Chapter 2 : Surprises
"Crap!" I blustered running with all my might. My legs shook while I muttered every curse word I knew.
I was already ten minutes late for rehearsal and on top of that, today was the scheduled arrival for the guest conductor Mister Lee was talking about last time. I just hope he isn't a type of conductor that shouts at people. I closed my eyes, quite intensely.
"Dang it!" I took a look on my watch one last time before leaning at the door. Trying to hear the dialogues that were currently taking place inside the room.
They already started practicing our piece. Should I just stay absent and pretend that I was sick and couldn't attend practice?
No, April. Tao lang din sila. They're professionals. I'm sure they'll understand. I tried to apply a bit of force to the door when another thought suddenly crossed to mind. Exactly, April! They're professionals. I doubt they'll let this slide.
Mariin akong napapikit bago marahang sinubukang maglakad papalabas ng rehearsal room habang bitbit ko ang aking violin case. Pero bago pa man ako makatalikod ay biglang nag bukas ang pinto. Bumungad sa akin ang isang nanlalaki ang mata'ng si Naycie ngunit maya-maya ay may lumitaw na naglalarong ngisi sa kanyang mapupulang mga labi.
I furrowed my eyebrows, unconsciously. "Oh April! We were just talking about you!" she exclaimed, quite loudly.
Hindi ko alam kung sinasadya niyang lakasan ang pag tawag sa aking pangalan basta ang alam ko lamang ay... she's obviously up to no good. My gut is telling me that she's up to no good.
I had no choice but to walk inside the dead-silence rehearsal room. They were all looking at me, some were wide-eyed, others were looking at me with pity, and some just gave me a "yikes" look. Just great. I could only hear Naycie's high heels stomping on the floor.
I kept a blank face but my gestures were definitely betraying the heck out of me. I was shaking a lot. I struggled assembling the chin rest, it was clanking loudly, which I intensely closed eyes upon. Me fixing my note stand this noisily will haunt me forever. What's even more haunting is the guest conductor stare at me. He looked like I did something to his children.. and his children's children.
"Thank you for waiting." I said, Mister Lee looked at me and crooked his lips. "I-I'm sorry for-"
"What's your name?" the guest conductor's tone raised at the end of the question. I could feel my face slowly become beet root red, but I maintained a straight face, trying to keep things cool.
"April, sir." I briefly answered his stare with mine before harshly looking away... somewhere around the room.
Is that a butterfly?
"Play the phrase," he instructed me, quite harshly, making my hands move. I hesitated to pick up the violin but I did anyway. My posture was rigid and my bow was a bit shaking. But I managed to play the phrase correctly.
Or I thought I did.
"Play it louder!" he shouted to the top of his throat. I crooked an eyebrow. "I can't hear you! Pumunta ka pa rito kung hindi ka rin naman pala tutugtog ng maayos? Sinasayang mo oras ko!" he shouted at me.
Beethoven would be delighted to meet you.
"Oh wow, pero sabi sa sheet piano da-"
"Sinasagot mo ako?!" sigaw nito, making my eyes twitch a bit.
"Papa, calm down." biglang singit ni Naycie. Naglakad siya papalapit rito at pinakalma ito. I sat down with my violin, wearing a deadpan face. "Kailangan mo kumalma, hindi daw p'wede stress sa iyo." Naycie looked at me with piercing eyes. I averted her gaze with an eye roll.
Just great. Now I'm the bad guy.
"Get her out of my sight." bulong nito na nagpakulo ng dugo ko. Magsama sila ng maldita niyang anak.
"Why would I leave? I came here to practice, whether you like it or not. Your comfort is the least of my concern." I seriously muttered and looked at Mister Lee meaningfully. He took the hint and took over.
"Uh Sir Beltran, you may step outside for a bit to calm down po. I'll handle the orchestra for a while," he nodded to Naycie when she answered him with a nod too. Inalalayan niya ang kanyang ama papalabas at marahang tumakbo sa amin pabalik.
She held her violin as the practice started with ease. Mister Lee became the conductor for a short while Mr. Beltran was calming down outside. I don't have a single drop of guilt. He could've just let me join the orchestra without shaming and shouting at me like that. That was never necessary.
A few minutes of rehearsing came by when Mr. Beltran entered the room without throwing a single glance at me. Good. That will be better. He isn't that bad after all.
Pagkatapos ng rehearsal ay dumeretso ako papunta sa aming room upang kunin ang mga gamit na iuuwi ko sa bahay. Sa bahay na kasama si Mama.
A few moments passed when I received a text from Penelope:
Oii! Di ako makakasabay ngayon, something came up. Catch u on Mon? Safe trip pag-uwi ng QC mah fren.
I dropped by sa dorm and fixed my things. Sorting what I should bring back home to Quezon. After fixing my things I put my hair up to a bun, wore my glasses and changed to a casual outfit before stepping outside and locking our door. Pen has her own key so I have nothing to worry about.
A few moments passed by and I was sitting by the window of a bus to home. I got my phone and navigated it to Spotify to play some tunes.
Rain started drizzling outside the window. I shivered at the cold breeze of the air con.
I listened to Brahms Violin Concerto once again. It is one of my repertoires meaning I could actually play as the soloist of the orchestra. But I can't play it as good as Naycie does. That girl must've been a prodigy. She has the face and the charm of a soloist. I heard she started violin at the age of four. I started when I was six.
