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Thread: HK fanfic: The Trials and Tribulations of a Firefighter

  1. #21
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    Chapter 18


    Selena was putting on the finishing touch to her makeup when she heard Frankie calling her. “Selena! Are you ready yet? We’re going to be late!”

    “I’m coming, Big brother!” There, that looks perfect now, she thought to herself. She wanted to look her best because she was about to see Ray. They had gone out on several dates now and things were going really well between them. Selena smiled, wondering what he wanted to ask her. He had told her that there was something he wanted to ask her today.

    “Daydreaming again? You’ve been doing that a lot the past few weeks” Frankie teased her. He was leaning on her bedroom door with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

    “Big brother, you startled me! Okay, I’m done now. How do I look?”

    “This must’ve been the 5th outfit you’ve changed into this morning so you look great. Are you sure you don’t need a facial too?” he continued to tease her.

    “Haha” she laughed sarcastically. “I’m ready, let’s go.”

    The group consisting of Frankie and Gigi, Selena and Raymond, and Bernice and a mystery date was meeting up at Gigi’s house and then they were going over to the island for a barbeque. It was the same island where Frankie and Bernice had rented a cabin for the night about a month ago.

    When Frankie and Selena got to Gigi’s house, Bernice and her date were already there.

    “This is Frankie and Selena and this is Sunny” Bernice made the introductions.

    “Nice to meet you” Frankie shook Sunny’s hand. He felt a stab of jealousy and immediately chastised himself for feeling that way. He couldn’t believe that after all this time, he still felt something when it came to Bernice. Why isn’t the heartache going away, he thought bitterly to himself?
    Just then the doorbell rang and the housekeeper opened the door for Ray. Selena’s heart skipped a beat as he walked over to them.

    “Hi Selena” he gave her a warm smile. He shook hands with Frankie. “Hey Bernice.”

    “This is Sunny and this is Raymond” Bernice introduced again. They shook hands.

    “So are we ready to go?” Ray asked.

    “Nope, Gigi isn’t down yet. Surprise, surprise” Frankie joked.

    “I heard that” Gigi said coming down the stairs. She playfully hit Frankie on the arm.

    “Hi sweetie” he gave her a kiss. “We all know you like to make grand entrances.”

    She laughed. “Okay, we can go now.”

    They all took the car ferry over to the island. Sitting on the car ferry reminded Bernice of Frankie. She looked over to his car and caught him looking at her too. They locked eyes for a few seconds but then he looked away.

    “Bernice?” she suddenly heard Sunny calling her.

    “I’m sorry” she said turning to him. “Did you ask me something?”

    “Yeah, I was asking you if you ever came here before.”

    “Yes, yes I have” she smiled at the memory. “It’s a beautiful island.”

    Sunny was the son of a friend of Bernice’s mom. His mom told her mom that he had just graduated with an MBA and wanted to meet a girl now that he was no longer preoccupied with the demands of school. According to his mom, he was a really nice and courteous guy – a real catch she said. So, she wanted Bernice’s mom to introduce him to her daughter. So far, Bernice thought he seemed like a nice guy. She smiled at him.

    “What about you, have you been here before?” she asked.

    “No, this is my first time. It’s really neat how the ferry takes cars over to the island.”

    “Yeah, I thought so too the first time I went” Bernice agreed.

    “Thanks for asking me to come” he said. “It’s hard meeting nice girls like you.”

    Suddenly, he put his hand on hers. Feeling uncomfortable, Bernice slipped her hand out from under his and pointed to the seagulls.

    “There are so many seagulls here” she said lamely.

    He smiled awkwardly and they didn’t talk for the rest of the ferry ride over to the island.

    When they arrived on the island, Frankie took the lead because he was most familiar with it and everyone followed him to the barbeque site. When they got there, the boys took care of getting the barbeque started and going and the girls got the food ready.

    After they have all eaten, they started to disperse into respective couples, each going to their own spot for privacy.

    “This island is so nice” Ray said to Selena as they wandered off down the beach.

    “Yeah, Frankie tells me about it all the time but I’ve never come until today. He’s right, it’s really revitalizing coming here. It’s nice to get away from the city sometimes.”

    “I hear ya” Ray agreed.

    “So, what is it that you wanted to tell me?” Selena looked at him curiously.

    He smiled shyly and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a white gold ring with two intertwining hearts in the middle.

    “Well, I got you this promise ring and I was hoping you’ll wear it and promise to put up with me as my girlfriend.”

    Selena beamed with happiness, she was so touched that he got her a promise ring. She smiled at him and nodded. He placed the ring on her finger and stared into her eyes. He slowly leaned down and kissed her and she put her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

    Sunny was watching them from afar for awhile then he turned towards Bernice and brushed her cheek with his finger.

    “You’re so beautiful” he said leaning his face down towards her face.

    “What are you doing?” she asked in alarm, turning her head away from him. “We hardly know each other. Don’t you think you’re moving too fast?”

    “Oh come on Bernice, this is the 21st century. What’s the big deal?”

    “I’m not that type of girl” she said stomping off. She went over to the cooler and took out a beer and started drinking it really quickly. This is going to be a long day, she groaned.

    Sunny came up to her. “I’m sorry, Bernice. It’s just that I really like you and I can tell you like me.”

    “Oh really? You can tell I like you?” Bernice raised her eyebrows. Wow, he’s so full of himself, she thought. She took out another can of beer. She didn’t want to be a party pooper by going home but this guy was really creeping her out. She took a big swig of the beer. Might as well get drunk because that’s the only way I will make it through the day with him. She instinctively started looking around for Frankie. She saw him sitting on a rock at the edge of the water with Gigi. He was actually looking back at her as well with something like concern on his face. She smiled at him. He looked relieved and smiled back at her and then he turned towards Gigi, who was chattering away the whole time.

    Sunny sat down beside her. “I’m going to start work at one of Hong Kong’s largest companies tomorrow. I’m sure you’ve heard of it, First Pacific Co.”

    What a show-off, thought Bernice. “No, I’ve never heard of it” she replied even though she has. She finished her can of beer and Sunny immediately offered her another one.

    “Thanks” she mumbled, taking the beer and gulping it quickly.

    Frankie felt guilty for not paying attention to Gigi but for some reason, he felt concerned for Bernice. He felt like something was wrong but since Bernice smiled at him, he decided that he was just being overly suspicious or was he being foolishly jealous? He turned his full attention back to Gigi.

    “Honey, I have a question. I was just wondering what made you decide to become a firefighter? You don’t really seem like the kind of girl that wanted to become one, no offense. You seem far more interested in things like shopping and fashion.”

    Gigi laughed. “Yeah, you’re right. The reason I became a firefighter is because I followed Bernice to be honest. We became best friends since the first day of high school and she always wanted to be a firefighter and you know me, I’m always dependent on her, so I just followed her and became one too. It was so great that we were able to find positions at the same station or else I would’ve probably quit and went into fashion or something. At first, my parents were furious when I told them I was going to be a firefighter but then like they always do, they just relented and let me do what I wanted.”

    “I can’t believe you became a firefighter because you followed your best friend. You’re so funny” he laughed incredulously. “So do you like it?” he asked.

    “It’s okay. I don’t love it and I don’t hate it. Bernice loves it though.”

    “Yeah, I know, she’s so passionate about her job. I love it too” Frankie agreed.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    “How about a game of volleyball?” Frankie asked everyone when the whole gang was once again gathered around the barbeque pit.

    “That’s a great idea” Ray said.

    “Oh, I’m really good at volleyball” Sunny said. “You guys better watch out.”

    Frankie hoped he was joking but the way he said it, it didn’t sound like he was. Something is weird about this guy, Frankie thought to himself. He turned to Bernice.

    “Bernice, are you okay? You seem a little tipsy.”

    “I’m fine” she answered giggling.

    They started playing and just like Sunny warned them, he took the game really seriously and was pounding the ball really hard, even at the girls. Luckily for Gigi, being not athletic at all, she pretty much ran away from the ball, so she didn’t get hit by it. Bernice was so tipsy, she was already falling over on her own, without having even touched the ball. Poor Selena was trying to keep up with the boys so she was getting hit by Sunny all the time.

    “Ouch!” said Selena when she was hit by the ball for the 4th time.

    Okay, that’s it, thought Frankie, I’m going to give that Sunny a taste of his own medicine. As if Raymond read his mind, when the ball flew to him from Sunny’s serve, he hit it to Frankie, setting the ball up for Frankie to spike. Frankie jumped high to the ball and spiked it really hard at Sunny. It hit Sunny square on the head and he fell over.

    “Ouch!” he yelled.

    “Sorry” Frankie said, stifling his laughter. He gave Ray a high five.

    “Ohhh, I don’t feel well” Bernice suddenly said, her face turning green. She ran over to a bush and started throwing up. She was wobbly on her feet. Sunny came over to her.

    “Are you okay, Bernice? How about I take you home?”

    “No, I’m okay” she shook her head, stumbling. Sunny caught her.

    “I think you should go home. Here, I’ll take you home” Sunny insisted, grabbing her by the waist.

    Frankie was looking at her with concern. “Bernice, are you okay?” he asked. He handed her some water.

    “I feel a little sick” she admitted feeling a little better after drinking the water.

    Sunny pulled her towards his car. “I’m taking you home Bernice.”

    Frankie felt like telling Sunny to take his hands off her but he bit his tongue because he thought it was none of his business. He watched them worriedly as they made their way to Sunny’s car.

    “Don’t worry” Gigi said. “She’ll be fine. Let’s take a walk down the beach, it’s so nice here. You should take me here more often.”

    “Okay” Frankie said, but he was still watching Bernice and Sunny as they drove away.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~

    A few minutes later, Selena came over to Frankie as he was sitting on the beach watching Gigi throw rocks into the water.

    “I’m a little worried for Bernice” she said. “That Sunny guy is such a jerk.”

    “You think so too?” Frankie asked relieved. “Would I be out of line if I go check on her? For some reason, I don’t trust that guy. I tried to call her but she didn’t answer her phone.”

    “Yeah, maybe you should go check on her. Gigi is her best friend, she shouldn’t mind.”

    Frankie nodded. “Gigi, let’s go check on Bernice.”

    Gigi frowned. “Why are you so concerned about her? She’s fine. It’s not like she hasn’t been drunk before and Sunny is taking care of her.”

    “I have a feeling something’s wrong. I tried to call her but she didn’t answer her cell phone. She doesn’t know Sunny very well. I don’t trust him.”

    “You think something’s wrong?” Gigi asked, finally worried. “Okay, let’s go check on her.”

    So Frankie and Gigi drove back to the city and made their way to Bernice’s house. Frankie pressed on the gas pedal harder, feeling more worried by the minute. Finally, they got to her apartment and Frankie rang the doorbell impatiently. No one answered. Suddenly, Frankie heard a muffled cry behind the door. He recognized Bernice’s voice.

    “Stop it, stop it!” she was screaming.

    Frankie told Gigi to move aside then he kicked the door with all his might. The door gave way and he ran inside the apartment. He followed Bernice’s screams to her bedroom and found Sunny and Bernice struggling on her bed. He was partially on top of her and kissing her neck. The top few buttons of her shirt were undone. She was struggling and kicking but being intoxicated, her coordination was clumsy and her resistance was weak. Sunny looked up at Frankie and Gigi in surprise when he heard them running in. Frankie punched him in the face and he fell off Bernice. Frankie was going to punch him again but he ducked and swung his fist to the side of Frankie’s head. Frankie shook his head, dazed from Sunny’s hit. Then he lunged at Sunny, sending them sprawling on the floor. They began to punch each other.

    Gigi ran over to Bernice and helped her straighten up. She called the police.

    “Stop it! Stop it!” she yelled at Frankie and Sunny, who were still struggling with each other. She ran over to Sunny and started hitting him. He turned around and slapped her, sending her crashing to the floor. Frankie was furious and jumped on Sunny and started to punch him repeatedly.

    Bernice ran over to Gigi. “Are you okay Gigi?”

    Gigi held her injured cheek and cried, hugging Bernice.

    Suddenly, the cops came running into the bedroom and pulled the guys apart.

    “What is going on?” the chief officer demanded.

    After they all gave the police their reports, they took Sunny into custody and let Frankie go.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Bernice and Gigi were getting checked out at the hospital. Frankie was pacing back and forth outside the door while they were getting checked by the doctor. He ran up to them when they came out of the room.

    “Are you girls okay?”

    Bernice and Gigi nodded.

    “Did he do anything to you?” he asked Bernice.

    She shook her head, “not yet but if you didn’t come, I don’t know what would’ve happened.” She started to cry.

    Frankie hugged her. “It’s okay, you’re alright. Thank god you’re alright.”

    Gigi frowned but she understood why Bernice was upset and why Frankie was hugging her so she didn’t say anything.

    Bernice finally managed to compose herself and looked up at Frankie. He was developing a black eye. “Maybe you should get yourself checked out too.”

    “It’s alright, I’m fine” he smiled at her. He turned to Gigi, “honey, are you okay?” He gently touched her swollen cheek.

    She nodded and hugged him.

    Bernice looked at them sadly. “Thank you for saving me” she said to Frankie with emotion in her voice. She was very touched how he always seemed to appear and save her whenever she was in trouble.

    “I told you I won’t let anything happen to you” he said.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    “I can’t believe that jerk tried to hurt Bernice!” Selena fumed. She rolled a hot hard-boiled egg wrapped in a towel on the bruise on Frankie’s face.

    “Ouch” he winced then noticed her ring. “Hey, where did you get that ring?”

    Selena smiled and blushed.

    “Wait! You don’t have to tell me, Ray gave it to you, right?” Frankie guessed smiling. “Aww …. you guys are official now. Wow, are those two intertwining hearts – that is so mushy! OUCH!!! Why are pressing so hard?”

    “If you keep teasing me, I’ll press harder.”

    “Okay, I’ll stop, geez. But seriously, I’m really happy for you Sel. You seem genuinely happy.”

    “I am genuinely happy. Ray is the perfect guy for me” she gushed, then her face turned serious and she looked at him. “I’m worried about you, Big brother. I feel like you’re not genuinely happy.”

    “Don’t worry, I’m happy. I love Gigi” he said, not looking Selena in the eyes.

    “You love Gigi but you’re not IN love with her. You’re in love with Bernice.”

    “Sel, you’re starting to sound like a broken record, you know” he joked.

    She chuckled. “I just want you to be happy, that’s all. I want you to share the happiness I’m feeling right now.”

    “I’m happy knowing you’re happy” he said giving her a hug. “Good night, I’m going to bed, I’m exhausted.”

    She watched him walk to his bedroom with a worried expression on her face.














  2. #22
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    Chapter 19


    Raymond had prepared a romantic dinner for Selena at his bachelor apartment and he was just lighting the candles and arranging the flowers when he heard the doorbell ring. He opened the door and there stood Selena in the evening gown that he had given her.

    “You look beautiful, baby” he said giving her a kiss. “Come in.”

    “Woah, you prepared all this?” her mouth was agape at all the flowers around the apartment and the romantic candlelit dinner he had prepared. “It’s beautiful!”

    “It’s our 6 month Anniversary!” he announced.

    “Wow, you celebrate 6 month anniversaries?” she asked. “You are Mr.Romantic.”

    He hugged her from behind. “Well, I’ve never felt so happy in my life and it never felt so right with anyone else. We were meant to be together.”

    She turned around and hugged him back. They looked up into each other’s face and he leaned down and their lips met.

    “You want to try my cooking now?” Raymond asked after their kiss. He held her chair out for her and sat down across the table.

    “Yes, let’s see if it’s as good as my cooking” Selena said. She cut a bite of the steak he made and put it in her mouth. “Wow, that was good. It practically melted in my mouth.”

    “So, do you think I’m a good cook?”

    “Not as good as me, but almost as good” she joked.

    They finished dinner and cuddled on the sofa in front of the fireplace. Selena sighed as she lied on his chest, she wanted this moment to last forever.

    “So how do you like work so far?” Raymond asked her.

    “It’s great! I’ve been learning so much ever since Frankie stopped being so protective of me. If it weren’t for you making me go on duty that time, I think he would’ve made me observe forever” she smiled and shook her head thinking of her overprotective brother.

    “Yeah, he is hugely protective of the people he cares for” Raymond said. “Is it just me or does he never let Gigi go inside the buildings?”

    Selena chuckled. “You’re right, he wouldn’t let Gigi go inside because he thinks she wouldn’t be able to handle it so he’s afraid she’ll get hurt. I guess it says a lot that he lets me go inside now” she smiled proudly.

    “Yeah, he told me you’re a great firefighter” Raymond said.

