Fan Fiction |
by Mimosa
“Don’t worry Dr. Tong” His face relaxed into a warm trusting smile at the sight of the young lady doctor. Curiously, he gazed at her. The cold nonchalant look on her face had disappeared. Those eyes! His heart leapt a beat. Unmistakably those eyes belonged to his one and only Sze Sze. The cold Dr. Tong had melted away.
He raised his hand, wanting to clean away the little stain on her face, but the gesture disturbed the wound, forcing the blood to ooze profusely. Gallen passed out.
“Stretcher!” Carmen yelled.
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From the corner of her eyes, Jessica saw Roger leaving. She rushed after him. Julian looked up just in time to catch the two marching toward the exit. He suppressed a sigh.
“Roger” Jessica sat down on the bench next to him. She scrutinized his reaction wearily “Would you like to go for a beer?”
“I’m okay Jessica,” Roger rubbed his face “I just need some fresh air.”
“How did you know? I meant…” Jessica hesitated “Your entrance was perfect-timing, Roger.”
“It’s Hester, Jessica!”
“Hester?” Jessica jumped “My sister woke up?”
“Yes! She told me all…” Roger turned lightly so that Jessica couldn’t see the pain in his eyes. Jessica was more than eager to rush upstairs, but the anguish in Roger’s voice held her back
“Roger, could you forgive her?” Jessica said, eyeing Roger keenly “She was just confused…” Jessica glanced back through the slightly ajar door to catch the sight of Carmen with her white-blouse team among the policemen.
“Jessica,” Roger got up and kicked an empty can on the ground “Hester didn’t do anything wrong. It was all because of me!”
“Don’t you say that!”
“Yes, Jessica. Do you know why she jumped off the building? Do you?” He struggled to stay calm
“Because she… she…” Jessica was slightly startled “I don’t know anymore Roger, do you want to tell me?”
“Jessica, Hester saw that woman putting the drug into my father’s coffee cream. She told me about her, about the digitalis… She witnessed it all.” Roger’s face twisted painfully “Then there was the news of my brother got killed… Hester thought it was her fault.”
“Oh my god!” Whispered Jessica in bewilderment “I can’t believe it! My silly sister!”
“It’s all because of me, Jessica.” Roger clenched his teeth “If I weren’t born into this world, then that woman that I’ve just called by the word Mother wouldn’t have had any reason to kill my father. Gallen wouldn’t have been shot, and Hester wouldn’t have jumped off the building.” Tear streamed down his face as he went on vehemently “Your sister, she wanted to shield me from the pain, the knowledge, of having a murderer as a mother. And all I did was blaming her!”
Jessica was dumbfounded. She simply could not believe what she had heard. It didn’t quite make sense at first. Then everything began to fall in to places. Yes, Hester must have seen something on that fateful Sunday when Gallen took her home for dinner. She must have not attached any meaning to it, probably until she read the script. Jessica remembered how agitated Hester had been that night when she came back from Nick’s house. She must have decided to keep everything to herself. Maybe Roger was right. Hester was worried the truth would destroy Roger. Then there was the news of Gallen being shot and killed. Jessica sighed. She remembered how violent Nick had reacted to it. The news must have hit Hester twice that hard. The miserable girl had obviously jumped into the conclusion that her silence, her accomplice, had killed the man, whom she also loved very much. Probably as much as the one she was trying to shield. Torn between two, she chose the only seemingly available solution.
“Don’t you think Hester really need you by her side now, Roger?” asked Jessica after a long pause.
“I’ll be there later,” mumbled the young detective vacantly “I just need some time alone now Jess. Please!”
Jessica watched Roger for another minute, then headed back inside toward the IC area.
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“My Roger!” Martha smiled “He finally calls me Mother.” She grabbed the arm of a police officer with her cuffed hands “Did you hear that? He called me Mother. He knows I’m his mother now!”
The cop jerked her hands out rather rudely and closed the door. He shook his head. The mad woman! She was insane!
