4 The ex-Coach

So, 'Royal Treats' it was.

I wore blue denim and a black turtle neck sweater. Since the weather was quite chilly, I grabbed my black coat as well. After slipping in my favourite black boots, I was off to go– to explore the new dishes at the Royal Treats.

Once I came out of my home, I saw my family members waiting for me, standing next to the car. Aunt gave me a look of disapproval and I concluded it must be because I made them wait for me. The driver uncle drove away the car as soon as we got inside. Our ride was silent, like the bunch of strangers in the name of family we were.

About half an hour later we were at our destination, 'Royal Treats'. Everything about this hotel screamed the word luxury. The glittering lights, dress code of the workers, the chandeliers, the clean environment, well-cultured staff– Just fascinating!

Of course, being a person who appreciates the arts, it was a treat to my eyes. But my main focus was food. My uncle was a VIP cardholder of this hotel. Thus, we were attended by higher-ranked staff of the hotel.

They offered us the menu and my sharp eyes excitingly started to scan through all the dishes which were listed on that menu page. However, my mood became foul when my health-freak aunt ordered some nonsense in the name of food.

'Are we kidding?! Did we just come here to eat the salad? Bloody salads?! God, kill me! Please?'

I wished I could just say some really nasty words to her, but I knew my one single stupid word was more than enough to make my life difficult than it already was. So, I did the thing which I was habitual to, eating without any complaint.

Although the food in my plate was awful, My mood immediately improved when I saw a guy settling on a chair with a guitar in his hands. The guy was wearing one of the hotel staff's clothes and I figured he might be a hotel staff hired for playing music.

He touched the strings of the guitar and a beautiful melody came out of it. The melody sounded quite familiar, 'Ah! It was moonlight sonata!' I liked this tune more as the piano version, but he was doing a pretty nice job on guitar as well. Around 3 minutes later, the tuning ended and he started to play a new melody, this time he was singing as well–"You belong with me".

Everything about his singing was perfect yet I felt something was missing there. But what...? 'I wish I was trained enough to figure out the problem...'

"What's wrong with the kids these days? They just making fun of music!" I heard an old voice coming from near somewhere. And looking here and there for a few seconds, I found the owner of the voice. It was an old man in his mid-sixties, irritation clear in his blue eyes. He was sitting near our table, wearing a very simple white shirt and black pants. And I had a feeling that I have seen him somewhere... but where?

I heard him saying further, "Kid, you are just trying to copy the original artist's tone! When are you all going to understand that everyone has a different voice? You can not just copy someone else's tone for god sake!" The old man seemed a little too protective over songs and he seemed like someone with pretty good knowledge about music, tone and all. But speaking out loud...It was a little rude of him.

The guy who was singing earlier seemed to be hesitant to continue his singing further. And the people present in the room started to give the old man a look as if he was a villain.

My brother also looked at the old man's direction and after a few seconds, he murmured with uncertainty, "He is Eragon Astors, right..?" That's right! Eragon Astors! No wonder I found him to be familiar! Many years ago he used to be a famous music coach, but for some unknown reason, he left the coaching.

And an idea came to my mind, 'If only I could convince him to teach me music...' Although, he seemed like someone with a pretty bad temper.

The previous music coach finished the drink which was in his hand and headed towards the exit gate. "I-i need to go to the washroom, excuse me!" I hastily murmured to my aunt and ran, too afraid that she might stop me in middle. And I felt the chilly gaze of my aunt which was trailing my steps. 'Jeez! This woman!' After taking several lefts and rights I finally lost sight of my aunt and was at the exit gate.

"E-Excuse me, sir!" I yelled making the old man halt on his way. He turned to me, his hands inside his pocket and his face ever so poker. "I-i heard what you said that guy about music–"

"Oh, so you are here to remind me that I was rude back then?" Said the music coach. 'Guess what, I choose the wrong approach.'

"No, not at all! I mean what you said was harsh but it was nothing but the reality!" I said but the old man still wasn't looking satisfied with my words and he had that bored look in his eyes. "You know, it was like bitter truth! Sir, you only said because you have pretty high knowledge about music, so–"

"Kid, get to the point." The old man said, maybe tired of my babbling. So, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath then I said,

"I want to be your student."