Just giving a simple thank you to Harrison Clark wasn't enough; it seemed impolite.
But she understood the reasons, it was just difficult for her to say more.
Carrie Thomas was not used to socializing with people, especially men. Talking to them made her feel very uncomfortable.
But now, owing Harrison Clark a favor made communication inevitable.
Carrie racked her brain, trying to figure out how she could repay this debt of gratitude.
Buy Harrison's song?
Carrie shook her head.
It was not realistic.
It was a very mature piece, worth at least tens of thousands. If sold to the right person, the price could go up to one hundred thousand or even two hundred thousand without anyone being surprised.
Perhaps even more.
If she bought his song herself, it might just be taking advantage of Harrison again.
By then, she might owe him even more.
That night, maybe it was her biological clock not adjusting, or maybe her mind was filled with too many things, Carrie had trouble falling asleep.
It wasn't until the next morning when she heard Harrison's footsteps leaving downstairs that she finally dozed off.
She got up from bed, stood by the window, and watched Harrison walk quickly out of the neighborhood in the chilly early winter's morning.
Carrie couldn't help but feel envious.
She recalled her days as a resident singer in clubs, which lasted only a little over a month, and it felt like a lifetime ago.
Initially, she was rejected by the first club.
Then she performed her own song, and they recognized her talent, signing her to the lowest standard contract for a resident singer.
Fortunately, her talent shone through.
Within just a couple of days, clubs nearby approached her one after the other, offering better and better contracts.
She originally thought that going down this path, in one or two years, she would have saved enough money to self-fund an album and then break away from the constraints of being a club singer.
However, she didn't realize that her dreams were too beautiful, while reality was too cruel.
Accidentally offending a big shot, her future became bleak.
But Carrie had no regrets. If given ten chances to choose, she would still slap that person.
She knew with her personality, she would inevitably offend such people sooner or later.
Rather than waiting for the future to fall from a higher place, it's better to learn from reality early on.
Carrie suddenly felt the world was ridiculous and absurd.
Hardworking people didn't get rewarded, while scumbags were born with golden keys to success.
Then these scumbags would step on everyone's heads, acting willfully and recklessly.
She felt the world was unfair, recalling her reluctant experiences as a resident singer in recent months, and the way she had to pretend to smile at the club agents despite feeling nauseated.
It was agonizing.
Some monsters and ghosts would reward her, clearly annoyed, but she could only pinch her nose, accept their money, say thank you, and keep an eye out for their wandering hands.
What did I gain in the end?
Carrie asked herself this question.
This kind of life was really boring, really unfair.
Truly annoying.
After a long time, she unconsciously remembered the song Harrison sang that day and began softly humming it.
When she reached the chorus, she didn't realize it was over, and unconsciously hummed a couple times more. The melody after the chorus naturally flowed from her lips, just needing lyrics.
If Harrison heard this, he would be shocked.
The melody he hadn't played was supplemented by Carrie's intuition!
After singing the extra part, Carrie's mind became extremely agitated.
An indescribable emotion erupted like a volcano, startling her awake.
Although she still didn't know the lyrics of the second half, her intuition told her that there must be a reversal in the song's development, the emotions wouldn't be so somber anymore; instead, they would become passionate and soaring.
I misunderstood him!
Harrison's song was not mocking me!
He saw through my discontent, and also saw through my weariness of life!
He even saw through my pride!
He didn't look down on me; on the contrary, he knew that I was looking down on my own work!
The motivation behind creating this song was actually to encourage me!
This...
Carrie was speechless for a moment.
At this moment, she felt as if she was standing naked in front of Harrison, completely exposed, all her secrets seen through by him.
How could he understand me so well?
But we had only met a few times, and the words we had spoken probably added up to fewer than twenty sentences, right?
How is this possible!
But it was the truth.
That song Boring was like a sharp knife, piercing her heart and cutting through the protective shell she had painstakingly built.
The melody in her heart grew louder, and a strong desire emerged invisibly, as if trying to ignite her.
For some reason, Carrie really wanted to know how the rest of the song progressed.
I really want to sing this song.
Before falling asleep, she murmured this deep in her heart.
That evening, the sound of the door opening downstairs woke Carrie up.
She quickly jumped off the bed and hurried downstairs.
She was so flustered that she didn't even change out of her pajamas.
As she opened the door, Harrison was looking down, changing his shoes.
"Harrison."
Carrie called out softly.
Just finished changing to slippers, Harrison seemed preoccupied. He got startled by her sudden call and stood up, "Ah, Carrie, hi, hi."
It was their first greeting after more than a month of knowing each other. He wasn't accustomed to it yet.
Unexpectedly, Carrie didn't know how to continue the conversation.
She even regretted rushing down so impulsively.
She initially wanted to tell Harrison that she really wanted to sing that song, but the words were stuck in her throat, unable to come out.
"Oh, right, I have something to ask a favor of you."
It was Harrison who spoke first.
The heavy feeling in Carrie's heart dissipated.
It seemed he needed her help. That's great; that way, she could return the favor she owed him first, then discuss the song with him later.
Although at that time Harrison only mentioned letting her review the song, Carrie couldn't deny that the more she thought about its melody, the more she liked it.
She even felt that she and the song were connected by fate.
So she decided, even if she had to sell everything, to find a way to get the money to buy Harrison's song.
If she still couldn't get her family's support, she would just have to swallow her pride and buy it on credit, repaying him more in the future when she earned enough money.
"What is it? Just tell me."
Her tone was a little cheerful.
Harrison hesitated for a moment before saying, "Well, it's like this. I have a friend who can introduce me to a singer. That singer would buy my song, the one I sang to you once. But they want a demo. As you know, my singing skills aren't that great. I figured you're a singer and probably sing much better than me. So I thought I could trouble you to help me record a demo. There's a reward, just... 2,000 yuan."
That was the reason Harrison hesitated.