16 Sad song

"We are friends." Rachel said, introducing herself, "I'm Rachel."

"Just friends, right?" Noel asked. 

"Why?" Chris asked instead of answering, while Rachel turned to him with a raised brow, wondering what he was doing. 

"You are the rich girl from the metropolis, aren't you?" Rain cut in, looking at Rachel closely.

"Uh?" 

"Now that I think about it, you do have a similar accent. Did you know each other before here?" Rain asked curiously. 

Rachel was still flustered so she wasn't sure what to say. "We..." Rachel paused and turned to Chris, wondering just how much he wanted them to know. 

"We used to be classmates in middle school," Chris explained. 

That wasn't a lie. 

"Oh! That's cool. Meeting in a foreign place Did you know she was here before you came?" Henry asked curiously, and Chris shook his head. 

"So it's fate, huh?" He asked with a mischievous smile that made Chris laugh. 

"No, it's not." 

"The blue is nice." Rain suddenly said with her intense gaze on Chris, confusing him. 

"What?" 

"Your eyes."

"Oh... thanks." He said this casually before picking up one of the bottles of beer to pour himself a glass.

The conversation between them flowed until Sky's band performance took their attention away. They were made up of five guys, each handling a musical instrument except the lead singer, who was standing in the middle of the stage and holding on to the mic stand. The boys were all wearing the same grey jacket that Henry had come to fetch for Sky, with a badge that says "SME."

Thankfully, it wasn't noisy rock music like Chris had assumed. It was a rather harmonious love song that Chris had never heard before. 

"Sky wrote that." Rain said with her eyes on the stage.

"What?" Rachel and Chris asked at the same time. 

"One of his many talents." Henry chipped in proudly.

"Wow!" Rachel breathed as she looked at him with new-found admiration. 

Chris, on the other hand, was beginning to get annoyed. Why was Sky just everywhere doing everything?

"Does he have a girlfriend?" Chris asked Rain, almost making Rachel jump in her seat from the unexpected question. Not that it concerned her.

Rain just continued to give him the intense stare before leaning closer across the table and asking, "Why are you curious?"

"Just because," Chris said with a carefree shrug as he drank his beer.

Rain withdrew herself from the table and shrugged as she said, "I don't know. That is his life. Maybe you should ask his buddies." She pointed at Noel and Henry, who simply gave him the "I have no idea" look.

Chris frowned as he pondered this. At first, he didn't think too much of it whenever he didn't get an answer to that particular question, but now he was getting very curious. Why were they hiding it? It was a simple yes-or-no question, so why weren't they saying? It was impossible that none of them knew the answer to that. 

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Rain asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. 

"No?" He answered, confused.

"Okay." She spoke with a straight face while Noel winked at him.

Chris turned to the stage and focused on the band that was doing a different song now. This one was about a boy who has had a one-sided love for his neighbour since they were kids and never confessed his feelings to the girl until he was on his deathbed at 80 and she was beside him with her grandkids while he was all alone. 

Chris took the opportunity to take out his phone and make a video like many of the others there, but in reality, his camera was solely facing Sky. He was making the video to send to Wilson. 

"The song is titled "Brave for Death." Sky's voice filtered through the mic to the entire room.

"I'm not sure if that makes sense. But that was what came to my mind when I finished writing the song. He said it with a peal of awkward, adorable laughter that had the entire room clapping, swooning and cheering.

Sky smiled at the room before signalling to the lead singer to take over while he went to pick up the idle electric guitar beside them, leaving the drums. 

'Now, he can play different instruments!' Chris thought in annoyance as he listened to the song. He could swear that this was the saddest song he had ever heard in his entire life. For some reason, he could resonate with it. 

He stopped making the video and dipped his hands inside the pockets of his cardigan, his mood completely gloomy. 

He looked up, blinking to get his emotions under control. And he seemed to not be the only one with that reaction because a few people in the room were even shedding tears. 

One-sided love. It was crazy.

He tried to look unaffected as he looked at the stage and locked eyes with Sky. The eye contact lasted only briefly before Sky's eyes went back to the guitar, strumming melodiously along with the song.

As soon as the song ended, the room clapped loudly, and some even stood up for the band, who bowed at them, smiling. 

Sky shook hands and gave shoulder bumps to the other members of the band as they left the podium one by one while he found his way to their table, greeting customers and "fans" with a polite smile on his face. 

"I am so exhausted!" Sky said as he sat down on the last empty seat, which was in between his sister and Noel.

"When did you write that song? It's crazy, man. Almost made me shed tears." Henry said as he cleaned off nonexistent tears dramatically, earning a slap on the shoulder from Sky. 

"Quit exaggerating." He said this before his eyes went to Rachel. 

"HI!" Rachel greeted him nervously with a hand up, as though she was waving.

"Hi?" He greeted her back almost hesitantly, making her feel a bit awkward, but then she quickly added. 

"That was a wonderful performance."

"Thank you. You are...?" He asked as he looked between Rachel and Chris for a proper introduction.

"Rachel. "I'm Chris's friend." She answered.