"Oliver Records. ", Mylo mumbled, staring down at the gold and white plated card in his hands. The card, smooth to touch, made Mylo believe he was holding actual gold. And something in his mind told him he actually was.
The man, seeing his hesitant look, continued in a softer, reassuring tone.
"There's no need to reply now Mylo. I just want you to remember, a talent like yours, deserves people who respect your dedication. Just think about those who respect your time." He offered a warm, knowing smile—the kind that promises comfort.
Mylo nodded slowly, taking in the words. Was he right? The thought made the boy think, but he quickly shook his head. No, they respect me…Yes.
Seeing the boy contemplating, the man smiled in satisfaction but gave no reply.
Sighing, he realized he was tired, added to the fact It was quite late, he stood up to take his leave. He paused, looking back, he rubbed his head in embarrassment and realization. "Sorry sir, I never got the name," he asked.
The man blinked, then gave a soft, reassuring laugh, "It's no problem Mylo. You can just call me Reynard." He replied.
Mylo gave a short bow, "T…thank you Mr Reynard. I'll…I'll think about the offer." He bowed once again before leaving the park.
Reynard watched the receding figure of Mylo, a satisfied smile on his face. "Seems the prey has caught the hook, all is to just wait." He muttered to himself.
Feeling a presence beside him, Reynard smirked in satisfaction. "A job well done boy."
"I don't need your thanks." The boy snarled, revealing the slumped form of Noah. His apathetic, sleepy eyes narrowed. "I've done what you wanted, so just give me the money you promised." He said impatiently.
The man simply continued, paying no mind to the disrespectful tone. "Ah, young men these days, always impatient. No matter, the money's already been transferred." He waved his hand dismissively.
Doing a quick scan of his phone. After verifying what he said was legit, Noah turned to leave.
"Splendid work rabbit. Another prey will be harvested for us. Don't worry, in due time, your debt shall be paid." Reynard gave a warm, gentle smile—one that didn't reach his eyes.
Noah's jaw tightened at the statement, his eyes narrowed further, burning with rage. but he offered no reply and he just left.
Reynard didn't mind it. He simply smiled in satisfaction, his gaze falling on the pond in front of him.
***
Mylo trudged into the house, head fixed down. His mind distanced from him as the events from before replayed.
In the kitchen, seeing that it was Mylo that entered the house, Mary beamed. "Mimiii, how was your day? What of practice? How were your new teammates?"
Mylo walked past her, head still down.
Mary furrowed her brows. She walked up to him, tapping his shoulders. "Miiiimiiiii,"
"Ahh," Mylo jumped in fright. He blinked, seeing that it was Mary. "O…oh sorry Mary."
Mary pouted, "You better be, you completely ignored your big sister again." she pouted further.
Mylo sweatdropped at this, "S…sorry,"
"Hmm, fine. How could I say no to my cute brother." She pinched his cheek playfully. She paused, her gaze lingering on his dishevelled look. "Mimi, have you been sleeping well? You look terrible."
Mylo gave her a small, strained smile. "Mary, I'm fine. Just tired, that's all."
She still wasn't convinced, "But you look sad, Mimi. Did something happen?"
M…Mary, I'm serious I'm fine. I'm just tired. I promise. I'll head upstairs now to study." He backed away, turning towards the staircase.
Mary watched him walk up the stairs, the strain visible on his back. 'Something definitely happened,' she thought, pacing the kitchen floor. 'Could it have been that the two had a fight? Or was it a disagreement in their group?' Or is it his exams?' she furrowed her brows, trying to conclude on an answer.
Then the smell of burnt food invaded her nose. She sniffed, 'Hmm, what's burning?' she thought, then her eyes widened as she realized. 'Oh, shit, shit, shit' she cursed, rushing to the oven to salvage the food.
***
Mylo flopped onto his bed, his body groaning from the exhaustion of the day's events. His body told him desperately to sleep, but a glance at the timetable above his desk told him otherwise.
