Fan Fiction |
by StArrY^^
Adapted from TV serial and Book-- "Di 8 Hao Dang Pu"
-(Chapter 3)-
-||* Faded Photograph *||-
“Whee~!” Xiao Qiao cried in delight as the roller coaster zoomed downwards suddenly. She gasped and screamed in half-joy and half-terror as the coaster tipped dangerously to one side and climbed upwards. It started to go in 360-degree circles, upside down, and finally, it turned the right side up and the ride ended as the coaster slowed down to a stop.
Xiao Qiao stepped off the roller coaster gingerly. She was glad to feel the secure level ground again. The Boss came down presently, and stood beside her, looking unruffled. He stuck his hands in his side pockets and whistled carelessly.
“Whoa! Qiao? Are you ok?” The Boss made a quick movement to steady Xiao Qiao as he saw that she was about to fall from the corner of his eye. She grabbed onto her Boss’s sturdy arm for support, and tried hard to fight back the nausea.
The Boss guided her slowly to a nearby bench. “Feeling better?” The Boss’s voice edged with anxiety. Xiao Qiao looked up and their eyes met. His mesmerizing eyes looked exceptionally soft and brown at that instant, and she felt herself slowly drowning under his gaze.
But whatever she was feeling inside now, but obviously unnoted and not reflected back in her Boss’s eyes. He raised his eyebrows inquiringly. She let out a short laugh and dropped the gaze.
It’s been almost a hundred years since they got together and worked as partners. If there had been any sparks, the sparks would have sparked off decades ago. Apparently, their relationship had an invisible line drawn firmly between them. Xiao Qiao had tried repeatedly to step over the line of partnership and friendship, but her efforts were futile. The Boss had stayed in his original position all these years, and never once moved an inch. A relationship needs two parties to start. Just like it takes two hands to clap.
“Feeling better?” The Boss’s voice floated towards her as she snapped back to reality. He searched her face for any other signs of queasiness but to his relief, found none. She smiled sweetly at him and nodded her head. Suddenly, she gave him a quick peck on his cheek.
“I’m much better~ Thanks!” She disappeared into the crowd after the sentence.
The Boss remained seated on the bench and touched his cheek lightly. Xiao Qiao’s butterfly kiss lingered on his cheek for sometime. He stared into space for a while, then got up, and made his way back to the pawnshop.
If anyone asked the Boss if he had felt anything as Xiao Qiao kissed him, he would shake his head, with his lips curving upwards slightly. The answer would be an absolutely accurate one. The Boss truthfully felt nothing towards his pretty assistant.
If you knew better…
If she knew better…
If anyone knew better…
Which no one did, except for the Boss. He just cannot feel a thing when it comes to love. To him, there is no more love left in his world…
*+*
“R-ring!” The Boss continued to do his work in his room.
“R-RING!!”
“R-RRING!!”
The telephone kept on ringing persistently, shaking the receiver violently, it seemed as if it was threatening to drop off the phone set at any moment.
The Boss picked up the phone reluctantly. Normally, Xiao Qiao would be the one receiving calls and arranging appointments. He wondered where the girl was.
“Hello? Yes, Boss speaking.” He said blandly.
A cheery voice piped up, clashing with his dull tone. “Boss!”
“Just as I was thinking about her…” He said to himself. Aloud he said, “Yea?”
“Well, I am Spain nOw!! It’s simply glorious~! I will shop and eat till I drop! *laughs* Oh yea, there’s an appointment at 3.30PM! A certain Mr Tog made the appointment! I’m just telling ya in case I can’t come back—”
“---on time?” The Boss finished her sentence for her. “Hmm… It’s ok~ I will settle it myself. Enjoy yourself! Bye!”
Xiao Qiao heard a click sound on the other end of the phone as the Boss replaced the receiver. Her cherry-red lips pouted. “He could have at least talked a bit more…” She moaned into her handphone. Then she sighed and flipped it shut.
Since she was in Spain, she might as well enjoy herself! It was time to really shop till she dropped! However, it was rather lonely and boring to be shopping without company again. Her lips drew into another pout as she wished against hope that her Boss would appear in front of her and accompany her.
*+*
The Boss glanced through the music scores he had collected. He flipped one page after another idly as he tried to find a particular piece.
“Rimsky—The Bumblebee.” He read the name again. All right, he would play this piece now. The Bumblebee was a fast-moving song, telling a story of a bumblebee. As a bee did nothing but drone all day and sting people, the piece was a rather irritating one. But it was rather challenging, as it would rattle even the violinist’s nerves.
He picked a violin from the hundreds that lay in the polished cabinets peacefully. He set the score on the music stand and sight-read the piece once through. After that, he discarded the score and music stand with a wave of his bow and his bow started moving furiously fast on the strings of the violin as he played the piece off from memory.
“PR-RACK!!!” He stopped his bow. The G-string of the violin had broken neatly into half with a resounding snap.
He let a sigh and put the violin gently down on his bed. He fixed on a new string swiftly and kept the violin. Just then, his alarm clock went off, ringing madly. He pressed the alarm button down and checked the time. 3.25PM.
The Boss strolled to the eighth room easily, and went behind the counter. There was a man in his twenties sitting on the loveseat. This client of his was certainly early.
He smiled at the man patronizingly and asked, “So, Mr Tog, what can I do for you?”
