Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
There were no elevators, just stairways. He came upon the 5th floor and knocked on one of the apartment doors. The place was smelly and dark. The metal doors even looked dirty. Suddenly the door opened “What?” an elder man asked roughly.
Mel nodded to him “You got chicken soup here?”
The man looked at the two of them suspiciously but eventually opened the door for them. Addy turned to Mel with a winced expression “You brought me here to drink chicken soup?”
He only smiled as he walked through the door and it instantly closed “It’s a hundred for half an hour.” The man said to Mel.
“What the fuck?” Addy exclaimed loudly “A hundred bucks for a bowl of chicken soup??”
Mel looked at her with a smile “You’ve never been to these kinds of places huh?” she wrinkled her brows in confusion and he turned to the head man “Is Snow here?”
The man nodded and turned to the hallway “Snow!! You have a customer.”
Addy dropped her jaw when she realized it was a brothel that they had gone into. She turned to Mel angrily “Why did you bring me here?”
He laughed “I recall someone begging me to take them along.”
Snow stood at the hallway with her head tilted, her skirt had a high slit and she wore a tight plain black tank top “Well if it isn’t my favorite customer.” She cooed when she noticed the girl hanging on Mel’s arm.
Addy turned and stared at Snow up and down. Snow walked up to Mel with a sultry look “Hi baby…” she breathed. “You miss me already? I just saw you this morning.”
“Oh, that’s just sick!” Addy groaned with disgust.
Snow turned her head to Addy “What bitch?!” she growled.
Addy turned to Mel and pulled at the sleeve of his jean jacket “Mel Gor…” she whined.
Snow walked over and pushed Addy away before mimicking her whiny voice “Mel Gor….” She pulled at his sleeves making him laugh humorously.
“You’re gonna let her treat me like that?” Addy complained.
Mel put up his hand to silence the girls and then pointed to Addy “You wanted to follow me here. Do you want to watch or join us?” he looked at Addy to wait for her reaction.
Snow wrapped an arm around Mel’s shoulder “I don’t like to share.” She sneered.
Addy closed her eyes with a look of disgust “Oh Shhhh!!! Mel, I thought you were cooler than that. You’re just a typical male.” She stepped back and prepared to leave.
“We won’t see you to the door.” Snow said brightly. Addy turned to give them a dirty look but Snow smiled at her instead making her blood boil inside. After the girl was gone, Snow backed away from Mel and crossed her arms “I didn’t think you would move on so fast…considering you never got the Virgin Mary…”
He laughed “I didn’t. She’s Hing Gor’s daughter, I’m just amusing her for the time being. Nothing serious.” He shrugged as he followed Snow into her rented room.
She shook her head at him “That’s what you said about me and we eventually dated.”
Mel pulled out of his jean pocket a wad of cash “Here you go.”
Snow sighed as she took the money “You don’t have to do this.” She waved the money at him.
“But I want to.” He pointed out. He knew that giving her money every month would not cover her pain but he insisted on helping her stay away from her job. She has not been working for the past 6 months, instead she rented a room in the brothel to sleep at since she could not afford a better place. Plus she refused to have Mel help her out with that too.
“You don’t owe me anything. I chose this road on my own.” She said calmly.
Mel smiled “But I provoked it. It’s the least I can do.” He owed her too much already. “For the past few years, it’s only been harder for you. I want you to save as much money as possible and move out of here.” He looked around the tiny room that looked more like a closet.
Snow shrugged “I’m use to it. I’ve lived my life on the streets for so long, it’s nice to actually have a place to stay.”
“Why don’t you find a nice guy and marry so you can have a better life?” he asked curiously.
“Who would want a retired hooker with no home and who depends on her ex boyfriend who’s a head of a dangerous gang to give her money to buy food? I’d be dreaming if I think it could happen.” She snorted sarcastically.
Mel sighed “You know you can do it…you just don’t want to.”
She nodded “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I don’t want to. Or maybe I’m not ready yet. When I am, I’ll let you know.” He smiled with a nod “Okay, this talk is getting too damn mushy! I have to sleep. I’m gonna go help Dai Lou sell those cd’s tomorrow.”
Mel stood up as Snow walked him out of the room “How is Don? I haven’t heard from him in ages.”
“He’s still alive.” She said nonchalantly “He just got out of prison.”
“Well that’s good. Tell him I said hi.” Mel seldom heard about Don from Snow because she didn’t like to talk about her brother much. He was a troublemaker and if he knew Mel was giving her money, he would definitely ask for a share.
***********
The following night, Snow was walking downtown to see her brother when she was caught in the middle of a burglary in a little convenient store. A guy in a black ski masked rushed out with a bag full of cash while the owner cried “Theif!”
Snow looked up and noticed the guy was about the same height as her brother. ‘Shit, he better not be robbing stores anymore.’ She thought to herself while she chased after the guy. “Stop!!!” she cried over but the guy kept running. She didn’t know how long she chased him but they ended up in a deserted alley. The guy turned to her when they reached a dead end “Gor, don’t do this. You just got out.” She coaxed.
The guy muttered under his breath “Crazy bitch.”
