| Fan Fiction |
by Hibiscus
At the house where Fei Lun Hai resided, in the living room where the television set lived, Arron sat. He had laid claim to the TV and sat in front of it with a big bowl of popcorn and the remote control within easy reach. Calvin, Jiro and Chun walked into the living room. They had just returned from some promotional event. Arron had been excused due to an exam earlier that day.
“What are you watching?” Calvin asked slumping on the sofa beside Arron. Chun and Jiro followed suit.
“Ariel.” Arron muttered.
“Where?” Jiro looked around exaggeratedly.
Just then the VJ announced Alan’s new music video and Arron turned the volume up. There were a variety of expressions on everyone’s faces as they watched the Ariel in a wedding dress, shining radiantly, the lovelorn Ariel and the tear struck Ariel. Arron’s was pleased, Calvin and Jiro’s were shocked and Chun’s was impassive. Well…it was impassive except the times Alan touched Ariel, then Chun would clench his jaw and his eyes would narrow to slits.
“She actually has talent.” Jiro remarked sounding relieved. “I thought she’d be a horrible actor and I’d be starring in a drama destined to flop.”
“Y’noe, sometimes it feels like I’ve seen her before, like back in Canada.” Calvin murmured, thinking hard.
“Let’s watch it again.” Arron replied flipping channel to another music show airing the music video.
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“She’s all Mike talks about,” Ethan said to Rainie as they sat at a café. Selena, Rainie and he had met up for lunch and Rainie was currently grilling him about the relationship between Mike and Ariel.
“And then he said that he has never met a more interesting person. So I told him to do her and get her of his system.” Rainie and Selena nodded. They both understood the logic of that. “Well then he got all pissy on me and y’noe what he said? He said that she was his ideal girl, someone he could spend forever with. Can you believe that?” Ethan shook his head to indicate the craziness he credited Mike with.
Rainie put down her forkful of food. Her appetite had suddenly banished. Ideal girl? For the commitment phobic Mike? Oh no. No way. Rainie’s eyes met Selena’s and an unspoken communication passed between them. Selena nodded. She understood. It was time to eliminate Ariel Lin.
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“Ariel!” Rosa burst into Ariel’s room early in the morning. “Look at what the tabloids are reporting!”
Ariel rubbed her eyes and got up, groaning. She was considering a lock for her door. Then the headlines caught her eye.
“Newest Starlet: Ariel Lin living with her many Girlfriends.” And another, “Ariel Lin: Unashamed of her Sexuality. ‘I prefer women,’ she says.”
“When did I say that?” Ariel mumbled, peering at the paper. And then she grinned evilly at Rosa. “Are you here to wake me up with a kiss, darling?”
“Eww!” Rosa bounded off the bed. “But seriously, Ariel, there are others. They have you down as everything from a lesbian to a Satan worshipper.” Ariel yawned widely.
“Who could be behind this? All this negative publicity – aren’t you concerned?” Rosa was incensed on Ariel’s behalf.
Ariel was already snuggling deeper into her blankets, fast asleep.
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No matter how hard she looked or from which angle she looked at it, the clock still read 2 am.
“Oh shit.” Ariel muttered as she locked up the café. If she didn’t finish her stupid biology project, the curmudgeon teacher would not give her any more extensions and she would end up with a C. She hated Cs. No matter how much she begged. Or cajoled. Or even threatened. “That old popsicle.” Ariel muttered, enjoying a satisfying fantasy about torturing the Biology professor.
Everyone had urged her to quit the café job but Ariel had refused. Loudly. And many times. Until they realized that trying to persuade her was a waste of time, both theirs and hers. Shooting the drama, going to school and working at the café, albeit only three or four shifts a week left Ariel a very busy girl.
The night was dark and there was a cool wind. It was almost April so it wasn’t as cold as it could have been but it was chilly. There were no buses running at this time. Ariel sighed. And entertained the thought of calling Arron for a ride. Then rejected the idea immediately. He’d take it as an agreement to his marriage proposal and before she knew it, she’d be walking down the aisle. Ariel shuddered at the idea of marriage. She didn’t understand why people would subject themselves to the excruciating torture of a legal union.
“Well feet, I guess it’s just you and me tonight.” Ariel sighed again and started walking. The Palace wasn’t too far maybe four and a half or four kilometers. A half hours walk at the least, one hour at the most. Ariel yawned as she entered the suburb area. There was less traffic, actually no traffic at this hour. The nice people were all asleep in their warm beds while the bad people hit up alleys to wait for innocent girls to walk by. Ariel grimaced. Innocent wasn’t something that could apply to her. It hadn’t applied to her for a very long time. Oh well. The thought of being taken as innocent amused her and she started laughing mid yawn. Fatigue was doing its best to pull her eyes shut.
