All About Love

Let Down

He gazed at the bright and smiling girl, full of youthfulness, in the still picture on her grave. Maybe it was the last smile of hers he had seen.....? Who knows? He may not have the right to even wonder about it now......

A soft cold voice sounded from behind, "Finally remembered?" He turned around to face a haggard old woman with a one or two years old child in her arms. She didn't wait for his answer and continued, "I'm honored that my daughter's gravesite is finally bathed in your brilliant presence. But.....a great person such as you shouldn't really step into such dirt. May I ask your honored self to leave? For, I can't afford such a noble presence as yours." Respect and politeness was the last thing that was included in the tone. It was pure sarcasm. He couldn't help giving a self-deprecating smile.

Right at that moment, the child in the woman's arms started sobbing as if discomforted from the atmosphere, successfully gaining his attention. The tiny little pair of doe-like eyes glistening with tears made the child look so pitiful yet too adorable. One could see the power of genes in the child's especially fine features.

He stared at the child, dumbfounded. After a while, in a trembling voice, he asked as he slowly moved towards the child, "T-that c-c-child...." However, before he could even touch the child, the old lady ferociously smacked his outstretched hand, as she said in suppressed anger, "Don't even think about touching him, Mr. Keith. Those hands of yours aren't deserved by this child. And, I shall again request you to leave." With tears welling in her eyes, the woman walked past him and placed the bouquet of white lily flowers on the grave, and finally broke down crying as she was unable to hold back her grief.

She had lost her only daughter to a game of infidelity and arrogance. A girl like her really didn't deserve such things.

And he knew that clearly now......

Too clearly.......so clearly that it was hard to live now.......

But he had lost the right to complain..... After all, it wasn't anyone else but him who did what he shouldn't have and didn't what he should have.......

****

Lian Keith had been another human amongst the world population until he met Gilda Hatson. She was also an ordinary person, but she was a lucky star for him. She was the living example of "the woman behind a man's success".

Lian, a music lover, was especially skilled at playing the violin and loved to compose music for fun. A hobby of his, to say. His unique understanding of music was also the red thread that bound Gilda to him.

A usual evening of him playing the violin out on a silent street had unexpectedly brought to him a priceless treasure. However, he had forgotten this fact and ended up losing it.

What now.......regret it, maybe? He didn't even know if he even had the right to lament or not now........

Took it for granted- sure he did.

How could he have forgotten the support and warmth, the courage and encouragement Gilda had unconditionally provided him when he had first decided to walk on the path of fame and wealth? How could he have forgotten that she was the sole reason he had even thought about it? Wasn't it her who gave him the first push, who stood beside him when his parents disagreed, who comforted him, who inspired his music?

Yeah......he can no longer love music now.......

Sure he composed music for fun previously, but the ones that gained him his fame and wealth all held the emotions he had experienced with Gilda.

Instrumental music doesn't rely on one's vocal abilities, of course, but nor does it rely on the quality of the instrument played or the skills present in the player. Skills are futile if emotions aren't present. A melody of a music instrument might as well tell you a whole story about the player if the player played it with the emotions telling so.