A.N. Sussudio didn't mean anything till Phil gave it a meaning. 😂 The background story of Sussudio will come at the end of this chapter.

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~Ah, I've just got to have her, have her now,
I've got to get closer but I don't know how;
She makes me nervous and makes me scared,
I feel so good if I just say the word...~

Michael | 20/01/1979

"So, see you at the studio!" Quincy eagerly says before he hangs up the phone. I shake my head, smiling to myself, though it's rare for me to ever smile in this period of time. The disco era was at a high - the Bee Gees took over the limelight with their smash hit, "Stayin' Alive", as well as other songs from 'Saturday Night Fever'. I'm about to jump back into the music scene with a new album, that I'm currently recording.

"Tatum O' Neal..." I mutter her name, that fated name, as I get in my Mercedes 500 SEL and drive recklessly to the studio.

"Why can't she be like Crystal? Isn't anyone like Crystal?" I ask myself over and over as I placed one hand on the wheel, the other handling the gear shift as I clutch in, shift up a gear, and release the clutch.

People like Tatum have shown me some of the world's worst extremes, even though the happiness was shared. I've learned that people out there can do anything to get what they want, even if it hurts the person they love.

But I've learned to let go too. Since the times when people have been speculating whether I was gay, which I obviously am not since I'm a straight-minded guy, I have many experiences where the anger inside me was so intense, yet it was worthless to take it out on others.

The simple thought of Crystal erased all these anger from me, and I am absolutely grateful for that meeting with her. It's only one time that I've met her, but the impression she has on me is more than any other I know -

Perhaps even more than Diana Ross.

I turn into the parking lot of the studio and park in one of the empty lots right at the entrance. The engine hums to a stop as I take the key out of the ignition, and I step out of the car, adjusting my jacket before entering through the doors of the studio.

"Michael! Good morning," Quincy greets me with a grin. I returned his kind gesture and we head to our little recording space.

"So, 'She's Out Of My Life' is pretty much almost complete, we just need the finishing touches, with regards to the remaining songs..." Quincy paused, wondering what to say.

"I've recorded a few demos back home, I'm wondering whether to use them in the album." I take out two tapes, labelled "I Can't Help It" and "It's The Falling In Love", passing them to Quincy, who held them in his palm.

"You've been busy, Michael." I smiled shyly, as I sit down with Quincy in the recording room, where an array of sliders await - sliders that adjust each band on an equaliser.

"Tatum still on your mind? Else 'She's Out Of My Life' probably wouldn't exist." Quincy gets to work, loading the tapes in a player, hearing them.

"It's not because of her..." I lie back on my chair, playing with an unused slider. He doesn't know about Crystal. I don't know whether to tell him.

"Oh wait, Tom penned that song. What am I thinking? My bad, Smelly. It's just that your emotions, flowing from that itself... it's amazing, you know? It pulls us in."

"Well, I'll leave that song as it is. I'm moving on, I won't harp on this. It won't benefit me." I reply as Quincy hears the demo tape I've made with intent.

"It... you've got a new girl already? That's what this demo tells me," Quincy stares at me in shock.

"No, a girl I've been thinking about for years. I haven't met her since 1973."

"You're not joking? Who's this girl I don't know about?" Quincy moves his chair beside mine and places an arm around my shoulder, meaning that he really wants to know.

"Not telling, Quincy!" I laugh, and playfully brushed his arm off my shoulder.

"Oh, come on, Smelly!"

"Okay, enough, Quincy! Hahaha. How's the demo?" I returned our focus to the more important things - the possible new songs for Off The Wall.

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"Alright, the songs are good!" Quincy lets out a sigh of relief, as the time reads 5.00 pm.

"So far - I'm sure they're still missing things. Let's return to them tomorrow." Quincy knows it's a goodbye. He cannot say otherwise.

"Alright then, have a good evening, Michael."

I turn and head for the door, and then the car. The tapes were left in the studio - we need them to help mixing and production, and I would be returning tomorrow anyways.

Crystal... you have no idea that you're the inspiration for most of my material... when will I ever see you again?

The breeze of the cool night air soothes me as I exit the studio. I wave goodbye to a few colleagues before hurrying to my car - I'm not interested in having paparazzi chase after me.

I place the key in the ignition and turn the key. The 500 SEL's engine roars to life as it seems to tell me it's ready for a drive. I clutch in and move the gearshift from neutral to 1, and slowly put pressure on the accelerator as I release the clutch pedal. The car leaves from its stationary position and I'm on my way home.

The whole entire time, I'm thinking about her. Thinking about how life would be if Joseph allowed us to be together. Imagining the games we would play, the fun we would have, enjoying each other's company and even confiding in each other during our darkest times.

I do want her so badly, I wish I can get her, as easily as I can with most things now, but I don't know how. Joseph will still kill me regardless, he made it clear in 1973. I'm not letting Crystal suffer because of him.

But if Joseph only knew the driving force behind most of my work...

I remember how I made Off The Wall a reality to begin with - even though not just Crystal was the main reason why I made it.

I wanted to make upbeat songs that no one will ever forget. I want to give people an escape through music, a way to bring smiles to their faces, hopefully inspire some to make their own.

But Crystal inspired 'I Can't Help It' and 'It's The Falling In Love'. The reason being the fact I can't stop thinking about her, and also to pen down the sensations I felt when I first saw her.

God, she's making me so nervous and scared right now. Come to think of it, is she alright? I have been thinking about her so much, but I'm so dumb not to notice, not to even bother to think of it. I should find her - now.

But what resources do I have? I don't have the global connections - the right dots to connect.

Crystal, wait for me, I'll come get you! There must be a reason you just stand out from the crowd... and that's why I like you.

Author's Note

Alright, alright, Sussudio is meant to be an upbeat song, but I don't know why I made this chapter sound so sad! Jeepers! It does kinda convey the mood I want to set though, but the song's mood is a polar opposite of this, okay? XD

And yes, yes yes... I took a damned long time to upload this chapter, because I only finally knew where to go with the story for this arc. Seriously! It's so hard for me to write about falling in love, JEEPERSSSS.

I wrote this entire chapter on a flight, so maybe it sounds as if I'm drunk or something because my sleep pattern is haphazard at this point. I'm trying to get my sleep patten normalised as much as possible and that's why I try to write. It helps to keep me awake till the time I've gotta sleep. Sort of - 'cause it's brain work :)

As promised, here's the story behind Sussudio. Basically, it's a song with literally no meaning, as I've mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. It's simply an improvised lyric that came during a recording session. Phil was literally just singing into the mic, and "su-su-ssudio" came out as a result of it. He couldn't find any other word scanning as well as "Sussudio", so here we are. Since there's no meaning, Phil decided to give it one, which is the name of a girl. This is because (from an interview in 1997), his daughter had a crush on someone in school, and the other boy also likes her - but both of them can't express it. The song also depicts a similar example.

When Sussudio came out, it was similar to Prince's "1999", and thus the critics assailed Phil for the similarity on release. I've heard it myself, I do admit the drum beat is similar - but hey the main issue we're tackling in the individual songs are different. :)

Lastly, Sussudio was released in 1985, from the album "No Jacket Required". Fun fact: Phil wears a jacket in the music video even though the album's name is as such.

Alright, that ends my chapter! The next chapter is titled "3 | A Place In This World", also the song by Taylor Swift, Have a feel for the song and I'll see you in the next chapter, with our first look through Crystal's eyes!