Fantasia

XIII

For probably the first time in the history of his professional adult life, Eddy had the strong urge to use his browser for something else than checking on the developments of various stocks on the world market in order to map out smart strategies for his high-paying clients. He glanced around like a kid before klicking on some R-rated content while his fingers holding the mouse actually quivered, making the cursor on his screen draw weird, blurry lines.

"This is stupid! This is so ridiculous!", Eddy mumbled under his breath and turned his head for the hundredth time this morning. And it wasn't even nine o'clock yet! Theo had gone off to the men's room or something, so there was a small window, where Eddy could erase the numbers on the search bar and replace them with nine letters and one space in between.
Despite this being a tiny issue, something that countless men and women were doing while sitting unwatched at their desks, the inner battle Eddy's moral on one side and his curiosity on the other were fighting was fierce. Why? Because it went against the whole "being a useful hard worker" kind of shit. And because this was not blending into the mass (even though, ironically, probably everyone was doing it). If Eddy's colleagues would find out, or worse, his boss...! That would be everything else than "blending in" and not seeking attention. He'd be called out in front of everyone and his intorverted ass couldn't have that.

But maybe, it was worth taking the risk just this once? Of course, he could just leave this task for future Eddy to handle when he'd be at home after work. But Eddy was just too damn impatient and curious and if he'd find some way to get in touch with him, he'd want to do it as soon as possible. And if the other was still living in Down Under, there were also the different time zones Eddy had to consider.
"Argh, fuck it!", Eddy cursed quietly, cleared the search bar and typed in that one name that hadn't let go of him since he'd dreamt of him:

Brett Yang.

Another stupid half a second of wavering wether or not to press that enter button and then, Eddy went for it.
The first few results were from some guy, who was definitely NOT the Brett Yang Eddy was looking for. He had a PhD in mathematics and was close to winning a nobel prize. Eddy clearly remembered how he had had to help Brett filling in the equations and drawing the right graphs with the right formula and all that stuff Huang Laoshi had been trying to shed light on. There was no way Brett had made such a leap that he'd be the perfect Asian son math-wise all of a sudden. There was also no way the Brett he knew was in his fourties.
Eddy scrolled further, not without throwing a glance over his shoulders from time to time. There were a few pictures from random dudes with apparently the same name, some inauspicious LinkedIn accounts and a website of a doctor. Eddy gradually lost hope, until his eyes caught something familiar.

The section of the Queensland Conservatorium on the Griffith University homepage.

Eddy could slap himself. Every half decent detective would have started his search where the last known trail ended and for Eddy, that would have been the Queensland Conservatorium, where Brett had gone to study music. Violin performance, to be precise. He quickly klicked on the link and opened a list of alumnis from 2013, a year prior to when Eddy himself had graduated, since Brett was a year older. Having a surname starting with the letter "Y", Brett's name was one of the last.

Eddy stared at it for a few seconds. There he was. Brett. And he had really made it, had passed university, even as an Honours graduate. Eddy suddenly felt a sense of pride wash over him and couldn't help but smile.
"You really did it, huh", he whispered while he let the cursor hover above Brett's name. Soon enough, a frown appeared on Eddy's forehead though. Except the list itself, there was no more information given on where those alumnis went to or which path they had chosen for their careers. It made sense on a second thought, since that would probably violate some privacy regulations or something.

Okay. Now Eddy knew Brett really had graduated from the consevatory. He'd most likely gone for a job as a musician, right? At least that's what Brett had told Eddy he would do, if becoming a soloist wouldn't work out. And since Eddy hadn't found any articles, pictures or a website of a soloist Brett, Eddy deemed his first guess to be more probable.

From the corner of his eyes Eddy noticed Theo returning. He hurried and closed the browser before he received a friendly nod from his co-worker. Maybe there would be another opportunity later, Eddy thought to himself with a what he hoped not too suspicious sigh. He moved his shoulders, tried to relax a bit and launched himself into the proposals he was actually supposed to be working on.