“Roger” She closed her eyes and rested her head on the cold steel wall of the Police vehicle. “Your father, he won’t ever say no to you and your actress girlfriend!” she laughed throatily “And that horrible boy, he won’t steal your Hester away, I promise you Roger. I promise you!”
“She is insane!” The police officer shuddered in disgust.
“Let’s get going everyone” Julian hopped into the driver seat “We have less than two hours left and a mountain of work to finish.” He winked to Raymond “I don’t want to lose my badge.”
“Me neither” Raymond grinned. “I’ll catch up with you later, Julian!” He waved and headed back into the hospital
Julian cast another glance around before maneuvered the heavy police van out the gate. He was hoping to catch a glimpse of Jessica, but she was not around. Julian sighed and pressed on the gas pedal.
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“Dai Jie!” Raymond skipped every three steps of the staircase. He didn’t want to wait for the elevator. “What did you say?”
“Hester woke up, Ray!” Jessica yelled over the phone “She woke up… And she has something I think you might want to include in your report!”
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(Quarter 3 – 10:00 pm)
Nick flexed his fingers and approached the bedside in a threatening manner. Gallen’s smile disappeared.
“Hey Nick, calm down.” Gallen hastily explained, “I didn’t really mean to trick you!”
“I practically mourned over you!” Nick seethed “And all the time you were here” Nick gestured angrily toward the door, where he had just caught a glimpse of Carmen “You were here with your beautiful doctor, obviously enjoying life!”
Gallen watched with alarm as he saw his friend’s right palm clenched into a tight fist. “It...it wasn’t time to advertise my survival Nick… We didn’t want too many people know about the plan.”
“Ah, so you trust her, and not your best friend!” smirked Nick ironically. He was standing tall on Gallen’s bedside.
“You can’t really hit a wounded man, Nick.” Gallen laughed nervously as he sat up “That’s not going to reflect well on your reputation!”
“Oh yeah?” Nick rubbed his left palm over the right fist “Who said I would care about my reputation?”
“Stop it, Nick!” Gallen shut his eyes and covered his head awkwardly with his free arm as Nick brought his fist forward. The fist sunk into the pillow, missing Gallen by an inch.
“I knew it” Gallen’s face relaxed into a broad grin “I knew you wouldn’t have the heart to hit me!”
“Gosh!” Nick shuddered “Save those sweet talk for your girls!” He drew a chair closer and sat himself comfortable in it. “I’ll be patient and wait until you get better. I’ll deal with you then!”
“Come on, buddy!” Gallen smiled, then sighed “You know I wouldn’t hide the fact from you if I had a choice, Nicky!”
“Whatever! So er..” Nick poked curiously at Gallen’s new bandage strap across his chest, causing the other to wink “I heard it was half a centimeter from your heart! Is the bullet still in there?”
“No, Nick!” Gallen snickered “And please stop touching my chest. The girls will think you’re interested in me.”
“Dream on!” Nick withdrew his hand, “By the way, is that lady doctor one of your girlfriends?”
“Nick!” Gallen grunted indignantly “She’s Carmen!”
“Carmen? Carmen who?” asked Nick vaguely.
“Sze Sze!”
“Oh” Nick’s mouth formed a perfect O. His eyes widened knowingly “Your sweetheart from Berkeley? No wonder!”
“Yes,” smiled Gallen. His eyes twinkled warmly, “She’s special, isn’t she?”
Nick watched his friend keenly. Then he let out a soft chuckle “I hate to be a spoiler, but what happened to her boyfriend, Gallen?”
“Oh” Gallen was clearly taken aback “I…er…I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Asked Nick with a raised brow.
“We’ve just never really had time to talk…” replied Gallen sulkily. Nick had brought up a tender point. Gallen knew he’d been in denial all this time. He had pretended to be completely occupied with the plan to catch his father’s murderer, and had avoided all the possible discussion related to his and Carmen’s personal lives. He cherished the moment she was around him, and dared not to ask any question. He was not so ready to face reality.
