Always and Forever

[tweety365]

shootingst8r <IMG SRC="smilies/shame.gif" border="0">. So, you're one of those silent readers, huh? Well, thanks for coming out of your hiding spot and post a comment. Love to hear from all my readers <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

lil_bubble, hehehe, I'm guessing that you're a Tae fan, right? You will just have to wait and find out if Tae is evil or not. <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0">

Mel, thanks for the comment. Of course, you had a hidden agenda for posting, but I don't mind.

[tweety365]

Chapter 5 - A Chaotic Night

Character Appearances:
Annie Man Chung Han
Ruby Lin Xin Ru
Kevin Cheng Ka Wing
Kenix Kwok Ho Ying as Sarah Cheng
Julian Cheung Chi Lam

“Well, it is true that I am a wonderful person,” Ruby admitted with a reluctant smile.

“Of course you are,” Annie said with a joyful grin. “Oh Ruby, you are the greatest friend a person can ever have. You have my undying gratitude.”

“So, does this mean we can forget about the hundred bucks I borrowed from you two months ago?”

Annie immediately released her hold and took several steps away from her. “I’m grateful, but I’m not THAT grateful.”

Ruby shrugged. “Hey, it was worth a try.”

Annie took out a handheld electronic organizer from her pocket. “Since we’re on the subject, you still haven’t paid me back for that $50 turtleneck you bought a month ago. You also owe me $31.75 for a pair of dress shoes you purchased last week. So, the total comes out to be $181.75, but since you’re helping me out with this date thing, I’ll make it an even $180. Don’t say I’m not a good friend to you.”

She looked up to find that the office door was left wide open and Ruby was nowhere in sight. Apparently, she had snuck out when Annie was busy with her calculation. “That girl always runs off whenever I mention about the money she owes me. I wonder if I will ever get my money back. Man, one of these days, I’m going to charge her interest.”

She started gathering her belongings and left a note for Cindy that she left early to attend a party. With the apartment complex located only two blocks away, it was a short walk home. She loved the fact that she could save money by not having to take the bus or taxi to work as well as avoid the horrible morning traffic. She opened the apartment door and sat down on a stool to take off her shoes. Hearing the water running in the bathroom, she predicted that it would be a while before Ruby will be finished with her bath.

Annie picked up an apple from the kitchen table and headed to her closet to start on the daunting task of deciding what to wear. Ruby wasn’t the only one who disliked going to weddings. Annie was never fond of getting all dressed up to sit around strangers for half the night. Forty-five minutes later, Ruby was comfortably wrapped in a fluffy robe and toweling her hair dry as she stepped out of the bathroom. Poking her head into Annie’s room, she was shocked to see that the once very tidy room, now had clothes littered everywhere.

She carefully stepped over a pair of jeans. “What happened? It looks like a tornado just passed through here.”

“I’m trying to decide what to wear.” Annie was sitting cross-legged on the floor chewing on an apple and staring at the clothes around her with a dazed look. “I heard Sarah Cheng’s wedding is going to be very prestigious, so I want to look my best.”

Ruby removed some clothes off the corner of bed. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Details about her wedding have been blasted on every news stations for the last month. I even had to write a short editorial on her and Julian Cheung’s courtship.”

“What did you expect when the only son of Michael Cheung, the fifth wealthiest man in Hong Kong, gets married?” Annie sighed dreamily. “It must feel good to have so much money. I wonder what I would do if I have a quarter of his fortune?”

“Girl, stop daydreaming.” Ruby picked up a towel and threw it at Annie’s head. “You better hurry up and pick out a dress. You still have to shower and get your hair done.”

Catching the towel in midair, Annie asked, “What about you? What are you wearing?”

“I already have a dress all picked out.”

“Really? I want to see.”

Ruby ran into her room and pulled out a black strapless silk dress with matching black shawl along with a pair of pumps from her closet. She rushed back to show Annie the dress and shoes.

“Is that what I think it is?!" Annie squealed loudly.

“Yep.” Ruby gleefully smiled. “You are looking at a genuine Armani black silk cowlneck dress, in which there are only three copies sold in Hong Kong.”

Annie tentatively smoothed her fingers over the material. “How did you manage to get this? It must have cost a fortune. It’s sooooooo gorgeous.” She saw the black pumps on the ground and gasped out in wonder, “Ohhhhhh, you even have the matching pumps.”

“This dress isn’t mine. I borrowed it from Ada. She received it as a present from a close friend of hers. I didn’t know I was going to have the chance to actually wear it.”

Sadly pouting, Annie gazed longingly at the dress. “You are so lucky. I don’t have anything remotely as pretty as this.”

Smiling, Ruby left the room and quickly returned holding something behind her back. She nudged Annie’s leg with her foot. “Don’t look so glum, Annie. Look what I have for you.”

Annie glanced up to see Ruby holding a luxurious baby blue satin dress with matching blue high-heeled shoes in her hands. “Wow! You bought this for me?!” she exclaimed in jaw-dropping delight.

“It’s supposed to be your birthday present and I was going to surprise you next month, but what the heck, you can have it now. I bought the dress last week with the money I saved from my salary.”

Tears were shining in her eyes as she hugged her friend. “Oh Ruby, this is the best birthday present ever. You don’t have to pay me back that $181.75 you owe me.”

“Gee, thanks,” Ruby said as she rolled her eyes. “I feel so much better now.” In a teasing voice, “You’re wetting my shirt with your tears. Now hurry up and get dress. We only have a couple of hours left to do our makeup and hair.”

IN FRONT OF ANNIE’S CATERING SERVICES

“It’s 6:15, where is that idiot?!”

“Maybe he’s stuck in traffic,” Ruby said as she leaned against a lamppost

“He’s probably too busy trying to hook up with call girls to remember us.”

Just then, a silver BMW turned the corner and screeched to a halt in front of the girls. Out stepped Kevin, wearing an expensively tailored dark blue tuxedo that accentuated his broad shoulders and well-muscled physique. Even with a black eye, he still looked dangerously handsome as he approached Ruby and Annie.

“Oh Lord, not you again,” Ruby gasped out incredulously. “I can’t believe KC stands for Kevin Cheng?! Annie, he’s the guy that almost hit me with his car this morning.”

“Hey, what a small world.” He grinned. “Ruby, right? It must be my lucky night to have a date with two lovely young ladies.”

“Oh, save your sweet talk for someone who cares,” Ruby shot back.

Annie pushed Kevin aside and headed toward the passenger seat. “Let’s get this thing over with.” She pined him with a threatening look. “Just remember to keep your paws to yourself. There are two of us and only one of you.”

He gave a hearty chuckle. “I’ve already learned my lesson. I promise to be a perfect gentleman. Scout’s honor.”

Annie turned to Ruby with a doubtful look. “I didn’t know the Boy Scouts had such low admission standards.”

Kevin purposely drove slowly for the girls’ sakes since he didn’t want to give them another reason to attack him again.

