Be With You (4 page)

Save that day.

31
^st
September 2007.

It had been the last day of school.

 
The
performance had started. Danny Alonzo took the stage. He took a deep breath and
began visualizing that nothing would go wrong. He was having the jitters and
some mild stage fright. There were a thousand eyes looking at him in
anticipation from the audience. He had to play it well.

 
He began
playing the first arrangement in his performance-Johann Strauss II
The
Blue Danube Waltz. He lifted his head up and did a quick
scan at the crowd for
Adelie
. There she was. Sitting
at the second row from the front right, with a triumphant look in her eyes. He
smiled. He felt his confidence surging.

 
It was
time for his final piece of the day. He started playing a piece which sounded
so familiar to
Adelie
. That was when she realized
that it had been the song he had taught her to play back at his father’s
musical store.

“
I
would need you as my partner for this duet.”

 
He spoke
into the microphone and pointed at
Adelie
.

 
She
blushed.

 
He jumped
down from the stage and gently held her hand. He led her onto the stage and
they sat on the piano bench.

“ 1
..2..3.. ready?”

 
He asked.

 
She nodded
her head.

“Danny, I don’t think I can do this…I am scared...”

 
She said.

“ Don’t
worry. You can do it. I will cover it up for
you.
 
Just relax”

 
Their duet
gave a soul to the universe, wings to the mind and flight to the imagination.
Just like what Plato would have said. The audience were enthralled. For Danny
and
Adelie
, they felt that the world had caved in
just for them. They belonged to each other.

 
The night
had seemed so enchanting until Fate had been misnamed. It was no accident. It
was simply fate

 
It was no
accident. It was Fate misnamed.

 
Music
expresses what cannot be put into the words. For them, it was a loud clash.
Adelie
had collapsed and hit right onto the piano keys.

 
What
happened next was a blur. The paramedics arrived. She was placed onto the
stretcher. Gasps were in the air. Her name was repetitively called. She was
unconscious.

“
We loved with a love that was more than love.”

?
Edgar Allan Poe

III
.
ADELIE

Chapter 11

Distance

March 2013-Adelie had to
find Danny. No matter where he was, she would search for him. Years had passed
by. It was as if he had dropped off the Earth.

She was now an aspiring
young actress. She knew that the only way to find Danny was to make
herself
visible to him. She had worked hard to land herself
a lead role. If she was famous, she would have the resources to search for him.

She was working on her very
first film. The film had been titled ‘The Flower Palace’. They would have to
travel to Kyoto for the filming.
Adelie
would be
starring as a young princess who had travelled to Japan in search for love.

 
As she was still new, she had to learn
the ropes from a senior director, Peter Kingsburg. Peter had promised her that
if the film was a success, he would use his resources to help him find Danny.

 
 
Danny had almost become an obsession for
her. 3 months into the filming, she asked Peter if he knew how to find Danny at
all. Peter sneered and asked him if she questioned his abilities.
Adelie
fell silent.

 
The film
was first broadcasted in America and received a resounding success.
Adelie
had transformed into a famous actress.

 
Peter
Kingsburg had located where Danny Alonzo’s last known residence. When
Adelie
was informed, she packed her bags immediately and
booked for the air tickets that evening.

She was filled with all sorts of emotions- joy, anxiety and
anticipation. She was finally meeting Danny after a prolonged search for him.

She reached the doorsteps of his residence. The door opened. There was a
man standing before her who looked like he could be Danny. She had not seen him
in ages and could barely picture how he would look like when he got older. The
man had a look of shock on his face

 
“You
should leave. You shouldn’t come here”

 
He said.

 
“Danny?”

 
She burst
into tears. She recognized his voice. It had been Danny. He had ruffled-hair
and a mature look. He looked as if he had been through a lot.

 
“I want to
know why you left that day. Why did you leave without a word?”

 
She asked,
choking on her tears. She had taken so much effort to find him and it hurt her
that he did not want to see her at all. Anguish was written all over her face.

 
He pulled
her in and slammed the door shut.

“You want to know why?”

 
He asked
while holding her tightly on the wrist.

“Yes! I have been searching for you for ages. I want
to know why. So tell me why now!”

 
She
demanded.

 
He gazed
into her eyes and cornered her to the wall.

 
“I have
been protecting you for the past years! Ever since you knew you came into
existence, I have been protecting you.
Adelie
, you
don’t have to know about anything else. Just know that I will always protect
you. Do you understand me?”

