It was 8 pm, right after dinner...

VII

It took Brett hours to fall asleep. Considering he went to bed at a five year old's bedtime, it didn't surprise him one bit. At least he heard Eddy typing stuff on his laptop in the living room, a soothing sound, which eventually helped him to enter a fuzzy dreamland.

There was a rhythmic buzz next to Brett's head and it just wouldn't stop. Thinking, it must be an alarm he'd unconsciously set the night before and of which he had no recollection whatsover, he reached out to turn it off, eyes closed and him still being very sleepy. He turned around to continue his well deserved rest, when he suddenly heard someone call his name from afar.
Brett slowly opened his eyes, turned around again to see, if someone was in his room, which was not the case. Confused, he propped himself up a bit and tried to locate the source of the voice, when he saw his phone screen still glowing in the dusky light of the early morning. He picked up his phone and looked at the callers name.

"Ray, you know what time it is in Singapore?", Brett croaked into the phone.
"Brett!!! Brett! Finally!"
"What??"
"Brett, I was sooo worried after seeing your guys' announcement! Why didn't you call me?"
"Mate, I nearly forgot to call my mum and you expect me to contact every person remotely close to me and tell them what happened?"
"But... It's mee!! Ray, I'm basically your uncle."
"Right, a three year older one. I didn't even call my uncles, for the record." Brett heard a chuckle on the other end and had to smile to himself. Of course, Ray would call sooner or later. He always did when something important was going on, of which they mostly forgot to inform him about.
"I had to call as soon as I saw your story." "Of course you had to", Brett remarked.
"How are you? What happened?", Ray asked and Brett could hear the genuine worry seeping through Ray's voice. So he proceeded to tell him a chastised version of the cause for his hospital visit and the non-diagnosis he had so far.
"But all in all, I'm good and I really think it's nothing!" Brett heard a sigh on the other end. "You guys scared me to death. I thought you had like an accident or something", Ray said.
"Did I look like I had an accident?"
"No, but who knows, right?"
Brett shook his head, a smile forming on his face. "I'm fine, uncle. Don't worry."
"If you say so. But don't forget to eat healthy and sleep plenty."
"I have Eddy taking care of me. Yesterday I had to go to bed at 9 pm! 9!!" Ray had to laugh so loud on the other end, that Brett had to hold his phone away to not turn deaf for the rest of the call. "Alright", Ray chuckled, "Ah, I guess you're in good hands."
They ended their chat after Ray told him about his upcoming concerts and projects and made a promise to visit them soon, which was God knows when with the stupid pandemic.
After Brett hung up, he scrolled through all the notifications he'd missed during the night. Twenty-three missed calls from friends and family and about a hundred messages from people who had his phone number. Brett sighed, turned off his phone and tried to go back to sleep.

Normally, an increase in subs would be a cause for celebration. Hitting a certain mark like 200'000 on a popular Chinese social media like Weibo even more so. And Brett was really happy about their achievement, that was undebatable. Their channel gaining more recognition in Mainland China, how could he not be thrilled... He still didn't want to do the video they planned on filming when they'd reached that number though. On one hand, because they were going to speak Chinese throughout the whole thing and his skills in that particular language were really not on their highest level, to say it mildly. On the other hand, he was sporting a very nasty headache since he woke up and that didn't lighten the prospect of their special film project at all.

Stupid Ray, calling at an ungodly hour, he thought, while they set up their lights and mic for filming. They were going to guess music and twoset related words in Chinese and Brett really hoped, Eddy had brought his A game because he was not feeling it at all.

"Hi, everyone!"
"Everyone, hello!", they greeted in Chinese.
"Welcome to a Chinese episode of TwosetViolin! We want to celebrate reaching 200'000 fans on Weibo.", Eddy enthused in nearly flawless Chinese (with emphasis on the word "nearly").
"Wooow", Brett made, as upbeat as he managed to be. Now his stomach also started to hurt somehow. Great.
Eddy continued their introduction and even mentioned Brett's health status, encouraging everyone to wish him a good and quick recovery. The rest of the video was just them struggling to get some composers name or musical terms in their supposed mother tongue right. They got the hang of it the more they were filming and Brett actually started to have fun at some point, though his head and stomach were not being chill at all today. So he was still very greatful for Eddy, who did most of the talking and was being a fun and entertaining YouTube personality.