AT THE DREAM-CRESCENT HOTEL

Driving up to the valet parking section of the three-story hotel, they got out of the car and were blinded by camera lights flashing around them. There were reporters and security guards swarming all over the place. People were yelling and taking pictures of the guests walking on the red carpet. Blinking rapidly, Ruby tried to clear her vision. “Whoa! This place is packed. I knew this wedding was a big event, but who knew there would be so many people here.”

“Let’s go, girls.” Kevin said after handing his car keys to the valet driver.

He took each of their hands and hooked their hands in the crook of his arms. Annie and Ruby were too busy staring at the reporters and other guests to notice what he just did. As they walked pass the reporters, their cameras started flashing again and girls made the mistake of looking directly into the bright lights. Annie and Ruby closed their eyes as they were momentarily blinded again. Once inside the ballroom, Annie and Ruby stared in awed at the lavish decorations and colorful designs. Since they had never been to such an extravagant event, the girls started to get nervous and moved closer to Kevin.

“Relax. They’re just normal people like you and me.”

“Easy for you to say.” Annie looked up at him. “You’re used to these kind of events.”

Ruby’s attention was locked on a young woman in a silk white wedding gown. “HOLY CRAP!!!” she whispered to Annie behind Kevin’s back. “Annie, look at those diamonds! They’re HUGE!”

Annie’s eyes lit up at the mention of expensive jewelry as she frantically glanced around. “Diamonds?! Where?” Locating the bride, her eyes grew large as she saw the diamond necklace, earrings, and bracelets on the other woman. “Whoa!!! Look at the size of those rocks. They must cost millions.”

“$5.5 million to be exact,” Kevin answered her. “C’mon, I’ll introduce both of you to my cousin.” He led them over to the beaming bride who were talking to several people and didn’t notice them. “Hey Sarah. Too busy to give your favorite cousin a proper greeting?”

Turning around, Sarah stood gaping at Kevin. “Good Lord! Kevin, what happened to your eye?"

At the mention of his black eye, Annie guiltily looked down. He walked over and gave his cousin a tight hug. “I accidentally bumped into a pole, but enough about me. I want you to meet my two dates.” He pulled the girls over. “This is Ruby Lin and Annie Man. Girls, meet my lovely cousin, Sarah Cheng.”

The three girls shook hands and exchanged greetings. Sarah glanced up at Kevin and in a teasing voice, “You managed to lure two attractive women to accompany you tonight? You are definitely getting too good with women. I’m sure Aunt Lisa would love to see this.”

“By the way, where is my mother?” he asked as he draped his arm around his cousin.

“Aunt Lisa had a headache and left early.”

“Oh yeah, here’s your wedding present.” He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a red velvet jewelry box. “I better give it to you now before I forget.”

“You big lazy bum.” Sarah shook her head at him as she critically examined the box. “You didn’t even have decency to wrap it? At least give me a bow or something.”

“It’s what is inside that counts, not the wrapping. Besides, you’re going to open your presents and discard the wrappings later on.”

“Presents are like fish. Wrap it badly and it stinks.”

A voice from behind Kevin interrupted them. “Get your hand off my wife, Cheng. You already have two women by your sides.”

Turning around, Kevin grinned as he lightly clapped Julian Cheng on the back and gave him a quick hug.

“What took you so long? And how did you get that shiner?” Julian stared that Kevin’s bruise.

“Little mishap.”

Kevin introduced the Annie and Ruby to Julian and the five of them stood around conversing in idle talks for several minutes. Annie and Ruby were both hungrily eyeing the buffet table since neither had much to eat the whole day. Finally, unable to stand it anymore, they excused themselves and headed toward the food with the intent of feeding their stomachs. Kevin was deeply engrossed in a conversation with Julian and Sarah went over to greet more guests.

“Man, I am freaking starving,” Ruby mumbled as she shoved several crackers with ham and cheese into her mouth. “I only had a piece of toast this morning.”

“At least you had a piece of toast,” Annie managed to spit out as she munched on an eggroll. “I haven’t eaten anything this whole day. Hey, these eggrolls are pretty darn good.”

“Mmmm-hmmmmm,” Ruby uttered while reaching for a cup of juice.

Half an hour later, after the girls finished stuffing their mouths with food, Ruby decided to pay a visit to the restroom on the second floor while Annie was busy examining the food. She wanted to see if she could use any of the dishes for her next catering orders.

After washing her hands, Ruby walked out of the bathroom and encountered dead silence in the hall. Heading toward the stairs, she felt cold chills as she sensed something was terribly wrong. “Why is it so quiet in here? I better go find Annie and leave this place.”

At the top of the stairs, Ruby froze in her tracks as she witnessed the scene below. There were at least fifty armed, masked men holding everyone at gunpoint. She quickly hid herself behind the wall and slowly peeked out from the corner. The masked men had everyone tied up and gathered in several large circles in the room. They were stripped of their money, jewelries and other valuables. She saw Kevin, Sarah, and Julian sitting against the wall with their hands tied behind their back.

[* Ruby thinking to herself *]: Oh crap! This does NOT look good. Damn it! Where the hell is Annie? I don’t see her anywhere.

UNDER THE BUFFET TABLE

Annie sat trembling with fear under the table with her legs pulled up against her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around them.
[* Annie thinking to herself *]: This is it, Ruby, we’re really going to die tonight. I can’t believe I’m about to go see my Maker. I know I always said I wanted to see my parents again, but not this soon. I was aiming for another 70 years. (silently moaning) Me and my dumb wishes!

Ruby was still hiding behind the wall upstairs and trying to think of what to do next.
[* Ruby thinking to herself *]: Oh Annie, where are you?! You and your bright idea of pulling me along to attend this wedding. I could be warm in my bed with a cup of coffee and watching re-runs of my favorite shows, but noooooo, you had to drag me along. Well, I hope you’re happy now, Annie. (silently mimicking Annie’s voice earlier this afternoon) This evening will be over with the blink of an eye. My life will definitely be over with the blink of an eye.

[jeh]

You update fast! Great chapters, I wonder what will Ruby's expression be like when she meet Kevin at the wedding. I'm sure the next chapter will be hilarious.

[lil_bubble]

Yup,I agree. Looking forward to next chapter. <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0"> I'll just say out of the four characters, I like Tae the best. And you know who else. Haha.. <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">

[tweety365]

Awwwww, I really appreciate you guys posting. Let's all have a <IMG SRC="smilies/grouphug.gif" border="0">. I know who my devoted readers are on spcnet. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

lil_bubble - is your other fav character Korean? <IMG SRC="smilies/drool.gif" border="0"> Hehehehe

[nickianjo]

Awww... but what about me? I don't comment for one or two chapters and u forget about me?! <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0"> .. JK

Great chapters! I really love your characters. UPdate soon...

