It had been the right move to switch our roles for the duet. After we did that all the pieces had fallen into place and we were now performing a solemn version of Klengel’s suite for 2 cellos. Frank had nothing to worry about with a performance as solid as this since Sara and I were now perfectly attuned to each other. Even though it was completely different from my duets with Nastya, playing this duet together with Sara felt like we were sharing feelings and bonding over something. We weren’t mourning, it felt more like we were celebrating the time we shared with Lise. Very vivid memories of my time with Lise popped up while playing, and even though I knew she was here creating this music with us, I still felt tears starting to roll down my cheeks when I started to realize how everything had changed and would never go back to the way it was. When I looked up and our final note sounded, I could see that a lot of people in the crowd were crying too. There were probably a lot of people who had lost close ones present here today.

After the mass, we started packing our material. Axelle who had decided to come with us to watch our concert immediately joined us the second she could. “I am just too curious to hear the results of your hard work. You were talking to me about it every day.” Was the excuse she gave Sara to come. Nastya and I of course knew better, and we had been having a fun time watching Axelle struggle around Sara ever since the other night. Nastya had come too since she wanted to watch the whole Sara and Axelle spectacle unfold, but she hadn’t come up yet. I guess she left the church with the crowd and was waiting outside for me. I started to hurry since I did not want to make her wait too long.

I witnessed Axelle nervously make a joke and Sara immediately giggled. It stung to see someone that looked like Lise flirt with someone else. “Get a grip Fleure. She isn’t Lise.” I reprimanded myself. “You should be happy and supportive.”

“She most certainly isn’t!” Lise replied in my head. “Who would have thought those two would become a thing?” Rosalinde asked. Then she asked Lise: “Are you sure Sara had a crush on Fleure and not on you?” I thought I could notice some jealousy in Rosalinde’s voice.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lise replied, but I could hear from the sound of her voice that she did not sound as certain as those words implied.

“Maybe she just showed interest Fleure, because you were hanging so much around her, and wanted you to hang around her instead.” Rosalinde continued teasing. The way Lise was stammering in response; I noticed that Lise was seriously starting to doubt the way she looked at the past.

Before I started to doubt the motifs of my friends too, I decided to make short work of Rosalinde’s teases.

“Axelle isn’t Lise. Sara and Axelle are a different story altogether.”

“But…”

“No buts. I am sure Sara knows that very well.”

“Hmph! Party pooper.” Rosalinde scowled.

“Fleure, is that you?” I turned around and was met with a ghost from the past. Lise’s parents were standing right in front of me. I knew I would likely meet them today, but with all that messing around, I had not mentally prepared for it yet. A rush of guilt came over me. I had trouble looking them into the eyes. It was my parents that were driving when their daughter got killed. I was the only survivor. I wondered if they were blaming me for surviving. I know I did.

Suddenly I got a hug from Lise’s mom. “You look well. It was such a terrible thing; I can’t imagine how it must have been for you to be the only survivor of that terrible accident. It made us happy when you played her song last year on tv. We are so glad you are finally able to join us in remembering Lise. I am sure she wanted you here and was listening to your music today.”

“I hope she was. Sara and I worked really hard on this."

Well, I knew for a fact Lise was here. She was the one looking forward to playing at this remembrance service the most since she wanted to watch the people mourn for her.

Sara who was still talking to Axelle turned around at the mention of her name. She immediately recognized our visitors and got a bright smile on her face. It was clear she was still in contact with them.

“Oh, hi Bert, hi Sophie, how are the two of you doing?”

But there was no reaction. They both looked with open mouths at the person next to Sara.

“L-Lise? How?” Sophie muttered. I could see she was in shock seeing someone who looked exactly like her daughter standing in front of her in the flesh.

Axelle, not realizing that they were talking to her, shrieked the second Sophie grabbed onto her. I could see Sophie was turning hysteric, but Bert took her by her shoulders and said “Calm down and look closely. That isn’t Lise.”

“My name is Axelle. I am a friend of Sara and Fleure. They told me I resemble your daughter. I am sorry maybe I should not have come.”

“Axelle… Then you must be... Fate can be such a cruel thing.” Sophie answered dejectedly.