    “Really?” Selena asked, beaming with pride. “Thanks for telling me, it means a lot.”

    “Well, he’s right. You are a great firefighter. I don’t miss anything that’s going on at my fire station, you know?”

    “Thanks” she smiled shyly. They looked into each other’s eyes and then their lips met again.

    “Come with me” he whispered. He held her hands as she shyly followed him into his bedroom.

    Selena smiled with happiness as she fell asleep in his arms. Tonight was her first time and it was just as sweet and special as she imagined it.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Frankie was cooking dinner at Gigi’s house. Her parents were once again away on business. He thinks he had only met them a handful of times since dating Gigi for more than a year. They reminded him of his own parents, who had moved to the States for business. He only saw them a couple of times a year as well. Since his parents weren’t the type of parents who were around too much, he and Selena learned how to cook at a pretty young age because they couldn’t let their grandmother cook all the time. She was getting really old and her health was a lot more fragile than before. Gigi never had the need to learn how to cook because her parents were wealthy enough to have a housekeeper. Today, her housekeeper was away on vacation so Frankie said he’d cook dinner for them, like he always did whenever her housekeeper was away. Gigi was sitting in the living room, watching TV.

    “Honey, dinner’s ready” Frankie called.

    She walked over to the dining table, where he was setting the table. They sat down and started eating.

    “Mmm….your cooking is great” she commented.

    “Well, you can boil water now so you’re not so bad yourself” he teased her.

    “Hey, I made soup for you when you were hurt, remember?” she said indignantly.

    “Yeah, that’s why I said you could boil water now.”

    “Was it that bad? Did it taste like water?” she asked bashfully.

    “Ummm…..well, for your first time, it wasn’t that bad” he replied.

    “Ha, that’s just your nice answer for it sucked, right?” she pouted.

    “You’re the one that said it” he teased her.

    “Hey!” she laughed, hitting him playfully.

    After they finished dinner, she helped him clean up. “Just put all the dishes in the dishwasher” she said.

    “Are you sure, I can just wash them quickly?” he asked.

    “No, it’s okay, just put them in the dishwasher. I don’t want to waste time cleaning up when we could spend it together doing something else.”

    “Okay, what do you want to do then?”

    She pulled him onto the sofa and snuggled into his arms.

    “Do you want to watch a movie?” he asked, getting up and looking through her DVD collection.

    “I want to watch something romantic” she said.

    “Okay.” He chose a movie that looked romantic to him and put it into the DVD player.

    “Hurry up and come cuddle with me” she pouted. She snuggled to him again when he sat down on the sofa.

    “You’re like a little kid” he laughed.

    “No, I’m not” she pouted. “I just like physical affection. Honey…..can you stay the night with me?”

    He looked a little taken aback by her sudden request but then he smiled. “Sure sweetie” he kissed her on the cheek.

    She frowned. “Why do you always kiss me on the cheeks like I’m your little sister? How come I don’t feel any passion from you? We’ve been going out for more than a year already and we haven’t really gotten all that intimate” she couldn’t help her outburst. She knew he said he wanted to take things slowly but this was just ridiculous.

    He sighed. “I’m sorry, honey. Look, we have a whole lifetime ahead of us. We don’t need to rush things.”

    “This is hardly rushing” she said frustratingly. “Wait…..did you say a “whole lifetime”? Does that mean you’re going to marry me and spend a whole lifetime with me?”

    “Eventually, of course. If I don’t marry you, who did you want to marry you?” he joked.

    “Okay, I’ll let you off this time” she smiled, happy that he was thinking of a future with her.

    “Well, provided that nothing happens between us that’ll cause us to break up” he said.

    “Hey, why are you saying things like that?” she pouted.

    “I’m just saying” he replied.

    “Well, I want you to stay with me tonight” she hugged him.

    He smiled and hugged her back. “Okay honey” he said, kissing her on the lips this time.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    “Bernice, how was your date last night?” Gigi asked, putting on some lipstick in the girls’ washroom at the fire station.

    “It was alright” Bernice replied with a bored expression.

    “That great, huh?” Selena asked sarcastically.

    “Yeah well, he didn’t exactly knock me off my feet” Bernice snickered.

    “Yesterday was my and Ray’s 6 month anniversary and he cooked a romantic dinner for us. He put flowers and candles all over the apartment” Selena gushed.

    “Frankie cooked dinner for us yesterday evening too” Gigi said. “But I wouldn’t call it a romantic dinner because we didn’t have any candles or flowers. Well, it wasn’t our anniversary or anything. Still, Ray is so much more romantic than Frankie” she pouted.

    “But Frankie’s sweeter” Bernice blurted out then she looked embarrassed by her outburst.

    “Yeah well, last night he spent the whole night with me but all we did was sleep. Could you believe it? It was the first night we spent together after going out for more than a year. Yeah, he held me and cuddled with me but that’s it. It’s getting so frustrating!” Gigi whined.

    “Really?” Bernice asked, surprised. She couldn’t suppress her smile so she turned her face away from Gigi.

    Selena didn’t miss it. “Well, last night was our first time” she admitted shyly. “It was my first time ever.”

    “Really?” Bernice asked, smiling. “How was it?”

    “It was great. He was so tender and loving.”

    Gigi fumed. She was happy for Selena but she couldn’t help feeling sorry for herself. What is wrong with Frankie, she thought? She looked over at Bernice, frowning. After all this time, he’s still fixated on her - that’s what’s wrong. She had known this all along but she didn’t want to let her jealousy ruin their friendship - especially because she was so dependent on Bernice and Bernice was such a good friend to her. Bernice always stuck up for her and did anything for her.

    Suddenly, they heard the fire alarm go off. They rushed out of the washroom and began changing into their fire suits.

    “This is probably our biggest fire so far. I’ve never seen anything like it” Frankie told his team in the firetruck while they were en route to the site. “There were a series of explosions at this 30-storey commercial skyscraper. Looks like arson or maybe even bombs. The bomb squad has been called.”

    When they got there, they saw fire raging on several floors of the building and there was a lot of smoke billowing out of the windows. After quickly surveying the situation, Frankie immediately started giving out orders and sending his crew to work.

    “Wait!” he called to the girls. “We aren’t sure if there will be any more explosions. It’s really dangerous in there. Maybe you girls should stay outside.”

    “You’re not allowed to treat us differently” Selena reminded him. Bernice nodded.

    “It’s really dangerous in there” he warned them.

    “We want to help you Big brother.”

    “Okay, but please be careful” he sighed worriedly. “Gigi, how about you stay outside on the ladder?”

    “Okay” she nodded, running off.

    He, Selena, and Bernice made their way into the building. They pointed to the exits to some of the people who were still scurrying around inside the building.

    “Please leave the building immediately! The fire is spreading!” Frankie shouted at them.

    Once they reached the floors that were on fire, the heat immediately became intense. The fire was raging quickly and there was debris falling down from the ceiling, making it a dodging game on top of trying to put out the flames. They all started dousing the flames with their fire extinguishers and hoses. The smoke was getting really thick, it was burning their eyes and making them cough. Frankie saw Ellesmere and Kevin dragging out unconscious people from the building towards the exits. Suddenly, Bernice spied a woman trapped inside a fiery room and immediately began dousing the flames around the room to get to her. When she was able to get inside the room, the woman was coughing uncontrollably so she supported the woman towards the exit.

    Just as Bernice and the woman got outside, a huge explosion rocked the building. Bernice’s eyes widened as she turned around and looked up at the building. Oh my god, that explosion came from the floor Frankie and Selena were on! She immediately rushed into the building and ran towards them. When she got to the floor, she saw Frankie frantically rummaging through a pile of debris and yelling Selena’s name.

    “Selena! Selena!” Frankie yelled in panic, icy fear running through his body as he searched for his sister. He had heard the explosion and a big chuck of debris had hit him in the arm when he instinctively put his arms over his head. Then he noticed that the explosion came from the area that Selena was working but when he looked in her direction, all he saw was a pile of flaming debris. He was now frantically throwing the pieces of debris in every direction, oblivious to the burns on his hands as he silently prayed to god that his sister was alright. Finally, he saw a piece of Selena’s firefighter uniform. Bernice started helping him throw the debris out of the way and they finally were able to fully see her. What they saw nearly made Frankie fall to his knees. Her eyes were closed and most of her body was severely burnt and her face was thoroughly blood-streaked. Frankie was shaking as he lifted her up and started running to the exit. Bernice cried out in horror and ran after him.

    “Please let her make it, please let her make it” Frankie chanted to himself. “Please god, please let her be okay.” Tears were streaming down his face because he knew in his heart that the situation was grim.

    He finally got outside and ran to the paramedics, putting her on the gurney. “Please help her, please!” he pleaded frantically. He watched helplessly as they got to work right away.

    “Oh my god!” Gigi exclaimed when she saw Selena.

    “We have to get her to the burn unit right away!” a paramedic yelled.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Frankie sat inside the ambulance with Selena, his face in his hands, as he watched her fighting for her life. Suddenly, her eyes fluttered open.

    “Selena!” Frankie held her hand.

    “I’m sorry big brother” she said weakly. “I let you down.”

    “No, don’t ever say that” he shook his head. “You’ve made me so proud. Do you know how many lives you’ve saved already? You’re a great firefighter, I’m so proud of you. If anyone should say sorry, it should be me. I said I won’t let anything happen to you and I couldn’t even keep that promise. I’m such a useless brother.”

    “No, don’t blame yourself. Promise me, you won’t blame yourself.” Tears fell from her eyes. “Tell Mom, Dad and Granny that I love them. And tell Ray that I love him very much.”

    “No, you can tell them yourself. You’ll be alright.” He forced a smile.

    “Big brother, I wanted to tell you that Bernice is the perfect girl for you. I want you to be happy. I love you Big brother.”

    “I love you too Little sis. You can’t leave me, you hear? Who am I going to tease and annoy?”

    She laughed weakly. “I don’t want to leave you guys either . There are so many people I love.” She cried softly to herself.

    “You’ll be alright, you’ll be alright” Frankie chanted again, tears streaming down his face. He held her hands tighter, afraid that he won’t get the chance to hold them again.

    Just then the ambulance stopped and the doors opened. The paramedics began wheeling her to the operating room.

    “Selena! Selena!” Raymond called, running up beside her trolley.

    She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw him. “Ray, I love you” she mouthed.

    “I love you too” he said, holding her hands, tears running down his face.

    Finally, she closed her eyes again and the paramedics wheeled her into the operating room, the doors closing behind them.

    Raymond and Frankie looked at each other, each providing silent support for the other as they sat outside waiting for the doctor to come out to deliver the prognosis to them. Please let it be good news, Frankie prayed fervently.

    Just then, Bernice and Gigi came running towards them.

    “She’s in the operating room” Ray told them before they even asked.

    Gigi hugged Frankie. He hugged her back, needing the comfort.

    Raymond stared at the clock ticking by slowly, so slowly he felt like time was standing still. Suddenly, he couldn’t take it anymore and he jumped up and started pacing back and forth.

    Just then, the doctor came out.

    “How is she?” Frankie asked.

    “I’m sorry, we did all we could” the doctor said regretfully.

    Frankie felt like he was just hit in the chest, he couldn’t breathe. He started to gasp for breath.

    Bernice immediately ran to him. “Breathe slowly. Breathe in, now breathe out” she told him, helping him sit down. He listened to her and was able to calm down but he still couldn’t believe it. How can his adorable sister be gone? It can’t be. The tears started pouring out of his eyes. He suddenly heard Ray’s voice.

    “No, no, no. The doctor’s lying! Selena is alive! She can’t be dead!” Ray cried, tears streaming down his face. Bernice went over to him and hugged him, both of them crying and holding each other for support.

    “Come on, let me get you home” Gigi said to Frankie. He was sitting in his chair, not saying anything, clearly still in shock. “Come on, Frankie. You can’t stay here forever. Go home and get some rest then you’ll have to let your Granny and parents know. You’re going to have to make funeral arrangements.” She started to cry too, because she had always liked Selena.

    “No, I don’t want to tell Granny. It’ll break her heart. No, no, no” he put his face in his hands.

    “Come on honey, I’ll take you home” Gigi prodded.

    Later that night, Frankie opened the door to his apartment and saw his Granny sitting in the living room watching the news.

    “Granny” he said.

    She turned around at the sound of his voice and ran over to him and hugged him.

    “Oh Frankie, you’re alright, I was so worried when I saw the news about the fire. Wait, where is your sister?”

    Frankie looked away, not saying anything. He really dreaded telling her. Finally he turned back to her. “Granny, sit down.”

    “What is it?” she asked.

    “Selena is- is…..she’s dead” he choked out as he looked at his Granny worriedly.

    “What? Did Granny hear right? Did you say Selena is dead?” his grandmother asked in shock.

    He swallowed the lump in his throat and then nodded. “Yes Granny, Selena is dead” his voice broke as the pain came crashing back.

    “No it can’t be! My Selena can’t be dead. She’s so young and should live a long life. How is she dead before her Granny?” she cried. She started to sob uncontrollably. Frankie held her and cried too. Suddenly, she clutched her heart and grimaced.

    “Granny, Granny! What’s the matter?”

    She started to fall over while he held onto her.

    “Oh god, no, no.” He dialed emergency. “Please get an ambulance, my grandmother just had a heart attack! My address is 3708 Fa Yuen Street, apartment 1615. Please hurry!”

    He started to do CPR on her. “Granny, granny!”

    The paramedics arrived in about 7 minutes and one of them took over for Frankie while he looked on in shock. They quickly hoisted her onto the gurney and into the ambulance. Once again, Frankie found himself riding in the ambulance to the hospital. He held his grandmother’s hand and prayed that she would make it.


  3. #23
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    Chapter 20


    After waiting for what seemed like an eternity but really, it was only half an hour, the doctor came out of the critical care unit. Frankie ran up to him.

    “How is my grandmother?” he asked.

    “I’m sorry, we did all that we could” Frankie heard the doctor say again for the second time in a day.

    The blood drained from his face and he fell down on the chair. The world felt like it was crashing down on him. Just like that, he was suddenly all alone. How had he lost his family in a matter of hours? He put his face in his hands as the pain in his chest swelled until it was threatening to burst out of his chest. Once again, he had to breathe in and out slowly like Bernice taught him.

    Just then, Gigi and Bernice ran up to him.

    “How is she?” asked Gigi worriedly. His grandmother was always so nice to her.

    Bernice took one look at Frankie and knew the answer. She held his hand. “I’m so sorry” she said, tears falling down her face.

    “She didn’t make it?” Gigi asked. She started to cry too and hugged Frankie.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Frankie walked into his apartment in a daze, like he had been the past few days since Selena’s and his grandmother’s deaths. The apartment suddenly seemed so empty – all the warmth and laughter a distant memory. He had made funeral arrangements for both of them. He had told his parents the bad news and they were flying in to attend the funeral. He had gone about everything like a zombie for the past few days but now suddenly, the reality that his sister and grandmother were really gone finally hit him. He went straight to his bed and lied down on it, curling into a ball as raw grief consumed him. He missed them so much.

    “Selena” he whispered. “Why was your life cut so short? Why? You should’ve had so much more time in this world, you would’ve given so much. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to keep you safe. I hope you’re happy – you must be in paradise, in heaven now, and I know that you’re going to be my guardian angel.”

    He took out a piece of paper with the lyrics to the song Angel by Joee. He was going to play this song at Selena’s funeral. It was written by Joee for his cousin who died in a car accident and it described exactly how he felt about Selena’s death so he wanted to dedicate this song to her.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C22H5LmoKyY


    Time went by so quickly
    You were only seventeen
    When you left you took a part of me

    I took so much for granted
    Can you hear me? Can you see?
    'Cause something's making me believe

    And I just wanna let you know
    This was your time
    When you went away it seemed the days all faded to night
    But you'll be all right, I know it.
    'Cause now I've got an angel watching me

    On the road that morning
    It took awhile for me to feel
    To figure out just what was real
    I tripped before I fell,
    A scream before a yell
    Could you hear me?

    'Cause I just wanna let you know
    This was your time
    You went away it seemed the days all faded to night
    But you'll be all right, I know it.
    'Cause now I've got an angel watching me

    This was your time
    You went away it seemed the days all faded to night
    But you'll be all right, I know it.
    'Cause now I've got an angel watching me

    Give me faith
    Give me hope
    Give me faith
    Give me hope

    I've been searching for
    The truth that lies behind the door
    You've found
    Do you keep your name?
    Is it all the same in your new world?

