===
November 6, 2009……7:30 a.m.
===
The sunlight was soft on her cheek as it shown through her open bedroom window. Fala was in her bed, restless from a night of insomnia and paranoia. The sunlight finally hit her eyes as the morning grew. She cringed slightly from the light, but she quickly adjusted to it. Sitting up, Fala ruffled her hair slightly as she yawned and stretched her slender arms wide. Her violet lace nightgown became unwrinkled as she stood up from her bed. Small signs of dark circles could be seen under her eyes as she slowly made her way to her bathroom. In her small apartment where she lived alone, she had grown used to the silence. Yet last night, she suddenly had a strange feeling that something was happening, something bad.
Her head tilted upwards slightly, looking at herself in her bathroom mirror. A thought suddenly came to her mind, a thought she had never bothered with before. She suddenly began to wonder from the features of her face, whether she looked more like her mother, or Nancy did. Looking down, she shook her head slightly. Fala didn’t understand why she was suddenly wondering about her mother. She rarely ever did before, so why now?
“Ah stupid insomnia,” she sighed to herself, blaming her silly thoughts on her lack of sleep.
As she brushed her teeth, Fala suddenly remembered the short dream she had during her small amount of sleep she had gotten. Surprisingly, her dream was about the one man she would never think of falling for. Her eyes widened awake when her train of thoughts pulled itself back to that incidental dream. Fala remembered it clearly, as if it had been real, as if she had just lived it out last night.
In her dream, she was with Ruco. She didn’t understand why she was with him, but they were at a beach together. That dream felt peaceful and quiet. Fala could even remember the smell of the ocean as she was washing her face. She remembered how she and Ruco only sat together in the soft sand, looking out at the peaceful ocean together. The wind caressed their faces gently. From then she suddenly had a troublesome feeling inside of her, as if something bad was happening right at that moment. She felt uneasy, but Ruco had his arms around her and that calmed her down, until she suddenly woke up from her dream.
“Silly dreams make no sense,” Fala mumbled to herself as she got dressed and ready for work. It was like any other day for her. Wake up, go to work, then perhaps grab a drink with her sister or some friends, and then go home. Nothing new, nothing special, at least that was how it seemed.
The sound of her familiar ringtone suddenly caught her attention. Fala turned from her vast and colorful closet to her bedside table where her cell phone laid charging. The screen lit up brightly as she received a call from someone. Inside her head she wondered who could possibly be calling this early in the morning as she answered the phone call. Forgetting to look at the caller ID, Fala was caught a little surprised when she suddenly heard Ron’s voice over the phone, panicking as if he’s having a heart attack.
“Fala get to the hospital quick, I’m in the ER waiting room,” Ron spoke in a rush.
Her eyes widened. As a natural instinct, she knew that whenever she got a call like this, especially one from Ron, her own reckless sister who was supposedly older than her had gotten herself hurt during an operation again. This wasn’t the first time Fala had received calls like that, but whenever she did she would feel her stomach tightening, worrying for her own sister’s sake. Yet that time, she noticed something. That time was different, from the night before of insomnia and paranoia Fala could say that she had expected it to happen. It’s safe for her to say that she saw it coming, but why and how?
“It’s Nancy again,” she spoke out loud. “I’ll be there as fast as I can, what exactly happened?”
“It’s too long to explain. I’m still waiting right now. I don’t know what’s going on in there.”
“Alright, I’ll be there soon,” Fala hurried out her door as she hung up the phone.
===
November 6, 2009……7:45 a.m.
===
The room was lit with a bright white light as doctors and nurses in white blouses rushed back and forth. He looked up solemnly from his seat, able to see the many faces that appeared through the hospital waiting area. Around him were many families, many couples, and many lives. The area only had a few windows on the far side of the counter otherwise ER rooms surrounded the whole floor. Occasionally a curtain would be opened showing inside a scary sight of bright red blood and a person fighting for his or her life. The entire floor, when viewed quietly in one seat, could be seen as an interesting one. There were tears, there were laughter, but most importantly there was a lot of fear.
Ron was quiet and sullen as he waited in the cold hard chair, staring at the closed curtain to the one room before him. He desperately wished for someone to walk out, to inform him of the current situation and how the fragile girl inside was doing. He held his hands together and rested his chin on it, waiting in silence as if nothing was wrong but inside he exploded in fear and worry. Ron’s eyes lit up when he saw the motion of someone coming towards the curtain from the other side. Then the sound of the rings against a metal bar clicked in his ears as a doctor pulled the curtain to the side, stepping out in a calm manner. He looked around first, but before he could call out Ron had already stood up and blocked his path.
