"Do you really have to work so much?"
Janne lifted his head. The words he just heard were soft, but worried. His wife stood in the doorway, already prepared for bed.
"You know this has to be done by the end of March..."
"Why?"
Janne stared at her. She had never asked this before and he had always been sure she understood why he did what he did. But now... he started questioning himself.
"Your fans would wait, Janne, I'm sure of it. They would be much sadder if you ruined your health than they would be if you didn't give them the album on time."
"You never knew the hunger, Aynon. I cannot disappoint them," he replied.
"No, I guess you can't," she said quietly and went upstairs.
Janne didn't sleep that night. He stopped working at five in the morning, had a quick breakfast and then rushed to the studio where he had an appointment with Ralph, the frontman of the second band Janne was a member of.
"How's life?"
"Well, quite fine, thanks."
"Doesn't sound like it. Any problem?"
Aynon hated Ralph: she thought he was a total idiot, but in fact he was able to trace a problem.
"Aynon thinks I shouldn't be doing all this."
"Ideological struggle?"
"No, she's just worried about my health."
"Did you sleep?"
"No."
"Well, she's got a point, then, hasn't she?"
Janne smiled.
"OK, let's just record the vocals and then you can have a rest."
"Fine. But the tour..."
"Come on, tour's not a problem, is it?"
"No, it's not."
It took them three hours to record the vocals Ralph needed and then Janne went to Kieran's (his first band's) studio, where he was to record much more.
"Hi there," he greeted his fellows.
"Hi. Good news, Marin called and said the deadline is extended. We have time till you're back from the tour," Tristan told him.
"That is of course excellent, but I suspect it won't be much of a help," Janne sighed. "We've still got so much work..."
"What work have you got?" Janne's brother Bart joined the conversation. "You've recorded all your parts, haven't you?"
"I have," Janne nodded.
"So..."
"But I still have to be here!"
"Watchdog."
"Goodness, I wrote the thing!" Janne cried out. "How can you expect me not to control what is done to it? I'd much rather go home now, but I can't. And don't try to upset me even more – I have worked day and night on this album and for this band as such, my wife hates me, I didn't get any sleep for two days and I'm just fed up with it! But I can't stop until everything's done, because it's what I believe in!"
"Look, Janne, nobody's trying to upset you, just relax, will you? It's not so bad. We've done our part, too, and we can finish in time," Tristan tried to calm him down. He was probably the only one in the band that was capable of it, anyway.
"All right, let's see what we've got," Janne agreed with no anger in his voice whatsoever.
Janne was an excellent and ingenious composer who could write a whole album during an afternoon, but it took a lot of work to record the music in a way that was acceptable to his ambitions. Therefore, deadlines were his greatest enemy, although he did his best to meet them (and he always did).
Aynon knew this and she also understood that this was Janne's way to change the world, but she had certain doubts about whether she was the right one for him to marry, in that case, because he appeared to love music much more than her.
"It's time I set a 'deadline'," she thought. "He can't go on ignoring me forever. Everyone's got to sacrifice something for their marriage's sake. But it seems that with this marriage, I'm the only one to have done so... Besides, he wouldn't even notice if I disappeared one day... would he?"
Watching her husband for the next few weeks, she became convinced that her suspicion was true, Janne didn't really notice her too much. She was glad when she saw him at meal times, though they scarcely talked to each other. Janne because his mind was occupied by composing and a feeling of guilt, Aynon because she was afraid she could provoke an argument. This was also the reason she never mentioned her hatred for Ralph or her disagreement with Janne's joining his band before her husband.
And then Janne left for the tour with Ralph's band and Aynon was alone. But this alone was almost the same, except that she didn't have to wait for him to come from the studio late at night, therefore a kind of relief. Her idea of her personal deadline looked more and more just...
When Janne arrived home three weeks later, there was no trace of his wife there.