Fantasia

XLIV

"The mobile number you called is currently unavailable. Please try again later."
Oh, how Eddy despised that machine generated voice of a woman, telling him he couldn't get the answer to a question he felt like he'd been looking for his whole life for, even though it had only been a week or so, even less maybe. He cursed quietly before ending the call and made it back to his desk.

His butt didn't even touch the chair, when he heard a loud, commanding voice ringing through the whole room. "Chen!"
Eddy threw a glance at Theo, who shook his head with wide eyes and mouthed a "Hurry up!". Eddy sighed heavily and steeled himself for what was inevitably going to happen in his near future.

Mr. Rogers had of course, noticed Eddy vanishing for way too long and having weird phone calls just moments before that, so he had to remind Eddy that this behaviour didn't reflect their company's policy in the slightest.
He also reminded everyone else on this floor, despite the door to his office being closed. Eddy swore his ears were going to fall off sooner than later if his superior wouldn't show mercy any time soon, but simultaneously, he was astonished about how little this tirade affected him.

Apparently, getting fired wouldn't be so bad after all.

But it wasn't gonna happen today. In the end, Mr. Rogers did huff that Eddy was normally amongst the most hard-working ones, which didn't mean he could just do whatever, the higher ranked stressed. And since Eddy's overtime clearly showed his dedication, Mr. Rogers finally let him do the walk of shame back to his desk without cutting his salary.

"Jeeez, that was brutal!", Theo remarked in a hushed tone, "Told you to be more careful, man! You better not let yourself get caught again!"
"Whatever..."
"Whatever? Eddy, something's seriously wrong with you! They could fire you!"
"For making some private phone calls during working hours even though I work, and I quote Rogers here 'harder than anyone else on this floor'? I don't think so."
And even if, Eddy wasn't sure if he'd care.

Still, Eddy wasn't stupid. He needed a job so he could find Brett without having to deal with his own shit or look for a new employer first. So he refrained from further calls or messages and made sure to deliver the cleanest reports possible. At least, Mr. Rogers nodded at Eddy when he passed by Eddy's cubical, showing his satisfaction over his employee's fruit of labor after his slip-up. Eddy's smile back was faint at best, if even noticable.

The first thing Eddy did after logging out of his computer was press that call button in Brett's contact, but all he got was the same generic female voice he slowly but surely started to hate. Had Brett changed his number then? Most likely, since it was passed to Eddy by a highschool mate of Brett's... Eddy sighed deeply and left the office building into the dark of the night with a firm resolution to look through several lists of orchestras and music schools and to play the violin as soon as he got home so he'd at least see dream-Brett.

He started with the SSO, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, since it was the most famous in Australia and he'd totally believe Brett's skill would get him a permanent seat in there. Eddy yawned as he scrolled through the page listing all the musicians, trying to find a face or a name which would awaken any sort of memory. He had no luck though and Brett himself didn't show, which he had sort of expected, so he tried the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. They were based in Brisbane, so maybe Eddy would have more luck in finding someone he recognized? Brett's picture didn't appear amongst the first or second violin players, but Eddy did stop his cursor over a familiar face. A korean guy playing cello. Wasn't he a former AYO member too? Hyung Suk Bae. The name did ring a bell. Yes... he used to hang out with them sometimes, mostly talking to Brett though because Eddy had been too shy.

Eddy's heart beat faster. Was there any way to contact this guy? He clicked on Hyung's picture and his bio showed up. However, there was no mail or phone number, which again, wasn't surprising, but Eddy couldn't help but feel disappointed. Everything he did today regarding his search for Brett had been futile. Had Brett been swallowed by a black hole and all his information with him, never to be found? It was too late to call the orchestra's office, but if they were anything like the AYO or the con, they wouldn't give out Hyung's information anyways.

Eddy shrugged to himself. Ah well, it was worth a shot. He'd simply have to sneak out during work again. Meanwhile, there was a violin waiting for him to be played before the clock hit 10 p.m.