“I must be what?” Axelle asked a bit spooked.

Bert sighed. “You should not have done that Sophie. It is not our place to tell her.” Then he turned toward Axelle and said, “Since Sophie did this, I guess we can tell you, but I am not sure you will want to hear this.”

“Just spit it out already. I hate vague lines like that.” I could see Axelle was losing her patience.

Bert sighed again, he looked around, before saying “I do not know how much you have been told, but I am pretty sure that Lise was your actual twin sister.”

“What!?” Lise and Axelle shouted out at the same time. I just kept quiet listening to what Bert was going to say next.

“You see, Lise was adopted. When we heard from the adoption agency a twin was born, we tried to adopt both of them, but they had already promised the second child to someone else, which must have been your parents. It’s strange that fate made you meet Fleure and Sara too.”

“I’m adopted?” Axelle clearly took a hit from that knowledge and sat down on one of the chairs. Sara immediately hugged her from behind and asked, “Are you okay.”

“I have a sister? Why did they never tell me?” Lise sounded angry.

“Did Lise know?” I asked, hoping that would answer Lise’s question.

But Sophie immediately shook her head. “We were planning to tell her when she turned 18. You know what she was like. She would have tried to find her sister the second she knew she had one. We wanted her to be grown up when facing those decisions.”

“AAAArgh. This is so frustrating. She is so right. I would have started searching immediately! I can’t believe I never met my sister. We could even have played a 4-handed piece for piano together.”

“I realize this might have come as a shock. But nevertheless, if you ever want to know more about your sister, you are welcome to visit our house.” Sophie, who had recovered a little in the meantime, said to Axelle. “Both Sara and Fleure know how to get in touch with us.”

Axelle, clearly still stricken by what was said just nodded silently. I can imagine this was quite an emotional bomb that was dropped on her. I would not know how I would react if I found out my parents weren’t really my parents, and I had a sister somewhere out there…

“Don’t you want to say something to your parents?” I asked Lise inside my head. “No. That’s fine. I had… But after this, I do not think I do. I am not really sure what to make of this, to be honest.”

Sophie and Bert said their goodbyes and kept on repeating that I should visit them from time to time. I finished packing up and noticed that Axelle still wasn’t doing well while Sara was trying to cheer her up.

“I’ll leave this to you,” I said to Sara, and she gave me a stare that was a lot more serious than usual before she nodded reassuringly.

“I’m counting on you,” I said and left. When I got out of the church, Nastya immediately walked toward me, and I told Nastya what just happened inside between Axelle and Lise’s parents. When I told her I left her with Sara to comfort her, she said: “Very smooth of you! You are going to be a master at this game like me before you know it. Just a pity that we can’t go watch it unfold inside the church without being noticed.”

“Y-you mean… They wouldn’t… not inside of the church.” I replied, a bit shocked.

Nastya shrugged. “I would not be too sure about that. Sara is a lot bolder than she looks. A confession in church. It sounds quite blasphemous doesn’t it?”

I shook my head shaking the image that had formed inside my mind and looked back at the entrance of the church. The imagery of course immediately returned making a blush appear on my cheeks.

“Ara, what were you thinking of?”

“N-nothing.” I felt the heat spread over my face.

“You’re really cute when you’re embarrassed.” Nastya giggled.

“C-cute?” I knew she was just teasing me. But when it came from someone as beautiful as Nastya a comment like that hit twice as hard. I think steam must have been coming out of my ears at this point.

Nastya kept on teasing me until Aunt Christina came over to say that it was time to go home and asked if I wanted to ride with her.

“Can she come over to my place for a while? Grandpa wanted to talk to her.” Nastya asked her.

“Of course, just try to be home before 9. I shall take your cello with me. You girls have fun!” Aunt Christina replied while giving me a little wink.

After she left, thinking it might have to do with the whole wraith business, I asked “What did Aleksei want to talk about?”

“He didn’t, I just made that up so we could follow Sara and Axelle together. Don’t you want to see if your efforts paid off?”

Yati

Hi everybody!

I wanted to let you all know that there will be an extra chapter release on Valentines day, so be sure to check it out!