| Fan Fiction |
by heartsong
“Ella, honey, give us your number, won’t you?”
“I’m not supposed to call you, Daddy. Hebe says if I do then Chun might get my number from you,” Ella’s voice was a hushed whisper in the dead of the night. Hebe was sleeping like a log.
It was eight in the morning in Taipei and one in the wee hours of the night where Ella was crouched beside the sofa.
She heard Hebe shift in her bed and hastily murmured her telephone number over the line to her father.
“Don’t call unless it’s an emergency, and don’t let Chun find the number, Dad!”
“I don’t believe you haven’t called him, Ella,”
The information startled Ella, and she concentrated instead on the way her father’s husky voice was thick with sleep and affection for her. She heard how relieved he was that she had called.
“Dad, I – you know?”
“Of course I know. I found out, by the way you looked at them. I am your father, you know,”
Ella sighed and bid her father good night. She whispered into the phone, feeling the cord cut into her wrist and spell out the gentle, frayed edges of a promise to Hebe she could not keep.
She gently laid the phone back into its cradle and leaned back on the couch, closing her eyes just as Hebe stepped out into the living room and flipped the light switch on.
“Ella?”
She opened her eyes and looked at Hebe.
“What are doing out here?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” Ella explained softly, gesturing for Hebe to sit beside her, “But I’m okay. I was just thinking of him again.”
---
Chun felt his stomach flip. He was in Ella’s father’s study in the middle of the night; and no lights were on. Ariel had begged him to stay the night and he had agreed with her parents’ consent.
Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the dim light that entered through the window, bathing the room in an ethereal glow. His gaze swept over the oak wood table to where the white phone lay silent in its cradle.
He wondered if Ella had called her parents. He had figured that Hebe wouldn’t allow Ella to call him. She would have taken the opportunity to do so when Hebe was out.
But Ella’s parents – Hebe wouldn’t be that cruel, would she? But it was all in the name of protecting Ella.
Had he been in Hebe’s place, he would have done the same.
He felt his breath catch at the back of his throat as he caught sight of a square of paper, attached to the desk with removable adhesive.
A post-it.
He edged closer to the desk and gingerly leaned over.
Ella’s telephone number.
Underneath it was a string numbers, etched clearly into the paper with pen ink, in precise, printed cursive.
He couldn’t breathe. So Ella had called. She’d even left her number. And here was his chance to look for her. With her number he could trace anything.
He peeled another post-it carefully from its place in a stack, careful not to move anything.
Chun grabbed a pen from the stand and penned down the number, with shaking hands and a racing pulse.
When he was done, he stuffed the square of paper with his hope inked onto it into his back pocket, inching his way to the kitchen to get a drink.
His mouth suddenly felt very dry, like a desert in a drought. He swallowed anxiously, as he made his way down the stairs and flipped the light switch in the kitchen.
He opened the cabinet which stored the mugs in the house and spotted one in the corner with Ella’s name etched onto it.
Chun sucked in a deep breath.
He reached for the mug and held it to his cheek.
Then he poured the water in and held every space available on the rim to his lips; imagining that someway or another, he would have touched the exact same spot where Ella had left the last imprint of her lips.
He imagined kissing her, and how it tasted like sunshine and stars at the same time. He let the clear water run down his throat and wondered how one could manage to taste of two things that could not cohabit.
But then he remembered – Ella was special. And the stars would shine for her in the Sun’s light if she asked them to.
---
“Chun?”
A deep, slightly gruff voice jolted Chun out of his reverie and made him close his hand around the paper in his pocket protectively.
“Hi Uncle,” he muttered nervously. What if Mr. Chen found out?
To his surprise, the older man poured a cup of warm coffee for himself and set it on the counter, in between them.
He sighed.
“I miss Ella, Chun. I miss my daughter.”
Chun managed to nod stiffly, sliding his glance away, hoping that acting indifferently would make Mr. Chen stop talking.
“Don’t you miss her?” the older man questioned, “I’d figured you would know you’re using her mug to drink.”
Chun swallowed and turned away, but He De’s next sentence caught him off guard.