    I just wanna let you know
    This was your time
    When you went away it seemed the days all faded to night
    But you'll be all right, I know it.
    'Cause now I've got an angel watching me

    This was your time
    When you went away it seemed the days all faded to night
    But you'll be all right, I know it.
    'Cause now I've got an angel watching me

    Give me faith
    Give me hope

    in this life we're just here for a little while
    No goodbyes
    Wipe the tears from your eyes
    See the sun from the other side.

    I know you'll be fine
    I'll see ya round sometime


    Tears rolled down his face as he listened to the song for the millionth time since her death.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    On the day of the funeral, Frankie was able to keep himself together thus far. Emotionally spent, he went through the day like a zombie; thanking all the people who came to pay their respects to Selena and his grandmother. Suddenly, he looked up and saw his parents running into the room, straight off their flight from the U.S.

    “Mom! Dad!” Frankie ran up to them and immediately hugged his mother. He was so happy to see her, a comforting presence through all the pain. When she started sobbing, he couldn’t hold his tears any longer. He cried, sharing his grief with her.

    “Why didn’t you keep your sister safe?” his mom suddenly asked, sobbing. “How could you let her die? What kind of a brother are you? Now your Granny is gone too!”

    He recoiled from her, the words like a slap in the face. The emotional pain that radiated through him nearly took his breath away. After taking a few deep breaths, he slowly sat down on a chair and pulled his face back into a mask.

    Bernice had overheard what his mom said to him and she looked at him worriedly. He was sitting on a chair, looking down at the floor, not saying a word. How could his mom say something so cruel to him at a time like this, she thought? She went over to him and sat down beside him, lending him moral support. He didn’t even look up making her even more worried for him because usually, he would attempt to give her a smile. Gigi sat on his other side and took his hand and held it. For the rest of the service, Bernice cried for Selena and for Frankie. She was afraid he wouldn’t be able to bounce back from the cruelty of his mother’s words. She could tell by looking at his face that those words would haunt him forever.

    Suddenly Bernice looked up and saw Ray walking into the room. He looked devastated. She went up to him and gave him a hug. She didn’t say anything because she knew that sometimes there were no words that could offer any comfort for such a loss.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    “I’m so sorry” Frankie said to his parents at the airport. “I’m such a useless brother. I couldn’t even keep Selena safe. I’m so useless.”

    “Don’t say that, son. You couldn’t have prevented it” his dad said.

    “No, you promised that you would keep your sister safe but you didn’t” his mom accused, wiping her eyes.

    “I’m sorry mom, I really let you down. I’m so sorry” Frankie said again.

    “Stop your nonsense woman!” his dad yelled at his mom. He turned to Frankie. “We can’t stay longer because we have business to take of. Son, you take care of yourself. Tell us if you change your mind and want to move to the States.”

    With that, his parents left, leaving Frankie feeling totally alone. He was going to go home but instead he drove to Gigi’s house.

    “I don’t want to go home to that empty apartment” he said desperately when she opened the door.

    “Baby, come in. It’s okay, you can stay here.” Gigi led him to the sofa. He looked like a lost little boy. “You should eat something, you haven’t been eating properly. Madam Choi, get dinner ready!”

    “I’m not hungry” he said. “I want to go lie down. I’m so tired.”


    He was in a burning building trying to find anyone trapped inside. Suddenly, an explosion was heard and running over to where it came from, he saw Selena standing there. She had burns and blood all over her face and her body was on fire. She walked towards him.

    “Brother help me, help me! Why didn’t you keep me safe?” she wailed.

    Then he heard his mother’s voice, “What kind of brother are you? You can’t even keep your sister safe.”

    He ran over to Selena. “Selena, Selena!” he shouted, trying to put out the fire on her body but it just got worse and worse until she was completely consumed by it.

    “Selena!” Frankie sat up panting, sweat pouring down his face.

    “Honey, are you okay?” Gigi asked him sleepily, touching his arm. She was lying beside him on her bed.

    “It was a nightmare, just a nightmare” he said, breathing loudly and wiping his forehead of the sweat.

    “Go back to sleep” Gigi said, pulling him down and snuggling into his arms.

    He lied down and hugged her but for the rest of the night, he lied awake, unable to sleep. The next day, he got up early and went to work before Gigi even woke up. Everyone at the station said “I’m sorry” to him when they saw him. He thanked them and went to his desk and sat down. He had a lot of reports to catch up on, including the one on the building that Selena died in. The authorities were investigating where the bombs came from. They suspected that a rival company was involved.

    “Hi Frankie” Bernice came up to his desk.

    “Oh hi Bernice” Frankie looked up at her.

    “Remember, I said I liked to bake and that I would bring in my treats for you? Well, I brought some today.”

    “Uhh…..thanks Bernice” he said. He slowly took a muffin and bit into it. “It’s really good, you’re a great baker” he said smiling stiffly at her.

    “Thanks” she said. She watched as he reluctantly ate the rest of the muffin, knowing that he really didn’t have an appetite, but Gigi told her that he was barely eating since Selena’s death, so she knew that he would be forced to eat if she baked for him herself.

    Bernice watched Frankie worriedly as he went through his shift like a zombie, not really talking much. She sighed, the ordeal with Shirley hadn’t changed him but this one has. She was afraid he was never going to go back to being himself again.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    After her shift was over, Bernice took the ferry over to the island that she and Frankie had rented a cabin for some fresh air and some mood-lifting. The atmosphere at the fire station was so somber. Both Frankie and Ray were like zombies, going about their duties without emotion, without talking. Walking down the beach, Bernice suddenly saw a figure sitting on a rock by the edge of the ocean. She knew who that figure was immediately. She’d recognize him anywhere. He was staring into the ocean, drinking beer from a can. There were empty beer cans scattered everywhere around him.

    “Frankie” she said coming up to him.

    He looked up at her. “Hey Bernice” he said then turned around to look at the ocean again. He had tears on his face.

    “I’m so sorry” she said sitting down beside him. “Selena and I were becoming good friends, we were getting really close.” Tears started rolling down her face.

    “She was so young, only 21. She should’ve had so much more time in this world. She was 3 years younger than me but so much wiser. She always gave me the best advices. It’s all my fault. I should’ve kept her safe. I’m so useless!”

    She shook her head vehemently. “Frankie, I was there that day. You tried to warn us it wasn’t safe but we insisted on going in. It’s not your fault. There wasn’t anything you could do about it! If you want to blame anything, blame it on fate - on cruel fate. Or blame it on the guys that planted the bombs. Remember, your report helped with their arrest. So, it’s not your fault! Please believe that! Don’t listen to your mom. Yes, I heard what she said. And she’s wrong! If Selena knew that you’re blaming yourself like this, she would never rest in peace. Remember, just like the song, she’s an angel now. She’s your guardian angel now.”

    Frankie stared at her for a while. Suddenly he hugged her - hugged her so tight like a drowning man. “Bernice, I have to tell you something. I’m afraid that if I don’t tell you now, I might never get the chance to tell you.”

    “What is it Frankie?” she asked him when he paused.

    “Bernice, I love you. I loved you since I first met you. I never believed in love at first sight until I met you. Of course, I don’t expect anything to come out of my confession because I have Gigi and I intend to be faithful to her but I just had to tell you. I just wanted to let you know because of the nature of our job, I might never have the chance to tell you.”

    “You still love me?” she asked. He didn’t answer her but she looked into his eyes and knew the answer. “I love you too, Frankie.”

    “You do?” he looked at her incredulously.

    She nodded. “I’ve been trying to fight my feelings for you but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to get involved with a co-worker because of my ex-boyfriend’s death so I was trying to fight my feelings for you. Then Gigi asked me to help set you and her up so I did, but it was really hard because I was falling in love with you, although I tried really hard to fight it.”

    He looked at her in disbelief. “You’re such a good friend. As usual, Sel was right. She had suggested that you were doing that for Gigi.” He swallowed the lump of pain in his throat thinking about their conversations.

    She smiled sadly. “I wish I wasn’t such a good friend sometimes.”

    “Bernice, thank you for always making me feel better. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

    “You’re the one that I should be thanking. How many times have you saved me now?”

    They smiled at each other - each feeling the connection they had with one another. He turned back to look at the waves crashing onto the shore. They both sat silently watching the waves, taking comfort in the other’s presence. She hugged him again when he finally broke down, his shoulders shaking as he let out all the pain and grief he had been carrying.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Gigi was walking out of a restaurant with her parents when she saw Raymond walking unsteadily down the street.

    “Mom and dad, I’ll catch up with you guys later. I see my friend. Bye!” She took off down the street after him.

    “Ray!” she yelled.

    He turned around at the sound of his name. When she reached him, he reeked of alcohol. She caught him and steadied him when he stumbled.

    “My Selena can’t be dead” he was mumbling.

    “I’m sorry Ray” Gigi said sadly. “I know you loved her very much. Here, let me take you home.”

    She drove him to his apartment and helped him to his room. She helped him into his bed and took off his shoes. Just when she was about to leave, he grabbed her hand.

    “Selena, don’t go. Don’t leave me. I need you.”

    “Ray, I’m not Selena, I’m Gigi.”

    He squinted his eyes and shook his head. “Gigi?” he asked looking up at her. “How did you get here?”

    “I brought you home when I saw you walking drunk down the street.”

    Seemingly more sober, he got up to a sitting position. “Oh….thanks” he said.

    “Want some water?” Gigi asked.

    “Yeah, there’s some over there” he pointed to a jug of water on a table.

    After drinking some water, he felt a lot more clear-headed. “Thanks. I’m sorry that you had to bring me home like this.”

    “No problem. So have you been getting drunk everyday since Selena’s death?”

    His mood immediately darkened. “I miss her so much. Just when I found the right woman, I have to lose her. I’ve always had such bad luck in love.”

    “Well, if it makes you feel any better, my love life isn’t all that great itself” Gigi sighed.

    “What do you mean? Isn’t Frankie treating you well?”

    “Yes, he treats me really well but…….I know his heart belongs elsewhere. I keep hoping that eventually, he’ll fall in love with me but after all this time, I know that he still loves her.”

    “Bernice” Ray guessed.

    “Yes” Gigi answered.

    “So what are you going to do?” Ray asked.

    “I’m not going to do anything. Sometimes I do want to leave him but I just can’t” she stated. “I’m still hoping that he will eventually love me. We have talked about getting married, you know?”

    “Wow, really? So you won’t leave him and he won’t leave you. Well, Gigi, you’re a beautiful girl and I’m sure he does love you. Give him more time to get over Bernice. At least you know that he’s a loyal guy. Once he falls in love, it’s very hard for him to fall out of love.”

    “That’s true. Thanks Ray, you really made me feel better.”

    “No problem, glad I could help. Thanks for taking me home.”

    “Alright, I’m gonna go now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

    After she left, the loneliness came back. He lied in bed, thinking about all the good times he had with Selena, until he finally fell asleep.

















  4. #24
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    Chapter 21


    Frankie threw himself into work. He worked overtime everyday and went out on field work whenever he possibly could. He didn’t like having a lot of free time and whatever free time he had, he spent it with Gigi. He rarely stayed at his apartment, the memories there were too painful for him. As bad as it sounds, Gigi was happy that he didn’t want to go home and stayed with her more often. She liked that they were getting closer.

    Late one evening, Frankie was flipping mindlessly through Gigi’s magazines on her coffee table when he heard her call his name. He looked up and what he saw made his eyes widen in disbelief. Gigi was standing in the living room doorway in sexy lingerie that left little to the imagination.

    “Hi baby” she said seductively. “Do you like it?”

    His mouth was opened in shock. “You look beautiful” he finally stammered.

    “Just beautiful?” she asked raising her eyebrows.

    “And sexy” he swallowed.

    She started walking slowly and seductively towards him. “Really? You think I look sexy?”

    “Um…yeah” he said nervously. She sat down on his lap, facing him. She leaned down and started kissing him, pressing her chest into his. He slowly kissed her back, slipping his tongue into her mouth. He started to kiss downwards towards her neck. Suddenly, her cell phone rang making him jump. The caller ID said it was Bernice.

    “Aren’t you going to answer it?” he asked her.

    “No, I’ll call her back later” she said breathlessly. “Kiss me again.” She pulled him to her and he started to kiss her neck again when this time, his cell phone went off. He looked at the caller ID and it said Bernice.

    “I’m going to answer it” he apologized. “She might be in trouble.”

    Gigi sighed as he answered his cell phone. “Hi Bernice. What?! You were just robbed? Are you okay? Where are you? I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

    “Bernice was just robbed?” Gigi asked.

    “Yeah, but she said she’s okay. I’m going to go get her. You coming?”

    They both looked at her state of undress. “I’ll wait here for you guys” she answered.

    “Okay, see you later” he said, giving her a quick kiss.

    Gigi pouted. Talk about bad timing Bernice, she thought gloomily. Maybe today he would’ve been willing to take it to the next level. She sighed. She just had to be more patient although patience wasn’t her biggest virtue.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    When Frankie got there, Bernice was sitting down on a bench.

    “Thanks for coming” Bernice said. “Some idiot grabbed my purse so I didn’t have a way of getting home. Luckily, a bystander lent me some coins so I was able to make a phone call. I’m so sorry if I interrupted anything.” She noticed the lipstick marks on his face.

    “Don’t worry about it. Just as long as you’re okay. Are you sure you’re not hurt?” he looked at her worriedly.

    “Well, my arm is a little sore where he grabbed my purse and I fell so my left ankle is a little sore.”

    He quickly took a look at her ankle. “It’s swollen! I’m taking you to the hospital.”

    “No, I’m fine” she answered. “Can you just take me home?”

    “No, you might’ve broken something. Come on, I’m taking you to the hospital.”

    “Okay fine. Umm…wait, let me do something before we go.” She wiped the lipstick marks off his face.

    His face turned red when he realized what she was wiping. “Ummm…thanks.”

    “No, I should say thanks. Once again, you came to my rescue” she smiled.

    Frankie called Gigi to let her know what was going on while he waited for Bernice to get treated at the hospital. When she came out of the treatment room, he quickly ran up to her. Her left ankle and foot had a brace on it.

    “How’s your ankle?”

    “Luckily it’s just sprained but I can’t put any pressure on it for 2 weeks” she sighed. “I can’t work for 2 weeks now. Oh, the doctor said I need to get crutches.”

    He helped her to the store to buy crutches and paid for them since she didn’t have any money.

    “Thanks so much. I really owe you one” she said apologetically.

    “Bernice, you don’t owe me anything. That’s what friends are for” he said. “You better get home and cancel your credit cards and bank cards.”

    “Yeah, good idea.”

    He drove her home and helped her up to her apartment.

    “What happened?!” her mother asked in alarm when she opened the door.

    “I was robbed and fell, spraining my ankle” Bernice explained. “Do you remember Frankie? He took me to the hospital and drove me home.”

    “Hi Mrs. Liu. How are you?” Frankie asked.

    “I do remember you” her mother said. “You’re Bernice’s chief. You’re such a nice and handsome boy! She hasn’t brought a nice boy home for a while now.”

    “Okay, okay mom” Bernice quickly interrupted. “It’s late and Frankie has to go home now.” She hobbled over to the door with him. “Thank you again, Frankie. Umm…sorry about my mom.”

    Frankie had a little smile on his face. “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Bye, take care.”

    For some reason, he didn’t feel like going back to Gigi’s house so he went home to his own apartment. I can’t avoid it forever, he thought to himself. He walked into his apartment and went straight into his room. He still couldn’t bring himself to look into Selena’s and his grandmother’s bedrooms.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    A few weeks later, Frankie was sitting in the common room at the station, listening to the guys prattling on about their lives and their adventures with this girl and that girl. Wow, he thought, and people say women like to gossip. These guys could compete with any girl for the title of Gossip Queen. He was working overtime again but things were really slow today. There have only been a few minor incidents, which were quickly attended to. Finally, Bernice walked into the fire station to start her shift.

    Frankie walked up to her. “Hey Bernice, how does your ankle feel?”

    “It was totally fine last week already” she answered. “You’re such a worrywart” she teased.

    “I just don’t like when someone I care for is hurt” he said.

    Her face softened. The old Frankie would’ve teased her right back but the new Frankie just had a look of concern on his face. “Don’t worry about me, I’m totally fine now” she reassured him.

    Ding ding ding!!! The sound of the alarm made him jump. It had been so slow today that he wasn’t expecting to hear it. He quickly changed into his firefighter uniform and jumped into one of the fire trucks.

    The building on fire was once again a commercial building – an 88-storey skyscraper. An airplane has just hit the building causing a massive explosion and blaze. Everyone’s first thought was terrorism and 9/11 but there were reports that the pilot had called in distress announcing a mechanical malfunction just before hitting into the building. Besides, the building was too small and insignificant for terrorist attacks of this nature.

