When Henry woke up it was already late morning. He saw that Jay was standing in front of the window, looking outside in a trance. Henry didn't make a sound, just looked at Jay's nude body.
He thought of the night before. He couldn't believe that such a small boy could make him lose his control. However, when he looked at Jay's nude body, he felt that it was actually not difficult to understand it. Originally he thought that Jay was created by God to please all females. At that moment he realized that this small boy was also so attractive to him.
Suddenly Jay made a deep sigh.
Henry smiled and asked, "Why do you sigh so deeply?"
Jay turned his head around and saw that Henry had already woken up. He smiled.
"Morning, Henry."
Jay jumped onto the bed and lay down beside Henry.
Henry hugged him and kissed his cheek. "So, tell me, why do you sigh so deeply?"
Jay sighed again, then he said, "If I go back home, can I see you again?"
"Have you calmed down now and decided to go back?"
"Can I see you again?"
"I don't know. I hope you can. Anyway, I'll join your fan club," Henry said, smiling.
"I really don't want to go back. I just want to be with you, like now."
"Me too, but you know that it's impossible."
"I know; that's why I sighed."
Henry hugged Jay tightly, and said softly, "Do you know? The evening you sneaked into my van, I saw you on the poster of your concert. I was really envious of you. You have such great talent and conditions to be a super star. Even though you are so young, you can touch so many, many people's hearts. You can affect so many, many people. That's your charisma, and it's what many people who also play music would like to have, but just don't have it."
Jay listened to Henry silently. Henry went on.
"Now I know that you have been under so much stress, so much pressure and in so much pain. I know that you hope to have someone hug you. I know that you hope to lean against someone's shoulder to cry. But you have to understand, most people can't see it. At least before meeting you, I just envied your successful career but couldn't imagine how much pain you are in. However, I still hope that no matter how painful you feel, don't forget your love of music. Don't forget the happiness that music brings to you. Don't forget that you have such great talent and opportunities to touch people's hearts. So, even if I can't meet you anymore, I'll be very happy to listen to your songs, to see you on TV. Okay?"
Jay didn't reply. He just buried his head into Henry's chest.
"Let's have a shower first. Look, your body is now all covered by my dry semen."
Jay laughed. "That's your semen. I don't want to clean it off."
Henry laughed out. "Come on, don’t be silly. Let's take a shower in turns. I promised you that I can accompany you the whole day. Later I'll take you to a playground, and to another place in the afternoon."
"What place?"
"I'm off today, so I'll go to a place to play some instruments and sing."
"Oh."
"Want to come with me?"
"Yes."
Henry laughed. "It's okay if you don't want to play instruments or sing. But you have to know, I don't have much time to play music so I need to take advantage of every second I have."
Jay nodded.
Jay wore his cap and glasses and had brunch with Henry. Then Henry took him to an amusement arcade near his apartment. Jay looked at this place curiously.
"You haven't been to this kind of place either, right?"
"I've seen similar places from outside, but I've never gone into one."
"Then, let's play now."
Maybe because it was in the morning on a weekday, there were not many people inside. Henry took Jay to play each game one by one. They played Badger Bash. Jay took a hammer and hit gophers in a great bustle, and Henry helped Jay with his hands. Finally they won many prize tickets. Then they played air hockey. After two rounds, Jay finally won the third round with a beautiful direct goal shot. Jay exclaimed happily, and Henry pretended to be annoyed.
Then they played the basketball shooting machine, the virtual bowling game and car racing games. Finally they used the prize tickets they won to exchange for a small teddy bear.
"To you," Henry said when walking out of the arcade with Jay. "You may have no more chances to play here. Keep it."
Jay took the teddy bear and looked at it. Then he hugged Henry tightly. "Thank you, Henry. I haven't been as happy as I am today for a long time."
Henry was startled by Jay's action, but then he smiled, hugged Jay back and patted him on his shoulder. "I hope that you can be happy like this teddy bear everyday. Are you hungry now?"
