| Fan Fiction |
by Hibiscus
“Uh huh.” Ariel looked around for Arron.
“Ariel! I’ve been looking all over for you!” He appeared right on cue.
“Hey.” Ariel smiled at him and Arron ambled over and slipped his arm around Ariel. She didn’t move away.
“Wu Xiong, hey.” Arron said as he noticed Yi Zhen observing them raptly. At Ariel’s query about “Wu Xiong” he explained Yi Zhen’s nickname from the drama they had filmed before.
“Are you two going out?” Yi Zhen asked curiously.
“Yes.” Arron answered promptly.
“No.” Ariel said at the same time.
“She just won’t admit it.” Arron added in a conspiratorial whisper.
“He can’t accept it.” Ariel came back with a rejoinder.
“Okay, okay, we’ll figure this out later.” Yi Zhen looked from Ariel to Arron, clearly confused.
“Didn’t you say you were going to introduce me to Winnie?” Ariel said soft as chocolate.
“I did?” Yi Zhen looked surprised but Ariel nodded and in the end she capitulated.
“I could have introduced him to you.” Arron grumbled. “Why do we have to tag along with this weird girl?”
“Who are you calling weird, Mr. Posy?” Yi Zhen was annoyed that Arron had dared to belittle her in front of her hero.
“Posy?” Ariel looked interested and Arron flushed.
“Never mind about that, here’s Winnie,” Arron led them to a group where a m an was holding court. He was a rather portly man with a very kind face. He was dressed for comfort rather than show and his genius was only apparent in his eyes. They were intent and sharp, observing and storing for later reflection.
“Winnie!” Yi Zhen greeted him as a child would exuberantly greet a favourite uncle. Even Arron, notorious for his lack of interest in other people (excluding Ariel) went up and greeted him warmly. Only Ariel hung back. Not because she was especially shy or hesitant or because she was waiting for introductions but so she could observe him or as Rafael used to say, to get a feel for the danger the person presented. It was Ariel’s perspective that every person in their own way was dangerous. It all depended on how you reacted to that danger that would decide how badly hurt you got. It was instinctual on Ariel’s part and people didn’t even know she weighed them up and decided their danger. But she did. Oh yes she did. Every single time.
Arron turned to make introductions. “Ariel, this is Winnie, the most celebrated director in Taiwan. Winnie, this is – “
“Ariel Lin. I know. I was speaking to Dean (the director of Chances) and he was full of praise for you. Nice to meet you.” Winnie extended a hand which Ariel accepted and they shook hands.
“The pleasure is all mine,” She nodded to him.
“Do you have any projects lined up after Chances?” Winnie asked.
“No.” Ariel replied simply.
“Oh. Good. Here’s my card. I’m starting a new drama, “It Started with a Kiss. Call me. There might be a role in it for you.” He was a kind man.
“Thank you.” Ariel smiled with a hint of reserve in her tone.
“We have to go mingle now,” Arron whispered to Ariel and they took their leave from Winnie.
“I’ll come mingle with you,” Yi Zhen announced cheerfully.
“Can’t you see that I want to spend time with my girlfriend?” Arron cast her a dirty look.
“She said she wasn’t your girlfriend. Ariel probably wants Mike.” Yi Zhen scowled at Arron. Arron scowled, enraged.
“How dare you say something so grossly inaccurate!?” He growled. “Ariel, tell her it’s not true.”
Ariel wasn’t really listening. In fact, in her head she was figuring out the mechanism for Acetic Acid synthesis.
Arron’s ire was escalated by Ariel’s blank look.
“Arron hi, I need to steal Ariel away for but. Be a good boy and play with Wu Xiong for a while.” Jason appeared out of nowhere, took Ariel and was gone. In a flash.
“Play?” Arron sputtered. “With you!? HAH!”
“As if I wanna play with YOU either!” Yi Zhen growled back.