“Are you the family of Miss Nancy Wu?” the doctor asked as he took off his gloves and mask. He was a middle aged man without many wrinkles, perhaps because he found a joy in saving peoples’ lives and so wrinkles weren’t a problem to him.
Ron nodded frantically. “Yes, I’m her fiancé,” he breathed. “Doctor how is she doing?”
“Well you’re lucky you got her here in time,” the doctor smiled in a comforting way. It eased Ron’s heart a little as he listened to the rest. “We got the bullet out of her shoulder. She was lucky it didn’t hit any vitals, but her shoulder blade has been fractured and because of how deep the wound is, she’ll need to stay a few nights for observation.”
Ron nodded again. “Is she asleep right now?”
“No, she managed to stay awake during the whole time. You’ve got yourself a very strong wife-to-be.” There was that comforting smile again. “Though she did lose a lot of blood so she’s quite pale and weak right now, but I’m sure you’ll be able to nurture her back in no time. Go talk to her. The nurses are preparing a room for her right now.”
“Thank you doctor…”
“Doctor Lau,” he smiled.
“Thank you Doctor Lau,” Ron finally smiled as he rushed in, pushing the curtain to the side.
There in the blinding white lights, Ron saw his Nancy, lying on the bed with a salmon colored blanket over her. He could see her blood stained shirt sitting on a tray to the side of the room as she laid comfortably under the blanket, playing around with her air tube the doctor had placed on her. When she saw him, she looked up and smiled. Ron walked in slowly. His Nancy was still the same, strong and stubborn as always. She did indeed look weaker and tired. Her lips had temporarily lost its color and her eyes seem sunken, but she was still beautiful and astounding to him. He bent down beside her, kissing her forehead first and pulling her hair away from crowding her lovely face. Nancy smiled as she tried to get used to the air tube.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Ron breathed, caressing her face gently.
He could hear her faint sound of laughter as she turned her head to snuggle closer to him. “I don’t like this air tube. I don’t get why I have to use it,” Nancy complained softly as she closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief.
“You’re not mad at me anymore?” Nancy sighed.
Ron shook his head. “How could I be?” he replied softly.
“Fala’s right,” Nancy spoke. “We’re such an odd couple.”
Holding her close, Ron chuckled lightly to her remark. All the anger and frustration he ever had for Nancy had seemed to have just disappeared in that instant. They all vanished into thin air as he held her tightly in his arms. In their world, the only thing that mattered to him most was Nancy. He had come close to losing her numerous times and they all ended the very same way. Nancy was safe and sound, even able to make silly remarks as he let out sighs of relief. From the small opening of the curtains, Ron could see the sunlight beaming in softly through the hospital window. His heart lightened as a gentle smile fell upon his face.
===
November 6, 2009……8:30 a.m.
===
His mind was bound and trapped within a trance, so deep it was beyond his belief. For the past nearly twelve hours, Raymond had been happily spending time with Tavia. Those kinds of plans had never worked for him before, ones where he would drive the girl around, talking and getting to know each other. It would never last longer than maybe an hour at most, but that time with Tavia, what he had with Tavia was just unbelievable. They had been together for so long, had gotten in so many deep and thought binding conversations, he began to think that it would be a normal thing for them. Raymond couldn’t help but smile to himself at the thought.
They were both inside his car. Tavia sat up from her seat as she stretched her arms wide, stepping out of the car. They stood before a grand white villa with a yard that was so large its land stretched down to the horizon as it seemed. The house had a modern style, white and black with many towering glass windows. It looked beautiful inside and out.
As Raymond stepped out of his car, he too stretched as far as he could. Being in the car for so long, though he did enjoy the wonderful time, it did bring tension to his muscles. He let out a huge yawn, sighing as he turned around to look at Tavia. Her beautiful face was facing the house, jaw opened and eyes wide. Obviously she was beyond shock.
“This is where Michelle lives?” Tavia asked in disbelief. “This house is amazing!”
“Did you think all triads lived in cardboard boxes or something?” Raymond chuckled.
“Of course not!” Tavia turned away with a humorous guilty face on. She smiled but Raymond quickly saw her slither as a soft sound came from her throat as a laugh.
He subconsciously took her hand, fitting his fingers perfectly between hers as he took her towards the house. “Come on,” Raymond smiled. “I’ll show you the inside and introduce you to Michelle.”