“Ah damnit.” Ariel paused and rummaged in her bag for an energy drink. She always carried one or two cans around. There were no stars in the sky, there was no moon, and she could have been in another world with an alien landscape. Funny how the night leeched the familiarity from the world. Someone had asked her today if she was the girl in Alan Luo’s video and Ariel had pretended she didn’t speak mandarin. Ariel grimaced knowing that she’d have to listen to the lecture that Ceci would give her about the responsibility she had towards her fans, about the responsibility as a public persona. “I’m not public property,” Ariel muttered to the night. “Have you ever heard such a ludicrous thing?”
The night was too snooty to answer. “I’m one hundred percent private.” Ariel started walking again after a deep drink. The path stretched long in front of her, washed grey in the darkness.
Suddenly bright car lights blinded her and Ariel sharpened, fatigue cast off. Survival instinct kicked in and all her life’s experiences readied her to face anything that was coming. Two cars. One in front of her. One behind her. The car doors opened. Rainie got out from one car, Selena from the other. Four men accompanied them, two in each car.
“Fancy meeting you here, Ariel.” Rainie chirruped as though they had bumped into each other at a tea party.
“Oh, yeah. I hope you are doing well?” Ariel replied tipping her head. She was aware of everyone’s position.
“Consider this meeting a warning.” All masks were taken off and Selena showed her contempt with her words.
“Some advice. Stay away from Mike. Quit acting. I’ll make it worth your while to disappear.” Rainie got straight to the point.
Ariel’s eyes brightened with laughter. “Money?”
“As much as you want.” Rainie promised.
Ariel laughed, she couldn’t help it, knowing that it wouldn’t do her any good, she still couldn’t help it. Her amusement was apparent in her peals of laughter.
“Listen you bitch, don’t make me hurt you.” Somewhere an owl hooted.
“Am I supposed to shake in my panties? Are your threats supposed to be scary?” Ariel leaned forward curiously.
“They are not empty threats, Ariel Lin.” Selena spoke.
“Oh I’m sure they are not. Hit me then. I’m not going to defend myself. Unprovoked assault. Criminal record. How does that sound to you?”
“You are assuming you that they’ll believe you, that is…if we let you live.” The vicious side of Rainie made an appearance.
“Wow Rainie, you must be really scared of me. To go to such extents – this is quite a compliment, you know.” Ariel reveled in the danger. She loved not knowing what was going to happen next. This was the greatest aphrodisiac.
“Are you not scared?” Selena frowned. Usually by this time, they would crumple to the ground and beg for mercy.
“Oh no. Hit me. Come on.” Ariel practically dared them.
The bushes rustled them and the men turned in sharp attention. A dark figure shot out, a kick, a slash of the hands and two of the men kissed the earth. Rafael melted out of the darkness.
“I should have known you were there.” Ariel sounded disgusted. “Couldn’t you have offered me a ride?”
“What do you want me to do with them?” Rafael spoke in mandarin, his accent making the language sound exotic. Dangerous.
“It’s okay.” Ariel said firmly.
“Verdad?” He slipped back into Spanish.
“Si.” Ariel replied in kind.
And he disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared. “There goes my ride,” Ariel muttered grumpily. She turned to Rainie who was watching intently, who had been watching the interaction white faced and confused. Out of her depth.
“This is not a game for little girls, Rainie.” Ariel picked up her bag from where she had dropped it. “I’ve warned you and you,” she nodded at Selena who was looking uneasy, “don’t say I haven’t warned you. Wolves play in this playground and you, sister, just turned out to be Red Riding Hood.” Shouldering her bag, she walked past Rainie, past Selena, past the men on the ground, past the two men who still stood waiting for orders. She walked away and the night welcomed her into its fold.
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Rainie walked slowly back up the pathway to the building she had a penthouse in. Rode the elevator up. Her mind was churning as she unlocked the door. She lived alone and sometimes the palatial place seemed like a tomb. A mausoleum of superficial comforts and none of the soul soothing ones. The things a body needed, like love and family. And warmth. A sense of shame flooded her. When had she become like this? A parody of the woman she had always wanted to be. She was successful, rich, beautiful and oh so empty. She had climbed the ladder and reached the top. But at what expense? She had sold her virtue, her morality, her humanity. And for what? At the end of it all, who was she? A bit of expendable plastic, someone to sell. Someone to make profit off. Was this what she had wanted?
Rainie hurt. And because she hurt she wanted to lash out at the world. Specifically the one person who kept on incurring her wrath. Ariel Lin.
She flipped on the light switch and walked into the living room.
“We have been waiting for you, Miss Yang.” A man’s silky voice said and Rainie stopped short, fear rushing up her throat.
