| Fan Fiction |
by Suki Chan
“Hey.” Matt greeted, “Coming over to give us a hand?”
“Olive. Olive.” Danny was excited to see Olivia. He swung her arm and bounced.
Olivia smiled and patted his head, “Looks like you two got quite a bit of business here!”
“Not bad.” Matt nodded, “This flea market has been quite busy and our roasted peanuts are popular haha. Do you want to try some?”
“Oooo smells good. And it’s $5 each bag?” Olivia looked at the little price sign and opened her eyes widely, “This is really cute!!!”
It was a small cartoon picture of a lovely peanut with a smilie face and his arms sticking out holding a $5 coin.
“Danny drew it.” Matt said proudly.
“No wonder you always say Danny’s really good in arts.” Olivia praised, “Sure got the talents huh? Danny you did a really good job!”
Danny tittered as his face turned red.
“You always love people saying well done to you. Why getting so shy today with Olivia? Silly boy.” Matt chuckled and rubbed Danny’s cheeks.
“What time does this market close?” Olivia asked as Matt scooped the peanuts to her.
“Midnight. You still have lots of time to go shop around.” Matt tittered.
Olivia’s question was not really on the shopping part; it was more on…”So you two are off at midnight too?”
“We have to do a bit of clean up afterwards. We can leave the big things here but we’ll need to take away the depreciable peanuts etc.” Matt handed the bag of peanuts to Olivia.
“That’s pretty late at night.” Olivia wondered.
“Danny can’t stay home alone for the entire night. He’ll get really scared by himself in the dark. It’s better off for him to be here with me. He’s happy to help out too.” Matt went on, “He’s going to bed a bit later than usual but still there’s like 6 hours sleep so it’s ok…”
“How about yourself?” Olivia cared.
“Me?” Matt wondered, “A couple hours of sleep. I still have to work at the newspaper stand.”
“You’re still going to get up at 3 in the morning and work there also?” Olivia heaved, “That’s crazy! You’ll overwork yourself!”
Matt uncaringly shrugged his shoulder, “Not a problem for me.”
“You…” Olivia wanted to go on.
Matt already jumped to another topic, “Danny do you want to walk around the flea market? Since Olive’s here, why don’t you two buddy-buddy and check out if there’s any neat stuffs around?”
Danny liked that idea, “Yeah go check out if there’s neat stuffs around.”
“Ok then.” Olivia did not want to leave, but she did not want to disappoint Danny either.
“Danny you’ve got your money in the pocket?” Matt checked.
Danny patted his pocket and nodded. “I’ll buy Olive a bubble tea.” He offered meekly.
“Wow thanks Danny.” Olivia’s lips curved up; he was always so sweet and lovely.
“Yeah Danny, it’s because you want a bubble tea yourself!” Matt teased, “Make sure to follow tight to Olive, ok?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll watch after him.” Olivia promised, “Let’s go Danny.”
They were about to walk away.
“…Olivia.” Matt suddenly called.
She turned around.
“…hm…” Matt hesitated, “Will you come back later on?”
“For what?”
“…to help cleaning up.” Matt faltered.
Olivia rolled her eyes, “If you want to see me, then I will.”
Matt embarrassingly looked away.
Olivia sneaked a sweet little smile.
*****************************
Matt almost slid off the ladder.
“…ooo are you ok?” Luckily his co-worker was at the side and instantly held onto him.
“…hm…yeah I guess.” Matt slowly climbed down and leaned tiredly over the ladder.
“You look pale.” His co-worker noticed.
Matt put his palms over his forehead and felt the heat, “…just not feeling too well.”
“You do look sick.” Another co-worker walked into the warehouse, “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off to go see a doctor?”
“Yeah. At least go home and take some rest.” His co-worker nodded.
“No I can stay. I take a short break and then I’ll be fine.” Matt did not want leave; he hardly ever missed work and took sick leave.
“Come on. You ain’t superman.” His co-workers patted his shoulder, “Just go now. Don’t worry. We’ll let Tom knows. You know he’s not a meanie manager”
Matt looked at this co-workers. His head indeed was spinning and he felt cold despite temperature was 30 degrees today. His stomach was growling and felt like vomiting since this morning that he could barely eat anything.
He finally nodded.
========================
“…bye. See ya tomorrow!” Olivia stepped out of the classroom with her friends. They waved at each other and disbursed.
Itsy bitsy spider…
A cute nursery rhyme sounded; it was Olivia’s cell phone ringing. The cheerful girl was so childish.
Olivia saw the caller’s name on display. A little smile glowed, “Hello Matt?”
“Hi Olivia.” Matt’s voice was very soft.
Olivia wondered, “Hey something wrong with you?”
“I’m at the hospital.”
“WHAT?!” Olivia screamed. Some students around her turned around and looked.
Matt instantly said, “Oh I mean…I’m sick and now at the clinic section at the hospital. I ain’t hospitalized or something.”
“Whew. Scared me.” Olivia puffed out, “What’s going on with you?”
“Looks like I have a fever.” Matt said weakly.
Hearing Matt’s feeble voice, Olivia’s heart strangled, “Told you not to over-work yourself. Look your body is protesting now.”
“Nothing to do with that.”
“Yes it does.”
“Ok ok. I should’ve listened to you huh?” Matt uttered, “Can you do me a favour now?”
=========================
Olivia went to the hospital and found Matt leaning emotionlessly on the chair.
“Gosh you look so bad!” Olivia sat down beside him.
“Huh why are you here?” Matt was surprised. He sat up, “I just asked you to go pick up Danny at the sheltered workshop for me and drive him home. I can go home by myself when I’m done here.”
“Just want to come here to check out if you’re ok.” Olivia put her palm over his forehead, “Looks like a high fever.”
Matt moaned softly and turned around at her. He caught into her eyes. Her heart pounded wildly and shrunk her hand back.
“Hm…you didn’t have to come. I’m fine.” Matt said.
“You’ve been here for a while. Haven’t you gone in to see the doctor yet?” Olivia wondered.
Matt scanned around the other people, “By experience, it’ll take maybe another 30 minutes til my turn.”
“Gosh that means in total you’ll have to wait almost 2 hours to see the doctor?” Olivia found it unbelievable.
“It’s not that bad today. Not so busy here. The longest I’ve waited for was three and a half hour.”
“Gee…” Olivia heaved, “Why don’t you go to a private clinic? You can come and go in probably 20 minutes, max.”
“Expensive though. The doctor’s fees and prescriptions here cost one-third of it.” Matt said, “That’s why there is a dual system…here for those who can’t afford, like me.”
Olivia bit her lips.
Matt knew she was concerned about him. A fussy feeling arose inside his heart, “Don’t worry. I’m ok.”
“Hm.”
“Please go pick up Danny for me. Greatly appreciate it.” Matt looked at her.
“It’s not time yet. Let me stay here for a bit…with you.” Olivia whispered softly.
“…yup.”
They sat side by side and fell in calm silence.