"Sure," Mavi replied. With a beautiful woman about to sing for him, especially in the privacy of her own room, there was no reason to say no.
He sat on the edge of the bed with great interest, ready to listen to Hathaway perform a couple of songs.
Just then, Mavi noticed a familiar name on the tag of a plush teddy bear on the bedside table. He casually picked up the stuffed animal and took a closer look.
His action didn't go unnoticed. Hathaway, seeing what he was doing, instantly reacted like a startled kitten. She rushed over, trying to snatch the teddy bear from his hands.
"No, you can't!" Hathaway said in a soft, flustered voice.
But Mavi was quick, and with a simple turn of his wrist, he evaded her grasp. He squinted and saw his screen name, "Ma Li Ma Li Hong," written on the tag. No wonder she was so embarrassed and tried to stop him—she was afraid he would find out about her secret, girlish feelings.
"Care to explain? So you hug this teddy bear, with my username on it, to sleep every night?" Mavi asked, poking fun at her. His question made Hathaway blush and bite her lip. She had no idea how to answer.
Actually, it wasn't just this one teddy bear. Several other toys on her bed also had "Ma Li Ma Li Hong" written on them, but the tags were hidden well, and Mavi hadn't seen them yet.
"I don't hug it to sleep, it just sits there..." Hathaway explained in a shy, delicate voice. She looked so adorably "girly" at that moment.
She was completely different from her previous image as Catwoman in "Batman." It just goes to show how much a person's personality can change with their surroundings and over time.
"Oh, really? Then this... curly hair on the teddy bear must have gotten there by accident, right?" Mavi said, picking up a curled black "hair" from the plush toy. The way it was curled made him chuckle; it was clearly the result of her habit of clamping the doll between her legs while sleeping, leaving the damning evidence behind.
"Ah..." A red-faced Hathaway quickly snatched the hair from his hand. This was so embarrassing!
Mavi just smiled and shook his head. Luckily, he had found this piece of evidence in time, or he wouldn't have been able to get to the bottom of things.
Seeing Hathaway bite her lip, speechless and blushing as if she had been drinking, Mavi decided to let her off the hook. He changed the subject. "What are you standing there for? Weren't you going to sing?"
"Oh, right, I haven't sung yet..." Hathaway quickly went back to her computer desk to pick a song for Mavi. Her embarrassment had made her break out in a light sweat. If he hadn't let it go, her chiffon blouse might have become see-through.
Once she had composed herself, Hathaway chose the song "Pretty Boy" by M2M and began to sing into the microphone.
The song had a dreamy, sweet style and melody that had enchanted many young men and women in the year 2000. It was also very popular in China, and eventually, M2M even recorded a Chinese version to thank their fans.
Hathaway's beautiful voice entered Mavi's ears, filling him with a sense of nostalgia. For people today, this was a relatively new song, released just two years ago. But for Mavi, a reborn man, it was a classic from twenty years in the past.
He was a student back then and first heard this English song at a classmate's house. But since he didn't have much money for a Walkman or an MP3 player, he couldn't get a copy. So whenever he wanted to listen, he would borrow it from his classmate, and they would both listen together, one earbud each, for a long time.
Life back then was so slow-paced, and Mavi suddenly felt a wave of fondness for that time.
When the song ended, Hathaway glanced at Mavi and saw that he seemed to be lost in thought. She didn't interrupt and quietly waited for him to finish reflecting.
"Was my singing bad?" Hathaway asked after a moment.
"No, it was great. It just reminded me of some things," Mavi said with a smile.
"Oh, were they good memories?" Hathaway asked curiously.
"Do you want to know?" Mavi countered with a question of his own.
"Yes!" Hathaway nodded earnestly. She really wanted to get to know him.
"Come here and I'll tell you," Mavi said, beckoning her with his finger.
Hathaway didn't think twice and stood up, walking toward him.
Her fair, long legs were perfectly showcased in front of him. Her delicate arms were relaxed at her sides. Her stunning face and bright eyes looked down at Mavi, creating a feeling of ethereal, breathtaking beauty.
"Okay, I'm here. Tell me," Hathaway said, looking down at Mavi. The man in front of her was the dream guy for so many women.
"Okay, I'll tell you," Mavi said, standing up. He slowly leaned in and whispered in her ear, "They were pretty good memories."
Hathaway blinked twice, looking at Mavi with her lips slightly parted. Her eyes seemed to be asking, "That's it?"
"Nice memories, and then what?" she asked softly.
"And then, what do you want to know?" Mavi asked with a half-smile. He knew exactly what she was curious about—something to do with romance.
Hathaway thought for a moment, then honestly asked, "Well... I want to know if... that memory was with a guy or a girl?"
"It was with... a man," Mavi answered, drawing out his words. He was telling the truth; he had listened to the song with his best friend during his student days.
But as soon as he said it, a look of pure shock spread across Hathaway's face. Her mind went completely blank.
"A... a man?"
"You... you're a..." Hathaway's first thought was that Mavi was gay.