The door opened with ease as the key triggered the lock to open and the door hand turned so easily, almost by itself. As Raymond walked in, what he expected was a gentle woman sitting on her bar counter, drinking coffee with today’s paper in hand, but instead in turned out the complete opposite. The house was empty. It echoed with an eerie silence and a breath of cold air that proved the house had been untouched since a while ago.
“Something’s wrong,” Raymond spoke, glancing around the room as he tried to listen for a sound, any sound to calm his thoughts.
Tavia too was quiet. Almost as if they were in sync with each other, she too felt that something was oddly wrong and strange with the emptiness and coldness of this house. It had a spooky feeling of loneliness lurking in every corner almost.
“Michelle should’ve been home last night. Her plane landed yesterday afternoon and sure enough Kevin wouldn’t pull a trick this soon.”
“Kevin?” Tavia asked. “As in Kevin Cheng, current head of the 14K? What does he have to do with Michelle?”
“It’s a really long story. I think it would be better suited if Michelle told you herself. What’s important right now is that we find her,” Raymond sighed.
“Let’s call some of your men to…”
“We can’t,” Raymond interrupted.
Something was obviously wrong. Tavia watched as Raymond pulled out his phone, scrolling hastily through the long list of contacts as he seemed to be searching for someone. Tavia didn’t understand him at that moment. If Michelle, a woman so important and respected to him, suddenly went missing, why wouldn’t he find all the men he could to go get her back? Adding on, there was definitely a story behind this powerful woman that Tavia needed to hear, especially if it was one that Raymond wouldn’t casually tell her himself.
“I can’t let anyone know that she’s missing because…” Raymond paused for a moment, thinking. “The only ones who know Michelle is back alongside Kevin Cheng are me and Ruco. No one else does.”
“What exactly is going on in the 14K?”
“To summarize it all up,” Raymond began quickly. “Kevin and Michelle back for a fight over the power of the gang. Kevin’s father was the last head, and the seat would usually pass on to the next generation, if only Kevin wasn’t a jackass fool and Michelle was the only one who did the work. Michelle is Kevin’s step mother. The story behind it, you’d have to hear from Michelle herself, I’m sure when we find her she’d be glad to tell you. But right now, Michelle’s return to Hong Kong is a secret between her, me and Ruco. She purposely came back the same time Kevin did so as to make her entrance in the board when he brings up the topic of head position.”
“So the 14K is lacking a proper leader right now?”
“You could put it that way.”
Tavia remained quiet for a moment, trying to think of a way to help Raymond. She didn’t know what exactly was going on with him, but all she knew was that she wanted to help him. A thought suddenly came to her mind that she was reluctant to try, but her will gave in anyways.
“What if we get Nancy to help?”
Raymond turned to her in surprise. “Actually, that may not be a bad idea. Can you make sure that the entire police force doesn’t know about it though?”
Tavia nodded as she took out her phone and began to dial the number that had been engraved in her mind many, many years ago.
===
Room 14B…Room 14B was the only logical thing that ran through her mind that morning. Fala gripped her bag tightly as she rushed out of the elevator, not even trying to be discreet with her desperation. The nurse in the front office had told her a Miss Nancy Wu was in room 14B, yet she didn’t tell her what had happened and whether the patient was conscious or not. All Fala knew was that with her older sister, anything was possible. Nancy was so outrageously reckless that no matter how many times she repeated this process, her heart would shake and race every single time. As she ran down the near empty hallway, Fala nearly overran the room she sought to be her destination. She turned back and stopped, taking a short breath before barging in through the part open door.
Walking in, seeing the frail and fragile girl sitting upright on the bed with a smile on her face, Fala’s heart took a 360 degree turn in emotions. She was relieved that her reckless train of an older sister was alright. She sighed and walked in, smiling at Ron and noticing the few wires that the doctors had connected to Nancy. There was her breathing tube over her nose, a tube coming out of her wrist and another from her arm with a sack of blood visibly attached to it. She came in, softer and calmer, and sat down in the other empty chair. Without speaking a word to each other, Ron smiled and leaned back in his chair, watching them. Fala rubbed her eyes with her hand, a habit of hers when she is frustrated, and Nancy sat innocently with a smile on, acting like the younger one in the relationship. They all knew, next came the nagging.
“What in the world did you do this time?” Fala asked patiently, shaking her head.