[lil_bubble]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#dcdcdc" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" bgcolor="#DCDCDC"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><font size="1">Originally posted by tweety365:
<STRONG>lil_bubble - is your other fav character Korean? <IMG SRC="smilies/drool.gif" border="0"> Hehehehe</STRONG></font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

*looking around* Um.. there's only one Korean character right?! Haha.. But I'm not just reading this to get to him. I really do enjoy reading it and I didn't even notice the format till end of chapter 2! That shows you how much it interested me.. <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0">

[tweety365]

Chapter 6 - Hostage Crisis

Character Appearances:
Annie Man Chung Han
Kenix Kwok Ho Ying as Sarah Cheng
Julian Cheung Chi Lam
Kevin Cheng Ka Wing
Ruby Lin Xin Ru
Sunny Chan Kam Hung as Stephan Chan
Tae Sattawat Sethakorn as Tae Leung

Annie’s heart was pounding so hard that she feared it would leap out from her chest at any moment. Her plan was to quietly remain under the table and pray that she won’t be caught. It wasn’t a brilliant plan, but so far, she was still relatively safe and that’s her main concern at the moment. Maybe luck will be on her side tonight and she would be able to make it out of this horrible ordeal alive. As she remained shivering under the table, she suddenly heard soft whisperings a couple of feet away.

“Pssssst, pssssssst, Julian, do something!” Sarah whispered fiercely to her husband. “They took my jewelries!”

“Sweetheart, now is NOT the time,” Julian whispered back while eyeing the other men with their rifles. “Can’t you see they have guns? What do you want me to do?”

“I can’t believe I’m married to a wimp.”

He gave a firm nod of his head. “I wholeheartedly admit that Julian Cheung is a big fat chicken. At least I will be a live chicken.”

“Wait until my father hears about this,” she huffed out in a furious tone. “He would be appalled at the way his son-in-law is defending his daughter.”

“Would you rather be married to a wimp or be a widow?” he questioned as he turned to face his wife.

A big, burly masked man saw them talking and walked over to them. He aimed his pistol threateningly at them threatened in a booming voice, “Shut up or I’ll blow your brains out!”

Immediately clamping her mouth shut, a pale-faced Sarah scooted closer to Julian. Meanwhile, Kevin was silently assessing the situation and trying to understand the robbers’ motives behind this holdup. He counted exactly 45 men wearing black ski masks over their heads and armed with various assortments of guns. Being an ex-police officer, he was surprised that they were able to obtain double-action semiautomatic pistols. These weapons were the standard firearms of the Hong Kong police; therefore, they must have been acquired through the black market.

If all they want were money, they wouldn’t have gone to such trouble to raid the year’s biggest and most publicized wedding. A bank robbery would have been easier and a lot less troublesome. Of course, Sarah’s jewelries alone were worth a fortune, but the place was crawling with security guards and news reporters. Even if they managed to get inside, it would be extremely difficult to make a safe getaway. While analyzing the situation, his mind strayed back to thinking about Annie and Ruby. He was unable to locate the girls ever since the robbers burst in and tied up everyone. Hopefully they were safe and away from trouble.

During this time, Ruby was close to hyperventilating as she stood wringing her sweaty hands.
[* Ruby thinking to herself *]: C’mon Ruby, think! Oh shoot, what to do?!! I really don’t work well under pressure. Oh my God, I think I’m going to have a heart attack. Calm down, Ruby, you can do this.

She took several deep breaths to calm her nerves and clear her head. She suddenly remembered her hand phone and decided to call for help. Just as she was reaching into her purse, she heard footsteps coming her way. Quickly backing away from the wall, she quietly scurried down the hall looking for a room to hide. She frantically turned the handles on just about all the doors in the hallway, but they were all locked.

“Damn!” she muttered as fear coursed through her veins. “It’s just my luck that all the rooms are locked.”

Ruby was on the brink of losing all hope when she noticed one last room in the corner on her left. Closing her eyes and uttering a silent prayer, she turned the handle and to her great relief, it opened. She hastily stepped into the room and locked the door. She started to wipe the sweat off her forehead with her sleeve as she sagged down against the door.

“That was a close call. Man, I think I’ve aged ten years in the last ten minutes. This is definitely not good for my blood pressure.” Pulling out her cell phone, she tried to call the police station, but she couldn’t get any reception. “You good-for-nothing, stupid phone!” She angrily shook her phone. “Why won’t you work?!”

After shoving her cell phone back in her purse, she quickly scanned around the room and saw a phone on the dresser next to the bed. Dashing over to the dresser, she picked up the receiver and started dialing the number for the police station; however, the phone line was cut and there was no dial tone. In utter despair, she sank down on the bed and was very close to crying when she heard someone turning the handle…..

**********

OUTSIDE DREAM-CRESCENT HOTEL

The police had the entire perimeter of the hotel surrounded as well as blocking people from entering the crime scene. The cops were prepared for the worst as they called in backup from the Hong Kong police department and even the mayor was involved in this affair. Sharp shooters were lined up on top of several tall buildings near the hotel and had their firearms ready.

Sergeant Stephan Chan, a tall darkly attractive man, was placed in charge of handling this precarious situation. Being in the police force for close to a decade, he was levelheaded and able to maintain a calm deposition when faced with tough, dangerous criminals. As he was consulting with his fellow officers on the situation, they were abruptly distracted by the bright headlights of a shiny red motorcycle. Stopping several yards away from the police cars, Tae parked his bike and hurried over to the men.

“Stephan, how’s the situation?” He anxiously gripped Stephan’s arm. “Have you heard anything about Kevin, Sarah or Julian? Are they all right?”

“Tae, calm down. What are you doing here?” Stephan asked as he removed Tae’s tight grip on his arm.

“I just finished filming the last scene to my movie and heard that there was a holdup at Dream-Crescent, so I rushed down here to see if anyone is hurt.”

“It’s too dangerous here,” Stephan stated in a stern, authoritative tone. “I want you to go home.”

“The hell I will! Kevin’s life is in jeopardy and you want me to leave?! I don’t think so. Besides, before Father left for that conference in Thailand, he told me to take care of this place; therefore, I have a right to be here. I know this hotel like the back of my hand and I might be able to help you.”

Knowing how stubborn Tae can be, Stephan relented. “Just don’t get in the way.”

“When do I ever get in the way?” Tae had on an offended look. “So, who are the robbers and what do they want?”

Stephan released a frustrated sigh. “The masked robbers are the followers of Mark Chan, aka Soaring Eagle.”

Tae’s eyebrows shot up as he recognized that name. “Isn’t he the notorious leader of the Eagleside Gang and currently serving a lift sentence for murder, illegal cocaine dealings, and money laundering?”

“Yes,” Stephan said with a worried frown. “They want his release as well as three helicopters and a minivan for their getaway; otherwise, they will kill a person every hour.”

“Those bastards!” Tae gritted his teeth in anger. “How many people are in there?”

“They said there are 610 hostages and they refused to talk to us. We can only stall for half an hour at most. If only there is someone inside who can communicate the situation to us.”

“Wire me. I’m going in,” Tae stated with determination in his eyes.

“Absolutely not!” Stephan refused as shock shone in his eyes. “Are you crazy?! Do you know how dangerous those men are? Mother would skin me alive if she finds out that I let you endanger yourself.”

Stephan was Tae’s older half brother. Stephan’s father, John Chan, died in a car accident when he was two years old and his mother, Rachel Lee married Tae’s father, Paul Leung, years later. Stephan had been studying and working in England for ten years before deciding to return to Hong Kong five years ago.

