===
October 17, 2009……12:30 p.m.
===
She sat alone in the far side of the bar counter, uncomfortable, angry and growing impatient by the second. Nancy’s eyes were on the door, waiting for that little mole of hers to show up and explain to her why he must choose the worst time possible to contact her. Her fingers were tapping against the glossy wood of the counter, her nails making little clicking noises. The glass beside her hand was half empty, waiting for her to finish the last of the hard vodka the bartender had given her.
The door finally opened, and instead of false hope, this time he really did show up. His face was lit up by the colorful lights in the mild bar as he shown his smile to her. Ruco walked over casually, perhaps proud of himself for taking the initiative to find her and give her information. When he neared her, his pride suddenly fell. He saw the look on her face, and she didn’t look one bit happy. She was the opposite of what he had expected. He expected her to be happy and eager to know the information he gathered, but the expression on Nancy’s face right now spoke the polar opposite. He then wondered if he had somehow messed up, again.
“Is something wrong?” he asked in a shaky voice as he took a seat in the empty stool.
Nancy was quiet for a moment. She finished her drink and finally looked back up at him. Her stare was cold and eerie to him. Nancy suddenly turned away quickly, taking in a deep breath. Ruco could see her fist tighten then loosen again. After her breath, a neutral smile appeared on her face, as if she had just erased whatever was bothering her.
“What did I do wrong this time?” he asked timidly.
“You couldn’t have chosen a better time?” She mumbled, but he could hear her clearly. “Never mind that, just tell me what you got.”
“I picked a horrible time? I’m sorry, I was just kind of eager to take the initiative here.”
She signaled the female bartender for another drink as she spoke to him. “It’s nothing,” she lied. “Just tell me the information you got. If you decided to take the initiative, it has to be important.”
He put on a timid smile as he straightened himself in the seat, facing her. “Alright, so you asked me to trail Yoyo Chen and Macy Chan for you,” he began. “Well I’m doing that right now, but it may take a while for Yoyo since she isn’t exactly the carefree playgirl. She’s more of the paranoid type. But,” he paused. “Don’t get mad I have good news. I’ve come to know a lot about these two. Macy is Alice Chan’s younger sister. She is more of the carefree and childish nature. I’ve never seen her try to plot anything against anyone. She only clung onto Raymond because of well lustful reasons I guess. No rumors have been spread about her, so she seems alright.”
“What about Yoyo?” Nancy asked.
“Yoyo on the other hand is different. She’s careful and manipulative. I heard people in the gang say that she manipulated Raymond into letting her control part of his territory. She also seems like the jealous and emotional type too. I always see her getting into fights with other girls, and nearly every other sentence she says, they’re something hurtful. She might be the one you’re after.” Ruco finished with a long breath as he waited for Nancy’s reply.
Nancy was quietly sipping her drink for a moment. She set the glass down half empty again and turned her body facing him. “Ruco,” she began coldly. Surprisingly, you’ve outdone yourself this time. Why can’t you be like this all the other times I asked?” she smiled.
Ruco was shocked to hear the words of smooth and truthful compliments coming out from her mouth. He smiled shyly at first, but like any other times Nancy’s sudden change in expression brought fear and surprise to him. He could see that her eyes were on the door and they looked worried. He turned around. Ruco’s body tightened up when he saw the young man and a familiar face walk in. He’s seen this woman before, but being beside this man would be the last place he’d think to find her. Ruco was quiet as Raymond walked in casually. He obviously saw them from the door as he was making his way towards them. Ruco could’ve sworn that Raymond hasn’t ever heard of this bar, but it seems he was wrong.
“Evening Mr. Lam,” Ruco greeted as he gave Raymond a timid smile.
“No need to be formal Ruco. I’m just having a drink with my new lawyer here,” he smiled. His hair was messy, but in a charming way. Raymond had a one of a kind smile, and he had a built figure underneath his blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
The woman acted as if she and they were strangers. She had a lovely and comforting smile on, a contradiction to her formal business attire. “Hello, I’m Tavia Yeung. Pleased to meet you,” she greeted, putting even more distance between them with her tone. “And you are?” she asked, looking over at Nancy who sat with an unreadable expression behind Ruco.
Nancy suddenly smiled calmly, suppressing all her emotions within. “Nancy Wu,” she replied.
With her quick glance around her, Nancy could see that Raymond had just noticed something odd between her and Tavia. They both remained oddly calm as he slipped out a smirk and a little chuckle under his breath. Nancy feared that if he remembered her from their silent meeting at the police station, she and Ruco would be done for. Her heart was racing, worrying that this unpredictable playboy who stood in front of her could possibly blow out her cover and endanger all her friends here. Nancy’s heart was racing so fast, but she used all the will she had in her to control herself from revealing any signs of anxiety.
