Fan Fiction |
by Mimosa
Poor Louis, he got his share of the yellow tulip, it seemed.
***
Jessica called her Mom to tell about the change in plan. She recycled the old work emergencies bluff again, mentioned Europe, but avoided the city. She needed not any company this time, especially Louis.
Louis felt betrayed. He couldn’t really blame Jessica, but the feeling he had right now was so unpleasant. She was practically fleeing and hiding from him now, if he wasn’t mistaken. Had he made her that uncomfortable?
***
Roger didn’t sympathize with Louis much. Louis ruined Jessica’s vacation, and for that Roger was guilty, too. He was in the tough position of an unwilling traitor to Jessica, a lousy supporter to Louis, and an amateur psychiatrist to Gallen. Roger also had his life to worry about, just like everyone. Yet he seemed to be too engulfed in the problems of his friends to be Roger. Sometimes he’d like to be able to whine a little bit. But he’d never be the first to do so, and before knowing it, Roger was comforting somebody else…
Jessica had come back from her haven. Roger expected to see a little tan, but she seemed paler. She must have locked herself indoor the whole time, then. To Roger’s surprise, Jessica herself called for a little happy hour that weekend. That was good. Jessica had probably got her senses back to start living again. She was always his Jessica, a girl with strong will.
***
Gallen hurried on to finish the last batch-reaction run of the day. It was Friday again. He used to look forward to weekends. But now weekends presented themselves to him with such a dreadful emptiness. Two weeks ago he had asked his brother if there was something he could help at Antex, their family small trading and electronic assembly company. Felix almost choked on his tea, while their father’s eyes glistened happily. Being the prodigal son as his father had cynically put, Gallen simply loathed the bloody competition in business world, and had chosen an alternative unapproved career path of being an engineer. His father had had no choice but to entrust his lifetime accomplishment to the older son, Felix. Felix has a great acumen for the job, but the hot temperament he possessed was quite destructive in some instances. Mr. Lo saw the great potential in the second son to be a successful business man and had put so much expectation on Gallen, only to be bitterly enraged and frustrated when the young man declared his choice of college majoring.
Yet Gallen now clung to his given project, a little marketing survey, with such feverish enthusiasm that amused everyone in the family. Mr. Lo had his hope back, but Felix was not convinced. He knew his brother well enough. The little assignment seemingly rendered Gallen a perfect excuse to hide away in his room immediately after work. He would stir up suspicion from the family, especially their mother, otherwise. Felix was very curious. His brother was not the type who locked himself up when having problem. Gallen always insisted on finding out the cause and tackled his problem from there. Why not this time? Felix had a little theory, but he couldn’t be sure.
Not even Gallen could be sure of what he was going through. He was dying to go to Jessica, to tell her everything, to tell her how he missed her, how he wished to be able to hold her in his arms again. But something held him back. He knew he had hurt not only her feeling, but also her pride, her believe. She might not forgive him, and she had the perfect right to do so. He might be forgiven, but would he be trusted again? Jessica had trusted him while everyone in the world suspected. How pure and strong her faith was. And how brutally he had shattered it! What would he tell her? Nothing happened that night? Wasn’t it true that even Gallen himself believed he was guilty? Yes, he was tricked into believing it. But that proved how extremely possible and believable the whole thing was. Jessica had all the right with her to never trust him again.
But Roger was right. She deserved to know what’d happened. She didn’t ask for a reason when he didn’t provide one the day he said goodbye. She was just standing there, very tall, very still, with crystal tear running quietly down her marble cheek. He had expected her to yell, to slap him, to demand for explanation, but she was just standing there with her eyes open wide. He could still remember vividly the bewilderment in those beautiful brown eyes… It had shot through him and sent him far into the land of frustration. He had not had the courage or the inclination to tell her about Kenix then. And he still didn’t know how to tell it now. Kenix had gone, had came back to continue living her real happy life. She played her little game and got what she wanted. The floor was left open for whoever stayed behind; only the badly-injured Gallen didn’t quite know how to get back on his feet, not even to mention another game.
When Gallen finally got done with his lab work and came back to his desk, the message button was blinking...