cisco had noted from the beginning that music was an extension of her. What Noelle couldn’t express with words or actions, she did so through music.
She may be aloof and seemingly unfeeling. Not her music.
There was something almost palpable in the way she played. And by God, she was just nine. He knew that with age and maturity, her talent would only develop more.
She could very well be the musician of her generation.
Besides her skillful handling of the piano keys, there was also the added fact that she personalized her pieces.
While every other kid of her age played faithfully by the score, to a trained ear it was obvious that slight modifications had been made to certain notes, giving the overall piece a new and fresh approach.
And that was where her true talent lay—innovation. Noelle loved to compose just as much as she liked to play, and despite continuous admonishments from her teachers that she was altering the classical pieces, she never stopped.
Cisco couldn’t help but smile as he spotted her piano instructor in the corner, her mouth set in a grim line, her brows furrowed with frustration at Noelle’s blatant disregard of rules.
‘She did it again, didn’t she?’ his mother asked in a hushed tone, her gaze on the teacher.
Though Elena wasn’t as versed in classical music, she knew her daughter well enough to realize she would never play by the rules—not even ones as simple as a piano score.
‘She did,’ Cisco nodded appreciatively. ‘And she did it marvelously.’
The recital came to an end, and Noelle reluctantly came to their side.
She was dressed in a pair of black trousers and a black button-up shirt. Her hair was plaited in one braid at her back, her face fresh and…blank.
His mother was right that she resembled him—both in appearance and in her demeanor.
She had the same olive complexion as he did, her eyes a light hazel color that wavered between brown and green depending on the lighting. His own eyes were similar with the exception that one was perpetually green and the other brown.
Yet it was her personality that reminded him so much of his own.
He’d never been a people person either, preferring the company of books or other nonverbal creatures. His deep dislike of the verbal variety had started early in his childhood when he’d realized his way of thinking was so different from anyone else’s that he could never get his point across. It was almost like talking in a foreign language, of which he was the last known speaker. In the beginning, he’d tried to explain himself and his train of thought. But soon he’d realized it was futile as people preferred to jump to conclusions rather than try to understand him. So he’d stopped trying to communicate altogether.
He could see the seeds of that in Noelle, too.
Everyone around her misunderstood her—or, more appropriately, they never tried to understand her in the first place. They branded her a troublemaker simply because she didn’t fit into a known mold and preferred to ostracize her than accept her as she was.
She had all the reasons to not want to interact if all interactions were a way for her to be chastised, reproached, and told all the ways in which she failed to be a good child.
Maybe because he’d had similar experiences he could understand that. Yet his mother didn’t seem to. She continued on in her crusade to turn Noelle into the perfect girl.
‘Well done, Noelle,’ Cisco spoke first, breaking the awkward silence.
Noelle raised her head to look at him, nodding with the hint of a smile. Yet before he could coax her from her quiet shell, her piano instructor was suddenly by their side.
‘You went off the score, Noelle,’ she said in a stern voice, the reproach clear. ‘This was a collective recital not your private show. Your job was to follow the piece, note by note, not to add those pesky alterations.’
Noelle didn’t turn, nor did she deign to reply, simply staring up ahead.
‘Your teacher is talking to you, Noelle,’ Elena intervened, taking a step closer to her. ‘It’s the polite thing to answer her.’
Still, nothing. Noelle ignored both women as she redirected her attention to the floor, studying her shoes.
‘Noelle,’ Elena burst out, her hand on Noelle’s arm. ‘Your teacher just told you what you did wrong.’
Noelle blinked.
‘I didn’t do anything wrong,’ she stated in an even voice.
Both Elena and the instructor were shocked at her reply.
‘What do you mean you didn’t do anything wrong? I just told you what you did wrong, young lady,’ the instructor grit out.
Cisco observed the interaction from the sidelines, noting that the woman was getting incredibly worked up for what were only a few alterations. He was sure that no one in the audience even realized it. After all, this was a recital for parents and staff who were likely not very acquainted with the intricacies of classical music.
