Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
“Hi Angie, can you get me Philip’s next month schedule?” she smiled her friendly smile. She got to know the girl better when Philip was busy talking to a friend and Angie happened to pass by.
“Aren’t you a diligent worker? Your boss is not even in the studio and here you are working still. Does he pay you overtime?” she asked teasingly as she searched for his schedule.
“No, but he should. Maybe you can put in a good word for me.” Amy laughed.
Angie looked up and handed the schedule to her “Looks like I don’t have to.” She nodded behind Amy. “Hi Philip.” Her voice sang happily. It brightened her day just to see one of her favorite stars.
“Hi Ang.” He smiled adoringly at her and then tilted his head towards Amy “And you. What are you doing here?”
Amy smiled as she held up the schedule “Just thought I’d save you some time on Monday and pick this up.” She turned to Angie and gave the girl a quick wave “I’ve got to run, I’ll talk to you next week.”
“Bye.” Angie smiled as she turned away to answer the phone.
Philip caught up with her “Where are you going?”
“Lunch with an old co-worker.” She wrinkled her forehead “Why did you come down today?”
“Same reason you did. But you beat me to it.” He laughed and pushed his hand in his pockets.
“Hey, it’s my job.” She glanced at her watch. “Can you give me a ride? I actually-”
He put up a hand to silence her “No need to give me a reason. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”
“Hey, that would be a good line for ‘Fly Away With Me’.” She pointed out.
Philip smiled crookedly “You read my notes.” He wagged a finger at her “Shame on you.”
Her face blushed brightly “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
“I’m just teasing!” he wondered why she was sensitive about that. “I don’t mind. So you think that would be a good line?”
She nodded “Yeah.”
“Okay, I’ll put it in.” he said brightly. When they reached his BMW, he opened the door for her “After you, my lady.”
Amy laughed “Thank you, kind sir.” He dropped her off in front of the Italian Bistro near her old work. He was about to get out of the car to open the door for her but she quickly stopped him “Wait, I don’t want you to get mobbed. I can open my own door. Thanks again.” She smiled and exited the car. Amy gave him a quick wave as he drove off.
She entered the restaurant and spotted her friend seated at the window seat. Amy walked over and cleared her throat “May I take your order?” she asked politely.
“Not now, I’m waiting for a friend.” Julia didn’t even look up.
“Who, me?” Amy asked causing her friend to turn over. Her face was frustrated but it turned into a big smile when she realized it was her friend. “What are you staring at?”
“There was this guy across the street with a camera. He was hiding behind that alley.” She pointed out “But he’s gone now. I was just being nosy.” She turned over to Amy and frowned “When did you need glasses?”
It was such a habit for Amy to put them on everyday that she forgot she didn’t need them that day. “Oh, it’s for my new job.” She quickly pulled it off making her face lighter. “Ahh, much better.” She sighed.
“So I hear. Working for Philip Cheung aren’t you?” Julia said in a teasing tone “So what’s he really like? Is he a player like the magazines say he is?”
Amy shook her head with a snicker “Don’t believe everything you read. I’m sorry honey, I’m not allowed to talk about him to other people. Even my good friends.” She smiled apologetically.
Julia shrugged carelessly “That’s cool. I understand. I’ll just pick up the next tabloid and read about him in there.”
“Okay, you got me.” Amy laughed. Her friend was so manipulative at times “He’s a great person, funny but spoiled at the same time. Definitely generous. I think he’s just misunderstood in the eyes of the press. They think he’s got an ego bigger than Hong Kong, but the truth is, he’s just a hard worker. He goes by the rules but knows what he can get away with.” She knew she could trust her friend.
“Wow…he sounds like the perfect guy. With money and power too. Do you like him?” she asked carelessly.
Amy frowned “No, of course not. Not in that way at least. I mean he’s my boss, you’re not allowed to like a boss.” She spat out the words with disgust.
“Who says? If the boss looks like Philip Cheung, who cares! If he was Mr. Lu, yeah I would say you shouldn’t like him. But it’s Philip Cheung we’re talking about.” Julia didn’t notice her voice was raising causing a few people to glance in their direction.
Amy looked at the pairs of eyes and then back at Julia. She leaned in and whispered “Not too loud. I don’t want people to start hounding me.”
Julia nodded “Sorry.” The girls had a nice lunch catching up on old times. It had been almost three months since Amy left her old job. It didn’t occur to her how time flew by until she saw her friend.
