Case 5: The Musician Problem

One day before...

The cityscapes view sickened the young man's vision, he hated the city because of the hell and treatment he received from almost everyone. Aldo Minstral just stopped by the minimarket to get himself a cup noodle. He's too lazy to cook lately, especially when he's feeling under the weather. 

He felt as if the city cursed him since he was a child, everyone was afraid of him and blamed him for the misconduct he did when he was twelve. He never thought of his misconduct as a mistake, he only did that to protect his beloved childhood friend from being bullied continuously.

His childhood friend had a fragile body, pretty weak, and timid. She pretended to be okay when the bully threw her with rocks and pebbles, injuring her pretty face. She would always have this poker face expression, she tried not to cry by being angry. She tried to defend herself but she wasn't strong enough to defend herself physically. That's why he was there, Aldo Minstral to defend her.

Aldo was different from any other students, he was feared for his scary demeanor and bluntness he threw endlessly. The girl was Aldo’s only friend because she was strong, pushy, and she's always waited for him patiently. The girl was known also as an eccentric girl due to her intelligence. However, with Aldo, she acts differently. 

She always managed to contain Aldo’s anger and calmed him down. However, at some point, he was forced to leave her because of the misconduct he did to protect her. He was sent to juvenile prison at the age of twelve. He's the youngest prisoner at that time, but the girl always visited her no matter what misconduct he got himself in. 

She was too nice, too kind, that's why he wanted to protect her.

Aldo thought of his past as he strolled the streets to his music store, he was welcomed by a warm smile from the counter.

"Welcome home!" the orange-haired man welcomed him with his natural bright smile.

"Hansel, thanks for taking care of the store. I bought us some snacks and cup noodles".

The orange-haired man didn't seem to like it when Aldo mentioned cup noodles, he shook his head unamused.

"Ahhh, we already ate that yesterday! Can you buy something more decent than that?" he complained, like how a mother would be.

Aldo scratched his head awkwardly.

"Thankfully enough I bought a more decent noodle than yours" the orange-haired man grinned playfully. The bright young man went to the kitchen and showed Aldo spaghetti packs.

"Spaghetti for dinner?", Aldo asked.

"Yep! You're cooking", Hansel winked at Aldo.

Aldo sighed tiredly, "Fine, you owe me, Hansel, you're cooking next for dinner tomorrow how's that sound?".

The energetic young man replied with an enthusiastic nod, "As long as I don't eat another cup noodle". Hansel rose from the counter seat.

"You're going somewhere? Have you eaten dinner?" Aldo fixed his eyes toward Hansel’s gym bag he carried to the entrance.

"Yeah, teaching dance as usual you know...and I haven't eaten dinner” Hansel grinned.

"Well let me know if you need any help, I'll cook the spaghetti later. If you want to eat it just heat it", Aldo said out of nowhere.

"Will do", Hansel waved his hand and ran hurriedly outside.

Aldo checked his watch, "Hmm, it's 7 pm huh, well I gotta close the store at 8 anyway".

Hansel and Aldo were school friends. After the crime he did, lots of his peers disliked him and stayed away from him.

However, Hansel was different, same as his childhood friend he's nonjudgemental. 

He tried his best not to contact his childhood friend anymore, he didn't want to tarnish her name just because he was there for her. He applied to a different high school from her, but he still watched over her from a distance.

Their schools were next to each other, so sometimes he just followed her after the school's over. But lately, Hansel's company made him become less protective of her, they made a plan to make a business together after high school.

"She's hiding something, isn't she?" Aldo thought to himself sullenly.

He scratched his head frustrated by the past that couldn't be undone. Aldo bit the tip of his pen, frustrated and annoyed. He scribbled on the song lyric notebook to gain more ideas, but he suffered a creative block.

The music store was still as quiet as usual, sadly enough the more advanced technology is the fewer people appreciate arts such as music. People no longer need a music instrument if the instrument itself could be downloaded in a computer or cellphone application. No more music sheets, if you could just download it instead of buying it at the music store.

Hansel once told him that he feared that the store would go bankrupt, but Aldo managed to calm him down at some point even though he was anxious as well.

Even though the store was quiet, the tranquility never bothered him. He could write and compose music because of the quiet environment. The melody and the lyrics were kept inside Aldo's mind as he wrote the content on notebook paper.

He checked his watch once again, only to notice that an hour had passed and it's time to close the store. He closed the store meticulously, locked the door, tried not to leave any trace behind for a burglar to break in. Hansel always reminded him to turn on the anti-burglar device they just bought months ago with their decent salaries. 

