Red Symphony

Having Fun

It's been a while since Eddy breathe some fresh air in a place like a mall. Everyday practice and uni has been making him busy and got away with the social life.

His smile can't go away from his face, sitting beside his precious person in the car, chatting with her and her Dad.

Indeed he regretted that he wasn't able to express his feelings yesterday, but he can tell that it's gonna be worth it today. Hanging out with someone you cherished the most? What can go wrong?

Ellie's Dad glances to Ellie and Eddy when they arrived at the mall's lobby. "I want to go find some books for my work. Do you both want to tag along? Or you want to go alone?"

Eddy keeps silent with his question. Of course, his little heart wants to go with Ellie alone. It's like a rare chance for him to get. But as a guest, he only can glance to her, letting her decide.

"What do you want to do?" ask Eddy.

"Hmm... I can look at some novels while you're at it, Dad," Ellie answers and look back to her Dad. "Then, I want to go play some arcade."

"Okay, then I guess I will be working for a while when you both at the arcade, 'cause I obviously don't play," Ellie's Dad smiles. "We can have some lunch after that."

"Oh, can we go to a barbeque place, please?!" Ellie shouts happily to her Dad while wiggling his hand.

"Sure, princess. Whatever for you." Her Dad laughs and strokes his daugther softly.

"Yay! Okay, let's go."

The three of them walks to the bookstore upstairs. They mostly listen to Ellie's happy chattering, letting her do whatever she want after their case with Brett's Dad.

Eddy smiles through out her chattering, can't resist to feel happiness in his heart. As he told Alice before, it's painful to see someone we cherish love someone else. But he also couldn't be happier just to see her without any burden in her life.

When they arrive at the bookstore, Ellie's Dad go to the right section, while Ellie go to the novels section right away. Eddy? Well, he's just accompanying her.

Eddy stare at her with his hands on his pockets as she observe some teen novels there.

People won't understand his actions, he's the only one who will understand that staring at Ellie is that comfortable for him.

"Hey, Eddy, this looks great," said Ellie, handing a novel which the synopsis she just read to him.

"Oh, really?" asked Eddy. He looks at the title of the book, then observes the cover back and forth. "Seems nice."

Ellie chuckles. "You don't really read, do you?"

"My favorite book called Sheet Music, Ellie," Eddy joked, which made her laugh again.

"Yeah, right," Ellie answers. "Maybe I should made you read a bit."

Eddy titls his head in confusion. "What?"

"I can tell you some of the greats from the novels I read to you," said Ellie. "Then, you'll know."

Eddy smiles. "Fair enough, I've been telling you some of the greats from the classical music world after all."

"Okay," Ellie said. Then, she continues to observe some books. "Hihi, this is kind of fun! It's like we learn to grow together with the things we didn't like."

Eddy smiles shyly and looks at the ground for a moment. "Then, maybe we can tell our favorites from it too later on."

"Sure!" Ellie happily look at Eddy. Then she grabs a few books in her hands. "I guess these are enough."

Eddy nods. "Then, let's go."

"Oh, you don't want to look at some music books?" asked Ellie.

Eddy shakes his head. "I'll pass. They can't possibly have books about Debussy or like... Beethoven, right?"

Ellie grins. "Come on, then. My Dad should be on the business books."

They both go find Ellie's Dad and quickly pay for the books they buy. Except for Eddy, of course.

He recall the conversation he had with Ellie a while ago as they're in the cashier. At this moment, he's instantly relief for introducing classical music to her all this time to calm her down. He won't absolutely regret that now that it makes him closer to her.

---

Ellie focuses her eyes onto the arcade screen. She plays a fighting game and her hand reflexes are amazing to Eddy. A new sight he never knew about her has been revealed.

Every enemy she's up against have no chance to win from her. Being the competitive Ellie is, she always counters them with an ultimate attack whenever she can and wins the round.

"Wow, you are something when it comes to games, huh?" Eddy commented after she finished a few rounds of story mode.

"I used to play at home," Ellie answers. "But ever since I knew about arcades, I've been playing here once in a while. It's my way to relax other than reading novels."

"Once in a while? Dude, you're like a pro, you know!" Eddy exclaimes in surprise.

Ellie laughs. "Come on, play with me."

"What? I don't even how it works." Eddy refuses. He never actually play games other than his nintendo switch at home. His daily life is like 80% practice, 10% uni assignments, 5% life problems, 4% self esteem problems and 1% playing games. His nintendo switch mostly just sits nicely on his table.

"How it works? You just fight till the end," Ellie swipe the credit two times and pats Eddy's shoulder.

Eddy silents for a moment hearing Ellie's sentence.

Just fight... till the end? What a coincidence. She reminded me of my struggle for her.

Ellie looked at Eddy with her eyebrows furrowed. "Eddy?"

"Huh?" Eddy looks startled at Ellie's words. His daydream scattered.

"Are you okay?" Ellie asked. "Come on, it's starting."

"Uhhh... Okay," Eddy finally gives in. He prepares his fingers on the buttons as the game started.

He chose a random character there, just because it looks cool to him, while Ellie casually picked her favorite character. Like what she uses through out several rounds of the game.

They both starts to focus on their own once the game started. Eddy felt confused to control the character at first, but Ellie's determination gives Eddy some push to be as determine as her. They both eventually play with the same side of competitive.

"Oh, so you've learned huh? I won't lose!" said Ellie as she mash the buttons quickly.

"Nah! I WON'T lose!" said Eddy back. He must admit, this is kind of fun once in a while. "How about the loser has to treat the winner bubble tea?"

"Bring it on, mister!"

They both laugh and end up play a few rounds together. Eddy thought it might be worth it as well, since he might won't have a lot of time to play like this again in the future with all of the practicing.

Ellie is having fun herself. She felt happy to have a playmate. After she parted ways with Brett and Eddy for uni, she always plays alone. She have a few uni friends but she doesn't really hangout with them that often. Ellie must admit she was glad to meet Eddy again.

To be continued :)

How is it? Too short, too long? I felt happy for Eddy in this chapter. He finally can smile freely. Ellie too!

Oh, and this will continue in the next chap :>