"Where are you going?" Jaden asked.
"I got a call and I have to go back. Please tell the others." She replied with a mild smile, but inside, she was extremely wary. He gave off the same vibes as Eddie; always observing, always judging, always having something to say.
Unlike Eddie, though, Jaden was pretty honest with his expressions. He couldn't hide at all when he was prying. That was what she didn't like about him.
She had once faced a similar situation. A guy had wanted to pry in her matters. As he had been a civilian, she could do nothing against him bar telling him to back off. He didn't. When she told Eddie about it, the guy completely disappeared from her sight. She was sure Eddie hadn't done anything illegal, yet he did something that must have scared off the guy.
Should she do the same with Jaden?
"Really?" His question made her look at him with more intensity, trying to guess what he really wanted. Pondering if she should act. They stood there in silence for some seconds until another person interrupted their stare contest.
"Here you are." From afar, someone called out.
Eddie could guess from her stance that she was ready to attack, so he hurried to her side. Glancing at the young man in front of her, he couldn't see a threat coming from him. He had no idea what had triggered her, but he still needed to prevent an unnecessary situation that involved hiding a body and disappearing from the city.
"I told you to come out quickly, and I find you are still flirting with guys." He said in a playful tone that Rei didn't care about, but took Jaden aback. Eddie's appearance was so sudden, he didn't notice where he came from. "I'm Rei's uncle. I hope she's not troubling you. If so, then I apologize on her behalf."
Rei just snorted and walked away from them, not even bidding farewell to Jaden.
Both men just stared at her leaving back until she disappeared, and that is when Jaden paid attention to Eddie. All he saw was a smiling middle-aged man wearing black clothes almost as light as Rei's, and thought that maybe he was the one responsible of her mania.
Truthfully, Jaden never wanted to pry. His habits came from his parents. One was a psychologist and the other a psychiatrist. Observing and judging had already become a part of himself, it had also helped him understand how to behave in front of certain people, how to approach others, and how to keep a relationship.
Although he thought Rei was somewhat strange due to her sudden reactions to being touched, or when she would just stare at one point, which to him meant that perhaps she had undergone some sort of trauma, he didn't have a bad idea about her or the man that said to be her uncle.
Seeing her 'uncle' took him by surprise, too. It was like seeing a blank paper even when he was smiling, and the more he looked at him the less he could read about him; on the contrary, Eddie could tell everything about Jaden.
Simply put, he was just a brat who had a talent in reading people. He had the thought of recruiting him, yet he disposed of that idea as soon as he saw fear in Jaden's eyes.
"Well, then, I need to go. Even if she doesn't show it, Rei has quite a temper and I sometimes cannot control her." Eddie sighed and then smiled helplessly. Of course, he was just testing Jaden to see his reaction towards Rei. Seeing that he just nodded, he felt extremely disappointed. He waved farewell and left.
Jaden didn't think too much about what had happened and went back to where his friends were.
"Where's Rei?" Judd asked as soon as he saw him coming back. Jaden was sent to look for her in case she had gotten lost, but as he was back and she was not with him, it worried Judd a bit.
"Her uncle came to pick her up. Some sort of emergency, I guess." Jaden shrugged and sat.
The game resumed, and they soon forgot about the person who left as they were used to being five. Though, Judd couldn't really get her out of his mind. He was the one who invited her, so it was a bit obvious that he had to worry. He didn't know much about her; basically, he knew only her name and that she played the cello.
He took a guess of her age due to some basic information about her in the net, the little he got, as she didn't like to appear in public back then. Her time under the spotlight was extremely short, too, so there wasn't much to look at.
Two weeks later, his mind was still filled with her. Not because he was having some sort of fixation with her, or maybe yes, he didn't know anymore what he felt for her. Anyway, he hadn't seen her in those two weeks. She had practically disappeared and he related it with the supposed emergency from back at the game.
He went to Leazes Park every night to check if she was there. He found nothing, not even her shadow. He even went to the bar where he saw her for the second time. He asked the staff if they had seen her, but they just knew her name, nothing more. Not even wandering in the city, hoping to come across her worked.
