Hugo looked at the receiver in his hand, feeling a bit at a loss. In truth, his memories of his family were indeed sparse; the scattered fragments were difficult to piece together into anything substantial, and today's call only confirmed that the relationship within the Lancaster family was terrible.He should have felt relieved, but for some reason, Hugo felt an emptiness in his heart."Hugo, Hugo!" Alex's voice called out beside his ear. Hugo finally snapped back to reality and looked over blankly. Alex couldn't help but repeat, "I'm asking, do you still need to use the phone?""Oh, no, I don't." Hugo handed the receiver to Alex, then looked around, finally walking toward the front door. He left the house and walked to the stairs between the third and fourth floors, where he sat down.In fact, Hugo had always felt like an unfilial child. Putting aside the effort his parents spent raising him, their opposition to him forming a Rock Band wasn't so much because they thought it was an unserious pursuit, but rather because they were worried about his ability to survive in the future. The facts bore this out; Glory to Death had been struggling at the very bottom of society for ten years.The dream of music sounded beautiful, but the cruelty of reality never showed any mercy.However, Hugo never regretted embarking on the path of music, because this was what he wanted to do. Even if it cost him ten years, this was youth—a youth of charging forward without looking back, getting battered and bruised, yet having no regrets. It was just a pity that in choosing his youth, he had hurt his parents.Now, it seemed like history was repeating itself. Hugo couldn't help but smile bitterly; no wonder he had transmigrated into the body of Lancaster—perhaps this was fate. Perhaps Lancaster had fallen out with his family over his dream of becoming an Actor, leading to a sharp deterioration in family relations and a severance of contact with both parents.But upon closer reflection, that didn't seem right. Lancaster might have run away from home, but from Adam's words just now, it was clear that he still had intermittent contact with Adam. Instead, it was his mother, Lena, who was a taboo subject at home.So, did that mean Lena and Adam had divorced—which was not at all unusual in the United States—and that the reason for the divorce was so terrible that it might have even hurt Lancaster, thus causing the tension in the family?Hugo rubbed his head. He really had no clue about the situation with the Lancaster family. Even if he wanted to try to make some changes, he didn't know where to start.Hugo let out a long sigh. At that moment, he felt a bit lonely. The joy, anxiety, and struggle he had felt since transmigrating all turned into a deep sense of emptiness. He began to miss his bandmates from Glory to Death."Pa, pa..." Footsteps came from behind. Hugo suddenly looked up and saw Joseph's hesitant steps. When their eyes met, Joseph awkwardly pulled at the corner of his mouth and turned to leave, but after a moment of hesitation, he walked down the stairs and sat next to Hugo."So, what's wrong?" Joseph asked, but his tone was very heavy, and he seemed somewhat distracted.Hugo glanced at Joseph. Joseph wasn't doing much better; the lingering conflict between his brows made it immediately obvious that he had something on his mind. "I called my dad, and in the end, he just hung up on me."Although Hugo didn't say much, that single sentence was enough to paint a picture of how poorly the conversation had gone, which made Joseph let out a dry laugh. "Not surprising."Having had no communication for a year, even close family relationships would become distant, so it was hard to imagine that a single phone call at this point would yield much success.In fact, Joseph also knew that the relationship in Hugo's family wasn't good, but he had previously only watched as a bystander and had no intention of interfering—of course, he still had no intention of interfering now. He had suggested that Hugo call home for Thanksgiving simply from a friend's perspective, thinking that continuing the standoff wasn't a good idea. However, it now appeared that even after talking, there hadn't been much improvement."Then what about Thanksgiving?" Joseph continued to ask."I will define Thanksgiving as a holiday for friends to express gratitude to each other," Hugo said solemnly. Since he couldn't spend it with his family, friends were the best choice. "Perhaps you are the one I need to thank the most. You wouldn't refuse my invitation, would you?"Joseph looked at Hugo's smiling face, but he couldn't bring himself to smile back. His mood was so heavy that he felt somewhat dejected. "Hugo..." Joseph began, but only called his name before stopping. Hugo was not in a hurry and just watched Joseph quietly. After a few seconds, Joseph said with difficulty, "I want to ask you for a favor.""Aside from taking nude photos, no problem." Hugo's offhand joke made the corner of Joseph's mouth twitch involuntarily.Joseph clearly had something on his mind, and it looked like it was a serious matter. He weighed his words before saying, "Can you lend me one million dollars?" As soon as the words left his mouth, before Hugo could react, Joseph quickly added, "I—I will pay you back as