    The scene at the fire was of total chaos. There were people yelling and jumping out of their windows, running in panic out of the building, crying and wailing, and so on. Frankie gave out his orders then ran into the building and shook his head in exasperation when he saw a lot of people still scurrying around inside.

    “You all should be evacuating the building NOW!!!” he shouted.

    As he started running up the stairs to go deeper into the building, the lights started flickering and then suddenly went out. He immediately switched on his helmet light and suddenly heard a cry for help. He turned towards the sound and saw a man in a wheelchair trying to make his way down the stairs.

    “Here, let me help you” he offered. He heaved the man onto his back. As he was making his way out of the building, he came across a lot of panicky people still stuck in the building.

    “I can’t see anything!” they were shouting. “Help, help!”

    “Follow me, I have a light! Be careful of falling debris!” he yelled as he just managed to dodge some. Suddenly, there were a lot of people following him as he made his way to the exit with the disabled man on his back.

    Finally, he managed to get all those people out of the building. He then turned to see what was going on outside. As he had ordered, they had set up a giant mattress for people to jump into and he saw people jumping into it from their burning windows. There were some people who didn’t make it onto the mattress, and members of his crew were picking up their corpses. Gigi was on the ladder hosing the fire on the 52nd floor. He was a little worried watching her on the ladder that high but he also felt really proud of her; she was really doing her part in this mass confusion.

    Then he noticed that Bernice was still inside the building so he ran back inside. After rescuing a few more injured people from the building, he made his way back to the main foyer and suddenly saw Bernice helping an elder lady to the exit. Just then, there was a loud rumbling noise and the ground shook, sending a lot of dust and debris falling down from the ceilings. Frankie looked up at the ceiling, which had a huge crack running through it, and then his eyes widened as he realized the building was collapsing.

    “Bernice! Get out! The building is collapsing!” he yelled too late as the walls, huge beams and chunks of the ceiling began caving in on them.

    Bernice was hurriedly pulling the old lady towards the exit when a large stone column broke off and began to fall down directly on top of them. She didn’t see it because it was behind her but Frankie did and quickly ran towards her. He pushed her out of the way just on time as it landed with a loud boom, sending dust and debris falling all over the place. She fell to the ground with a thud as Frankie pushed her and lied there breathing, catching her breath. By now, there was a massive pile of concrete and steel around them, leaving them in darkness, with only a sliver of light where the sunlight peaked through a small crack on one of the large concrete walls that had collapsed on them. Somehow, they were protected by a wall of several large steel and concrete beams that created a small pocket of space, where they weren’t crushed by the collapsed building.

    “Frankie?” Bernice asked. “Frankie?” she asked again in panic.

    “I’m here Bernice” he answered in a strained voice.

    She directed her flashlight to his voice and saw him lying a few feet from her. Her eyes widened when she saw that the massive stone column has landed over the bottom half of his body, trapping him under it.

    “Oh my god Frankie, are you okay?” she asked frantically.

    “My legs are stuck under the column” he grunted in pain. “Luckily most of the weight is on my legs, not my body. Are you okay Bernice? Are you hurt?”

    “No, I don’t think so” she answered, feeling her body for any injuries. Besides a few scratches and bruises, she didn’t appear to have any other injuries.

    “Thank god for that. I can’t move the column on my own” he continued. “Can you help me push it off? Just be careful, I don’t want to cause another avalanche. Okay, on a count of 3……1-2-3!”

    They both pushed and pushed but the column hardly budged.

    “Arggghhh” he groaned in pain as the movement crushed his legs. “Okay stop, stop, I can’t do this anymore. It hurts too much and I don’t think we can get if off my legs anyways.” He grimaced in pain as sweat started to bead on his forehead.

    “What are we going to do Frankie?” she asked trying not to panic.

    “Do you see any way out? If there’s a way out, you have to get out” he said.

    “NO, I’m not leaving you! Besides, there is no way out, we are completely surrounded by concrete walls and beams. I can’t even see beyond them. Oh my god, that old lady, she’s been crushed! Oh my god, oh my god.” She didn’t want to break down but she couldn’t help herself. She started to sob.

    Frankie held her hands, “Bernice, calm down. It’s okay. You did your best. Don’t worry, we’ll get out of this. I’m sure we will.” He wanted to sound encouraging but really, he honestly didn’t know how they could get out of this. If there was a rescue operation, how long will it take to get to them - if they even get to them at all? He didn’t know how long they had until the air became unbreathable.

    “Do you have your walkie talkie?” Frankie asked. “Mine’s crushed.”

    She looked around for it and picked it up, smiling. “Here it is!” She tried to get communication. “Hello? Anyone there?” There was a lot of static but after a while, they heard a faint voice.

    “Who’s there?” the voice asked.

    “It’s Bernice Liu, I’m a firefighter at Division 11.”

    “Oh my god, Bernice!” Roger said. “We were worried about you. Where are you? Over.”

    “We were inside the building, the main foyer, when the building collapsed.”

    “We? Who else is with you? Over.”

    “Frankie’s with me. He’s hurt. His legs are trapped under a column. What’s going on outside? Over.”

    “Well, the fire is put out now and the rescue operation is starting. I’m afraid we lost a few guys. Over.”

    Frankie’s eyes widened, “who?” he asked.

    “Who?” Bernice repeated into the walkie talkie, tears filling her eyes.

    “Ellesmere and Ekin” Roger answered sadly. “We found their bodies.”

    Tears smarted Frankie’s eyes. Oh my god, he thought, this is so awful. He couldn’t believe this was happening.

    “Anyways, I’m going to tell them that we know of you two still trapped in there and you said you were on the main foyer? What side? Over.”

    Bernice looked questionably at Frankie. “The southeast side” he answered through gritted teeth. The pain was becoming unbearable. He started to breathe slowly in and out as he tried to control the pain.

    “The southeast side” Bernice said into the walkie talkie.

    “Okay, I’ll tell them so they’ll try to get to you as soon as possible. You guys hold on there, okay? Hold on, ya hear?”

    “We’ll be waiting. Over” Bernice said. She turned to Frankie. “At least they know we’re here.”

    He nodded, sweat dripping down his face.

    “Are you okay, Frankie?” she asked worriedly.

    He moaned in response when a ripple ran through the building. Dust fell down on them. Bernice looked around nervously. “It seems like the building is still unstable. I wonder if we’ll be safe here?” she asked.

    “It seems pretty stable where we are – the beams have built a little pocket around us. Well, I hope it’s stable anyways” he smiled encouragingly at her and then grimaced in pain again. His lips were getting pale and she noticed he was beginning to tremble.

    “Are you cold?” she asked him. She touched his hands, which were indeed cold. She started to rub them and then she hugged him, hoping to warm him up.

    “Bernice? It wouldn’t be too bad if I died in your arms” he suddenly said.

    “Frankie, don’t say things like that!”

    “I’m not afraid of dying. I’ll see Selena and my Granny again.”

    “Stop it Frankie! I’m going to regard your nonsense as delusional talk due to the pain” she said.

    He didn’t say anymore and she continued to sit there holding him in her arms as she felt his trembling subsiding. Every once in a while he moaned and grimaced in pain, especially when there was any movement, and she would wipe his sweat.

    “No Frankie, don’t close your eyes! I’m afraid you won’t open them anymore” she pleaded when he started to close his eyes. His face and lips were growing paler and he was starting to tremble again despite her body heat. “Please Frankie, just stay awake with me, okay?”

    He nodded weakly and looked into her eyes. He held her hands in his cold trembling hands. “I love you Bernice. Please promise me that you’ll make it even if I don’t.”

    “Don’t start that again Frankie!” she said worriedly.

    “It’s getting hard to breathe” he said weakly, breathing deeply.

    “Yeah” she nodded. “I hope they’re coming soon.” She started to pray.

    “Let’s sing, Bernice” he suddenly said.

    “What?”

    “Let’s sing. If we don’t do something, I’m going to fall asleep” he said.

    “Okay, we’ll sing. Just don’t fall asleep.”

    He began singing a well-known Chinese love song in a weak voice. He had a surprisingly good voice and his singing was bringing tears to her eyes.

    “Sing with me” he urged her.

    So she started to sing with him. She actually began to feel better and smiled as she sang the words to the song. When they finished the song, she started to sing another song when she suddenly noticed that he wasn’t singing with her. She looked down at him and gasped when she saw his eyes were closed.

    “Frankie! Frankie!” she shook him. He didn’t wake up so she shook him again. “Please Frankie, wake up, wake up!” Tears started falling down her face. “Please don’t leave me.” She checked his breathing and was relieved to feel a faint breath. She grabbed the walkie talkie. “Hi, it’s Bernice here. Anyone there? Over!”

    “I’m still here” she heard Roger’s voice after some static. “How are you guys doing? Over.”

    “Frankie is unconscious. He’s breathing though but very faintly. Do you know if they’re coming?” she asked anxiously.

    “Yeah, they’re digging as fast as they can but you guys are near the bottom of the pile I reckon so it’s going to be a while longer. Just hold on. At least we know where you guys are approximately. We’re digging in that area. We also found the bodies of Michael and Patrick. Try to keep Frankie breathing, okay? Just hold on a little longer. Over.”

    She started crying for all her fallen comrades and praying harder that she and Frankie would make it. Gigi must be frantic, she mused. Her boyfriend and her best friend are trapped in the rubble. She checked Frankie’s breathing again. She panicked when there was no breath and hardly a pulse. She started to do CPR on him. Please please breathe, breathe, she pleaded. Finally, he started breathing again. Thank god, thank god, she cried, tears running down her face.

    She had no idea how long she had been sitting there but it felt like an eternity. She was starting to have difficulty breathing herself but she kept checking on Frankie periodically to make sure he was still breathing. She had to do CPR on him a few more times and she was terrified that it might not work anymore. Please, please come soon, she prayed. A little while later, she started to have difficulty keeping her eyes open but she had to for Frankie’s sake. She kept shaking her head and slapping herself on the cheeks to keep awake.

    Suddenly, she looked up as she heard a noise. It sounded like a whirring machine and the concrete walls were rumbling. Luckily, Frankie was unconscious so he couldn’t feel the pain, because the beams and column were shifting around as the machine began plucking pieces of concrete wall around them one by one. Suddenly, there was light streaming through as a large piece of concrete over them was removed. Bernice started shouting and using her noise maker to let the rescue workers know where they were. It took a while but slowly, each piece of concrete ceiling, walls, and beams were removed. Finally, Bernice looked up and saw the rescue workers and started crying. They reached down and pulled her out of the pile of rubble.

    “Wow, you guys were really lucky you had this concrete pocket!” one of the rescue worker said in disbelief.

    “Frankie’s down there under that column” she pointed crying.

    The huge stone column on top of him was removed and they were able to lift him out. They put him on the ambulance gurney and put him on life support as he was barely breathing. Bernice didn’t want to look at his legs but she knew that they were probably badly injured and crushed under that large stone column.

    “Bernice!” she suddenly heard her name being called.

    She turned around and saw Gigi, Raymond and her parents running towards her. She started crying as they came up to her and hugged her.

    “Sorry” the paramedics said to them. “We have to take her to the hospital. You’re welcome to go and meet her there.”

    With that, she was also strapped onto a gurney and put onto the ambulance with Frankie.

    “Frankie!” Gigi cried frantically holding his hands.

    “Miss, miss” one of the paramedics said. “We have to get going. He’s in critical condition.”

    Gigi let go of his hands and started sobbing. Raymond hugged her comfortingly.

    “Gigi, I’ll drive you to the hospital” he said.
    Last edited by magnoliaewan; 03-16-10 at 11:48 PM.

  5. #25
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    Chapter 22

    Bernice was treated for dehydration and minor cuts and bruises at the hospital. The doctor also wanted to have her lungs checked out since she had probably breathed in a lot of dust and debris from the collapsed building. She found out that they had been trapped in there for 26 hours. She kept asking how Frankie was doing but no one would tell her. Finally, she was allowed to have visitors. Her parents and Raymond rushed into the room.

    “How are you daughter?!” her parents cried.

    “I’m fine. I just have to stay in the hospital overnight for observations.” Bernice said. “How’s Frankie?” she asked Raymond.

    “Gigi’s with him right now. He’s in pretty bad shape but he’ll make it” Ray answered.

    “How are his legs?” she asked worriedly.

    “I don’t know” Ray said. “The doctors are working on him right now. All I know is he’s not in critical condition anymore, he’s expected to make it.

    Bernice sighed in relief; at least there was some good news.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Frankie suddenly became aware that he was lying in a bed but his eyes felt so heavy that he had to struggle to open them. When he finally got them open, everything was fuzzy, but slowly his vision started to focus and he was able to make out Bernice sitting on a chair beside his bed.

    “Frankie, you’re awake?” she asked anxiously.

    “Hey Bernice” he said weakly. “Where am I?”

    “In the hospital” she answered.

    “Are you alright Bernice?”

    She nodded, “I’m fine. How are you feeling?”

    “A little groggy….something doesn’t feel right.” He was about to lift up his blanket when she quickly interrupted him.

    “Do you remember what happened?” she asked.

    It took a while for his groggy mind to remember but then he finally said, “Yeah….we were trapped in a building that collapsed.”

    “Yes, we were trapped for 26 hours before rescue workers got to us. You were unconscious for 10 days” she continued.

    “I was trapped under a big column. It was crushing my legs” he remembered. “Wait a minute….that’s what doesn’t feel right, I can’t feel my legs.”

    Bernice swallowed nervously as he lifted up his blanket.

    Frankie stared down at his legs in shock. What?! His groggy brain felt like it wasn’t processing things correctly. Why are there stumps where his legs were supposed to be? Why are his legs missing from the top of his knees down? What’s going on? Was he seeing things?!!!

    In his hazy mind, he heard Bernice say in a choked voice, “the doctors weren’t able to save your lower legs, they were completely crushed. They became gangrenous because we were trapped down there for 26 hours. They had to amputate your legs. I’m so sorry.”

    His brain still wasn’t processing. He looked at her questionably. “They amputated my legs? I don’t have lower legs?!! Those really are my legs???!!!!”

    Suddenly, he heard an anguish cry coming from somewhere in his hazy mind. It got louder and louder until he realized that it was coming from him. NO NO NO!!!!!! Then, Bernice’s face started to blur and he heard her shouting his name repeatedly and then he didn’t know anything at all.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Bernice was still sitting at Frankie’s bedside when Gigi ran into the room.

    “I heard he woke up?” she questioned.

    “Yeah, he did for a little” Bernice answered glumly, “but he didn’t take the amputation of his legs too well. Who could blame him? Now, he won’t be able to be a firefighter.” Tears started to spill out of her eyes. She knew this would be devastating to him.

    Gigi started crying too and then she hesitatingly lifted up his blanket to look at his legs. What she saw made her recoil in horror.

    “What? Are they so disgusting to you?” Bernice asked. “You’re his girlfriend, you have to be strong for him at this time. He’s going to depend on you, you know?”

    Gigi started to sob harder. “I don’t know if I could be strong. I’m too weak. No one has ever depended on me before. In fact, I’ve always depended on others. I’m so scared, Bernice.”

    “You just have to be strong Gigi. Please, he’ll need you to be strong for him” Bernice pleaded.

    But Gigi couldn’t look at his stumps anymore and ran out of the room crying. Bernice sighed. She couldn’t entirely blame Gigi, she herself had been horrified when she saw his legs. But, she wanted to be strong and be there for him when he needed it. Why were all these things happening to him all at once, she wondered? It’s so unfair. It’s so true that when it rains, it pours. She was afraid that he would never recover from all these blows.

    Suddenly, a thought hit her. The column was about to fall on her and he had pushed her out of the way. He had saved her life again and in return, he had lost his legs. So, it was her fault that he lost his legs. Oh my god Frankie, she started to sob, looking at him. I owe you so much, she thought miserably. She didn’t know how she could repay everything he did for her. Steeling her face in resolve, she was determined that she would be there for him no matter what.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~

    Gigi sat at the bar drinking, deep in thought. She was afraid that she wasn’t strong enough to go through this with Frankie. She still loved him but she just knew herself too well; she needed to depend on him, not the other way around. Suddenly, she noticed Ray across the bar from her. She got up and went over to him.

    “Ray, are you drinking yourself into a stupor again?” she asked, sidling into the seat beside him.

    “Today was supposed to be our first year anniversary” he slurred. “I can’t believe it has been 6 months since she died.” He took a big gulp of his drink. He poured Gigi and himself a drink. “Cheers.”