Jay shook his head.
"Okay, then let's go to the next destination."
Jay stepped up onto Henry's motorcycle and hugged Henry tightly. Henry went back to his apartment to get his guitar, then they went to a pub.
Jay walked into the pub with Henry. The pub was not open yet; only a few people were cleaning inside. They saw Henry and greeted him.
"Is Mr. Hsu here?" asked Henry.
"Yes, in his office. You can find him there. Who is this little guy?" asked a person who looked like a bartender.
"My cousin," answered Henry. He took Jay towards the office.
"This is the pub where my band used to perform," Henry explained to Jay. "Mr. Hsu is the boss of this pub. He is actually a very senior music album producer. He made many popular albums behind the scenes. Do you know him?"
Jay shook his head.
"He treated us very nice before. Though we don't sing here anymore now, when I don't need to work, I usually come here before the pub is open and borrow their instruments to play. Mr. Hsu would sometimes give me some more teaching and comments."
"Oh."
They hadn't arrived at the office yet and saw a middle aged man walking out from a room.
"Hi, Henry. Well, who is this little boy?"
"Mr. Hsu," Henry bowed slightly, "He is my cousin. His parents asked me to take care of him for a few days, so I brought him here."
Mr. Hsu took a serious look at Jay for a few seconds. "Won't he be too bored just watching you here?"
"I hope not," said Henry, smiling at Jay. Jay smiled at Henry too.
"Okay, let's go," said Mr. Hsu.
They went to the stage of the pub. Henry took out his own guitar from the bag.
"Did you prepare any song to sing?" asked Mr. Hsu.
Henry nodded. He started to play a song. Listening for a few seconds, Jay knew that Henry was singing "It’s About In Winter".
At this moment, I have to leave,
Please wipe away your tears,
At long night, in future days,
Please don't cry for me...
Though Jay was used to hearing Henry singing in the KTV, he felt that Henry's voice was even better when he played his own guitar. When Henry finished the song, Jay was about to clap his hands. However, he heard Mr. Hsu start to talk.
"Henry, I've told you many, many times."
Jay could sense that Mr. Hsu was talking in a severe manner.
"You can't just sing a lyric song softly. Before singing, you need to think about what this song is saying, what this song tries to tell everyone. However, you were still just using your voice to sing. You were just singing it softly. You were not singing it from your heart! Using this technique, can you sing better than the original singer? You still can't understand it, and that's why you can't have any improvement for a long time!"
Jay heard similar words before. In his singing classes, the teachers also told him to "sing from your heart". Though those teachers were not as severe as Mr. Hsu, Jay never felt convinced. He felt that he had already sung it from his heart, but those teachers were still not satisfied, and they didn't tell him directly how he "didn't sing from his heart".
"This song is saying that you have no choice but to leave your lover. You can not express your sadness, but on the contrary, you have to comfort your lover. Do you think that you expressed the constrained and conflicted feeling?"
Jay thought that Henry had already sung very well. However, he saw that Henry just hung his head and listened to Mr. Hsu's criticism. Jay felt that Mr. Hsu was being too hard on Henry.
Mr. Hsu sighed. Thinking for a while, he said, "Okay, here is an easier example. Try this song, 'It's Destined.' Before singing, think about it: This song is saying that you met a person for the first time, however you were deeply touched by the person's purity and innocence. Have you ever met anyone that touched you so deeply? If not, make up one! What kind of person do you think can give you such a touching feeling? If you don't make it clear, you won't sing this song well!"
Henry thought for a while. Suddenly he looked at Jay. His fingers plucked his guitar, and started to read the beginning narrative parts of the song,
Everytime, when it rains so hard,
I would think of you, smiling at me,
Saying, "Hey! Glad to meet you..."
Jay looked at Henry. Suddenly he felt that Henry was not only singing; Henry's eyes were talking to him. He looked into Henry's eyes, and listened to Henry singing,
We meet by chance, We are still unfamiliar,
You told me that, people meet by fate,
Just like the breeze, blowing in people's faces,
So wonderful, so comfortable...
