Mrs. D'souza was a very gentlewoman and was taking care of Lily like a granddaughter. She was almost 55years old lady. Very soon Lily and Mrs. D'souza had a great bonding among them. She was not only taking lessons on the violin but also taking care of her food, school homework, telling her good night stories. Very soon, Mrs. D’Souza became a need of Lily, like a mother. Lily used to do everything, whatever she was told to, by D'souza.
Time had taken its turn. Lily was a grown-up girl now and a perfectionist in terms of the violin. Nobody would be able to compete with her in violin. But her parents were completely unaware of her talent as they never shared a good bonding with her. It was not that they did not care for her. But sometimes children need parents' attention than any other thing.
Mrs. D'souza was now completely tired and sick for the last few years. This was the one thing, Lily was very uncomfortable about.
Even though Lily was very good at violin, she had a very bad habit of daydreaming. She used to get lost in dreams of her musical shows in Royal Albert Hall, London. Yes, this was a dream Lily had lived with from childhood.
But during dreams, she would fall on something every day. Either she would hit a wall in front of her, or she would fall from the staircase or she would hit something on-road and fall.
There would be no day without her accident. Luckily, till today there is no major injury to her.
She had started doing programs for some event management companies with a new name “Lasha”. She was gaining popularity with this name. She was in demand now for her shows. In her teenage itself, she became very popular for her performances.
But she had kept this entire secret from her parents. Julia also was unaware of her achievement.
Only Mrs. D'souza was aware of this. She was the person who took efforts to take her to the event management companies to give her a chance. She knew some people. They accepted her request and thus she got her first chance to showcase her talent. From then she never looked back.
But due to her interest in violin, she was not able to do anything great in her academic career. Julia used to get always notice from school for her poor performance. But the fact that she was a brilliant student, she never failed in any exam. This served the purpose of her parents and they ignored her career aspects thinking that she was not interested in academic education.
Sometimes, Julia used to ask her about her future plans. But she used to tell her that she wanted to be a teacher.
Julia had never noticed that she is a brilliant violinist. Julia was busy in her second family as she had two sons from Stevan.
Her father, Peter, had never visited her for the last 10years. Probably he would not recognize her if she comes in front of her. He also got married to another woman and moved on in his life.
Also at her age, girls have a boyfriend and a lot of fun. But Lily's first love was Violin and most of the time was devoted to the violin.
Her hard work had started now paying off. She became immensely popular among youngsters.
The surprising thing was, Julia and Steven had started an event management company and they were doing well in their field.
Even being in the same business, Julia could never understand Lily's talent. Lily also never invited or informed or told Julia about her achievement. It was not that she used to hate her. But they literally not had any good or bad bonding between them. Julia had been taking care of only her expenses through Mrs. D'souza.
That day, Lily was out of her home. She was in Los Angeles for a show. She was with her manager Robert. Suddenly; the cell phone of Robert started ringing. It was Julia on the other hand. She said, “Hello Robert, I am Julia from Dreams Media Company. My company works for event management. My client wants to arrange a program where they want Lasha to perform in London.”
Robert was unaware of her parents. He replied, “Of course. Kindly tell me the date and time so that I can check her availability.”
This way they discussed the project. Later Robert confirmed the show after negotiation of financials. They wanted Lasha's performance for their program in the next month.
Even Lily was unaware that she had accepted to perform in the program of Julia's company. Also, Julia and Steven were not aware that Lasha was none other than her daughter Lily.
Two days before the program, Lily got to know that it was her mother’s company for whom she had accepted to perform. She decided to let Julia be unaware of this and disclose it as a surprise.
She told Mrs. D'souza, “My sweet D’sa Aunty. Your wish and my wish have come true together. The time has come to disclose my identity to Mom. And do you know this program is in Royal Albert Hall, London? I am so happy.”
She replied, “God bless you, my child!”
Then Lily told her the entire story. At Last, she said, “Finally, during my performance, Mom will know that I am Lasha.”
