The entire weekend had passed without Kyle having heard a word from Stephanie, and he felt like he was going crazy.

Kyle was under no delusions about the fact that he had messed up big time, and that he kind of deserved to get the silent treatment from Stephanie. However, that didn't stop him from being pretty upset about it, and he still couldn't bring himself to try to talk to her. A more stubborn, angry part of him felt vindicated in what he had said to her; perhaps he could have been nicer about it, but his point still stood. A lack of proper funding was a reality classical musicians had to deal with, whether Stephanie liked it or not. It was ridiculous of her to snub her nose at such an amazing opportunity over something as stupid as money.

I wish she had more confidence in herself and her own abilities.

Kyle knew that, deep down, Stephanie was just afraid she wasn't good enough as a musician, and that that was at least part of the reason why she turned down the violinist spot in the quartet. Her anger at Professor Lyndon may have been justified because of what she said, but part of it was probably deeper than that.

However, Kyle knew he didn't have to throw it in her face like that. He wished he could apologize to her, but for some reason he just couldn't bring himself to.

It was Monday today, and Kyle had a masterclass to teach at the Academy. He felt that the last thing he wanted to do at the moment was teach a whole class of students, an he debated with himself whether or not he should call in sick and cancel, but eventually decided to go through with teaching the class today. It would likely serve as a good distraction from his thoughts of Stephanie, at the very least.

Kyle walked into the small performance hall about a minute before class began, and all the students were already in their respective seats chatting with each other. As Kyle walked toward the front of the room, one of the girls sitting in front hopped to her feet, clutching her music in her hands while gazing at him eagerly.

"Good morning everyone," Kyle said, gesturing for everyone to quiet down. He looked at the girl, nodding at her, and she hurried toward the piano. "It appears as if we're ready to begin. Let's listen to what this young lady has prepared for us."

The girl announced her name and her piece to the class before sitting down at the piano bench. Kyle settled into a nearby chair, but was hardly paying attention – this girl, though not a redhead, and definitely not as pretty, sort of reminded him of Stephanie. Her manner of concentration on her playing reminded him of the look on Stephanie's face whenever she played violin; the furrow in her brow, the straightening of her shoulders, and the shifting of her head were all pretty similar. Kyle was suddenly lost in a daydream of his weekend with Stephanie, when they were both happy – she stood in his living room wearing nothing but his shirt, playing her violin, while Kyle just sat on his couch and watched her, realizing that he had never felt this way about anyone before...

"...Mr. Lancaster?"

Kyle startled slightly, realizing the girl had stopped playing and all the students were looking at him. Kyle quickly cleared his throat and straightened up in his seat.

"Yes, erm... thank you," Kyle said, realizing too late that he had forgotten this girl's name. "You did an excellent job playing that piece by... er... Prokofiev."

The girl blinked. "Rachmaninoff," she corrected, frowning at him in confusion.

"Right," Kyle said, feeling his face heat in embarrassment. He quickly shook his head. "Yes, of course. My apologies. I'm sorry to ask, but would you mind playing again? I didn't get a lot of sleep last night – my brain's still catching up with the rest of my body today, I'm afraid."

The rest of the class chuckled at his little joke, and the girl quickly turned back toward the piano, clearly happy to show off her musical abilities once again. Kyle quickly gave himself a small shake before forcing himself to pay attention to the music being played.

The rest of the class passed by sluggishly, but Kyle was at least able to pay attention to his students and offer insight whenever it was appropriate. Thankfully, a decent amount of the students had pieces they wanted to play for him, so most the class time was occupied with listening to music rather than Kyle having to speak. The end of the class eventually came, and the students gathered their things together; Kyle couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, happy that he wouldn't have to do this again until Thursday.

Once all the students left, Kyle gathered his things together, eager to get home and away from the Academy. The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was run into Stephanie – he imagined her in one of the practice rooms downstairs right now, practicing her violin with that look of concentration on her face. The thought made his heart clench.

Shaking his head to himself, Kyle hooked his bag over his shoulder before heading out of the performance hall.

Most of the students had congregated in the corridors, chatting with each other, while others began to head toward the cafeteria for an early lunch. Kyle was just planning on heading to the front doors so he could go home when he reached the corridor that led to the large auditorium, the one where he and Stephanie had played together for the BBC several weeks ago. To his surprise, he heard beautiful instrumental music coming from it. Was there a performance today or something? Unable to resist, Kyle walked over to the open doors to take a peek inside.

The auditorium had a few stragglers hanging around in the seats, but at the front onstage there sat four students playing a Mozart concerto together. Kyle saw Professor Lyndon standing nearby, watching the students onstage and glancing down at the sheet music in her hands. He realized this must have been the new string quartet practicing together.

Lyndon must have found a replacement for Stephanie already.

Curious, Kyle stepped inside the auditorium and walked down the steps toward the stage; he wasn't planning on interrupting, he just wanted to get a closer look. He heard some of the students nearby whispering as he passed, but he ignored them as he sat in an empty row near the front of the auditorium.

"Very good, everyone," Lyndon said once they finished the piece several minutes later. "Nathan, you're doing an excellent job – just remember what I said about your intonation during the andante section."

"Yes, ma'am," one of the violinists nodded politely. This young man had bright red hair and freckles, and Kyle realized after a moment this guy must have been Stephanie's replacement.

"Alright, we'll all take a ten-minute break before regrouping," Lyndon said, checking her watch before glancing toward the doors. Her eyes suddenly met Kyle's, and she stood frozen for a moment, staring at him, before giving him a kind smile. "Oh. Hello, Mr. Lancaster."

