| Fan Fiction |
by DTLCT
“Ge!” Alice called out excitedly. “You look so handsome today!”
“I wear t-shirts and jeans all the time after work, sis,” Wallace reminded his sister. He’s actually wearing a dark blue t-shirt and light blue jeans today. He feels that Cyndi is a simple type of person and wouldn’t like it if he gets all dressy for this date.
“Still, something’s different today!”
Wallace whistles as he walks around. “Where did I put my keys?”
“Right by the door, ge!”
Wallace smacks his forehead with his right hand and goes to the table next to the door to get it. Then he turns to Alice. “Okay, I’m going now. You can do whatever you want but don’t get into trouble.”
“Ge, I’m 22.”
Wallace smiles. “Still….”He opens the front door and steps out into the hallway. Before he closes the door behind him, his cell phone rings. He jumbles around in his pocket for the phone before finding it. “Hello?”
“Where are you, man?” Vincent’s voice boomed across the way. “We’re starting in 15 minutes!”
“What?”
“Don’t tell me you forgot. I remind you yesterday after work.”
“Uh….”
“Remember I told you about the reunion?”
“Yes! Yes!” Wallace yelled out, finally knowing what Vincent’s talking about. “I remembered that one. You said it’s this weekend. It’s today?”
“Yea, I remind you again yesterday and you were saying yea yea when you left. I thought you knew what you’re doing so I didn’t bother you about it anymore.”
Wallace checks his watch. “Vincent, I’ll be there about an hour. I’ll be late. I have to go pick up someone first.”
Vincent finally gets some ideas why Wallace’s forgetful lately “Oh…okay…I’ll see you there. I’ll stall the others for time then.”
“They’re expecting me?” Wallace asked, finally grabbing the doorknob with his left hand and closing the door. He continues on down the hallway towards the elevators while waiting for Vincent to answer.
“Yes. Everyone’s asking for you, Mr. Huo.”
“Why do I detect a bit of sarcasm? Or is it jealousy?”
“Whatever, man. Get over here fast or else!”
“Yes, father!” He turns off his phone after that before Vincent could launch into another lecturing seminar. He rides the elevator down to the lobby and runs out of the building to his car.
He arrives at Cyndi’s apartment in 15 minutes. He pulls his sunglasses off and looks at Cyndi. Cyndi walks out, wearing a sky blue shirt and white jeans. She has her sunglasses on top of her head and ties some part of her hair up, the rest she lets it flow down freely onto her shoulders. Wallace smiles as she gets in.
“Change of plan, Cyn,” Wallace informed, turning sideways to face her. “I forgot that I have to go to my university’s reunion barbecue. Do you still want to go with me? Or should we cancel this?”
“I’m already in the car, silly!” Cyndi teased. “Drive!”
Wallace smiles at his own foolishness. He puts his sunglasses back on and backs out.
It’s a really nice day today. The sun is just right and the wind’s blowing softly by, making the mood dreamier.
Wallace forgets something so he presses speed dial on his phone to call Vincent again. “Hey, man. Where did you say the reunion’s at?”
“Did you even listen to me at all this whole week?”
“Get to the point before I miss some turns.”
Vincent gives him the directions and then decides to launch into an investigation. Wallace shuts the phone off before Vincent could continue further. He smiles over at Cyndi as he puts his phone back to its original place.
They sit in silence as Wallace turns into the street that leads out of the city and into the country area.
“This place is so beautiful,” Cyndi gushed, her eyes brightening upon the change of scenery.
Wallace smiles, feeling the wind on his face.
They arrive at the site 10 minutes later since this road is clear of traffic at the time. They only see one or two car passing by at a time or so. Wallace steps out of the car and goes over to Cyndi’s side to open her door before she could do so herself. They walk towards the area where there’s a little tent set up.
“Vin!” A girl’s voice called out. “Wallace’s here!”
“Where?” Vincent asked.
“He’s walking towards us now.”
“Let me go see. You take over at the grill.”
Vincent walks out and meets Wallace and Cyndi in front of the tent, smiling at them both. “You didn’t get lost, huh? I was afraid you would be since…”
Cyndi looks away in nervousness upon seeing Vincent’s teasing eyes on her.
“Vincent, this is Cyndi,” Wallace said, brushing off Vincent’s teasing antics. “Cyndi, he’s my long time friend, Vincent.”
The two shake hands.
“You’re the new secretary on the 2nd floor next door, right?” Vincent asked.
“Yes,” Cyndi answered automatically.
“You know her?” Wallace asked, turning to Vincent.