After eleven--or twelve years of violin I don't think I have reached my full potential yet. I was just a normal violinist, there was nothing special about me. Compared to Naycie, I am the average one. But I want to change that.
My eyes flickered when I remembered something vividly. Juilliard. I smirked.
It was a nice bus trip to home unfortunately I drifted to sleep while on the way and ended up almost passing the bus stop. Kailangan ko pang sumakay ng traysikel bago pa ako makarating sa aking paparoonan.
But then I decided to drop by a mall and buy a few rosins because I was short on them.
I nodded to the security officer as gently I removed my hood, revealing my bun as few strands of hair slowly drop glided down my cheeks. I adjusted my glasses before plugging in my earphones.
"Mmm," I mumbled looking through stores, low-key hoping to see a violin store. But I guess luck was an ally, I found one eventually.
Two nice guys were the persons selling the violins to kids. They had welcoming smiles.
I walked to the counter. "Rosin." I just said.
"Sure," he got the rosins and smiled at me. "How long have you been playing the violin?" he asked me out of the blue.
"More than ten years na po yata." I shrugged while he was putting the rosins in a small bag.
"A bow sir, for this." a guy appeared to my side. He was now wearing a gray long-sleeved polo. I turned to him while he stuck out his tongue to the side of this cheek. He wore black slacks and those boots again. I looked up to meet his gray eyes.
"Hey!" he automatically smiled at me. "It's April? Diba?"
"Paano mo nalaman?" I asked, not really minding it.
"Sinigaw nung cashier, haha." he chuckled and leaned an elbow on the counter as I looked up to match his gaze. It's his eyes that really hits different. I can't help but stare at them. They're just too exquisite.
"So you play violin, too?" I pursed my lips to the bow that he was planning to buy, typical Filipino move. He then laughed then grinned.
"It's for my little sister." he looked at his nails, fidgeting with them before looking at me again. "Her name's unique, wanna know her name?"
Why not? "Sige."
"Maria Anna." he examined my reaction. "We call her Nannerl, Maria Anna is too long of a name." he chuckled and moved his tongue to the side of his lips before fixing his hair.
I chortled. "Tapos ikaw? Wolfgang Amadeus?"
"Who in their sane mind would name their child Wolfgang?" he laughed.
"You have to admit, it's an edgy name." I remarked while laughing.
"Would you name your kids that though?" he asked. His laughter faded with a small grin. He rested his chin on his palm before looking at me.
"Well if you'd let me," I simply said as he furrowed an eyebrow then raised another.
That came out wrong.
"Of course I'd let you." he smirked and bit his lower lip while tapping my hair bun softly before chuckling. "It's your child. Unless, of course, you're my wife." he laughed out loud. "You're funny."
This guy...
"Here's your bow sir," the guy from the violin store finally handed what he wanted.
"Thank you."
I stole a glimpse on his watch then unconsciously scolded myself for talking to him instead of hurrying back home. It was almost seven in the evening and I was really hungry.
Like he just read my mind, he asked, "Gutom ka na? Tara kumain." he offered full of kindred as I immediately gestured my hands left and right while saying no.
"I have to go home... next time nalang." I smiled and waved at him. "Thank you, by the way!" I ran to the exit and opened my umbrella to the fast falling of raindrops from the dark sky to the slippery wet floor.
Pumara na lamang ako ng isang traysikel sa kadahilanang napakalakas na ng pagbagsak ng ulan. Napakahassle din lalo na't dala dala ko pa ang aking mga gamit galing Thomas. I ended up paying a lot more than I should've but that was always almost the least of my concern.
My mother was.
I abraded dirt from my shoe to the rag in front of our door. One of the maids hurried and greeted me. "Good evening, Ma'am." I smiled back when she did. She got my stuff and I reckoned she put them in my room.
"Nand'yan ba si Mommy?" I asked her.
"Yes po, Ma'am. Kanina ka pa po niya kayo hinihintay. Excited po siya kayong makasamang muli." she chuckled. I gave her a suppressed smile and a twitching eye.
"Yeah uhm," I did not expect that. "Bakit daw?"
She laughed excitedly. "Basta, Ma'am! Magugulat po kayo!" she then gestured me to finally go inside. Once again, I removed my hoodie and fixed my glasses.
I walked to our living room. The white shiny floor reflected this blank-but curious face of mine. The furnitures looked the same although the last time I was here they weren't arranged in this layout. My mother must've put these around. There were also new jars and souvenirs I could tell was from the East, some were from the West but most were from the East.
"Apollo!" I heard her bold and whole voice. "Miss me?"
Nah, Mom. "Kinda."
"I have news! Very special news for a future doctor like you!" she glided her red sparkling dress to my direction and held my chin with a finger while the other held to a wine glass full of red wine. "Let's play a little guessing game, shall we?"
"I'm not here to play games." she gave me a maleficent gaze. She raised an eyebrow.
"What?" her tone was calm but pernicious.
"Y-You must really like red." I started to stutter.
Her face immediately softened up then looked at her outfit. She let out a laugh and smiled. "How deductive of you!" she turned around.
I mentally rolled my eyes. Is that sarcasm I smell? My mother is...full of surprises.
"Mom, I came to tell you something." I said. She didn't bother to turn to me and kept walking to the dining room. I gathered all my courage. "I-"
"I'm assuming you're going to tell me that you're going to Juilliard." she spoke and then turned around to meet my eyes. "I have no problems with that."
Full of surprises, indeed.
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