Fan Fiction |
by Hibiscus
The dressed hugged her curves like a lover and swished seductively around her ankles. She put on her silver heels and smiled into the mirror.
“What are you looking at?” Ariel asked her reflection. She walked downstairs to the living room where Wu Chun was waiting.
His reaction when he saw her was gratifying. His mouth dropped open and his eyes widened. He sprang up from the couch and walked over to her, shrugging off his coat.
“Here, you wear this.” He said trying to put it on her shoulders.
Ariel smiled at him and feeling mischievous, she put on extra voltage in her smile. Wu Chun gulped and slapped his hands over his face.
“Don’t smile at me like that!” He yelped peeking at her from behind his fingers. “Who are you and what have you done with Ariel?”
Ariel laughed. “You like?” She asked.
“I do.” Wu Chun said, looking at her almost reverently.
“Thank you for agreeing to this charade.” Ariel said.
“Are you kidding me?” Wu Chun smirked. “I should be thanking you. It’s no hardship to accompany someone as charming as you. But I still feel like a pervert looking at you when you are so barely clothed.” He said.
“It’s not indecent.” Ariel retorted.
“It’s not. It’s just that I’m not used to seeing you so…seductive?” He said at the end with a bewildered shake of his head.
“Psht. Let’s go.” Ariel said.
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“Are you ready yet?” Mike yelled from down the stairs to where Serena was getting ready in her room.
“No!” Came the reply and Mike scowled. His mood had rapidly deteriorated from bad to worse. He disliked clingy women and Serena was the clingiest of them all. He had met her in the beginning of the year and she had told him that they were going to be ‘together’ by the year was out.
He had snorted to himself back then and thought, “In your dreams.”
“Well, hurry up!” Mike yelled again.
“Okay, okay, yiish.” Serena said and walked out of the room. She was wearing a silver dress, which coated her like a second skin, showing a lot of cleavage and had an inordinate amount of jewelry on. She slithered down the stairs, expecting Mike to be dazzled.
Mike frowned, looked at his watch and then down at his shoes.
“Mike!” Serena scowled. “You are supposed to admire me as I walk down the stairs.”
“I’m sorry; I mustn’t have gotten that memo.” Mike said shortly. Then, getting irritated he said, “Will you walk a bit faster? By the time you get down, the whole shebang will be done and over with and we’ll be arriving along with the cleaners!”
“You are such a mean boyfriend.” Serena whined, finally reaching Mike and winding her hand around his arm.
Mike stopped. “Hold up sister. Don’t get any ideas. This? I’m only doing cuz Sandra asked me to. If you get any ideas off this…”
“Hush darling. Let’s go show the world our love.” Serena smiled sweetly.
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Ariel and Wu Chun sat in the car.
“We can run away.” Wu Chun offered, looking at the media surrounding the area. Cameras clicked incessantly, reporters yelled questions loudly, onlookers gaped and the stars shone as they walked down the red carpet to the gallery.
A party celebrating Art, held at a gallery, attended by the most famous people in the country, of course it would attract insurmountable amounts of attention. Mary and Sandra had planned for that.
Ariel took a deep breath. A coward she was not, and since she had embraced fame, she would embrace the sacrifices and the ordeals that came with being a star. She straightened her shoulders and somehow, Wu Chun’s fingers closed around hers in a gesture of support. Pasting a smile on her face, Ariel hooked her arm around Wu Chun’s arm and prepared to walk the red carpet.
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Mike took one look at the hyena parade and turned and started to walk away.
“Mike, COME BACK HERE!” Serena ran after him. She caught his arm and dragged him back. “This is my chance at grabbing everyone’s attention.” She had no idea that Mike had his own agenda. “Besides, we look so good together.”
Mike sighed. Dread slowed his steps until he felt like he was wading in toffee.
“Serena, if you drape yourself around me like this, you won’t be able to walk.” Mike hissed to her under his breath as they reached the red carpet.
“You could always carry me.” Serena smiled, shifting even closer to him.
“Not until you gain a couple more pounds. I don’t like carrying pretzel sticks around.” Mike smiled sweetly.
