Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
Robert was behind a desk in his library, feet propped up and in his fingers was a cigar. His eyes hardened as he stared at a picture of his wife on the wall. His bodyguards were giving Chris a great welcome. Bruised from head to toe, Chris cried out in pain for them to stop “Sir! Please…stop…”
When he had enough begging, Robert raised a hand “I told you guys to welcome him, not kill him. We still need him to be alive.” He lowered his legs and beckoned to Chris “Come over here.”
The guards pushed him roughly towards Robert desk as they pinned his face against the wooden table “I’m sorry Mr. Kwok!”
He looked calm but a second later he was a beast as he leaned closer and pushed the butt of the cigar onto Chris’s face “I told you a hundred times, refer me to Sir!!”
“Yes sir!!” Chris cried, while kicking his feet in pain.
Robert’s smile appeared slowly as he nodded for his guards to leave them “The fun’s over. What do you have to say for yourself?”
He wiped the blood from his lips and forehead with his sleeve “I’m sorry Sir. I have no excuses for myself.”
Robert looked bored “And?”
“And…eh…I will try harder not to let it happen again.” He finished with promising eyes.
“Again? There will not be another chance. You will die before there is another ‘again.’ There is no use for a dog that can’t fetch.” Robert snickered evilly.
Chris nodded, he feared the man to the core of his bones “But Sir, why did you come back so soon without telling me?”
“I just got back this morning.” Robert turned to him strangely “You saw me last night?”
“Yes. I mean no…well, he had a mask.” Chris explained in confusion “Who would impersonate you?” Robert’s eyes darkened as he thought of the culprit “Is it your son, Riley?”
“Nonsense! He was with me, how could he possibly be in two places at once?” Robert barked “No…I know who it is.”
***********
Erin and Jenna picked up Reina at the hospital two days from her operation. Her shoulder was bandaged and the doctors said she would heal quickly from their observance of her in the past two days. The girls walked into the home with a sweet aroma of crab meat in tomato flavor sauce “Jenna, you shouldn’t have!”
“I didn’t.” she scratched her head.
Luke peeked his head from the kitchen “Hi girls. Dinner’s almost ready.” He walked over to help support Reina “Is your arm movable now?”
She nodded with a smile “Yeah, good as new. Are you cooking? That smells wonderful.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” he said with a laugh.
“Cocky now, aren’t we?” Jenna snickered.
“No, I’m just agreeing with Reina.” He said with emphasis “Anyways, let’s eat.”
“I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse.” Reina laughed.
Erin raised her brows “When did you pick up Mia’s bad habit.”
“Mia! Crap, she said she was gonna come pick me up today.” Reina exclaimed.
“Looks like you’re picking up some of Matt’s sickness too. Memory loss.” Jenna quipped.
Erin laughed “Don’t worry, I’ll call her.” She pulled out her cell phone and called for Mia “Hey, Mia--”
“Erin!! Reina’s gone!! They took her!! Oh my God…I can’t believe it, right here in the hospital…how could this have happened? What are we going to do? We have to tell Matt, he’ll have a heart attack…oh my God…I can’t breath…”
Erin pushed the phone away from her ear while her friend babbled on, she was so loud that all four of them could hear her “Mia, I’m okay.” Reina cut into her jabbering.
“Reina? Oh my gosh! You’re okay. You bitch! You're with Erin? Why didn’t you tell me that Erin was picking you up? You scared the crap out of me…”
Erin eventually gave Reina the cell phone as she rolled her eyes “Drama…” Jenna helped Luke set the table as they prepared themselves for dinner. Erin was chopping up the salad when she noticed Reina was off the phone “Was she mad?”
Reina snickered while Jenna let out a short laugh “A little.” She smiled at Luke “Got room for three more?” The three turned to her with raised brows “I had too, she was cursing at me like a sailor. I told her Luke was cooking and she invited herself, Darren and Bonnie.”
“I think we have room.” Luke nodded as he motioned for Jenna to pick up more plates.
“I’ll just whip up a batch of lasagna just in case we don’t have enough.” Jenna nodded as she headed for the cupboards.
Erin and Reina raised their brows “The last time, I whipped up anything, it was coffee and all I needed was water and coffee beans.”
“Cup o noodles and boiling water.” Erin snorted.
Dinner was ready by the time Mia and Darren made it to Erin’s home. They seated together at the dinner table like a big happy family. Mia noticed Darren staring at Luke in amazement “Honey, if I didn’t know better, I would think you were gay.”