****************
Sunday came fast for Amy as she woke up bright and early. Almost forgetting that she didn’t have work. She was so use to the routine that her internal alarm came off at 8am. She didn’t know what to do so early in the morning, so she decided to go for a long jog on the beach. She dressed herself in sweats and a tank top. She took a cab to the nearest beach.
She must have been doing it for about an hour until she stopped to rest. She looked around and saw a familiar face sitting underneath an umbrella with a notebook on his lap as he tapped his chin carefully. Amy waved to Johnny to get his attention. He noticed her and gave her a quick smile secretly thinking who the girl was. He didn’t recognize her without her glasses “You come here often?” she asked.
He wrinkled his forehead “Amy?” it was in a question form.
She laughed “Who did you think I was?” she got up and walked over to him.
Johnny continued to stare at her strangely “I didn’t recognize you.”
“Why not?” she wondered “Because I look like a slob?”
“No, because you don’t have your glasses on. Did you get contacts?” he asked, his eyes never leaving her face. He couldn’t get over the fact that she looked so different without her glasses.
She blushed despite her flushed face from all that jogging “Promise you won’t tell Philip?” Johnny nodded with a dazed expression “I don’t really need glasses. A friend of mine once told me that I looked more professional with the glasses. So I wore them to the interview. I think that’s what got me the job, anyways, it’s too late to tell Philip, he would be upset to know that I lied.”
“I’m sure it’s not a big deal to him. He shouldn’t get mad at you for that.” He pointed out.
Amy shrugged “I just don’t want him to know. You promised.”
“Yes, yes momma, I won’t tattletale on you okay?” he smiled with his head tilted “You’re cute without them.”
Amy laughed “Oh please, spare me the ridicule.”
He looked at her with sad eyes “I was serious.”
She nodded “Yeah, yeah…whatever.” She pushed herself from the sand and brushed off her bottom “I’ll see you next week. I want to get another round on the beach before I go home. Stay out of the sun now.” Amy nodded to his giant umbrella that could fit another person under there.
“I have to or I’ll melt.” He quipped. She jogged away waving to him and his gaze continued to follow her even long before she disappeared down the beach.
************
The following week, Philip was due at the recording studio early that morning. Amy was the first to arrive at the studio with Johnny waiting inside. She didn’t find Philip anywhere “He’s not here yet?”
Johnny looked up “Nope. Maybe he’s running late.”
Suddenly her cell phone rang. She reached into her purse and pulled it out “Hello?”
“Hey Amy, tell Johnny that I’ll be running a little late. I have to shoot this scene first. It was a last minute thing.” Philip explained his tardiness.
“Okay. You need me there?” she asked.
“Unless you can hitch a boat out here to Macau. It’s okay, I think I can survive a few hours without you.” He kidded. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
She nodded into her cell phone “Okay. I’ll just hang out with Johnny then.”
“Alright, tell him not to flirt with you.” His tone of voice was serious but Amy knew he was teasing.
“Okay.” She laughed and hung up. Amy turned to Johnny “He’s running late.” She had a smirk on her face.
It was obvious that Philip said something amusing to her “What else did he say?” Johnny asked suspiciously.
“He told you not to flirt with me.” She laughed unable to hold it in.
“Aww, he read me like a book.” He leaned back on his chair “So what now?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged and sat down. “You can continue to work on the music. I’ll just relax.”
Suddenly a grin covered his face “Hey, I know. Since Philip isn’t here. Can you do me a favor?”
She shook her head already knowing what he wanted to say “No, I will not sing.”
“Oh, come on, you party pooper!” he said with a pouted face “Just a couple of lines of that song. I wrote the tune for the female part already.”
“No.” she said flatly.
“Please??” he begged with his hands clasped together.
She sighed “It’s not that great.”
“I don’t care. We’re not recording you or anything. Just sing it for me.” He asked.
“Okay fine.” She sounded grumpy but inside she was nervous. She took the music from his hand. He played the music in the background and the female part started first. She sang a few lines but stopped when she noticed the huge grin on his face. “What are you smiling at?”
He laughed “You’re really good. I can’t believe you’ve been hiding that beautiful voice from us. Philip would be so-”
“You promised!” she pointed out.
Johnny nodded with his hands up in defense mode “I know, I know. I’m just saying he would kill if he knew you had that voice all along.”
“Well, he’ll never know, got that?” she threatened. He nodded and Amy smiled “Good.”