Serena gave an injured sniff and then her attention was caught by a couple a few meters ahead of them. The couple had paused and were posing for the pictures much to the photographers’ delight.
Ariel whispered to Wu Chun, “I am bat girl.”
Wu Chun’s gaze turned speculative. “Because you dress in a leather suit and fight crime?” He asked looking interested.
Ariel gave him an innocent look. “No because I eat a lot of fruit.”
Wu Chun guffawed loudly, the cameras loving the interaction between him and Ariel. “Yi Chen, that was SO bad!” He said still laughing.
“Hey, I got it from Mike!” Ariel replied beaming at Wu Chun.
Mike’s world screeched to a halt as he saw the owner of the creamy back, the innocent neck and the mouth watering front. A roar started in his head as he saw the familiar way Wu Chun held Ariel, the looks he gave her when he thought she wasn’t looking. But the cameras saw. Every nerve in Mike’s body strained to stalk over to Ariel, throw her over his shoulder and walk away, damning everything else.
“Omg, that’s Yi Chen!” Serena exclaimed. “She looks almost as pretty as me!”
Serena’s artless comments brought Mike to his senses and made him aware of his surrounding. “Much prettier.” He muttered.
“What?” Serena blinked up at him.
“Oh nothing. Let’s go say hi.” And he walked towards Ariel, Serena clinging to his hand.
“Yi Chen, are you and Wu Chun going to make an official announcement any time soon?” One of the reporters yelled.
“How long have you two been going out?” Another said.
“Gosh, we are just friends. Serious.” Ariel said smiling. Wu Chun nodded in affirmation. But of course, the hyenas with the tunnel vision were having none of that. Just then she caught sight of Mike walking towards her. She took a quick look at the girl beside him and her smile slipped a notch. The girl was beautiful, with light brown hair in perfect accord with her light brown eyes and sun kissed skin. Ariel immediately felt like a dowdy sister playing dress up.
“Yi Chen, you look absolutely beautiful.” Mike said. Even though his look was impersonal, the sincerity in his tone touched her and Ariel felt better immediately. Aware of the cameras observing with keen interest, she turned to Serena and asked Mike to introduce them, which he did, albeit reluctantly.
“I’m a fan.” Serena gushed, lying. She fluttered her eyes at Wu Chun who looked amused. “You are almost as handsome as my Mike.” She said, her fingers closing around Mike’s cuff.
Mike’s face took on a horrified look at her words before he immediately straightened it to one of polite amusement like Wu Chun.
Ariel narrowed her eyes, not understanding why she felt such a strong dislike for this bambi like creature who obviously was harmless.
“MIKE!!! I see Mary, my bestest friend! She’s a model at Runway, y’noe? Let’s go say hi!” And Serena dragged Mike off but not before he sent an agonized look in Ariel’s direction.
Wu Chun started laughing beside her and Ariel looked up at him curiously. “Let’s go inside.” He said still smiling.
“So did you see her shoes?” Serena gushed.
“Yeah! They were like black!” Mary replied.
“Not just black, they were deep black.” Serena said knowingly.
“Ohhh. Deep black, wow.” Mary said with the appropriate reverence.
Mike didn’t know what horrendous thing he had done in a past life that Karma was punishing him so badly right now. He started praying.
Joe, arriving with Tiffany on his arm, looked from Mike and Serena to Ariel and Wu Chun and frowned. He didn’t understand why they hadn’t come together. Wouldn’t that have made more sense? Moreover, he didn’t like the Ariel was dressed and how Wu Chun’s fingers were splayed on her bare back.
Tiffany beamed at the photographers and said to Joe in an undertone. “You should be glad my boyfriend is so understanding of us spending so much time together.”
“Yes. You have the most divine taste in men.” Joe replied absently.
“Speaking of divine, Yi Chen and Wu Chun look like they are meant for each other.” Tiffany said smiling. Joe looked even more puzzled. “Ugh, poor Mike is stuck with that annoying twit. I had to spend one promo event with her and I never ever want a repeat.” Tiffany grimaced.
“Let’s go in before I lose all sight from the flashing of the cameras.” Joe said.
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