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Steve said he's busy preparing for the finals of Your Voice. I told him not to worry, I will give him time enough to practice. He will be okay. I asked him about his secret, he answered. "Secret? What secret? You know everything about me."


"It's been so long since I saw you last. You should know that I missed you a lot. You are one of the most passionate, dedicated and talented singers I have ever worked with."


"Come on Steve! Don't overdo it with the compliments. You know I hate it." he said.


"This isn't a compliment. You are one of the most passionate and talented singers I have ever worked with. Passionate and talented people have to practice damn hard to achieve their potential. Otherwise there is no use for them. They are the weakest link." I always liked to stir things up. Steve got very angry, but this only happened when he heard from other people that he was good. He knew that his real potential was beyond that and he wasn't showing it to people.


I walked up to him, placed one hand on his shoulder, turned his face towards me and looked him straight in the eyes. His eyes were dark, sad but also fiery. I could feel his anxiety. His head was moving back and forth as if he was trying to make some space for himself but he didn't dare to move away from me. His mouth was moving but not a sound came out.


My head was turning to the left and following his eyes. I looked at my hand. It was still touching his shoulder and his eyes were still looking at me. I took my hand off his shoulder and gently lifted his chin to one side.


"Okay, I like how you are rehearsing, so what's different this time? I guess you are afraid of me, because I'm your judge," I said. I was putting it down with 'you should know that I missed you' and 'I like how you are rehearsing', I knew he would know immediately what was going on.


"I'm practicing to win the finals, that's all. You are my judge after all."


I told Steve that I wanted to learn more about him, his background and his secrets, so that we can work together in future to produce better music. He asked me if I wanted to know everything. I said yes! He left for a minute and then came back with a wooden box about the size of a briefcase. He took the box out of the drawer of his bedside table. He opened it and started to show me some of the documents inside.


"I had to plead temporary insanity, and the jury was told I had been under psychiatric care because of a severe breakdown after my parents died. I'm not going to tell you what gave me away. May be I'll tell you one day, when I'm ready to tell you everything, may be tomorrow, may be years from now."


"You know I need your help to survive in this crazy world. Everyone says it's a fight and I'm not gonna win it this time. I'm scared of being a failure like I have been for the past two years. I never cared about the money or the fame. It is just about the music." he said.


"You asked me to be a judge after letting me down for the first time. Why? What did I teach you? How can you be afraid of letting someone down? And why should it be me?" I said. It was so clear now. There may be other side of the story.


"I don't have much time left. I may be a little paranoid now. I may look like a failure, but I'm not."


"I have never felt that you were my failure. You are artistic and people think that you are insane. Well, I don't think you are insane and there is nothing wrong with you. I'm sure this is not gonna affect us in any way. It will just make me proud of you. People will love you even more," I said to him.


"I don't know how you will react when you find out. I want you to hear me out before you judge me. It is the only thing that I ask from you. Do you think you can do this for me?" he said. He said it to me looking straight in my eyes, his head was still moving back and forth. He was nervous.


"Tell me everything. I am here for you. I love you and I want to help you. I need to understand what is going on in your mind," I said to him. There was a big pause. I wanted to do something to let him know that no matter what he says, he will always be my Steve. I reached up to my hair and started to play with my earring. I looked into his eyes again. My eyes were saying it all.


"There is something that you don't know about me. I always hide it from public and you never asked. People say that I am a mythomaniac, but that's not the case. I may tell you also that I am a not really a singer and that I don't have much to offer musically and that I have been faking the whole thing to get to you and to get through these auditions. The truth is that my parents are alive and they are in Africa."


He stopped to catch his breath. "I am adopted and I have been singing since I was 13. Now I am 18 summers old, I'm not even a quarter of my life yet but I have been doing this already for seven years. I was forced to do it because my father was a loner and he is the famous composer, Mantimba. My mother was an excellent piano player. I think, I probably know more about music than some musicians. I sing because I want to make them proud. I want to make my father proud of me. I want to make my mother proud of me. I have also been studying several languages to become a world traveler. I am a compulsive listener. I need to be surrounded by music, books and flow in order to produce new songs," he said. "Steve, you are not a failure and forget what others say about you. You are a beautiful dreamer and with the right guidance and help, that can come true."


"Mantimba's father left him when he was little and he was raised by his grandmother. Later he left the village and became a minstrel. He went wherever he was working and that's how he met our mother. She became more famous than he was. They were touring in Europe, the place where he met my mother..." he was telling me the story about his parents one night having been paid for it.


"My grandmother wanted me to be a doctor, but it was my blood screaming for music. My mother and father gave me some books and a recorder on my 13th birthday. Every year my birthday present was a new recorder, a new book. There was never any money for music lessons. That's why I still sing with a recorder. She was too busy writing music and practicing. I can't blame her. I just make sure that it's not holding me back too much. They both invested everything they had in me. When I was little my mother always said that her greatest ambition in life was to make sure that I could do whatever I wanted to do.