“I saw her couple of times when I was looking around for Alyssa,” Vincent answered casually.
Wallace smiles, knowing way too well that Vincent might as well move next door, since he’s always over there "looking around for Alyssa." The only reason that Vincent couldn't do that is because his father owns the company they're working for now, so he can't escape from responsibilities and loyalty to the company.
“Well, let’s go!” Vincent urged, pulling Wallace out of his thoughts. “They’re waiting for you, man. I can’t stall any longer.”
Vincent leads Wallace and Cyndi into the tent, passing several groups of people chatting nearby. They finally reach the back of the tent.
There’s a girl checking on the grill and putting food on different plates. She’s wearing a black silky shirt and faded blue jeans. She has her hair tied loose with a brown scrunchie with some strands loosely to one side of her face. The wind blows it back and forth, making her look simple and comfortable at the same time. She smiles at them as they walk in.
“Alyssa, Wallace brought a date,” Vincent announced.
“I can see that,” Alyssa said, looking at Wallace. “How are you doing?” She turns to Cyndi after sending him a teasing smile. “Cyndi Wang the new secretary, right?”
“Hi, Miss Chia,”Cyndi greeted her with much politeness and full of respect.
“Call me Alyssa,” Alyssa said, giving Cyndi a warm smile. “It’s off-work right now.”
Vincent nudges Wallace by the shoulder. “It’s good that your girlfriend and my girlfriend know one another, huh?”
Cyndi looks away while Vincent’s saying that, her face turns a light pink.
“We’re not an official couple yet,” Wallace clarified.
“You will be soon,” Vincent said, clapping Wallace’s shoulder for some encouragements.
“Vin, stop scaring Cyndi,” Alyssa scolded Vincent before giving Cyndi a friendly smile to ease the awkwardness.
“Okay, I’m not teasing anymore,” Vincent said, pulling Wallace aside. “I have to take you to the waiting fans.” He turns back to Alyssa. “Will you entertain Cyndi, hon?”
Alyssa smiles at him and then turns to Cyndi. “Want to help me with the grill?”
Cyndi, relief that Alyssa is so friendly, walks over and helps her. When Alyssa fills up all seven plates on the armrest of the grill, she tells Cyndi to tend the grill while she goes around distributing those. When Alyssa comes back, she brings more pile of plates. She sets the pile of plates down on the armrest and uses one of the big chopsticks to hold onto the plates so it wouldn’t get blown away.
“There’s a reason why Vincent didn’t take you along with Wallace to greet their friends,” Alyssa said, smiling.
“Huh?” Cyndi asked, confused since she’s trying to turn one of the rib pieces over.
“They’re really wild. Vincent doesn’t want to scare you when it’s just your first time here. Plus, you two aren’t together yet. It would avoid a lot of teasing moments. Those guys are quite aggressive, you know.”
Cyndi looks up at Alyssa and smiles. “It’s okay. You don’t have to explain. I understand.”
Vincent comes back at that time – alone.
Alyssa looks behind Vincent, surprised. “What happened to Wallace?”
“The fans want him,” Vincent explained. “I couldn’t get him away from there. The others ordered me to go get them some sodas instead.”
“How nice of them,” Alyssa said. Then she turns to Cyndi with a slightly sly smile on her face. “You want me to get Wallace back here for you?”
“It’s okay,” Cyndi said.
“You know what?” Vincent asked rhetorically. “I’ll get him back for you. Don’t worry.” He puts a reassuring hand on Cyndi’s shoulder before turning to leave again.”
Alyssa’s surprised at Vincent’s sudden serious words, calls after him, “Vincent!”
“What?” Vincent asked, turning around. He’s quite far from them now but still hears her.
“Don’t tell me that Jocelyn is here,” Alyssa said.
“Yea. That’s why Wallace couldn’t come back.”
“Come here.”
Vincent walks back to her. “What, hon?”
Alyssa hands him the tongs that she used to put in more coal just now. “Watch this while I go.”
Vincent takes the tongs from her. “You’re sure that you want to go there?”
“I’m not letting her do this.”
Alyssa leaves before Vincent could say anything else. Cyndi stands there, confused, but doesn’t dare to ask.
“It’s okay!” Vincent said, turning to her. “Don’t worry!”
“I….don’t really know what you two are talking about.”
“It’s better not to know now. Let her handle this.”
Cyndi just looks after Alyssa’s disappearing back, still trying to figure out what’s wrong.
© Saturday, April 14th, 2007
Re-posted: Saturday, October 10th, 2009