《Unfinished》19. Coda

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After several speeches, the winners of the hospital talent competition were announced. The hospital kitchen and service crew sang as a choral; a nurse, doctor, and patient, each sang a song; the hospital's security personnel performed a dance; and Kento played the piano. All these were warmly applauded and generous prizes were awarded.

After dinner, Kento, once again., wheeled himself toward the piano and began playing. When the dinner guests quieted down a little bit, Leah was introduced. Kento was slightly surprised to see Leah in a dress! From the time they met, she was always in pants or shorts. The only photos of her in a dress he's seen or noticed in Leah's house were taken when she was much younger. The applause of the guests brought Kento back to reality. Leah smiled and nodded at him and they began playing. After two pieces, Kento pushed away from the piano and bowed together with Leah. As he was about to exit the 'stage', Leah turned to the audience and said, "Please allow me to play one more piece."

Surprised, Kento looked up at Leah. They had not rehearsed more music than what they just played. During the time they rehearsed together, Leah even said that she wasn't confident to stand alone in front of an audience, meaning she didn't want to perform solo. "What if dun lang ako sa side, sa piano?" Kento suggested but Leah shook her head.

"I have a little back story to the piece I am about to play. After my accident, I refused to play or even listen to music. As you all know, I was supposed to play with our orchestra on the night of the accident. Relearning to do everything when I was in therapy was embarrassing as well as painful. I eventually regained my strength and life went on. I went to the States for more therapies and to study. In the two years that I was there, I steadily improved and when I returned home, it was as if I had not figured in a terrible car crash.

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This music piece was given to me by Kento's mom. We had been steadily dating for several months and kept a long-distance relationship while I was abroad. Tita said she found these loose music sheets amongst Kento's things when they were preparing his space on the ground floor of their house. I looked at the sheets and mentally played it in my head. When I asked Sir Dennis, my mentor, to play it on the piano, he said that the piece wasn't finished. We then spent a few days completing the melody and Sir Dennis helped in arranging it for the violin." Leah said while the guests quietly listened. She raised her violin to position it on her neck. Before striking the bow on the strings, she turned to Kento who was still in shock by her speech and said, "This was composed by my boyfriend, Kento. Kento, love, this is for you. Thank you."

The audience gave her a standing ovation and almost everyone in the banquet hall were moved to tears with the beautiful music. When the applause died down and everyone sat back down, Leah turned to leave the stage. To her surprise, Kento was standing upright and unaided. Lucas, his best friend, stood nearby. The doctors and hospital staff who knew about his condition all began clapping again. Leah began tearing up seeing Kento on his feet. She was about to take a step forward toward him when Kento raised his hand to signal her to stop. Kento then took a step while using a cane. Everyone knew that it was only a matter of time and up to Kento when he would walk again so they applauded and cheered him on. Kento still dragged his as he tried to instruct his feet to move accordingly. He managed to take a few steps forward until Leah approached him and hugged him. The whole banquet hall erupted in cheers.

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Holding on the Leah, Kento took a few steps forward before stopping. Leah thought that perhaps he paused to rest. Kento let go of Leah and steadied himself. He then reached inside his pocket and took out a ring. "My dear Leah, thank you for completing that music that I composed for you. From the moment I met you, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. You not only finished that unfinished score that I wrote, you complete me. Will you continue to complete many unfinished melodies of my life?"

Leah looked at Kento lovingly and nodded. They hugged as the whole banquet hall erupted in applause.

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