When he was about to go upstairs, he almost forgot to cook Hansel dinner. He cooked it, as usual, Spaghetti Carbonara for the dancing boy Hansel. He made it flawlessly because he's good at cooking. Aldo used to buy cooking books to try at home, mostly because his childhood friend was inexperienced in making good dishes.

He remembered the times when Rae begged him to cook her a patty, her favorite food until she grew up into a pretty young woman. She's also the same with him, she invites trouble whenever she goes thanks to her meek looks and fragile heart, she is always targeted by another girl and a guy for bullying.

Rae Silverstein was a pretty young girl, she invited the guys' attention and soon girls around her were jealous of her and made fun of her. Aldo protected her with all he had, for him she is his ideal little sister.

Since he lost both his mum and dad in a car accident, he was taken care of by his grandmother. His grandmother, like Rae, is also a weak person. Aldo always worries about his grandmother's fragile body, she works her hardest to supply Aldo school fee which is already too pricey for both Aldo and his grandmother.

Aldo helped sometimes by performing a mini-concert in a bar or streets with his guitar skills.

Maybe when she saw Hye Mi, he was reminded of her grandmother's fragility that made him want to protect that little girl. Aldo delved deep in his nostalgia as he cleaned the music store neatly, afraid of getting yelled at by Hansel.

After finishing the cleaning and closed the store, Aldo went upstairs to his room to continue his writing. He chew the tips of his pen, he had another creative block for the song title. He's just glad that he didn't accidentally chew Hansel pen, otherwise, he wouldn't hear the end of his preaching. Hansel is what you would call a 'clean freak', he's in charge of cleaning the store most of the time.

Aldo sighed in defeat as he walked randomly to every nook and cranny in his room. He read books, browse the internet, and finally daydreamed on his bed. Time seems short, he didn't realize that he spent five hours for inspiration search.

* * *

Aldo was frustrated and fell asleep on the process. As he closed his eyes to the darkness a loud noise woke him up. He drowsily scanned his surroundings, still sleepy. He bent over to the nightstand.

"Five? Man, I woke up too early", Aldo yawned. Aldo looked around confused, he swore he could hear a loud sound as in someone scream. He opened the curtain of his window, with blurry eyes he tried to scan the streets surrounding. He looked around for any possible source of the scream but he was too sleepy to even care.

He caught a glimpse of someone on the streets, though, a purple hooded man jogged on the streets. His attire consisted of a purple sports jacket and sports shorts, combined with pula sneakers. He knew the brand because he had the same shoes as the man, he got that present from Hansel.

He scratched his eyes tiredly, he closed the curtains and dropped himself on the bed. He's still stuck on what the song title should be.

He tried to remember the happy moments he had in the past, an image of his mother showed up in his brain.

It was a nice lukewarm feeling that filled the voidness of his heart, and then his childhood friend image showed up in a glimpse.

He smiled in satisfaction, "First Love Reminiscence".

"Aldo !" Hansel yell from downstair surprised him a bit.

"Yeah?".

"Thanks for the spaghetti! It was good!".

"No problem".

He heard the sound of a door closing, kind of loud. All he could think was how sleepy Hansel is not even realize how hard he slammed his bedroom door. Hansel stayed downstairs while Aldo chose upstairs, he liked the tranquility and isolation for inspiration searching.

He felt rather tired and decided to move a little bit, who knows it might jog his inspiration. He didn't receive any enlightenment and go downstairs. He usually opened his music store at 8, but he decided to spend his time writing on the first floor counter.

"I have to finish the lyrics, otherwise it's not good enough," he thought to himself.

However, as he wrote his lyrics, he was overcome by drowsiness. He rubbed his eyes tiredly as the squeaky sound of a wooden pencil filled the atmosphere.

"You're pushing yourself again " Hansel appeared from behind, somewhat surprised Aldo.

"Not really, I just have to write this down and I'm good".

"Just don't overdo it".

"I could say the same thing about you, dance machine".

Hansel chuckled when he heard the words 'dance machine' from Aldo. He pats Aldo's shoulder and flashed him his sunny smile.

"Thanks for the reminder".

"No problem".

Hansel left Aldo alone on his own about an hour later, he told him that there's a dance lesson at that time.

"Don't sleep on the counter".

"I try not to".

"What if someone steals your things?".

"Anti burglar alarm help".

"Sheesh, be warier with your surrounding".

With his last comment, he packed his bag and left Aldo alone. Aldo returned to his music writing mode and kept his pace until the drowsiness took him in once more.