Sometimes, love can be found when you least expect it...
Akari Takeda walked on the dark side for fifteen years until death gave her the chance at a new life. Determined not to waste the time she has left, she moves to Boston with her young son to...
Sofia got up early and went for a walk, but she returned before I needed to leave for school at eight.
"Are you coming back at your usual time?" she asked.
The grimace spread across my face before I could stop it. "Maybe even later if Jansen insists on making up for the time we lost yesterday."
"He sounds like a real piece of work. How long is the bit of music you're playing? Do you actually need to practice that much?"
"Only twelve minutes, and I know it by heart already."
I'd memorised the piece by the third run-through, a trick I'd been able to pull since I was a little girl. Nomura-sensei said it was a gift. My first piano teacher had refused to believe it was possible, at least until she tested me by making me play a Bach piece I'd never laid eyes on before. Half an hour later, I knew it well enough to play it from memory in any key, and the teacher informed my parents I needed someone more experienced than her to further my musical education. Not that they could afford it.
"Just tell him you need to go home, then."
"That's what Lincoln said as well, but when I tried that last week, Jansen wouldn't listen."
"Lincoln? Who's Lincoln?"
Oops. I hadn't wanted to mention him to anybody else, but his name had slipped out without me thinking. "Just the janitor at school. Jansen complained because Lincoln wanted to clean the practice room while we were still using it, but if he hadn't come in, we'd probably have still been there at breakfast."
"Better keep your fingers crossed he does the same tonight."
Yes, I should, shouldn't I?
ओह! यह छवि हमारे सामग्री दिशानिर्देशों का पालन नहीं करती है। प्रकाशन जारी रखने के लिए, कृपया इसे हटा दें या कोई भिन्न छवि अपलोड करें।
On our third attempt at Schubert that evening, Jude's lack of practice still showed. Not in a dramatic way, but he spent too much time concentrating on the mechanics of the piece rather than putting in the expression it needed.
"Again," Jansen ordered.
Jude looked at his watch. "No can do. I've got a date in half an hour."
For one hopeful moment, I thought Jansen would self-combust. His face turned a peculiar shade of pink, and the growl that left his mouth hardly sounded human.
"We have to play in front of an audience in three days, and your date is more important?"
Jude shrugged. "She's hot."
Jansen grabbed Jude's wrist, but Jude had already mentioned to me that he went to the gym every morning, and despite his penchant for eating junk food, it showed. He shook off Jansen like he was swatting away a pesky mosquito.
"Chill out, man. It's only the first semester, and I came to school to have fun, not work like a dog every bloody day."
Jansen seethed, and I saw the fury in his eyes, but there was nothing he could do as Jude packed his cello away and sauntered out of the room.