Noelle slowly turned her head towards the instructor. Blinking innocently, she smiled.
‘You should ask the audience if they think I did anything wrong,’ she said in a sweet tone—too sweet for her. ‘Some even cried. And I don’t think it was from my mistakes.’
‘W—what?’ the instructor sputtered at the same time as Elena’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Cisco merely smiled, amused.
Who said nine-year-olds were easy targets?
‘Noelle, that’s impertinent. Apologize to your instructor,’ Elena suddenly demanded.
Noelle’s expression didn’t change, though Cisco could detect a small twitch under her eye. Instead of arguing with her mother, though, Noelle did apologize. In the same sweet tone, she addressed the teacher.
‘I’m sorry, Miss Rawlins,’ she said softly. ‘I apologize for showing your shortcomings as a teacher. I also apologize for being a better player than you can ever aspire to be.’
She said it all with the sweetest smile on her face.
Cisco brought his hand to his mouth to muffle his laughter while Elena and Miss Rawlins were rendered so speechless, they just stared at Noelle for moments on end.
‘You…’
‘Noelle…’
‘Noelle, why don’t you go get your stuff and we can head home,’ Cisco intervened, realizing that a scandal would arise if she spent another moment in the presence of the two women.
Noelle nodded respectfully, excusing herself like the dutiful child she decidedly was not. Yet to anyone else watching from the outside, she was the model of decorum.
It was only Miss Rawlins and her mother that had yet to recover from the set-down of a nine-year-old. And recover they did. After Noelle was already out of sight.
‘I hope you can understand why I can no longer welcome Noelle in my class, Mrs. DeVille,’ Miss Rawlins noted, her face red mottled with anger.
‘Of course. I’m so sorry for my daughter’s behavior. She’s not always like that…’
As usual, Elena continued to make excuses for Noelle, doing her best to save face.
Only when Miss Rawlins left did she turn to Cisco, her hands in the air as she huffed out loud.
‘At this point she needs a prison,’ she said, hinting again at that school of manners.
‘Mother, calm down.’
‘How can I calm down? Didn’t you hear what she said to her teacher? My God, how could I have raised someone like that…’
Shaking his head, Cisco couldn’t help but chuckle at his mother’s outburst.
‘And now you’re laughing at me, too. I’ve become a laughing stock for my own children.’
‘You’re exaggerating, mamma. I’m not laughing at you. Just at the situation.’
‘Of course you would. You’re not the one embarrassed every single time she does one of her little scenes.’
‘No offense, mamma, but from where I was sitting I’d say the scene was well deserved. Instead of focusing all your frustrations on Noelle, you could also look at the people around her. The teacher’s tone wasn’t proper either.’
‘What? Frustration?’ Elena’s eyes widened in shock.
Taking a deep breath, Cisco set his eyes on his mother.
‘Yes. Frustration,’ he nodded. ‘Noelle may not be like other kids, I agree. And because of that you shouldn’t behave like a normal mother, either.’
‘I don’t understand,’ she frowned.
‘You keep trying to put her in a box and tell her how to behave when that’s not who she is. You never did that to me, did you?’
‘But you weren’t this rude to people,’ she weakly made the excuse.
‘No, I was worse. But because I’m a man, it was excused,’ he pointed out, raising his eyebrow at her and waiting for another excuse.
‘But…’
‘My tutors lasted each a couple of weeks maximum. Or do you not recall that either?’
Elena blinked, taken aback by his sudden change in demeanor.
Cisco suspected it was because he rarely disagreed with her—and it was all because he knew it was a waste of time to do so. She had her views, he had his and they rarely overlapped.
But he couldn’t not intervene when he observed the way everyone was banding up against Noelle.