 
He lashed
out at her with such ferocity that she took a step backwards and hit the wall.

 
She was
confused. She didn’t know why he had reacted so badly. What did he mean when he
said that he would protect her? Why did she need protection?

IIII
.
DANNY

Chapter 12

The Truth

 
May 2007-Adelie had remained
unconscious. Her life was still in danger until they removed the tumour from
her head. Danny didn’t know what he could do for her except to pray. He was
informed that there may have been complications from the surgery.

 
He had kept the manuscript
he had written for the Graduation Concert into the cupboard in the piano room.
What point was there in the arrangement he had composed for her, when she was
still in a comatose state?

 
She had been an orphan ever
since she was a child. She was raised by her foster parents. Danny had received
a call that her foster parents would not be paying for her hospitalization
bills any longer. He felt a surge of pain through him.

 
Danny started to perform as
a freelance pianist at outdoor concerts or for gigs, earning cash to support
for her finances. He never complained that it was hard on him. He was barely
earning enough to pay for her bills.

 
It was discovered one day
that
Adelie’s
tumour had been induced by a medicine
that she had been taking. Her foster parents had wanted her dead. They had
given her a tumour-inducing drug, such they will get their hands on her
inheritance when she left.
Adelie’s
biological
parents had perished in a car accident when she was merely a young child and
they had left her an inheritance of $3 million dollars which
Adelie
did not know of. Their death had been dubious and it
was always suspected as foul play. By the time it was discovered that
Adelie
had been taking that substance, a portion of her
inheritance had been transferred to her foster parents and they had left for
good, without a trace. There was also a lack of evidence that her foster
parents had been the culprits. They could virtually go away scot free.

 
The tumour in her head had
pressed on her neighbouring nerves and caused her to land into a comatose. She
might never wake up. Still, Danny remained helpful. He continued raising money
for
Adelie
.

 
When he found out what her
foster parents had done to her and how they had scooted off with
Adelie’s
inheritance, Danny swore that he would have his
revenge. He swore that he would find justice for
Adelie
.
He stayed by her bed every day, to ensure that her foster parents would not
harm her in any way for the remaining inheritance.

 
January 2009-It was only
until two years later that
Adelie
awoke from her
slumber. Danny was 20 by then. Working as a newspaper editor, he employed an
elderly couple to take care of
Adelie
. They stayed at
Adelie’s
former residence where Danny would keep
watch
everyday
to make sure that her foster parents
never returned.

 
He would pass by her window
everyday
, watching her smile and do her art. She always had
a smile on her face that lit the world. He watched as her hair grew longer,
from being bald to having a short bob and then finally she had silky long hair.

 
Danny knew that he had to
keep the truth from
Adelie
. She must never know that
she had been cheated for the past 18 years of her life. She must never know
that her foster parents had never loved her. They just wanted her dead. Could
Adelie
take it?

 
Before she had slipped into
a comatose, she had been preparing for a final year examination where
Adelie
hoped that she would enter a prestigious university.
She never got to take the examination.

 
As soon as she was well,
Danny enrolled
Adelie
into a neighbouring college.
A college where no one knew
Adelie
.
Adelie
never had memories of her childhood or of her
parents. Her current parents had told her that she had fallen and hurt her
head.

 
Danny protected
Adelie
from afar, watching her from the oak tree which
overlooked her house. He was determined to give
Adelie
a fresh new start, where he knew he was just an imprint from a painful past
which she might not want to remember…

IV
.
ADELIE

Chapter 13

Embrace

March 2013

 
“ Tell
me what is wrong, Danny..
please
tell me”

 
She begged as she plucked
her courage

 
“ It’s
too late.
Adelie
.
It’s too late…”

 
Danny gasped in between his
tears as he held her tightly in his arms.

It was the first
hug that they had shared in ages.
Adelie
felt a surge
of familiarity and warmth with his hug. It felt like hugging a very familiar
lover
..
not
someone whom she
had barely known..
and
yet she had barely known Danny…

 
“ What
is too late, Danny? Tell me!”

 
He looked at her and hugged
her even more tightly.

 
“
Adelie
- I have killed your foster parents…”

 
She froze and pushed him
away.

“You have what? What foster parents?”

 
“ Killed
your foster parents,
Adelie
! They were the ones who
made you suffer all those years as a child! Look at the scars you have on your
back! You were in a coma for 4 years. Who did that to you?”