"Hey, you ok?", Eddy asked, as soon as they wrapped up their video.
"Yeah, fine. Just a headache. Ray called me at like 5 am or something to ask, how I was doing. I'm blaming him, in case he asks."
"Wanna go rest a bit? I'm just gonna send the footage to the editor. I'll join you in a sec." Brett nodded and trod to the couch to lay down. After a few minutes, Eddy sat down next to Brett's head, his macbook resting on his lap.
"Editor-san did a real good job with pre-selecting the applications. You up to going through them quickly?" Brett nodded again and sat up a bit to have a better look at the laptop screen. They scrolled their way through some promising personalities and eventually, Eddy sent their selection of the pre-selection back to Editor-san for her to contact them and give them an assignment, which they had to fullfill to show their skills. Then, Eddy set up a call with their apparel team to discuss the fabrics for their upcoming products and by the time he closed his laptop, both were beat. For a few minutes, they just sat there, neither of them saying a word. Brett's head started to really pound now and he closed his eyes in order to minimize the pain.

Eddy glanced at him and frowned. "You ok mate? Want me to get you some Aspirin or something?"
"That'd actually be great, thanks", Brett tried very hard not to groan, but it was still a close thing. He heard Eddy getting up and walking to probably the bathroom in search for the much needed pain killers. By the time he was back with the pills and a glass of water, Brett had positioned his body flat on the couch with his hands covering his eyes.
"I've got you the med. You should take your vitamines too. Have you today?", Eddy asked. Brett shook his head lightly and tried sit up. Eddy handed him the glass and the Aspirin, before he went searching for the other pills.

"Maybe we should go take a walk or something", Brett suggested, after swallowing all the things he needed to. Eddy just stared at him incredulously. "What?", he asked, eyes wide.
"Might do us some good, fresh air and all."
"Bro, have you seen yourself? You look like shit, if I may courtly say so."
"It's just the bad sleeping thing because of mean uncle Ray." "Uncle?", Eddy asked, a bit confused. Brett chuckled, which was quite an accomplishment considering him still suffering. "He said he's basically something like our uncle. Can you believe that?"
Eddy laughed and nodded: "I can totally see that, actually. He's such an uncle type. But back to the important topic. You want to do what now?"
"Don't look at me like I'm crazy. Can a guy not suggest a nice walk outside without being treated like an insane person?"
Brett actually didn't know, why he brought this up. Maybe he wanted to proof to himself and to Eddy, but mostly to himself, that this medium head- and tummy ache was nothing to worry about. Or maybe he really craved for some outdoor activity and wanted to do something good for both him and his friend.

Eddy still eyed him suspiciously. "If you really wanna, we can, but I will not carry you home, if you get weak at the knees."
"That's not gonna happen. Promise!"
"Ok, so you wanna go like, now or wait till your head's better?"
In the end, they sat around some more until the pain was almost gone, for which Brett was actually quite greatful for.

They decided to have a stroll at a big park nearby to have that maximum health benefit factor. Brett took deep breaths and enjoyed the sun. A light breeze was going, so it was not super hot and it was wonderful weather for being outside. They walked around, looked at all the kids running around on the playground and their mums trying to prevent them from killing each other. Then they made their way to a pond nearby, which was filled with koi fish and finally stepped into a forest like part of the park with big, old willows.
"That was a good idea", Eddy mused, his face carrying a relaxed expression.
"See? I'm the king of good ideas!", Brett exclaimed, feeling much better than inside already.
Eddy smiled at him. "Sure. You've always been."

After an hour or so, they went to get a nice ChichaSanchen bubble tea and sat down on a bench to enjoy their well deserved treats. Eddy took out his phone to quickly check their schedule for the remaining day.
"We have a dinner appointment at that hotpot place with some of our team", Eddy informed, his mouth full of bubble tea. Brett nodded. "Let's go after practice then?" Eddy agreed, so they made their way home to their violins, feeling lighthearted and relaxed.