| Fan Fiction |
by mango
“No, no, no, no!” Strongly shaking her head, Tavia pushed away the recycled paper with a rough drawing of a birthday cake on it. Leila pulled at her hair and exaggerated her vexation. “I…I want a different shape.”
“What is wrong with a circle?!?” Leila cried exasperatedly. “Almost all the cakes are of that one shape!” It was a chilly Wednesday evening and the two coworkers were situated in the kitchen where it was much warmer due to the heat radiating from the oven and stove. Raymond’s birthday was in one week and Tavia was already fretting about it. Leila thought it was so unnecessary. She seemed to be more worried than the main character, himself.
“Because…it’s too common!” Tavia protested desperately and sighed. She grabbed the pencil and drew an ‘X’ on the drawing.
“But we’ve been on this topic for an hour already and you still haven’t decided on a template!” cried Leila mercilessly and grabbed the writing tools from Tavia and began sketching again. “Fine, why don’t you just make it in a shape of the heart then?”
“But tha—“
Tavia wanted to disagree but Leila did not allow her to continue as she quickly interrupted Tavia’s sentence, “Tavia! Stop worrying too much! He’ll like anything you make, okay? And we need to decide on one or else you’re going to take forever. The next thing you know would be the party and you still don’t have the cake ready. I,” Leila emphasized. “Personally think that you should just buy one from Kenix and save all this trouble.”
Chuckling, Tavia retrieve the design from Leila and mumbled softly, “That’s what you think now.”
“What?” Leila narrowed her eyes at Tavia.
Taking a quick glance at Leila, Tavia smiled sheepishly. “I’d prefer to bake it myself.” She examined the rough draft and hesitantly agreed, “I guess…I’ll use this then.”
Leila pumped her fist into the air and stretched. “Finally!” Tavia shook her head at Leila’s behavior as Leila leaned in and gestured for Tavia to do the same. In a low whisper, Tavia questioned, “How is it living with her?”
“Huh?”
Leila peeked through the window of the swinging doors like she was afraid someone would be eavesdropping and would tell Linda sooner or later. “Linda Chung.”
“Oh. Um, she’s very nice.” Tavia found the words forcing itself out of her throat.
“It doesn’t sound like it.” Leila paused while Tavia did not know how to respond. “There’s something fishy about that girl.”
“What do you mean?” She spoke with interest for she also felt the same way yet didn’t want to say so.
“It’s a woman’s instinct. I don’t….like her. It’s like she wants to swallow Raymond up and not let him go.” Leila nodded her head confidently as Tavia giggled nervously.
Clearing her throat, Tavia teased Leila, “Since when did you become so nosey?”
Leila gasped and crossed her arms across her chest. “I’m not nosey.” Tavia looked at Leila. “Maybe I am hanging around with too many of those gossiping office ladies,” she admitted sadly.
“On the bright side, you and Bosco have stopped fighting for awhile, but it’s very…unusual.”
“Oh…” Leila looked away, absentminded.
“Leila?”
“Huh? Oh, uh, as long as that bastard doesn’t bother me, I won’t bother him. Anyway,” Leila wanted to avoid this topic of her and Bosco. “I heard from Kenix that you…” She trailed off in a low whisper. Glimpsing at Leila’s concerned expression, Tavia then hastily looked somewhere else. She could already feel a lump rising in her throat and palms sweating as she remembered Ron’s threat toward her. It had been bugging her a lot lately and she couldn’t get rid of it. “Are you okay?”
She wore a weak smile. “I’m fine.” Although Leila was not convinced, she did not continue to question on the subject, knowing that Tavia did not want to talk about it. Glancing at the watch, Tavia then declared, “Let’s clean up then? It’s almost closing time!”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Seated in her chair and with the lamp light turned off, she was busily working away on her cake design. She had not realized how much effort she was putting into this and hope he would like it. Her total concentration on the drawing before her had blocked everything else out of her senses and it was only when she took a little break did she hear constant breathing next to her. It gave Tavia a jump of fright in her seat and she rapidly crumbled the paper into a wrinkled ball. “Oh my gosh! What are you doing?” Raymond chortled at her surprised expression. Her eyes shot open and she narrowed her eyes at him. “You didn’t…happen to see anything, did you?”