Ron noticed as Nancy’s facial expression changed slightly. He knew she was cringing in pain from her unhealed shoulder, but she attempted to hide it. Abiding her wishes to keep her sister from worrying, he discreetly moved up beside, her, pulling her gently in his arms as he began to explain to Fala what the reason was that Nancy was in the hospital.
“We were following up on a lead,” he replied.
“We got caught, I saved his ass, and then I get shot!” Nancy replied in a silly tone, making emphasis on the last three words of her sentence.
After a short moment, Fala too moved closer to Nancy, sensing the pain that chilled through her sister’s body. She took Nancy’s hand and only smiled, shaking her head. Nancy admitted to herself that many times, Fala would seem like the older one, not her. Her pain soon died away when the emotional and physical warmth that both Ron and Fala, two of few most important people in her life, had brought to her. She closed her eyes and sighed.
Between their long but peaceful silence, a soft hum suddenly caught all of their ears. Nancy was the first one to perk up as she felt the buzzing from her cell phone that sat almost invisible in the upper left corner of her hospital bed. Ron gave it to her so as she didn’t have to reach and they all remained quiet as she answered the unsuspecting call.
“Nancy? No questions but I really need your help,” Tavia’s voice suddenly rang through.
Nancy’s eyebrows suddenly bunched up in confusion as she replied, “Tavia? Where are you?”
“I’m at Raymond’s friend’s house, Michelle Yim. She has gone missing, and she’s a big part of the triads. I need you to help us find her, and please do not inform the entire police station.”
Inside her heart and mind, Nancy had immediately frozen. She repeated Tavia’s last sentence many times in her mind, setting it in constant replay as she refused to believe the words. The name mentioned in that sentence had scarred her whole life, and now it came back to cause her even more pain. Her heart raced and Nancy could feel herself beginning to shake as those painful memories automatically replayed itself in her mind. Able to control herself, Nancy forced all the tension into her side with her fractured shoulder, being discreet about the emotional pain that had revisited. Inside her mind, with all her will Nancy forced herself to think of only one thought: put on an act.
“I’m not even at the station,” Nancy replied, improvising. “Alright, no questions…” she suddenly paused to think. “Wait a minute, does that mean Raymond Lam knows I’m a cop?”
“Nancy where are you now? I’ll come there and explain to you.”
“How about this,” Nancy suggested as she looked up to Ron’s awaiting face with a mischievous smile. “Tavia you come meet me while I ask Ron to meet with Raymond and Raymond can give him the information we need? I’ll get a few others to help and won’t inform the whole station. A missing person, evidence could vanish as we speak so come to the hospital as soon as possible. Room 14B.”
Tavia seemed as if she was in a rush a she replied hastily. “Alright, I’m coming down right now. Raymond told Ron to meet him at the house. I’ll send a message to Ron’s number with the address.”
“Alright,” Nancy replied as they both hung up the line.
Once done, Ron crossed his arm and looked at her expecting something bad to come out from Nancy’s mouth. Her mischievous smile sent chills up his spine, knowing his reckless fiancée would do anything to help a friend, no matter what it was, and especially if the friend happened to be an unpredictable lawyer named Tavia Yeung.
“What did you promise?” Ron asked.
“Um…” Nancy began, now finally thinking about what she had said. “Tavia is sending you a message with the address of a house for us to check out. There’s a woman who is a strong part of the triad missing and she doesn’t want to stir the whole police agency.”
“And who else will I be meeting down at this house?” Ron asked.
His reckless fiancée was silent for a moment, wondering how Ron would react once she told him. Nancy knew Ron didn’t like mixing with the enemy, but just maybe… “Raymond Lam…”
Fala watched quietly as her sister and brother-in-law had yet another one of their special moments. One person would do something reckless and the other would be stuck to clean up the mess. It had always been like that for as long as they had been together. Fala would always wonder how such a strange yet passionate could exist, but her thoughts were quelled when her wandering mind finally landed on the fact that life is unexpected.
Ron had his hands stuffed in his pocket, rolled his eyes, shook his head, and let out a faint sigh. “Just this once,” he spoke to her in a serious tone. “No more reckless behavior afterwards.”
Nancy nodded in agreement. “Promise,” she replied.
He leaned down to give his Nancy a quick kiss on the lips. They locked for at least three seconds, if they could call that brief. Leaving, Ron was still worried about Nancy. She looked tired and worn out. If it were a non-close friend of hers like Kate was, no one could notice that Nancy had been through a lot the night before, but to close relations such as Fala and himself, the color of Nancy’s face pained him. He turned from her, trying to ease his worry for her and believing that she would be good for the time being.