soon as possible. I'm serious. If the situation weren't so urgent this time...""Okay." Hugo interrupted Joseph and nodded in straightforward agreement. Not long ago, the first installment of his payment for a few good men—one million—had arrived, with the remaining payment to be received after the film's release.Joseph knew this better than anyone, but Hugo did not suspect that Joseph had been calculating to get this money from him. Because after spending a year together, Hugo knew Joseph was not that kind of person; he was willing to trust Joseph. Besides, if Joseph really had ulterior motives, it would be worth a million to see a friend's true colors.Hugo's decisiveness left Joseph speechless for a moment; he just stared at Hugo, dumbfounded. In truth, countless thoughts were surging within Joseph; a pile of words had accumulated on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't express them, so he could only stare blankly at Hugo.Hugo offered a smile. "Give me your bank account number, and I'll wire it to you. Or do you want cash?" Hugo had been in debt not long ago, so he had no qualification to write checks; he could only use bank accounts or cash.Joseph finally reacted, swallowing hard to find his voice in his dry throat. "I'll give you the account number in a bit." After saying that, Joseph took a deep breath to calm his racing heart, then continued to explain, "The thing is, there's an emergency at home, and I—I needed this money, but I didn't know who else to ask for help." Joseph realized his words were chaotic; he had explained for a while but hadn't made the situation clear at all. He could only take another deep breath and say helplessly, "Hugo, I will pay you back as soon as possible.""Joseph, I understand." Hugo didn't say any polite pleasantries but instead patted Joseph on the shoulder. Everyone encounters emergencies—no one wants them to happen—but when they really do, a friend's helping hand becomes especially important. "I just happen to have the ability to do this now; otherwise, I wouldn't have been so straightforward. Besides, this money isn't a gift; remember to pay me back. I was planning to use this money to buy a car."In fact, for Hugo, he hadn't checked his account since the one million came in, so he had no real sense of it. It sounded like just a string of numbers. Now that he had lent it to Joseph, he didn't feel it was such a large sum of money; he just thought it would be great if he could help a friend.Hugo's words didn't make Joseph relax much because he knew Hugo was just comforting him. However, Joseph didn't say anything more because he knew that any more expressions of gratitude would be superfluous at this moment. "I need to go back to Houston today. I hadn't planned on going back for Thanksgiving, but now..."Joseph didn't finish his sentence, but Hugo knew that this sudden emergency at home meant he had to return to Houston to handle it. Hugo nodded. "Have you bought your plane ticket?""I only just decided after getting the call." Joseph shook his head. "I've decided to drive back.""Are you crazy?" Hugo's exclamation of surprise escaped his lips. "That's 1,500 miles; it will take at least twenty-two hours." If it were a road trip, that would be a different story, but Joseph was rushing home because of an emergency; driving back alone would be very dangerous. "You should go to the airport and check. Today is only Tuesday; there should still be plenty of flights."Joseph didn't speak. Apparently, burdened with the debt of Hugo's one million, he found it hard to spend money lavishly on a plane ticket home. But Hugo noticed Joseph's hesitation. "Hey, buddy, compared to a million, a seven-hundred-dollar plane ticket is nothing. The interest would be more than that amount." Hugo's parting joke made Joseph pull the corner of his mouth.Thinking about it carefully, it was indeed the case. When you have too many debts, you stop worrying about the fleas. So, Joseph didn't hesitate any further; he got up and went back to his room to pack his luggage. Calling it packing was really just grabbing his wallet and a jacket. He then walked out quickly, looked at Hugo sitting on the steps, paused slightly, and walked down quickly. However, when he reached the third floor, he stopped again. He turned back and looked up. "Hugo.""What?""Aren't you afraid that I'll run away with the money?" Joseph knew that his behavior today was too abnormal.In fact, this was the first time in history that Joseph had ever mentioned his family affairs to Hugo, and the point was that he hadn't been prepared, so he hadn't really said anything, just vaguely pulling together some specious things that were not convincing at all. But Hugo hadn't pressed him about the purpose of the loan, nor had he asked him to write a guarantee or an IOU, nor had he even verified the interest or the like; he had just expressed his support for him like that. Joseph felt somewhat fearful.Hugo's chuckle drifted over. "That's your freedom." Without any explanation, without any clarification, and without any accusation, this light sentence made Joseph feel a weight as heavy as a thousand pounds.If someone were to ask Hugo how much a piece of trust was worth, Hugo would answer that at least one million dollars could not buy it.
