| Fan Fiction |
by DTLCT
They’re at the restaurant next to the seaside. Ray and Kevin are sitting at the railing like they always do. The rest are sitting at a table nearby.
“You were here yesterday afternoon, right?” Ray asked.
Kevin turns to Ray, shocked. “How did you know?”
“I waved to you yesterday, man. You just didn’t pay attention. And I thought I was mistaken. What were you doing here?”
“Uh…..”
“Secret meeting with your girlfriend?” He flashes on his mischievous grin.
Kevin’s face turns a bit pink.
Ray pats Kevin on the shoulder. “Don’t do that, man. You know that I’m looking out for my sister.” He glances quickly in Mandy’s direction before turning back to face the sea again.
“Ray, stop it,” Mandy warned.
“What? You don’t want me to look out for you?”
“It’s not that. You’re harassing Kevin.”
“Ah….looking out for the future boyfriend. I love it.”
Mandy stays silent. Mr. Cho smiles at the siblings.
Ray jumps off the railing finally and turns to face Mr. Cho. “Okay. I’m ready to discuss some more now, Dad.”
Mr. Cho’s expression turns serious again mixed with some anxiety, waiting for Ray to continue.
“Although we forgave you and are willing to talk to you again, but I’m doing it mostly for Mandy.”
“Ray,” Mandy called out, hoping Ray would stop his antics.
Ray puts his right hand up to stop Mandy. “I mean that I don’t want to go home to that cold mansion of yours, that’s all. Maybe I can come to visit but that’s it. We all know where to find each other and I think that’s enough.”
Mr. Cho clears his throat. “All right. If that’s what you want. I can’t force you.”
Mr. Cho looks to Mandy at that point, waiting for her to decide whether she wants to stay at Constant Comfort or come home with him.
Mandy hesitates, looking from Ray to Mr. Cho. She steals a quick glance at Kevin before turning to Mr. Cho. Ray catches that Mandy had glanced at Kevin first before deciding so he smiles, forming a plan in his head at that moment.
“I’m staying with Ray,” Mandy said at last.
Mr. Cho exhales. “All right then.”
Mandy could see Mr. Cho’s disappointed look. “It’s not because I’m still mad at you. I just want to get to know Ray better. And I’d been living with Charm for a while now. I don’t want to change my living habits for now. Even my workplace is nearer at the apartment building than your house.”
“You don’t have to explain. I know. Like Ray said, you two will come and visit me from time to time, right?”
Mandy nods her head. Mr. Cho gives the siblings a smile. A calm, relaxed smile, not the intense expression like before. The air of hostility seems to have lifted. Everyone loosens up again. Ray hops back onto the railing to chat with Kevin while Mr. Cho talks with Mandy and Charmaine.
Half an hour later, Mr. Cho leaves because he receives a call from Cliff about some urgent business. Mandy walks over to the railing and stands next to Ray after saying goodbye to Mr. Cho since Cliff had drove up a few minutes after the call. Ray looks over to her and puts his right arm over her shoulders.
“So, what do you think, sis?” Ray asked. “Not a bad feeling, huh? Letting it go?”
Mandy smiles and looks out towards the horizon of the sea, where a few seagulls are flying overhead.
Charmaine walks up to stand next to Mandy. “So, when are you guys going to move back home?”
“In 10 years,” Ray replied crisply.
“Ray!” Mandy shouted out.
“I’m kidding. Whenever I feel like it. I don’t want to make it so easy for him.”
They stick around until the sun is making its way to the other side. It’s amazing how they could stand and stare out the sea like that and talk. And maybe it’s because they don’t want to go back to their apartment building and face the reality of the murder that happened last night.
When they’re walking back to Charmaine’s car, Ray is in a thinking mode and is shuffling his hands in his pockets when suddenly he raises his right hand up in the air and snaps his fingers.
“What?” Mandy asked, alarmed.
“Why isn’t he worried that we’re going to be harm staying in the building?” Ray pondered. “I mean someone’s dead now. This is serious business.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know yet?” Charmaine suggested.
“Nothing is a secret in this building. Word has already gotten out since last night. Don’t forget the local station was here last night also.”
“Oh yeah, he asked our well being earlier, remember?” Mandy reminded them.
“Yea,” Ray answered, remembering back to when their father arrived.
“Maybe he’s going to hire some bodyguard for us?”Mandy feels strange saying that herself, but she thinks that Ray’s humorous side is rubbing on her now.
Ray rolls his eyes. “Very funny, sis. I’m trying to be serious here.”
“No, Mandy’s got a point here,” Charmaine said. “What if he really is going to hire someone to protect you guys?”
“We’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Sounds like you got a plan, man,” Kevin said. “What is it?”
Ray smiles. “Whoever is the next person to move in is the bodyguard.”
