It was a stroke of luck that Franz defeated Frédéric.
After that first victory—when he managed to captivate Soo-hyun with an exercise adapted from his teacher Carl Czerny—the days of triumph became increasingly rare for Franz.
Today too, Frédéric approached him with the calm smile of a winner. Franz sat with his arms folded on a stool, away from where Soo-hyun was practicing, absorbed as usual in front of the piano.
"You didn't even prepare a practice piece today?" asked Frédéric lightly.
Franz shrugged.
"I know I can't beat him in any way. It's absurd to try to beat Janelle with a composition. I'm not that dumb."
"Hahaha... but let's keep trying."
Frédéric invited him to continue with the game, but Franz shook his head. However, his expression was not gloomy. On the contrary: she looked at Frédéric with a calm, almost pleased smile.
"Frédéric."
"Hmm?"
"You know what I mean. You've changed a lot. Did you know?"
Frédéric turned his head and met his friend's eyes. He nodded with a slight smile.
"I know."
"Now you have more things to laugh about."
"That's right."
"Remember how, in your later years, you would get depressed every time you saw a boy Soo-hyun's age?"
"Yes... so it was."
Frédéric, who had been momentarily lost in thought, patted his friend on the shoulder and said:
"Let's leave the story now. By the way... It's already been a year and a half since Soo-hyun arrived."
When he changed the subject, Franz crossed his arms and turned his gaze to Soo-hyun, who was practicing with a serious gesture in front of the piano.
Frédéric sighed as he noticed, from his friend's expression, that he had not yet found the answer he sought.
"Her parents must be desperate, looking for her out there."
"I guess so."
I'm more worried about Soo-hyun than anything... A year and a half has passed, but she is still eight years old. At his age he should be at home, playing or behaving well with his parents. It pains me to force her to sit in front of the piano every day, surrounded by old men like us. Although I try to give you other options, there are so few things you can do here...
Franz was just looking at Soo-hyun's back silently.
Frédéric paused for a moment, then asked cautiously:
"Aren't you going to cry?"
Later that night, when Frédéric returned home late, he asked her why it was Franz who lived with Soo-hyun.
Franz was still silent, looking at the boy.
Frédéric also looked at him, then murmured:
"He's just a kid... but he behaves with such maturity. If I had been separated from my parents at that age, I would have cried every day. But Soo-hyun endures with a bravery that sometimes leaves me speechless."
"..."
"Really? Don't you feel proud of so=hyun?"
Franz swallowed, keeping his eyes fixed on him.
"He always cries."
"...Huh?"
"Soo-hyun cried every night. I waited for him to fall asleep. Sometimes I cried in the bathroom, sometimes while practicing the piano... and when I left, I would bow my head and cry."
"...Is it still like this now?"
"No."
"Not now? Did you give up? Well, a year and a half is not a short time..."
"That's what's weird."
"What?"
Franz raised his head and looked up at the sky, hidden by the thick forest.
"It was about six months ago. It hurt to see the child cry every night in silence, so at first I hugged him, comforted him... But one day I thought maybe it wasn't the best. So I pretended not to notice. I pretended to be asleep. Soo-hyun would cry for a while and then fall asleep. But that night... That night he came back from the bathroom and burst into tears."
Frédéric shook his head, with a sympathetic expression.
"Yes... He's too young to take it all. Of course there are days when one explodes. What's wrong with it?"
Franz crossed his arms and pointed his finger at Soo-hyun, who was practicing in the distance.
"That night. She cried and wailed for hours. Since then, she has not cried once."
"...What?"
"Not for a moment. Since then he always plays the piano."
Frédéric opened his mouth. Then he turned his gaze to Soo-hyun.
"Thinking about it, I remembered something."
"Soo-hyun, who at first seemed to learn to play just for fun, has been practicing with all his might, for six months now."
"I thought I just enjoyed the piano... that I wanted to try seriously. But there was a story behind it that only his friends knew."
"What happened that day?"
"I have no idea."
Franz lowered his gaze, as if digging into memory.
"That night, he covered his head with the blanket and sobbed. Then he went out to the bathroom. I pretended to sleep, because I was afraid he would be embarrassed if I noticed that he had heard it. But it took him a long time to return. An hour... maybe more."
"And?"
"When I opened the door to go out to look for him, he came in at that very moment. She knelt on the floor and burst into tears. Shouting. I was so frightened that I jumped on him to see if he was hurt. But I didn't have a scratch."
"Didn't he tell you why?"
"No. I just repeated 'mom' and 'dad.' For hours."
Frédéric let his body fall forward, crossing his arms with a restrained expression.
"And since then... doesn't he talk anymore?"
"He was a quiet child, even compared to others his age. But after that... Worsened. Now he barely says a few words a day."
"That's serious."
Franz sighed. He rose from his seat.
"Where are you going?" asked Frédéric.
"You take care of the piano lessons."
"And what are you going to do? Are you going to figure out how to return it?"
Franz shook his head softly.
"That is not something that can be solved like this. While you teach piano... I will create another type of teaching material."
Frédéric frowned, confused.
"Education? What else are you going to teach him?"
Franz said this while looking at Soo-hyun's back, who played with curved hands, just like his friend Frédéric Chopin.