“You should look at your foolish face in the mirror, buddy!” Nick scolded teasingly “You’ve never given up on your Sze Sze, have you?”
“I don’t know, Nick.” Gallen gazed aimlessly at the ceiling “But it's great to be around her!"
“What about Hester?”
Gallen shifted his gaze from the ceiling to the window, then to Nick, and back to his long slender fingers. He entwined them, disjoined them, then entwined them again.
“What Hester did was beyond my imagination, Nick.” Gallen rubbed his face “Do you know what I’ve just found out last night? Roger was by her bedside looking heart-broken.” Gallen looked up with a helpless look in his eyes “I had no idea she is Roger’s new girlfriend, Nick! He would have introduced her to me if it wasn't for my Dad's.. Urg, I don’t know how to face him now. Do you know Roger loves Hester?”
“I know, but so what?” Nick shrugged “She loves you, that’s all that matters!”
“You don’t understand, Nicky!” Gallen traced the lean line of his elegant nose “That night when the crooks shot me down and thrown me into the sliding mud lake, I saw everyone, Nick. In that moment before I passed out, when I was walking the thin line of life and death, I saw all the familiar faces paraded through my mind. Everyone but Hester! I was supposed to see her, right? I mean… I love her. But no, Nick, I didn’t see her. I only saw Sze Sze.” Gallen pressed his lips, confusion reflected in his eyes, “Nick, tell me why!”
“Well,” Nick got up and paced around the room “I think you’re helpless, Gallen. I think you should go ahead and tell both of them what’s in your mind!” Nick stopped at the end of the bed and looked straight into his friend’s eyes “Hester deserves to know you have been using her as a life boat to forget your Sze Sze!”
Gallen winked painfully at the bluntness. “Nick,” he groaned “I don’t use Hester as a life boat. I’m serious with her!”
“You don’t have to explain to me, buddy!” Nick shrugged “Ask yourself! I know you’re serious with Hester, but that must be before your Sze Sze reappeared into your life. Is that true?”
Gallen wanted to answer, but at that moment the door to his ward flung opened and Carmen walked in gracefully.
“I’m sorry,” She said to Nick with a polite smile “My patient will have to wake up early tomorrow to get transferred back to HK. I will have to ask you to leave now, Mr. Cheung!”
Gallen’s heart sunk low. Tomorrow would be his father’s funeral. And after tonight, Gallen didn’t know when Carmen’s path and his would ever cross again. It was fate that brought them together in Berkeley, for him to fall head over heel in love with her. Then it was also fate to arrange the visit of her uncle. The young couple had been devastated as they found themselves being cousins.
Then fate, at one point, did smile at Gallen. That was when he found out the blood test, which his friend Kevin had kindly run for him, was a mistake. The blood running in his veins wouldn’t possibly from her uncle, for it was type O, and not A. Her uncle with his blood type AB would never father a son with blood group O. Overwhelmed by joy, Gallen caught the first plane available to get back to San Diego. 17 hours in the plane passed by pleasantly as he was dreaming of her, of the joy in her eyes, the sweetness in her voice, the warmth in her breathe.
He had almost touched it.
But right at the moment he thought he had reached it, the dream shattered into million of tiny pieces. What Gallen witnessed when he stepped into her dormitory hit him hard between the eyes. There she was, his endearing Sze Sze, in the arm of his college best friend.
There outside of her dorm, Gallen stood through the night in the autumn chill. Kevin did not go back out. When the church bell chimed the morning toll, Gallen's silly pride and dignity pronounced the trembling death of his heart.
On the way back to the airport, he had stopped at Lawrence Hall. The old oak tree was still there; lonely with its bare brownish branches. All the leaves had yellowed and fell…
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P.S. Ah... Seems like the affairs of the heart are way more complex than murder itself! :/ Silly chapter, but hope you enjoy it more or less... *sigh*