“Did I see what, love?” It was either he truly didn’t see it or he did but was doing a fairly good job of covering it up.
She pointed the end of the pencil at him. “Tell me, what did you see?”
“I saw—“
“Wait! Never-mind! Don’t tell me.” She swiftly stuffs the paper back into the drawer and turned off the desk lamp as he nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed. She jumped onto the mattress and wrapped her arms around his neck, placing her chin on his shoulder blade and resting her cheek against his. Tavia could smell his aftershave. “You’re quiet today…”
“Really? I’m just a bit exhausted.” Raymond grinned, craning his neck to the side to take a look at her. “What were you doing?”
“You weren’t supposed to ask me. I won’t tell,” she replied in a determined tone.
“Really?” Raymond turned around at full force and started tickling Tavia. Tavia pushed him away while crying for him to stop. There were tears in her eyes as she was laughing hard. Seeing as it was enough, Raymond stopped and her laughter ceased to an end. When it was quiet, Tavia realized how close they were with Raymond on top of her. Without knowing what took over her, she leaned in and kissed him to which he naturally responded.
‘Do you think he would reciprocate your feelings when he finds out that you’re a liar? Tavia! Wake up! He’d throw you away…just like Bernice’
Tavia deepened the kiss. Raymond peeked through his eyes to see her cheeks moistened with tears. “Tavy, don’t scare me.” Raymond broke off the kiss.
Quickly, she wiped away her tears. “I think it’s my tears from laughing so hard,” she choked on her words.
“I don—“
She feigned a loud yawn. “I think we should go to sleep. So tired! Don’t want to wake up with dark circles under my eyes!” She grabbed the blanket and pulled it over her head in hopes that he would stop asking questions.
Sighing, he whispered, “Good-night.” Tavia tightly closed her eyes. She was keeping too much from him. She had the urge to tell him the truth but was too cowardly to do so.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The staircase was narrow. The air was filthy and the lights were dim and felt as though it would suddenly shut off any minute. Sammul lightly kicked aside a garbage bag while continuing his way up to the warehouse.
“Boss, Sam gor.” Sammul and Raymond were greeted as they made their way into what seems like a very normal looking unit. They turned around the corner and headed to the very last door and entered. Several tables were inside along with men who were currently concentrating on their work of producing drugs. A few packages were on placed on a separate table. Raymond picked one up, studied it and placed it back down.
“Our regulars have been decreasing everyday,” Sammul pointed out as he walked around the room to inspect their work. “Kevin’s selling it at a cheaper price than ours.”
Raymond and Sammul’s attention was diverted from the conversation. “That son of a bitch! Don’t let me see his face ever agai—ow! Can’t you be more gentle? Fuck! Give it to me!” Upon hearing a commotion coming from outside, Raymond and Sammul went to see what was happening. They immediately saw Joel, a member of the triad for quite a few years, yelling in anger.
“What’s going on?” Raymond spoke, trying to calm down the noise. They shouldn’t be too loud lest they invited unwanted policemen.
Joel, realizing Raymond’s presence, got up from his seat and words began flying out of his mouth nonstop. “The bastard! What right does he have to be in our territories?! He’s taking away my regulars and now, he’s trying to take over my territories. Raymond gor, you’ve got to do something!”
“Who are you talking about?” Raymond looked confusedly.
“The Fat Joe, Kevin’s sidekick!” Joel fumed.
“Did you get into a fight?” inquired Sammul disapprovingly.
Joel started stuttering, “I---I was forced to. He started the fight, Sam gor!”
Raymond stared beyond Joel’s shoulders. “Where are your men?” But before Joel could answer, they heard a few gunshots coming from outside and violent sounds as if there was a gang fight downstairs. Raymond rushed over to the window and carefully peeked through the curtains. True enough, Raymond spotted a whole bunch of wild men, entangling themselves in a huge mess and standing on the side was Kevin, smirking. Just then, Kevin glanced up and waved as if he knew Raymond was there, watching.
