The Pianist by Tetiana Syniavska

My story of friendship with Kira began

a long time ago, from the moment when we, two six-year-old girls, first met at a music school and decided to be friends for life.

Those days, our friendship meant for us sharing the sweets and sitting together at the same desk in theoretical classes, quietly discussing our favorite Disney characters, instead of listening to the monotonous speech of the teacher.

The years passed, and we fell in love with playing the piano more and more. After 5 years of study, we realized that music is our destiny and that in the future we want to become famous pianists. We began to give our first local concerts, then regional ones, and then went to the capital, where we saw the first big stage, the first thousand people, and the first flowers in such numbers that we could not carry them off the stage with four hands after the end of the performance. Our parents were proud of us, and our teacher said that a musical conservatory and world fame was waiting for us.

We liked this idea. We were absorbed in music and completely dropped out of our personal life, until the age of 16. There was only one year left before the entrance exams at the conservatory when something unusual for me happened - I fell in love. I fell in love not with the music of one more composer, but with a real boy of my age. And it just turned everything upside down.

All my time became ours, I started skipping piano lessons and theoretical classes for weeks, and naturally, at the end, when it came time for the entrance exam to the conservatory, I just flunked it, sent everything to hell, and decided to become a marketer ... Oh, I almost forgot to say, that after half a year I broke up with my boyfriend, realizing that he was a rare asshole. But what is even more offensive from this whole situation is that Kira passed all the exams perfectly, entered the budget, and has been touring Ukraine with success for 5 years, gradually thinking about the world stage.

How do I know this? We are still friends with her. She still trusts me with her secrets and does not know how much I hate her in the depths of my soul, and how she annoys me with her stories about her happy life. Why does it piss me off so much? Because I sincerely hate what I do, and the fact that she now has everything that could have been mine too, I mean the realization of my dream, devilishly oppresses me and makes me hate her happy face after each of her concerts. She still invites me to each of them and even once offered to become her PR agent.

"What an interesting idea! I think we need to discuss it somehow. But later…" – I answered that day. But in my head, it was just: "You piss me off, piss me off, piss me off…"

And today the moment has come, when after so many years, she has to find out how I feel about her, and that in reality we are not friends at all.

Tonight, she is giving a concert at 7 p.m. It is going to be her biggest performance, moreover, she secretly told me that today on stage her boyfriend will propose to her, so that in this way her audience will know that she is getting married. But this silly girl doesn’t know that today would be the worst day of her life.

11 a.m.

“Hi dear! Can you talk?”

“Hello. Sure! Will you be on time today? You remember, the beginning at 7 p.m?” – she asked with happiness in her voice.

“Oh, don't worry. Trust me, today I'll be punctual. By the way, thanks for the front row tickets. I glad that I will see you so well.”

“Not at all, dear. I want to go out to a local cafe for something to eat in about an hour and then go to the rehearsal. Would you like to have a snack with me?”

“You won't believe it! I just wanted to offer you the same. Well, so I get dressed and go to you.”

Everything went according to plan and even better than I could have expected.

What was in the cafe? Oh, that's not very interesting. But we can dwell in more detail on what happened at 7 p.m.

5 p.m.

“Kira, are you all right? You look strange, and as your producer, I don't really like it.”

“Yeah, everything is OK.”

6 p.m.

“Darling, are you worried? Why are your hands shaking? Everything will be fine and today the whole world will know that you will be my wife. We've been waiting for this for so long.”

“Yes, you're right, I just ... I don't know. I guess I'm just really worried.”

6.55 p.m.

“Where is she? Why is she still not behind the scenes? What the hell is going on?” Her producer was furious.

“She said that she needed to go to the toilet. A couple of minutes and she will be on stage.”

7 p.m.

Thousands of listeners are ready to meet their favorite pianist. The media came from all Ukrainian TV channels to tell the world about the long-awaited concert. Everyone is waiting for the beginning of her evening performance. At 7:20 she finally showed up. She went on approximately to the center of the stage step by step, very slowly and carefully, as if the floor underneath her feet was vibrating. She came out, stood for several seconds without moving, as if trying to see people, and then suddenly lost consciousness and fell to the floor.

The next day, all the media had a sensation.

"The famous pianist Kira Raspi fainted on the largest stage in Ukraine. Narcotic substances were found in her blood. Now her condition is stabilizing. But her reputation is clearly under threat."

"Kira Raspi has absolutely no respect for her audience, and her constant words about how important peace of mind, sports, and proper nutrition are for a musician is fiction. Kira Raspi is a two-faced pianist."

Once Kira asked me to become her PR agent – consider that I became one.