Fantasia

XXI

Eddy was gulping down his second coffee this morning when he typed Brett's name into the search engine yet again, this time without the thrill of potentially getting caught. He leaned back into his chair while he scrolled through the results, skipping past the first few relatively quickly before he chose the homepage of the Queensland Conservatorium.

Brett Yang. There was still only his picture and graduation, no further links or anything Eddy hoped he'd missed the first time around. He scratched the back of his head and returned to the list of search results, hoping he'd find a clue to where Brett was or where he had been working, but nothing promising popped up. He changed to the image search results. Didn't that guy maintain any sort of social media? Eddy himself had only signed up on LinkedIn for professional reasons, but he'd placed Brett as the type who'd have accounts on multiple platforms, as extroverted as he had been.

There was not much though. A bad resolution picture here and there from ages ago, posted on profiles of people Eddy didn't know and which appeared to have been abandoned for many years now.
Eddy frowned. Did Brett set all his accounts on private? That would mean if Eddy wanted to get in touch with him, he'd have to create accounts for himself, didn't he? Being the noob he was in such things (because his mother had been very clear on her opinion about this "useless nonsense") he opened instagram in his browser, only to get the homepage with the sign-in options presented. Eddy sighed and tried the same thing with all the other social sites on the top of his head, without success.
It seemed like his search on the internet was a dead end. Who'd have guessed in this day and age?

With a loud click Eddy closed his laptop while his brain went through possible next steps. Were there any mutual friends he was still in touch with? Very unlikely, since he'd cut most of the ties when he'd gone to uni as he recalled bitterly. Old teachers? But why would anyone stay in touch with their teachers? Also, Brett had attended a different school than Eddy and Eddy had no idea about any other educator than Huang Laoshi from their shared maths tutoring, whose information Eddy didn't possess, of course. Also, there was no way that guy knew how to contact Brett.

Eddy pursed his lips when another person entered his mind. His mother and Brett's mum used to keep loose contact back in the days, just like any parent would with their kid's best friend's parent. Maybe, his mother knew something? And hadn't Belle scolded him for not  calling her more often?
Eddy's stomach churned uncomfortably upon the thought. After all, the reason for the relative scarce chit chats with the woman who'd raised him wasn't because he deliberately wanted to act like a bad son.
He glanced at the clock. Brisbane was two hours ahead of Singapore, so it wouldn't be too early to call, but also not too close to lunch time. Should he just get it over with?

Before Eddy's inner chicken could win over the argument, he picked up his phone and dialed the number of his former home.

"Hello?", a soft voice said on the other end just when Eddy wanted to hang up again after like four rings or so.
He cleared his throat. "Hello, mother."
A small pause. And then, "Eddy?"
"Yes, good morning."
"Haiyaah! Why haven't you called earlier? Too busy even for your own mother? I haven't heard from you for forever! Doesn't even feel like I have a son anymore!"
There it was. The rant he'd foreseen and feared. He felt small immediately, sinking further into his chair. "Yeah, well. Nice to hear you too, mum."
"No need to be sarcastic!", she tsked.
Eddy rolled his eyes hard. "How have you been, mum?"
"With you and your sister both living abroad? Lonely of course! When will you come back and visit?"
"I don't know when I'll manage, mum. I am pretty busy at work. That's why I'm not calling more often." It was just one part of the truth. Eddy wouldn't be so dumb to state the other.
"How is work? Did you get promoted yet? Do you have good connections? Are you eating enough?", she asked, a tad annoyance still audible in her tone.
Eddy sighed before he answered, "Work's fine, mum. There were no major developments since we last spoke. It's alright, I guess."
"Alright not enough! Did you talk to your boss about possible next steps in your career? You have to be a bit pushy sometimes, if the situation requires it."
For Eddy, there were just very few situations in life where he'd feel the need to be pushy. Normally, that didn't go well with blending in, in which he shone. But to his mum, he said a simple "I'll try", knowing she wouldn't shut up about it if he wouldn't sort of agree.
"Yes! Try! Otherwise you're still useless, even though you're thirty years old soon. What about a girl? You met someone yet?"
Eddy would cringe hard if he wouldn't already be aware of his mother's checklist everytime they spoke.
"I have no time to meet anyone, mum."
There were days, when he didn't even have time to properly eat dinner.
"Eddy, you're not getting any younger! You have to look around before you end up alone."
No need to tell her that being alone was more than just an okay state to be in at the moment. All his previous, pretty short lived relationships had ended because Eddy had followed his mum's instructions on putting studies and career above everything else. He'd never terminated them. Give it enough time and the other party would feel neglected and frustrated enough to leave. And for Eddy, fighting for someone who didn't want to be around him anymore had always seemed, well, useless.
That his mother suddenly insisted on Eddy meeting someone was certainly due to her realization that her son's thirtieth birthday wasn't an event happening in ten years or so, but sooner than she probably liked. Eddy had to fiercely remind himself that she did all of this out of love and care for him.
"Anyway", he tried to change the topic, "how have you been? Are you doing okay?"
And then, Eddy's mother finally went on to tell him about her work and daily life, giving him a short breather.

"Uhm, mum", Eddy started after a while.
"Yes? What is it?"
"Uhm, do you remember Brett Yang?"
"Brett Yang...", she echoed, her tone pensive.
"He went to math tutoring with me. We were best friends during high school."
"The little one?"
Eddy had to hold back a snort. Out of so many great characteristics Brett possessed and she went with "little"? But to be fair, his mother only knew Brett from short hallway talks or awkward dinner conversations in Mandarin whenever Brett had been over at their place.
"Yes", Eddy confirmed.
"The one who went on to study music? Useless", she tsked while Eddy really had to hold back hanging up on her. He also shouldn't throw that retort back at her which immediately popped up in his head, if he wanted to extract any information.
So, instead he said, his heart hammering in his ribcage all of a sudden, "Yes, that's him. Are you still in contact with his family?"
There was a short silence on the other end before his mother meant, "Why would I be? I haven't seen Brett ever since you went to university, so I have no reason to contact them, do I?"
The sting of disappointment was unexpectedly painful. "Oh", Eddy mouthed, "I see."
"Why? Don't you have his number?"
No. Because of his idiot past self, he didn't.
"No. That's why I'm asking."
"Maybe I have their phone number written down somewhere. I can see, if I can find it."
"That would actually be great, thanks mum!" And Eddy meant it, with all his heart. His mum was a tidy, organized person. If she really still had their contact info somewhere, she'd find it.
"I'll text you if I'll find it. But you make sure to call more often!"
"Of course, mum. I'm sorry. I hope I can take some days off soon and come visit."

Maybe he could even look for Brett this way, if he wouldn't have found him by then!