| Fan Fiction |
by Chandra
“Good morning.” His voice, a little abrupt, was softened by a quick smile. “The coffee’s hot, and everything’s out on the counter in the cafeteria.”
“Thanks.” Tavia decided to leave him and busied herself.
Though many questions she had wanted to inquire Raymond about her mother’s condition, she didn’t dare asking him. She was too aware of him for her peace of mind, especially when he came to the other side of the counter to pick up his coffee cup.
Raymond caught her gaze and he sipped the coffee before he set it on the table. “It’s been two days already. Stop acting like you killed someone.”
“But – but your mother saw us together that morning. Won’t she suspect anything?”
“She was tired from the business trip; you’ll think she’ll have the energy to notice us?” Still seeing the worried expression on Tavia’s face, Raymond continued. “Besides, I already explained to her that it was an accident and we were drunk.”
With a relieved sigh, Tavia turned around to face him. “How long is my mother going to wait for transplant?”
Although Raymond knew she was changing the subject, he answered. “We have to wait for Dr. Wong to give us the notice of the surgery. After all, he is the surgeon of the kidney transplantation.”
The instant Raymond announced the name ‘Dr. Wong’, Tavia began to shake uncontrollably. She broke down onto the floor, burying her face in her hands with bewilderment
Shocked at her behavior, Raymond bent down and held her arms. “What’s wrong?” He asked.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s nothing, really.” Her teeth were rattling so loudly she wasn’t sure her words were getting through. “Thanks for the information. You could go now, I’m fine.’
“Like hell you are!” He argued. “You’re shaking like a leaf.” He wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her to his chest.
“Tell me what happened,” Raymond whispered, so close Tavia could feel his breath on her ear. “Maybe it will help.”
Tavia thought for a moment, maybe two. Then she started talking. Perhaps doing so was easier because she was still so shell-shocked – or perhaps it mattered that he was behind her, where he couldn’t see her face. Whatever broke her resistance, she did what she had never before found the strength to do. She recounted the encounter with Bosco and how she had overheard her father and Bosco’s conversation. Every grim detail.
Raymond listened to her without a word. His only response was to shift his weight now and then, and though Tavia realized he must be getting uncomfortable, she was powerless to pull away from him. The feel of his arms around her seemed to be only link to the present.
“He is coming after my mother,” she told him, so quietly she could hardly hear herself. “He wants to make my father suffer.”
Tavia snuggled closer, wishing she never had to leave the safety of Ray’s arms. At the same time, the tender moment felt a little strange, given what had taken place earlier that evening. How could she be holding him when he wasn’t the person she loved? She wondered.
“Revenge.” She said. “What a terrible word.”
“Depends on how you look at it.” Ray replied instantly. Then he knew he was going to regret it because she raised her head up to his level. And something shifted in her eyes, because at first he supposed he saw fury and resentment, and then it turned into sadness.
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Dark clouds had rolled in, obliterating the dwindling sunshine and casting shadows across the streets, full of people, but the looming bad weather hadn’t deterred the crowd.
“Where are you going?” Ron asked worriedly. Dread and fear pervaded his body as he saw Rain walk away from him.
She didn’t reply, instead she quickened her pace, trying to get away from him and the hotel as far as possible.
“It’s going to rain. Let me take you home.” He ran after her and grabbed her wrist.
Rain shook her hand out of his grasp. Her eyes burned. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and tried to think of something to say, to make him leave her alone.
“I don’t have a house, so just let me go.” She wept. Ron was wordless as he stood motionlessly. “And don’t you worry; I’m not going to the police department if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“I deserve to get punished for my sin.” He murmured softly to himself.
She had thought of this. The idea struck him hard. What if he really was going to jail? Panic began to consume his mind as Ron stared at her. Furthermore, his life will end if she decided to charge him for rape crime. Yet, an instinct told him that she won’t.
“I’m letting it go. Please!” Rain begged. “Just go away.” The feminine voice was frightened, a soft denial, almost pleading.
Ron watched her silently for another moment, and then growled in hopelessness. “Sorry, Rain. But I can’t leave you like this.”
Then all of a sudden, thunder roared above the sky. Gradually, so gradually that at first Rain hardly noticed, as darkness closed around her. She could see nothing. Feel nothing except the sense of heaviness all around her, of walls too close to bear. She was trapped, helpless.
“I’m taking you to the hospital.” Rain heard an alarmed voice before she lost consciousness.
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The sky darkened early with an August storm, one of those weather systems that seemed to circle a place warily, thunder rumbling and lightning flashing, while it decided if it wanted to strike.
Alec wondered if it was an omen, and tried not to let himself believe that. But it was hard not to. The night and the storm had closed in, cutting him off and making it impossible for his heart not to panic and worry. The only thing he can do was to pray, hoping that his wife would recover. He hated the night.
It was impossible to sit still. Alec had learned weeks ago that when he was barred from doing anything to help Ruby, he had to keep himself busy with mundane activities. It kept him grounded. Kept him sane. At least, Alec hoped it did.
___
After Raymond had gone to check on other patients, Tavia comprehended how ridiculous she was to pour out her heart to another man, especially a man she had no feelings toward. She was a mess. Perhaps she was acting in such way because her emotions were in a total chaos. Tavia tried to reason with herself, because she knew she was mortified with her actions lately.
