Second Chance

Part 2

One day they met his fans on a fast food chain restaurant and they approached them. They talk to him in English asking who the girl was.
“Is she your girlfriend?” One of the young fans demanded him to answer her question. Dimash was about to say yes when she cut him and replied that she was his cousin.
“You know… we Kazakh people have countless relatives. I’m that one of the relatives.” She smiled genuinely to them.
“Really? Why do you here just the two of you?”
“We’re just two hungry relatives.” She explained. “Do you think I would gladly have a date at fast food restaurant if I was his girlfriend? No, I am not that cheap.”
She also helped them to take pictures with Dimash, asked them to take care of Dimash while he was here. She waved at them with wide smile as they said goodbye.
“Cheap date?” He grumbled, his lips formed a cute pout like a little kid. Hands extended on the table. “Who said it was her comfort food and forced me to go?”
She reached his hand and held them dearly. “I’m sorry.”
“Why did you say that?”
“Said what?”
“That you’re my cousin.”
“We’re practically relatives since we both are Kazakh. We’re all family.”
“But you don’t want to be a Kazakh anymore. How do you claim that we’re cousin now?”
“Dimash, it is easier than to explain who I am in front of your fans. How do you address me? Someone you randomly saved from the ocean?” She laughed. “That’s a lot of works to do.”
She added that he should be careful about what he said in public. He couldn’t just risk his career over small stuffs like hanging out with random people. Fans could dig anything about him anytime.
“But you’re not that random people.”
Laura drew her hands away from his, pretended not to hear what he just said. She was well aware of the mutual feelings they shared over the last few months they spent together. It’s just that she knew it led them nowhere. She didn’t intend to go back to Kazakhstan, in contrary to him who loved the country with every drop of his blood. Look at his facial expression every time he talked about his homeland. The shiny eyes and compassionate talk he delivered that made people drawn into being a patriotic as well at once. Though it didn’t work on her but she still loved it when he did.
***
"Who is the girl on your latest Instagram post? She looks so familiar."
"Oh, Laura? You will be even more familiar with her one day soon." He smiled cunningly at his friend, Ali. They had been friends since they were in high school and now they were working together. He was part of DQ team.
"Are you serious? You guys are dating?"
"Not yet. I haven't asked her officially, maybe sometime later this year. I need to wait until she fully accepts me."
Yeah. Laura subtly stated that she didn’t want to get into a serious relationship with people from her homeland. That’s including Dimash.
"No. I meant, do you really know her?"
“Quite well. We have been friends for few months.”
“She didn’t know you?”
He said Laura didn’t know who he was when they first met. It’s impossible to think that she approached him with bad intention.
“Later I told her about myself including my profession, why? You are investigating me?”
“No. It’s just…” he paused. “Something sounds off.”
***
Laura went home and her parents talked about their plan to go back to Kazakhstan.
“I don’t want to.” She muttered. She would better stay here and find a job than going back there.
“No. You don’t need to go back with us.”
“What did you mean?”
“Don’t you want to pursue your dream?”
Her dream? Laura was an aspiring ballerina back then in her home town, she attended a local ballet school since she was 6 or 7. By the time she reached 17, she had already become one of the best students. Unfortunately, on the night when she was on the way home from celebrating her 18th birthday, an accident happened, the car her boyfriend drove crashed into another car. She was lying unconscious for days in ICU. The moment she woke up, she was told that her boyfriend didn’t survive. He died on the way to hospital. She herself had severe injury that ultimately killed her dream at once.
“We found a ballet academy in Moscow that seems suitable for you.” Her mom added.
“Ballet academy? Moscow?”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to go there?”
Of course she wanted to go there. It was one of the best academies in the world. The problem was, how did they get the money? They had spent almost of their entire saving for her after the accident. The insurance only covered for her medical expenses but not their other needs.
“I can’t go to that school knowing your current financial state.”
“Don’t worry, dear.”
She looked at her husband before continued speaking.
“Well… our relative in Kazakhstan left a big sum of inheritance. Your dad and I are getting old, we want to go back there. We don’t need anything grand anymore so we think it would be better to use it for your study.”
“What about the living expenses? The house? It’s expensive, mama.”
“You don’t need to worry about it, too. The amount of inheritance can cover a humble house or a studio apartment.”
The first person she wanted to know about the good news was Dimash, but she couldn’t reach him at the moment. He might be busy preparing for his upcoming projects. He was highly in demand in the meantime.
She left China and moved to Moscow by herself. Her parents went back to their homeland. That’s how she ended up living there.
***
She started to learn ballet again. Her parents prepared everything for her, she just needed to attend the audition and then registered there once she had passed.