“I can’t get over it…” Darren shook his head, still staring at the uncomfortable Luke.
Erin turned to Luke and back to Darren “You might want to stop. He won’t be able to eat.”
“I’m sorry.” He shook his head “Where is my head?”
“In the toilet!” Bonnie exclaimed while the adults turned to the adorable girl “Mommy always said Daddy’s head is in the toilet.”
“It’s gutter, honey. But toilet works too.” Mia patted her girl on the head.
Erin shook her head “Mia, you shouldn’t be teaching her this stuff. She’s going to grow up thinking Darren is a poophead.”
“Poophead!” Bonnie repeated while laughing.
“You taught her that.” Mia pointed at her friend with a laugh.
Reina smiled as she looked at the happy family. She turned to Jenna, who was staring at her dish of crab and lasagna “What’s wrong?”
Jenna shook her head “Nothing.” seeing their family reminded her of Joe. They seldom sat down for dinner together.
Darren glared at his wife threateningly “Look what you did!”
“What? I didn’t do anything!” Mia said in her defense.
“No, I’m okay guys. I’m not feeling good, I’ll be back in a bit.” She pushed her chair out and rushed up the stairs to her room so they would not catch her crying.
Luke sighed “Should I take this one?” he placed his napkin on the table ready to get up.
“I’ll get this, if you don’t mind.” Darren said politely as he got up and followed Jenna up the stairs. He approached a closed door and knocked on it gently “Jenna, it’s me Darren. Can I come in?” there was no answer “Look, I know you’re hurting, I only want to help. If you need to talk, I’m there for you.”
“Darren, I’m over here.” Jenna heard him talking outside. She walked out and found him a few doors down from her room “Whom are you talking to?”
He looked at the door and opened it, it was a bathroom “My head IS in the toilet.” He laughed at himself and walked over to her. He entered it to find her going through the box of Joe’s belongings “What are you looking at?”
She shook her head “I don’t know. I keep having this feeling that he left something for me…but I don’t know what. Or how to find it.”
“I know you miss him. It’s okay to be in pain.” He coaxed gently while rubbing her shoulder.
“Thanks." Jenna sighed sadly. Her eyes catching her father’s high school yearbook as she picked it up “I wish I would have listened more to his boring stories or when he’s babbling about his work.” Tears brimming the corner of her eyes as she flipped through the pages of the book “Or when he asked me to come visit him in Beijing, I would say no because I’m a Hong Kong girl.” She dropped the book on her lap and covered her sobbing face.
Darren sighed as he reached out and embraced her warmly “It’s okay…I’m sure he’ll understand. We all know how much he adores you. No one could ever take that away from you.” He pulled away as he wiped her face clean “Now stop crying, you’re getting the yearbook wet.” He pointed to the book and suddenly, his eyes did a double take.
Jenna smiled but when she noticed his frozen face, she asked, “What’s the matter?”
He took the book from her lap and pressed it closer to his face so he could have a better look “Jenna…who does this look like?”
A chill ran through her bones as she easily recognized the handsome smile, it was intoxicating how handsome he was in his earlier age “Robert Kwok.” She read the name listed under the picture “He went to high school with my dad?”
Darren flipped the pages as he skimmed the black and white pictures for faces. He came upon the activities page “And on the debate team together and played soccer together.” He pointed out the pictures “This is too much of a coincidence.”
“He knows my dad…” Jenna whispered.
“We should tell the others.” Darren instructed. She agreed with a nod as the two rushed downstairs. They reached the living room and the doorbell rang.
Erin rushed outside to open the door when she found the two standing in the living room “Hey, glad you’re back. Your dinner’s getting cold. And Darren, you might want to stay away from your crab…Bonnie had a little too much fun with the pepper.”
Darren grimaced in disgust while they were curious to know who was at the door. It was Doug, looking unshaven and his hair was tousled “Hi.” He greeted like a sad puppy.
“Doug? What are you doing here?” Erin asked in surprised “Where’s Becca.”
“Don’t mention her!” he huffed and walked inside “Can I stay here tonight?”
“What does my house look like? A refugee?” Erin said with sarcasm as she closed the door.
Darren crossed his arms around the yearbook “Did you have a fight again?”
“Again?” Erin frowned at Doug “I thought you two were doing good?”