Kyle knew she probably thought he was here because of the whole debacle with Stephanie, but didn't mention it as he nodded politely. "Hello Professor Lyndon," he said, acutely aware of the members of the string quartet looking at him. The Nathan kid was staring directly at him, and even from the distance Kyle could tell he was itching to come over and say hi.

Professor Lyndon shuffled the sheet music she was holding in her hands, clearing her throat. "Well... I say, I do hope you'll stick around a bit longer, Mr. Lancaster. We were just practicing our Mozart piece for our first performance together – feel free to let us know how we sound."

"You all sounded excellent to me just now," Kyle said sincerely. "I'm sure you'll do wonderful at your first performance."

Professor Lyndon glowed. "Thank you, Kyle. From you, that truly means a lot."

Some of the members of the string quartet moved over to Professor Lyndon to ask her something, and Nathan took this opportunity to walk over to Kyle.

"Hello," Nathan said, approaching Kyle with a bright, excited smile on his face. "Kyle Lancaster – it's truly an honor to meet you, sir."

Nathan

Kyle smiled politely before getting to his feet, holding out his hand to shake. "It's nice to meet you too. Nathan, right?"

"Yeah," Nathan said, clearly thrilled to know Kyle knew his name. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm a huge fan of yours and I have been for years. I've been following your work ever since you were at Julliard, and it's been really incredible to see how successful you've become over the years. I don't think I would've gotten into the Royal Academy of Music if it wasn't for you."

Kyle felt surprised by this guy's confession: it wasn't often that he met fans who had followed his career way back when he was still at Julliard, before he was even famous. It was flattering, to say the least. "Wow. Thank you, Nathan, that's very kind of you, and I really appreciate that. It's not often I meet fans who've followed me since my Julliard days."

"It had always been my dream to go there," Nathan confessed. "Or to any one of the well-known conservatories around the world. When I wasn't practicing my violin, I was reading any sort of news I could find about these music schools, learning about the culture and the musicians who came from these places. You and Sumina Studer became my idols," he added with a laugh.

Kyle chuckled. He'd actually gone to school with Sumina, and, unlike Chloe, he thought her to be a genuinely kind person in addition to being a fantastic violinist. "I can definitely agree Sumina is a great musician to look up to. Do you just play the violin, then, or the piano too?"

"Just the violin," Nathan said. "The one I have right now was actually my grandfather's. He was an incredible violinist before he passed away – he actually played with David Oistrakh! It's definitely the most valuable thing I own, and I'm extremely proud of it."

Kyle raised his eyebrows, genuinely impressed. "I'd say. It's incredible that you were able to get such an amazing gift from your grandfather."

"I know. I'm very lucky," Nathan said humbly. "I actually come from a family of eight children, and I'm the second youngest. We didn't have a lot of money growing up, so pretty much everything I had was secondhand from one of my elder siblings. No one in my family ever really paid attention to me, and I was always passed over for everything... but when my grandfather died and left me his violin, I immediately knew that music was my calling. I felt I could really make something of myself with his violin, and make him proud of me. I practiced every single day, and I saved up all of my money so I could purchase supplies to take care of my instrument and to go to music camps every summer. I lived and breathed music every single day, and it eventually paid off when last year I got a full-ride scholarship to the Royal Academy."

Kyle was silent for a moment, feeling a bit shocked to hear about Nathan's difficult childhood. He couldn't help but be reminded about himself as a small child, going to his uncle's music shop after school every single day so he could practice piano in the backroom, his passion for music surpassing everything else in his life. Kyle gave Nathan a genuine smile. "Nathan, that's really incredible. Honestly, I'm sure your grandfather would be extremely proud of you."

"I hope so," Nathan nodded, smiling back at Kyle before glancing down at the floor. He was clearly trying to hide how emotional he was getting, thinking about his grandfather. "I miss him quite a lot, but I just hope he knows I want to carry on his spirit. I was so excited when I got the violinist spot on the string quartet: I really feel like this is how I can make him proud, you know?"

Before Kyle could respond, he heard Professor Lyndon clap her hands from the front of the auditorium. "Come along now, everyone, it's time to get back to playing! We still have the third movement to practice."

"I have to get back," Nathan said, turning back to Kyle. "But it was really nice meeting you."

"You too, Nathan," Kyle said sincerely, holding out his hand again. Nathan shook it with a wide grin before heading back toward the stage. Kyle watched him walk away before sitting back down in his seat, wanting to listen for at least a little bit longer.

The string quartet practiced for nearly an entire hour, and the other students lingering around the auditorium seating area eventually left. As Kyle listened to the beautiful Mozart concerto being played, he couldn't help but think back to his own childhood: after what Nathan had told him about the struggles he had gone through, and what he had persevered to get to this point in his life, Kyle couldn't help but think that he and Nathan weren't so different. His own love for the piano had been what sustained him for most of his childhood, and his persistence and hard work during that time had absolutely leant to his success today.

As much as Kyle cared about Stephanie and wanted her to be a successful musician, he realized that Nathan probably deserved the spot on the string quartet more than she did. It was rather humbling, to say the least, and he suddenly had a strong desire to apologize to her for what he had said.

Finally, the string quartet finished up practice, and they all began gathering their things up. Kyle stood up and made his way over to Professor Lyndon.

"Hello, Kyle," Lyndon smiled genuinely at him. "I'm very glad you decided to stick around for our whole practice. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yes actually," Kyle said, glancing over at the musicians onstage as they gathered their things. "The string quartet is going to go on tour once the fall semester begins, correct?"

"Yes, around late September," Lyndon confirmed. "Why do you ask?"

Kyle looked back at her. "I was just thinking... I have a touring company and an entire marketing team at my disposal. I know that the Academy has a set budget for your quartet, but I would like to help you out any way that I can."

Lyndon only stared at him for a moment before her face broke out into a wide smile.