| Fan Fiction |
by DTLCT
“I wonder who's the guy that Kevin's talking about,” Mandy pondered aloud. “You want to walk over there and check it out?”
“Do you believe what Kevin said is true?” Charmaine asked, looking at her roommate with curious eyes.
“Going over there would confirm or disprove it. Besides, it sounds too much like a gangster movie. Don't tell me you believe him.”
Charmaine grins. “No way! He might be nice but he sounded like he watched too many cop movies.”
Mandy stands up from her spot at that time. “Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go check it out!”
Charmaine gets up also and follows Mandy to the door. Mandy opens the door and steps out into the hallway. Charmaine is right behind her. They walk couple steps to their neighbor's door. Mandy suddenly feels a surge of uneasiness running through her. She turns back to look at Charmaine before knocking lightly on the door.
“Are you girls crazy?” A guy’s voice asked behind them.
Both Charmaine and Mandy jump. They turn around to see Kevin standing in front of his door.
“You scared the world out of us,” Charmaine chided, walking towards him.
“Just in time too,” Kevin said back.
Mandy is still standing next to the door but is having her back to it since she's listening to the conversation between Charmaine and Kevin.“Stop with the mysterious tone. We're just saying hi, okay? I'm sure he won't bite us.”
“He might.”
“Stop it,” Charmaine said. “You're just jumping to conclusions.”
“Come on. Do you girls live here longer or do I?”
“You said he only comes out at night, but are you around during the day to see that he comes out or not?”
Kevin scratches his head. “Ummm...I usually work during the day. I only heard my roommate and some of the guys around here said so.”
Charmaine gives Kevin a disapproving look. Kevin looks down and around, not looking at Charmaine. It seems like he's caught red-handed doing something he shouldn’t be.
Mandy turns to face the door and knocks again – this time a bit louder. A "thump thump" sound is heard inside. Following by is a creaking sound vibrating eerily near the door. Mandy turns to look at Charmaine. Charmaine glances at Kevin and then at Mandy. The three look anxious and nervous at the same time. Then the door swings open. Mandy spins around quickly, putting a bright smile on her face in the process. That smile turns into a surprised expression instead. The reason is because they see a girl at the door instead of the "crazy guy next door" like Kevin said.
“Can I help you?” The girl asked, her smile brightly lit on her face.
Mandy puts that bright smile back on her face. “Hi! We're your new neighbors. We just moved in today. We just want to meet all our neighbors. I'm Mandy and this is my roommate, Charmaine.” She pauses briefly to point at Charmaine. “And you probably know Kevin.”
“I'm Alice, Wallace's sister,” The girl said. “And actually I don't know Kevin because this is my first time coming here.” She looks a bit nervous – as if caught doing something she shouldn’t like how Kevin was earlier. But she soon recovers and continues with her friendly attitude, extending her hand out towards Mandy. “Nice to meet you all.”
Charmaine steps up to shake Alice's hand also. Kevin hesitates a bit before doing the same.
“Sorry for not opening the door fast enough before,” Alice apologized. “I was in the shower.”
None of them noticed that before even though Alice's hair is still dripping wet. They were too busy being shocked and paranoid, plus trying to figure out why there's some girl here instead of a guy – Wallace. Now that Alice clarifies it, other things begin to come into focus.
Kevin sneaks a glance past Alice into the living room at that time.
Alice smiles. “You guys want to come in? It's better to talk inside than standing in the hallway like this.”
Mandy smiles back. “That's great.” Although she says that but she hesitates a bit. “But are you sure Wallace is okay with it?”
Alice nods. “I'm sure he's fine with it.” She moves aside for them to enter after saying that.
Before Kevin could step in, someone calls his name from far away. He turns around and walks back out. Charmaine and Mandy also turn around to see what's going on. They could see a guy in gray T-shirt and black pants running towards them and stopping in front of Kevin.
“We have a new assignment,” The guy announced. “Let's go before Mr. Cho changes his mind.”
Kevin turns to Alice. “Sorry. Duty calls.”
“It's okay,” Alice reassured him with a smile.
The other guy finally realizes who's standing there also so he puts on his best smile. “Who are these pretty ladies?”
“Charmaine and Mandy just moved into 7B,” Kevin informed him, pointing at the girls as he said their names. “Alice's Wallace's sister.”
“I'm Ray,” The guy said. “Kevin's roommate and partner.”
Alice and Mandy smiled as he introduced himself, but Charmaine just nodded slightly.
“I thought you said we have to hurry,” Kevin reminded his roommate.
“Right!” Ray exclaimed, feeling foolish. “I forgot. Let's go.”
The guys wave goodbye to the girls and head off.
“Well, let's go in, shall we?” Alice said to the other two, gesturing her hand towards her brother’s apartment.
Charmaine and Mandy walk into the living while Alice closes the door.
“You can sit down anywhere,” Alice said, joining them after she closed the door. “What do you two want to drink?”
“It's okay,” Charmaine said. “We'll just stay awhile. We need to go buy some things later before 7.”
