| Fan Fiction |
by Chandra
….
The young woman was hysterically crazy. Tavia observed as she entered the room and she was stunned to find the girl’s body in Bosco’s arms. She was probably losing consciousness and Tavia speculated what was her relationship with Bosco.
However, she was distracted with Raymond’s presence as well as the man whom her mother had an affair with. The middle-aged man kept blocking Raymond from attacking Bosco. It seemed as if Raymond was annoyed with Bosco’s action.
“You are a bastard! I should have known your intention the day you came and visited me. You knew all along that she was Ruby’s and mine. Yet you and your father kept it hidden for twenty years.” The man said angrily.
Her heart skipped a beat. She had felt so full of confidence in Raymond, and now here the man was talking as if Raymond was dishonest and sinful. She reached across, grabbed his arm, and stared anxiously into his eyes, to see his reply.
Consequently, Bosco punched Raymond on the face before Raymond could make a comeback at the man. It was too sudden and unexpected for Raymond to dodge the blow.
“If anything happens to Rain, I swear I will go after you.” Bosco shouted loudly at Raymond as he held Rain’s lifeless body. Then he took off and brought her to the ER room.
Not caring about the blood trailing down his mouth from his nostrils, Raymond attempted to go after Bosco. Unfortunately, Tavia held his hand back, preventing him from leaving.
“Can you let me go?” he asked, fumbling for a way out. “If you have questions about her identity, just go ask your mother.”
“I don’t get it.” Tavia muttered, frustrated both by him and her own inscrutable lack of composure. “What does she have to do with my mother?”
“She’s your sister.” Raymond tried to untangle his hand out of her grasp.
“I don’t believe you,” She instantaneously snapped. Tavia cannot have a sister when all along she was Ruby’s only daughter. Raymond was lying. He was doubtlessly speaking nonsense.
Tavia shook her head. A lump was lodging in her esophagus. She was perilously near to tears, and she wasn’t a crier. It was almost as though she were acting in a play she didn’t have the script for. Tavia gazed back at him, her breath coming in ragged spurts. A drop of liquid escaped her left eye, and she swiped at it fiercely.
“The more denial you are, the harder it’s going to be.” Raymond said and soon her hands fell to her sides. He then walked away.
…
Her thought focused on her mother as Tavia reached her house. Now, the knowledge of her mother’s deception had been an earthquake in Tavia’s life, and now nothing was as it had once appeared to be. Tavia worshiped her mother and always believed that Ruby was pure and faithful. Ruby had been the foundation on which Tavia had built everything. Her love had seemed the one constant in her life.
At this moment, Tavia began to wonder why Ruby cheated on her father. Was she not happy and satisfied with Alec? Then she thought of her father and worried how he would react if he knew. Tavia had never been perplexed and scared in her life before.
Paradoxically, the closeness Tavia had thought Ruby and her shared made it infinitely unforgivable. She felt betrayed and hurt by the discovery of Ruby’s another daughter and especially her affair with the man named Jimmy Li.
___
Bosco was back at the hospital, holding Rain’s hand. He stared hard at her, willing her to open her eyes, but the miracle did not happen and his heart felt as weighted as his heavy sigh.
He had run a test on Rain and had found nothing wrong with her body, except that she was pregnant. Rain had gone through so much, and he knew he must keep it a secret from her. He probably had to wait until she recovered from the trauma, hopefully, he’ll find the right time to tell her about her pregnancy.
The night before when he had rushed into the room after hearing her cry, Rain had passed out and fallen into his arms. Now, she wasn’t even waking up yet. It had been almost twelve hours already.
He and the nurses had given Rain the tranquilizer to calm her down mentally and physically. Perhaps, the drugs had strong effect on her. Bosco hoped so because he was worried that the news of her newfound parents might disturb her to the point where she would lose her mind and become insane.
Now, sitting beside her, Bosco could feel the anxiety overwhelming him. Sweat gradually popped out on his forehead, the worried kind of sweat that was far worse than the kind you got from climbing up a steep trail. What if something really had happened?
As if remembering someone, Bosco took a deep breath and turned around to the man behind him.
“Why don’t you get some rest? I will take care of her. And when she wakes up, I’ll let you know.”
Alas, the man didn’t give a reaction or offer a response. He simply stood against the wall, his eyes glued to Rain’s feature, and Bosco wondered what was going through his mind at the moment. Yet, Bosco didn’t bother to ask.
He seemed to be more troubled and upset than Rain, and Bosco couldn’t help but begin to believe if Raymond’s words were true. Could Rain be this man’s daughter? So did that mean that Rain and Tavia were sisters? Everything was chaotic to him. Nevertheless, Bosco must concentrate on Rain and her health. He feared that she cannot take all these news at once.
___
Tavia had no clue where she was going or where she wanted to go. She just knew she had to get away from there. She wanted to erase the scene and start over. She couldn’t possibly have witnessed what she just thought she did. It had to be a mistake. That probably wasn’t even real.
Only when she replayed the event in her head, it was real. She wished she’d not followed Bosco into the room. If she hadn’t come, she would never behold the sight of Bosco embracing the girl. She would have never found out that the girl he was holding and protecting from Raymond was her half-sister. She was all in flux.