“I could’ve sworn I saw you somewhere,” Raymond finally spoke. He then stopped to think.
“Uh, maybe you saw her with me Ray,” Ruco interrupted, trying to lower the suspicion. “She’s new in our gang and she works under me. Her name is Nancy,” Ruco rolled out his words as if he’s recited it many times, thinking ahead in case of times when their cover is blown.
Tavia grabbed Raymond’s attention when she quietly passed him a drink. “Maybe you did,” she added. “You can’t even remember all the people who works under you, not to mention new recruits.” Tavia’s voice was calm, but as her close friend Nancy could hear her voice shake and quiver as it came out.
Raymond nodded as he played with the cherry in his drink. “I guess so. But I’m pretty sure if you’re this pretty I’d at least have some recollection of where I saw you,” he smiled, a dashing player’s smile. “Well, if you’re working under me, I’m sure you’d be able to play a game with me.” Raymond’s smile remained as he waited for Nancy’s response.
“What kind of game?” she asked, now a little more relaxed.
“It’s sort of like a bet,” Raymond began. “If you can swallow these five pills without throwing up, I won’t make you do anything odd or troublesome. If you can’t, well then I can have fun embarrassing you as much as I want for the night. Take it as some kind of hazing to become someone in my gang.”
The bag of white pills in his hand was a threatening temptation to most people who lives by the night, but to Nancy it could mean the death of her. She had no idea what kind of pills these were, ecstasy, heroine or some other kind of hallucinogen, but if it came from Raymond, it meant trouble. Yet she had no other options. It was either she save herself the trouble and swallow them, or possibly stir up further suspicion by refusing to. Her gaze on the bag wasn’t noticeable, but it was deep and thoughtful. In her mind she was basically flipping a coin: heads, she takes it while tails, she refuses.
“Heads,” she thought to herself. “Give it to me,” she replied with a lying grin on her lovely face.
Raymond nodded and casually handed her the bag.
Before Nancy placed the pills in her mouth, she took a quick glance over at Tavia and Ruco. Ruco was quiet and for once he had a stern look on his face. Nancy could see his muscles well-defined as he gripped the leather side of his chair. Tavia remained calm physically, but when Nancy looked into her best friend’s eyes she saw an explosion of worry and fear all mixed into one confusing emotion. Nancy closed her eyes for a brief second as she turned her head towards the ceiling lights and tossed all five pills into her mouth. In one quick and painless breath she swallowed them all.
She could hear loud, amused clapping once she looked back at the three. Raymond was laughing as he clapped for her. “Good job, you’re the first to actually not throw up right after you take it!”
Nancy saw both her friends let out the breath they were withholding and gave her a smile. She then felt the churning of her stomach and realized that the pills had kicked in faster than she had hoped. She felt nauseous and her throat became quickly dry. It was kind of hard to breath and her head began to throb. She wondered what kind of pills she took when all of these symptoms suddenly pop up. Nancy tightened her fist as she let out a laugh, hoping to ease down the mood. Her bad symptoms were starting to go away, but too slow for her to feel relieved.
Raymond clapped once again as he hopped off of his stool. “Well, I have to go now. It was fun meeting you Nancy,” he smiled so charmingly. “I’ll see you again soon. Ruco bring her to the gatherings more.”
“Ok,” Ruco replied in a low voice to Raymond.
“Now I have to go settle some stuff with the ladies. Tavia, I’ll see you later,” he smiled. Nancy could see that Tavia’s view on him was mixed very well. “Ruco want to come?”
“Sure,” Ruco nodded as he got off the stool. “Taking care of Macy and Yoyo?” Ruco asked as he threw a quick glance at Nancy.
“Yeah, come on I’m going to need help for these two,” Raymond rushed as they left the bar.
Once they left, the two remaining girls could finally loosen their tension and take a nice, calm breath. Tavia ordered another drink for both of them, slouching in her stool and losing her sense of professionalism only to Nancy. She played with the cherry in her drink just as Raymond did; an old habit of hers.
“How are you feeling?” Tavia asked quickly in a worried voice.
“I feel fine now, they felt more like pain killers with a little of something else,” Nancy mumbled as she tried to recall the feelings of the pills.
“No ecstasy or heroine,” Tavia sighed. “Thank god.”
“That was scary,” Nancy spoke with a loose sound of laughter.
“Are you kidding me? It was dangerous! What were you thinking?” Tavia replied.
“I don’t know,” Nancy shrugged. “I guess old habits never die.”
Tavia looked up at the dim lights in front of them as she sighed. “Yeah, remember when we first met? My first impression of you was that you’re not afraid of anything and that you were too brave or a little psychotic.”
“Of course I remember,” Nancy laughed, spinning her glass in her hand. “You called me insane. That wasn’t a very nice way to thank someone who just saved you.”
