Imperfect Desires

*SMACK!*

"Aiya! Will you stop hitting me?" Dylan was rubbing the back of his head which had been hit repeatedly in the past hour. 

"What else am I supposed to do? This is the millionth time I told you everything and yet, you are not getting anything right!" Xiu was exasperated. When Darren warned her about Dylan being a musical fool, she really didn't think he was hopeless! Rubbing her forehead, she sighed, "I'm gonna repeat again. Listen and remember!"

Dylan nodded his head and gave her complete attention. 

She lifted both her hands and wiggled her fingers as she said, "Our fingers have names, no let's just call it numbers. For instance, Our thumb is..."

"One," said Dylan instantly and proudly. Xiu wanted to smack his head again for being so proud of getting it right after an hour. "I got this part. Thumbs are one, pointer fingers are two, middle fingers are three, ring fingers are four and my pinkie is five." He showed her his ten fingers as he counted and giggled, "See? I got it right."

Xiu was amazed at his excitement. But she couldn't do anything about it as she sighed out, "Moving on, we have seven notes. But on this grand piano, we have 88 keys. So, how do the seven notes fit?"

"By repeating," answered Dylan excitedly again. His enthusiasm wasn't dampened even after getting insulted repeatedly. Xiu had to give him that. He was really sincere about learning the piano but then why was he getting it wrong? Xiu vaguely felt like he was distracted but she didn't know why.

"Yes, the seven notes fit by repeating. Now, what are the notes? Because each key has a note associated with it. Our notes are, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. We have this clear now or not?" asked Xiu again and Dylan nodded his head vigorously. 

"Got it, Shifu! I'll engrave it on my heart this time," he promised.

"It'd be good if you do that," replied Xiu helplessly. "Next, on the very bottom of this 88 keyboard, we have the white key for note A." She pressed the key before continuing, "Just like that, we keep going left to right with A, B, C, D, E, F, and G." Each note produced a distinct sound. "Remember, in piano, we go left to right. Just like reading English we go left to right."

"Left to right. Left to right. Okay!" He gave her an OK sign again and urged her to continue.

"Now, our bottom note was A but here our very top note is a C."

"How do you know that? Did you count it?"

Xiu rolled her eyes at him, "No, silly. I know it because of the black keys. If you notice, you can see that black keys on this board are in the set of either two or three. That's how I know which note is where on this big keyboard."

"Wow, it's fascinating," mumbled Dylan as he also noticed the black and white keys. "Oh, by the way, I found the sheet music for what I want to play."

"First learn the basics, you dumbass! We can't jump to sheet music right away. You need to learn the finger placement and the notes before we move on to anything else! How else will you read the sheet music?"

"How long will it take?" 

"If you focus, we'll get to the goal soon enough."

Dylan had a determined look on his face as he said, "I promise. I'll focus with all my heart." His phone rang and he jumped over to take the call, "Hi, Cali! Am I dreaming? Or are you really calling me yourself?"

Before Cali could say anything, she heard Xiu's voice from Dylan's side.

"I thought you're gonna focus with all your heart!"

Dylan looked at Xiu sheepishly as he said, "But she controls the heartstrings. How am I supposed to focus when she's pulling the strings?"

Cali choked on her juice while Xiu was left gaping at him in disbelief. With a round of applaud, she said, "Bro, I finally know why you're Regan's best friend."

Dylan gave her a toothy grin before turning back to his phone, "Cali? You there? Why aren't you saying anything?"

"I'm here," replied Cali after taking a moment to calm down. That attack of his words was way too sudden.

"Great! Then say something, I'd like to hear your voice now." He walked to a corner and lowered his voice to a whisper as he went on, "Hearing the fierce voice of my sister-in-law is giving me a headache!"

Cali chuckled while Xiu's voice came, "I heard that Mr. Tattletale!" Dylan stuck his tongue out at her. He really couldn't tell how her ears were so sensitive? How did she hear him? In all honesty, Xiu heard nothing. She just knew Dylan way to well so she knew he must have said something about her. "If you're this ungrateful, I'm not helping anymore."

"Oh, wait! Don't go!" Dylan stopped her instantly. "I was kidding. I promise I won't do it again."

"What are you both up to exactly?" asked Cali curiously and Dylan looked at the phone which somehow turned to speakerphone. It must have happened when he rushed over to stop Xiu. 

"Should I tell her?" asked Xiu while wiggling her brows at Dylan who shook his head. Xiu shook her head at his reaction as she replied, "Nothing special. He needed help with some stuff so I came over for that."

"Oh... So, you're both busy?" 

"Why? What's up?" questioned Xiu.

"Actually, I was thinking we can go out to play. I have never been to those arcades. So, I really wanted to go there."

"I'll take you. I'll be right there," said Dylan without even thinking. 

"Xiu, would you like to join?" 

Dylan looked at Xiu and shook his head. "Why does she have to join us?"

Xiu patted his cheek as she said, "I wasn't gonna be the big bad bulb between you two but you just said the wrong words. Now, I'm definitely going!"

Dylan's shoulders slumped down. "Sister-in-law, can't you see your brother-in-law happy for once?"

"I want you to be very happy, Dylan but I also want you to know how it feels to have a third wheel between you and your loved one."

Dylan knew she was doing it for revenge now. If at first, it was because of his words, now it was revenge! 

"I'm not taking you with me," he said firmly.

Xiu shrugged her shoulders, "Suit yourself. Cali, I'll pick you up in a while. You definitely would enjoy the girls' date more."

"Okay!" Cali also agreed without hesitation because she also just needed a reason to get close to Xiu. Meanwhile, Dylan was feeling like he was being left out.

He had to stomp on his own pride as he said, "Wait for me. I'm gonna change clothes." Saying that he passed the phone to Xiu and went upstairs.