Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
When the clock hit six, Jayd was up and out of her seat as she grabbed her bag hurriedly. Leaning over the divider, she advised “Stevie, I have to get home. Emergency. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. We can do lunch then!” she yelled from the hall. He recalled her phone call earlier that left her jittery. When she reached her two bedroom apartment, she stumbled with the keys but managed to get the door open as she threw her stuff on the couch “Mom!”
“Ah Yan?” her mom called from the kitchen.
Jayd rushed towards the kitchen “Are you okay, ma?” she had called earlier to tell her that she accidentally cut her hand while making an apple dessert “Did you go to the doctors?”
The elder woman shook her head “No. The bleeding stopped.” She pointed her nose to the trashcan overfilling with soaked blood napkins.
“Ma…” Jayd shook her head in disapproval.
“Now don’t give me that look. I’m a big girl, I can take care of a little cut.” She argued.
“Little? A vampire could live for two weeks with that blood!” she pointed to the trashcan “Let me get the first aid kit.” She sat her mom in the living room while she headed to the bathroom to get the kit.
Mrs. Lee noticed the front door wide open, she sighed “Always forgetful.” She got up to close the door when a man walked by.
“I’m sorry, can you tell me where apartment 5G is?” he looked friendly enough to the woman.
“5G? There’s no such apartment in this building.” She was confused.
The guy scratched his head in confusion “I know I’m in the right building.” He smiled at the woman “You look very familiar by the way.”
“Do I?” she had never met him before.
He noticed she was holding her bandaged hand “Did you cut yourself?” she smiled weakly and nodded “Would you like me to help you? I took a few courses in first aid while in college.” He offered.
“No thank you, my daughter is home.” She turned to the hall in time to see Jayd walking out.
“Ma…which one is the right medicine—Stevie?” she tilted her head strangely “What are you doing here? How did you know I live here?”
“I didn’t. I was looking for apartment 5G but your mother just told me that there’s no such apartment number.” He looked at the paper again.
“Let me see.” Jayd took the paper “I think its 5C. That’s next door.” She suddenly realized “Hey! We’re neighbors.”
The elder lady looked from one person to the other. Clearing her throat, she caught their attention “Oh, we should fix Auntie’s hand.” Steve offered as he took the kit from her hand and helped her with the bandage.
“You know us?” Mrs. Lee asked.
“Ma, he’s Stevie…Steven Yeung from next door. We use to play in the park together.” Jayd triggered her memory.
“Little Stevie?” the woman turned to the young man with a wide grin “You’re such a big boy now. But not as tall as your dad, he was over six foot tall.”
Steve smiled “Unfortunately, I didn’t get his height genes.” He cut the bandage and closed it with tape “Done.” He looked up at the two “Now don’t use this hand and try not to get it wet. Change the bandage every two days and clean it with alcohol. It will hurt a little but I’ll bring over a anti-bacterial medication for you to use so it doesn’t sting…” he slowly faded when their smiles grew.
“Thank you Dr. Yeung.” Jayd teased.
“Sorry. Force of habit, I was a volunteer in an England hospital for two years.” He explained.
“Oh and we are co-workers too.” Jayd added, “I’m going to show him the ropes.”
“Well, don’t let her push you around.” The woman warned “Ah Yan has the tendency to boss people around eventhough she’s much younger. You remember when she made your mother serve us drinks?” the woman laughed.
Jayd leaned into Steve “She likes to make up mean stories about me.”
“So, how is your mother and father?” the woman gave her daughter a stern look.
“They passed away two years ago in a bus accident. No one lived.” Steve lowered his head trying to hide the pain that still lingered behind.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Mrs. Lee nodded “My husband too passed away of a car accident. We were very sad.” She added.
Jayd sighed, “Looks like we got something in common.”
“Yes, I suppose we do.” Steve smiled at the mother and daughter “I’ve bothered you enough. I’m going to start moving my stuff in.”
“Do you need help? Jayd can help you.” The woman practically pushed her daughter off the couch.
“Actually, I don’t have much stuff. Just this.” He held up a briefcase “When I moved back from England, I decided to sell all the furniture. It would be a pain to lug all it onto the plane. But I’ll see you around.” He nodded politely and closed the door behind him.
Jayd turned her eye carefully to her mother “What was that all about?”
“What?” the woman asked innocently.
