| Fan Fiction |
by DTLCT
“What are you doing?” Charmaine asked, alarmed.
“Looking for my sister, what else?” Ray blurted out.
“She’s in the shower.”
“Oh…”
“What happened?”
“I can’t believe that Kevin would let Mandy tailed Ken. You know how dangerous that is?”
“Nothing happened. Don’t worry.”
“What do you mean? You knew too?”
“Ray…”
“Don’t ‘Ray’ me. Lucky Jacky call this whole thing off or who knows what else would happen.”
Charmaine closes the door since she knows that Ray’s not going anywhere any time soon. She makes her way back to the living room before saying another word. “Jacky called it off? Already?”
Ray nods. “He has a different lead now. But it’s personal this time so I guess we can quit in that area. We just need to worry about Kevin’s problem, which we have to halt the progress also until Jacky gets back to me.”
“Why does everything we do have to do with Jacky?”
“Uh…he looked up some stuffs for me earlier so now he’s somehow interested in it too so…”
“All right. No need to explain.”
Ray lets out a nervous laugh and settles down on the sofa. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to wait for Mandy.”
“If I say I mind, would you leave?”
“No way!”
Charmaine smiles. “I’m kidding.”
With that, Charmaine leaves for the kitchen to prepare dinner while Ray sits around, waiting for Mandy.
*****
Wallace’s phone rings as soon as he hangs up the phone.
“What now?” Wallace asked, his voice still irritated.
“You sound so friendly,” Jacky returned.
“How are my supposed to sound?”
“Oh come on.” He pauses briefly. “Forget it. I’ll go kill Cory first before I explain any further. I’m coming back tonight.”
“I know. Ray told me.”
“He has a big mouth then.”
“Your point?”
“All right. Since you’re not in the mood to talk right now. Let’s wait.”
Jacky hangs up before Wallace could object or say anything else for that matter. Wallace regrets of his attitude towards Jacky, but he couldn’t help himself. When things sort out, he’ll apologize personally to Jacky if he has to. But right now, he’s tired. He doesn’t want to make up another “excuse” to lessen the situation. He feels he’s entitled to get mad just this once.
*****
Jacky feels frustrated that he couldn’t trust any of the guys anymore. What is going on here? Why is everyone losing control? Strange, but not so strange if taken into further observation, the only person he could trust right now – aside from Jan – is Ray. He could trust them not to get mad at him for no reason. Although he understands Wallace’s frustration, but it seems like Wallace doesn’t trust him enough to actually consider that he wouldn’t pull such a lame and insensitive stunt like that – especially to his friends. He swings back and forth in his chair and thinks about the whole situation some more. How could he have been so careless? Or was it because he was thinking of what happened to Benny too much during the cases that he didn’t bother to pay attention to the people around him and the details that were right in front of him? He does a 360 degree turn before wheeling the chair back to his desk. He finally comes to the conclusion that he needs to jot it all down, so he can see what he has so far and what’s missing. As much as he likes to think of himself as a genius, he has got too much stuff on his mind right now to think straight. As he’s settling down at his desk, someone in the office calls out his name. Great, he thought. Just when I got things going again.
He tells that person to transfer the call to him since he doesn’t want to get up again.
“Hello?” Jacky said passively.
“You sound tired.”
“Tired is an understatement.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Everything’s just great. Don’t worry about me. You were supposed to be mad at me, remember?”
“Oh, come on now. You’re a guy. Could you be a bit less…”
“…girly?”
“No. That’s not what I mean.”
“You’re thinking it though.”
“No, I’m not. Anyway, that’s not why I call though.”
“Oh really? So you missed me and decided to call?”
“You’re not making this easy for any of us.”
“Why should I?”
“Come on.”
Jacky smiles out of nowhere. “I’m kidding. How may I help you, Dr. Mung?”
“I heard Ray said you guys are helping Kevin sort out his problems right now.”
“What else did Ray tell you?”
“Nothing much. Just the usual.”
“Like I would know what that’s supposed to mean.”
“The point is…”
“What?”
“Could you stop jumping in and let me finish?”
“Geez, maybe it’s because you keep pausing.”
“Your tone is making it hard for me to continue.”
“What tone? Maybe ‘cause I’m writing down something right now.”
“Like a love letter to your girlfriend?”
“Oh please, I’m not that lame.”
“Lame? You call writing a love letter lame?”
“No. Writing a love letter at work is lame.”
“You’re at work?”
“…still…”
“No wonder you’re grumpy.”
“If you’ve been yelled at twice a day for no reason, you’ll be grumpy too. Make that 10 plus if you count work too.”
“That bad? What happened?”
“Nothing much. Just the usual.” He smiles while he says that.
“How funny. Getting back at me, huh?”
“Glad you detected it.”
“Come on. I’m just calling for a little friendly conversation, what’s with all the hostility?”
“I told you, I’m not hostile. I’m just jotting something down right now. So…”
“Oh yeah, how’s your girlfriend doing? She all right?”
“You mean Jan? Just got off the phone with her like sometimes within this past hour or so. She’s fine. Or so I hope.”
“Why do you make it like you could care less?”
“Why should I care more? I mean didn’t I tell you or didn’t Ray tell you that we’re not really a couple?”
“Come on, who are you kidding?”
“Hold on, why are you questioning me? You were supposed to mad at me, remember? Wait…I just said that like about…” He pauses as if to remember. “…five minutes back.”
“That reminds me. I was asking you about Kevin.”
“Why don’t you call Ray and ask him directly?”
“I can’t. I was supposed to be 'too busy to help him with what he asked me', remember?”
“Nice. By the way, when is Nnadia coming back?”
“How did you know?”
“What do I do?”
“That’s personal.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is.”
“How old are we here? Are we in pre-school?”
“The point is…wait...why are keep directing me into a different direction? You don’t think I can help? Or you don’t want me to help?”
“Hmmm…”
“Jacky!”
“Don’t yell in my ears or I’m getting mad for real.”
“Sorry. But you’re not taking me seriously here.”
“I would never do such a thing, Dr. Mung.”
“You’re doing it right now.”
“Okay. If you really want to know and/or help…fine. I’ll tell you when I get back tonight. I need to sort some things out first.”
“How come? I thought you’re working.”
“I have the next two weeks off. I’m coming back after my shift’s done. Actually, after Cory’s shift is DONE!”
“Talking about yelling in people’s ears.”
“Sorry. But I can’t believe I’m sitting around here covering for him while getting yell at because of him. Not to mention, he didn’t tell me half of the stuffs going on so now I’m being targeted for no reason.”
“Sounds familiar. Hiding things from your friends and expecting them not to get mad.”
“Very funny. If you want me to tell you about your future boyfriend, I can launch into it right now and then you can choose to tell Ray or not. That would put you into another obstacle, wouldn’t it?”
“So you’re saying you’re doing me a favor by hiding it from me?”
“Yea. Am I the greatest or what?” He stops writing and begins to search desk for something. “Oh yea, you didn’t answer my question. When is Nnadia coming back?”
“I haven’t told Ray yet.”
“And?”
“I think that I should tell him first, okay?”
“Do you know him longer or me?”
“Is that how it’s supposed to be?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Then how about you telling me all the secrets since we know each other longer than you know Tim or anyone else involved for that matter.”
“Nice. I really like you, you know that?”
“Jacky, it’s not funny.”
“Stop prying for information then.”
“And what are those sounds in the background?”
“Me trying to find some papers.”
“What papers?”
“Just papers.”
“Do you want me to hang up?”
“Do you want to hang up then?”
Yoyo goes into silence as Jacky continues to search for whatever it is he’s searching for.
“Hey…you still there?”
“Yea.”
“How about this? Call Ray up but put me on the other line so I can listen in while you tell him when Nnadia’s coming back. That way…you can tell both of us at the same time. Neat, huh?”
“Why does it matter so much to you whether I tell you or not?”
“Why does it matter so much to you whether I know or not?”
“We’re not getting anywhere with this.”
“Just hang up then.” He pauses for a second. “Ah…found it.”
“What time are you coming back?”
“Like right now. I’m walking out of the building soon.”
“I’ll wait for you.”
“Same place?”
“Okay.”
“And Yoyo…”
“What?”
“You know I was just kidding, right?”
“Getting mad at you is like getting mad at…”
Jacky cuts her off. “No need to elaborate or we’ll never hang up.”
They hang up after that. Jacky smiles before putting all the papers inside the manila envelope. He makes sure that he locks everything away before leaving. As he walks out of the building, he decides to add another name to the list of people he could trust at the moment.
*****
Ray’s phone rings as he dozed off on the sofa. He jumps up in alert before realizing it’s just his phone.
“Hello?!” Ray exclaimed out, still somewhat alarmed.
“Whoa!” Yoyo said. “What happened?”
“No. You scared me, that’s all.”
“I forgot to tell you something earlier.”
Ray yawns. “What?”
“Nnadia’s coming back this coming week.”
“Really?”
“Yea. You want to come to the airport with me to meet her?”
“Uh…”
“Don’t tell me you don’t want to see her.”
“No. I was thinking of something else.”
“What?”
“My mom’s coming this week so not sure if it’s going to clash with Nnadia’s arrival.”
“It’s Friday.”
“I think I can make it.”
“All right then. That’s the spirit.”
“How come you sound so cheerful all of a sudden?” He wrinkles his eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’ve been socializing with the enemy again.”
“Do I even have time to do that? I’m wrapping stuffs up here at the hospital, remember?”
“How should I know you’re doing that and not…”
“What?”
“Nothing. I gotta go, okay?”
“Okay. Bye.”
Ray hangs up before Yoyo does. He looks around and realizes the reason why he’s in the girls’ apartment in the first place. He has been so absorbed in the conversation that Mandy has been out ages already and is eating dinner with Charmaine right now. Ray excuses himself real quick – which is unlike him – and leaves their apartment to go back to his. It seems like he doesn’t want to have the “talk” with Mandy anymore.
© Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Re-posted: Thursday, October 15th, 2009