“You clown!” Arron put his hands on his hips and abandoned his cool act. “You should be glad I’m even talking to you.”
“Psht. Ariel likes me better!” Yi Zhen proudly.
“Like you? What a joke! She doesn’t even KNOW you!” Arron was incensed.
“Well exactly. She doesn’t even KNOW me and she likes me better! Hmph!” Putting her nose in the air, Cai Yi Zhen stalked off leaving Arron growling.
Meanwhile…
“Rosa got you an invite?” Jason asked as they navigated their way across the crowded ballroom.
Ariel nodded.
“There’s a guy who especially wants to meet you.” Jason said looking curiously at Ariel.
“Why?” Ariel kept her face passive.
“No idea. He’s a big shot at one of the biggest and most influential jewelry companies. Ring a bell?”
“No Jason, I do not have a sugar daddy.” Ariel sounded amused.
Jason flushed. “No, no. I didn’t mean to imply…”
“Save it.” Ariel held up a hand.
“Look, there he is. Want me to introduce you?”
“That’s fine.” Ariel walked off toward the man, leaving Jason standing alone.
The man was dressed in an Armani suit, gold cuff links. Pierced ears, gold earrings. Head full of slightly graying hair. Intense eyes and tanned leathery skin.
“Hello, Uncle Chan.” Ariel spoke softly.
Eugene Chan, the biggest shareholder in the jewelry company “JCode” turned.
“Ariel Lin!” He enveloped her in a bear hug. Ariel stood stiffly in his embrace. “I didn’t expect to see you in these parts. Vienna or Amsterdam are your usual hangouts, no?”
“Returning to my roots.” Ariel smiled.
“How’s your grandfather?” Chan asked.
“Dead.” Ariel answered.
Chan looked startled. “What? I played golf with him only last week.”
“Oh. A girl can always hope, can’t she?” Ariel smiled again and Chan looked unsure whether to smile back or reprimand her.
Finally he laughed forcedly. “So I heard you are making your debut in Dean Fang’s ‘Chances.’
“News travels fast.” Dryly.
“Especially if it’s about you.” Chan said. Then there was a pause.
“And?” Ariel knew he wanted something. The air was thick with expectation.
“Want to be the female half of the star couple endorsing a new line of jewelry from JCode?” He asked. They all wanted something.
“The male half?” It was a dismissive query.
“Wu Chun.”
“Change it to Mike He and you’ve got a deal.”
“Done.”
“Deal.”
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When Ariel returned to where Jason was still standing, he asked her, “What did he want?”
She told him about the endorsement contract and his eyebrows rose. He was impressed. “How did he know about you?”
“I guess the director must have liked me after all.” Ariel told Jason nonchalantly and he seemed convinced.
“Are you enjoying your first high class party?” He changed the subject.
“Oh…it’s been productive.” Ariel stretched and let the benign mask fell away. She was back to being the hell raiser. “Do you think Arron will sulk if I leave without him?” She muttered more to herself than to Jason. He heard her anyway.
“Oh he’ll do more than sulk.” Jason was confident of that.
“Do I care?” Ariel didn’t think so.
“Look, the dancing is starting. Dance with me before you leave.” Jason dragged Ariel toward the dance floor.
A whirlwind of dances began. Ariel danced with Mike, Jason, Joe, Ethan, Jiro, Calvin, Rui Ja and Arron. She even danced with Cai Yi Zhen who was thrilled to her toes.
At the end of the dance with Yi Zhen, Ariel stood in the middle f the dance floor, breathing hard. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright from the exertion. A shadow fell upon her and Ariel looked up. Wu Chun. Looking at her. With a question in his eyes.
“What?” Ariel knew she was being brusque. Knew she should behave.
“Dance with me.” Chun stated, commanded, and said.
Ariel beamed. Then she paused as though she were putting a good deal of thought in answering. Then finally. “No.” And she walked away. Screw behaving.
