162 Grace’s Nightmare (2/2)

Lucien politely picked her purse up from the floor and handed it to her. He smiled, ”Hi Grace, nice to see you again. When you just walked into the restaurant, I almost could not recognize you. You look great.”

”Mr. Evans… why… why are you here in Sturk?” Grace put on a nervous smile, ”I mean… If you were coming, the newspaper should…”

”Should tell everyone in Sturk?” Lucien looked at her, ”Speaking of newspaper… I just read the latest issue of Sturk News, your band is going to hold the….”

Grace was praying to God that Lucien Evans did not know anything about what they were doing right now. As soon as she heard that Lucien was talking about her band, she felt a sudden dizziness and almost fell onto the ground.

A strong hand held her arm and helped her stand still.

Looking up, Grace started at Lucien Evans and burst out crying, ”Mr. Evans, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that I’m stealing your name and reputation and claiming that I’m your student. Please forgive me… I will tell everyone the truth tomorrow.”

After saying this, Grace felt that she was too weak to barely stand, as her hand was supporting her body on the basin. Grace knew that, as soon as she issued this apology on Sturk News, all of her money, reputation and her status would be totally gone, or even worse. She would suffer the great contempt from people. She would be called a liar.

However, she also understood that only sincere apology could help her avoid even more bitter consequence, such as being thrown into the city prison for the crime of fraud.

Lucien listened to her words, and then smiled, ”Grace, you have been claiming yourself as my piano student and so far no one ever doubted you, which means you’re a pretty talented pianist. I just wonder why you don’t rely on yourself but want to lie to people? You know lies never last long.”

Hearing Lucien’s gentle words, Grace burst into tears again, ”I come from an ordinary family. In order to support me to learn music, in order to send me to Aalto, my family ran out of all our savings.

”When we came back from Aalto, our original plan was to use the piece of fantasy directed by you to promote us. However, ever since we had our first great success, we got greedy. At that time, my family’s small business got into trouble, and I needed money, or my parents would be thrown into the jail. In the end, I pretended to be your student, Mr. Evans, since I’m the only pianist in the band. And even since then, I sink deeper and deeper.” Grace continued sobbing.

”I see…” Lucien’s attitude remained unclear.

”Mr. Evans…” Grace paused a bit and said with great determination, ”I’m willing to do whatever you want as long as you forgive me! Even… even…”

Grace did not want her dream life to turn into bubbles just like this. She did not want to go back again!

Seeing that his plan was going well, Lucien felt his effort of damaging the sink of the washroom on the second floor was worthwhile. He nodded, ”I understand the hardship you suffered, but telling lies is never a good thing.”

When Grace felt desperate, Lucien switched the topic, ”Grace, you know Mr. Granneuve?”

”Yes, it is Mr. Granneuve who is inviting me for dinner tonight,” answered Grace with confusion. However, she wanted to be as cooperative as possible right now to make the very effort to win Mr. Evans’ pardon, so she explained, ”Mr. Granneuve is pursuing me.”

”I have a friend who wants me to send a message to Mr. Granneuve, Grace.” Lucien smiled, ”It’s written on this small piece of paper. Can you do me the favor?”

”Sure.” Grace hurriedly nodded.

”But you cannot tell Mr. Granneuve that it is me who gave you the paper. Just tell him you encountered someone in the washroom that you don’t know,” added Lucien.

Although Grace wanted to ask why, she decided to just take whatever Mr. Evans asked.

”Don’t open it. Don’t read it.” Lucien handed her a tightly folded piece of paper, ”If the result turns out to be good, I may consider sharing some of my piano playing skills with you.”

”Really?!” Grace was very surprised. She hurriedly nodded her head in a serious manner.

When Grace left the washroom after she calmed down, Lucien payed his bill and left the restaurant in a good mood.