| Fan Fiction |
by heartsong
~Haruki Murakami, A Wild Sheep Chase
---
The moonlight sluiced through the windows to rest; tentative, against Chun’s profile. Even the Gods admired him – and how could they not? He was so beautiful.
Quiet, Ella slid a finger down his strong jaw. She buried her face in the column of his throat and thought, I can’t believe we’ve come this far. She curled herself into the shell of his embrace, and started to weep once again, at the beauty of this whole affair.
They’d come so far, even without the heavens on their side. They’d come so far, with nothing but each other, even when everyone was against them.
He’d awoken, and as if he could hear her thoughts; as though they were weaved into a banner before his eyes, he could understand her.
He pulled her closer.
Words were not needed – words were not warranted. As far as anyone knew, Chun and Ella had come past the point of exchanging words.
“Ella,” he whispered, brushing his mouth across her brow. Just like that, he was able to ease the discomfort building in her.
“We’ll work this out,” he promised.
His words slipped through Ella’s mind, lucid and tinkling like a beautiful melody.
We will work this out.
-
She’d only set one foot into the house when her heart started on a marathon of its own. What would they do when she confessed – both to meeting her rightful soul-mate and to knowing, all the while, how her sister and her husband had been so in love?
How would they respond, knowing she had not prevented it from happening? Would they understand that it was ultimately because she understood; because she was trying to make up for her past mistakes?
Most importantly, would she be strong enough to take on the weight of their rage, or disappointment?
All these questions were quelled; negated when she thought of one thing: she had to do this for the two who had finally found each other.
Trembling, she reached for the door of the study and found that no one was at home. Something inside her coiled and tightened and threatened, at the same time, to spill over her skin in a cold, wretched sweat.
Frightened by the emptiness and the silence of this house, she sank into the bed that had once been hers. What had she done? She’d destroyed a couple’s shot at happiness because she was immature and had not known to control her emotions – what had she wrought?
After it was all over, she realised that all she’d wanted was for Ella to look at her the very same way she’d always looked at her – like she had something the other would never have; like she was envious. She’d only wanted that – and she’d never meant to break her sister’s heart.
When she found out that he loved her sister, she’d been outraged because her sister was taking something away, again. She had always wondered – why did Ella have it all? Why couldn’t she be as good? And how was she lacking?
When she realised what she’d done wrong – it was too late to do anything except let the two of them have each other, the way it was meant to be all along.
And when she’d found Joe, in Japan, the whole world just vanished. That was when Ariel knew how her sister felt.
She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, her head sinking into the crevice that had been created. Curled up this way, she still felt so vulnerable.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, even though the recipient had long forgiven her – even before she had started all this and made into one bleeding, blended mess, “I am so sorry,”
She kept murmuring it, like a mantra to keep her from evil; even though there was no one around to hear it; even though ‘Sorry’ said too many times never means a thing anymore.
-
“Ariel, darling, what brings you back without Chun?”
She clutched the mug in her hands nervously and looked into the swirling amber fluid. If you looked close enough, the very essence of this tea swirled in concentric spirals that were beautiful to behold. Likewise, every situation had a beautiful side to it – not matter how ugly it was perceived to be.
“Daddy, Mummy,” she acknowledged as her father settled comfortably into the seat next to her mother’s.
“Chun and I are getting a divorce. We’ve both found our better other halves.”
Her father did not look at all surprised. In fact, unless Ariel had been much mistaken, she’d found a tiny speck of contentment in his eyes when the words slipped from her mouth.
Her mother’s jaw dropped, as she started to question the young girl sitting before her.
Before she could ask further, Ariel stood.
“It’s not up to the both of you, Mummy. I wish you would give us your blessings, but I’ve found the one I love and so has Chun. This has been a huge mistake and coming here to iron things out is the only thing I could ever do to rectify this whole mix-up. I am going to leave now.”
“Ariel Chen, you are not going anywhere!” her mother’s words were curt and decisive, and held the sharpness of a disappointed, prideful woman, “And neither is Chun! You will leave only if you refuse to acknowledge me!”
Ariel turned back.
“Chun’s other half is Ella, Mummy. How could you have never known?”
Chen He De eased out of his seat with a comfort that was unnatural for someone who had received such startling news. But he had known all along, had he not? He retreated to the room, and left his wife to stare in disbelief at her younger daughter’s retreating back.
“You will not leave! You tell Ella that she will not leave, either. Both of you will stop this nonsense before you set foot into this home. I will never give you my blessings – never!”
Ariel was calm as she spoke her last words, a blow to her mother: “Then we will never come back.”
The older woman sank back into her seat, having risen from it in her rage. All the fight left her and she let her gaze fall to the floor.
Until then, all she could think was how much of a disgrace this would be to her family if it got leaked out. Until then, all she could remember was the story of a young girl, twenty-three years ago, who eloped with her lover against her family’s blessings. All she could hold in her mind’s eye was how the young girl had suffered without a family’s support.
She failed to see that even without a family’s support; she had survived to be what she was today.
She also failed to see that the higher you hold your expectations, the harder you will fall. Above all, she did not manage to see past the scorn and shame to see that she was doing her daughters what her own mother once did to her.
-
“We have to leave, Ella,” Ariel said quietly, after relating the whole sequence of events to Ella. Chun sat by, cradling Ella in his strong arms.
Instead of the jealousy that once would rack her system at such a sight, Ariel found that she was filled with a peaceful, calm yearning. She missed Joe.
“We’ll leave if you girls both don’t mind, then,” Chun spoke, his voice reverberating through the hall.
Ella nodded quietly. She closed her eyes and leaned back into Chun’s comforting embrace.
“Is anything wrong, Jie?”
Startled, Ella stared at Ariel. It had been years since the latter addressed her in Mandarin.
Then a smile played on her lips.
“Nothing. I’m just tired from last night.”
Chun chuckled softly behind her.
Ariel’s eyes widened, then a bead of laughter slipped out of her mouth and the room was suddenly lighter, no longer weighed down by their decision to leave.
Leave they would, but they would never forget the ones who had brought them up so seamlessly, so carefully that even after they both had grown up, they had refused to let go.
“Ella, even if Mum and Dad don’t give us their blessings, I give you mine. You two were meant to be.
She leaned forward and kissed Ella’s forehead; a benediction.
Ella smiled and gathered Ariel’s hands into her own. It wasn’t like she would be going without family. Ariel was family.
And that, in all its entirety, was enough for her.
---
“It’s okay, Ariel,” Ella whispered, patting her sister’s hand, “There isn’t a thing to it. After all, Mum and Dad are looking at the same sky as us. One day we’ll be okay.”
Ariel nodded quietly.
Silent, but as tangible as any matter, a calm serenity washed over the two sisters. No matter what, they would have each other. They’d come through even in the worst of situations, and had both grown.
Ella smiled softly and reached for her sister, folding the younger girl into her firm embrace; a benediction.
“Don’t worry, Ariel. We have each other.”
She felt her sister nod once more, and she felt the night cloak them into the haze of sleep like a loving mother.
Ella felt peace wash over the entire household as she left the room and walked right into the arms of her beloved. Ariel slept soundly on in the soft bed.
Chun brushed a fingertip over the lovely smile that had graced Ella’s beautiful features.
And in their eyes they exchanged a silent agreement – no matter where under this sky they went, they’d hold their loved once close to their hearts and never, ever let go.
---
When the plane shuddered and took off, Ella rested her head against Chun’s firm shoulder, a stronghold amongst the storm that had just begun.
Ariel was headed back to Japan, where she would look for Joe and finally be with him. The divorce papers had been signed a few days back. In fact, if Chun hadn’t quite mistaken it, he’d seen a befuddled look on the attorney’s face as he and Ariel grinned their teeth out signing the papers, then walked out hand in hand.
He curled an arm around Ella protectively after she’d finished her meal on the plane.
Just the night before, he had drawn his fingers on the dents on her mid-drift that she thought to be stretch marks. He’d taken her fingers and pressed them in so she could feel her bones, so that she would realise that these were marks of sorrow and not Sin.
He made her comprehend all over again what it meant to be content. He made her recognize that with that one person to love her and to make it right, she, too, could love herself.
His fingers tightened around her shoulders as he felt her frail body heave with her stomach.
“Easy does it, sweetheart,” he coaxed as she swallowed a mouthful of potatoes. She could barely finish her food – but he would take her there. Baby steps, they called it. And Chun was prepared to guide Ella the whole way along.
As her eyes drifted shut and the plane stabilized, buffeted by the white clouds by the plane’s window, Chun let himself slip into the blissful arms of sleep.
Now that they were together, nothing would come in the way again.
After all the struggles they’d been through, they’d finally come to the culmination of their lives. From this point on, life would never be the same again.
After all, they had each other to love now.
----
If you love me, please read my author's note on the last page, especially these people: Sarah, Vivianne, ObscureGal, darkice7_12(if you ever happen to pass by).