He groaned, his focus shifting somewhere else.
His eyes fixed on the ceiling, his expression shifting into guilt. "Dammit," he muttered to himself. Bringing his phone above him, he clicked Cali's contact. Her contact, saved as "My Melody" with hearts (a suggested, cute nickname, courtesy of Mary), mocked him. Mylo's finger hovered over the call option. Moments passed but he couldn't do it. He set his phone down. With a sigh, he got up to study. The golden glint of the Oliver Records card on his desk made it nearly impossible
'Should I…' but he quickly shook his head. He couldn't take the offer, he was still busy with exams and the week's challenge with his team. 'Team'. A wave of sadness washed over him as he recalled the previous events.
Mylo sighed once again, holding his hands in his head. 'What did I do? 'he thought in self-condemnation. Small trickles of tears streaming down his face.
***
Risu paced in her room, idly chewing her nails to stop herself from fidgeting. 'Mylo sounded angry, really angry. I don't think I've ever seen him get that mad, even if we've not known each other for a long time. But he doesn't look like someone who would even get angry.' She paused in her step, her face morphing into a grim realization. 'Was it…because of me? 'The mere thought tightening a knot in her stomach. 'Will all of them leave because of me? Was I too weird? Was it the questions?' her thoughts spiralled, prickles of tears gathering in her eyes.
A fluffy object rubbed against her leg, breaking her from her spiral. Looking down, she smiled, gently picking up the cat. "That's right Mochi, I can't get down. I promised myself I'll make lots of friends, I won't back down at the first hurdle."
She shook her head to rid the depressing thought, "I'll fix it, I'll get everyone back together and we can all be friends again. And…I won't be alone." She muttered the last part, glancing around her.
She nodded her head, making up her mind to call Mylo. A yawn escaped her mouth, "But first I need to sleep."
***
The next day, Mylo groaned awake. He stretched, feeling that he was more stiff than usual. Looking down, he realized he had slept on his desk…again. He yawned, before his eyes widened. His head snapped to the wall clock. 4:30 am. He breathed a sigh of relief. Okay, he wasn't late.
A notification ding echoed in his ear. Mylo picked up his phone to check and soon saw it was messages from…
"Risu?" he said in confusion. He had thought yesterday's events would have made them all still angry at him. So he was confused at why Risu texted him in the first place.
Opening the texts, he saw several messages asking about him, hoping he was fine. After scrolling further down, the last message was her asking to meet up.
Mylo texted back,
[R…Risu, I'm really sorry for what I said the other day.]
Shocking Mylo, she replied immediately. [No, no, it's fine. I'm sorry as well. I didn't know you would get angry. I knew my talking was a bad habit; I just wanted to be friends with you all. I'm sorry if I was too annoying. I see I'm still talking, sorry typing too much. Your turn, haha…sorry.]
Mylo couldn't help but chuckle, [No, it's okay. Once again, I'm really sorry. And we are friends, Risu.]
Risu beamed behind her phone, [But this party still feels too small for just the two of us, let's get the team together.]
Mylo sighed, typing back. [Easier said than done, Cali won't respond to my texts. And I don't know about Noah.]
[We'll try, I really want to win with my friends.] Then she continued, [How about a picnic? We can all just hang out, get to know each other and try to make up. It'll work]
[But I'm not sure they'll even come]
[Trust me, they will…I think.]
[Okay then.] Mylo checked the time and texted back, [Well I have to go, I need to study for my exams today.]
[Good luck Mylo. No I mean, you'll pass. Yes. bye]
Mylo smiled at the text as he studied again.
***
Later that day, Mylo stretched out as he exited the exam centre. His shoulders eased, the hectic schedule finally gave way to a monetary moment of rest—even if it were only for a day.
