Instant Noodles:

Chapter 7 - The Guitarist

"Like, take a chill pill, man. Maria's gonna come for sure. Stop worrying already!" Feliks amusedly watched his friend pace back and forth the room. "Seriously, dude, you look like you're expecting your first child."

Karun stopped in his tracks and sighed. "I suppose you're right. Yao did say she had a habit of coming late most of the time. "Filipino time", as they say."

"Hmm... Like, don't Jaya and Malik come pretty late too? So... Is it like some sort of Malaysian and Indonesian thing as well?"

Karun ran a hand through his hair and looked at the blond thoughtfully. "Probably. They have "Indonesian time" and "Malaysian time" in their places too."

"LOL." The Pole couldn't help but laugh heartily. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something else, a familiar "ding" was heard by the duo.

"Speak of the devil, that's probably Maria getting off from the elevator," said Feliks.

Karun briskly walked out of the dressing room and into the storage room to pick up their new substitute guitarist. As he was leaving, the Indian man made a quick mental note to give the girl a thirty minute allowance next time he called for her work.

Though she was fifteen minutes late, they were lucky that the band still hadn't returned from a photo shoot they went to earlier that morning. They still had enough time for Maria to "transform" into a boy. Karun would make sure they'd stick to their schedule despite any possible delay. He was their manager after all.


The room Maria was waiting in had thick white walls and double doors (as in a door outside a door). Various instruments and sound equipment cluttered the small room. The girl knew from experience that this was most likely a practice room for the band.

As embarrassing as it was, the Filipino had come in fifteen minutes late. Definitely not the kind of impression she wanted to give her new boss on her first day, even if she did have a bad habit being tardy for everything.

She had just come from work in the Huang Ti Mian restaurant and it was her turn mop the floor that day. Maria had been so focused on keeping the floor spotless that she lost track of time and came running to the building late. She ended up apologizing a lot for that.

"I'm... so... sorry..." the girl had said in between pants.

"It's alright, just be sure to come on time next time," said the manager with his eyes on his wristwatch.

He quickly dragged her to the dressing room where she "transformed" into a guy. Feliks managed to get everything, meaning the hair, clothes, and makeup, done in a record-breaking five minutes, leaving them with just enough time before the boys came. Karun then brought her to the white walled room, where she was told to wait until further instruction.

Which was where she was right now.

Maria fidgeted in her seat. I was never really good at keeping still, she thought.

The Filipina sighed and began to look around the room. She noticed the beautiful white guitar she had used the day before on a stand beside a drum set. Another guitar, wine red in color, was neatly placed just next to the white one. The room also contained a keyboard, some microphones, and whole lot of musical equipment and stands.

Slightly annoyed that the stool she was told to sit in didn't have a back, Maria leaned against the wall. Surprising, the wall wasn't as hard as she expected it to be since it was pretty thick and was softer than the average wall.

This room must be soundproof, she thought. After all, it didn't take a genius to put two and two together and understand that the thick walls were meant to keep the noise of the instruments in.

I'm so bored… The Filipina couldn't help but yawn. Ugh, maybe I'll just go to the comfort room and wash my face first.


After her trip to the restroom, Feliks spotted Maria walking around the corridor. He easily noticed the makeup washed from her face and asked, "What happened to the make up?"

"Makeup..?" And then it her. During her "transformation" into a boy, Feliks had applied it on her face to conceal some of her feminine features, but she completely forgot about that and washed away most of it.

"Umm… I washed it off…." Maria looked at the Pole sheepishly.

"Ugh… Like, be more careful next time!" Feliks quickly brought her to the dressing room and quickly began re-applying the makeup again. As soon as he finished, he walked her back to the practice room she had been waiting in.

"Seriously, I worked hard to make you look all guy-ish! Don't just wash it off like that!"

"Sorry." The girl apologized for the umpteenth time.

When the Filipina returned to the practice room, she was surprised to see one of band members sitting on her stool. It was Waen, the Thai guitarist she was standing in for.

The bespectacled musician had a contented smile on his face and was staring mindlessly at the ceiling. He looked so peaceful, as if he was meditating on the meaning of life or some out of this world topic. At closer inspection, he seemed a little older than her. Just about the same age as Ate Kim, Maria thought.

Maria was polite enough to leave him to his…meditation(?) for a few minutes, but she was starting to get tired of just standing around.

"Umm… Kuya Waen..?"

"Hello?"

"…" Still no reaction.

The Filipina moved closer and waved her hand in front of him, trying to get his attention.

"Hellooo?"

"Ana~?"

Startled, Maria reflexively pulled her hand back and took a step back.

"Oh, it's you, Manuel. Don't you think the atmosphere is lovely today, ana~?" said Waen, finally taking notice of the surprised girl in front of him.

Atmosphere? The Filipina raised an eyebrow. "Uhh… Yeah, I think so."

The Thai guy just continued smiling at her.

"…"

Diyos (God), does he ever stop smiling? Maria was seriously starting to get freaked out.

