Grain in ear

"Baibai, honey. Before you move back I need something from you," his mother came running to his room when Huobai was already packing his things. 

He turned around and saw that his mother was in her full public attire, high heels and everything perfectly done from hair to toes. He raised his eyebrows and wanted for her to start talking.

"There was a slight accident on the nearby photoshoot. I need you to come as a stand-in!" she exclaimed, and grabbed his hand and dragged him down the stairs. And he let her. Unwillingly. 

"I think we agreed that I will never be in public. And especially modeling with you," he calmly said, hoping she wouldn't forget her promise to him. 

"This is really urgent and you aren't a child anymore. You can take some pictures." Huobai was forcefully thrown in the car and almost sat on, if he hadn't moved.

"It's just a few photos. You will be done in an hour or so…" Huobai looked at her, shocked.

"An hour or so?" he repeated, totally stunned. He had to be back in the flat soon. He already took two weeks off. He had no time to spare. 

"Yeah, if you are good. I hope you are photogenic," she mumbled, hoping Huobai wouldn't hear it. But he didn't, and he was tempted to jump out of the moving car, just to escape his torturing future. 

They soon arrived. It was really close, the park where they stopped. There were already some people redictering the pedestrians and apologizing for taking up the park.

"You have the entire park?" Huobai asked, stunned, as soon as he saw it.

"No. What are you thinking. It's only a part for the photoshoot. I could be mobbed by the people, so it's for my safety," she said and opened the door. Huobai was tempted to run away, but he didn't want his mother to lose her face. 

What actually surprised him was that some people really walked to her and wanted an autograph. Huobai looked around for something to cover his face with. 

And he found a cap and sunglasses in the car. His mother probably left them there, so he took it and put it on. It actually covered his face, only his lower part was seeable. 

He walked towards the helpers when they stopped him.

"I'm sorry, sir. This place is unavailable for people today." Huobai smirked, hoping that he could turn around and go home because they didn't let him in. But god, how wrong he was.

"He is with me, let him in." His mother walked towards them and helped him to get through. Huobai frowned and walked with her a few metres, before they got to a nice flower part surrounded by trees. It actually looked a lot like a forest or a meadow.

SHe pushed him into the white tent on the site and sat him in the chair and sat on the one next to him. 

"You will get makeup and everything done," she said and talked to the artists there. Huobai wasn't a fan of makeup. He knew how to do something, but he always looked good and liked his face, so he had no need to enhance his face. 

But now, when he saw himself with the wig that was put on his head, despite his glaring. And the makeup he had one. He looked even better. Almost ethereal. 

"Yes, you definitely take after me…" his mother nodded, satisfied when she saw his reflection. Huobai was still confused as to why he was being dragged into this. And the historical costume he had on didn't help at all. 

"Light blue is really fitting. Gosh, I hope you won't be wooden in front of the camera." Huobai, who was now lip syncing the song that was playing, stopped and offended he looked at Song Fei. 

"I know you are using reverse psychology on me. And hell, it's working!" he exclaimed and fed up, he walked away from the tent. While his mother was laughing, following him right in his steps. 

"To the right," she shouted and Huobai noticed he went the wrong way. As usually. He promptly changed the way he was headed and ended up in front of a big crowd of people. 

He greeted them together with his mother, and for a brief moment, everything stopped. They all looked at him, their mouths open, and stopped doing whatever they were doing. And then started working again. 

"Song Fei, honey. I never knew your son is such a gorgeous person. Why were you hiding him away until now? Everyone thought he is ugly." The guy with a camera came up to them and managed to offend Huobai with one sentence. 

But that only helped Huobai to work even better. That he showed off how good he was. And he knew they manipulated him. For now, he let them. It wasn't anything important, and even though he never wanted to stand in front of the camera like his mother. He didn't want her to be sad or have problems, so he was partially willing. 

The photoshoot was easy, he just had to show off the fabric and be graceful in the flowers. And since he was a bit stiff in the beginning. So it wasn't as easy as he thought. It took him exactly two hours to finish the five costumes, and he was finally able to go home. 

There was only one thing, except the happiness of his mothers, that made him really happy today. He heard a perfect song. He loved the song that played in the background while shooting, so much that he asked for the name. 

The melody was a combination of ancient music and EDM. The girl's voice a bit higher than he could sing, but it still was a song that hit him hard. 

"Thank you for helping me. I will get you whatever you want. And of course you will get paid for it from the agency." His mother let him go, and Huobai nodded. 

He went upstairs, saying nothing. Thinking about how to tailor the song to his voice. He entered the room next to his bedroom. Few months ago, when he started voice acting, something that he really enjoyed, he asked his parents to help him with a place where he could record and train. So they made that provisional studio.

He played the song and made a few changes so it would fit his voice more. He found the instrumental version and tried singing it. 

To his surprise, it sounded really good.He was in a good mood, and knowing that he hadn't been that active in the voice acting circle recently, he decided to give a gift to everyone that followed him. 

He sang the song, recorded it many times, until he was finally satisfied with how it sounded. After that he posted it in 5sing and shared it everywhere on his social media.

Just to be sure how it sounded there, he hit play and listened to his own voice singing. 

"Whenever I think of you, resent in vain this long parting, let's bury the past and start anew…" He felt that he should do the same. He should start anew.