Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
Virginia Chan – Vivian Leung
Freddie Lam – Nick Cheung
Joanne aka Jo Hung – Joyce Tang
Jeremy aka Remy Hung – Julian Cheung
Jeff Lai – Louis Koo
Linda Lam – Flora Chan
Michael Lam – Steven Ma
Deana Chu – Ruby Lin
Marc Cheung – Gallen Lo
Linda was impatient as she waited in the ER waiting room. Within minutes of her telephone call to Remy and Jeff, they arrived through the emergency door. “Linda!” Remy called to her, behind him was Joanne who looked as disturbed as Linda.
“Remy!” She got up from her chair.
“How is he? What happened? Why didn’t anyone see any warnings? Where’s Ginny?” A stream of questions escaped from Joanne’s lips as it trembled when she stopped talking.
Linda shook her head vehemently “I don’t know. I have no idea what happened. I came to talk to him and then when I realized that he was waking up to my cries, I panicked. I took him here myself.”
“How about Ginny?” Joanne asked again.
“I left her a message at her work. Still no sign of her though. Where’s Jeff?” she asked Remy.
“He needs to close the office first, but he’s coming with Deana right now.”
Linda nodded “I’m just worried my mother can’t handle it.”
Remy place a comforting hand on her shoulder “He’ll be okay. I’ll stay with you until this is over.”
She smiled as her eyes welled up with tears again, this time she was touched by his friendship “Thanks.” Her voice croaky as she tried to hold it in.
“He’ll be okay…I just know it.” Joanne mumbled to herself as she sat next to Linda.
In a few minutes Jeff and Deana showed up. He expected to see Virginia but was surprised when she wasn’t there “Where’s Ginny?” was the first question he asked.
Linda shook her head “I don’t know.”
“Did you tell her?” Jeff asked.
“She left her a message, Jeff.” Joanne answered for Linda, knowing she was probably tired of repeating the answer.
*************
At the office, Virginia closed the door behind her as she started her session with the new client. She turned off her cell phone so they wouldn’t be disturbed. She had a new message on her voicemail from her office phone but when she was about to listen to it, her clients came in.
“So, Mr. Wong, what seems to be the problem?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” He said bluntly.
“Why are you trying to kill yourself?” she tried a different question. It was blunt but it seemed that he was able to handle it.
“I don’t know…” he replied.
She took a deep breath and sat back in her chair “Look if you don’t tell me, how do you expect me to help you?”
“I don’t know.” He seemed to only know those three words.
Virginia was determined to get down to the problem “Is it your family?” he shook his head “Love?” he shook his head “friends?” he shook his head again. She put down her notepad onto her desk and stood up “Mr. Wong, it looks like I can’t help you with anything. You are not cooperating and it seems that you don’t trust me at all. Maybe you should go somewhere else.”
He finally looked up “I thought you were here to help me?”
She sat back down on the chair across from him and leaned on her thighs with her elbows “If you don’t let me help, how do you expect me to? I know that death is a sensitive subject for a lot of people. But until you grasp the idea that it’s a part of your life and try to embrace it openly, you will always be bothered by it.”
“I guess…why is life so hard? I wish I could take it easy and just relax but every time I turn around, something bad is waiting for me.”
Virginia smiled, he was finally revealing his feelings “Nothing bad ever waits for anyone. People look for bad stuff to happen. If you look at death as a beginning and not an end, you will realize that its not a scary thing afterall. But you cannot face death when it is not ready for you. God will only take those that are ready. If you ask me, I don’t think you are ready to leave this earth?” she raised her eyebrows waiting for him to answer.
“The issues that I have cannot be solve through beliefs.”
“I use to think that way too until I realized that life isn’t about just living. Its always good to believe in some kind of a God. Whether you are a Christian or a Buddhist. I believe with all my heart that each of our lives are planned out for us. The obstacles that you reach are a mere test to see if you have enough belief. Those that do wrong will be punished..”
“But how about the good people? Why do they always die?” she saw his eyes getting red.
“Because he takes the best with him. That way they are safe in heaven, they no longer have to endure all kinds of pain and worries.”
“I never thought of it that way.” He answered with a little more feeling.
“Trust me, its all depends on how you perceive death. Look inside your head and heart, I know you’ll find it. Have a little faith.” She smiled warmly.
