Red Symphony

Crescendo

Brett kind of regretted his decision to go home directly in the morning after he slept over at Alice's. 

His legs stopped for a moment when he sees his Dad and Ellie are already at the living room, probably waiting for him. 

He looks away, pretending not to see.  But his Dad notices him faster than his steps.

"Brett!" Brett's Dad exclaims, but Brett refused to turn around.

Ellie stands up and walks over to Brett, looked at his face anxiously.  "Hey, why you didn't come home last night? Where did you sleep?"

Brett looked at Ellie with a sigh.  "It doesn't matter. What are you doing here?"

"Your dad called me because he was worried about you," said Ellie.  "Don't leave again if your dad's scolded you, OK?"

Brett stares at Ellie for a moment, then looked at his Dad. 

Of course, he wouldn't tell her why exactly I fled from home, he thought.

"Why are you looking at your parent like that?"  Dad asked, looking at Brett irritatedly.  "Go take a shower."

Brett snorts softly.  He glance back to Ellie.  "You're just waiting for me to come back home, right? Now I did. You can go home now."

"But you're going to tell me what happened later, right?"  Ellie answers.

"Hmm."  Not intending to tell her everything at all, Brett walks to his room, leaving Ellie behind.

If it wasn't for Alice, he wouldn't want to return here at all.

Ellie sighs at Brett's departure, then smiles at Brett's Dad.  "All right then, Sir, Ellie must said goodbye for now. My Dad would be worried if I've gone too long."

"Yes, be careful, Ellie," said Brett's Dad, smiles slightly.  "Let me just scold him later."

"I think letting him calm down first will be a good idea, Mr. Yang. Now then, if you excuse me."  Ellie said with a slight bow, then really walked away from there.

Brett's Dad let out a rough sigh as soon as Ellie is out of his sight.  "That kid is so annoying. Ellie almost found out about it all. What a troublemaker."

Drrt... drrt...

Brett's Dad immediately pick up his new phone. Yes, as soon as Brett broke his old one, he immediately bought a new one because he needs it for work.

"So, how is it?"  The voice on the other side greeted immediately.

"He's home. Satisfied now?"  said Brett's Dad irritably.  He hates being threatened.

"Okay, great. Remember, don't let my daughter know about this," the voice on the other side answered. "The consequences will always be waiting for you, Mr. Yang."

Brett's Dad grips his phone with a tense hand.  His emotions came back high at the words. Another threat.  Huh.

-

"Oh, really?"  Caca widened her eyes as Alice told her a little about Brett's family.  "I never expected Brett's father to be like that."

Alice smiled slightly.  "But he's getting better. I hope."

"Of course, I can see you guys getting closer," Caca smiles mischievously.  "Looks like there are other stories besides his family problems, huh?"

Alice's cheeks flushed red.  "Nah. You know Brett already has his own candidate."

"Are you too innocent or what? Brett only opens his life to you, didn't you notice just by that?"  asked Caca in surprise.

"Ah, nonsense! That doesn't mean anything about his feelings, you know."  Alice still couldn't believe it.

"Al," Caca's word got cut off, Brett had already approached Alice who is still tidying up.

Alice turned to him silently.

"Oh, uh... hey, how's everything going, Brett?"  asked Caca, trying to start a conversation from the silence.

"It's been great, Caca. Thanks," said Brett with a smile.  "You're going home now, right?"

"Ah, yep, I'll just go first! Bye, Alice!"  Caca immediately excused herself from there to leave Alice and Brett alone.

Alice shook her head at Caca's attitude.  Then looked at Brett.  "What's up?"

"Uh," Brett scratched his neck.  "May I stop by again?"

"Um," Alice was taken aback for a moment, not expecting the question.  "Sure. But, why?"

"You said you wanted to learn the violin, right?"  said Brett with a small smile.

"Oh," Alice smiles too.  "Okay."

For a few moments they stare at each other, letting their eyes speak accompanied by the still feeling of nervousness.

But all of that broke when someone came toward Brett silently.

"Mate."  Eddy gets his hands in his trousers's pockets, staring flat at Brett.

Brett glances to Eddy in confusion.  To be honest, they had been deskie a lot all this time, but he never came to him with a serious face.  "Yeah? What is it, Eddy?"

"Can I talk to you?"  He made a sound again, then glanced at Alice.  "Just the two of us."

"Oh?"  Brett glances to Alice.  "Um, can you wait for me outside? I won't be long."

Alice nods, then immediately bringing her feet away from there.  Occasionally she glance at them from the corner of her eye, but decided to believe him once more. It's just that somehow she had a bad feeling about this.

"What's the matter, Eddy?"  Brett asked again after Alice is completely out of sight.

Eddy said nothing.  He stares at Brett with intense eyes and took his hands out of his pockets. He sighs.

"Ed?"  Brett called again.

"You've been a very good friend, Brett," said Eddy.  "Even since high school."

"Yes, of course. But what's wrong?"  Brett is still trying to guess what this is about from his friend's gesture.

"I'm sorry, Brett."

"Huh?"

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BUGH!!

Within seconds, Eddy flashed his hand, right at Brett's face. He quickly knocked his friend down in one hit.

Brett, who didn't know anything, hit the floor hard.  He groans in pain, held his aching head and looked at Eddy in confusion.  He couldn't stand up, with the rest of his strength he tried to sit in his place.  Now Eddy's stare really looks horror.

What's happening?

To be continued :)

Anyone can tell why is Eddy pissed? :D