    After several more drinks, Gigi said “Ray, you’re as drunk as a skunk, let me take you home.”

    “No, I’m fine. I want to drink some more.”

    “Be a good boy and come with me” she said, pulling him up.

    She was about to bring him to her car but then she realized that she had drank quite a bit herself and probably shouldn’t be driving. She decided to hail a cab. Inside the cab, Ray suddenly hugged her really tight, chanting “Selena”. She was about to push him off but then she enjoyed the physical touch so she didn’t. By the time they got into his apartment, his hands were all over her and he started to kiss her on the lips. She hesitated at first but then, she slowly started to kiss him back. She didn’t know why she couldn’t stop herself; maybe she was thirsting for the physical affection he was providing. When he started to take off her clothes, her groggy mind knew she really should stop things right there but somehow, she couldn’t stop or didn’t want to stop, and she just let things progress further.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Frankie slowly opened his eyes and saw his parents and Bernice standing by his bedside.

    “Mom, dad, Bernice?” he asked when his vision began to focus. He quickly sat up.

    “Be careful son” his mom said, coming over to him. She started crying. “I’m so sorry about your legs. I’m also sorry about what I said to you about Selena. It’s not your fault. I was so devastated by her death, I wrongly put the blame on you.”

    “Mom!” he hugged her tightly as tears rolled down his face. Something about having his mom there made him feel like a little boy again and he poured out his anguish. “My legs, I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it” he cried.

    “You’ll be okay son” his father patted him on the back. “Uhhh….if you want, you could move to the States with us….we could always hire a nurse for you.”

    Frankie looked at Bernice and she looked at him. “I have to take things slowly dad. I really don’t even know what’s going on. I’ll let you know later.”

    “So, is this your girlfriend?” his mom asked.

    His face turned red, “no mom. This is Bernice, she’s a friend. My girlfriend’s name is Gigi, remember?”

    “Hi Mrs. Lam” Bernice smiled politely. It was obvious to her that his parents didn’t remember his girlfriend at all. They probably met Gigi only once or twice.

    “Well where is your girlfriend?”

    “She was here yesterday and I think she’ll be coming in sometime today” Bernice replied for him.

    “Well son, we can’t stay in Hong Kong for much longer. You know the nature of our business, we can’t stay away too long” his dad said.

    Frankie nodded in understanding. “It’s okay, I’m glad you guys came at all. When are you leaving?”

    “Tomorrow” they replied.

    “So soon?” Frankie asked, clearly disappointed. Bernice felt really bad for him. It seemed to her that their business was far more important to them than anything else.

    Just then Gigi walked into the room. “Frankie! You’re awake!” she ran over to him and hugged him.

    He hugged her back. “Mom and dad, this is Gigi, my girlfriend.”

    “Hi Mr. and Mrs. Lam, how are you?” she asked politely.

    “Good, good” his mother answered. “Well, you look like a nice girl and so beautiful too.”

    Gigi blushed. “Thank you.”

    “We’ll leave you guys alone, your dad and I are going to go for dinner now” his mother continued.

    “Bye” he said to his parents.

    “Well, I’m heading off for dinner with my parents too” Bernice said.

    “Okay bye Bernice, thanks for sticking around all this time” Frankie said.

    “I’ll be back after dinner” Bernice smiled at him.

    “That’s great!” Frankie smiled back at her.

    After everyone left, he looked up at Gigi, who was standing looking at him nervously.

    “What’s the matter? Is there something you want to tell me?” he asked.

    “Umm…no, I just wanted to ask how you’re feeling?” she stammered.

    He looked at her sadly for a while. “Have you seen my…..my legs?” he choked out.

    She nodded turning away from him.

    “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I can’t be a firefighter anymore! Now my childhood dream is gone, I don’t even know what I’m going to do now” he was trying really hard to stay calm, to keep the hysteria at bay, so he had to take a few deep breaths. Finally, he looked up at her, “will you still love me if I’m a burden to you?”

    She hesitated before answering. “Of course I will still love you….it’s just that I’m not used to having anyone being dependent on me. I’m afraid. I know I’m not strong enough to take care of someone else. In fact, I already messed up, I …...” she trailed off.

    “What is it?” he asked.

    “Nothing, it’s nothing” she stammered. “I’m just nervous. I’m sorry I’m not strong.”

    “Gigi, I don’t blame you for being afraid one bit. I’m terrified myself. I was so used to being independent, I don’t want to be a burden to anyone. I just wanted to be a firefighter and now I can’t even be one.” He struggled to stop the self-pitying. “I won’t blame you if you want to break up.”

    “No, I don’t want to break up” she quickly hugged him.

    “You’re so good to me” he said, touching her face. “Thank you.”

    She turned away from him, not able to look him in his eyes. “Will you be okay if I go home now?”

    “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Go home and take a rest. You have to work tomorrow, don’t you?”

    She nodded. “Bye” she gave him a quick kiss and left.

    A few minutes after she left, an overly cheery nurse came into the room with a tray.

    “Here’s your dinner” she smiled at him. “It’s steak, our best just for you.” She was obviously trying to cheer him up.

    “Thank you” he said disinterestedly. He didn’t have any appetite.

    “Well, call me if you need anything” she said and left the room.

    Frankie picked up the knife and fork and started playing around with his food when someone walked into the room.

    “Hey Ray!” Frankie said looking up.

    “Hi Frankie. How are you doing?”

    “As best as I could for a person who had just lost his legs, his career, and his family” Frankie answered bitterly. “Umm…sorry, I’m trying not to pity myself too much but it’s not working very well.”

    Ray frowned and looked down.

    “What’s the matter Ray? Are you okay?” Frankie looked at Ray with concern. Ray had a look of misery and was there guilt on his face?

    “I’m so sorry Frankie” Ray started.

    “For what?” asked Frankie.

    “Gigi didn’t tell you?”

    “Tell me what?” Frankie asked again puzzled.

    “We slept together last night” Ray blurted out.

    “What?!” Frankie asked in shock. “Did you say that you and Gigi slept together?”

    “I’m so sorry Frankie. I know there’s no excuse but I just wanted you to know the circumstances. We had both been drinking. I was missing Selena. I think I thought Gigi was Selena. I don’t know—I know there’s no excuse though. All I can say is I’m sorry.”

    Frankie looked down in misery. He felt really betrayed. The worse part was she didn’t even tell him. Why didn’t she tell me, he asked himself? Why does she keep hiding things from me?

    “I understand if you’re angry and don’t want to be friends anymore. I just wanted to say that I’m very sorry” Ray continued.

    Frankie continued to look down and didn’t say anything. What was there to say to a friend who had just confessed to sleeping with your girlfriend?

    Finally Ray sighed and left the room with a last “I’m sorry.”

    Frankie put his face in his hands, tears started to run down his face. He felt like the world was crashing down on him and that there was no hope or future for him. He stared dejectedly at the stumps that used to be his legs. Suddenly, the hysteria that was bubbling underneath, and that he was struggling to keep at bay, erupted and with his mind in a haze, he grabbed the knife from his dinner. In a rage, he started to stab his legs repeatedly. He didn’t even feel the pain as blood splattered everywhere, the madness consuming him.

    “Stop that! What are you doing?!!” a horrified nurse yelled, running into his room and grabbing his arm. “Help! Help!!!”

    More nurses ran into the room and started to restrain him, yanking the knife from his hand.

    “Let me go, let me go!” Frankie screamed and struggled against them.

    “Call the doctor!” the head nurse yelled.

    The doctor came running in with a syringe and injected it into his arm.

    Bernice was walking down the hallway when she saw the commotion coming from Frankie’s room. She started to run. Her eyes widened when she saw blood everywhere.

    “What’s going on?” she asked frantically.

    “Mr. Lam is mentally unstable right now” a nurse replied. “The doctor had to sedate him. We’re going to have to keep him restrained and on suicide watch.”

    “He tried to commit suicide?!” Bernice asked in alarm.

    “He stabbed himself repeatedly in the legs” the nurse answered.

    Bernice gasped, tears coming to her eyes. She thought he seemed like he was in better spirits earlier. What had set him off, she wondered? And where was Gigi? She decided to keep a vigil by his bedside.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Bernice” she heard someone call her name and opened her eyes immediately. She had fallen asleep on the chair beside Frankie’s bed.

    “Frankie, you’re awake? How are you feeling?”

    “Really drowsy and hazy – like I’ve been on a boatload of morphine.”

    “That’s because you are on a boatload of morphine. You’re lucky you didn’t do any serious damage to your legs.” Bernice stated.

    “I couldn’t do any more damage to them than they already are” he replied bitterly. “Wait, why am I tied down? Tell them to let me go. Let me go!” He started to struggle against the restraints.

    “Frankie, you have to calm down or else they won’t let you go. You stabbed yourself, of course they’re going to restrain you. Why Frankie, why did you do that?”

    “I’ve lost everything Bernice – my family, my legs, my career, my independence, my girlfriend….”

    “Wait…what do you mean your girlfriend?” Bernice interrupted him.

    “She didn’t tell you” he stated, unsurprised.

    “Tell me what?” Bernice asked. “What happened between you and Gigi?”

    “It doesn’t matter…..it’s over between us.”

    “What? I just spoke to her and she said everything was fine between you two.”

    “It’s better this way, I don’t want to be a burden to her anyways” Frankie said miserably. “I don’t want to be a burden to anyone.”

    “Stop saying that! Don’t you know that there are many people who love you and care about you? Your parents want you to move to the States with them.”

    “My parents don’t have time for me. They didn’t in Hong Kong when I was normal and capable, and they won’t now that I’m disabled and dependent! All they care about is their business!” he said bitterly. “They’re gone aren’t they? They probably had to rush back to the States to their business.”

    “Well, I care about you and it’s my fault that you lost your legs so you’re not a burden to me. I owe you my life and more!” Bernice couldn’t help raising her voice as tears spilled out of her eyes.

    “Bernice, don’t blame yourself for what happened to me, that’s just silly.”

    “Oh, so you could blame yourself for Selena’s death, which was completely out of your control, but I can’t blame myself for you losing your legs because you pushed me out of the column’s way?”

    “No you can’t, you never asked the column to fall towards you” he answered.

    “Well, you didn’t ask for the explosion to happen to Selena” she retorted.

    They both paused because they realized how silly they sounded.

    “I won’t blame myself for Selena’s death if you don’t blame yourself for my legs” he finally said.

    “It’s only a deal if you promise to never try to harm yourself again.”

    He almost smiled. “What is it about you that always make me feel better?”

    “You haven’t promised me yet” she said.

    “I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”

    “Why are you being so stubborn?” she asked frustratingly. “I know you’re a strong person. You can’t give up, Frankie.”

    “I won’t give up Bernice” he sighed.

    That took her by surprise, she was expecting more of a fight from him. “Really?” she asked. “You really accept this and you’re going to make the best out of it?”

    He nodded. “I do realize that I can’t sit here and feel sorry for myself forever. You’re right, I should be thankful that there are people who care about me – especially the one person that is the most important to me.”

    She looked at him. She wasn’t exactly sure who that one person he meant was. Was it her? Since he didn’t elaborate further, she decided to let it go. She was just happy that he had decided to fight and not give up even though she understood how hard that will be. She smiled at him.

    He smiled back at her. “Can you ask the doctors to get rid of the restraints now?” he asked.

    “Only if you behave” she joked.

    “I’m so drugged up of course I’ll behave” he said.

    “Are your legs in pain?” she asked.

    “No, I’m too drugged up to feel any pain. Bernice, why won’t you go home? You must be tired by now.”

    She looked conflicted. He was right, she was exhausted but at the same time, she didn’t want to leave him alone.

    “Don’t worry Bernice, I’ll be fine” he said as if he read her mind.

    “Okay” she finally relented. “I’ll ask the nurses to take the restraints off then I’ll go home.”

    “Bernice?” he said.

    “Yes?” she asked.

    “Thank you……for being there for me” he said looking into her eyes.

    She saw gratitude and something more in his eyes. “You don’t have to thank me, I’ll always be there for you. I’ll be back tomorrow” she said.

  6. #26
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    Chapter 23


    A week later, Frankie was channel-surfing on the TV in his hospital room, not really watching but more for something to do, when someone walked into the room. Turning his head, he saw Gigi and suddenly there was a lot of tension in the room. They looked at each other, not saying anything for a long time.

    Finally, she blurted out, “Ray told me that he told you.”

    “Yes. And when were you going to tell me? Or were you ever going to tell me at all?”

    “I was afraid of losing you” she admitted.

    “A relationship can’t work if there’s no trust. How am I supposed to trust you now?”

    “Well, Ray made me feel loved and wanted. Not like you. I felt that you didn’t even desire me.”

    “Was that what it was? You cheated on me because Ray made you feel desirable?” he looked at her in disbelief and disappointment. “There’s more to a relationship than just sex, you know? Besides, I never said I didn’t love and desire you, I just said we should take our time.”

    “It’s not only that, I was also afraid that I wouldn’t be strong enough to take care of you because I’ve never had to take care of anyone but myself.”

    “I wouldn’t expect you to take care of me anyways. I’m used to being independent.”

    “But the reality is the dynamics of our relationship would change and I was scared because I know I’m not strong enough. But now, I thought it over and I’m not afraid anymore. I want to be there for you.”

    “Gigi, how can we continue our relationship when I’ve lost my trust in you? You weren’t honest with me. Now I’m doubting if you ever were honest with me.”

    “Okay, if you wanted us to be honest with each other then why didn’t you tell me that you’re in love with Bernice?” she countered.

    “What does Bernice have to do with this? Bernice and I are just friends. When I decided to go out with you, I intended to be faithful to you for the rest of our lives. Sure, it takes me a long time to get over someone I love but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t move on. I loved you Gigi, I wouldn’t be with you if I didn’t.”

    “Love me and care for me but there was no passion. You aren’t in love with me like you are with Bernice” she said bitterly.

    “Maybe you’re right. We shouldn’t have gone out in the first place if it bothered you so much that I haven’t gotten over Bernice. But when we were going out, I just knew that I loved you and cared for you and was going to marry you.”

    “Loved? So you don’t love me anymore?” she asked tearfully.

    “I feel really betrayed” he answered.

    “Well, how am I sure if you and Bernice didn’t do something when you spent the night together on that island?” she asked accusingly.

    “I already told you what happened. We got stuck on the island. I fell asleep on the sofa and when I woke up, she had fallen asleep on my shoulder. She apologized. Nothing happened Gigi. I was totally honest with you. Bernice and I are just friends, I never cheated on you.”

    She looked contrite that she was falsely accusing him. “Isn’t there any way we could work this out?” she pleaded.

    He looked down at his disabled legs for a while before answering, “I’m sorry, I can’t trust you anymore and I can’t pretend like nothing happened. It’s better this way, you deserve someone who can take care of you like you’ve always needed, not someone who will be a burden to you like me.”

    “You won’t be a burden to me. I’m not afraid anymore, I could be strong for you” she insisted.

    “I’m sorry Gigi, we can’t be together. It’s better this way” he replied firmly.

    “Well I wish you luck in the future then” she said running out of the room in tears.

    He watched her sadly as she ran out of the room and out of his life, his heart feeling heavy. A nearly two year relationship – gone, just like that. At least it wasn’t 5 years like his previous relationship. He hadn’t wanted to go through another heartache, yet here he was again, left broken-hearted. How much more pain could I take, he thought miserably? He was struggling to be strong but each blow kept pulling him deeper down into an abyss of misery and he felt like he was drowning. It would be so much easier to give up, why fight a losing battle? But he had promised Bernice that he wouldn’t give up; she had given him a reason to keep going, to keep fighting.

    Just then Bernice walked into his room. Seeing his face, she immediately knew something was wrong.

    “What’s the matter Frankie?” she asked concerned.

    “Gigi was just here” he answered.

    “You guys weren’t able to work it out?

    “No, like I said, it’s over between us” he said sadly.

    “Why? How can you just give it up when you’ve been going out for so long?”

    “She cheated on me Bernice” he blurted out.

    Her mouth dropped open in shock. “What?! How can she do that at a time like this? I mean…there’s no good time, of course, but how can she do that to you after all you’ve been through?”

    “She’ll be better off without me anyways. I’m just going to be a burden to her.”

    “Frankie, stop saying that! You’re not a burden to those who love you.”

    “I will be eventually. It’s just a matter of time.”

    “Stop it now Frankie! You promised me you’ll be positive, remember?”

    “I said I won’t give up but I never said I’ll be positive about it.”

    She didn’t say anymore; after all, it was understandable that he wasn’t going to be all cheerful after everything he’s been through. She was happy enough that he was willing to fight and not give up at all.

