Chapter 2

My rooftop is the only place where the sky can be seen intact. The surrounding apartments were crowded together. Looking out from the window, we only saw brick walls and flying clothes. But on the fifth floor, just step through the old iron door and climb a few short steps, and the world immediately opens up like a blank page.

Every night, Liam and I go up there.

Not to play, but to breathe.

When my parents started arguing, their voices echoed from the kitchen like the sound of metal hitting each other, I often dragged Liam to the terrace to hide.

There are peaceful nights when we lie down and look at the stars.

Some nights, the wind is so strong that my hair hits my face and causes it to sting.

Some nights, the two were silent as if afraid of breathing too hard and something would collapse.

I bring my violin with me every time I go to the rooftop. Dad doesn't know, mom doesn't know either. I just want to play for the wind, for the stars, for the city, not for the four tired walls down there.

Liam sat very close to me.

To be more precise, you are always the one who relies on me more.

Sometimes I ask:

"Where do you think your future will be?"

I do not know. But I often reply:

"Somewhere higher than this rooftop."

One time she spoke softly, her voice like wind rubbing through her ears:

"I want to act. I want to stand on a big stage, have lights shining on my face, have people look at me, have people remember my name."

I look at you.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. That look was so serious that it made me believe that one day, Liam would make it. She said that when she was only six years old, but from that moment, I knew acting was not something she liked for fun. It lives in me like underground water.

I put down the violin and asked again:

"Why do you want to be remembered so much?"

She was silent for a long time, then said in a slightly trembling voice:

"I'm afraid I'll disappear."

I put my arm around her shoulder. At that time, I didn't understand what she was thinking, but now that I remember it, I see that sentence as a distant prediction, drifting away, then returning to the most painful moment of my life.

That night, after the music, we lay down on the ground, still hot from the sun, to cool down. I looked up at the sky. In the dark sky, there is only one brightest star.

Liam asked:

"Do you think mom will get better?"

I turned my head to look at her. She spoke very softly, but her eyes turned red.

"Mom can still sing." I said, even though with my own ears I heard my mother's voice fading away little by little.

Liam did not believe it. I heard a tiny sigh escape from her chest.

Then I suddenly burst out laughing:

"Someday you'll be on TV, I'll play the piano in a special program, my parents will see me and be happy again."

Her voice is a mix of dreaminess and despair.

"I guess so." I said

The sky that night was as wide as my mother's heart had sung and as beautiful as my father had ever dreamed.

If someone asked me at that time, what was the most beautiful thing in my life, I would say the laughter of my younger brother lying next to me, under the open sky right on the old roof. But a beautiful childhood always has cracks.

One night, we had just gone to the rooftop when we heard the sound of glass breaking from the apartment below. The sound of dad shouting, the sound of mom crying, the sound of chairs being thrown over.

Liam asked softly:

"Miss Lily...are our parents about to leave us?"

I bit my lip. This is the first time I feel six years older.

"No, I still have a sister." I said

She rubbed her face against my shoulder, her nose cold like wind blowing through water.

"What if you leave me too?"

"No."

When she cried, my eyes also stung, but I knew I couldn't cry. I put the violin on my shoulder and played it. Not methodical, not technical, not in rhythm. But the sound of the piano drowned out the arguing. I pulled until my hands shook, until the noise downstairs stopped.

Liam raised his head and looked at me.

Your eyes are as bright as the only star in the sky.

That day, I realized:

Music can protect the person you love.

Even if just for a moment.

Even if it's just the size of an old guitar with almost broken strings.

From that night, the terrace became a place where the two children took refuge from the world.

Is the line between darkness and dreams.

This is where I play the violin for the wind to hear.

And Liam started rehearsing with a fake smile.

We promise each other:

When I grow up, no matter where I am, no matter how far apart I am, every time I look up at the sky, I will still remember a terrace full of stars.