"Umm… Kuya Waen-"

"Kuya?" The bespectacled guy asked, curiously.

"It's umm… the Filipino equivalent of big brother in English or da ge or ge ge in Chinese. I usually say it as a sign of respect to someone older than me," Maria explained.

"Oh, I understand now, ana~ Thank you for explaining."

"Anyway, Kuya Waen, why exactly are you here?"

"Right… Manager asked me to help teach you a bit of our songs, ana~" With that, Waen pulled out a wad of musical scores and handed them to her.

"You can read them, right?" The Thai looked at her expectantly.

"I can… but would it be alright if I listened to your songs instead? I learn better by listening."

"You learn by ear, ana~?" Even with his glasses, Maria could see his eyes grow bigger a bit in surprise.

"Yeah… Is that a bad thing..?" asked the girl nervously.

"No, it's not, ana~ It's just a little rare." Waen smile seemed to grow even wider. "Wait here. I'll just go get my CD and some headphones."


When Waen came back, he handed her his CD player, an instrumental version of their CD, and some headphones.

"Aww~ That's so cute!"

"Huh… What is, ana?" The Thai man looked at the Filipino surprisedly.

"That." Maria pointed to his blue elephant patterned CD case. "Do you like elephants a lot?"

"Ana~" Waen smiled at her again. "I do. They're adorable, right? My family has one back home in Thailand, ana~ His name is Toto."

"That's-" Maria stopped herself. The thought just registered in her head that he said he had a pet elephant back in Thailand. Was that even legal?

"Umm… Is it normal to have elephants as pets in Thailand…?"

"Oh, no." The Thai guitarist laughed. "My family partly owns a zoo, because of our donations, ana~"

"Oh, that makes sense!" The Filipina laughed along with him. Now that she thought of it, having a pet elephant would be tough… Just imagine where it would sleep, eat, and all that space! No wonder no one had any pet elephants in the city.

"Here." Waen brought out his cellphone and handed it to her. "That's Toto on my wallpaper, ana~"

Maria peered into his cellphone and, sure enough, there was a picture of a baby elephant on the wallpaper. "Awwwwww~"

"But that picture was taken, when he was a baby, ana~ He's grown a lot bigger since I last visited, ana~"

"Still, elephants are cute even when they grow bigger." Maria handed him back his cellphone.

"True, true, ana~"


"Okay, that's enough for today, ana~"

"Already?"

"Yeah. At first, I honestly thought we'd only be able to finish three songs at most today. Five songs are more than enough, ana~"

After she had returned his phone, Maria immediately focused on the work at hand and began listening to the music, paying extra attention to the guitar pieces.

Listening to half of the CD, Maria had to admit they were pretty good. Each of the songs had a great and unique melody that was easy to like. She almost said she loved them all… until she remembered a certain drummer was their main composer and lyricist. The Filipina frowned at the thought.

The first song she learned was a breeze. She got it down after a few tries. The second and third were pretty fast so she had a hard time at first and ended up ad-libbing some of the parts. Even so, Waen was a good teacher and managed to guide her to the right notes. Eventually, she perfected them after a number of tries. The fourth and fifth, luckily, didn't give her much trouble either. Overall, Maria could say she did well.

"Manuel, here." Waen handed her the CD. "You can listen to this at home. You did a pretty good job today, ana~" The Thai guy patted her on the head.

Maria smiled. "Thank you for your help today, Kuya Waen. I don't think I could've mastered that second song if you weren't here."

"No problem, ana~"

The two ended up exchanging numbers and talking about elephants until Karun stopped by in order to drive Maria back to the restaurant.


When Karun came back from driving Maria to the restaurant, he was immediately greeted by Waen handing him chopsticks and a bowl of pad thai.

"Ah, thank you, Waen." The manager gladly accepted the bowl and the chopsticks and sat down to eat. Waen's pad thai always tasted great and was spicy enough for his tastes.

"So… How was Manuel today?"

"Manuel is a very fast learner, ana~ Manuel didn't have many problems with the pieces and was a very nice girl, too, ana~"

"Tha-" Karun almost choked on his noodles. Did he just say "girl"?

"About that, Manager…" Though he was still smiling, anyone who knew the Thai man well could say that the look on his face was a serious one. "Why did you hide the fact Manuel's a girl from us, ana~?"


AN: Wow... how long has it been since I last updated this story..? Almost a year, I think orz... I'm really sorry to all who've been waiting for this to update. I know I really don't like people who give excuses, but, honestly, a lot has happened to me this year. Getting a C for the first time, Prom, and, most importantly, my mom passing away to name the major ones. RL has been tough and writing has been the last thing on my mind. Well, thank you for everyone who continued to read my story, despite the lack of updates. I'm very grateful.

Yeah... I'll probably kick myself later for revealing it to soon. But, despite his seemingly flighty personality, Waen's an observant guy and it seemed OOC if he didn't notice... Call it instinct, I guess.

Thanks for reading! - solitarycloud X3