Chapter 15
Neither Yvette Larson nor Clarine Landon knew the man who was bowing before them. They were still in confusion over where these two invitations had suddenly appeared from.
However, Seth Fleming knew this man, and so did Solomon Smith.
His name was Christopher Yeats; he was one of the most important members of Chicago’s Yeats family and the right-hand man of All Stars Hotel’s boss, Logan Yeats.
At certain events, Christopher Yeats represented the Yeats family as well as Logan Yeats. It was incredulous that he was bowing before Finn Taylor now.
Solomon Smith was dumbfounded and couldn’t utter a word. Even Seth Fleming was trembling slightly.
Finn Taylor was just about to step forward to receive the invitations when Melissa Hans cut in and snatched both invitations away. “These invitations must be fake. He’s just the useless matrilocal son-in-law of the Larson family. How could he have an invitation?”
Before Melissa Hans could open the invitations to take a look, Seth Fleming slapped her right in the face. “How much longer are you going to keep up with this nonsense? Look at where we are. Do you think it’s right for you to kick up a fuss here?”
Melissa Hans stood baffled at having been slapped by her husband. Her eyes were full of disbelief. “You… Seth Fleming, how dare you hit me?”
“So what? If you dare to say anything, I’ll get a divorce from you and make you scram from the Fleming family.”
Melissa Hans was startled by her spouse’s sternness; she had never seen him as angry as he was now.
She had a premonition that Seth Fleming would truly go through with the divorce if she continued with her nonsense.
Seth Fleming snatched the two invitations and bowed respectfully, politely holding out the invitations with outstretched hands. “Sir, I’m so sorry for being rude earlier on. It was just a misunderstanding; please forgive us.”
Finn Taylor stared at him and said while taking the invitations, “I’m not changing my stance. If you don’t have an invitation, you’d better leave. Isn’t that the rule set by Mr. Smith?”
Solomon Smith was sweating buckets of cold sweat. It was obvious that Finn Taylor meant for him to chase Melissa Hans out, but he didn’t dare to do so.
“Did you hear that? You useless fool, why did you come in without an invitation? You’d better get out,” said Seth Fleming while shoving his wife out.
Melissa Hans was dumbfounded and couldn’t wrap her head around what had happened to her husband, Seth Fleming. But years of experience in the upper-class circle meant that she had a keen sense of observation.
She could tell that her husband was truly afraid. If she remained stubborn, something might truly happen.
In the end, Melissa Hans reluctantly walked out of the hotel lobby and left the party.
This was no big deal to the party, and not many remembered that it had even happened.
Yvette Larson looked at the invitations in his hand. “Finn Taylor, what’s going on? How did you get these two invitations?”
“How am I supposed to know? He must’ve gotten the wrong person.” Finn Taylor shirked all responsibility and pretended not to know anything.
“Forget it. I’m not going to talk to you about these invitations, but we must have a chat about the Fleming family. Why did you have to stand up for me today? Do you know that you almost got us in trouble? The Fleming family isn’t to be trifled with; the Larson family is no match for them.”
“If not for our good luck in getting these two invitations out of the blue, we would’ve been chased out. Worse still, we would’ve offended the Fleming family. Do you know how much trouble your actions would’ve caused the Larson family?”
Yvette Larson was prepared to go on, but Clarine Landon cut in. “Alright, Yvette. Stop asking him about it. You’re clear about the kind of person he is. How could he have gotten an invitation? That guy must’ve gotten the wrong person.”
Yvette Larson was still in disbelief. Because she hadn’t gotten an answer after such a long time, she had no choice but to believe that that person had indeed gotten the wrong person.
Just then, a group walked up to the stage at the front of the hall.
There was a piano, a cello, a saxophone, and drums.
“Yvette, it looks like there’s a performance going on. Let’s go.” Clarine Landon dragged her best friend toward the stage as she said that.
There were many seats in front of the stage, and Yvette Larson and Clarine Landon sat themselves in two empty seats and waited silently for the performance to begin.
Without the burden of those two ladies, Finn Taylor felt much more at ease. He walked around as he pleased and quickly reached the backstage.
There, many workers were debating amongst themselves.
“It doesn’t matter that we are one short. Who will be able to tell?”
“Who says that they won’t be able to tell? Everyone in the audience is from the upper class. Do you think they haven’t watched such performances before?”
“Aren’t those upper-class people pretending to be cultured and pretending to understand music and art?”
“Do you mean that I can also choose not to go up on stage since they might not understand the cello either?”
“Forget it then. I won’t play the piano either.”
“What do all of you mean? Are you trying to escape now that the violinist has escaped?”
Finn Taylor had a rough idea of the situation after overhearing the conversation.
These people were supposed to perform on stage. The performance should’ve started, but they were facing delays because their violinist was gone.
Someone said that it didn’t matter, while others said that the performance wouldn’t be perfect without a violinist and that it would be better not to have a performance than to give a slip-shod one.
Finn Taylor walked up and picked up the violin; he played it with ease. “Good one. Where are you from?”
Everyone was stunned. They were all musicians and could tell from Finn Taylor’s playing that he was a professional.
“Germany.”
“Yes, you do seem like it. Let’s go; I’ll perform with you guys.”
‘Yvette Larson has been waiting amongst the audience for a long time. She would definitely be disappointed if the performance was canceled at the last minute.’
The group glanced at each other before the leader finally made a decision. “Fine, we have no other choice. Sir, no matter how this turns out, we are truly grateful to you.”
Along the way, Finn Taylor learned of the piece they were supposed to play—Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony: The Symphony of Fate.
Unlike the others, Finn Taylor went up on stage with his back facing the audience.
Throughout the performance, his back still faced the audience. All the way from the time he walked on stage to the time the performance ended, all of the audience’s gazes were fixated on him.
Everyone was enthralled by him; it was as ethereal as a dream.
They seemed to be able to experience their struggle with fate first-hand and the differences between heaven and earth and nature and society.
When others played, all they heard was music. But when this violinist played, they could visualize scenes before their eyes.
Everyone in the audience was enraptured.
As the violinist left the stage when the performance ended, everyone stood up in a standing ovation.
Clarine Landon grasped Yvette Larson’s hand. “Ah, Yvette, I think I’ve found my Prince Charming; he’s so handsome. I’ve been to countless concerts, but I’ve never been so touched.”
Clarine Landon was so incoherent that her best friend could hardly tolerate her.