“However! I saw you today and I’m already starting to change my mind. I didn’t expect to see you like this.” JJ motioned to Iris’ direction. “You really surprised me. You look like a completely different person.”

“Mr. JJ, I’m sure you’ve heard that I’ve been in a car accident more than a year ago,” Iris spoke in a calm tone.

He nodded.

“It was a very serious accident. I died, Mr. JJ.” She sighed, looking out of the window. The floating clouds and the blue sky outside the windows reflected on her mirrored sunglasses. “I was comatose. Dead for a year. You don’t know how death feels like, Mr. JJ. It changes people.”

“I see,” he said, starting to understand why Iris Long changed so much. Both were quiet for some time. Then he sighed. He pointed at the piano on a mini-stage at the centre of the restaurant. “See that?”

Iris followed with her eyes, and then nodded.

“Go. Play one of your songs. Show me how you do it. Convince me that you’re really the best person to sing the songs you composed. Can you do it?”

“Of course.” She stood up and walked to the piano. Her footsteps were light and graceful, like she was floating.

Some of the customers took notice, wondering about the beautiful young woman’s identity. They watched as she stepped over the mini-stage and sat in front of the piano.

Oh, was she going to perform on the piano?

They waited in anticipation as she flexed her fingers in an unhurried manner, took a deep breath, and started to play.

Strong, deep, and fast notes jolted everyone inside the restaurant. This time, all heads turned to the young woman playing on the piano.

Their hearts thumped, as the forbidding music brought an image of a bloody battlefield within their minds.

After a few seconds, the notes slowed down until they drifted to a full stop. The young woman took a couple of breaths, and then started playing a slow, gentle yet dark, heartbreaking tune. She opened her lips and sang.

“I’m lying in a crimson ocean

Frozen in the darkness

Floating for a thousand years

Yearning for you”

Everyone gasped as they heard her low, mesmerizing voice singing this dark melody. JJ’s eyes lit with excitement, his entire focus on her, not realizing that his hands closed into tight fists.

“My broken soul is searching

Lost and afraid

A thousand years without you

I’d rather be dead”

A middle aged woman at a nearby table teared up, trembling, as she recalled memories of her beloved husband who passed away two years ago.

The melody turned even more heartbreaking, the young woman’s voice rising effortlessly into high notes.

“Every time I close my eyes

I dance with the phantom of your love

We fly across this temporary paradise

Until you have to leave once again

I don’t want to wake up from this tonight

Spend a thousand years

With the phantom of your love”

The widow covered her face with her hands and sobbed. Her friends tried to comfort her, their eyes also watering. One of her friends tried to pull her to the washroom in an effort to calm her down, but the widow shook her head. She wanted to stay and listen to the entire song.

Through the tears, she looked at the young woman on the piano. The young woman’s eyes were covered by big sunglasses, but it couldn’t cover her emotional expression filled with pain and loneliness.

“I’m dead when awake

Alive when asleep

How do I live when there is no you

Except in my dreams at night”

JJ closed his eyes, letting the dark, emotional song wash over him. His heart raced, his breath quickened.

At that exact moment, he made a decision. Little did he know that this decision would send the entire nation and the music industry into a frenzy in the near future.

“Oh, spend a thousand years

With the phantom of…your…love”

Thunderous applause reverberated as the last notes of the song slowly came to an end. Everyone stood up, clapping with all their might, from the customers to the restaurant staff. Some people from the hotel lobby even entered, curious, asking what was happening.

Iris Long stood up, a barely noticeable smile on her face. Looking behind her big sunglasses, she scanned the people giving her a standing ovation.

She stood up and gave a low and deep, elegant curtsy bow.

The applause grew louder, followed by enthusiastic cheers and whistles.

As she straightened, one of the waiters hurried forward and offered his hand to assist her down the mini-stage. He grinned like teenager when she nodded her thanks.

She touched her chest and bowed her head, silently thanking the people clapping while she walked back to the table where JJ waited for her.