- So you accept?
- Definitely! But ... Provided Elton accepts, I have nothing to lose, but for my inspiration?
- Don't worry about that, I'll fix it.
///
As soon as she got home, Winnie had to explain herself to her best friend, who seemed to be very upset with her. Winnie was doing her best to calm down so that she could tell him about the other part of his speech; for his contract with Min-Ho was up to him, and to get a thoughtful answer Elton had to calm down first, and that was far from won.
- Calm down Tonny, let me explain ...
- There is nothing to explain, he interrupted him, I do not understand why you get so weird all of a sudden. Since yesterday, you do strangely and you do not want to tell me anything when I am your best friend! You're leaving so we have to take a plane, and now you say you want to stay in Seoul? Can you tell me what that rhymes with?
- It's because ... I ...
- You see ? That's what you do every time I react to you, but in any case, know that for me it's out of the question to leave you in such a big city where you don't know anyone, we go back with the first plane to New York.
- I...
Winnie had to face the facts, in this story, there had to be a loser. And she wasn't planning on making her best friend the loser; so finally issued:
- You're right… I'm not myself ― even since his last days, I thought I could free myself from New York a little bit, but I have to be an adult and face my real problems.
Elton remained unmoved for a moment, the young man then understood his sudden change of behavior. He approached her and said in comfort:
- Don't worry, we'll overcome this together, you'll see.
- Yes ... Thank you, Tonny.
Why do I still feel so guilty? Tonny is happy, and that's all that matters ... No?
...
Very Late in the evening, as agreed, Winnie called Min-Ho to let him know his answer. The young man took so long to respond that Winnie couldn't help but criticize his flippant behavior:
- This guy is really not possible, he is the one who needs me but he was unable to answer my calls, what rude ...
- I heard you call me rude.
- Oh ! Hi, how are you ? But no, she said to save herself, you misheard! I said: he is pretty, it must be the network which is bad, well how could I have said such a thing towards a gentleman like you.
- Yes, that's it, I believe you. Okay, so what did your lover say?
- Oh he okay uh no ... You could avoid calling him that, that makes me uncomfortable.
- How did you convince him?
Winnie skipped a beat when the question was asked, she replied:
- Well what do you think? I told him about the contract and he said yes of course I became a master of the art of conviction he couldn't refuse! ... You mean I'm lying, is that it?
- Yes, Min-Ho replied.
She sighed and finally confessed:
- He said no without hesitation, he said we were taking the first one for Monday morning.
- You're stupid, why you told him the truth right away, you should have made up an excuse.
- I had no idea! I'm not as pro at lying as you are.
- Yes it's obvious. Okay, so quickly invent something to stay in this situation.
- I have none I tell you! You don't know how hard it is to lie to your sweetheart.
- Winwin, the decisions, you have to make them yourself. Are you not going to put a cross on a promising career for love? ...
- Come on please, let it go, that was a bad idea now that I think about it.
But Min-Ho already couldn't resign himself to it, how would he conceive that he had missed such a chance. Winnie was an excellent lyricist whose gift was second to none, so that even her lyrics were no match for the young woman's. Together, for sure, they would conquer the world stage even more. He then launched it again:
- Alright, if it's a better percentage then I can work out ...
- No, we said that if he refused we would drop everything.
- So you'd like to give it all up for that? You'd rather turn your life over to someone else so you don't have to choose yourself, right? You know what? ... It really disappoints me, I come to regret these songs because I feel like I'm lying to people. I feel like You lied to me.
- No ... Wait don't react like that, I'll try to fix things! ... Hello? Hello?
Once again, Min-Ho hung up on him. The young woman grimaced and said:
- A real rude this guy ... Ah! To say that I haven't asked for anything, why does my life always have to get complicated?
Winnie felt bad, since they had known each other, this was the first Min-Ho had used such a tone, he looked so disappointed, the young woman thought. But that was the way life worked, the paths weren't meant to be tied and there was nothing he could do about it.
Min-Ho, meanwhile, was still thinking about his morning with Winnie. Normally, a person as scattered as this girl would have baffled him to the utmost, yet he was already gone by the night. That big smile she always wore, those big eyes that kept staring at him. He almost resented having the memory wet with tears, it was such a shame they had been damaged.
