Chapter 69

The day before they left for Brazil and the day after they finished assembling the bike, Richard accompanied Maine to her doctor for her steroid shots. He told her that day that he wouldn't be able to join them in sight-seeing.

"Please stay with Martin and the others when you go sight-seeing in Sao Paulo," he said as they waited for Maine's turn with the doctor. "I won't be able to join you guys."

"Why?" There was a frown on Maine's face as she asked. She was used to Richard being her personal tour guide and was sad at the thought that he wouldn't be with her.

"It's like Milan," he smiled shyly as he explained. "I usually join a group of street musicians whenever I'm in Sao Paulo. I usually join a local named Felipe when I'm there."

"I remember you mentioning that before," she nodded in understanding. "But you said I could watch you play when we're there."

"You will," he assured her. "I'll text you the time and place when I find out. Felipe doesn't play in one location. He usually moves around depending on the day or if there is an occasion in the place. The last time, we played near Interlagos. It was a Sunday and we got there in time for the Formula One race. I actually got to see the race on a small hill. It was amazing. Then there was usually a party after the race and Felipe wowed the crowd with his music. He was also drunk that day too."

And so it was that the whole flight team, minus their captain, were in the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil headed by their Head FA, Martin. They were going around, doing the usual tourist route. At that moment, they were heading to the Museo do Futebol. Maine was with them trying to enjoy the company of her team despite Richard not being there. She missed his presence and although she was in awe of the places they went, she was only half paying attention to Martin as he told them bits of trivia about the landmarks and the local sights that they have visited.

"You seemed distracted, Maine," Raqz asked when they were inside the museum. "Missing the captain already?"

Maine smiled and answered shyly, "is it that obvious?"

Raqz gave a short laugh before replying, "it is! It's hard to be far from your boyfriend especially early on in a relationship. I remember when my husband and I started. It was hard to go on flights. I didn't want to leave him."

"Oh," replied Maine. "The Captain is not my boyfriend. I haven't said yes yet."

"Why not, Maine?" Valeen piped in from behind them. "What else does he need to do to prove himself to you?"

"I just need to get to know him more," she said. "The Captain has a lot of layers."

"Maine," said Raqz. "If you want to peel all the layers off the Captain, you'll never say yes to him. Everybody has layers. I myself don't know all there is to know about my husband, and we've been married for five years now. But discovering it is part of the relationship."

"I don't know everything about Valeen too," said Jerald. "But the fun part in our relationship is discovering something new about your partner and if you don't like it, find a compromise to make the relationship work."

"Jerald here isn't the perfect boyfriend," Valeen added as she gave Jerald's arm a playful squeeze. "But I focus on his sweetness and his faithfulness to me. Sure, we fight over trivial stuff sometimes but we never let it get too far."

Maine looked at her team as she thought about what they said. She smiled timidly and nodded.

"Maine," said Jerald as he reached out and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "The Captain's a good man. One of the most decent men I know. And this is the only time I've seen him act this way around a girl. He's head over heels in love with you. It's actually funny to watch. But I can vouch for him that he would never hurt you intentionally and he would do everything he can to make sure that you're safe and loved."

"You can spend all the time getting to know Captain Jase, Maine," Raqz said with a smile. "But it's your heart that's going to have a final say. What does your heart tell you about the Captain that I'm sure you already know? It's right there, Maine. You don't need to look far."

Maine recalled the dream she had about Alden. He said something to her that has a similar effect.

"Maine, this heart. Our heart. Our heart will take you to that person. So trust the heart, Maine. Trust our heart. It would never lie to you."

'Is it really that simple?' She thought as her heart thumped in her chest. The happy beat she usually relate to Richard whenever he was around.

She smiled at her companions as she thanked them for their advice. She will listen to her heart. She will listen to Alden's heart. It had never lied to her before, she was sure that it will not lie to her now. It was very clear now what her heart was telling her. There was only one name it was shouting out to her. Their heart has only one name etched inside. And it was her RJ.

-oo-

"What's that you're playing, Jason?" Felipe asked when he approached him.

Richard found Felipe and his group that morning and he was immediately provided with a guitar and they delved into practicing the songs that they will perform that evening. He enjoyed these moments of oneness with the other musicians, that regardless of history and culture, they come together as one.

They were on break and Richard brought out his notebook and started to play a song that he had recently composed. He looked up at Felipe and smiled shyly.

"Sorry," he replied as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I was just fine tuning this song I wrote."

"It has a nice tune," Felipe admitted. "I didn't know you write songs as much as you played them. Can you play the full song for me? Maybe I could help with fine tuning it."

Richard started playing as Felipe listened to the music. His eyes were closed as he listened carefully to the tune that Richard was playing. His head bobbing to the beat and there was a smile that slowly formed on his face as Richard continued to play. When the song ended, Felipe clapped his hands. The rest of his band mates followed suit as they were also listening to the song.

"You don't need to change anything, Jason," Felipe stated. "Your song is ready. As a matter of fact, why don't you play it later? I'll give you lead. That will be our final song later."

"Are you serious?" Richard exclaimed in shock as Felipe smiled at him. Felipe never gives lead to anyone, that's why Richard never played any of his original songs in Sao Paulo.

"You know I never joke when it comes to music, Jason," Felipe replied, the smile still shown across his face. "Will she be there later? The girl, you wrote the song for?"

"Well, yes," he replied. He started rubbing his ear that he knew for sure was red from embarrassment. "She wanted to hear me play. I texted her the time and place where we will be performing later."

"We need to practice your song then," Felipe declared. "Your amada should have the best performance we can give for tonight!"

"Obrigado, Felipe!" Richard said.

Felipe just nodded and turned to his bandmates yelling, "Rapazes! Let's give Jason's amada a show she will never forget!"