| Fan Fiction |
by heartsong
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Hebe was right, Ella mused quietly, poring over her food and pouting a little; her body stiff in her chair. She should never have brought Chun home for dinner. Granted, he was her best friend and her parents had met him a gazillion times.
But her sister never had. Her younger sister – that was.
And just about right now, seven-forty-nine in the evening, her sister was gazing at her best friend with doe-like eyes, her simpering look almost utterly irritating to Ella. She looked down at her food in disgust and tried to stuff it down so she could escape to her room, but her mother just wouldn’t stop asking suggestive questions. Finally, Ella wolfed down the last remnants of her food and excused herself right before her mother was about to ask another question.
She bolted up the stairs and slammed her door behind her, sprawled across the rug beneath her as she caught her breath and thought about how sickeningly her sister was staring at her best friend. Her stomach coiled into itself.
She should have known that Hebe’s sixth sense was almost always accurate. Chun was irresistible, after all. She couldn’t deny that fact.
She thought of the way her sister’s sweet voice complimented Chun’s deep one perfectly. She though of how she’d never be as good compared to Ariel in these matters. She wallowed in self pity until she thought she would die, and only fifteen minutes passed.
Not an hour later, she could hear a faint hollering from down the stairs. She opened her door to discover that her mother was shouting for her to come down for the dessert. Begrudgingly, she plodded down and sat herself in on of the cushioned chair and started to push spoonfuls of the red bean paste into her mouth dolefully, not looking up once. Chun nudged her, leaning closer and whispering into her ear, so that his warm breath just brushed the top of her neck, “Hey, what’s your sister’s name again? She’s pretty cute,”
Ella gave an inaudible, ambiguous “Hmph,” and went back to her food, ignoring him. He nudged her again. She continued with her paste, the bowl half emptied now. “Ella,” he whispered. She moved three inches away and continued to eat. “Ella!”
“What?” she snapped, still not looking up.
“What’s your sister’s –”
“Ariel, darling,” Mrs Chen drawled – albeit a little lazily – “Could you get more for your sister’s best friend?”
Ariel cut the simpering, adoring gaze immediately and practically flew to the kitchen to dish out the red bean paste while Chun tried to refuse the offer, as Ella noted sourly.
She pouted some more, and pushed her bowl of unfinished red bean paste away.
“Oh,” he whispered, “so it’s Ariel.”
“I’m full,” she said, before anyone could keep her at the dinner table even a second longer – she was absolutely disgusted by the way her sister looked at Chun.
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I really should have known that the moment he offered to send me home, something bad would happen. I ought to have sensed, at the very moment Ariel had opened the door and stared out, that he would never be just mine to keep anymore.
It was the way he stared right back at her that undid me. His gaze was so tender and I’d never seen him look at me with such an extreme emotion burning in his dark eyes before – not even when he was engrossed with something I was saying.
That was when I knew my sister had taken over my place in Chun’s life. That was when the thought first surfaced. It was also the first time I tried, in all desperation, to ignore that need that was gnawing at my stomach,
It wasn’t the last time I would find myself pushing it to the back of my mind, desperate to ignore that longing.
-
A few hours later I was still cooped up in my room, ignoring my parents when they tried to call me downstairs. I had peeked out moments earlier and spotted the pair staring at each other with that sickening gaze again. I had wanted to throw up and could barely stop my self from retching. I fled back into the comfort of my room, seeking refuge in that delightful lighted screen they called the computer. It was the only place I could truly believe I was someone I wanted to be.
I did not want to be Ella Chen, whose best friend was currently in love with her sister. I did not want to be Ella Chen, who had to give way to her sister just because it had to be like that.
-
I don’t know how long it was before my mum yelled at me to send Chun home and “be the gentleman”. I do remember, however, that the only though in my mind was that I couldn’t possibly face Chun again.
How could I – when all these years I’d tried to deny the possibility that I loved my best friend? And how could I – when I’d succeeded until this day, when I realised that I did love him after all?
I stepped out of my room in a pair of shorts and a shirt, bee-lining straight to the door and holding it open, and invitation for him to get lost – quick.
He obviously didn’t get the message. My heart tugged involuntarily as I watched Chun reach out for my baby sister’s hand.
“It was nice meeting you, Ariel. I can’t believe I haven’t seen you before,”
I grimaced.
“Y-you too, Chun,” Well, there we had it. She was already spellbound by his charms. She took his hand shyly and the two of them just stood there, staring into each other eyes with that horrible look again. I looked away – and caught my mother smiling approvingly.
“Mum?” I called, “Maybe you should get – er – Ariel, to send Chun home,”
To my surprise, Chun declined and insisted that I accompany him home – he had to talk to me, he said.
-
We were silent almost all the way home. He had my hand in his, just like whenever we walked. The night was so still and cold, you would think God was reacting to how I felt. Outward manifestations of inner turmoil, my Literature teacher used to call it.
We turned into the driveway that held his house and I silently broke the physical contact with him. His shoved his hand into his pocket as I turned away, unable to bear the silence. It was so loud, it was roaring in my ears, overpowering my senses. I closed my eyes in a bid to shut the emotions out. I couldn’t – wouldn’t stay a moment longer. I knew what he was thinking; I could read him like an open book. He was thinking of her; of my little sister – of Ariel, the Beautiful One.
“I should get going now; it’s only a few yards more.” I murmured in a quiet solstice.
“Wait,” he said, coming up to me and catching me in his arms, “Thanks for introducing me to your sister, she’s the loveliest girl I’ve met in awhile,”
My heart broke. I heard it shattering – it was so clear a sound that I thought it’d echoed into the night air like my harsh breathing. I barely managed to squeeze out a response. But I didn’t introduce her to you, I wanted to say, why would I – how could I at all?
“I’ll get going – then,” I said, backing away slightly.
He didn’t offer to send me back home like he always did after I’d walked him to his house – didn’t insist that it wasn’t safe for me to walk alone in the dark; he nodded. He nodded and turned. Turned, and let me go.
I breathed – breathed until the cold started to sting the back of my lungs like daggers, like icy blades. I breathed until my breath came out in harsh gasps into the frozen night air. My legs gave way and I hit the cold ground in my shorts and a thin jacket. It wasn’t winter – not yet – but it had started to rain.
And then I ran. I ran as fast as my legs would allow. And as I ran I constantly looked back, stupidly hoping that he’d find something amiss and come after me. But then it was that I no longer mattered that much anymore. I ran, and stumbled. But I ran, and I wouldn’t stop. I ran all three and a half blocks to Hebe’s house where I slammed my finger on the door bell desperately, not even realizing I had begun to cry.
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