Wed To The Forbidden Uncle

CH 12

Nola covered her mouth in disbelief as she watched the scene unfold before her eyes. Little Bao was actually smiling and he was learning to play the piano.

"Maisie, am I seeing things?" she asked the woman behind her.

"No, Miss, you're not mistaken. That's the young master," Maisie replied, equally surprised.

Everyone knew that the young master had autism since he was a child. He never spoke to anyone, never smiled, let alone learned to play the piano.

Mercy noticed two women watching from nearby and the younger one looked strikingly similar to the child.

Standing up, she picked up the child and approached them. "Are you his family?"

"Yes, yes," Maisie quickly stepped forward.

"But do you have any proof? I can't just hand him over to anyone," Mercy said cautiously.

"We do," Nola replied, pulling out her wallet and showing a photo of her and Little Bao together.

"Great," Mercy said, handing the child to Nola. The child, however, looked back at her longingly.

Nola smiled, "Thank you for looking after him. It seems Little Bao really likes you. I heard you playing earlier and it was wonderful. Would you be interested in learning piano from me?"

Mercy was taken aback. Could this woman be the teacher Zara wanted to study with?

Seeing her hesitation, Nola continued, "My teacher was the last disciple of the piano master Mr. Lennox. You’ve heard of Mr. Lennox, right?"

"Mr. Lennox's last disciple?" Mercy was taken aback.

"That's right," Nola replied, clearly pleased with Mercy's reaction. After all, it was hard for anyone to stay calm upon hearing the name of such a legendary artist.

However, Mercy's surprise was fleeting. She calmly declined, "Sorry, I already have a teacher. I can't take on another."

Nola felt a pang of disappointment. She had hoped that spending time with this girl might help her little one with his condition.

"Alright, here's my card. If you change your mind, feel free to contact me."

Mercy accepted the card politely. "Thank you."

As Nola and her child entered the elevator, Mercy quickly pulled out her phone and made a call.

A strong voice boomed from the other end, "Hey, you little rascal! You finally remembered to call your teacher? It's been a year since you—"

Mercy cut him off before he could finish. "Old man, when did I take on a disciple? Why didn't I know about this?"

The voice on the other end softened, "Well, someone asked me to take on a student, but since I've already accepted you as my last disciple, I had to put them under your name. And you have the nerve to scold me, when you, as my last disciple, don't even stay by my side..."

Mercy sighed, feeling a headache coming on. "Alright, alright, it's all my fault. I'll come visit you when I have some free time."

"That's more like it."

The voice on the other end sounded pleased. Who would have thought that the renowned piano master, Mr. Lennox, could be so down-to-earth in private?

After chatting a bit more about recent events, Mercy took the elevator to the third floor, heading to the private room Zara had mentioned.

Inside, it seemed the conversation had wrapped up and everyone was listening to Zara play a tune.

As the music ended, Zara noticed Mercy entering the room and pulled her over to introduce her to the woman. "Nola, this is my sister," she said.

Nola's eyes lit up when she saw Mercy, who nodded in greeting. Nola had been a bit disappointed earlier when she couldn't take Mercy as her student. But now, discovering that Mercy was Zara's sister, she thought this might be a blessing in disguise. If she took Zara as a student, maybe she could eventually persuade Mercy to join too.

Although Zara's talent was average, with proper guidance, she wouldn't be too bad. So, Nola decisively accepted Zara as her student.

On the way home, Michelle held Zara's hand joyfully, "Our Zara really impressed Nola. Study hard and maybe one day you'll go on a national tour."

Zara smiled shyly but then her expression fell. "It's just a pity that Nola didn't take my sister," she said.

Nola hadn't even been interested enough to ask Mercy to play a piece! Zara almost laughed at the thought. She had insisted on bringing Mercy along, knowing this would happen. Even if Mercy had played, it would have only been to highlight Zara's talent.

Hearing this, Callan’s smile faded. Mercy, despite being the true heiress of the Rivers family, lacked the foundational skills, which were hard to catch up on.

Mercy, uninterested in their conversation, sat in the back, closing her eyes to rest.

When they got home, the Rivers couple went upstairs first. Mercy was about to head to her room when Zara blocked her path.

"Did you see that, Mercy? So what if you're the real heiress of the Rivers family? You can't play music, paint, or write. What do you have to compete with me?"

Zara's expression was arrogant as she looked at Mercy like she was an ant. "Today, I became a student of Mr. Lennox's protégé and she didn't even bother to look at you. Hmph, soon I'll be the daughter our parents are most proud of!"

Mercy looked at Zara with a complicated expression. Was it really something to be happy about that Zara had become her grand-disciple? At least, Mercy wasn't thrilled about having such a foolish student like Zara.

She glanced at Zara indifferently. "With your attitude, you think you can play the piano? Even picking cotton would be too noisy with you around."

With that, she turned and walked away, not bothering to listen to any more of Zara's nonsense.

"Mercy! You're just jealous of me!" Zara shouted, hopping madly in frustration behind her.

As the mid-August full moon approached, it coincided with the birthday of the Rivers sisters. Callan was in a good mood lately and decided to throw a birthday party for them. He also planned for Zara to formally acknowledge her teacher at the party, so everyone would know his daughter was apprenticed to an internationally renowned pianist.

On the day of the party, Mercy wore a dress that Dexter had sent in advance. As expected, she captured everyone's attention the moment she appeared.

The girl wore a light blue gown with a trailing bow at the back, exuding elegance and a touch of playfulness. Her long hair was styled into a fishtail braid adorned with tiny sparkling jewel hairpins.

Seeing her outfit, Zara was so angry she almost went up and tore it apart. That pesky Mercy was stealing her spotlight again!

Zara's eyes darted around before she ran to the backstage lounge.

"Mom," she said, her eyes red as if she'd been wronged, leaning on Michelle's shoulder.

"What happened, Zara? Who upset you?" Michelle asked, gently patting her back.

"It's Mercy again, dressing so flamboyantly. Today is supposed to be my big day and now with her on stage, I'm just going to be a sidekick!"

She tugged on Michelle's sleeve, "Mom, I don't want her to come up. Can I have my birthday just for myself today? We can make her something nice to eat when we get home. Please?"