“Come on, just put the bag down. No one will know.” She tried again. When he didn’t budge, she let her temper take over “Do you want to go back to prison??!!! You know how hard it was for me to grow up half of my life without a brother?” she cried angrily.
Suddenly she felt a hand over her shoulder, Snow’s instant reaction was to swing her arm around but the person’s hand caught it in the nick of time. “Miss, don’t worry, I’m a cop.” Snow instantly dropped her hand, she recognized him even though they were in a dimly lit area.
“Chan Sir.” She nodded. Then she remembered the robber “Please, he didn’t mean to steal anything. Let him go.” She begged gently.
Gary frowned “I’m sorry. I can’t do that.” He ran over to the guy as the two fought in a short fight. Gary easily won as she rushed over to them. Gary pulled off the ski mask and Snow let out a short gasp. It wasn’t Don after all. The handsome cop looked up at her strangely “You know him?”
Snow shook her head “No, it was a misunderstanding.”
Gary quickly handcuffed him while his other partners came around the corner “Take him back to the station.” He ordered. The guys nodded as they dragged the robber away. He then turned to Snow who looked to be in a daze “Miss…are you okay?”
She shook herself back to reality “Oh…yeah. I’m fine. Thanks.”
“Where do you live?” he asked.
Snow frowned “What’s it to you?” she snapped too quickly.
Gary smiled despite her rude nature “So I can walk you home. This is a dangerous area.”
She looked to the ground embarrassingly while her face cooled down “Sorry…I thought.” He shook his head understandingly while she smiled “Actually, I’m gonna visit someone.”
“I’ll walk you there.” He offered.
Snow turned her eyes away “Uh…sure…” she said reluctantly before walking away. He was so insistent that she couldn’t turn him down. She walked further downtown and eventually came upon the little open market. Snow quickly spotted Don who was trying persuade two school girls in uniforms to buy the latest hits from Andy Lau.
He looked up and found Snow and another guy walking up to him “You…what are you doing here? Making sure I’m not dead?” he asked cruelly.
Snow rolled her eyes “If you were dead, then I wouldn’t have to worry anymore.” She looked down at the pile of cd’s “What the fuck is wrong with you? You just got out, why are you selling these?”
Gary picked up a cd “It’s okay. This is real.” He said to Snow.
“See! Even a normal person can see that. I just got out, why would I want to go back in? I’m not even done talking about you! You still doing that job, you’re gonna end up getting AIDS one day. At least I have a legitimate job. I don’t have to go around and say I fuck people for a living.” He retorted when Snow gave him the evil eye.
She stared at him hard “I did it to support your dumb ass girlfriend and supposedly unborn child who ended up taking all my money to pay for her punk bitch! She wasn’t even pregnant to begin with.” Snow rolled her eyes.
Gary wondered why the two seemed to have some kind of hatred towards each other, but he sensed it was just a misunderstanding. He decided to clear the air for them “Look, if this is a domestic dispute, you should take it home.” He turned to Don “She’s a decent girl, take care of her. She’s still taking you back after you cheated on her, so why are you being such an ass?”
Don furrowed his brows at Gary before turning to Snow with his finger pointing to Gary “Who the fuck is this? Your customer?”
“He’s a cop.” Snow ran her fingers through her hair. She turned to Gary apologetically “Don’t mind him, he just has a potty mouth.”
“What do you mean potty mouth? I don’t care if he’s a fuckin General. I hate cops, just leave my sister alone.” Don warned with his finger pointing directly to Gary.
Gary widened his eyes “Sister? You two are….” He didn’t have to finish since Snow was nodding her head.
“Sorry, I didn’t mention it did I?” she smiled apologetically.
Don didn’t understand why Snow was being so polite “You don’t have to respect him, A Mui.” He pulled her arm and yanked her beside him “My sister is not working anymore. Don’t think because you’re a cop, you’ll get a free night.”
Gary stifled a giggle while Snow turned to Don with her head shaking “What the hell are you talking about? He’s not with me. Chan Sir walked me over here cause he was worried about my safety.” She explained.
“Oh…so you want a free job huh? Well it’s not that easy.” He sneered.
Snow laughed sarcastically “Gor! He doesn’t not want to have sex with me, okay? Just leave it at that!” she sighed before pulling out a wad of cash “Here, this is for you. Get a better job. I can’t help you all the time.”
He was appreciative of his sister but didn’t know how to show it as he slowly took the money but his eyes dodged hers “Where…”
“Don’t worry about it. Just know that it’s legal money.” Snow pointed out more for Gary’s sake than her brother’s. “I have to go home now, but I’ll look for you tomorrow.”
Don nodded “Thanks…” he felt bad for having his sister support her own big brother. He was just starting to get his life in order but he wanted more than anything to find a good job yet he knew people would give him a hard time because of his sentence in jail for burglary years ago. He was actually just the driver in a case that was out of his control. He practically had a gun pointed to his head at the time. Yet the cops would not go for his explanation and he ended up doing 2 years in jail for that. During the whole time he rarely got to see Snow nor did he even see his long term girlfriend who had disappeared long before he even got the first notice of being released early for good behavior.