Shirley Hart was not an angel. Other than Sophia, she was the only girl in the family. And Sophia didn't count. Whatever she had, Shirley could just take it from her. So basically, she was princess of the Hart family. And she was beyond pretty. She was bona-fide beautiful. She was bound to marry upwards. So what's wrong in behaving like a princess?
Funny thing was no one thought this line of thinking is wrong. Go figure.
Shirley decided all the things Sophia had or will have later, will all belong to her. Now someone was saying she would not be able to get anything. Being mad was given. Yes, having scars equated to becoming ugly which equated to her being isolated, which finally meant Shirley would not be able ride coattails on her.
Was Sophia happy that her sister came to rescue? Not really. The talk slowly turned to others. The dinner continued.
While partaking dessert, the old Harts decided to talk important details.
"Sophia, how is your piano training going on?"
The eldest daughter -in-law piped in,"Mother, she's so sick. It would be difficult for her to move around. How can she practice piano?"
The second Hart family was skirming. Sophia had not touched the piano at home after the accident.
Sophia was thinking something else. When she searched for rebirth or reincarnation, most of the searches had shown webnovels. There was one common thing in those chessy, over exaggerated, unbelievable stories. The rebirth happened before an event which would alter the protagonist's life completely. So, she had racked her brains to see if it applied to her. Nothing came to her mind.
Now....she got an inkling. In previous life, she had recovered slower, so there was no talk about piano when she had come here after recovering from surgery.
"I haven't started as I need doctor's permission to do so," Sophia replied. It was a lie. The doctor had already told her that she could resume her day to day activities after few remote consultations.
"Oh! So...can you practice? Is there any residual effects due to accident?"
The Harts in the nutshell. Only concerned about the effect, not the person.
"Well, I am attending school normally. There has been no problem. Why Grandma?"
"Ah! It's like this dear. Your piano concert slot...can you give it to Nicole? It's difficult for you to play even if you practice from now on. Instead of losing face, given your situation, you can just give up. Nicole has someone who can fill your shoes. She is really helping us out. How awkward it would be if you perform poorly just because you were still recovering."
Old Mr Hart concurred. "Yes, dear child. If you had recovered completely and practiced piano well, we would not have mentioned this at all. When you have reason as excuse, why not use it? You are still young. You will have more concerts. Your health is more important."
The first Hart family was happy, gleeful but forced to wear sad face. Nolan and his wife added their bits, pushing Sophia to give up the concert and handover the same to Nicole. Nathan and his wife were seething. Shirley and Steve didn't mind. After all, what the old man said was true. Sophia indeed had more time, thus more chances to have concert.
Sophia became silent. Ah, here it is. The plot which she had missed completely in her previous life. This was one of the trigger points. If she changed it, then her life's trajectory would alter dramatically from previous one. What was going to happen in that concert though?
If she had been her old self, she would have helplessly stammered yes and obeyed the orders, especially when her parents didn't speak up. This time...
"Grandma! This was an opportunity given to me by my teacher. I can't just hand it over to someone else."
The eldest daughter-in-law snapped at her. "What do you mean you can't hand it over? We are your family. We always have your best interests."
Nolan, the eldest son chimed in, "We are not saying you can't participate at all. You are weak now. Even if you did participate, it will be a subpar performance. It will affect your future."
Sophia said," I know you all have well wishes towards me. But I really can't hand it over. Because I don't have that power. But...I understand your concerns too. I am concerned about it too. So I thought, I will have a talk with teacher and follow whatever she decides."
"This..." Old Mrs Hart could not continue. This was actually the correct way of doing things. But it meant their Nicole won't get help. Owning favours from the rich or influential people... can't give it up. What to do? What to say?
"I'll ask your aunt Nicole to send few performance pieces of the kid she wants to sponsor. Show it to your teacher. In this way, it gives her a way out. Having a subpar performance will destroy whole concert. She'll be concerned about it too." Finally, old Mr Hart advised her. Years of working in business sector, he knew what to say and what not to say.
You show you can't actually perform and you also show someone who is better. An intelligent person would know whom to choose.
Sophia could only nod. So, she had to talk and meet the piano teacher next day. Thanks to the accident, she had forgotten about this concert completely. When she goes to meet the teacher, she should find out more details.