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Ariel didn’t remember the last time she had had a nightmare. At least that’s what she hoped this was. A nightmare that she could wake up from. She was sitting on the ground. Cold, crisp air was blowing in from somewhere. It was night time and the stars provided only perfunctory illumination. Where had the window come from? Why did everything look much bigger? Or was she smaller? And there were so many cobwebs all around. So many cobwebs. Suddenly someone started crying in the corner and Ariel looked toward the noise. It was a kind of broken, ragged sobs; the kind that makes your chest hurts. Whimpering, mewling and broken. Pain, hate, anger and broken. Ariel wanted to tell that person to stop crying but her mouth wouldn’t move, her lips were too swollen. Suddenly a step creaked somewhere close and Ariel’s heart beat as though it wanted to rush out of her chest.
Ariel woke up with a gasp. Her eyes flew to the ceiling. No cobwebs. Her breathing calmed. It was 3 am. She hadn’t had that dream in ages. The thick feel of fear and she panted a bit as though she was trying to drag herself back into this side of life. Ariel slipped out of bed and walked over to the study desk. She might as well study. Her appetite for sleep was gone.
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Steven, Fei Lun Hai’s manager, as a group and individually, hovered over Chun’s shoulder looking worried.
Chun looked up in annoyance. “What?” He snapped.
“Nothing.” Steven subsided into silence. He hated to disturb Chun when he was eating.
Chun sighed. “Tell me Steven, what’s wrong?” He said in a gentler tone.
“You lost the JCode endorsement deal.” Steven said as rapidly as he could.
Chun’s eyebrows knit together in a frown. “To who?”
“Mike He.” Steven whispered.
“I see.” Chun replied quietly.
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“You were really productive last night.” Rosalinda said admiringly. They were at the kitchen table. Ceci was making omelets and Patience, tea. Rosalinda and Ariel had set the table.
“Don’t make me sound like a cow.” Ariel pointed her fork at Rosa.
“Don’t put words in my mouth.” Rosa beamed.
“I’ll put Ceci’s big feet in your mouth if you continue.” Ariel threatened.
“I do not have big feet!” Ceci sounded indignant.
“Ahem.” Ariel knew better than to argue with the person in charge of food.
“You met Qu You Ning last night?” Patience asked, pouring tea for everyone.
“Winnie. He’s called Winnie by his friends,” Ariel nodded while spooning sugar in her tea.
“And Cai Yi Zhen told you about a new drama he is directing and that he promised the lead to her?” Patience continued and Ariel nodded again. “Are we going to steal the role from her?”
Ah. So this was the reason for the furrowed eyebrows and the tense set of her shoulders.
“It’s not stealing, Patch,” Ceci replied for Ariel.
“Technically, she hasn’t even gotten the part yet.”
“What makes you think Ariel can convince him to change his mind?” Patience demanded.
“You were the one who was blood thirsty for revenge, Patch. Did you think it would be all roses and sunsets? You cannot afford to have a conscience in a game like this.” Ariel looked at Patience.
“But it’s not fair.” Patience whispered.
“Life’s not fair, Patch. Deal with it.” Rosa was curt.
“How do you live with your conscience?” Patience didn’t think she could.
“Who said I have one?” Ariel smiled.
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Ariel had an appointment with Winnie and he had told her to come to the workshop he was holding in an attempt to work through the actors gathered; sort of like auditions but much friendlier, much kinder. Yi Zhen and Joe Cheng were both present.
Winnie’s plan was to allow the actors to act our various roles instead of the traditional one try out for one character. He also had them act in groups to observe and evaluate the chemistry of the potential cast as a whole.
Ariel had dressed carefully for the event. When she walked into the building, she was dressed in a short skirt, almost like a school uniform, her face was devoid of any makeup and she looked as though she were about sixteen. A security guard asked her if she was lost. Ariel laughed and showed him her id.