Two men, dressed in expensive suits, sat on her couch. Seemingly at home. Who could they be? Stalkers? Rabid fans? Rainie inched her hands toward her cell phone, the police were on her speed dial.
“Please sit down.” The men were foreign, Rainie realized. Of the Caucasian variety.
“Who are you?” She finally found her voice.
“Who we are doesn’t matter. Who we work for is not a matter of consequence…yet.” The taller of the two men said. Menace exuded from his every pore.
“What do you want?” There was a tremble in her voice.
“Our sources tell us that you are responsible for the current trash being published about Ariel Lin.” The shorter man said.
Rainie flushed. It had been a dirty but necessary trick.
“So?” She jutted out her jaw.
“You realize this is slander? That we can sue you?” Rainie’s heart slammed in her chest. These men meant business.
“And who would take you seriously? I am Rainie Yang.” That’s who she was.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, Miss Yang. If we decided to fight a case against you, we would win. This is not a matter of discussion. It’s a simple fact. Count yourself lucky that all we are here to do is warn you. Cease your unwarranted attack on Ariel Lin.”
“Or else…?” The fear wasn’t quite gone.
The two men stood up. The taller man smiled, chillingly, terrifyingly. “Or else you’ll make our job much more interesting. House calls get so tedious. We’ll say goodbye now. Whether we meet again or not is up to you.”
Rainie stood for a long time in the same spot after the men had left. She counted her heartbeats. Fear faded and a warm rush of welcome anger took its place. The anger was a whole lot more welcome than the uncomfortable depression of a few minutes ago.
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Rosa must have told him, Ariel decided. Big mouth Rosa. Wait until she got home. Ariel was working another late shift and Arron was present, dressed in army fatigues with his cap pulled lowed over his eyes. Not that it helped. He still stuck out like a virgin in a playboy magazine.
“Excuse me, are you Arron Yan?” One of the bolder girls took the initiative while her group of friends giggled and whispered in a distance. Arron looked as though he would answer yes but Ariel scowled at him as fiercely as she could.
Arron faltered. Then smiling a quick smile, he adopted a thicker brogue and said, “No ma’am. My name is Billy. Just waiting for my girlfriend here.”
Five pairs of envious eyes swung towards her and Ariel grimaced. “Omg, she’s the one from the music video!” One doe-eyed girl whispered excitedly. “What was her name? Ariel Lin!”
Ariel quickly grabbed John’s name tag. “My name is John.” She said before the bold girl could say anything.
“John?”
“John.”
Arron started laughing. Ariel shot him a dirty look.
“Did you want to order a drink?” Ariel asked the over eager fan.
“N-no.” The girl stuttered and Ariel stared at her in pointed dismissal.
“You don’t make much of a bodyguard.” Ariel growled at the grinning Arron.
“I’d love to guard your body.” Arron leered.
“I will kick your ass and call you di* if you continue with the innuendos.” Ariel threatened. “Besides, what are you going to do if Rainie arrives with her goons?”
“See my muscles?” Arron flexed.
“No.” Ariel replied with a straight face.
“Hmph.” Arron grumbled.
Just then the doors of the café swung open and Rainie stormed in. The patrons of the café drew a collective breath at her beauty. She was dressed in a light brown dress which shimmered like stars, lips were kissed with a potent red and eyes glittered from under heavily lined lids. She walked straight to Ariel and stood in front of her without saying a word.
Ariel was washing a mug. She took her time, conscientiously scrubbing it, rinsing it and then finally drying it. A good five minutes later she looked up. “How may I help you?”
Rainie said nothing. The café held its breath.
“A bit overdressed for just coffee, aren’t you?” Arron smirked at Rainie.
“Shut up!” Rainie turned to Arron and hissed. And then turning back to Ariel, “Sending strange men to threaten me, is that how you roll?” She bit out. She almost but didn’t quite manage to hide the fear.
“Foreign men?” Ariel raised an eyebrow. She had straightened from her idle pose. Her eyes were shuttered and her shoulders tense.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know!” Ariel read the yes in Rainie’s words.
Ariel sighed. All she wanted to do was get a little bit of revenge. Why’d things have to get so complicated?
“I’d tell you to quit bugging me but you won’t listen, will you?” One look at Rainie’s face confirmed her statement. “Yeah, I didn’t think so either. About those men? I had nothing to do with them but…sigh. Tread carefully, little girl. You play with things best left alone.”
Ariel jumped over the counter and walked out calling back to Arron, “Don’t get you knickers in a knot, I need to go do something. I’ll be back.”
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Author's note: Things are slowly falling into place. Thank God. I like this chapter. Lots. Specially the Ariel/Rainie+Selena showdown. Ariel just somehow impresses the hell out of me. I think this might be a turning point in the story but what would I know. Wait, aren't I supposed to know? Oh dear.