“I love both my daughters dearly, Chun Wu, but somehow I’d never imagined you with Ariel. It was always you and Ella that I somehow imagined would end up together.”
“Uncle, I really should go back to bed. Ariel might wake up and find me missing,” Chun managed to choke out; trepidation clear in his voice.
“Well they are both my daughters. I give you my blessings. Don’t break Ariel’s heart the way you broke Ella’s.”
---
I was seated on the leather window seat that overlooked a busy street where people would occasionally stop to stare at their watches, and hurry on.
This served to remind me that although my life seemed to have come to a standstill, the world did not cease to turn.
Hebe was at the bakery again. I had made plans to go over and see her later.
The telephone rang; a shrill piercing noise that broke the silence of the room, as well as my train of thought.
I jumped a little, reaching over to where the cordless phone was, and held it to my ear.
“Daddy?” I asked, because no one else knew this number, and Hebe didn’t use her phone during working hours. It was the company policy.
“Ella,” he murmured, and I sucked in a deep breath.
“Chun,” I stated, ready to hang up.
“Your dad didn’t give me your number – I took it from his study.”
Silence.
I did not know what to say. Since it was two in the afternoon here, he would be calling me before work.
I remained silent, my heart fluttering nervously in my chest. Me? He’d called me and risked having Hebe answer the phone?
“I miss you, Ella, god, I miss you,”
I snorted a little, turning my head to stare at the window again. This time, I let a small smile play across my lips.
I held the moment; held his words, like a delicate veil in my fingers.
“When are you coming back?”
“That depends,” I hedged, fingering the frayed hem of my jeans, “How have you been? How’s Ariel?”
“We’re doing great,” he tried to sound happy, but I heard the strain in his voice that soon relaxed as he related the recent happenings, “We’ve been busy preparing for the wedding. I mean, Ariel was asking me for opinions about the napkins. She asked whether I thought Cream or pastel yellow was nicer. I mean, aren’t they the same colour?” He chuckled, “She’s been caught between a toga and a tube for her gown, and whether she should choose a small skirt or a flared one. I can’t even see the difference because –”
“–because she looks beautiful no matter what she wears?” I finished softly; but this was a question I did not want to hear the answer to.
It hurt to know they were doing so well when I wasn’t there. It seemed as if I was the reason everyone had been miserable before.
“Yes,” he sighed wistfully – happily; and my heart broke – yet again.
It was a weight that could be felt throughout my body; an emotional pain that overflowed into my physical state as well. There was a terrible pounding behind my ears, and a multitude of voices in my head. Hurt was a stone lodged in the well beneath my lungs, upon my heart. It was a burden, weighing me down. It was particles of rock flowing along in my blood, so that I felt heavy with pain.
He had said he loved me, hadn’t he? He’d kissed me in the dim of his bedroom, begging me to stay, telling me he’d find a way – had he not?
But what’d happened, now? He’d gone on with his life, all the same.
I did not like being a bitter, jealous woman. But when I’d had that taste of Chun’s love for me, I couldn’t help but want more.
I sighed yet again – something he’d failed to notice over and over – and then I hung up on him, so quietly that he would not notice I had – until all he heard in reply to his sentences was a soft, steady, unwavering silence.
---
HELLO PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE DO ME A VERY BIG FAVOUR IF YOU LOVE CULMINATION.
GO AND VISIT /auth3ntica
ALSO KNOWN AS AUTH3NTICA, BY LYD AND HEARTSONG.
I LOVE MY WIFEY AND SHE'S WORRYING ABOUT THE COMMENTS. PLEASE GO READ IT AND LEAVE US SOME COMMENTS BECAUSE I AM WORRIED TOO!!!!!!!!!! WE'VE WORKED SO HARD FOR IT, WIFEY THE MOST HARD. AND I DONT WANT TO SEE HER EFFORTS GO DOWN THE DRAIN SO PLEASE COMMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alright back to culmination. I don't think I'll be updating for quite awhile because I'm busy with stuff. Plus, WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK OF THE NEW POSTER? WHOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!
-goes off cheering.