Henry lay on the bed, hugging and caressing Jay, who seemed to have fallen asleep. Though asleep, the boy was still sobbing, because he had just buried his head into Henry's chest and wept for several minutes. Henry kept caressing the young boy's back and thought about what happened that evening.
He brought Jay to a public phone that was a bit far from his apartment. The reason he chose such a place was that he was afraid of being tracked by the police and being treated as a kidnapper.
He gave Jay some coins. Jay dialed timidly.
"Mom?"
"JAY?" The voice from the other side of the phone was so loud that Henry could hear it clearly. Jay moved the transmitter a bit far from his ear. "JAY!! WHERE ARE YOU NOW? WHAT HAPPENED? ARE YOU OKAY?"
"I... I'm fine..."
"WHERE ARE YOU NOW? JUST STAY THERE AND I'LL COME TO TAKE YOU HOME!!"
"No. I don't want to go home."
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? WHY DO YOU ALWAYS LIKE TO MAKE ME ANGRY LIKE THIS?? YOU JUST RAN AWAY AND DISAPPEARED FOR THE WHOLE NIGHT... YOU... YOU... TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE NOW!!"
"No! I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
"JAY!!!"
Jay hung up the phone.
After calling his mom, Jay became very silent. Even when Jay saw the news talking about his own concert on the TV in the laundromat, he didn't talk at all. To Henry's surprise, there was not any news about Jay's being missing on TV, only about his last concert. Henry thought that they might just hide this news.
After going back to Henry's apartment, Jay just took off all his clothes and took a shower, still silently. At the same time, Henry reloaded the thick quilt into its duvet cover and put it on the ground, making a bed for himself, hoping there wouldn't be more accidents the next morning.
Jay walked out from the bathroom and found the thick quilt on the floor. He kicked the thick quilt aside in a lather and startled Henry. Then he walked to Henry and hugged him, burying his head into the man's chest.
"Sleep with me, please," Jay said, in a faint voice.
Henry didn't know what to do. Jay just pulled Henry's hand and walked to the bed. Henry had no choice but to follow him, laying down on the bed with him. Henry took off his T-shirt, gently wrapped his arms around the boy, who hugged Henry tightly.
"Have a good sleep. Everything will be getting better tomorrow," said Henry softly.
Tears started to fall down from Jay's eyes, and dropped onto Henry's body. Henry patted the young boy softly.
"Why are you crying? Just tell me what's up, okay?" Henry whispered.
Hearing Henry's words, the young boy cried even harder. Henry didn't know how to comfort him. He just hugged the young boy, patted and caressed his back.
After weeping for several minutes, Jay seemed to calm down a bit. He was still sobbing, but he finally said, "Henry, can you always be with me? I feel so lonely."
Lonely? Henry was surprised. He couldn't imagine why Jay was feeling lonely. He caressed the boy's hair and back, and whispered, "Yes, I will always be with you. Don't worry, okay? Have a good sleep."
Henry went back to here and now. He looked at the sleeping boy. Why did Jay feel lonely?
Thinking for a while, Henry felt that he started to understand. Jay must have very few friends in school, because his agent told his teacher not to injure him in the P. E. class, making his classmates stay far away from him. Jay seemed not to have a good relationship with his parents either. That could be proven by Jay's conversation with his mom. Henry started to sympathize with this little boy. The cost this boy paid for his success seemed to be much, much more than Henry could imagine.
Henry adjusted his position to put Jay's head on his arm. He looked at the boy's young face. This super star, with millions of personal wealth, was now sleeping in his arms, in the nude. Well, if his female fans knew about this... Henry shivered a bit.
However, no matter how famous this boy was, no matter how much wealth this boy had, at that moment he was just a little boy who needed help and comfort. Henry wondered how many people on earth really understood and cared how this boy felt. At that moment, the boy was sleeping beside him. Henry had a feeling of satisfaction, which he had never experienced. It was a feeling of satisfaction from being needed. Though he was poor, he provided a harbor of refuge to that little boy, and he was quite proud of it.
He recalled John. They were best mates, just like brothers. However, John was quite active, and was the leader among the two. He never got the same feeling from John.
How good would it be if Jay was my little brother...
Henry hugged Jay, and gradually drifted to sleep.
When Jay opened his eyes, Henry was ready to leave.
"Morning, Jay," said Henry with a smile.
Jay asked with a sleepy voice, "Where are you going?"
"Work, of course. Or how could I have money to buy some decent food for you?" Henry answered, pretending to be a bit upset.
Jay laughed at Henry's antics.
"You finally laughed," Henry smiled again and said. "Your smile is really charming."
"Can't you just stay here with me today?"
"No. I have a lot of work today. But I'm off tomorrow, so I can be with you the whole day. And... this evening..."
"What about this evening?"
"This evening I have an appointment at a KTV to sing songs with my friends. Do you want to come with me?"
"Ugh... singing..." Jay hesitated.
Henry laughed. "That's okay if you don't want to sing. You can just go there and watch others singing. If you don't want to go, then you can stay here and wait for me to get back."
"I'd like to go with you."
"Okay. It will be good for you to change your role tonight. You can just listen to others singing and applaud them."
-- To be continued.