Kevin lets out a chuckle while they’re all getting in the car. Everyone’s deep in thoughts while Charmaine’s driving back to their apartment building.
Ray jumps out of the car faster than lightning once Charmaine parks.
“What’s your hurry?” Kevin asked, surprised at Ray’s behavior.
“I forgot to turn off the stove,” Ray blurted out.
“What?”
Kevin runs after Ray as he’s heading for the elevators.
“I’m kidding!” Ray said. “I was out half of the day, remember? Then when I was back with Mandy, we just stayed for a bit.”
“Then what’s your hurry?” Kevin asked, getting impatient.
“I just thought of something so I need to go look for some file that I was going over yesterday.”
“Regarding Uncle?”
Ray looks puzzled. “Uncle? Oh! Scary, man. You’re starting to call him Uncle now. No, something else.”
Kevin follows Ray as he rushes inside the elevator, not waiting for the girls. The elevator just opened half way, but Ray is already out the door. As they approach their apartment, Ray stops dead in his tracks. Kevin stops right behind him.
“What in the world?” Ray asked. He unfreezes and runs inside the apartment with Kevin right behind him.
Kevin flicks on the light switch since Ray had run right past it.
As the light shines on them, Ray’s expression turns anguish while Kevin’s mouth turns into an O.
“What kind of sick business is this?” Ray demanded to no one in particular. He rummages around the place to see if the rest of the house is as ransacked.
Kevin follows his lead and does the same. A minute later, they hear the girls scream. It’s more like Mandy’s scream. Ray, alarmed, runs back out to the living room.
“What in the world happened here?” Mandy asked, repeating her brother’s question from a minute before.
“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Ray answered.
In the next half hour, Charmaine and Mandy help Kevin and Ray inspect the place to see if anything’s missing. Charmaine insists that they call the cops first, but Ray objects because he doesn’t want to alarm Mr. Cho. Mandy agrees with him and they just go on with their searching. After knowing that nothing is missing, they straighten the whole apartment up like it was before.
They’re all sitting in the living room to rest when it’s completely dark outside.
“I’m going to kill whoever it is when I find out,” Ray mumbled.
“They’re looking for something,” Kevin said.
“Of course they are.”
“Ray,” Mandy said, reminding him of the situation.
“Sorry, man. Just so frustrated.” Ray wipes his face and sighs out before continuing. “We better be more careful from now on.” He turns to Kevin. “You have any enemies, man?”
“You know me more than anyone,” Kevin said. “Of course not.”
“Could it be related to the murder on 5th floor?”
“How? It was on the 5th floor, we’re on the 7th. Those people couldn’t be so dumb to go onto the wrong floor to search, can they?”
Ray rubs his forehead. “Wait.”
“What?”
“Annie used to live here.”
“So?”
“Come on, man! Put two and two together already. The target is Annie. They’d been going through a lot to get at Annie. So…” He pauses for emphasis. “…they search her apartment for something – possibly valuables or some documents – but they couldn’t find it. So they’re like, ‘Wait, it might be at her old apartment’, so they’re here. Get it?”
Kevin takes some time to think it over. He laughs out all of a sudden.
“What? Don’t believe me?”
“No. It just sounds too much like we’re in some movie.” Kevin cracks up even more that he might turn into a psycho-manic at any moment.
Mandy looks all worried at that time. “You okay?”
“Stop it, man,” Ray said. “You’re scaring her.”
Kevin comes to at that time and he stops the laughing fit altogether once he realizes that Mandy looks all pale. “I’m okay. Just that too much stuffs happening these past days that we could sale these materials to the television people.”
Ray winks. “Maybe we should, huh?”
Kevin turns to see that Ray’s smiling mischievously. He shakes his head. “You’re crazy, man.”He gets up to head towards the kitchen after that.
Ray gets up to follow him. “Look who is crazy to be laughing hysterically before.”
Charmaine and Mandy look at the two guys and then at each other. Just a few minutes ago, they’re all tensed up and were discussing about a possible motive and suddenly they’re joking like nothing happened. The girls agree on the fact that it’s the guys’ way to cope with the situation. Who could take all these all at once?
The guys sleep in the girls’ living room that night since they don’t want to take the risk of it. Kevin had called his aunt before he went to bed and asked for someone to change their lock in the morning.
As Ray’s crashing on the loveseat and Kevin on the sofa, the girls go to their room.
“I wonder what else will happen tomorrow,” Ray pondered aloud.
“I hope nothing,” Kevin said. “I feel like we’re in the ‘Twilight Zone’ or something.”
“It’s not going to be nothing. You know that.”
Kevin sighs before switching off the lamp light.
© Friday, May 25th, 2007
Re-posted: Saturday, October 10th, 2009