    “So, have you talked to the doctors about your future treatment?” she asked.

    “Yeah, they said I have to undergo rehabilitation and then I’ll be getting prostheses and go through prosthesis training in the future.”

    “That sounds good. When do you start?”

    “In a few days. The doctors wanted to make sure my amputation sites are healed fully before I start physical therapy. They’re going to start with strengthening first and then help me start to be able to do basic things on my own – I really want to take a bath in a bathroom and not in a bed for starters.”

    Bernice’s eyes started to tear up. Listening to him made her realize how easy it is to take the littlest things for granted and only when we go through something like this that we learn to appreciate them.

    “Are you okay Bernice?” he asked looking at her with concern.

    “I’m fine” she said quickly wiping her tears. I’m supposed to be strong for him and here I am blubbering like an idiot, she thought to herself. “I want to accompany you to rehab if you don’t mind?”

    “Bernice, maybe you shouldn’t be spending all your time stuck in a hospital with me. It’s not healthy for a young woman like you to be here all the time.”

    “I’m not here all the time, I’m still going to work. Umm….sorry, I didn’t mean to remind you about work.”

    “It’s okay Bernice. It’s the reality, I just have to accept it. I never imagined that it would come to this; that this would be my life’s story but it is and I just have to keep going. Just remember to be careful, okay? I don’t want to constantly be worried about you.”


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    A few days later, Bernice came to Frankie’s hospital room to accompany him to rehab. Frankie looked up at her in surprise when he saw her.

    “Bernice, I already said you didn’t have to come” he said nervously.

    “I wanted to come” she replied.

    He looked down and didn’t say anything.

    “Are you embarrassed that I’ll see your legs?” she guessed.

    “Yeah” he admitted. “They’re not easy to look at.”

    “Don’t worry, I’ve looked at them a lot of times already while you were unconscious. I’m used to them by now.”

    He looked at her skeptically. “You’re not grossed out by them?”

    “No. I admit I wasn’t used to them at first but now I am. They’re just your legs, why would I be grossed out?”

    “Thanks so much for all your support Bernice” he smiled at her gratefully.

    Just then a nurse came into the room. “Okay, are you ready to go to rehab Mr. Lam? Here, let me help you onto the wheelchair.”

    After they got him onto the wheelchair, he immediately covered up his legs up with a blanket, telling Bernice that he was still self-conscious about them.

    “Here, I’ll push you” she volunteered.

    When they got to the physical therapy room, a pretty young girl was waiting for them.

    “Hi Frankie, my name is Tavia, I’m going to be your physiotherapist during your stay. Aww…it’s so nice that your girlfriend accompanied you here.”

    Frankie and Bernice looked at each other and smiled nervously.

    “She’s not my girlfriend. This is Bernice, a good friend” Frankie said.

    “Oh I’m sorry” Tavia said, looking embarrassed.

    “It’s okay” Bernice said smiling.

    “Also, after physical therapy, you’ll also be receiving occupational therapy, which will help you regain your day to day functioning again. Okay, are you ready? We’re just going to start with some stretches and then some strengthening exercises. It’s understandable that your legs are weak right now because you haven’t been using them for 4 weeks. Also, with amputees, the biggest thing is balance, because it takes some getting used to so you’ll find that balance may be a struggle in the beginning.”

    Frankie nodded.

    Bernice sat down and watched Frankie going through his exercises. Sweat was pouring down his forehead even though Tavia obviously started him on simple exercises. A few times, he winced in pain. Bernice felt sad seeing him struggle like this when not too long ago, he was a healthy and capable young man with so much promise. She wiped her tears away quickly so he wouldn’t see her crying.

    When his session was over, he asked Tavia if he could take a shower by himself.

    “Well, okay, we could always put everything you need within reach. When you’re done, you have to call a nurse to help you though. I don’t want you struggling to get on the wheelchair and risk falling and hurting yourself.”

    “Thank you” he said happily.

    “I’ll wait for you out here” Bernice smiled at him.

    He nodded smiling back at her.

    Frankie had to sit down to shower. He grunted with effort when he had to reach for the soap. Luckily, Tavia had told the nurse to put everything he needed on the lowest shelf of the shower caddy but even on the lowest shelf, he had to stretch himself fully to reach the soap. Suddenly, he slipped and fell over hitting his forehead on the bathtub.

    “Ouch!” he said rubbing his forehead. He grunted as he pulled himself up again.

    “Are you okay Mr. Lam?!” the nurse asked through the door.

    “Yeah, I’m fine!”

    He finally managed to finish his shower and felt really refreshed, despite the goosebump that was undoubtedly forming on his forehead. He toweled himself off and then struggled to get dressed. Finally, he called a nurse to help him back onto his wheelchair.

    “What happened to you?” the nurse exclaimed. “Is that a goose egg on your forehead?”

    “Did you fall?” Bernice asked in alarm.

    “Uhh yeah….it’s nothing though. Sorry for taking so long. It was a little tougher than I thought.”

    “You don’t need to apologize Frankie. Are you sure you’re okay?”

    “Yeah, I’m fine. Do you want to go to the cafeteria for dinner?” he asked her.

    “Sure” she smiled.

    “So, how was physical and occupational therapy today?” she asked him after they were seated with their food.

    “Good. It feels good to be active again.”

    “I’m sure you’re going to improve really quickly” she said.

    “I hope so. You know me, I hate the hospital. I can’t believe I’ve been here for nearly a month already. They’ll transfer me to a rehabilitation centre soon where I’ll be able to have more freedom. I can’t wait.”

    Bernice smiled. She was glad that he seemed to be in better spirits.

    “Frankie, do you mind if I ask you who Gigi cheated on you with?”

    He looked down for a little while, “it was Ray”.

    Bernice looked at him unsurprised. “I kind of suspected that. Recently, Ray is really miserable and constantly locks himself in his office. Gigi is pretty down herself but I think she’s hooking up with Bowie again.”

    “I’m glad she has someone else….but boy, that was fast” he seemed slightly hurt.

    “You know her, she’s a very dependent person” she quickly reminded him. “She told me to tell you that she’s very sorry and that she still loves you.”

    “Tell her that I wish her well” he said wistfully.

    “Are you still mad at them?”

    He hesitated before answering. “No, I’m not mad at them anymore. I still feel betrayed by them but I’m sure they regret what they did – especially Ray. I saw the guilt on his face when he told me. Everyone makes mistakes and he was grieving and intoxicated at the time but he didn’t try to make excuses for his action and I respect that. Tell him I’m not mad at him anymore. Tell him that eventually we could be friends again.”

    Bernice smiled at him. “He’ll be very thankful that you want to be friends again. I can tell the guilt is eating away at him. Normally, I would never think he would do something like that but he hasn’t been himself since Selena’s death.”

    Frankie nodded. “Yeah, losing someone you love is one of the most painful things in life. I guess each of us have all experienced it now. We should be understanding and supportive of each other. Tell Ray to give me a call sometime.”

    “You’re the kindest and most generous person I’ve ever met” Bernice commented.

    Frankie looked embarrassed by her compliment. “Thanks” he smiled at her.

    “So how is the food?” Bernice asked him.

    “Terrible, and yours?”

    “Awful.”

    They both laughed.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~


    Two weeks later, Frankie was transferred to the Rehabilitation Centre and he was trying to get used to his new surroundings since he was going to be there for anywhere from a few months to a few years, depending on his progress. In here, he had more freedom than in the hospital. He was allowed to go outside to the gardens without supervision and he didn’t have nurses following him constantly. He just had to adhere to his daily schedule of activities. He had to go to both physical and occupational therapy and the doctors had also suggested that he received emotional counseling because it was normal for amputees to feel depressed, hopeless, and frustrated at the changes in their lives.

    Frankie was rearranging a picture frame, with a photo of Selena and his grandmother smiling into the camera, on his night table. He stared at the photo for awhile.

    “Well Selena, this is a new beginning for me. As hard as it is, this is my life’s journey now and I just have to find a way to get through it. Give me the courage to keep going. Wish you were here with me but at least I know you’re watching over me. I miss you and Granny so much.”

    Suddenly, someone walked into his room and when Frankie looked up, he was slightly surprised to see Ray.

    “Hi Frankie, how are you?” Ray asked.

    “I’m surviving, and you?”

    “That’s a good way of putting it” Ray smiled.

    “Have a seat” Frankie indicated a chair next to his bed. After Ray seated himself, he asked, “so how’s work?”

    “We’ve been pretty quiet the last few weeks. It doesn’t feel the same without you Frankie.”

    Frankie smiled wistfully, “I couldn’t imagine doing anything else but fighting fire. I guess I just have to live vicariously through you guys.”

    “I’m sorry Frankie – for everything. For what happened to you and for the Gigi incident.”

    “It’s okay Ray, you don’t have to apologize for it anymore. Let’s just put that whole thing behind us, alright?”

    Ray smiled and nodded.

    “So I heard from Bernice that you’re miserable and you lock yourself in your office all day long.”

    Ray chuckled, “trust Bernice to come up with that.”

    “Ray, don’t waste your life being miserable. Life’s too short to be miserable so enjoy it while it lasts. I guess what I’m saying is it’s okay to move on, Selena would want you to.”

    “I know Frankie. I’ve stopped my binge drinking and I’m actually starting to enjoy the things I used to again like going to the gym and playing sports.”

    “That’s great Ray. I use to love playing soccer” he paused when he realized that he was descending into self-pity mode again. He decided to change the subject, “so, have you met any nice girls lately?”

    “Well actually, now that you’ve mentioned it, we have a new girl at the station. She has something that reminds me of Selena.”

    “Let me guess, is she stubborn?”

    “Oh yeah, Selena was really stubborn, wasn’t she?”

    “Yeah, do you know how many times I tried to dissuade her from becoming a firefighter but she wouldn’t listen? She definitely had a mind of her own.”

    “But she was really diligent and eager to learn, it was so endearing.”

    Frankie smiled as they continued to reminisce about Selena. Sharing the memories of a lost loved one was one of the first steps in the healing process and Frankie was glad that he was able to share his memories of Selena with Ray. It was a good way of rebuilding their friendship, especially when they still had a connection with one another through her. He still felt betrayed by what Ray and Gigi had done but he felt that their friendships were not irreparable by this incident – although of course it would take some time to restore the lost trust.

    “So are you going to ask her out?” Frankie asked.

    “Maybe one day but not in the near future. What about you?”

    “I’m not really thinking about relationships right now.”

    “What about Bernice?”

    Frankie looked down, a deep sadness on his face. Finally, he said, “I think she’s better off with someone else.”

    “Why?” Ray prodded.

    “I’m a damaged man, broken, there is no future with me. I’m just going to be a burden to her.”

    “You have your reasons to believe that but all I can say is that I know she loves you and you love her and the fact that you love each other is enough for you to give it a chance. It’s rare to find true love like that.”

    Frankie continued to look down, deep in thought.

    “Okay, I’m going to let you think about it. Thanks for giving us a chance to be friends again. I’ll see you later. Bye.”

    “Bye Ray, thanks for coming by” Frankie said.

    Once Ray left, he rolled his wheelchair to the window and stared off into the horizon, pondering Ray’s words and the possibilities that he might have a bright future with the woman he loves. He knew that possibility was slim as he couldn’t imagine anything being bright in his life anymore. The now all-familiar pain gnawed away at his heart, festering like an untreated infection, eating away his insides like a cancer and left him feeling more desolate than ever.

  7. #27
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    Chapter 24



    Bernice had just gotten off work and she smiled to herself as she made her way across the parking lot of the Rehabilitation Centre where Frankie was staying. The thought of seeing him made her feel almost giddy with happiness. She was glad that she didn’t have to suppress her feelings for him anymore, although she was a little unsure as to where their relationship presently stood. She knew she wanted to be with him but neither of them have made any moves yet. It was probably too soon to be thinking about those things anyway. When she got to his room, he wasn’t in there so she looked around for a nurse to ask where he was.

    “Oh, Mr.Lam is in physiotherapy right now. That’s on the 2nd floor.”

    “Thanks.”

    She made her way to the physiotherapy room and saw him there doing some exercises with the same physiotherapist at the hospital. What is she doing here, she wondered? I thought she was at the hospital. She went back to watching them again; he had stopped doing his exercises and they were now talking. The physiotherapist said something that made him laugh. He hasn’t laughed that heartily in a long time, thought Bernice. Suddenly, Frankie looked up at the doorway and saw her standing there.

    He smiled, his face lighting up. “Bernice!”

    She walked over to him. “Hi Frankie, how are you doing?”

    “Fine. And you? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

    “Yeah, they were a little short of staff at the station so they begged me to work overtime. A few guys had emergency leaves. Am I interrupting anything?”

    “No, I’m just done. Do you mind if I take a shower?”

    “Of course not.”

    Tavia helped Frankie heave himself back onto his wheelchair. Again, Bernice noticed that he covered up his legs with a blanket.

    “Okay, I’ll be right out. It won’t take as long as before, I promise.” Frankie wheeled himself away into the showers.

    Bernice and Tavia looked at each other and smiled awkwardly at one another.

    “So, how come you’re here at the Rehabilitation Centre?” Bernice asked.

    “Oh, I just transferred here” Tavia replied.

    How convenient, thought Bernice. “So you’re going to be Frankie’s physiotherapist here?”

    “Yes” Tavia smiled, looking pleased with that.

    Bernice looked away in annoyance. Am I jealous because she’s a young, pretty girl, she thought to herself? “So, how is he doing so far?”

    “He’s doing very well. We’re still working on strengthening exercises right now but he’s gained a lot of strength already. His amputation sites are completely healed, although he does have a little bit of pain if there’s a lot of pressure put on them.”

    “Do you think he will be getting his prostheses soon?”

    “Yeah, if he keeps progressing like this, I don’t see why I can’t start him on prostheses soon. I’m really surprised that he’s doing so well considering what happened to him the past year. Usually, without a good support system and loved ones, it takes a long time for amputees to recover and sometimes they just stay in a wheelchair forever. He’s just lost his family and his girlfriend and his parents are overseas, it’s a miracle that he’s doing this well.”

    “He told you about all that?”

    “Yes he did.”

    Bernice looked down, it seemed they were closer than she thought.

    Just then, Frankie came wheeling out of the showers. “Hi, I’m all done.”

    “Wow, you were pretty quick”, Bernice smiled at him.

    “Yeah, I’ve had a lot of practice so I could shower by myself pretty quickly now” he looked really proud of himself.

    “That’s great” Bernice said enthusiastically.

    “Do you want to go for dinner? Sorry, it’s just the cafeteria again.”

    Bernice nodded, “that’s fine with me.”

    “Bye Tavia, see you tomorrow” he said.

    “Bye Frankie. Bye…”

    “Bernice” he reminded her.

    “Oh right, bye Bernice, nice talking to you.”

    “Same here. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again” Bernice couldn’t help sounding a little defensive.

    As they were making their way to the cafeteria, Frankie kept stealing glances at her. She was more quiet than usual.

    “Are you okay Bernice?” Frankie asked when they were seated.

    “I’m fine. So, it’s quite a coincidence that Tavia transferred here just as you got here” Bernice remarked.

    “Yeah, it is. But I’m really glad that she’s my physiotherapist here too.”

    “Of course you are.”

    “Bernice, is something wrong?”

    “No, nothing’s wrong” she said quickly. She decided to change the subject. “Frankie, I haven’t seen you in 2 weeks but it seems so much longer. I hadn’t realized how much weight you’ve lost until now; don’t you go dwindling away on me. I know you haven’t had much of an appetite since Selena’s and your granny’s deaths but you’ve got to eat. Your health is of utmost importance right now.

    “I know but I really miss my granny’s cooking. She was such a good cook.”

    “Did she write down her recipes?”

    “Yeah, now that you mention it, she does have a notebook with a lot of her recipes. We used it to learn how to cook ourselves. Somehow, we never made the dishes as good as her though” he chuckled.

    “Is it okay if I borrow her recipe book? If that’s what it takes to get you eating, I’m willing to do it.”

    “You want to cook for me?” he asked, staring at her.

    “Yes, I want to cook for you.” Bernice stared back at him.

    He looked down at his food and started to play around with it.

    “You’ve got to eat Frankie. I know the hospital food sucks. How about I bring in food from outside?”

    “Vietnamese!” they both said in unison.

    They looked at each other and smiled as memories of their past came back to them. Their relationship has always been a bittersweet and wistful one. Looks like things haven’t changed between us, thought Frankie. There was always something in the way of them being together. There wasn’t anything more that he wanted than to be with Bernice but he felt he didn’t deserve her and that she would be better off with someone else. Already he felt like she was spending way too much time in the hospital with him. Just because he wasn’t able to have a normal and active life doesn’t mean she shouldn’t. He didn’t want to cause her to not have a normal life as well.