“Kevin is my best friend and I would have died seventeen years ago if he didn’t saved me from drowning. Now, you want me to stand idly by and witness him being in trouble without doing anything to help?”

“Do you think I’m not worried about the hostages in there? We will find a way to rescue them, but I’m not going to let you risk your safety.”

Tae placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Stephan, I know you’re my big brother and you want to look out for me, but I’m the only one who knows the layout of this place well enough to sneak inside and check out the condition in there.”

Left with no other options, Stephan grudgingly agreed to Tae’s request. He handed Tae a stack of papers. “Here, sign these.”

“Why?” Tae quickly scanned the papers.

Stephan handed him a pen as he explained, “By signing these documents, you are agreeing that should anything happen to you, the police department will not be held liable for any of the injuries you incurred. The injuries include, but are not limited to cuts, scraps, sprains, broken body parts, dismembered limbs, and even death.”

“It’s good to know that the government is looking out for its citizens.”

Following several officers, Tae went to a nearby police van to put on a pair of spectacles with a tiny hidden camcorder placed in center of the frames. The glasses were nonprescription, so Tae was able to see perfectly fine. They also placed a mini microphone in his hair to allow them to hear what’s happening inside. Once he was ready, he turned to face his brother before heading inside.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” He gave Stephan a reassuring smile.

Stephan grabbed Tae’s elbow. “If anything goes wrong or if you think you’re in any kind of danger, get out of there immediately. Your safety comes first.”

“I know.”

Stephan pulled out a handheld gun. “Be careful. And don’t lose this.”

Tae bent down to strap the gun to his right calf and he gave his brother a tight hug before walking toward the back entrance of the hotel. There was an underground sewage canal that would lead directly to the basement of the hotel where the laundry was placed for cleaning. He plugged up his nose with a tissue and headed down the dark, wet tunnel. Using a small handheld flashlight to guide his way, he continued walking in the filthy slime for ten minutes and finally reached the end of the tunnel. Climbing up the short ladder, he pushed the heavy metal covering aside and pulled himself up.

“GOD DAMN IT!!!” he gagged out and tried to breathe through is mouth. “That has to be the most horrendous smell on earth.” He started sniffing his shirt. "Urghhhhhhhh! I smell like shit!” Stepping toward the lockers, he found some worn out waiter clothes and put them on. Making a face as he headed up the staircase, “I still smell ghastly, but at least it’s better than before.”

**********

ON THE SECOND FLOOR

The door handle to the room that Ruby was hiding in started turning. Once the intruder found that it was locked, the sound of a key rattling in the lock was heard. The wooden door swung open and two masked men stepped into the room.

“You check the bathroom while I search in here,” said Man #1 after surveying the area.

“Okay.”

Man #1 walked over to the windows with his rifle in hand and pulled the curtains aside, half expecting to catch someone, but there was no one behind the drapes. He went to check the walk in closet and found nothing. Man #2 came back out and shook his head. Seeing that there was nobody in the room, they were about to leave when Man #2 saw the large chest at the end of the bed. The mahogany trunk was large enough to hide a person and there was a piece of black silk hanging out of it. Standing over the chest, they aimed their guns at the lid and flipped it open, but only found a bunch of dresses in the chest. Finding nothing in the room they left and closed the door behind them.

Ruby was laying flat on her stomach on top of the canopy that was hanging over the bed. With a sigh of relief, she relaxed her sore muscles and took great gulps of air.

“Dumb *******s!!” she muttered. “Almost scared me to death. Good thing I thought of hiding up here. Otherwise, I would be meeting up with my dead mother right about now. When I get out of here, I’m going to strangle Annie for making me go to this hellhole! If I ever get out of here,” she said with a pitiful moan.

Just when she thought it was safe to climb down from the canopy, she heard someone outside the door.
[* Ruby thinking to herself *]: Oh nooooooo! They found me! Now, I’m a goner for sure! Wait a minute… they can’t possibly know I’m up here. Okay, I’ve got to get grip on myself. Can’t let them get to me.

She leaned over the edge of the covering and saw a man dressed in a waiter’s uniform slowly walking back and forth in the room. After awhile, he sat down on the bed and seemed to be in deep concentration. All of a sudden, she heard a soft ripping sound near her head and glanced to the corners. The seams holding the material together were slowly splitting apart. Her heart was racing and she was extremely close to passing out.

[* Ruby thinking to herself *]: OH SHIT!!! What kind of shoddy materials are these people using to decorate the rooms?! (a loud rip vibrated in the room) Uh oh!

Tae glanced up to see a falling lump coming straight at him. “What the –”

She fell with a muffled scream down from the canopy. She landed on top of him and accidentally knocked his spectacles and microphone off. She attempted to untangle herself from the material and tried to beat up the man underneath her at the same time. Ruby managed to scratch his neck with her sharp nails, but Tae retaliated by punching his attacker in the stomach several times and pinning the person underneath him. Tears sprang to her eyes and she was groaning in pain from his punches as he sat astride her waist with her wrists restrained in each of his hands.

“Get off me you stinky brute!!!” She struggled to free herself. “Pick on someone your own size!”

Pulling the thin fabric away, Tae saw a pair of raging brown eyes glaring back at him and was surprised that his attacker was a girl. He refused to budge. “I’ll let you go if you tell me who you are and what you’re doing here.”

“My name is Ruby Lin and I came here to attend a wedding with my friend. Now, move your fat ***, you’re crushing me!”

He released his hold on her and moved to the side. Sitting up, she unexpectedly slapped him across the face, knocking his head to the side. Holding his stinging cheek with his hand, he furiously turned to face her. “Why did you hit me?!” he demanded in a fuming mad tone. “I let you go didn’t I?”

She was rubbing her stomach and trying to soothe away the pain as she stared threateningly at him. “That was for punching me, you idiot! You’re lucky it’s just a slap on the face!”

“So, you scratched me first!”

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to hit girls?!”

“How was I supposed to know that you’re a girl with the stupid drape covering you?” He blatantly checked out her figure. “From the looks of things and there isn’t much to look at, I still can’t really tell that you’re a girl.”

She raised her fist to pound him, but he swiftly jumped off the bed. “You better run.”

[tweety365]

Greetings to all my readers. Just an announcement. I am currently looking for an editor for this fanfic. I know that there are grammatical mistakes and spelling errors somewhere in my chapters, but I am too damn lazy to go back and proofread. Plus, I have quite a busy schedule. So, if anyone is interested in helping me, I would greatly appreciate it. Of course, credit will definitely be given for your work. That is all for now. A new chapter will be posted up shortly. Take care and have a great day.

--Tweety

[Melanie]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#dcdcdc" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" bgcolor="#DCDCDC"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><font size="1">Originally posted by lil_bubble:
Melanie.. does your post contain some spoilers?</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>Lil_bubble, I didn't have the foresight to put "spoiler alert" at the top of my comments. <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0"> I hope I didn't ruin the story too much for you. <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0">

Tweety jie: Yay! <IMG SRC="smilies/blob.gif" border="0"> You finally have your personal avatar. I see you have considered my advice to choose a female comic character as your avatar. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> The avatar looks beautiful. She reminds me of Gigi Lai Chi, one of the most beautiful female hong kong stars I have seen so far. <IMG SRC="smilies/thumbsup.gif" border="0"> By chance, is your avatar a cartoon drawing of her?

