"You all agree that whoever composed that piece must be incredibly talented, right?" Aunt Lisa addressed the crowd.
People nodded enthusiastically. "Absolutely!"
"Actually, he's composed three other piano pieces too." Aunt Lisa said this with a straight face, but to everyone else, it was like dropping a bombshell.
Wendy, always sharp, immediately signaled her cameraman and held out her microphone. "Could you tell us more about this?"
"Aunt Lisa—" William wanted to stop her, but someone else grabbed his arm.
Tiffany?
William's mind was in chaos. He couldn't believe the girl he'd fallen for was now holding his arm. The faint pressure against him made his thoughts scatter completely.
"Let your Aunt Lisa handle this," Tiffany whispered.
"Okay..."
William wasn't listening anymore—his mind had already wandered off somewhere far away.
"Has anyone here heard of an app called Piano Tiles?"
The crowd looked at each other blankly. Clearly, most had no idea.
"Piano Tiles is a free learning app centered around three piano pieces."
"Free?"
"A learning app?"
The crowd latched onto these key points, murmurs growing louder.
Meanwhile, Wendy's assistant quickly briefed her. "From what I know, this isn't your typical learning app."
"Exactly." Aunt Lisa nodded. "It's more like a game using music as its main selling point."
"A music game? With three piano pieces as its core... you don't mean—"
"Yes, all three pieces in the game were composed by the same genius pianist who created Canon in D—William here." Another bombshell dropped.
Some people had already searched Piano Tiles and gasped. "This app has over 20 million downloads worldwide!"
"No way!"
In their experience, educational apps usually had tiny user bases—even hitting a million was rare. This was like finding a unicorn.
"Is there some issue here?" Wendy pressed.
"Earth Games, the developer behind Piano Tiles, took advantage of a boy from the mountains. They bought the commercial rights to his three piano pieces for dirt cheap."
Copyrights aren't just licenses—they're full ownership transfers.
"What?!"
The crowd erupted. Nobody expected this kind of drama from a casual gathering.
Even Wendy looked shocked. She could tell William played like a master—she'd assumed he studied under some famous musician. But to think he came from rural place, where proper music education was nearly unheard of...
A true genius.
Yet this genius had his talent stolen by greedy people exploiting information gaps. What they did could've crushed a future world-class pianist—a potential star for worldwide.
The cameraman wisely zoomed in on William's face: blank, numb, as if lost in painful memories.
The scene struck a chord. Some parents wiped tears, unable to bear watching. They feared the same could happen to their kids.
Only William knew the truth—he was just spacing out, not managing his expression. No tragic backstory here.
Thirty-something years across two lifetimes, and he'd never even had a real girlfriend. The closest was a blind date that went nowhere.
Now, he had an absolute goddess-level beauty holding his arm—an intimate gesture deadly enough to kill any virgin.
"Earth Games, how could you do this to our genius boy?!" Aunt Lisa delivered her final accusation.
"Well said!"
"Screw Earth Games! Give us back our genius!"
"Screw Earth Games! Give us back our genius!"
...
Amid the chants, William finally regained his senses—but it was too late to stop anything now.
"Mr. William, do you have anything to say?" Wendy shoved the microphone toward him.
"I..."
William opened his mouth but couldn't get a word out.
What could he say?
What was there left to say?
He couldn't exactly admit that he was Earth Games, that this was all a huge misunderstanding. That would only make things worse.
His silence looked like heartbreak to everyone else—the helplessness of realizing you've been cheated.
You've made him lose faith in society!
Wendy frowned. "It's okay. I promise I'll get justice for you. Society won't tolerate companies like this staying in business."
"Don't—"
"I have no doubt he'll create even greater music," Tiffany spoke up for him. "But I won't stand by while a genius is exploited. I call on everyone here to boycott Earth Games!"
William gave Tiffany a desperate look. Thanks a lot!
"It'll be okay." Tiffany gently patted his shoulder.
Numb. Completely numb.
In the final moments before the crew left, William witnessed the strangest scene of his life.
Dozens of strangers took turns encouraging him—or cursing Earth Games to his face. None had even played Piano Tiles, yet they tore the company apart like experts.
When they finally left, William collapsed onto the piano bench with relief.
It was the only chair in the room. He had no other option.
"Tired?" Aunt Lisa sat beside him.
Tiffany, still not close enough to stay, left to give them space.
William nodded silently. The exhaustion wasn't from today's chaos—Aunt Lisa meant well. She just didn't know Earth Games was his. The misunderstanding was his fault for not explaining sooner.
What truly drained him was the coming storm.
Wendy's show would air tonight. She'd made it clear: this story would be their lead segment.
Given Riverdale TV's reach, over 60% of the city would hear about it during prime time. Then it would spread online.
This would be a disaster.