"You want what?" Andrea asked, dumbfounded. The five were in the cafeteria eating their lunch.
"Don't go deaf on me. You heard well. I want you to help me know more about Rei Lee." Judd repeated as if it wasn't a big deal.
"Yeah, I heard that. But, what I meant was, 'why?'"
"I want to play with her, but she refuses to come to the university. She's everything I've been looking for, musically speaking, and she goes and disappears as if she doesn't exist. This is a bit... unsettling. I know you have nothing to do with it, but it means a lot to me. My musical career depends on her." Andrea just looked at Judd as if he was an alien.
"There is no way your career depends on her. Why don't you just look for another person?" Mitchell said. He was kind of the rational among them, and would offer the best practical solution to the problems among the group. Jaden just remained silent as he would always do whenever they had those kind of conversations.
"It's just need a bit of information. I don't know, about her parents, what she had done after she went missing. I mean, there is no way she can disappear without a trace. Something more than just her name, age and the CD she released," reasoned Judd. "Besides, she does mean a lot. You heard it, right? The way she plays is just out of this world. People had labeled her first compositions to be at the same level of famous old compositors. But now, if she isn't above Beethoven or even Mozart then I will just drop out and never do music." He declared to his gobsmacked friends.
Judd didn't have to bet on his future because they had heard it too. Her music was something that no human would be able to create. It was alluring and frightening to an alarming level, and that was why they didn't want to hear her again. They were afraid they would get lost in her music and felt sympathetic towards Judd as he seemed to have already lost his mind to her music.
"Judd, my friend, I think you already lost it." Andrea said, patting his shoulder. Judd frowned and was about to open his mouth to say something, but Wetzel stopped him with his words.
"Her parents died." All four turned to look at him, asking with their eyes to continue. "This wasn't something that came to the public, don't ask me why, but because my parents knew her mother, that's why I know."
"You think that explains her attitude?" Commented Jaden all of a sudden, his brows creased.
"What are you talking about?" Judd, Andrea and Mitchell had no idea what he meant, but Wetzel was beginning to make his own guessing. He still waited for Jaden to explain himself better to reach his own conclusion.
"If you have noticed, she tends to get lost in her own world, and she often tenses when she's touched. Plus, she gets wary when she gets confronted about her doings, as if she's hiding something." Everybody had serious expressions.
Judd was reminded of the moment back at the park when she jumped back from him, as if she was afraid of him.
"Back when we were kids, I saw her once when my mom invited hers to a tea party. She was undoubtedly not like how she is now, but I guess it has to do with her parents' death. And maybe, that's the reason why she went missing." Wetzel added. trying to make sense about her behavior.
"Yeah, but what about the time she went missing? The sudden loss of her parents would indeed be shocking to a girl. But, as famous as she was back then, her whereabouts would have been known to some. The opposite happened: everything about her afterwards is unknown, as if she stopped existing. If Judd hadn't seen her in that park, then she would be thought as dead."
Mitchell's words left everybody thinking about the mystery behind Rei Lee.
If Judd was in the same situation in which his parents died, then he would want to be alone for some time, that's true. Yet, as famous as he was, then the press would be swarming around him, trying to get the latest news about his life. Going with that reasoning, then Rei's life should have been almost the same.
Nevertheless, she completely disappeared for ten years without anybody knowing a single bit about her. They all got to the conclusion that whatever happened in those 10 years, was a huge impact in her life, resulting in the Rei they all knew.
"So, what are you going to do? It's a bit clear that she is in a delicate situation. Do you still want to make a duet with her?" Jaden asked Judd, who was still pondering.
"I first want to see her again, and perhaps talk about it. If she refuses again, then I will give up on her." He replied, not looking at any of them.
He was extremely reluctant to let such a talent as hers go. However, he would respect her decision if there was a deep reason as to why she didn't want to play in the university. That also meant he was also considering giving up his music career.
Playing without her felt empty and with no emotion despite the constant praises he still received.
Without her, his music was dead.