| Fan Fiction |
by Chandra
“I’ve got a pulse and a blood pressure.” Sighs could be heard all over the room.
“That was close.” Perspiration poured off Rain’s face. Her knuckles were white from gripping the sides of Jimmy’s bed. She heard him moan and she sagged, feeling her knees give away. An arm went around her shoulders.
Raymond said, “We got him back. He heard you, Rain, and came back.” Her brain refused to comprehend Raymond’s message.
“From where?”
“From death,” He whispered.
Hours ago, they were eating and chatting freely until a phone was called from the hospital. Raymond had immediately rushed back and briefly told Rain about Jimmy’s condition. It had worsened and Rain suddenly had the thought of wanting to follow him. And she was so glad she did because Jimmy Li was still alive and she didn’t know why she was happy.
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Tavia opened her eyes abruptly, as though waking from a nightmare, conscious of her heart pounding and the sound of her quick, shallow breathing in the otherwise silent room. She couldn’t remember the dream, but her shaking body and runaway pulse told her it had been a bad one. She closed her eyes for several minutes concentrated only on calming down.
Gradually, Tavia’s heart slowed and her breathing steadied. Okay. Okay. That was better. Much better. She didn’t like being scared. She opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling. Gradually a niggling awareness of something being different made her turn her head slowly on the pillow so that she would look around the room. It wasn’t her room. She wasn’t in her mother’s room either. Was she in the hospital or what?
The last thing Tavia remembered was someone calling her name and he looked oddly familiar. The next thing she knew was the world around her going in a circle and she felt dizzy. Suddenly, Ron ran toward her from the doorway. Tavia immediately found herself caught tightly in his arms, so tightly she wasn’t sure if it was her heart or his pounding so wildly.
“Tavia! You’re awake, don’t ever scare me again.” His voice was full of fury and yet of worry.
“What happened to me?” She managed to say but why did her body feel so appallingly weak?
“You fainted. The doctor said you didn’t eat and sleep enough, so fatigue overcomes you.” Ron paused, staring deeply into her eyes. “Tavia, it’s not good for your health if you continue that way.”
“Stop worrying. I’m just tired, that’s all.” Tavia assured him as she smiled, acknowledging Ron’s concern. She realized that her heart had accepted him as she reminisced their kisses. She can’t believe she had let Ron kiss her, but how can she not when Tavia knew that Ron truly loved her.
”You need to be strong for your mother. You need to be healthy.” Tavia’s heart squeezed at the misery in his voice.
And Tavia was barely conscious of her hand as it moved up to touch his face. She traced his cheekbone with her fingertips, moving slowly from that smooth, tanned skin to the masculine bristles along his jaw-line. Her fingers left his chin to slide up behind his neck, and the fingers of her other hand joined them. His shirt was blue, and it was wonderfully soft. He didn’t move; he seemed to be holding his breath. The muscles of his neck were warm and firm under her hands, and his eyes were sparkling with a message only a dunce could misinterpret. She had a feeling her looked the same.
That luscious lower lip of hers trembled again, the color draining from her face. Ron couldn’t stand it; he pulled her against the crook of his neck and rocked her, murmuring soft words of comfort. Tavia felt fragile and small and more womanly than Ron had expected. Protect instincts kicked in, warring with a sudden realization that her breath was tickling his neck, and the subtle scent of her feminine perfume was awakening sensations better left dormant.
___
Bosco had seen her. She was with another man, in his arms. How the image brought a distressing feeling to him. And when he had tried to approach her, she was already disappearing. The reminiscence of moments ago disturbed Bosco that he hit his hands against the wall. He knew it was Tavia. It must be her. How can someone resemble her and have the same name like the girl he just saw. It was no coincidence, but Fate never gave him a chance to really meet her. Afterward, he was also distracted by his father’s appearance with another man.
As a result, Bosco followed them toward an empty hallway. Curiosity got the best of him for he wondered what his father was doing here. His father, Gilbert Lam, had not told Bosco that he would visit the hospital this morning.
Unexpectedly, Bosco stopped midway when he didn’t see the two men anywhere. It seemed as if they were vanishing into the darkness of the room. Minutes later, Bosco heard the voices. There were two of them, angry male voices that were a bit muffled. They came from the other room. His first impulse was to get out as fast as he could, his instincts urging him not to be curious, to get away while he had the chance. But intellect prevailed. Bosco stood a better chance of hearing if he moved cautiously and silently to slip past the open door unnoticed by the men inside.
Hardly breathing, keeping close to the wall and moving with utmost care, Bosco eased down the hall toward the lighted doorway. As he neared it, the voices became distinct.
“…You must have been out of your mind to let Bosco Wong be a doctor at this hospital.” There was something familiar about that voice, but before Bosco could probe his memory to identify it, the second man spoke.
“You told me to adopt him and make his life better. This is what I’m doing. So what are you fussing about?”
A coldness deeper than anything Bosco had ever felt before washed over him, and the dizziness returned far worse than before, forcing him to lean against the wall and close his eyes, to swallow the sick terror welling up from a dark nightmare place inside him.
The need to get away was overwhelming, because he didn’t want to hear the bitter truth, the cruel reality. But Bosco forced himself to move slowly, one step at a time, down the hall. As he crept nearer, the voices grew loudly, more distinct.
“I killed them!! Do you know how many years this guilt has carried within my heart? Their deaths still haunt me till this day.”
“You didn’t mean to, Alec. It was an accident, and nobody knows.” There was a moment of tense silence inside the room, and Bosco edged closer. Were they facing him?
“But it was my carelessness and drunkenness that caused them their deaths, Gilbert.” Gilbert. Oh, God…. It was his adopted father. That realization stabbed through Bosco; he knew why Gilbert Lam had adopted him, why he had been so nice to Bosco.
___
He wondered if, like him, she ever had to confront her own personal ghosts. And as he watched her sleeping so peacefully, with just the slightest hint of a smile at the corners of her mouth, it was hard for him to imagine the pain she must have endured these long years. Yet he did not try to fool himself. He knew she had suffered. Still, he clung to that trace of a smile on Ruby’s lips, because he knew that their meeting, when she awakened, will be the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.
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“How are you doing?” His voice was deep and warm, his smile friendly. He grasped her wrist lightly as he stood by the bed, discreetly taking her pulse.
Ruby wet her lips and said huskily, “Where’s Alec?”
Her voice sounded rusty and unused, and her throat felt scratchy. He didn’t look surprised, she was probably worried that where did her husband and daughter go.
“Don’t worry; he just left to take care of some business.”
Ruby tried not to cry out in fear. “You know, I never got the chance to say thank you.”
“It has been a long time. Don’t stir up the events of the past.” He said soothingly.
“I miss my daughter, Rick.” She waited to see his reaction before she asked; because it was the most troubling question Ruby had wanted to ask all along. “Do you know where she is?”
And then Ruby had seen something different in his eyes. She closed her eyes and opened them slowly, finding that Rick Lam was avoiding her gaze. But there was a little hope in that, with all the questions and worries overwhelming her. And panic. A deep, terrifying panic.
“Listen to me, Ruby.” His voice was harsh and malicious. “There’s no reason for you to go back and dig up the things that happened in the past. Your husband Alec is worried about you, he has getting weak and tired, whereas your daughter Tavia is sick and troubled because of your illness. And now all you do is trying to find your dead daughter?”
The astonishing information made her panic recede somewhat, and she was bewildered and hurt. He was lying. He must be. Ruby felt tears prickle and burn. And Dr. Lam was watching her regretfully and sadly. He grasped her hand and held it strongly.
“I’m sorry, Ruby.”
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Chandra
06/21/07
A Preview for Upcoming Chapter
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“What about us?” Bosco managed to say as she was inching the car out of the lot. “Is there a chance for me?”
Tavia rolled down the window and stared up at him. Then she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she said. “I need time, Bosco. It’s all of a sudden and you appear unexpectedly.”
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“I thought I would die before seeing you again. Fate is really cruel sometimes.” He whispered.
Jimmy hesitated a moment. His eyes met her, and she perceived some surprise. “You think?”
He asked softly. “Of course. Can’t you see? Now that I see you, everything’s too late.”
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