“I would like to pawn my right eye for a lifetime’s peace.” He said, in an unnaturally calm sort of voice. Normally people would stutter and hesitate a while if they had come to #08 PawnShop to pawn their body parts.
The Boss passed him a contract and a pen. “Think about it again, then let me know again when you’ve made up your mind.”
Mr Tog did not take his advice but signed his name immediately. He handed the contract and pen back to the Boss.
“I have a reason for pawning this eye of mine.” Mr Tog started. The Boss looked at him and prompted him to say more.
“Since 6, I’ve been trying my best to keep my right eye. The year I turned 6, I began to see ghosts. I see them constantly, for countless times, and I think I’m going bonkers soon! I have a girlfriend, but whenever we are out for a date, my right eye continues to haunt me still! I see them almost everywhere I go! Even when my girl and I are making out! I have to get rid of this blasted eye before I lose my girlfriend and my sanity!” Mr Tog finished, stringing his words quickly on a single thread.
He took a deep breath as he continued, “One day, I heard from someone that there is a pawnshop where you can pawn anything in return of anything. So I’m here to pawn my right eye for lifelong peace from those things.” He spat out the last two words in utter disgust.
The Boss nodded understandingly. “Do you see them even now?” He asked inquisitively.
Mr Tog’s eyes turned icy as he stared into the Boss’s eyes, which looked back unflinchingly.
“Yes.” His answer was simple. A certain shivering coldness wrapped itself around the Boss.
The Boss simply nodded and motioned him to sit back on the sofa. Mr Tog closed his eyes and the Boss splayed and wiggled his fingers before his eyelids. Mr Tog felt a floating sensation, as he flopped onto the sofa’s head, his body limp-- no longer in consciousness.
The Boss snapped his fingers and a bottle appeared on his outstretched left palm. He placed his right hand on Mr Tog’s right eyelid. Mr Tog’s right eyeball pierced through the thin skin of the eyelid and lay quietly on his right palm. The Boss tipped the bottle and slipped the eyeball slowly into the bottle. With thus, he capped on the lid firmly. He put the bottle carefully on the counter and washed his hands. Then, he walked through the open doors behind the counter and into the shelving room where the pawned items were kept.
It was Mr Tog’s first time in the pawnshop. So the Boss created a new space for him. He put the bottle containing the right eyeball on the shelf labeled “Mr Tog” lightly. He was quite sure that soon, or after a period of time, Mr Tog would be back again. When he returns, he would be requesting the Boss to rid off his left eyeball.
Without Xiao Qiao, the Boss had to record the pawned items for the day by himself. He wrote a few words in the large book and returned to the room where they attended to the various clients.
When Mr Tog opened his eyes (eye now), he found himself in a hospital ward. He felt for his right eye anxiously and found the part where his right eye used to stay, bandaged in thick wads of bandage.
A nurse came in. "Mr Tog, if you are ready now, I will bring you into the operation theatre to fix a fake eye on for you."
Mr Tog stared at the nurse uncomprehensively, frowning. Someone was sobbing beside him. He turned his head, and out of his good eye, he saw his girlfriend sobbing.
"What's wrong, Fion?" He was concerned, and stroked her hair softly.
"Ohh... Dave! I'm so sorry... You- you lost your eye while saving me from that savage just now... I'm so sorry..."
All doubts were cleared now. Mr Tog smiled secretively to himself. So, that was how the pawnshop covered its tracks. By a simple explanation of an accident, he was simply depicted as an afflicted hero who saved his girl and lost an eye while fighting bravely.
"I will be ok, Fion. Don't worry. A fake one will do all the same." He kissed her forehead as the nurse wheeled him out of the ward.
*+*
Xiao Qiao finally came home at eleven o’clock at night. She stretched her arms lazily and looked gratefully at her inviting bed. She was about to change and sleep when she heard a “thud” sound. The sound came from the direction of the Boss’s bedroom.
She went out of her room with a torch and walked towards the Boss’s bedroom in her bedroom slippers. “Pad-pad” went her feet softly.
She shone her torch on the Boss’s closed door. Nothing seemed amiss. Then, something caught her eye.
There was a piece of paper-like object stuck in the small space between the underside of the door and the floorboards.
Xiao Qiao slipped the thin object and held it in free hand. She shone the torch light on the object.
It was a photograph. The sides of the photograph were yellowed, and it looked very old. On the blurry photograph, Xiao Qiao could hardly make out two figures. There was a man and a woman. The man was hauntingly familiar. She squinted her eyes and realized that it was the younger version of her Boss. Who was that lady beside him?
Her heart raced with jealousy. The Boss and the lady beside him looked blissfully happy in the faded photograph. They looked so… happy. Xiao Qiao could not find other words to describe the radiance in their faces that shone even though it was already an old and faded photograph.
Xiao Qiao’s mind was in a whirl. Was this photograph a key to her Boss’s past? The lady must have been his lover once. Or even his—wife?
Xiao Qiao’s heart wrenched painfully. She put the photograph back to its original place. As she walked back to her room, hot tears sprung up in her eyes. She sobbed into her pink pillow that night, her heart broken into little shards that would take a long time before they piece up together to form a whole again…
~*~
HeLLOZ~!!
HaahZz.. It's kinda rare for me to post so quickly~!! HeehZz.. I wont be able to keep up with this deZz.. Lolz.. Sch's pretty hiong huhZ! HeeZz..
So, this wont be realli gross except prolly the part about the eye? Heehhez..=X
Comments, please? =)