Read Chapter 6: — THE CONCERT

The winter concert was supposed to be Clara's triumph.

The university had moved the performance into the main hall after rehearsal clips circulated online. Students who had never attended a classical concert queued outside for seats.

Marcus arrived with flowers hidden behind his coat.

Daniel came late from an engineering examination, still carrying a folder of signal-processing notes.

Clara played last.

Her first piece was bright and technically dazzling. The second was an arrangement she had written herself. For the final number, she sat motionless for several seconds before touching the keys.

The melody was simpler.

Her mother had loved it when Clara was a child.

Halfway through, Daniel knew something was wrong because Clara stopped performing for the room. Her shoulders folded inward. The music became private.

When the last chord faded, she stayed at the piano.

Then she turned toward the microphone.

"My mother was diagnosed with lymphoma this autumn," she said.

The hall went still.

"She told me not to cancel tonight. She said fear already takes enough from a family and I shouldn't give it the piano as well. So this was for her."

Marcus's flowers slipped from his hand backstage.

Daniel closed his eyes.

The note in the physiology book finally had a face.

Afterward, Clara disappeared through a side door before anyone could surround her.

Daniel followed.

He found her sitting on a stairwell, still in her concert dress, shoes abandoned beside her.

"I don't want advice," she said before he could speak.

"All right."

"I don't want statistics."

"All right."

"I don't want you to tell me she'll be fine."

Daniel sat one step below her.

"All right."

Clara stared at him.

"That's all you've got?"

"You told me what not to say."

She laughed, then covered her face and began to cry.

Daniel stayed.

Minutes later Marcus found them.

He saw Clara leaning against Daniel's shoulder and stopped in the doorway.

The flowers were gone.

Something else had gone with them.