“Yeah, one sided. She always wins.” Doug followed the food scent into the kitchen as he seated himself next to Luke, where Jenna was sitting and began digging in “You don’t mind do you? I’m starving.” He said through a mouthful of food.
The group looked at each other strangely. He lowered his face into the plate and shoveled the food into his mouth. He looked up and turned to his left, he began choking as he pointed at Luke with widened eyes “Doug, this is Luke.” Reina introduced with a sideways grin.
“Hi.” Luke brought out a hand to shake Doug’s hand “I’m Brad’s twin.”
“Oh my God!” Doug managed to spit out.
“That’s what we all said.” Mia laughed. She pulled Bonnie onto her lap making room for Darren and Jenna to sit “What’s wrong with the food at home?”
“I’m not going back! You can’t make me…” Doug replied like a madman, eyes darting towards the windows “She could have followed me.”
Bonnie cuddled against her mother’s chest “Doug, you’re scaring my little girl. Stop acting like you belong in the crazy house!” she scolded.
Erin frowned at her teammate “What happened?”
Doug took another bite of the lasagna “This is good.”
“Thanks.” Jenna smiled.
“Anyways, it was like any other day. I came home at ten and she starts firing questions at me. Where did I go, who did I go with, what did I do. Did I drink?” Doug shook his head.
“Did you?” Mia asked.
“Yes, just a beer.” He added “But she was treating me like I was some sort of prisoner. I went out with my cousin Sara because she had a dilemma she wanted me to help her with. And she starts putting on this jealous act, like I was cheating on her with my cousin. Mia, you know I’m not into incest.”
“Yeah, we all hope you’re not.” Reina snorted.
“So, she’s a little jealous.” Darren replied nonchalantly “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Mia flicked a brow at him “Really? Maybe I’ll go out with my friend, Ethan next week.”
“I’ll go with you.” Darren said casually as he turned to Doug “See how easy it is?”
Doug shook his head “You don’t understand man, she’s like crazy! She accused me of cheating on her with Sara and that I liked Sara more than her.” He turned to Erin for help “You’ve known her since high school, did she ever have a jealous streak?”
Erin nodded slowly “Actually, she did. She had a boyfriend back then and he was a very friendly guy. Maybe too friendly, she found him flirting with a friend of hers in the hallway and came over to his house and burned down his collection of baseballs signed by famous players. His dad traveled often to the U.S. and brought back the autographed balls. They’re worth thousands.”
“Oh my God, Doug, you better hide your Playboy magazines.” Mia quipped.
“Mommy, what’s a Playboy?” Bonnie asked innocently.
Darren crossed his arms at Mia, who smiled at her daughter “It’s like play dough.”
“Oh.” Bonnie replied as she returned to playing with the crab meat.
Reina waved her hand at Erin and Doug “Okay, so she was a little psychotic in high school?”
“Yeah, who was he flirting with?” Jenna asked.
“Me.” Erin said with a smile. They widened their eyes and gasped at her “I didn’t like the guy but he was overly friendly with me. Just because Becca and I were good friends, he wanted to stay on my good side.”
“Uh huh, that’s what they all say.” Mia raised a brow suspiciously.
“Anyways, you can’t stay here Doug. If Becca finds you here, it’ll be high school all over again. Except she'll burn my house down. You have to find another place to crash.” Erin shook her head firmly.
Doug dropped his jaw in shock “You won’t help a teammate in need??”
“Not if it concerns Becca. If I know her, she probably put a homing device on you and is speeding down the streets to the house as we speak.” As Erin said it, Doug jumped from his seat and peeled off his jacket while he checked his jean pockets “I said ‘IF’.” Erin emphasized.
“God, don’t scare me like that!!” Doug exclaimed.
Suddenly a cell phone rang, the group looked around to see where it was coming from “Mia, I think that’s yours.” Reina nodded to her purse on the ground.
“It’s Becca.” Mia pointed while grinning at Doug’s frightened face “Hello? Hi Becca. What’s up?” her eyes moved to Erin “Uh…yeah, I’m at Erin’s house having dinner.” She moved her lips in a stretched expression “Oh…sure, we have enough.” Doug began waving at her exaggeratingly “Okay, we’ll see you.” She hung up the phone with Doug’s reddened face “What? You’re not going to put me in the middle of this. She’s your wife, you handle her.”
“With friends like you, who needs enemies.” Doug growled.
“I’m sure she won’t be that angry.” Erin rolled her eyes dramatically at him while getting up to get another serving for Jenna.