    Bernice’s voice broke him out of his reverie. “Frankie, what are you thinking about?”

    “Bernice…” he started. “Forget it….it’s really hard to talk in this institution for some reason.”

    “Yeah it is. There are a lot of things I want to tell you but it is difficult to talk in here. Are you allowed to leave?”

    “I’m seeing a doctor next week so I’m going to ask him if I could leave for a few days.”

    “That’d be really great” she smiled at the thought.

    “Yeah, I haven’t been outside institutional walls properly for about 4 months now. Has it really been 4 months since the accident already?”

    Bernice nodded. “Time is flying by so fast” she remarked.

    “Time is passing us by so quickly. Then soon, it’ll be our time to go. Sometimes it seems life is so insignificant.”

    His melancholic musing made her worried for him. It seemed to her that he was feeling dispirited again. She was determined to help him keep his hopes up.

    “So that’s why we have to make the best out of everything in our lives while we have the time. We shouldn’t take anything for granted” she said.

    He looked at her with desolation in his eyes. “I used to think that but now I realize that there are certain circumstances that prevents us from doing what we desire – certain circumstances that makes it better to let go instead of holding on.”

    She looked at him, “what are you trying to say? Does this have anything to do with us?”

    He looked down. “Yes, that includes our relationship.”

    She looked at him, deeply hurt. “So you’re saying you’re just going to turn your back on our relationship?”

    “I’m not turning my back on our relationship, I’m letting it go because it’s for our best interest.”

    “Our best interest? How do you know what’s best for us? How come you get to decide what’s best for us?” She couldn’t hold back her tears any longer and they ran down her face as she looked at him with frustration.

    It really hurt him to see her crying, he struggled to stop himself from holding her. Instead, he took her hands in his. “Bernice, I love you, remember that. I’ll always love you and that’s why I don’t want you to be stuck with me. I’m a damaged man, just a shell of the person I was. I’m not the same person anymore.”

    “No, that’s not true. You are the same person that I fell in love with. Sure, you’ve changed due to circumstances beyond your control but you are still the same man I love. You’re still you and that’s enough for me.”

    He was so touched by what she said that he could feel his resolve crumbling but then he shook his head. No, I can’t be selfish, he thought. This is about her life, her future, I can’t just think about myself.

    “I won’t be able to provide for you properly and I won’t be able to protect you like a man should protect you. I will only be a burden to you. I want you to have a normal and active life with no restrictions like I have.”

    “Frankie, I already said before, you are not a burden to the people who love you. I love you Frankie, I want to go through this with you.”

    “Why would you want to go through such a hard path with me? You should choose the easier way out.”

    “There isn’t any other easier path; because I love you, the only path I want to take is with you. No matter how hard it is, I want to go through it together with you.”

    He looked at her for a while and then suddenly, he broke down and hugged her really tightly. “Bernice, I love you. I want to give us a chance, I do, but I’m so scared. I don’t want to screw up your life. It’s enough that my life is already screwed up.”

    Bernice hugged him back. “Stop saying that Frankie, you won’t screw up my life, you’ll only enrich it. Please…..give us a chance.”

    “I want to, so much, but I’m scared Bernice. If things don’t work out, that’s it, I won’t be able to go on. I won’t be able to bounce back from another broken heart; especially if it was because of you. I’ll give up, I won’t fight anymore.”

    He looked so scared and vulnerable, she hugged him tighter. “I’m confident about us, I’m not afraid at all. You won’t be a burden to me. I want to be with you” she reassured him.

    He let her go and looked into her eyes. “Are you sure about this?” he asked her again, his eyes watery.

    “Yes, more sure than I’ve ever been about anything.”

    He hugged her again, “I love you Bernice.”

    “I love you too.” She hugged him back and smiled, tears of happiness running down her face. Finally, she was together with the man she loves. Her heart felt like it would burst with happiness.

    They finally parted and he planted a kiss on her forehead. “I have a question” he said.

    “Sure, what is it?”

    “Were you jealous of Tavia just now?”

    Bernice looked down in embarrassment. “Yeah,”she admitted sheepishly. “I thought you guys were getting really close and she’s really pretty and I wasn’t sure of where our relationship stood.”

    “You’re so silly, you don’t have to be jealous of anyone because I love you more than anything in this world. I’ll love you until the day I die.”

    She beamed with happiness, “you better Mr.Frankie.”

    They went out to the garden and she helped him onto a bench and then sat down beside him. He pulled her into his arms. He held her so tightly to him, she could hear his heartbeat through his chest. She smiled with happiness. She wanted to stay in his arms forever. They went through so much to be together that they didn’t want to ever part from each other. Unfortunately, it got really dark and they started to hear the distinct cries of crickets.

    “I guess you have to go home now” Frankie sighed. He didn’t want to let her go.

    “Yeah, you’re right” she sighed.

    They looked at each other for a while and then he leaned towards her and kissed her on the lips. She kissed him back, melting into the kiss.

    “Good night, drive carefully” he said.

    He saw her off and watched her car drive away until he couldn’t see her anymore. He slowly made his way back to his room. I hope I’m doing the right thing, he thought. Then he decided he’ll not worry about that for now and just revel in the bliss and happiness he was currently feeling.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    When Bernice got home, she couldn’t help grinning like an idiot. She felt like she was on cloud nine and started humming to herself as she went to the fridge to get herself a cold drink. This didn’t go unnoticed by her mom.

    “Why are you so happy Bernice?”

    “I’ll tell you later mommy.”

    “No, tell me now” her mom insisted.

    “Okay, I finally got together with the man I love” she smiled happily.

    “Really?” her mom asked ecstatic. She had wanted her daughter to go out with another man for so long since her last boyfriend passed away but Bernice wouldn’t get serious with anyone, making her worried. But now, Bernice is finally going out with someone and it seemed serious; she didn’t miss that her daughter said she loved “him”. “So who is it? Is he handsome? Is he rich?”

    “Mommy, I’ll introduce you to him very soon, don’t worry. I’m going to my room now, night mommy!”

    “Hey, hey!” her mom called as she quickly ran into her room.

    In her room, she decided to check her email just before going to bed. Her eyes lit up with excitement when she saw a message from Frankie. He had just sent it.

    His email read:

    Hey sweetheart,

    I just wanted to say goodnight and tell you that I’m thinking about you. Thank you for your love and support. Thank you for making me believe again. I wanted to dedicate this song to you because it’s exactly how I feel about everything you’ve done for me.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esq5mixg1wg

    Believe Again
    by Delta Goodrem

    Have you ever stared into the rain
    Thought the clouds would never disappear
    Have you ever screamed out into the dark
    Thinking no one else could hear

    I was leaving footprints tainted by my past
    On this winding road to you

    I'd lost my faith in love
    Tonight I believe again
    My heart was a broken place
    And now I feel whole again
    You bring me honesty
    And that's worth believing in
    and I believe
    I believe again

    Have you ever spun out of control
    Like you never saw the road ahead
    Have you ever just kept looking back
    Ever closer to the edge

    I was praying for the light I see in your eyes
    I had all but given up

    I'd lost my faith in love
    Tonight I believe again
    My heart was a broken place
    And now I feel whole again
    You bring me honesty
    And that's worth believing in
    and I believe
    I believe again

    I believe the impossible is possible to overcome
    I believe in miracles
    Born from love in everyone

    I'd lost my faith in love
    Tonight I believe again
    My heart was a broken place
    And now I feel whole again
    You bring me honesty
    And that's worth believing in
    and I believe
    I believe again

    Thank you for making me feel whole again. I love you.
    Frankie

    Bernice wiped the tears from her eyes after reading his email. She hit the “reply” button.

    Hey honey,

    I’m thinking about you too. Thank you for that song, I love it. The lyrics are so touching and sweet. I’m so happy that I am able to give you that support. I feel like the happiest person on earth today.

    I love you.
    Bernice
    Last edited by magnoliaewan; 07-21-10 at 10:21 PM.

  8. #28
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    Chapter 25


    It has been a month since Bernice and Frankie started going out and they were blissfully happy together. Bernice wanted to come see him everyday but he insisted that she shouldn’t spend all her time at a hospital so she came to see him 4 times a week instead; on the weekends and a couple of days after work.

    Today was Frankie’s 26th birthday and his two best friends had come from Canada to celebrate it with him. His two best friends, Steven and Bondy, had gotten married 3 years ago and then had moved to Canada just before Frankie started his job at Division 11. They also had a baby a year ago so they have been very busy and weren’t able to visit Frankie as often as they would’ve liked. Now that their baby is older, they wanted to come and visit him more often. Bernice was glad that he had more people to provide support to him. He had been making a lot of progress with his rehabilitation and will soon be getting his prostheses.

    They had a big party in the common room at the Rehabilitation Centre for Frankie. Tavia, Raymond and his new girlfriend, Gigi and Bowie, most of the guys at Division 11 and Division 8 (where he used to work), new friends he had made in the Centre, and a lot of nurses were in attendance in addition to Bernice, Steven and Bondy, and himself of course.

    “You guys didn’t have to throw such a big party” he told Steven and Bondy.

    “Of course we did, this birthday is important. It represents a new chapter of your life; and, you’re finally with the love of your life,” Steven said.

    He looked at Bernice, who was talking to Gigi. She was looking at him too. She smiled at him and he smiled back at her.

    The whole time Frankie was talking to Bondy and Steven, he kept looking at Bernice.

    “Oh my god, if you miss her so much, why don’t you just go over to her already” Bondy teased him.

    Frankie laughed. “Sorry. I won’t do that again, I promise.”

    “You guys are so in love, it’s disgusting” Steven continued to tease Frankie.

    “Hah, now you guys know how I felt when you guys started to go out. I had to stop myself from gagging all the time. And…I had to endure it for so long.”

    Bondy and Steven laughed.

    “Yeah well, wait until you’ve been married for 3 years and have a baby, the romance will be totally MIA” said Bondy.

    “No, the romance isn’t missing, you just have to revive it; give it CPR” Frankie winked at her.

    Bernice smiled from across the room while watching Frankie talking to his friends. He was slowly going back to being his old self again. It has been a while since he’s joked around and looked so genuinely happy. She smiled even more when he picked up Bondy and Steven’s 13-month old son and starting to play around with him.

    “He told me he loves children” Gigi said when she looked to see what Bernice was smiling at.

    “You don’t like children” Bernice remarked.

    “Yeah. I should’ve seen the signs that we weren’t compatible from the beginning. I hope he can forgive me. I really screwed things up with him.”

    “Well, he’s over there, you can always ask him if he forgives you” Bernice suggested.

    “Yeah, you’re right.” Gigi walked nervously over to Frankie. “Hi Frankie, how are you?”

    Frankie looked up at her in surprise, “Hey Gigi.”

    “I hope you don’t mind that I showed up here.”

    “No…I’m glad you came. I haven’t seen you for awhile, how are you?”

    “I’m okay. I still feel awful about what I did to you.”

    “Well, I’m not going to say it didn’t hurt me very much but….everyone makes mistakes and I think life is too short to hold grudges forever.”

    “So you’re willing to forgive me?”

    “Yeah. Let’s put the past in the past and be friends again, okay?”

    “Thank you!” Gigi exclaimed happily, giving him a hug.

    “Be good to Bowie, he’s already looking at us” Frankie joked.

    “Yeah, I know. I’ll be good to him. I just wish that I had been good to you…..” she trailed off looking at him with regret and longing.

    “Bowie loves you very much” Frankie stated.

    “Well, I wish you and Bernice the best. You guys were meant to be together.”

    “Thank you. That means a lot.”

    “Oh, did you know that I quit firefighting and I’m going into fashion design?”

    “Really? That’s great!”

    “Yeah, I had to follow my heart. At least I’m in a career I’ve always wanted.”

    “I’m so happy for you. I kind of knew that you were more cut out for the fashion industry.”

    “You knew me so well…except all the times I deceived you. I’m so sorry.”

    “Like I said, let’s just put the past in the past. Just remember to be good to Bowie, okay?”

    She nodded, “Happy birthday.” She gave him a quick hug and went back to Bowie, who was waiting anxiously for her.

    Frankie looked around the room for Bernice and spied her talking to Ray. He wheeled himself up to them.

    “Hi sweetie, hi Ray.”

    “Hey Frankie, how are you doing?” Ray asked. They shook hands.

    “Thanks for coming to the party. So, are you going to introduce me to your girlfriend? Is she the one you were telling me about?”

    “Ah yes, she is. This is my girlfriend Michelle. Michelle, this is the birthday boy, Frankie.”

    “Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you from Ray” Frankie said to Michelle.

    Ray gave Frankie a “warning look”.

    “I hope they’re good things” she said.

    “Of course they are” Frankie smiled at Ray.

    “Actually, I’ve heard a lot about you too Frankie” she said. “Everyone at the station has a lot of good things to say about you. I’m sorry I never had the chance to work with you.”

    “I’m sorry too” he said wistfully.

    “Okay, let’s bring out the cake” Bernice quickly said. She didn’t want his good mood to be dampened by talk of his past beloved career.

    Frankie smiled at Bernice lovingly. She was always so protective and caring towards him, he really didn’t know what he would do without her.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    The next day, Frankie was undergoing physiotherapy with his new prostheses. He had undergone pre-prosthetic training successfully, which involved strengthening his limbs and muscles and walking around in crutches, although because he had both his legs amputated, using crutches was very tiring. Today, he is starting prosthetic training. Tavia again warned him about the difficulty a lot of amputees had with balance when they first get their prostheses. She told him that short prostheses were easier to learn to walk with but he had opted for the regular length ones. She also warned him that because the doctors had to cut above his knees, meaning the joints are gone, it would make it even more difficult for functioning and mobility.

    “Also, balance is even harder when you have 2 prostheses so you have to learn to stand and walk on both of them at once” Tavia told Frankie.

    He nodded, “so, what you’re saying is my amputations are the worst case scenarios for regaining mobility, right?”

    Tavia hesitated and then nodded in concession. “You just have to try harder, it’s definitely possible to be mobile again – it’s just more difficult than other types of amputations.”

    Bernice held Frankie’s hand. “If you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to force yourself.”

    “No, no, I want to do this” Frankie said quickly.

    With Tavia’s help, Frankie slowly stood up and tried to balance himself on his new limbs. His legs were shaking with effort as he slowly stood up. The sensation of standing up felt really strange as he has been sitting for the last 5 months. He was still really wobbly so Tavia continued to hold him but then suddenly, he lost his balance and found himself sprawled face-first on the floor.

    “Are you okay Frankie?” Bernice asked worriedly.

    “Yeah, let me try again.”

    This scenario went on for about 2 hours when Tavia finally announced that the session was over. Frankie was lying in a supine position on the floor, breathing heavily from all the exertion from his exercise.

    Bernice came over to him and wiped his sweat with a towel. “That was really tough, wasn’t it?”

    Frankie was still catching his breath. “Yeah, it was” he finally managed.

    Tavia looked at him sympathetically. “Don’t worry, we can go slowly.”

    Frankie nodded, “thanks. Can I wear the prostheses for the weekend? The doctors allowed me to leave for the weekend.”

    “Sure” Tavia replied. “Just remember the prosthetic care that we went through so there aren’t any problems. If you develop any soreness, redness or pain on the amputation site with your prostheses, let the doctor know immediately.”

    “Yes madam” Frankie smiled.

    Tavia and Bernice laughed.

    While Bernice waited for Frankie to shower, she helped him pack his belongings for his weekend away from the Rehabilitation Centre. Bernice was particularly excited but also nervous at the same time because he was coming for dinner at her place and she was going to introduce him as her boyfriend to her parents. Her mom had been bothering her to introduce her boyfriend to them for the past month since she confessed to her mom that she had a boyfriend. Her mom had always complimented Frankie everytime she saw him so she was confident her mom should be fine with him….she hoped.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Bernice opened the door to her apartment and pushed Frankie’s wheelchair into the hallway.

    “Mom, dad! We’re here!” Bernice yelled.

    She swallowed nervously when she heard their footsteps coming into the room.

    “Frankie? Is that you?” her mom asked, surprised. “You’re Bernice’s boyfriend? Why didn’t you just tell me it was him? I know him” she asked Bernice.

    “I wanted to surprise you.”

    “How are you doing Mr. and Mrs. Liu? Here’s a bottle of wine, hope it’s to your tastes” said Frankie nervously.

    “Oh, you didn’t have to” her mom replied taking the bottle. “So what happened, why are you in a wheelchair?”