Jay had learned this song, and he liked this song too. However, at that moment, listening to Henry singing it, he suddenly felt that he could totally understand the meaning of this song! He met Henry by fate, wasn't it? It was destiny that made him meet Henry, wasn't it? He couldn't help but sing with Henry softly.
You make me believe that it is all destined,
As sure as the rainbow after rain,
Such heavy rain, we meet like that,
Your pure innocence touched me deeply.
There is a child in everyone's heart,
Who makes it easy to be close to purity and innocence.
There are billions of people in this world,
And I miss you the most...
When Henry finished singing, Jay heard Mr. Hsu clap his hands very hard.
"Bravo! Bravo! Very good, Henry, I know you can make it! This is the first time I hear you singing from your heart!" exclaimed Mr. Hsu.
Henry was still looking at Jay, but then he blushed deeply. He didn't say anything. Jay felt himself blush too. He had a feeling that, at that moment, he finally understood what those teachers meant, "To sing from your heart!"
"Okay, here is another song that should be easy for you. 'Happy By Your Side'. Just think of the happiness when you play your guitar and sing! Just express it!"
Henry nodded. He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking for a while and then opened his eyes again, started to pluck his guitar. Though it was a fast song, Henry slowed his speed and started to sing,
I like to play guitar, hearing what my guitar would say,
Sometimes it would say words of love,
Sometimes it would take away my worry.
Take me to the sky, yeah, over the hill,
Take me to the sky, yeah, it's so chill...
Jay heard the song and thought of his feelings when he had first listened to it. He liked to hum some rhythm and made it into a song. He felt that this song expressed his happiness about writing songs very well. In the middle of the song, Henry sped up and Mr. Hsu started to play keyboard too.
I wanna be happy by your side,
I wanna give you all my love,
I couldn't help myself but sing and dance with you.
I wanna be happy by your side,
I couldn't help becoming so excited,
I wanna write a song and play it everyday...
Jay felt that Henry's guitar blended with Mr. Hsu's keyboard very well. He felt that he became so excited, just like what the lyrics said. He couldn't help but start to dance, clapping his hands and walking to Henry, and singing with Henry together.
I wanna be happy by your side,
I wanna give you all my love,
I couldn't help myself but sing and dance with you.
I wanna be happy by your side,
I couldn't help becoming so excited,
I wanna write a song and play it everyday...
When Henry and Mr. Hsu ended their playing, Jay gave Henry a high-five. Mr. Hsu started to clap his hands again.
"Good, good! You started to understand how to sing, Henry!"
Henry and Jay smiled at each other.
Next they sang "Three Days and Three Nights" and "Green Apple Paradise". Jay felt more and more happy and excited. Mr. Hsu also kept praising Henry.
After singing "Red Dragonfly", Mr. Hsu said, "Very good, Henry. You have made a big improvement today. Now you've started to understand how to sing." He paused a bit, then changed to a more serious tone. "Let me give you one more bit of advice: There will be many difficulties, many frustrations along the road of playing music. You need to sacrifice many, many things. However, never, never forget the original joy that music brought to you!"
Though Mr. Hsu was talking to Henry, Jay felt that Mr. Hsu was talking to him too. He started to think about it.
"Okay, let's have a rest," said Mr. Hsu. "Ben!" he called.
The bartender came.
"Get something for the boy to drink. He just sang a lot very happily."
Ben nodded and smiled, beckoning to Jay. Jay looked at Henry, who nodded at him. Jay walked to the bar with Ben.
"Henry, come with me," said Mr. Hsu.
Henry looked at Jay, then he walked with Mr. Hsu with an uneasy feeling.
They walked into Mr. Hsu's office silently. Mr. Hsu poured two cups of tea and sat in his own chair. Henry sat in another chair too.
"Okay, Henry, now tell me," said Mr. Hsu. "When did Jay Feng become your cousin?"
-- To be continued.