Chapter 158 - Anne Big Secret : Selma

Seeing Anne crying, Mrs. Delilah and Mrs. Riley spontaneously hugged Anne. Their guess was correct. There was something wrong with the cheerful girl they knew. Because there were still quite a lot of visitors to the laundry, the two middle-aged women then brought Anne into the room where they used to chat.

"Sit here, Darling. Now, stop crying, there are still a lot of visitors, they might think that we have committed acts of violence to you," said Mrs. Delilah softly, trying to calm Anne down by making jokes.

"Yes, Dear. If that happens, then we will lose our customers. You don't want us to end up on the street, right?" joked Mrs. Riley in response to Mrs. Delilah's words.

"Ma'am, sob, what are you talking about?" Anne sobbed. She was not happy to hear the words of the two good women in front of her.

"Well now then don't cry anymore, Dear, sit here, pretty. Calm yourself, and let us work first. After that, you just tell us what happened," said Mrs. Delilah softly.

"Yes, Ma'am, I-I will not cry," said Anne softly.

Hearing Anne's answer made Mrs. Delilah and Mrs. Riley smile. When Mrs. Delilah wiped Anne's tears that remained on her cheeks, Mrs. Riley went to the refrigerator and reached for a bottle of cold mineral water. She then gave it to Anne. Anne, who had not drunk since breakfast this morning, immediately emptied the water in the bottle given to her by Mrs. Riley. Seeing Anne finishing it up made the two middle-aged women smile as they shook their heads. They really did not expect to see Anne like that.

"Yes, you calm down for a moment, honey, after our work is done you can tell us everything," said Mrs. Delilah softly.

"Yes Ma'am, thank you both for your kindness to me," answered Anne, sobbing.

"Never mind, don't talk anymore. I don't want to see you cry anymore. You better listen to this music and sit quietly," said Mrs. Delilah again, putting the headset into Anne's ears which was connected to her airpod which contained a collection of classical music from several world musicians.

Hearing the strains of Symphony No. 9 in the D minor scale made Anne immediately silent. Symphony No. 9 was Ludwig van Beethoven's last symphony, which was completed in 1824.

This 75-minute symphony contained part of Friedrich Schiller's ode "An die Freude" (English: Ode to Joy), as a text sung by a solist and choirs at the last move. This symphony was perhaps the most famous of classical music works, and was considered one of Beethoven's greatest masterpieces, composed when he was completely deaf.

Seeing Anne's silence made Mrs. Riley and Mrs. Delilah smile. They both got up and left Anne alone. They let Anne calm down to listen to classical music, because there were still many customers, so they returned to be busy with their work. For them, customer satisfaction was number one. That was why they tried to serve their customers well. This was one of the efforts of the two women to keep their laundry in high demand while many other laundry businesses were opening.

Meanwhile, Anne, who was very fond of Beethoven, the best student of Mozart, since childhood, loved the piano so much that she automatically liked the legendary composer. When her mother was still alive, Anne often joined her mother to church to listen to her mother accompanied the choir on the piano. Because she had the talent to play the piano from her mother, Anne had no trouble at all when she first touched the piano keys when she was one and a half years old in church. Because they were poor, who couldn't afford to have any musical instruments at home, Anne learned to play the piano in church every Sunday, when the church was empty from the congregations after Sunday mass. She was taught directly by her mother who was the official pianist in the church in the parish where they lived for years. That was why Anne was so adept at playing the piano when she was five years old, but she stopped touching the piano when she got her first unfair treatment. From then on, Anne vowed to stay away from the piano for the rest of her life.

But today, when she heard the melodious strains of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, she dissolved himself in a comfort she had never had in all these years, because she had never touched or tried to hear the symphony again. Not long after that, Anne fell asleep. She fell asleep in a sitting position with her ear still attached to the headset, playing the melodious music of her favorite maestro.

"Anne is asleep Riley," whispered Mrs. Delila quietly to Mrs. Riley.

"Just let her sleep, Delilah. That's good for her. At least she can rest easy. I'm sure something bad happened to her that she ended up crying like that. Anne was the purest girl I know, she was very kind and innocent. Surely she has experienced something that made her this way, I'm sure Anne still keeps a big secret that she hasn't told us," said Mrs. Riley quietly, as she looked at Anne with pity.

"I think so too. This girl must have experienced a big event that made her distrust people. I can see clearly into the eyes of Anne which is hiding a big secret that has made her so closed," said Mrs. Delilah again.

"Well for now let her sleep, after she wakes up I hope she will be much better," please Mrs. Riley sincerely.

"Amen," replied Mrs. Delilah softly.

Anne, who was sleeping suddenly opened her eyes slowly when she felt a glare hit her face, she woke up to hear the music from the piano keys being played by someone. Out of curiosity, she walked slowly to the source of the sound. Her steps stopped when she saw a little girl dressed luxuriously with shiny golden hair sitting on a chair on the stage. The little girl was doing a solo music performance by playing a beautiful melody that Anne knew very well, a melody made by her own mother that she often played when she was at the church when she was alone with Anne.

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Suddenly, there was a sound of applause from many people who sat in front of the stage. They praised and admired the play of this beautiful little girl. When they praised the girl, the little girl slowly turned to Anne with an evil smile full of victory that mocked Anne.

"Selma, don't!!!"