The guy returned the smile for the first time. “Thank you…” he began to get up “Can I see you if I need more help? To be honest, I feel very comfortable talking to you, even though it didn’t appear to be that way at the beginning.”
“Your very welcome. And yes, anytime that you’d like. Drop by.” She nodded goodbye to him as he disappeared out the door. She sat back down at her desk as she pulled up her phone to listen to the message. She could barely make out the words, but she knew it was a girl crying. Was it Linda? She asked herself. Through sobs, she could hear something about Freddie being unconscious. Her heart skipped a beat as she replaced the receiver.
Her first thought was to go to the hospital…but something held her back. Fear. It was fear of seeing something she didn’t want to see. What if something happened to him? She would never be the same person again. Tears trickling down her smooth face as she let them drop onto her desk. She didn’t want to see him die. She’d rather keep the fond memory of him being alive and vibrant in her heart.
She began to work on her documents again, trying to get her mind off of Freddie. The day seemed to drag on for her as she received two more messages from Jeff this time. Asking her to come to the hospital, Michael said the MRI doesn’t look too good. He has a mass on the right side of his head. If they don’t operate that day, he will die. If they do operate, there are chances of coma, memory lapse if he does wake up, paralyzed on his entire left side or blind on the left eye.
Virginia played the message over and over again as she cried to herself in silence. It looked like there was no hope for him now. As much as she wanted to believe that he would be alright, she had given up hope. He wasn’t going to live through that night.
************
At the hospital, everyone was praying for Freddie to be okay. Michael allowed Linda and his mom to enter the room where they were preparing Freddie for the operation. They tried calling his name but it was useless, he didn’t answer. Linda grabbed a hold of his hand as she bent down near his ear “Freddie…can you hear me?” she asked. Her face lit up when she felt his hand squeezing hers gently. “Mom…he squeezed my hand.” She told the elder lady.
The woman wiped away her tears “Freddie, my son…you’ll be okay.” She tried to think positively.
“Gi..G…” they heard incoherent words coming from his lips.
“What are you trying to say?” Linda asked.
This time he couldn’t mumble anything anymore. At that time Michael walked in “Mom, Ga Jei, I have to take him to the operating room.” Michael let out a sigh “Pray for me. I will try my best to save him.”
“Don’t say that, I know you WILL save him. You’re the best neurosurgeon they’ve got.” Linda said through tears. “You have to save him.”
As nervous as he was about operating on his own brother, he tried to psych himself up for the operation. Even though he wouldn’t admit it, he was the best surgeon around the city and definitely in the hospital. He had enough faith that he would be able to recover Freddie but he didn’t know what God had in store for his brother. He followed the nurses that were pushing the rolling bed into the operating room of the Intensive Care Unit.
Linda and her mother walked back out to the waiting room once again. Joanne was the first that spotted them. “How is he?”
Linda smiled through tears as she wrapped her arms around her mother’s shoulder “He can’t talk but he knows we’re here. He squeezed my hand.”
Joanne nodded “He’ll be fine…” she told herself. “How long is the operation going to be?”
“Michael said it will be about 6 hours…” Linda replied.
“Still no sign of Ginny?” Jeff asked. Everyone shook their heads. “Damn it! Where is she?”
Remy patted his friend’s shoulder “I’m sure she’ll be on her way soon.”
“We left her five messages! If she was in the office she would have gotten it by now. Her best friend is going into operation and she’s not even here?! This might even be the last time she sees him.” Without even realizing that he just implied that Freddie wasn’t going to live through that night.
Remy glanced back at Mrs. Lam, who burst out in tears again. “Come on.” He pushed Jeff outside the door to the front lawn of the hospital. “What in the world are you trying to do? Scare the poor woman?!” he said angrily.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for it to come out. But she’s being ridiculous!”
“Its still her choice. Maybe she’s in denial. Don’t think the worse out of the situation. Didn’t you always tell me that?” Remy’s face softened “Look, if you’re so worried, why don’t you go and find her so you could ask her for yourself?”
Jeff looked up after a moment “Should I?”
He just needed the perfect push and Remy was going to do it “Yes. Cause this will drive you crazy. Go on, I’ll be here.” He gently pushed his friend towards the parking lot where his car was.
Jeff nodded firmly “Call me with any news.” He ran off to his car.