One week.
It had been one week since Judd last saw the woman that opened his eyes to real music.
Many times, he went to the park and the same spot where he found her. At the same time, too, in the hopes of seeing her again. But it was in vain as there were no traces of her. He constantly thought it was all his imagination, and that maybe the alcohol and the coldness of that night made him hallucinate for some minutes.
He even thought that perhaps he was under so much stress, and was starting to develop dementia or something. He went to the hospital for a session with a psychologist, but there was nothing wrong with him. Well, at least in that regard as there were other problems. Family problems.
He even had to explain his friends about the woman he met named Rei due to his recent refusals to play with another person.
Since he arrived at that university, everybody was all over him, asking to play together. Time didn't help in dwindling the excitement as each year, the new students would always come with the same enthusiasm and hope to make a duet with him.
That changed the day after he met Rei; he had publicly announced he wasn't going to accept anyone to play duets with.
"Rei? Hmm, I'm not sure I've heard that name before. Is she that good? Are you sure you were not extremely drunk? I mean, if what you say is true, then she must be really famous. Maybe she told you a fake name." Andrea analyzed the situation. The Italian was one of his closest friends.
The group of five friends consisted of an Italian, a German, two English and him a mixed Hindi-English. As the university was famous, then it wasn't a surprise to see many foreigners studying there.
"Yeah, that's most likely. How does she look? Maybe we have seen her before." Their German friend, Wetzel, asked. The five of them were in downtown, specifically in a music store. As music students, they would hung out in that place. Also, as music lovers, it was a pleasure for them to have CD's or whatnot.
They loved discovering new music even if they didn't become fan of the newly discovered genre or artist.
"Hm, she was actually short. At most 1.65m. White skin, short black hair, her features were mostly Asian, but what really stands out in her are her blue eyes." Judd described with a smile on his face. The other four looked at each other after hearing their friend's description.
It wasn't the best description they had heard, but the curious thing was the way in which he said it. It was almost as if he was talking about a person way up from this world, someone untouchable.
"Could it be Rei Lee?" All of a sudden, Jaden, one of the English guys, spoke up, breaking the silence that had formed.
"You know her?" Mitchell asked surprised. The others also looked at Jaden in astonishment, though Judd had more of an expectant look.
"Well, not actually know her. But there is a girl here that somewhat matches Judd's description." Jaden grabbed a CD that was right in front of him, and passed it to his friends who hastily grabbed it. The case was somewhat old, not surprising since they were in the old and independent music isle.
"No way! It's this Rei Lee?!" Exclaimed Wetzel, widening his eyes as big as plates. "Dude! Rei Lee is a prodigy! This is the first and only CD she released when she was but 12! They say all her songs were self-composed and are even compared with the ones from famous compositors like Beethoven or Mozart. Some claim they are better; like the type of melody which can only be heard in Heaven. Of course, I don't think they know how Heaven sounds, but from those reviews, you can imagine just how good her music is."
"Don't joke Wetzel. If she is such a prodigy, then she must be renown worldwide. But neither of us knew about her." Mitchell frowned.
"I remember I read something regarding her going missing months after she released her CD. Nobody knew of her whereabouts afterwards." Andrea mumble while looking at the cover on the CD which portrayed a girl brightly smiling and holding a cello. "Don't tell me, it's her ghost?"
They all turned to see Judd with pitiful faces, thinking their friend was being haunted by a ghost, a prodigy, but a ghost at the end.
"I don't think she was a ghost. She looked pretty real." Judd protested, not really believing his own words. The moment he heard the word 'ghost', he remembered that he tried to follow her yet she had disappeared like smoke.
His friends laughed loudly at the absurdity, earning a few glances from other customers in the store. Judd looked once more at the CD Andrea handed him, and after thinking for a moment, he decided to buy it. He was going to confirm if it was her or not. About the ghost thing, he wouldn't know until he met her again.
If possible.
As it was Saturday night, they decided to go to a bar to have a few drinks and get warm. The weather was in no way getting better, and they had to wear pounds of clothes just to remain warm to not catch a cold.
That winter had been really unpleasant for the residents of the city but it was not the first time it happened, so they could only cope with it. When they got inside the bar, the group of friends looked for a table and sat, taking off their scarfs and mitts before asking the closest waitress for a round of beers.
Minutes later, they were all laughing and making random talk about their classes and even about the girls in their courses. In their career, the presence of women was not lacking. They talked about one of the seniors Andrea liked. She was an English woman with wavy blond hair and green eyes.
The other four challenged him to make her his girlfriend in less than a week. If he could do it, then they would make his homework for the time their relationship lasted. If he wasn't able to do it, then he would have to ask Old Ness, the lady from the cafeteria, out on a date.
He was risking a lot in that bet; overall, his face and reputation as one of the most handsome guys in the career. Women in their career were abundant, yet so hard to pursue. However, it was the same reputation of being a good lover that made him have confidence to win and he immediately accepted.
As they continue drinking, the night grew darker and them drunker.
In their excitement, they didn't notice when the lights of the bar got dimmer. It was until Wetzel spit the beer he was drinking on his friends that they realized the change not only in their surroundings, on him too. Wetzel looked pale, spooked, as if he had seen something he wasn't supposed to see.
They all turned to the place he was looking at, and soon they all had the same expression as Wetzel. If it wasn't because they had talked about it earlier, then they wouldn't have been that surprised.
They were all seeing the same woman their friend, Judd, was talking about and they all believed was a ghost. Rei Lee was sitting on the stool the little stage of the bar had. She was holding a white cello, ready to perform.
"It's her." Judd whispered.