Fairly Local → Pierre Gasly [3]

i| Hometown

在我们的家乡，我们不是任何人
Where we're from, we're no one

Mai Chen had been in and out of hospitals her entire life, spending more time on the white walls than in a classroom. It had started at the age of five when her parents noticed she was breathing in strange patterns. From there, it only got worse. A lot of problems came from her heart and while things were better now, she still suffered from time to time with her heart rhythm. It caused Orthostatic hypotension (which was dizziness and fainting when standing up as a short explanation) from time to time, meaning she'd end up back in the white walls to get everything back under control.

She was used to it, as stressful as it was, and there wasn't much she could do. She tried to live a normal life but it was clear a regular everyday job wasn't going to make the cut for her, knowing she'd be fired in order two months even if she was lucky. It's not like she had rich parents to fund whatever she wanted to do either.

Her mother and father lived in Singapore still and while Mai had a very close relationship with them, she was never willing to ask them for money. They weren't particularly wealthy, enough to get by, so Mai had to make her own way in the world.

Admittedly, her parents never thought she would be a professional piano player but they were happy as long as she was.

Along with her parents, Chiara and Lee, her cousin also lived back in Singapore. Huan was two years older than her, already married and had a little girl. He raised his daughter while his wife worked as a commercial lawyer, so was often travelling around to meet international clients. Her parents raised her cousin so Mai and Huan would often act like siblings.

Mai ended up in Italy when she received a full scholarship to study at the Milan Conservatory. She chose to stay in Milan due to the networks she had built within the music sector and she learnt to love the country. It's also where she met her friend, who studied alongside her but was now a music blogger.

Mai liked to think her name meant something around Italy, even if it didn't internationally. She was nowhere near 'famous' like she wanted to be when she was younger but she was doing well enough to maintain her lifestyle. Once a month, she gave lectures on the importance of music elements at her old Univesity and it kept her happy.

Her English wasn't amazing but she got by on what she knew. Italian was a fluent language for her and she had grown up speaking Mandarin Chinese.

"Mai!" Huan Chen called as he stepped out of the bathroom.

"What?" Mai shouted in Chinese.

"I used all of your shampoo."

"Buy more then!" Mai yelled back with a huff.

Huan, his wife and their child were staying with Mai for a week while she played important concerts. As well as that, Mai was getting her first service dog to help manage her condition and Huan wanted to be there to make sure she was looking after it. The dog would alert Mai to when was about to faint so she didn't get injured in the process.