“Stop!” Raymond shouted, arriving at the scene and then darted his eyes over to Kevin who had just finished off the last fish ball before throwing the stick aside, making his way up to Raymond. Everyone stopped themselves as they all returned to their rightful side yet still harboring hatred for one another.
“Get out of here!!” Joel glared at Kevin.
Kevin returned the glare and pointed a finger a Joel. He scoffed. “I won’t even bother wasting my breath talking to a lowly dog like you!” Kevin spat. Sammul stopped Joel by giving him a look of silence.
“YEAH! Who do you think you are to talk to Kevin gor? Huh?” The statement aroused a whole new verbal fight against opposite ends.
“BE QUIET!” Kevin screamed, shooting daggers at his men with his eyes.
“You may cause troubles anywhere else but within my land.” Raymond clenched his fist for he was fed up with Kevin.
Kevin threw his head back and laughed hysterically as if what Raymond said was the most hilarious joke he had ever encountered. “Your land? This place is about to be mine!” He shot back and was face to face with Raymond. They were exchanging intense stares but Kevin broke away first. He sneered at Raymond like he knew something Raymond didn’t which only made Raymond more upset than before. He knew Kevin had always hated him ever since Michael handed the position of leader over to Raymond instead of his real blood-related nephew, Kevin Cheng. Needless to say, Kevin was always finding ways to mess with Raymond and take over his position. He wanted to be head and he was not going to stop until he reached his goal. Raymond was foolish enough to think that he would never come back ever since he lost to Raymond two years ago.
“What’s so funny?” Raymond asked grimly.
Kevin eyed Raymond and spoke, “No wonder you can’t keep your own woman. Raymond, Raymond, Raymond, you need to relax.”
Raymond and Sammul exchanged perplexed looks. “What are you getting at?”
“Oh?” Kevin pretended to be surprise. “You didn’t know?”
“Know what?” Raymond was finding it hard to keep patient.
“Of this!” Kevin held out his hand as one of his men placed a yellow envelope on his palm.
“What’s that?” Sammul looked questioningly at the envelope, wondering what was inside.
Ignoring Sammul because he was not Kevin’s target, Kevin continued, “I suggest you take a look at it yourself, Raymond.” He emphasized on Raymond’s name. He took it back when Raymond reached for it. “Don’t say I’m not a considerate man. To save yourself the embarrassment, you should look at it…when you’re alone.” He had on a victorious lop-sided grin and handed the envelope over to Raymond. “And if you need any help about how to manage your woman, I’m always here.” Kevin leaned back and crossed his arms. “I’m here to help.” He tapped his chin in a ridiculous manner that agitated Sammul and Raymond. “Like say, if you want, I could help you manage this street. Ciao!” Kevin laughed and then signaled for his men to follow. While they were filing out one by one, the members on Raymond’s side were throwing nasty remarks at the intruders, threatening them to never come back or else they would be in a terrible mess.
Clutching tightly onto the envelope, Raymond had a queasy feeling inside.
“What’s in it?” Sammul had one hand on Raymond’s shoulder.
“I don’t know…”
“Open it,” urged on Sammul as he would also like to know what was inside.
Usually he would not listen to Kevin’s word nor would he even care about what gibberish came out of that guy’s mouth, but it was different now. A part of him actually believed Kevin and that he should take a look at it himself. Instead of answering Sammul, Raymond turned around and commanded the rest of his people to go back to what they were doing and to make sure none of this would happen again. He turned to Sammul. “I’ll take a look at it first.” Hesitantly, Sammul agreed and Raymond made his way over to his parked car.
What did Kevin mean by not being able to manage his own woman? Was he talking about Tavia? He wasn’t planning to do anything to her, was he? Why should he listen to Kevin, anyway? Kevin was a maniac as far as Raymond knew.
He opened the envelope.