- What's going on with you thinking about it so much? He wondered aloud, to believe that his madness is contagious.
It was with those last words that Min-Ho rolled up in his thick duvet and fell asleep, hoping to find a solution to the embarrassment this idiot had put him in.
...
Winnie thought of her hug. She thought back to the comfort it had given her, even though Min-Ho was really not good, it had done her a lot of good.
Words began to line up; one after the other ... The words underlined his emotions.
- Ah! I must write ..., she ran around in her rooms, I must write and quickly!
Finally Winnie put it on pen and paper, and finally could put in order the words that came to her mind. Each of them were thought with her heart, her memories, the emotions she had experienced during that day with her idol. Suddenly she stopped because words failed her; the young woman jumped up from her bed and screamed:
- Shit ! Here we go, here we go! It must ... it must come back!
Winnie started running around to bring her inspiration back, but nothing came back to her. Before, the young woman had never known a lack of inspiration. Previously, the silence in her head made her more calm, and the effect of deafness produced in her a thirsty curiosity as she wrote it down on paper.
Hear what you can't, imagine it as you want it to be. It was this feeling that Winnie had now lost.
For the last two years she had found the sense of hearing that had been deprived from birth; Winnie had almost lost the writing skills. The young woman could no longer write as when she was sixteen or eighteen, her texts were only so harmonious when she conceived of life and its sounds with words.
This feeling of lack made him very sad, because the music was a gravitational element of his universe. She could not see herself without music, without writing. Thinking of her distress, Winnie curled up in a corner to cry, or rather whine.
Elton was alerted by his friend's loud sniffles and came to find her in the niche where she had been hiding, either in the closet. He opened it and saw Winnie; he bent down and asked her for the first time:
- Hey, what's the matter?
The young woman looked up, even though she wasn't shedding any tears, her face was folded with sadness. She sniffed and articulated:
- I wanted to write a song, but now it's not possible; I am so sad !
- No, he consoled him, but no, it's not that bad! It will come with time, you will see.
- No ! I've been waiting for this to come back to me for a long time, Elton, but ... I feel like I've given up my writing at the expense of being able to hear. I will never write again, and all that, because I wanted to be like all adults my age, to be able to be human.
- But you're human Winnie, I've never met a person so human as you. You are funny, kind, loyal, you are real happiness to anyone around you, and you are the best friend you can have. So he took her hands in his and went on, I think deaf or not ... You stay talented and human, just give yourself more time and the rest will follow.
Winnie's eyes burned in admiration for her best friend, it was those moments when she understood how important and irreplaceable he was in her life.
- Thank you Tonny ... You're the best, she jumped into his arms, I don't know what I'll do without you.
- You're welcome, that's what big brothers do, right?
Big Brother ... Every time Elton said these words, Winnie saw her chances of everlasting happiness vanish. Elton was no longer a friend, nor a brother in her heart, she didn't want to see him like that anymore. She knew where her happiness was, but it was so far away too. Inaccessible.
- I don't… I don't know why… I…, She straightened up and knocked Elton down, round away! I don't know why I round away!
Without knowing why, Winnie put both hands over his ears. It was almost as if, in his head, silence was talking to him. He whispered words to her that only she could hear. The girl rushed to her sheet and began to write down what came to her, the words that came from heaven.
"So are you feeling better," Elton asked, happy and amused to see her like that, after all?
- Yeah, yeah, 'she half-said,' can you give me a few moments, Elton, please?
- Yes chief, he said as he left, but don't go to bed too late. And don't forget to pack your bags, we'll see you tomorrow afternoon.
"But I'm not going anywhere," replied the young woman simply.
Elton, surprised, turned and asked him:
- How are you not going anywhere? Aren't you going to start over with that? ...
Winnie made up for it quickly, stammering:
- oh so of course! We're leaving ... Tomorrow of course, you know when I write I go like a hammer and say things ... well uh ... you shouldn't go to bed, goodbye.
She came and slammed the door in his face, preventing him from adding anything so often in trouble. When she was in her states of great stress, no secrets could be kept, failing to shut up in time.