The day had come when she would be uncovered to her mother as a famous personality. The day had come when she would perform in front of her mother for the first time. She was very nervous and anxious like she was facing public the first time.
She reached the auditorium just 10min before the program. Steven was angry at Robert and said, “Where is Lasha Mr. Robert? I am just unhappy about this behavior. You people are professional. How can Lasha be late for the program? Do you know that if she gets late, the audience will not keep patience?”
But Robert told him, “Mr. Steven, sorry for this inconvenience. But for your information, Lasha has just reached here and will be there on stage in just a minute. She is very professional and never ever late in any of her events.”
Steven got relieved. He asked Julia to go to welcome Lasha. But rather than Lasha, she saw Lily coming in. Julia got surprised and asked “Oh, Lily, How come you are here? Ohh… you also want to listen to Lasha. She is the best violinist in the world. You can enjoy it, but please excuse me, I need to greet Lasha. She has just arrived.”
Lily replied, “Mom, I know Lasha. She has sent me to perform in place of her.”
Julia was disgusted by this news. She said, “What? Lily! Are you serious? How could she decide this without informing us? My Client and audience want to enjoy her performance. They will kill us.”
Lily said, “But she has not come. And now we have just a few minutes. Come on Mom. Let’s go to the stage.”
Julia said, “One minute, but how do you know Lasha? And why she selected you for her replacement? Damn it! It is not a small show dear. It is the Royal Albert Hall of London. You cannot do this show, my child.”
On the other side, her father who was hosting the show had already announced, “Wait is over dear friends! Lasha is arrived and will start performance for which you all are waiting for.”
Lily said to Julia, “Mom, don’t worry. People don’t recognize Lasha by face here in London. They will not know that Lily is performing.”
Julia immediately ran towards Robert to ask him.
But Lily had informed him not to tell the truth. So he just said, “Sorry!” on behalf of Lasha. Julia was very much angry but anxious as well because Lily would be performing on the stage rather than Lasha.
Lily had appeared on the stage. Steven was just confused about what was happening on the stage. Soon, he got a call from Julia and he went out.
Now both of them were very nervous. They still could not make out what was going on. They just were looking at Lily to see how Lily would be able to manage the performance. Julia was aware that Lily knew how to play the violin but how well she would perform, was unknown to her.
As soon as Lily started playing Violin, there was a huge round of applause from the hall. But then immediately there was a silence. Everybody got mesmerized by her tunes on the violin.
Julia was surprised that her daughter was playing so well. But still, she was anxious for if her clients got to know that she had replaced Lasha with her daughter.
But to their surprise, everybody was greeting them for the success.
There was one friend of them came to them and said, “Lasha is just superb! Do you know that I don't miss a single program of hers? She is my favorite. Her hands are magical. I am sure either her mother or father is a musician. Great job guys!”
Julia was just amused by his words. For two minutes, she was just stupefied. She asked him, “Have you met Lasha before? Have you seen her performing before?”
He replied to her, “Hey why you are asking like this? Yes, I have met her in many shows. I know she is quite young to believe. But it is fact. She is really amazing.”
Now, Julia could not control her tears. But she called Mrs. D'souza and asked, “Mrs. D'souza, please tell me the truth. Lily is Lasha, right? “
Mrs. D'souza replied, “Yes.”
Julia said, “Why? Why you both kept it secret? I am her mother. Don’t you think that I must have known this before?”
Mrs. D'souza said, “Please don’t get angry at her. She has missed you all the time. You never gave her time. This art is just her way of taking her emotions out and feel relieved. It is not her fault nor, I will say your fault. God had planned this for you and her. And see the result is so good. God has made you proud of your daughter. She only needs your love and nothing else.”
Julia started crying and said to Steven, “She is Lasha and Lily both.”
Steven couldn’t say anything. Throughout the program, tears were flowing through her eyes. When the program finished, she just went on stage and hugged her daughter and said, “Lily, I am sorry! “
Lily understood that she is aware now that Lasha is Lily.
Tears started flowing from her eyes as well. Really, Care and compassion always win.
THE END.
Author : Ashish A. Jain
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