An Unfinished Overture

[Music Exchange Student & Dentist]

Zhiyin met Lin Zhiye at a dental hospital in Paris. She couldn't understand why he had gone from a violin prodigy to a dentist. But she wouldn't ask, and their relationship wasn't close enough for her to ask.

As he treated her teeth, she gradually learned more about his past.

Zhiyin asked why he had stopped pursuing a career as a performer. Lin Zhiye said that once you stopped in the middle of certain pieces, you could never pick them up again.

“So you chose to become a dentist?” Zhiyin asked.

Lin Zhiye gazed out at the plane trees. “The mouth is the part of the body closest to the brain. Maybe if I heal your teeth, I can also heal the pain you can't put into words.”

Zhiyin suddenly understood why he took such special care of music students: he saw in them the dream he himself could no longer pursue.

When spring arrived, Zhiyin's jaw had healed. She took out her violin. “But Lin Zhiye, my greatest dream is to play a duet with you.”