And as she hurried downward to her mother’s room, her heart pumped with anger. Tears of frustration welled in her eyes. Rays of light lanced in at her from windows revealing surprising roofs-cape vistas. It was raining. The ancient tiles wore sheen of wetness. Clouds hung low over the city, coating it in a mood of marble gray. But Tavia didn’t mind. The climate in Hong Kong was a subtle kind of revelation.
Then he was there in front of her. He didn’t move, only stood there staring at her. Tavia took a step closer to him, and Bosco almost reached out to touch her, to pull her into his arms. But he stopped abruptly when Tavia froze.
“You won’t let it go, don’t you?” She spoke, turning to gaze blankly out the window.
Bosco longed to tell Tavia he was sorry for everything he did. He needed so desperately to hold Tavia, to kiss her, to make everything right. But her one question cut straight to his heart.
“Tav, I –” The look she gave him then told him everything. She wasn’t willing to forgive him – she had Raymond now. He was wrong to think any different. He had seen the two so intimate and friendly a while ago. It made his blood boil.
Tavia saw the darkness in him, spreading like a stain over his soul. And she was afraid to put her trust in him. The love she had for Bosco had already evaporated. It was replaced with hatred and disgust.
Her tone went from cold to formal. “It’s nice seeing you again. I have to go now.”
She sounded as if she were speaking to a total stranger, someone she never knew. Maybe, to her, that’s what Bosco had become. Bosco wanted to say something more, but he couldn’t. The tone of her voice stung him more than the slap she had given him few days earlier. The memory brought an ache to his heart.
And all Bosco could do was open the door and walk outside. The night had never felt so cold. When he heard the door shut behind him, he shivered. Rain was pouring heavily down from the dark sky, hitting hard on the ground, competing with the gusting wind. It should have been a beautiful scene, but it wasn’t. It looked incredibly lonely and heartbroken. Bosco knew he had made a terrible mistake.
__
Across the lobby, thirty feet away, was the door to the emergency room. Opposite, the doors to her. They were so near, yet they were so very far. And there was no more precious time to lose in the urgency of the moment.
Jimmy immediately took the chance as he sneaked unnoticed into Ruby’s room. Her husband Alec Su was in the doctor’s office discussing the procedure of the surgery. How Jimmy hated the man and yet they were sharing the same sorrow, the feeling of anxiety and apprehension. Her husband, Alec Su, as Jimmy had discovered, was no more exhausted than Jimmy had been.
As he entered the room, Jimmy didn’t see the nurses. There, Ruby lay vulnerably on the bed, her body attached to tubes and IVs. Few days ago, she had looked healthy in the wheelchair. And when he had decided to have a face-to-face exchange with her husband and Rick, Jimmy had turned around and his heart had stopped beating the moment Ruby fell out of the wheelchair.
Jimmy still heard the echo of his earlier denial to Ruby, and wondered if everything he felt was branded on his forehead like neon. He had learned that she was having a kidney failure. He had been separated from her for two decades and now seeing her again, Fate had to take her away from him. The image flashed through his mind at the thought. Her husband and the doctor had rushed in from the garden. Immediately, Ruby was put back on the dialysis.
Her eyes glinted with tears as she looked up at him.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Ruby whispered.
“But it kills me not to see you.” He looked down at her with the desperation of the damned. Which way would it go?
“I love you. You know that, don’t you? I love you so much, Jimmy.” A tear squeezed from her eye and she trembled on the edge of her future.
“Tavia,” she said, “… and Alec. They need me. I promised … so long ago.” Her tears ran free and his arms tightened a round her.
He reached out to hold her, and she allowed herself to be swallowed up in his arms.
“It’s going to be all right,” he said, but a desperation in the strength of his embrace implied that he did not believe the words he spoke.
She lay there passive in his arms, astounded that she could feel so suddenly indifferent to him. That she was naked seemed a strange coincidence. That he held her so tenderly and yet so vehemently seemed an odd irrelevance.
As she talked of it, the warmth came back in drafts amidst the overriding emotional chill of the bedside vigil. And then quite suddenly Ruby realized that she wanted to see Alec again, wanted very badly to see him.
Suddenly, a shadow stepped into the room. Her face instantly reflected the shock and horror at the sight a cuddling couple. She could see the burden fall from the older man’s shoulders. She seemed to straighten visibly and dazed at the confusion of the scene.
Both Ruby and Jimmy turned back to the shadow. Once again the enormity of life and death overshadowed everything. There was nothing on earth didn’t render irrelevant.
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Chandra
08/19/07
A Preview for Upcoming Chapters
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“Mother, how can this happen? How can you say sorry when you’re with another man while father is terrified of your sickness?”
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“I told you before and I’m telling you now that I will always be there for you, and I meant it.” Bosco whispered.
______
“After you were gone, I was so frantic and worried for you, I’ve looked for you everywhere,” He began again, a bit more softly. “I wanted to say sorry, Rain.”
_______
“Why did you do that?” He asked, his voice low.
She turned from the door and looked back at him. She wasn’t sure what he was talking about.
“Do what?” She questioned.
His gaze was unflinching. “Go to Raymond instead of me.”
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