Within an instance, Ron was already casually strolling out the door. He shook his head and sighed as he left, taking what he had to do next as an emergency police call, and pretending that Raymond Lam was the man he hated most in the world. He himself was surprised at the things he would wound up doing for Nancy, even crossing over his clearly drawn line. Ron could only remember his interactions with Raymond Lam in the interrogation rooms, or at most during an arrest, never as a casual meeting of aid. He shook his head and shrugged it off thinking: there’s a first to everything.
“He’s quite a catch isn’t he?” Fala asked.
Nancy nodded happily. “Yeah,” she sighed.
“I’m surprised. I thought Ron would rather shoot himself than meet and help out a triad. I guess people do act differently when they’re in love.”
“It’s been at least five years already. I don’t think that hopelessly blinded by love stage lasts this long,” Nancy replied.
“If you say it’s not love,” Fala began. “Then what is it?”
Nancy made a silly face at her younger sister as she began to change out of her hospital gown into regular street clothes. “I don’t know,” she replied. “Help me take my shirt off, I can’t bend my arm too high or it hurts.”
“What are you doing in street clothes anyways? I thought you’re staying in the hospital.”
“Am I?” Nancy asked mischievously as a wide grin spread across her face.
As Fala helped Nancy take her shirt off, she finally got a good glimpse at the bullet hole in the back of her older sister’s shoulder blade. By the looks of it, it must have punctured to the bones and been extremely painful. She had always been surprised at the level of pain Nancy could endure, ever since their childhood together. If Fala was in Nancy’s position with a bullet hole that big in her shoulder, she would be in too much pain to even move. Just imagining how much it could hurt made her cringe. Knowing the amount of pain Nancy must be going through right then, Fala was careful as she pulled Nancy’s top over her head and that shoulder. Just as she did, from the corner of her eye she saw a figure approach the door wide open.
First they heard a knock and then both looked up once Nancy finally got her shirt off.
Suddenly, Nancy saw a worried lawyer rushing towards her. “Oh my god, Nancy,” Tavia exclaimed as she turned Nancy around quickly to see what had happened. “Fala what happened?!” Tavia asked.
“It was with Ron while they were getting a lead. Apparently she had been very reckless this time. The wound looks deep,” Fala replied.
“It looks serious. What are you changing into street clothes for?!” Tavia exclaimed.
Fala sided with Tavia as they both demanded an explanation from Nancy. Knowing Nancy, they knew that although she was careless, daring, and reckless, she would know better than to get out of the hospital when she was that badly injured. It was merely one bullet, but that deep it would’ve caused life threatening problems if it had not been removed earlier. Fala and Tavia stood together as the semi-close friends they were and both watched Nancy with waiting eyes. Their arms were folded, waiting for a response while worries ran through their mind.
Nancy finally dropped her smile and sighed. “Who was the woman you’re looking for?”
“Michelle Yim,” Tavia replied quickly. “How is that a reason?”
Billions of thoughts were running wild in her head. Just the mere mention of the name Michelle Yim shot painful memories back to her, ones she thought she had forgotten. Nancy was quiet for a moment, thinking hard about the name, the name that meant so much. After over ten years of denial, Nancy finally thought and wondered about her again. The woman named Michelle Yim, the woman who tore apart her loving family, the woman who destroyed her carefree childhood, and the woman who betrayed her heart and trust. She cringed at the thought and tried to force back the tears that were appearing in her eyes, knowing that it was not the right time to reveal everything to Fala and Tavia. Crying was definitely not an option.
She sighed and shook her head as she placed her hands on both their shoulders and led them out of the room. “I’ll tell you everything once we find her.”
By the tone of Nancy’s words, both Tavia and Fala knew that Nancy had some relations to this woman. It must’ve been a very bad relationship if Nancy seemed troubled just at the mentioning of her name. Fala watched her sister, seeing in Nancy’s eyes how her act of happiness and senseless was suddenly dropped once Ron had left. She knew that Nancy was hiding something, and rarely ever would Nancy hide something that neither Ron, Tavia, nor Fala knew. Tavia gave Fala and curious look as Nancy stood between them. They didn’t know what exactly was going through Nancy’s mind, but the woman, Michelle Yim, is definitely of something to Nancy. Whether it was good or bad, they will have to wait to find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment