This all came to a head the summer after her sophomore year when she was asked to participate in a small European tour with her quartet. Everyone assumed she would be thrilled to go, but she wasn’t. It was actually Alexander who pushed her to talk to her father about her feelings and even though she insisted “feelings” were never discussed in Korean or WASP households, she did finally get her nerve up. Her father’s response was as pragmatic as always, which was that she needed to double down on her practicing so she could make an informed decision. At the beginning of the summer, Anna spent six weeks of intense private study with a world-famous teacher from Kiev, and by the end she played with more emotion. Unfortunately that emotion was a deep empathy for all the other Korean girls who would still be forced to play violin when her father granted her permission to stop. The party line being that Anna would miss her horses and dogs too much to tour.

On the red carpet, the cellist told her she had performed in Sweden over Christmas and Anna was relieved that she didn’t feel even a single pang of envy. They went through the step-and-repeat as a group, but Anna was pleased when the photogs singled her out and asked her to step forward, shouting out to her for her name. Once they figured out who her mother was, there was a bit of a stir, and even though Anna knew such attention was stupid, she also found it exciting.

While she waited to get checked in to the party, and every other girl was busy taking selfies, Anna looked around to see if she saw anyone else she knew. There, about ten people ahead of her, she spotted him. He was with a large group of guys and Beatrice, the most popular girl at her school. Beatrice and Anna had been closer friends in middle school, but once Anna started riding every day, she didn’t have much time to socialize anymore, especially with Bea, who was a full-time party girl. Beatrice was always sweet to her and made a point to invite her to every party she had, but Anna had only gone to a few of them over the past couple years.

Anna couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy as she watched Vronsky put his arm around Beatrice, pretending to get her in a headlock, a brotherly sort of move that she had been victim to a hundred times with Steven. Suddenly she remembered, Beatrice had two male cousins, one of whom she was especially close to. That cousin was Alexia. Of course, now it made sense! Beatrice’s father was Geneviève R.’s older brother. She watched with a bit of longing as Vronsky’s group entered the club. They looked like they were having so much fun already.