They both laughed as they gazed up to the dim blue lights ahead of them, both reminiscing the lovely past that they had shared. It was long ago, but it was an unforgettable day in their mind. After all, who could forget the day when they met a friend who would later mean so much to them?
===
FLASHBACK
===
Not only was her heart broken, she was scared out of her mind. Backed up into a corner, she exchanged glances with three tough, brooding men that surrounded her. The tallest one, the most charming one, the one that she had kissed, hugged and loved, placed his arms around her, preventing her from running. He looked at her with threatening eyes and let out a deep breath. She gripped her bag tightly, holding it between her and him as she shook inside her bones, silently wishing that she had never dated a monster like him.
“Tavia,” he breathed, straining himself from hurting her. “Give me the money.”
She shook her head, trembling. “No, I have no more money because of you.”
“Give it up now.” He placed emphasis on every word, glaring at her with bloodshot eyes.
“No!” she exclaimed. “Before you weren’t like this. Now you got yourself into drugs and are doing horrible things just for money to support your foolish need!”
“You should’ve expected it from me,” he smiled, closing in on her. She could hear the laughter of his two other friends beside her. “Now be a good girl like you are and give me the money.”
She trembled slightly, almost crying as she wished for him to just disappear and leave her life immediately. Tavia opened her eyes when she suddenly heard a loud, ringing sound of glass breaking. To her surprise, he suddenly fell back away from her, his hand covering the back of his head as blood spilled out. He staggered to keep standing, pointing at her and then looking over at his friends. They all then turned away from her, too the short and tiny girl that stood behind them all. In the girl’s hand was another glass bottle, waiting to be thrown.
“You!” he screamed, pointing at the girl.
“You sick animals,” she spoke in an unafraid tone. “You go so low as to ask your ex-girlfriend for money to buy drugs. What a bastard.”
“This is none of your business Nancy Wu!” he screamed, trying to slap her.
She was too quick for him and instead of hitting her, he felt another bottle smacked against the side of his face. Tavia could see the blood that came out from his cuts and hear his scream as the pain came to his senses. He fell to the ground, but quickly with the help of his friends, they scrambled away. Tavia’s limbs were still trembling, but she pulled herself together and stood straight up, looking back at the girl who she now realized was a few inches shorter than her but was obviously braver than her.
“Are you insane?!” Tavia screamed, rushing over to the girl in fear of her getting hurt.
“That’s no way to thank someone who just saved you,” the girl replied in a joking manner.
Tavia was quiet for a moment. “Thank you,” she sighed.
“Don’t mention it. That guy has been bothering me since before he dated you.”
“Why did you help me?”
“I actually only wanted to get back at him for hurting my friend Sharon, and then turned out helping you. I guess it was two birds with one stone, I did a good deed.” The girl smiled as she tossed the part of the broken bottle still in her hand to the ground.
Tavia flinched as the sound of glass broke against the concrete. “Tavia Yeung,” she smiled.
“Nancy Wu,” she replied.
“You’re bleeding,” Tavia pointed out. She knew it was probably because of her aggression earlier. “Let me help you with it.”
===
END OF FLASHBACK
===
Nancy shook her head and smiled, looking down at the half empty glass of martini in front of her. She then turned to look at her long time best friend. It had been twelve years since they met. She was only fourteen then, and now she was soon to be twenty-six. It had been such a long time. Tavia smiled at her, calmly but differently. She didn’t show the arrogance of a lawyer in her smile as she would to everyone else, instead, in Tavia’s smile she was like a sister.
“Things didn’t change much since then,” Tavia sighed.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re still as aggressive as ever,” she pointed out. Nancy nodded to the true statement. “And I’m still attracted to the bad boy types.”
Nancy looked up at her, smiling. “Don’t tell me that you’re attracted to that playboy Raymond.”
“I’m not,” Tavia immediately defended. “I think I’d learn my lesson since then. But I can’t help it. I just find the rebellious types to be interesting. It’s not like I’m going to date any of them, I just find them interesting or attractive.”
“Well as a friend, I don’t mind who you date,” Nancy replied. “Just stay away from that Raymond guy. I shouldn’t have asked you to help me,” she shook her head.
“I’m ok,” Tavia cut in. “Raymond Lam would be the last man I’ll ever date. I’ve only known him for a couple days and his playboy nature is already unbearable.”
“Just whatever you do, keep your heart far away from his reach. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
===
October 20, 2009……01:00 p.m.
===
Half asleep, she tossed and turned in her bed, hoping to somehow fall back into sleep again. Nancy rubbed her tired face with her blanket gently as she turned around once again burying herself in the mountain of soft pillows and sheets she called a bed. Her head throbbed and pained from the on-going headache since last night, perhaps because of too much work and information. She groaned as she wrapped the blanket around her whole body, pulling her legs up and hugging them as she tried to go back to sleep, hoping her headache would go away.