The first week was kind of torturing. She got severe back pain and sprained ankle after attending about 13 classes for 5 days. She got all the technique correct, did the pointe perfectly, and learned both classic and modern ballet. The problem was her body didn’t work the way it used to. She didn’t have the same flexibility on her joints and muscles.
On Saturday morning she visited doctor and spent the rest of the weekend at home. It was an average apartment with only consisted of two large rooms, one for bedroom and the other for kitchen, no living room. Well, she didn’t need any though since she didn’t have any acquaintance here. It near to the metro station and there were some public places around. The heater systems were good. She wouldn’t suffer from the cold on winter.
One thing still concerned her, Dimash. How was he? She didn’t hear anything about him directly. Her previous  messages and calls she did left unanswered. Was he okay? Was he that busy to even return her call once or just replied her telling he was okay?
***
She had a minor role for the monthly performance today, as one of the fairies on Sleeping Beauty. It was her first role after several times dancing as a part of corps de ballet. The role was determined by the audition result. It was hard to get the role. She had to beat at least hundred people and most of them were younger than she was.
After the show she treated herself to a double scoop of strawberry and vanilla ice cream on the booth near her academy. She walked to the nearby metro station with the wedges she received from her mom. She sent her a lot of knitted wool sweater and wedges to her, basically order her to wear them outside the academy. She had to let her feet breathe and walk comfortably. Well, kind of weird but, yeah.
Her steps were getting slower before she stop at one of the poster ads on the way to the station.
Dimash.
She realized how she missed him a lot after their last meeting in China when she saw his picture there. She read each word printed there. Dimash was going to hold a concert here in two months. A flicker of excitement tinted her clear complexion, showing how happy she was over the thought of seeing Dimash again. The concert hall wasn’t far from her block. She took out her phone and tried to call him. Another busy tone she received. She moved to his social media account. She sent him a message saying that she saw his concert ads. She would be there since it was near her house.
On the way to the metro station she continued scanning through his posts. He looked busy, healthy, and happy on the pictures he shared. She smiled as she reading the comments. Everybody loved him. Compared to the last time, he had gained a lot more fame and fans recently. She got further looking out his old posts and found that their pictures were deleted. There were at least 2 or 3 of them but they had vanished.
***
Two months later.
The ballet academy was busy with the next show. Laura got her first second soloist role in Romeo and Juliette. She spent her weeks practicing after the regular classes, even on weekends. She had slowly adjusted to the nature of the training, less back pain though she got blisters on her feet. She couldn’t let herself crumble yet. The show would be held later this evening. It remarked her return on the ballet world she had dreamed for two years after the accident. She felt alive again.
Meanwhile Dimash had just finished his rehearsal for his next concert. He received a message and read it on his way out.
“You can go now, I am not planning to leave my room after this.” He said to the man who drove him from the rehearsal venue to the hotel.
Instead of taking a rest he had shower and wore his suit and left the hotel afterward by hailing a taxi. He concealed himself under the long coat, sunglasses and face mask.
The hall had already filled with hundreds of audience who wanted to watch the show. Laura put her hand on her heart, trying to control its beat as if she could. She inhaled and exhaled regularly behind the deep red curtain waiting for the cue to enter the stage. Her part would start after the eight part ended.
It was not until she danced on her 42nd part for “Juliette Alone” movement that she began seeing thing. She felt uneasy as she gently flowing with her role while her eyes caught someone’s gaze in the audiences’ seat. He was distinctive enough among the Russian since he was Asian. He would still be distinctive enough for Laura even if he was among Asian. Who wouldn’t notice that magnetic gaze from those beautiful eyes? She almost tripped herself on the stage but managed to finish her line smoothly.
Once the show ended Laura went out of the hall trying to find him still wearing his tulle skirt and pointe, she topped it with coat. It was Dimash, right? She thought. There were many people around her but none of them was him.
She gave up. “Ok, Laura. Stop kidding yourself.” She said to herself. He didn’t even reply your message or return you call, why would he attend your show? How did he know? Don’t be ridiculous.
“Fool me.” She banged her own forehead into the nearby wall. Then she went back to the dressing room and changed her costume to regular clothes. Before leaving the hall she stopped at the ice cream booth on the ground floor to have double scoops of vanilla and strawberry ice cream as usual. The only cold thing she liked. She had craved for it for months and now she had it as a reward for herself for doing well.

The song kind of reminds me of the scene above