After taking a deep breath and calming herself down, Anne then started smiling and trying to continue her story. She was sure she wanted to reveal her big secret to the two middle-aged women who were in front of her right now.

"Because my mother had started getting sick, I decided to replace her to work at the church. Well, actually not replacing her in the real sense. I held Sunday classes for kids my age, so I accompanied them with the piano because I was already proficient and mastered several songs that were often used to be sung by the children in the church. I did that as a form of gratitude to the church foundation that had paid for my school, because my parents could not afford to send me to school at that time. Even though they could put me to school, if they forced themselves to, they still couldn't afford to buy the books, uniforms, and other stuffs. And finally the church took over my education completely so that I could go to school comfortably without having to trouble my parents. That was why I filled my days by providing services in church, until finally I knew a little girl who was about my age. Her name was Selma, Selma Higgins. She was the only kid who wanted to play with me every time she was at church, until I finally found out that she was the daughter of my mother's employer. That was why we are close. Sometimes, when I came home from school, I'd go up to Selma to play together. We also did our homework from the teacher together and…"

​​

"Don't tell me that you did her homework for her, Anne," said Mrs. Riley, cutting off Anne's words.

"Yes, Ma'am, I did her homework. Starting from math assignments, English, and others, including replacing her to play the piano," said Anne softly with a smile.

"What does it mean by replacing her to play the piano?" asked Mrs. Delilah curiously.

Smiling at Mrs. Delilah's question, she thought for quite some time and didn't answer the old lady's question. Anne was trying to control her emotions so as not to explode when talking about Selma and her family. They were the first to hurt her.

"So every audition I played the piano, not her, I replace Selma to play the piano in almost every audition," answered Anne softly.

"Replacing her to play the piano at auditions? How can it be? Isn't it very obvious who played the piano? Or was the audition done by sending a recording in a video format, and not auditioning directly in front of the judges?" asked Mrs. Delilah again.

"It was done directly Ma'am, but when the audition was about to start, I was always placed in an empty room with a piano already set up in it. Meanwhile, Selma played in front of the judges with a piano which turned out to have no sound, so even though Selma pressed the piano keys but there would be no sound that came out. The only notes that came out was from the room where I was. At that time, I didn't understand why I had to do that, but because Selma's parents said they would give me a lot of money if I obeyed them, so I did it happily. Until finally, Selma always won piano competitions in every city and because of that also, I could have a little money that could help my father and mother. My parents did not know that I had been treated unfairly like that for months, until finally I stopped playing the piano because my mother was sick. My father and I took turns taking care of her at the clinic. Because I had money from Selma's parents, I could pay for her care at a clinic near our house. Finally, one day, I participated in an audition for a competition held by the church for young pianists to be contested in the city. I didn't know that Selma was also in the audition and during that audition Selma played the song that I really wanted to perform, because it was a song composed by my mother especially for me. And because of that song, Selma came out as the winner. Meanwhile, I couldn't perform because the committee said that I couldn't play the same song that other participant had played. At that time, I was so angry and protested to everyone there, but they did not listen to my complaints. They thought I was just a poor child who did not accept the victory of my good friend, Selma. Even Selma's parents also kicked out and cursed at me. I was dragged out by the security guards because I was considered to be disturbing the audition. I really did not think that Selma recognized the song as her own song even though it was clearly a song that was composed by my mother and I used to play it when I hung out with her in her mansion. It turned out that without me knowing, Selma memorized the song and copied it in her notes, but because I never played the song until it was finished, she didn't even know the end of the melody," said Anne at length with teary eyes.

Mrs. Delilah and Mrs. Riley were silent to hear Anne's words. They both did not expect that they would hear such a terrible confession from Anne who had received injustice and was taken advantage of by people when she was seven years old.

"Wait a minute, so the point is that the girl named Selma won the audition by playing your mother's song?" asked Mrs. Riley stammered.

"Not only she won the audition, Ma'am, Selma even became a famous pianist because of that song. The music teacher who often came to church and knew that I often did but a piece of the song's tone seemed to ignore the fact. He also told many people that the song was Selma's song during his frequent visits to church. I, who have no power whatsoever, could only silently watched Selma admitted the song as her own composition, and when I tried to protest by visiting her house that night, suddenly my mother's health declined drastically and made me cancel my intention to come to Selma's house. They were having a big party at the mansion. Apparently, my mother knew that Selma, her employer's daughter, had stolen her song and the night my mother died, she told me to let go of the song and let Selma admitted it as hers. And since then, I swore I would never touch the piano again for the rest of my life, I swore while crying at my mother's grave. After my mother died, my father asked me to change places of residence again. He decided to move again because he wanted me to forget what had happened and moved on. In the new residence, my father changed his identity. He changed his name from Bruce Sprouce to Calvin Guertin. My father chose to change his identity because he felt that his previous name had been made ugly by people who were chasing my mother. Because ever since he came and propose to my mother to marry him, my father had always experienced misfortunes at his places of work, and it turned out that my father's guess was right. Since he changed his name, he never had any more problems at work, until finally he was able to send me to high school. Because of all that happened, it became difficult for me to believe in people, Ma'am. Since I was a child, I always received unfair treatment. Because being born into a poor family had made me always afraid. I'm afraid of getting hurt again, I'm afraid of being disappointed again. Not to mention what happened to my marriage," said Anne quietly with tears streaming down her face.

"You really experienced something like that, Dear?" asked Mrs. Delilah in disbelief.

"I want to erase all those bad memories, Ma'am, but I can't, because it's all really happening to me," replied Anne again.

Mrs. Riley, who had been a quiet listener, suddenly rubbed her tight chest. Slowly, she grabbed Anne and hugged her tightly.

"Let them go, Anne, let them who have made you like this laugh happily. Believe me, anything that is done in an incorrect way will not last long, even if your friend has become popular because she has stolen your mother's song. But I'm sure, in her little heart, she must be filled with guilt and fear because she had lied for years. She even lied since the first day her career began," said Mrs. Riley softly.

"So do you know where your friend's whereabouts right now, Anne?" asked Mrs. Delilah again.

"I don't know where she is right now. I know she has changed her name and of course she has become a famous pianist," said Anne quietly.

"What's her name?" asked Mrs. Delilah and Mrs. Riley at the same time.

"Sophia Higgins," Anne answered briefly smoothly.

The two middle-aged women were silent to hear the name Sophia Higgins mentioned by Anne. They knew who Sophia Higgins was. She was a famous pianist who was very beautiful now and held the position of the most famous pianist today.

"Then is it because of this that you can't believe that man named Jack?" asked Mrs. Delilah softly, trying to change the subject.

"H-How do you know that name?" asked Anne, stuttered.

"From this," replied Mrs. Delilah, showing Anne's cell phone which was still open and showed dozens of outgoing calls to Jack.

Thump!

to be continued