The Harmony of Obsession

Chapter 2

"There was no stronger, more enduring and agonizing love in all his life. Without daring to hope for a kiss, receiving only now and then the reward of a slight brush of the hand of their adored beloved, they have managed to cherish such a feeling for more than ten years.This feeling flared up already at their first meeting."

——Tchaikovsky Through Other's Eye.

Brett was not the best at interacting with people but he has tried his best to make some friends. The orientation week was followed by the first-semester course registration. A group of his friends was discussing what courses they would take in the cafeteria when Brett joined them.

"Do you guys know there's a new faculty member who recently joined our department this year? I heard from a senior that this professor is pretty legit." Brett was having his lunch in silence as usual when one of his friends went off on a tangent about this new professor.

"Yeah!!! His name is Edward Chen, and he just finished his fellowship with Berlin Phil, and more importantly, he is pretty young and handsome, professional, and really talented!" As one of them pulled out his phone to look up this professor on LinkedIn and the faculty directory via the school website, the slender figure of the tall man in a suit appeared in Brett's mind uncontrollably, and he starting wondering when and where he would meet that person again. 

"What course does he offer this semester? You make me want to meet him desperately!" Another girl from the violin program asked without attempting to conceal her excitement. Reading off the course catalog on her phone, one girl continued: "He's gonna teach MUY 200 this semester. It's one of the humanities electives on music that we have to take for our degree. His class is on how the western musical techniques and performance influenced the contemporary composition of Chinese music in traditional style. Ahhhh, shoot, too bad it's not available for first-year students! I shouldn't have taken a gap year!" "Oh no, I wish I was born a year ahead!" Both girls whined aloud in frustration.

Brett uncomfortably adjusted his sitting posture a bit, he was not quite used to be involved in fangirling situations, and obviously, the rest of the boys also felt pretty awkward and all sat there remained silent shoveling fries into their mouths.

Just when Brett mindlessly glanced out of the French window near their table, losing the attention of the conversation, a familiar figure passed by. It's him. The man that he unconsciously thought of from time to time just passed by. His tailored charcoal-black suit, spotless Egyptian cotton white shirt, and dark blue tie made him look extra polished.

Time seemed to stop. Brett was completely lost in his sights.

"Oh my god! It's him!" He sharply turned his head back to his peers as he heard his friend yelling out exactly what he had in his mind.

"Who?" Pretending that he lost his interest in the conversation a while ago, Brett said his first sentence during the whole lunch break.

"Edward Chen, professor Edward Chen. The new guy."

.

Even though MUY 200 wasn't available for first-year students, during the Add-and-Drop period at the beginning of each semester, students were able to sit-in whatever classes they were interested in. Brett sneaked into the already-filled lecture hall and picked a seat in the back. He mocked himself internally thinking how pathétique he was when he tried to act more mature around registered upper-class students.

Unsurprisingly, he also saw some familiar freshman faces in the very front row. Seemingly, everyone was so curious about this new professor. To be honest, Brett didn't know what magic spell Professor Chen has put on him since their first encounter. He somehow could just make Brett care about his existence for unknown reasons.

The classroom quieted down as soon as the tall man walked in from the entrance in the back on the auditorium next to where Brett sat. This time the tall man didn't wear his tie, but in his casual chic attire, short trench coat in beige, white shirt, and black suit pants. The top two buttons of his collar were left open, showing his perfect jawline and neckline. When he walked by his seat, Brett sniffed the scent of detergent that Eddy left in the air. The younger man's eyes immediately fixed on Eddy who took off his trench coat, hung it on the back of his seat, rolled up his sleeves below the elbow, and causally wrote down his name on the whiteboard.

He turned on the projector and microphone and began his lecture.
"Hello everyone, welcome to MUY 200. I am your instructor Edward Chen. You can call me Professor Chen, Mr. Chen, or even Edward if you want. In this class, we will discover how western musical techniques and performance influence the contemporary composition of Chinese music in the traditional style. Since this is a writing-intensive class, we will not have in-class exams but writing projects. Over the course of the semester, you will have to write three musical analyses accordingly based on 'For the world' composed by Tan Dun, 'The Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto', 'Bamboo Stem and Jasmine Flower' by Jonathan Stock."

Although Brett was sitting almost at the top of the classroom, he was able to feel the strong aura of assurance that Eddy projected. He continued: "admittedly, it is a lectured-based class, but feel free to raise your hand during my presentation if you have any questions or confusion." Eddy stopped as he briefly glanced around the classroom. "I know this class is currently fully enrolled, so some of you will not get to take it this semester, but don't worry, this course is offered by members of the department every semester. Professor Johnathan Morris will offer another humanities elective on a different topic next semester."

Brett looked up from his laptop immediately when he heard the mention of his advisor's name. And maybe it was just his illusion, his eyes met with Eddy's for a second. His heart skipped a beat.

"For your final project, you will have an option to either compose a piece of music for your instrument that conveys a strong sense of oriental influence or conducting research on your chosen topic. In today's class, we will discuss contemporary musical communication between cultures, in particular, between the West and the East. Without further ado, let's start with the arrival of Western music in China in 1601 under the reign Emperor Wanli of the Ming dynasty.

The rest of the lecture was mind-blowing as Brett never thought of the existence of western classical music in the imperial epoch of the East. He indulged himself with those fascinating historical tales behind the composition of rhythm. Eddy's elaboration made all those dull history so interesting and vivid that no one, NO ONE went on their phone in that 110 minutes.

Something was slowly growing inside Brett's heart when the end of the lecture was approached. After the class, Brett remained in the lecture hall, dawdled over packing up his stuff, waiting for a chance to talk to Eddy individually despite the fact that he would be late to his next class.

He waited and waited, and he saw the older man exit the room with a group of students surrounding him. He stood still in the passageway observing Eddy wrapping up the conversation, saying goodbye to each student, and walking into an elevator.