"I don't know how long we can have him here with us. He is already eight years old. Other children of their age receive regular education. If your education drops when you go back into the world, you could be in trouble. The only education you and I can offer him is in language and philosophy. We're both a mess in math and science. But I'll try to teach him as much as I can."
"Good idea. Then I will teach him French and Polish."
Franz nodded, grateful for his friend's support. Then, as he resumed his journey home, he added:
"Then I will take care of German and English. The Hungarian... my native language... I doubt it will be useful to you here. And right now, more than musical technique, Soo-hyun needs another kind of training."
"Good idea. I'll leave it to you."
"And in exchange, I leave you the piano lessons. How's Soo-hyun's current level going?"
"It's growing very fast. Children who are preparing to be pianists usually take classes once or twice a week, about two hours per session, because they are expensive. But Soo-hyun started by taking three hours a day... and for six months, six hours a day. In other words, each day receives the equivalent of a whole week of classes for a child prodigy."
Franz nodded, calculating quickly:
"That means that, in 52 days, he accumulated the same practice that others have in an entire year."
"It's not as simple as doing the math, but... In purely physical terms, yes. He has been with us for a year and a half now. If you think about it in proportion to his age, it would be like having practiced the piano from the womb."
"That's too much. It must be cut."
"We can't do anything if he insists on continuing to practice for hours. But if you yourself start assigning tasks from the other courses you prepared, the change will happen on its own. Let's try to reduce the practice time naturally."
"Okay... So, let's get ready."
As Franz disappeared in the direction of the house, Frédéric, who was standing behind Soo-hyun, who was still practicing calmly, muttered in a low voice:
"Soohyun... what the hell happened six months ago?"
✴︎✴︎✴︎
It was six months ago, just over a year after so hyun met her two friends.
Sometimes, Franz asks me if I miss my parents. Whenever I hear stories about mom and dad, I feel my eyes fill with tears.
But then I remember something about my father. A memory I never told.
When I was about five years old, my dad—who knew I couldn't play alone in the park out of fear—took me there one day. He crouched down at my height, and in a firm voice, he said to me:
"Our Soo-hyun... a man must know how to play alone. You have exactly twenty minutes left. Dad will come for you later. But if you cry... I will not be able to come."
"Why?"
"Because when our Soo-hyun cries, there are bad people who prevent Dad from getting close."
"Really?"
"Yes! So don't cry. But don't hold back your tears either. Just stay there. Show me... Let's start with the swing. Be careful not to hurt yourself, understand?"
"It's scary..."
"Are you going to be afraid every day, to the point of not being able to do anything?"
"But..."
"Dad will come for you. As long as our Soo-hyun doesn't cry."
"It's okay. You have to come."
"Yes, I promise."
The father, after crossing his pinkies with Soo-hyun's, disappeared from her sight.
Of course, his father must have been watching from somewhere... But Soo-hyun was terrified.
The voices of other children playing in the park echoed around him, and tears welled up in his eyes, clouding everything.
But he restrained himself with all his might. When she felt tears falling, she looked up at the sky.
"No... Dad said that if I cried, I couldn't come..."
He forced himself onto the swing, and when he got tired, he went down the slide. Twenty minutes was a really long time.
And then... She ran into her father's arms, who arrived to pick her up exactly in time. She hugged him tightly and burst into tears.
The father, smiling proudly, wiped away his tears:
"My son! A real brave boy! I'm sure he didn't shed a tear! Those bad guys never come near when Dad is around!"
"Sniff... Ugh, I don't want the bad guys to catch Dad..."
"Oh! As expected of our little girl! Hahahaha!"
✴︎✴︎✴︎
Soo-hyun, lying on the bed, thought of her father.
He lifted the blanket carefully, little by little, so that Franz—who was sleeping a little farther away—wouldn't notice.
And as he lay on his side, a long stream of tears streamed down his face.
'Dad... how much longer do I have to wait this time?' 'I'm sorry... Cried. Is that why you can't come for me? But I cried softly, under the covers... so that no one would see me. ¿Perhaps... the bad guys keep keeping you from getting to me?'
'I miss you, Dad.' 'I miss you, Mom.'
'I miss you so much... to both. Every moment of every day.'
The torrent of tears that ran down my cheeks grew thicker and thicker. My nose got stuffy, and I started sobbing without being able to help it.
Lying on my side, rubbing my eyes with my sleeve, I raised my head a little to look at Franz, worried that he might hear me.
I sighed, seeing him with his eyes closed, without moving.
'Don't let Uncle Franz see you crying... Then Dad won't be able to come and get you. Come on, wash up quickly and go back to sleep.'
Today... Today I miss my parents more than ever.
Even as I opened the front door, as I walked silently to the bathroom, my mind was still filled with their voices. Of them.
'I miss you.'
I opened the front door of Franz's house. A gentle wind came in immediately, ruffling my hair.
The landscape in front of the door—the same one I'd seen for a whole year—had now changed.
I rubbed my swollen eyes several times from crying... and I saw the vast nocturnal bank of the river, and beyond, buildings, where people probably lived.
And above all...
For the first time in a year, I saw a sky covered in glowing stars.
"Where... Am I?"