[tweety365]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#dcdcdc" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" bgcolor="#DCDCDC"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><font size="1">Originally posted by Melanie:
<STRONG>
Tweety jie: Yay! <IMG SRC="smilies/blob.gif" border="0"> You finally have your personal avatar. I see you have considered my advice to choose a female comic character as your avatar. The avatar looks beautiful. She reminds me of Gigi Lai Chi, one of the most beautiful female hong kong stars I have seen so far. <IMG SRC="smilies/thumbsup.gif" border="0"> By chance, is your avatar a cartoon drawing of her?</STRONG></font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Tehehehe, yup, you really did influence my decision. <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0">
I'm soooooo sorry, BYJ for not placing your pic as my avatar! <IMG SRC="smilies/bawling.gif" border="0"> But I didn't want others to confuse me for a guy! Please forgive me!!! <IMG SRC="smilies/crying.gif" border="0"> Hopefully, nobody will consider me a disloyal fan <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0">

LOL, no, my avatar isn't Gigi. It's a cartoon pic of Ho Mei Tian. She was in the DGSD 97 version with Benny Chan. Now, she mostly stars in Taiwan series.

<font size="1">[ April 19, 2003: Message edited by: tweety365 ]</font>

[lil_bubble]

That was such an unexpected chapter! Quite funny too.. hehehe..

Melanie, it's ok. I made myself forget so it's all good now. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Tweety, you'll have to wait for the characters.. my brain has been in a liquid state recently so can't handle too much thinking. But I will post it asap though it's pretty similar to Melanie's...

Disloyal fan?! No way! At least you have a quote. Ha! That's the reason when I chose my avatar. I was going to put a guy up but don't want people to think I'm a guy. <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0">

[tweety365]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#dcdcdc" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" bgcolor="#DCDCDC"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><font size="1">Originally posted by lil_bubble:
<STRONG>That was such an unexpected chapter! Quite funny too.. hehehe..

Melanie, it's ok. I made myself forget so it's all good now. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Tweety, you'll have to wait for the characters.. my brain has been in a liquid state recently so can't handle too much thinking. But I will post it asap though it's pretty similar to Melanie's...

Disloyal fan?! No way! At least you have a quote. Ha! That's the reason when I chose my avatar. I was going to put a guy up but don't want people to think I'm a guy. <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0"></STRONG></font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Whoa! You can make yourself forget? So talented, lil_bubble. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

That's okay, take all the time you need. I would much rather read your review on Hotelier, so you can focus on that.
Awwwww, you are always so sweet! Thanks for not considering me a disloyal fan <IMG SRC="smilies/hug.gif" border="0">.

To my silent readers - I hope you guys are still enjoying this story. Post a comment if you have the chance. It would really inspire me to continue writing. <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0">

[tweety365]

Chapter 7 - The Rescue

Last chapter: Everyone was still tied up while Annie planned on staying hidden under the table. The police had the whole area surrounded and Stephan Chan (Sunny Chan) made an appearance as Tae’s older half brother. It was decided that Tae would go into the hotel and report the situation back to the officers outside. Ruby was hiding in one of the rooms and finally met Tae.

Character Appearances:
Ruby Lin Xin Ru
Tae Sattawat Sethakorn as Tae Leung
Sunny Chan Kam Hung as Stephan Chan
Annie Man Chung Han
Kevin Cheng Ka Wing

“I’d advise you to be nice to me because I’m your ticket out of here,” Tae warned.

Ruby was clumsily trying to disentangle her limbs from the bed sheets while angrily staring at him. “What are you talking about? You still haven’t told me who are you.”

He ignored her questions and checked to make sure his spectacles and microphone were still in place. Alarmed to find them missing, he walked around the room, anxiously searching the floor. “What are you looking for?” she asked with a frown.

“I’m trying to find my glasses and microphone,” he said with his head bent over the ground.

She glanced around the room and noticed a pair of spectacles and a tiny, circular object near her feet. “You mean these?” she asked as she picked up the specs and microphone.

His head jerked up and his worried expression turned to relief. He walked toward her with an outstretched hand. “Yeah. You found them.”

She instantly backed away from him and tightly held the items to her chest. “Not so fast. First, you have to answer some of my questions.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” she warily gazed at him. “Why are you so worried about getting these items back?”

With an impatient sigh, he answered her question. “I’m Tae Leung. Now that you know who I am, give me back my stuffs.” As he was reaching toward the items again, she quickly jumped on the bed and hopped to the other corner of the room.

“One more step and I’ll break these frames,” she threatened. “I’m not joking.”

Tae immediately stopped in his tracks and anxiously stood still. Seeing that he had actually listened to her, she loosened her hold on the frames and relaxed her posture. His name sounded vaguely familiar to her and she tried to recall where she came across it.

“TAE LEUNG!” She snapped her fingers as her eyes lit up with recognition. “I remember now. You’re that actor/singer guy who had that sordid love affair with that married woman, what’s her name. It was broadcasted all over the news.”

“Damn!” His face twisted with annoyance. “Doesn’t the media have better news to report instead of airing information on all my relationships?! For heaven’s sake, I didn’t know she wasn’t legally divorced, yet!”

She gave an indifferent shake of her head. “Well, if you ask me, it wasn’t THAT interesting. They cancelled my favorite MTV show just to report on your latest breakup.”

“So who asked you?” He pointedly looked at the items in her hands. “It would be in your best interest to give those back to me.”

She was about to retort back to him when she suddenly heard voices coming from the frames in her hand. Thinking that she was hearing things, she leaned her face toward the spectacles to examine it. Puzzled, she turned the frames sideways and found two small holes in the corners. The voices were getting louder as she placed the spectacles next to her ear.

“Tae! Tae! Can you hear me?! Where are you?!”

“What the hell! Why are the glasses speaking?!” She yelped as she threw the spectacles on the floor.

Tae frantically lunged toward the glasses and tried to catch it as it flew out of her hand. Sliding to the floor on his stomach, he barely managed to grasp the frames just as it was about to hit the ground. He released a sigh of relief and worriedly inspected the frames for any damages. Seeing that it wasn’t broken, he turned to glare menacingly at Ruby.

“Woman, you almost destroyed our chances of saving the hostages! These frames have a hidden camera installed for me to spy on those men holding the hostages. That little metal piece in your hand is a microphone that allows the police to hear what’s going on in here.”

“You mean we’ll be saved?” she whispered with hope glowing in her large eyes. She held up the microphone close to her mouth and screamed out, “HEEEEEELP!!! HEEEEEEEEEEELP! You guys have to get me out of here!”

Seeing that she wasn’t getting any responses, she started to shake the microphone. Tae grabbed the mic away from her. “Give me that. Don’t break it, woman.” After putting the glasses on, he clipped the mic back in his hair. “Stephan, how are things outside?”