He may have been a loner growing up, but he’d been just as blunt as outspoken as his sister currently was. He’d never shied away from giving his opinion if asked. The only difference was that he’d quickly learned most people weren’t worth his effort. Why argue when he could just ignore them?
But he couldn’t ignore this.
‘But it’s different. You were…’
‘A boy. Yes, I think we’ve established that,’ he muttered dryly.
Elena regarded him warily, taken aback by his sudden attitude.
‘I’ll be completely honest with you, mamma, because I think it’s high time someone did that. You’re spilling your frustrations onto Noelle because she didn’t fit your expectations. You wanted a girly girl to parade around but instead you got an independent child who cared more about Mozart and Handel than she did about Barbies and pink dresses.’
‘But…’
‘You know it’s true,’ he didn’t let her protest for he knew she would just come up with more excuses. In her delusion about Noelle, she’d convinced herself there was something seriously wrong with her when she was just that. Different. And no one wanted to accept it.
‘But she’s embarrassing us,’ she added weakly.
‘Someone can embarrass you only if you let them,’ he rolled his eyes. ‘You’re adding too much weight to what other people are saying instead of paying more attention to your child.’
‘Cisco… How can you say that?’ She asked in a hurt tone.
He felt bad for doing so, but he suspected it was high time someone gave his mother a dose of reality.
‘Instead of criticizing her all the time, maybe cut her some slack. I’m sure you’ll be surprised by the results.’
‘The results? She’ll become even worse. God, you saw how impertinent she was and you want me to leave her alone? Continue to be so rude?’ Elena asked, horrified.
‘So you’d rather she let herself be a pushover instead of standing up for herself?’ he fired back.
‘How was that standing up for herself?’
Cisco realized that no matter what he told his mother it was unlikely to change her opinion. The teacher’s tone alone had been a cause for alarm, for it suggested a history of animosity. But his mother decided to overlook that and just focus on Noelle’s replies.
Belatedly, he regretted not looking into Noelle more closely as he’d never had cause to worry before. With his father’s poor health, he’d had to take over the family business and he’d been swamped with work for years. He’d had to give up his dreams of a formal university education in favor of devoting himself to the family business.
Noelle soon reappeared with her bag and Cisco gave his mother a harsh stare which promptly shut her up. He may be her son, but he was also the head of the family, and his mother respected his authority.
As they went outside, Cisco turned to Elena.
‘You should go home with your guards, mother. I’ll take Noelle with me,’ he said before he steered Noelle towards his car, not waiting for his mother’s reply.
Noelle looked curiously at him, but she didn’t speak either, simply falling into step with him. As they neared the parking lot, Cisco’s bodyguard, Yu, was already by the car, nodding dutifully at him and handing him a cup of coffee. Cisco took it, surprised to see Yu remove a lollipop from his pocket and hand it to Noelle.
He expected his sister to refuse the offering, but she accepted it with a shy smile.
Yu opened the door for her, closing it after she got inside and taking his place by Cisco’s side. He was around a head shorter than Cisco, and though most thought it odd that he’d chosen Yu as his bodyguard, he would have never trusted anyone else.
‘Didn’t go well?’
He shook his head. Taking a cigarette from his pack, he brought it to his lips, lighting it up and inhaling deeply.
‘You were right,’ Cisco grimly admitted.
But then, when was Yu not right?
‘I take it she didn’t react well.’
‘No. Good thing you weren’t there, too. Otherwise it might have been worse,’ he chuckled.
His mother couldn’t stand Yu, and would often go out of her way to insult him.
‘Me and Mrs. Elena in the same room? Heaven forbid,’ Yu shuddered.
Cisco smiled, yet he had to give it to Yu. He’d been the one to point out to him that something might be going on with his sister and had advised him to make time for the recital. Cisco valued Yu’s insight as much as he did his own, so he’d agreed to do so, though initially a little skeptical about the situation.
Yet now he was convinced he had to do something about it before his mother sunk her claws into Noelle and destroyed what made her unique.