“You practically pushed me into his lap. Why don’t you just plan the wedding while you’re at it.” The girl quipped.
“Honey, you are not getting any younger. You need to start dating. As much as I would love for you to live with me for the rest of my life but I want a grandchild!” she argued.
“You don’t have to push me on the first guy you meet.” Jayd hated getting into the subject with her mother but it seemed the woman has grown more insistent in the past year “Anyways, I just met him again. It’s been over fifteen years, people change. He’s not the same geeky kid I can push around anymore. He’s taller than me.” She pointed out with a laugh and entered the kitchen to cook dinner.
Later that night, Jayd took the stairs to the roof to retrieve her clothes that were drying when she ran into a smoker “That’s a fire hazard.”
Steve turned to the voice as he smoked out the puff of air from his cigarette “Sorry, I didn’t know.”
“I’m kidding.” She laughed at his naïve personality “You haven’t changed a bit.”
“You mean I’m still gullible.” He corrected.
“Not entirely, you still have a Masters in Ass Kissing.” She reminded him as he laughed with a nod “Seriously, that’s bad for you.” She wrinkled her nose at the cigarette.
“It keeps me calm.” He shrugged but put out the butt.
“Try meditating like 5B.” she snickered.
“So is that the noise I’ve been hearing? It was this horrible humming that went on for hours. I didn’t know what it was and I swore the walls were talking to me.” His question was finally answered.
Jayd laughed, “Yeah, that woman meditates all night long. We could hear it from our apartment. Oh and 6C is a trainer, so you’ll hear him grunt sounds once in a while. He’s not having sex so don’t panic. He’s just lifting weights.”
Steve crossed his arms with a crooked smile “Anything else?”
“Yeah, don’t talk to 7B, he’s a lonely man and if he stops you in the stairs and you make eye contact, don’t expect to leave until twenty minutes later. Oh and be careful with 3A, she was a witness during a murder case and has the tendency to freak out at any man with glasses.” She pointed at his frames in which he took off “Wow, your eyes are even smaller without the magnitude lenses.” She teased and laughed.
“You wanna know a secret?” he asked with a laugh “Its about one of the tenants.” He waved a finger towards her.
“Sure, always.” She nodded with perkiness.
“5D has this girl that gossips way too much. Stay away from her or she’ll go on for hours.” He nodded his brows at her with a short laugh while she scowled.
“Ha, ha.” Jayd rolled her eyes “So I have a little too much time on my hands.”
“How about that boyfriend of yours?” Steve asked.
She sighed, “I don’t have a boyfriend, at least I don’t think I do.”
“Is it slow of me to be confused by everything you just said?” he frowned “You have a boyfriend or don’t you?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged “It’s not formally talked about but I guess I should respect his request.”
“Is he ashamed of you?” Steve tried.
She shook her head “It’s complicated.”
“And this imaginary boyfriend of yours…does he have a name?” he teased.
Jayd smiled “I didn’t make him up.”
“Yes, of course he’s real.” He counted off the reasons with his fingers “You have a boyfriend but you really don’t. He is not ashamed of you but won’t call you his girlfriend. And your mother has no idea you have a boyfriend.” He finished.
“How do you know that?” she was beginning to catch on that he was very analytical.
He laughed, “She practically planned our wedding. Did you see the gleam in her eyes when I said I was moving in my stuff and she pushed you to go help me?”
“So it wasn’t just me.” She smiled “Don’t take it personally, she just hasn’t seen guys around me for a very long time.”
He gasped suddenly startling her. He looked around and leaned in closer to her “Is your boyfriend a girl?” he whispered.
Jayd began laughing “No.” shaking her head vehemently but he continued to stare at her “No!” she said more firmly.
“It’s okay. I’m not homophobic.” He nodded convincingly.
She couldn’t help but laugh again while hitting him playfully “You are so funny.” Wiping her tears, she collected the dried clothes and walked back towards the stairs “See you tomorrow little Stevie.” Smiling after her, he turned to the busy city below him and lit up a cigarette. She peeked her head back and caught him smoking “Quit that!” she snapped causing him to drop the cigarette down the 25 floor building. She clamped her hand over her mouth “Sorry.”
“You owe me a pack.” He pointed with the empty box “That was my last one.”
“Yes sir!” she saluted before darting back to the stairwell.