Ruby was kneeling on the chest at the foot of the bed and leaning her ear close to Tae’s frames, straining to hear the other person on the phone."

“The police department is providing us with the minivan and helicopters that should arrive soon,” Stephan said over the mic. “We’re still negotiating with the court to release Soaring Eagle. We don’t have much time left Tae. How’s the situation inside?"

“I didn’t have the chance to move around yet. I was almost caught walking in the hallway, but luckily I was able to elude them. How much time do we have left before they start shooting the hostages?”

Hearing the words ‘shooting the hostages,’ a pale-faced Ruby grabbed Tae’s head and yelled into the mic. “SHOOTING THE HOSTAGES?! You cops have to do something! Annie might be down there with the other hostages! You have to SAVE her!”

He roughly pushed her aside. “Owwwwwwww! What are you trying to do? Blow out my eardrums? If you don’t quit your yapping, the men downstairs will definitely find us and God knows what perverted things they’ll do to you.”

She immediately covered her mouth with both hands and stared up at him with fright filled eyes. Sighing, he went back to discussing a plan with Stephan.

**********

DOWNSTAIRS

Annie’s fingers were gripping her legs so hard that her knuckles were turning white.
[* Annie thinking to herself *]: This is turning out to be the worst date ever! Man, I’m starting to lose the feelings in my legs, and to top that off, I need to go to the restroom. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to drink seven cups of punch. Damn eggrolls! Who’s the idiot that had the bright idea of making them so tasty anyways? Who am I kidding? If I weren’t such a pig, my bladder wouldn’t be stretched to its limits right now. I wonder if Ruby is safe or is she tied up like the rest of them. (silently sighing as she reached into her purse and pulled out the shiny coin she found this morning) I thought you would bring me luck. Hmphf! More like bad luck.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Annie saw a black object moving toward her. With a careless glance to the side, her eyebrows shot up and she almost screamed out in fright. Tightly clamping her mouth with both hands, she fearfully gazed at the biggest, ugliest black cockroach she had ever laid eyes on. She quickly moved backward in an attempt to get away from the monster, but it kept crawling toward her. Feeling grossed out, she threw her coin at the disgusting insect and successfully killed it with one blow. Yellow-greenish guts were oozing out and making a mess on the carpet.

[* Annie thinking to herself *]: Ewwwwwww!!! Ewwwwwwwwww!!! How disgusting! I think I’m going to be sick!

She turned her head away and tried to erase the horrible image of the dead vermin from her mind. Out of nowhere, a biscuit rolled in from outside and hit her foot. Hearing footsteps approaching her, Annie barely had the chance to move before the white drape covering the table was lifted. Turning white as a sheet, she stared into the masked face of a huge, bulky man. His hand shot out and painfully gripped her arm as he pulled her screaming out from under the table.

**********

UPSTAIRS

Tae and Ruby were stealthily tiptoeing in the hallway toward the main staircase leading downstairs. Tae was leading the way with Ruby following closely behind him. Without warning, he abruptly stopped at the corner and caused her to bump her nose into his back. She smacked his shoulder and was about to yell at him, but he turned around and motioned for her to be quiet.

“What?” she whispered as she massaged her nose.

“Shhhhhhhhh. I think I hear someone coming.”

He silently bent down and pulled out the gun that was strapped to his calf while pushing her behind him. As he was preparing himself for an attack, she was nervously grasping onto his shirt from behind. After take a deep breath, he charged around the corner and found a white-haired terrier staring up at him with round, shiny eyes. The dog started wagging her tail happily and approached him with her tongue hanging out.

Releasing her hold on his shirt, Ruby crouched down to pick up the dog. “Awwwwwwww. Isn’t she the most adorable thing?”

“Yeah, she’s a real cutie. Now, get rid of her.”

She protectively held the dog close to her body. “How can you be so cold hearted?” she reprimanded Tae in an outraged voice. “She probably lost her owner when those men busted in and tied up everyone. She needs our help too. How can you say no to a face like this?”

He ignored the two pairs of sad, pleading eyes. “We can’t take her along with us. We’re already treading on dangerous grounds as it is. If you would just listen to me and take the passageway through the sewer out of here, I would be able to work better.”

“Annie and I came here together and we’ll leave together. I’m not going to ditch her in her time of need,” Ruby stated stubbornly.

“Well, we still can’t keep that dog with us. How about putting her in a room and when everything is settled, you can come back for her.”

Giving the dog one last hug, Ruby looked up at Tae and nodded her head. After putting the dog in the room that they were just in, they headed out the room and closed the door. Turning around, they came face to face with two shotguns.

“Hey Bee, looks like we have two more hostages for Ace,” one of the masked men said as he aimed his gun at Tae.

“Hey Rock, how come they’re not tied up like the rest?” Bee asked.

“Who cares. Just tie them up and hand them over to Ace.”

The man named Bee was gazing at Ruby with lust in his beady little eyes and turned to whisper something in Rock’s ear as Ruby nervously moved closer to Tae. She definitely didn’t like the look that guy was directing at her. Rock nodded his head and started to snicker. “Just be sure not to take too long. Ace wouldn’t like it if he finds out you’re fooling around while on guard.”

Bee vulgarly gazed at Ruby and pointed his gun at her head. “You! Follow me!”

She shook her head and hid behind Tae. “No!”

“Leave her alone!” Tae commanded.

Bee slammed the butt of his shotgun against Tae’s ribs, causing Tae to double over in pain. “Mind your own business!”

Tae’s hand itched to reach for his gun, but he was worried Ruby might get hurt in the crossfire. He could only wait for the opportunity to take them by surprise. Narrowing his eyes, Tae slowly straightened up.

The lamplight lit up Ruby’s necklace and caught Rock’s attention. He knew an expensive piece of jewelry when he saw one and her locket was definitely valuable. As he was reaching for her necklace, she slapped his hand away and furiously glared at him.

“You stay away from me!”

“Hand over that necklace.”

Ruby protectively covered her necklace with her hands. “Over my dead body!”

“Which will it be, your life or your necklace?” Rock demanded in a menacing voice as he pointed his gun at her chest. “Give it to me or I’ll shoot you.”

“All right, go ahead and shoot!” she exclaimed with defiance in her eyes. “What kind of monster are you?” Oblivious to the fact that he was aiming a gun at her, she started poking at him in the chest and pushing him backward.

“My mother left this locket to me before she died. It’s the only thing I have to remember her by and you want to take it from me? Don’t you have a mother? What would she say if she knew you were threatening people at gunpoint and stealing from them? How can you disappoint and shame her like this when she went through a difficult nine-month pregnancy to give you life? Do you have any idea how painful childbirth is?”

She was talking so fast that Rock was having trouble understanding her. He had never encountered the fierce wrath of a woman like Ruby before and was left momentarily speechless as she continued on with her tirade. Seeing that she had Rock preoccupied, Tae unexpectedly swung his arm at Bee’s gun, sending the weapon flying out of his hand. He kicked Bee in the stomach as well as landing a hard punch to his face, smashing his nose. Staggering backward with a bloody nose, he attempted to strike at Tae, but he deftly moved to the side and successfully avoided the blow.