Last night, after she had left the hospital, she had a hard time falling asleep. Even though she was so exhausted she thought she’d conk out the second she closed her eyes. Instead she’d lain there thinking. Thoughts of Raymond’s words and his suggestion. She was contemplating of what she should do when she confronted her mother the next day.
The whole morning the next day, she had been in the bathroom at the hospital, vomiting and feeling nauseous. Tavia locked the door and made sure nobody would go in and she could have all the privacy to herself. Then she turned on the water to shut out even the distant rumble of Bosco's raised voice, and stared at her pale face in the mirror.
Odd. Tavia’d never before realized the pain could be a visible, suffering thing in someone's eyes. She looked away, and then focused on her hands lying tense on the vanity top. The terrible anger in Bosco’s voice. There was also a horrible revulsion on Raymond’s face. There was queasiness in the pit of her stomach, and she felt light-headed, dizzy.
"No, she’s not my sister." She murmured, avoiding the reflection of that stricken woman in the mirror.
___
Rain awoke in the middle of the afternoon, totally disoriented and fatigued. Only a lamp in the corner of the wall gave off any light since all the curtains were closed. She lifted her head and glanced around at the dimly lit area.
Although the room was a bit dark, she could see Bosco in the sleeping chair beside her bed, his head bent, his breathing soft and even. There, in another chair across from her sat an unfamiliar shape. He was also asleep.
She moved around the bed, but the effort pained her tremendously. Few attempts to shift her position on the mattress, she inched closer to the window at last. She slowly slid the curtains open to see the external environment.
The cloudy sky outside and the suitably austere building that housed the General HK Hospital mirrored perfectly Rain’s mood. She felt numb, but around the edges of her numbness there were the beginnings of shock and fear.
The memory rushed back to her like a ghost, haunting her soul. Raymond’s admission of his love for her and his intention was never to hurt her. Yet, he had deeply damaged her heart because he had lied to her about her parents.
Then the tears eventually slid down her face. She sobbed; the hiccups became louder and more frequent. The anguish and the bitterness had been held back inside her for so long, now the feelings were immediately evoked. Rain suddenly grew hysterical. She cried and laughed at the same time.
Bosco and Jimmy were instantly awakened by her madness; they opened their eyes, gaping at her. Realizing her frantic behavior, Rain buried her face in her hands and wept with embarrassment.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” The words were muffled.
Bosco stood up and moved forward. He reached out to hold her, and Rain 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.
“I have no parents. I am an orphan.” Rain stated, longing for Bosco to agree with her, to tell her that she was right. However, he didn’t. He shifted his body to the right and his head turned sideways, so that she could see the man.
Beside her, like pallbearers, stood Bosco Wong and the quiet, middle-aged man who could and might be her father. He simply shook his head, a sad expression on his face. He was probably still in denial as she was.
There was a melancholy about him. He was a big man, but there was sadness, loneliness. Rain felt strongly that he was no great fan of life. To that extent, or at least to the extent that he was prepared to let it show, he was less depressed than she was.
Instead of calling him to her, Rain only sobbed her heart out. She and the man were the same, pitiful and abandoned.
Bosco closely clamped his hands down on her tense shoulders and pulled her back so that her body pressed against his, her head to his chest once again.
As if knowing what she was thinking, Bosco consoled. “You don’t have to be alone anymore. You don’t have to fight your battles by yourself. I’m here and will always be here for you.”
___
Raymond shuddered as those haunting moments replayed vividly inside his head. The relief had displayed on Rain’s expression when Bosco had entered the room. She had immediately fallen into his arms. It couldn’t be. It tore his heart apart, knowing that he simply cannot do anything for her, when another man can make her calmed and peaceful.
But the truth was that Raymond was raw, his emotions too close to the surface and all too easily touched. Most of all, he was angry. Angry at Bosco Wong of his possessive attitude toward Rain. Angry at Tavia Su for getting on his nerves. Angry at Rain Li for not believing him.
___
The tears fell down her chin and Ruby ached with helplessness. And loneliness. And regret. So many secrets and falsehoods in the nooks and crannies of her life. She always believed that time would smooth the rough edges of her hurtful deeds and unspoken concerns. But now all was too late. Her husband and daughter had learned about her past.
Minutes ago, Ruby and Alec were discussing about their plans after the surgery. The moment was interrupted when Tavia came into the room, furious and distraught.
“Mom, I want to know the truth, and I believe in whatever you say.”
Ruby nodded her head, not clearly understanding what her daughter was talking about.
“Did you have another daughter named Rain?”
Hearing the query and the noticing the resentment in her daughter’s tone, Ruby felt her knees go weak. She was struggling to catch her breath, so she turned toward the wheelchair for support. She didn’t consider how Tavia would know; instead she contemplated about Rain’s existence.
But Ruby stood still, and there were tears in her eyes. They were tears not for herself but for her daughter who would be alive today. She didn’t know what she would do now. She had no idea where she would go. The future didn’t exist. There was only the terrible agony of the present.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice faint. She got into the wheelchair, turned her back on them all.
“I’m not asking for your apology. Just tell me the truth, mother.” Tavia was on the verge of her intolerance and rage.
Ruby felt Tavia watching her. Her mind was blank. Her energy was gone. There had been arguments about maturity and life before, and Ruby had always won them effortlessly. Now she felt outgunned by the reality that displayed upon them. What’s worst was that her daughter had discovered everything before Ruby had the time to explain.
===============================================================
Chandra
11/22/07