“Oh Ariel, thanks for coming.” Winnie was sitting in a chair in a corner, observing the antics of the actors. He got up when he saw her and they shook hands.
“I almost didn’t recognize you,” Winnie laughed. “The Grecian goddess has turned into a fresh faced high schooler. How many faces have you got, Ariel?”
“I’d tell you Winnie, but then I’d have to kill you.” Ariel smiled a crooked smile and Winnie laughed again.
“You read the script, yes?” He asked. He had sent the script to Ariel a couple of days prior to the interview. Ariel nodded and so he continued, “I’d like you to try out for two parts: Chun Mei and Xiang Qin.”
“Xiang Qin?” Ariel raised her eyebrows. Xiang Qin was the lead.
“Trust me on this.” Winnie said.
Yi Zhen saw Ariel and bounded over. She seemed genuinely happy to see her but Ariel could sense that something was bothering her. “What’s up?” Ariel asked.
“Oh nothing. Let’s play!” She said forcing out a smile.
Ariel slipped into the role of Chun Mei perfectly with Yi Zhen acting as Xiang Qin. But there was one big problem. She had too much presence. So much that she drowned out Xiang Qin. Not good. Not good at all.
“Hey short stuff.” Joe said to Ariel and Yi Zhen blushed.
“Give me an axe and I’ll easily fix the difference.” Ariel didn’t twitter. Yi Zhen did.
“Ouch, violent sort, aren’t you?” Joe grinned.
“Mike doesn’t seem to mind.” Ariel added a touch
of haughty.
“Mike wouldn’t.” Joe smiled his famous heartbreaker smile. Yi Zhen melted into goo on the floor and Ariel smirked. Joe excused himself and left.
“He’s so beautiful.” Yi Zhen breathed.
“He’s all right.” Ariel was non-committal.
“All right!? Just all right?! He is so all right that he is the king of all rights! The absolute king!” Yi Zhen had stars in her eyes.
“If you keep that up, I’m going to gag.” Ariel told Yi Zhen solemnly.
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“Joe, why don’t you act opposite Ariel as Xiang Qin for one scene?” Winnie suggested.
Joe cast a doubt look at Ariel who was sitting cross legged on the floor. She was the epitome of cool. He looked at Winnie. “Xiang Qin is dumb…can Ariel pull that off?” From his tone, it was plainly obvious that Joe didn’t think so.
“Trust me,” Winnie said and Joe did, implicitly.
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“Which scene?” Ariel asked.
“The graduation one,” Winnie replied.
The change in Ariel, as always, was instantaneous. Her posture, facial expression and even her voice changed. Everyone stopped to watch. And the chemistry between Ariel and Joe flared. It wasn’t the epic ‘must have, should have and always will have’ chemistry of Ariel and Mike, no, this was a steadier flame; it reeled you in and made you care. They stopped just short of the kiss and for a moment, everyone was silent. Then people clapped and Ariel smiled shedding Xiang Qin effortlessly and become Ariel Lin again.
Winnie glanced at Cai Yi Zhen and looked troubled. “Wu Xiong, why don’t you do the same scene with Joe?” He asked her.
Yi Zhen was flushed and oddly enough, looked relieved. “I think you’ve already found Xiang Qin, Winnie. I’m relieved.”
Winnie looked perplexed and reading his look accurately, Yi Zhen explained, “My grades slipped and my parents are pretty mad. They wanted me to drop this project and concentrate on school but I had already promised you…” She trailed off. “Will you please give Ariel the role? She’s perfect for it.”
Winnie looked at Joe then at Ariel and then lastly at Yi Zhen, “Yeah.”
Yi Zhen beamed her thanks and then pleading fatigue, left.
After she had gone, Ariel said quietly, “She’s a much better actor than I had given her credit for.”
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Author's Note: I have to go to bed on time. Especially if people insist on waking me up two hours after I fell asleep. I'm like.. *rawr get away before I kill you* I'm into Arabic music right now. What's on your playlist?