A warm and soft hand pulled the blanket away from her, wrapping her again in a different kind of warmth. She snuggled in closer, her eyes still closed.
“Wake up,” he spoke softly beside her ear. “Don’t you know what day it is?”
“I don’t care what day it is,” she moaned. “I’m so tired Ron, give me ten more minutes.”
“You can have an hour if you want. We’re not going to work today.”
Nancy was suddenly awake, sitting up and looking into her fiancé’s eyes. “Why aren’t we?”
Ron only smiled as he took her hands and placed her in his arms. He picked up her tiny body with ease and brought her out of the room. “Come on, brush your teeth first and I’ll tell.”
“Fine,” she sighed as he placed her down in front of the bathroom sink. Surprisingly, Ron had already had her toothbrush out and ready.
Nancy watched him watching her as she brushed her teeth. She noticed that Ron was being odd today. Why was he watching her doing something so common?
She never knew it, but Ron had always loved watching her do average, little everyday things. It was something about her that amused him in everything she does. He placed his strong arms around her waist as she wiped her face dry. Nancy didn’t need make up, she still looked beautiful naturally. She then leaned on him, placing her arms on his shoulder as she waited for him to answer. He didn’t. Instead her turned her around and pulled her back into his arms fully, picking her up again. She laughed.
“I can walk you know,” she smiled.
“Of course, but I just like to carry you,” he replied.
“So why aren’t we working today?” she asked him as he placed her down in their kitchen. She was still facing him until Ron placed his hands on her waist and gently turned her around.
“Happy birthday!” he yelled once Nancy saw the lovely cake that sat in front of her.
She was speechless. “Oh my god!” she screamed, not knowing what else to say.
“I can’t believe you didn’t even remember your own birthday,” Ron laughed as he hugged her.
“I remembered,” she lied. She had no idea. To be honest with herself, she didn’t even know what the date was, not to mention her birthday.
“Make a wish sweetie,” Ron spoke to her as he leaned his head on her shoulder.
Nancy placed her hands together and closed her eyes as she smiled. In her mind, she thought of the most wonderful thing that she wanted and then wished for it. “I wish Ron and I would never fight again and instead live like this forever,” she thought to herself. When she opened her eyes, she took a deep breath and blew out all the candles in one try.
“Yes!” Ron smiled as he began cutting the cake.
“You’re such a pig,” she laughed as she leaned over and watched him.
Ron reached his head over the table, placing his lips gently on hers. Without a word, they kissed and shared whatever feeling of happiness they had in them. Ron was always gentle, he was aggressive to her but in a way he was also gentle. Nancy’s headache was gone, all the pain and straining she had before just magically disappeared. It seemed as if just being with Ron alone was her cure. He took her hand as they continued to kiss on for another long moment. Slowly they then pulled away, both wanting to push back in for another kiss, but then they would probably end up kissing the whole day away.
“Shall we go get some food after this?” Ron asked in a charming way as he shared the cake with her. Their piece was big, almost three fourths of the beautiful cake alone.
“Yes we shall,” Nancy replied. “Breakfast?”
Ron laughed. “It’s one in the afternoon. I don’t think they serve breakfast at this hour.”
Nancy stuck her tongue out at him.
“It’d be weird to eat breakfast at this time.”
“Come on,” Nancy smiled.
Ron knew that she didn’t care whether it was breakfast or lunch. She just wanted to eat and be with him. “How about lunch instead?”
“Fine,” she replied with a funny little smile. “Be a normal person then.”
He only laughed at her remark and placed her hand in his.
If she remembered right, they haven’t fought at all for the last couple of days. Maybe her wish really was coming true. She never thought that a birthday wish would come true, but it was always worth a try. Ron was being really sweet to her, as usual. He was always caring and close. No matter how mad they get at each other they would always go back to this delicate closeness like usual. She smiled and fell into his arms as he came behind her.
“Get dressed now,” he smiled. “You don’t want me to take you out in your pajamas.”
“Do it,” she laughed. “I’ll go out in these.”
“But I can’t,” he laughed and turned her around. “Look, your dress is up to your thigh! What if someone looks up your dress?”
“Kill joy,” she smiled as she kissed him briefly on the cheek.
“You disagree with me on everything,” he spoke as he hugged her tight. “But yet we don’t really become enemies,” he then smiled. “That’s good.”
“I don’t disagree with you on everything. I just like to tease you.”
“True,” Ron replied. He knew she liked to tease him, but in another person’s eyes, they were always disagreeing yet somehow they’d always end back as a close couple. “I guess old habits never die,” he mumbled so as those words were something private of theirs. “I love you.”
Nancy closed her eyes and hugged him tighter, tighter than normal, tighter than ever before. “I know,” she sighed happily.
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