    “Mom, don’t you remember? Frankie was trapped in that collapsed building with me? He hurt his legs saving me.”

    “Oh yes but haven’t they healed by now?” her dad asked.

    Frankie looked at Bernice. She obviously didn’t tell them about his amputation.

    “Yes sir, they are healed but they had to amputate my legs so I’m in a wheelchair for now.”

    Bernice’s parents both gasped in shock.

    “Your legs were amputated? So those aren’t your real legs?” Bernice’s mom asked pointing to his legs.

    “No, from here down, those are my prostheses” Frankie pointed to the point of amputation on his legs.

    “Both your legs?” her mom asked, her eyes wide.

    “Yes Mrs. Liu, both my legs.”

    “Well, wouldn’t it be difficult to learn to walk again then?” Mr. Liu asked.

    “Yes, it is difficult but I’m going to give it my best. I want to walk again.”

    “Even if you manage to walk again, I don’t think you would be able to walk like before, I mean for long periods of time” her mom said.

    “I don’t know, we’ll see” he answered honestly.

    Bernice’s mom pulled her into the kitchen, “Excuse me. Bernice, I want to talk to you.”

    “Make yourself comfortable honey, I’ll be out soon” Bernice smiled at him.

    He nodded, smiling stiffly back at her. He turned to her dad, “I heard you were a firefighter.”

    “Yes, I was. I retired 5 years ago. Anyways, I have to go out and get something so make yourself feel at home.”

    Frankie frowned a little as Bernice’s dad left, it seemed her dad didn’t want to talk to him. Suddenly, he heard Bernice’s mom’s voice from the kitchen. She was speaking pretty loudly so it wasn’t hard to hear what she was saying.

    “Bernice, you have to think carefully. This is about your future. Are you sure you want to be with a disabled man?”

    “Shhhh…..mom, keep your voice down.”

    “Bernice, as your mom, I have a responsibility to look out for you and your future. You’re going to have a hard life if you stay with him.”

    “Mom, he’s disabled, he’s not an invalid. We’ll be fine. We love each other mom.”

    “But Bernice….I don’t want you to ruin your life!”

    “Mom! Keep your voice down please. Can you just please go outside, I’m trying to cook?”

    “Where did you learn to cook so well?”

    “Frankie’s granny left a recipe book with all her dishes. She was an awesome cook.”

    Her mom shook her head at her daughter. It seems she was too in love with this boy to see that she was making the wrong choice. I’m going to have to intervene for my daughter’s sake, she thought to herself.

    “Okay, I’ll go outside and leave you alone to cook.”

    She went out to the living room and saw Frankie sitting there.

    “Hi Mrs. Liu” he said politely.

    “Frankie, where’s Mr.Liu?”

    “He went out to buy something I think.”

    “Good, I wanted to talk to you alone.”

    Frankie smiled nervously, “sure Mrs. Liu.”

    “So, are you working right now?”

    “Uhh…no, I’m not. I’m still at the Rehabilitation Centre.”

    “I see….so then how are you making a living if you don’t mind me asking?”

    “I’m getting disability compensation from work.”

    “Well, it can’t be that much since you haven’t been working for very long, you’re quite young.”

    “No…you’re right, it’s not a whole lot. But, I’ve been saving my money and I’ve been pretty actively investing in the stock market. I’ve made a lot of money from it so I’m not that worried financially. I also plan to get a job once my life stabilizes.”

    “Well, you definitely can’t go back to your old job.”

    That stung no matter how many times he’s been told that. “Yes, I can’t go back to my old job but I’ll find something else.”

    “Really? Like what?”

    “Umm…I don’t really know right now.” He looked down in frustration. He knew he wasn’t doing very well with her interrogation.

    “Look Frankie, I think you’re a really nice young man but I love my daughter and I don’t want her to have a hard life and the truth is she will have a hard life if she’s with you.”

    Even though he was aware of this and agreed with everything her mom was saying, her words really hurt and his heart felt like it was sinking lower and lower as she kept speaking.

    “Bernice is my only daughter and I’ve always worried about her future. She insisted on following her father’s footsteps and becoming a firefighter - which is a hard enough job. I don’t want other aspects of her life to be tough as well.”

    “I know Mrs. Liu, I have thought the exact same thing before. I almost didn’t want to start a relationship with Bernice because of this….but I love her.”
    “Well, I would think that because you love her, you have to think about her happiness and her future. You should do the right thing and not be a burden to her. You do understand what I mean, don’t you?”

    The tightness in his chest was becoming unbearable. “Yes, I understand what you’re saying.”

    “Good. I’m going to go help her now. Dinner should be ready in a few minutes.”

    “Wait Mrs. Liu! Can you just tell Bernice that I had to leave? Thank you. Bye.”

    “Wait, are you sure you have to go? Will you be okay by yourself?” but he had already wheeled himself out the door. She smiled to herself. I’m just doing this for my daughter’s own good, she told herself.


    Frankie didn’t know where he was going but he wheeled himself as fast as he could to get away from Bernice’s mom’s hurtful words. I’ll just go home, he thought. It’s been so long since I’ve been home and I miss it. He didn’t live too far from Bernice by car, but by wheelchair, it would take him an hour to get there.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Frankie returned to his apartment for the first time in 5 months but it seemed more like a lifetime ago; a different life, when he was a different person. Nothing has changed in the apartment, everything left as it always was - yet everything has changed. A heavy air of loneliness and neglect settled over the apartment like a blanket. Frankie wheeled himself onto the balcony, breathing in the night air and looking down at the city. From his 16th floor apartment, he had a good view of the city. He stared down at the hustle and bustle of Kowloon and thought it was funny how the world was carrying on like normal, whereas his world felt like it was crashing down on him; like the universe has turned upside down. What would happen if he threw himself off his balcony and landed right in front of those people he thought? Would they still go about as if everything was normal, like nothing has changed?

    Suddenly, he heard the sound of keys unlocking the door. Bernice walked through the door and looked so relieved when she saw him. He had given her a key to his apartment so she could retrieve his grandmother’s cooking notes.

    “Frankie! Thank goodness you’re here now. I looked everywhere for you and even came here before but you weren’t here. Why didn’t you answer your cellphone? Did you wheel yourself all the way here? It must’ve taken a long time.” She took out a tissue paper from her purse to wipe the sweat on his forehead but he turned his head away.

    “Bernice….” He started.

    “Is it my mom? Don’t listen to my mom!” she interrupted him. “Please don’t listen to whatever she told you. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about!”

    “Yes she knows what she’s talking about and she's just doing what is best for you. She’s right, you know?”

    “No Frankie, she’s not right. She doesn’t know what’s best for me. What did she say to you anyway?”

    “Nothing I haven’t said before. It’s just a matter of time before I will be a burden to you. Your mom just reminded me to wake up and not live in a fantasy world forever.”

    “Frankie, don’t give up on us!” she pleaded. “You’re not leaving me, are you?”

    He didn’t answer for a long time, struggling to make a decision. Finally, he shook his head. “It’s what I should do just like your mom said, but I can’t. I’m too weak. I can’t leave you, I love you too much. While I’m alive, I can’t leave you.”

    “What do you mean by that?” she looked at him suspiciously.

    “Don’t worry, I’m not going to off myself. I admit I’ve thought about it sometimes but I’ll never actually do it.”

    She looked relieved. “It’ll take some convincing but my mom will come around, I know she would.”

    “Are you sure? I don’t want to come between you and your family.”

    “Yes, I’m sure, it’ll be fine. I think she’s just in shock and worried about me. But, she doesn’t know us, about our love and everything we’ve been through. We love each other and that’s all that matters.”
    He smiled sadly, “you always make me feel better. As long as you love me and want me, I’ll always be here for you.”

    “I’ll always want you” she said.

    He hugged her tightly, blinking away his tears.

    “You must be tired from all that wheeling. Do you want to rest on the couch?” she asked him.

    He nodded. She helped him onto the couch and then held him. He hugged her really tightly again as if he didn’t want to let her go but he didn’t talk at all; didn’t say anything for a long time. Finally, he fell asleep in her arms. My poor baby, she knew whatever her mom said to him really hurt for him to just leave like that. He was probably both physically and emotionally spent. I don’t care, I will be there for him no matter what, even if my mom doesn’t approve, she thought to herself.

  9. #29
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    Chapter 26


    Bernice opened her eyes when she felt a sudden movement. She had fallen asleep on the couch at Frankie’s apartment. Frankie had been sleeping on her lap but when she opened her eyes, she saw him getting up off the couch like he was about to walk away but of course his prostheses gave way and he ended up a heap on the floor.

    “Frankie, what are you doing?” she asked kneeling down beside him.

    “Bernice?! Your legs! Are your legs okay?!” he asked wide-eyed with frantic.

    “Yes, they’re fine.”

    “I saw you, your legs were cut off, while mine were normal. I wanted to run to you…”, he was panting, the fright still on his face.

    Her face softened, “you probably had a nightmare, honey. It’s okay now”. She wiped the sweat off his forehead.

    “A nightmare? Oh, it was a nightmare, only a nightmare. Your legs are okay then” he sighed in relief.

    “Yes, they’re totally fine, don’t worry. Did you just try to walk just now?”

    “Yeah….I’ve done that before actually. Sometimes, I forget that my legs were amputated and I just get up and almost walk.”

    She nodded, “I read that happens to a lot of amputees.”

    “Thank god you’re okay. The nightmare seemed so real.” He hugged her tightly.

    “Frankie, I’m not a dream expert but even I can interpret your nightmare as you feeling guilty because you think that you’re a burden to me and you think you’ll cause me to have a hard life. Am I right?”

    When he averted her eyes and looked down, this confirmed her suspicions.

    “Honey, please stop thinking that. I honestly don’t feel any hardship or like I’ve been deprived at all since we’ve been together. In fact, I’ve never been happier than I’ve been the past month. Please believe me.”

    He looked into her eyes, “are you sure?”

    “Yes, very sure. I’ve never been happier.”

    “Can you promise me one thing?” he asked her.

    “Yes, what’s that?”

    “If you start to feel like things are getting difficult or it’s too much of a burden, please let me know. Don’t keep it from me, okay?”

    She nodded, “I promise.”

    He smiled. “Thank you. I love you.” He hugged her.

    “I love you too” she said hugging him back.

    “It’s only 3 in the morning right now, do you want to go back to sleep in my bed?”

    She nodded giving him a nervous smile. “Here, let me help you get on your wheelchair.”

    In his bed, she snuggled into his arms feeling content and secure and basking in their love, which was almost palpable. It was moments like this when he could forget the outside world, forget his disabilities and insecurities, when he allowed himself to believe that paradise did exist, even for him.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~


    Like everytime he was sad or troubled, Frankie threw himself into work and tried to keep himself busy. Keeping busy meant rigourous physical therapy training in addition to preparing for classes at the University of Hong Kong. He had decided to go back to school to obtain a business degree. Since he had such a knack for the stock market, he decided to go into a career in business and finance. Because he had shown that he was pretty self-sufficient in his day-to-day functioning and he didn’t have any problems with his prostheses in terms of infection or pain and discomfort, the doctors had decided he could leave the Rehabilitation Centre. He was now only an outpatient of the Centre. Being home again gave his life some normalcy, making him feel more independent and self-assured. Although he still couldn’t walk without any walking aide yet, he was able to maneuver himself around with a walker at home, so he was able to do most things by himself.

    He continued to see Bernice about 4 days a week, insisting that she had a balanced life with friends, family, and work in addition to seeing him. She mostly came to see him because, needless to say, her mom wasn’t happy to learn that they were still seeing each other. Whenever her mom had the chance, she would try to persuade her to leave Frankie but she wouldn’t have any of it. Her mom then tried to persuade Frankie to leave her, knowing he was mentally more vulnerable than her daughter therefore she would have better success with him, but Bernice wouldn’t ever leave his side so she didn’t really have the chance.

    However, recently when her mom learnt that he was going to go to university to get a degree and that he had inherited all of his grandmother’s quite substantial fortune including the apartment he was living in, which was worth quite a bit being right in the middle of Kowloon, she decided that maybe it wasn’t so bad for Bernice to go out with him afterall. She had to admit that besides his disability, he was a great boy; polite, courteous, soft-tempered, hard-working, handsome and he treated her daughter really well.

    Besides her mom’s bothersome meddling, their relationship continued to grow and blossom and their love for each other got stronger every passing day. They were so compatible, they hadn’t even had a real fight yet, just a few disagreements that they always managed to work out in the end.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Today was Bernice’s 25th birthday and Frankie had prepared a special evening for them. When she walked into his apartment, her breath caught at how romantic and beautiful he had transformed the apartment for her. The whole apartment was covered in roses (her favourite flowers) of all different colours and there were softly lit candles everywhere. The crackling fireplace added a warm soft glow to the apartment and her favourite music was playing in the background.

    “It’s so gorgeous, I love it!” she exclaimed.

    “Happy birthday sweetheart” he said. “Sit down” he pulled out a chair for her. “Dinner will be served right away.”

    She smiled with delight when he brought out bowls of pho for him and her.

    “You made pho? Wow, that is wonderful!”

    “Yeah, instead of a love song, we have a love dish” he joked.

    “Yup, it’s all about the food” she laughed.

    “Okay, dig in” he said.

    “Uh….do you have hot sauce?”

    “Uh oh, I forgot to get a bottle of hot sauce….but I have a container of hot sauce from the last time I ordered takeout.”

    He handed her a small container, it was the type of small plastic takeout sauce container that had a lid. She opened the lid and instead of hot sauce inside, she found a huge diamond ring sitting in the container. She looked up at him in shock.

    “Bernice” he held her hands. “I know we’ve only been going out for 8 months but I’ve known you for almost 4 years now and I know that I love you more than anything in the world. I know that I want you to be my wife.”

    “Oh Frankie…” she started, her eyes watering.

    “Wait, I have another surprise for you.”

    He slowly stood up off his wheelchair and walked the few steps to her, albeit wobbly, but he still managed to walk without any walking aide. Her eyes widened in surprise because he hadn’t showed her that he could walk on his own before, even if it was just a few steps. He slowly kneeled down in front of her.

    “Bernice?” he asked, “will you marry me?”

    “Yes! Of course I will marry you!” she got down on her knees beside him and hugged him really tightly, tears of happiness running down her face.

    He smiled with joy as he put the ring onto her finger.

    “Honey, why did you buy such a big rock? Why did you spend so much money?” she asked, staring at the ring in awe. Although she thought the ring was beautiful and she loved it, she didn’t want him to spend so much money on her, especially because his university tuition would be very expensive.

    “I wanted to get you this engagement ring….don’t worry about the money” he told her.

    They stared into each other’s eyes and slowly their lips met. At first the kiss was soft and tender but then it became more and more urgent, like they wanted to be physically melded into one. Finally, they parted and he gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.

    “You want to eat now? I do have hot sauce by the way.”

    She laughed, “you’re so sneaky.”

    “How else can I surprise my sweetie?” he smiled handing her the bottle of hot sauce.

    Suddenly he felt a soft breeze on his face causing him to turn his head, his eyes falling on a picture of Selena on the bookshelf. She was smiling, almost like she was saying “congratulations” to him. He smiled back at her picture.

    “Thanks” he whispered, his eyes tearing up. “Wish you were here right now.”

    “Did you say something honey?” Bernice asked.

    “I was just talking to Selena.”

    “Do you talk to her a lot?”

    “Yeah, all the time. Do you want to go visit her and my granny’s graves today?”

    She nodded holding his hand, “I’m sure they’re really happy for us.”

    “Yeah, they are, I can feel it” he smiled.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    A year later, Bernice and Frankie were married in a beautiful intimate ceremony surrounded by friends and family. He was able to stand up during the ceremony and dance with her during their first dance together. If someone didn't know that he was an amputee, it just appeared that he had a slight limp when he walked, although he could only walk short distances.

    Raymond and Michelle Ye and Gigi and Bowie had also just gotten engaged and the newly weds went over to congratulate them before they set off on their honeymoon to beautiful Hawaii.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~

    Bernice felt like she was in paradise as she lied in Frankie's arms in their hotel bed, basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking. He intertwined his fingers with hers and kissed her forehead.

    "I'll love you until death do us part" he repeated their vows to her.

    "Yes, only until death do us part" she agreed smiling.

    They kissed.


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The End~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Last edited by magnoliaewan; 07-21-10 at 10:22 PM.

  10. #30
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
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    Okay, for the people who actually read this story, can I have some feedback? Hate it? Like it? Do you want a sequel? Ideas? etc. Just tell me something so I know what to do in the future.

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