Alice brightens up at that time. “You two want to go shopping?”
“Yes!” Mandy shouted out with much excitement.
“You two sit tight. I'll go change and then we can go.”
Charmaine and Mandy sit down on the couch and look over some fashion magazine that was lying on the coffee table. They analyze the trends and discuss promotion techniques that were being used on some of the Ads. They're so absorb in the subject that they didn't hear a clicking sound on the lock and the front door being opened. At least not until it's too late.
“Who the world are you?!?!” A guy’s voice boomed over them. “What are you doing in my house?”
Charmaine and Mandy jump up from the couch, almost screaming out. They turn around to see who it is.
In front of them is a 20-something guy in a black suit, holding his keys. He looks very handsome, except there's a livid expression on his face so the two girls do not know what to say for a moment.
“Well?” The guy demanded. “Aren't you going to leave?”
Charmaine snaps back to alertness at that time, having recovered from the initial shock. “We can explain. You must be Wallace, right?”
“Yeah, but I don't know you.”
“We just moved in next door. We just come over to meet our new neighbors. That's all.”
“Your sister let us in,” Mandy chimed in, finally finding her voice.
Wallace's features soften a bit, but his eyes still travel from Charmaine to Mandy, back and forth, studying them.
“Wallace!” A voice called out from across the room.
Charmaine and Mandy turn to where the voice comes from. Wallace snaps his attention towards the voice. They see Alice standing between the kitchen and living room. Alice had change into a yellow t-shirt and jeans. She had put her hair up in braids. She runs to Wallace and hugs him, almost knocking him over. Wallace pries her hands off, but still holds her at arm's length.
“I thought you're coming tomorrow,” Wallace said, eyeing his sister suspiciously. “What's going on here? I almost thought that these young ladies here are intruders.” He glances over Alice's shoulder to give Charmaine and Mandy an apologetic smile to which they smile back. “You should have called me first. This place isn't safe as it looks.”
“I was going to call you,” Alice explained, still smiling. “But I thought I would give you a surprise!”
“You gave me a surprise all right,” Wallace mocked, releasing her shoulders and walking towards the living.
“I think we bother you two enough already,” Charmaine said. “We should go.”
Wallace smiles. “It's okay. It was just a misunderstanding. I'm Wallace Huo…” He extends his hand out to Charmaine. “…and you probably know Alice already since she let you in.”
After handshakes and another round of introduction, they settle down for some iced tea. Charmaine, Mandy, and Alice sit on the couch while Wallace makes the iced tea. Charmaine and Mandy realize that Wallace isn't like what Kevin said before. Or maybe Kevin's trying to play a prank on them since they're new.
“Wallace!” Alice called out. “Oh my gosh! Your tea is so good! How did you make it? I'm a food expert and I can't even figure out the ingredients.”
Wallace walks out of the kitchen with his glass in hand and sits down at the chair to Alice's right. “It's a secret.” He lets out a secretive smile after that.
Alice grabs Wallace's left hand and shakes it. “Come on! You're soooo mean! I'm your sister.”
Wallace smiles again. “I'm a professional. I know where the line between business and personal lies.”
“But I'm almost graduating. I need to find a special type of food or drink to do my project on or I can't graduate.”
“Go out and explore,” He advised his sister, taking a sip of tea out of his glass before continuing. “And I don't mean to the nearest shopping center either.”
“Arrggggg....You're so mean.” She shakes Wallace in the process causing him to laugh even louder.
Charmaine and Mandy couldn't help but laugh at the two siblings.
After Alice gives up with her pursue in finding out about Wallace's iced tea ingredients, Wallace turns his attention to Charmaine and Mandy.
“So?” Wallace began. “What do you girls do?”
“Mandy and I work for Kwok Enterprise,” Charmaine replied.
“We work in the Design Department,” Mandy added. “She's my boss.”
“Kwok Enterprise?” Wallace asked. “The one couple blocks down from here?”
Charmaine and Mandy nod in unison.
“I think I did some Ads with you guys before.”
“What is your company called?” Charmaine asked, curious.
“Ying Ying's Investment. And it's not my company. It's my friend's father's.”
“Ying Ying?”Mandy asked. “The name sounds familiar. Isn't that down by the police station?”
Wallace grins. “Great place to be, huh?”
Charmaine looks at her watch out of habit. “It's getting late now. I think we should go.”
Everyone stands up. Wallace puts his glass down and walks the girls to the door.
Alice’s still sitting at her spot but she turns towards the door and yells out to the others, “See you two later! I have to go study for my tests.”
Mandy turns sideway. “What is your field of study?”
“Food Journalism.”
“No wonder.” She finally understands why Alice was nagging Wallace before for his ingredients.
Alice smiles at Mandy. Mandy turns back to follow Charmaine out. Wallace had opened the door, waiting for her.
“Thanks for tea,” Charmaine said to Wallace.
“Anytime,” Wallace said, smiling. “See you girls around.”
He closes the door after that.
© Friday, April 6th, 2007
Re-posted: Friday, October 9th, 2009