"Then you admit I was right, and we can all go back to our evening."
The restaurant was dead silent now. Elena could feel dozens of eyes on her. Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure everyone could hear it. This was crazy. She hadn't played in front of people in years. What if she messed up? What if her fingers didn't remember? What if David was right, and she really had lost whatever talent she used to have?
But then she thought about her mom lying in that hospital bed. She thought about all the bills piling up at home. She thought about the dream she'd put away in a box and tried to forget. Most of all, she thought about David Park's smug face and his assumption that people like her didn't matter.
"Fine," she heard herself say. "You want proof? I'll give you proof."
As Elena walked toward the piano, she had no idea that the next few minutes would change everything. She didn't know that someone in the restaurant was already pulling out their phone to record what was about to happen. She didn't know that her life was about to take a turn that would surprise everyone in that room, including herself. All she knew was that she was tired of being underestimated.
Elena's legs felt like jelly as she walked toward the piano. Every step seemed to take forever, but at the same time, she felt like she was moving too fast. The black piano got bigger and bigger as she got closer, and suddenly it looked huge, like a mountain she had to climb.
The restaurant was so quiet she could hear her own heartbeat. Forks had stopped clicking against plates. Conversations had died mid-sentence. Even the kitchen had gone silent. Elena could feel every single person in the room watching her, waiting to see what would happen next.
She reached the piano bench and just stood there for a moment, staring down at the keys. They were perfect and shiny, not a fingerprint or speck of dust anywhere. This piano probably cost more than she'd make in five years of working at Romano's. Her hands were shaking. What if she'd forgotten everything? What if all those years of practice meant nothing now? It had been so long since she'd played anything harder than "Happy Birthday" on her phone's piano app.
Behind her, she could hear David Park talking quietly to his friends. "This should be interesting," he said, not even trying to lower his voice. "I almost feel bad for her."
That made Elena's anger flare up again. "Almost feel bad?" She turned around and looked straight at him. "What exactly do you want me to play?"
David shrugged like it didn't matter. "Whatever you want. Something simple should be fine. Maybe... 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'?"