Sighing, his mind couldn't still help but go back to the events two days back. 'I should have done better.' This week's competition was reaching its end, but at this point, Mylo didn't care. He just wanted to amend what he did. He just hoped the rest would forgive him. The image of Cali surfaced in his head, earning a guilty expression from him.
The notification ring of his phone interrupted his thoughts. Checking his phone, he saw it was Risu, asking him to meet up at the park. Mylo replied with a quick message. Shoving his phone in his pocket, he hailed a cab and left for the park. Hope in him that he could still restore everything.
***
Mylo reached the park in a few minutes. Paying the cab driver, he left for the park in search of Risu.
It didn't take him long as he heard his name being called, "Myloooo!" Turning back, he saw Risu bolting towards him.
"Oh you came, well of course you would. So how were your exams? Not that I think you wouldn't pass, you know just asking as a friend. We're friends right? Well you did say we were friends, but just asking. Not that..."
Before she could go on, Mylo quickly said, "Nice to meet you too, Risu." He smiled.
Risu blinked, "Oh, sorry."
Mylo shook his head, "It's okay." Mylo then noticed the small picnic mat towards a more secluded part of the park, with various baskets inside.
"Oh yeah, I decided to make some stuff for everyone. I've also already sent a message to the group, so now we wait." She sat on the mat.
Mylo nodded, sitting across from her.
An awkward silence permeated between the two. Mylo,not really a good conversationalist, and Risu, not wanting to talk too much. So, hence, the awkward silence.
Mylo decided to break the silence, "So Uhm Risu, I've been curious. What made you join the competition?"
Risu paused, her expression falling slightly. Seeing this, Mylo internally panicked. But before he could offer an apology, her expression brightened once more. "Oh, we're asking questions like friends." She beamed.
Mylo blinked, sighing internally that she didn't feel offended. Even though she forgave him, he hoped he didn't ask anything too sensitive.
"Oh, the question." Risu scratched her head in embarrassment, "Well, I just wanted to make friends?"
"Make friends?" Mylo repeated.
She nodded, "I felt if I do music, I can make tons of friends. I could share my love for music with my friends, and we'll have fun doing so." She gazed at the floor, before looking up, "I know it's stupid, not grand or—"
"No, I don't think it's stupid." Mylo cut her off, "You don't need a grand reason to pursue music. It's for everyone, no matter who you are, where you're from. Doesn't matter. Music is for everyone." He said.
Risu looked at Mylo, her eyes sparkling. 'So coooool.'
"So I don't think your reason is stupid." He smiled.
Risu nodded, and then she asked. "What of you, why'd you do music?"
"W…well, I just want to show the world my music." He answered, letting his gaze drift to the pond. His eyes softened with a distant, reminiscent glow. "Ever since I was young, I had always loved music. It wasn't just a passion, it was more than that. It was everything to me. And so I just want to share that feeling with the world."
"Wooah," Risu said, "That's pretty cool."
"Y…yeah,"
"Well, I'm rooting for you as your number one fan." Risu said.
Mylo couldn't help but chuckle, patting her head playfully. "Thanks."
"Heyy, I'm not a kid." She slapped his hand playfully.
Mylo raised an amused brow.
"Okay, I'm 13, but I'm still not a kid." She huffed, pouting in the other direction.
He chuckled once again. Risu joined in on the laughter, she was relieved that he was finally smiling and she was making a friend.
Hours passed as the two talked to pass the time. Mylo sighed as he looked at the time. 4:30.
"Did that lazy guy get the text? I'm sure he read it." Risu grumbled from the side.
He had a feeling the two wouldn't show up, especially Cali. It seemed he really messed up beyond measure. Though he still held hope that the two would show up, it seemed there wouldn't. "It's okay Risu, we'll just try again tomorrow."
Risu reluctantly nodded. She too hoped they could all get back together and be friends again.
The two got up to pack the items, but Mylo paused as he laid his eyes on the figure walking towards them. "Cali!" he spoke in surprise.