Rock noticed what was happening and was going to help his comrade, but Ruby automatically stomped on his foot to stop him. Dropping his gun, Rock yelped in pain while holding his injured foot and hopping up and down. Quickly recovering from his pain, he turned toward Ruby and had her backed up against the wall. Remembering a move she learned in a self-defense class, she gave him a vicious kick between the legs that propelled him to his knees. Without missing a beat, she clasped her hands together and swung at his head with all her might, instantly knocking him out.

Meanwhile, Tae was cracking several of Bee’s ribs as he repeatedly slammed his knee against Bee’s chest. With his head bent over Tae’s knee, he sent his elbow crashing down on Bee’s back, causing him to fall to the floor in an unconscious heap.

Tae went over to check on Ruby. Her hands were throbbing as she stood over Rock’s body. Out of frustration, she gave his arm a fierce kick. “Damn bastard! His head must be made of steel. Owwwwwwww. I think I sprained my wrists."

Tae grabbed her hands to examine them. “They’re just a little swollen. No permanent damages.”

Fury raged in her face as gave the unconscious men several hard kicks to their sides. “Stupid idiots! Trying to take advantage of a weak, innocent girl like me."

“C’mon, stop fooling around.” He pulled her away. “Help me tie them up. We can’t just leave them lying around.”

With an unsatisfied pout, she gave Rock one last kick. “This is for trying to steal my locket!”

After dragging the men back into the room, they were tied up and gagged. Tae and Ruby placed them in the walk-in closet and bolted the doors. Tae took both of the shotguns and led Ruby to an air vent near the main staircase.

“Climb onto my shoulders and I’ll push you up to the air vent,” he whispered. “Continue crawling forward until you see another air vent. You should be directly above the reception room holding the hostages. Stay there and I’ll come get you when it’s safe.”

“I don’t know, it looks pretty dark inside. Do you have a flashlight?”

He shook his head. “They might be able to see the light coming through the cracks in the vent. Don’t worry, they won’t know you’re in there if you remain quiet.”

“What about you? Where are you going?”

“Those men would most likely split up their forces, so I’m going to go search the rest of the hotel for their whereabouts.” He took off his spectacles and mic. “Oh, yeah, wear these spectacles and microphone so the officers will be able to check on the conditions of the hostages. I’ll contact my brother with my cell phone.”

Tae reached into his pant pocket and pulling out a small Swiss army knife. “Here, take my knife. You most likely won’t have the opportunity to use it, but keep it just in case you do need protection.” He knelt down on the ground and once Ruby had a firm footing on his shoulders, he stood up for her to reach the vent.

She glanced down at him and said, “Tae, be careful.”

“Do I hear concern in your voice?” he asked with a boyish grin.

“Of course, I’m concerned about you. If anything happens to you, who’s going to get me out of this vent?”

He rolled his eyes and motioned for her to go on. After seeing her disappear in the vent, he turned toward the one of the rooms down the hall. There was a secret chamber in one of the private suites that led upstairs and downstairs without other people knowing.

**********

It was extremely dark inside the vent, but Ruby continued to crawl forward until she reached another air vent and just like Tae said, it was situated in the reception room. She clenched her fists in anger as she saw Annie being tied up and looking so weary.

[* Ruby thinking to herself *]: We’ll get you out soon, Annie. Just hold on.
Ruby was lying in the vent for close to ten minutes when she suddenly heard soft whisperings near her ear. Remembering the spectacles, she took them off and placed the frames close to her ear.

“Ruby can you hear me?” Stephan’s voice could be heard coming from the microphone.

“Yes. How’s Tae?” she whispered.

“Tae’s fine. Ruby, I want you to listen closely to me and follow my instructions. We know where all the men in the group are and will be sending armed officers in to rescue the hostages. I want you to position the spectacles so that we can still see what goes on in there and crawl back out of the vent. Tae will be waiting for you at the end of the vent and take you out of the hotel.”

“How are you going to save the hostages? Is it safe to act now?”

“We have everything covered. Now, hurry. We’ve managed to convince them to give us another half an hour before they start killing off the hostages.”

She took off the glasses and laid it facing the room. She swiftly crawled back out of the vent and met Tae. Together, they exited the hotel through the underground sewer.

[* Ruby silently praying to God *]: Please God, look after Annie. She has always been a caring and thoughtful person. Don’t let her get hurt.

**********

ONE HOUR LATER
OUTSIDE DREAM-CRESCENT HOTEL

Ruby had been pacing back and forth for the past hour and it was driving Tae crazy.

“Will you please quit pacing? You’re making me dizzy.”

She continued to move back and forth. “I can’t help it. I pace when I’m nervous. Just don’t look at me. What is taking them so long in there?” She suddenly turned frightened eyes on him. “You don’t think this operation failed and they’re hurt or injured, do you?”

He was trying his best to stay calm and compose, but her words sent his mind reeling with endless possibilities of things going wrong. Stephan had gone into the hotel to lead his men through the rescue mission. Since this was official police business, Stephan was not allowed to disclose full details of their plan to Tae and left his poor brother worrying for his safety. His best friend and brother were inside and he could do nothing but wait. Damn it all!

“If you have nothing good to say, don’t say anything at all!” Tae snapped in a grumpy voice.

“Don’t you use that tone with me,” she retorted back. “I’m just worried for everyone’s safety. Annie is still in there. If anything happens to her…" She was unable to finish her sentence as she tried to hold back her tears. It was just too horrifying to envision her best friend harmed in any way.

The doors to the hotel abruptly burst opened and police officers wearing gas masks were carrying people out of the building. Ruby and Tae ran toward the onslaught of rushing people. Ruby desperately searched for Annie while Tae tried to locate his brother and Kevin. She finally saw an officer holding a young woman wearing a blue dress and hurried over to them.

“OH MY GOD! ANNIEEEEEE!!!" Ruby yelled out as she rushed forward.

Tae also found Stephan carrying an unconscious Kevin. “Good Lord! KEVIN!!!"

[lil_bubble]

ahaha... I like how Tae and Ruby met... but I don't like the part where he punched her... <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0">

[jeh]

Yeah, Tae and Ruby finaly meet. I didn't like it when he punch her, either. It was too brutal. Anyway, it was still funny. I wonder what are those masked men doing at a wedding. Please update soon.

[tweety365]

<IMG SRC="smilies/laugh.gif" border="0"> You guys are so funny! Ruby did scratched and slapped Tae, you know. (shaking my heads at lil_bubble and jeh) Well, you two better brace yourself for future chapters then. I might just add in some more violent parts. <IMG SRC="smilies/evillaugh.gif" border="0"> J/K

[tweety365]

Chapter 8 - At The Hospital

Character Appearances:
Ruby Lin Xin Ru
Tae Sattawat Sethakorn as Tae Leung
Annie Man Chung Han
Kevin Cheng Ka Wing
Sunny Chan Kam Hung as Stephan Chan

The police officers were placing people on stretchers and putting them in the ambulances that were starting to fill up the parking lot. People were swarming all over the place as Tae and Ruby pushed through the crowd to reach Kevin and Annie, who were being strapped down on stretchers. With her heart pounding rapidly in her chest, Ruby worriedly scrambled over to her friend and knelt down beside the stretcher. Seeing Annie’s limp body and pale face, tears streamed down her cheeks and she started wailing at the top of her lungs. Without checking to seeing whether Annie was actually dead or not, she jumped to the conclusion that her best friend was fatally wounded.

“AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!” Ruby was hysterically clinging on to Annie’s cold hands and sobbing her eyes out. “SHE’S DEAD!! SHE’S DEAD!!! WHY, GOD, WHY?! WHAT HAS SHE EVER DONE TO DESERVE THIS?!” She tightly hugged Annie’s body and in a remorseful voice, “OH ANNIEEEEEEE, I’M SO SORRY I COULDN’T SAVE YOU! ANNIEEEEEEEEE!!! ANNIEEEEEEEEE!!!”

Tae, several police officers, and paramedics stood staring at Ruby with exasperated looks on their faces while a handful of nurses were covering their ears with their hands to block out the loud racket. Unable to stand the horrible, earsplitting screams any longer, Tae grabbed Ruby’s shoulders and gave her several hard shakes.

“Ruby! Get a grip on yourself! She’s not dead, yet. If you would shut your mouth and check her pulse, you will see that she is still alive, just knocked out from inhaling too much sleeping gas. Now, will you please shut up! You’re giving everyone a headache with that God-awful screeching.”

She instantly stopped crying to look up at Tae with puffy red eyes, a tear streaked face, and a runny nose. She started to wipe her wet cheeks with the back of her hands. “You mean, she’s going to be all right?”

“She won’t be if you continue laying on her like that,” said a male paramedic.

Ruby immediately pulled away from Annie’s body. “What’s wrong with her and all the other hostages? Why are they all unconscious?”

Stephan finally spoke up as he took off his gas mask. “We used knockout grenades to make everyone, including the hostages, unconscious so we can apprehend the armed suspects. Unfortunately we had to use a slightly high dose of sleeping gas, so some people might be knocked out for several hours. Although the gas is relatively harmless, everyone should be taken to the hospital for checkups just to be on the safe side.”

Ruby gave the paramedics a harsh frown, “Well then, what are you guys waiting for?! Didn’t you hear the man? Hurry up and get her to a hospital! Can’t you see she needs help?”

“They can’t leave with you clinging to her arm in that death grip of yours,” Tae replied dryly.

Being so distressed over her friend’s condition, Ruby was unaware that her hand was still tightly clutching Annie’s arm. She glanced down and saw that her knuckles were starting to turn white.
With an embarrassed giggle, she released her hold on Annie’s arm. “Ooooops, hehehehe.” She turned to one of the paramedics. “Could I ride in the ambulance with Annie? Please.”

“I see no harm in letting you ride with us,” said a female paramedic.

Stephan glanced over his shoulder at Tae. “I’ll drop by the hospital later on after I finish up with all the paperwork here.”

Tae gave his brother a hug. “You scared me half to death. Good thing I don’t have to witness you on your job everyday; otherwise, I’ll probably have a heart attack in a couple of weeks.”

“It doesn’t get this exciting everyday,” Stephan chuckled. “Remember, not a word of this to Mother. The less she knows, the better off our ears will be, but I’m sure she’ll probably hear enough from the news reporters anyways.”

Ruby quickly hopped in the ambulance with Annie while Tae sat next to Kevin in another ambulance.

**********

QUEEN MARY HOSPITAL

Annie was experiencing the worst headache of her life as she groggily tried to open her eyes and sit upright. Squinting her eyes against the glaring bright lights above, she managed to see white curtains and a familiar face hovering over her. Blinking several times to clear her vision, she saw Ruby’s concerned expression turned into extreme relief.

“Ruby?” Annie murmured confusedly. “So you’re dead too? Are we in heaven?”

“Don’t be silly!!!” Ruby said with a horrified wave of her hand. “Girl, you’re giving me bad luck by saying that! We are definitely not in heaven. I don’t know about you, but I plan on living for 80 more years.”

Annie was fondly smiling at her friend. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking straight. I mean, how could you possibly be admitted into heaven?” she teased. “Of course, there’s no questioning that I would be accepted, but it is highly doubtful that you can get in.”

Ruby playfully slapped Annie’s hand and pretended to be upset. “Well, I’m glad you’re still in the mood to joke around. I can’t believe I was worried sick over you and the first thing you do when you wake up is mock me.”

“Can you be mad at me later?” Annie was trying to sit up. “Help me get to the bathroom. Man, my bladder is about to explode.”

Ruby hastily helped Annie get off the bed and led her to the bathroom. A short while later, Annie was feeling much better as she sat back down on the bed, while Ruby pulled up a chair next to her.

“Phewwwww,” Annie sighed as she leaned back against a pillow. “That feels soooooo good. Oh Ruby, you have no idea how much pain I was in when they tied me up. Those damn bastards wouldn’t even let me go use the restroom!” She had a fierce glow in her eyes. “If I ever get my hands on them, I’ll rip out their hearts and make them eat their organs raw. Then I’ll have their bodies sliced into eighteen pieces and feed their flesh to the dogs!” she heatedly stated while making chopping motions with her hands.

“Do you have to be so graphic with your descriptions? You’re making me nauseous here. With your gruesome talk, people might actually think you could act on those ideas. Not everyone knows that you are too much of a wimp to do all that. I mean, you scream your head off when you see the tiniest bugs and insects.”

“I can hire someone to do the dirty jobs for me and you know darn well that bugs and insects are my second greatest fear.” Annie stuck out her tongue in disgust. “Arghhhh, just thinking about those hideous creatures gives me chills.”

“So, where were you when those men burst into the hotel? After I came out of the restroom, I saw everyone tied up, but I didn’t see you anywhere.”

Annie sighed as she made herself more comfortable on the bed. “Shortly after you left, I was eating my 10th eggroll so fast that I accidentally dropped it on the ground and it rolled under the table. Naturally, being a good guest that I am, I didn’t want to dirty the carpet, so I crawled passed the drapes and under the table to pick up my half eaten eggroll----”

“Are you sure you retrieved the eggroll because you wanted to keep the carpet clean?” Ruby questioned as she interrupted Annie. “Knowing you, it’s more likely that you wanted to finish eating it.”

Annie gave at Ruby with a peeved look. “Do you want me to continue or not?”

“Hehehe. Sorry. Go ahead.”

“Anyways, when I was about to crawl back out, I heard people screaming and yelling. Out of curiosity, I peeked out from underneath the drapes to see what was causing all the commotion and found armed, masked men pointing their guns at all the guests. That was all I saw before I hid back behind the drapes. It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t need to go to the restroom and if that nasty cockroach didn’t attack me. You should have seen it, Ruby. It was so gross and repulsive looking that I almost threw up after killing it. I swear, it was the ugliest creature I have ever seen.”

“What are you complaining about?” Ruby was sadly shaking her head. “At least you’re still alive, unlike that poor roach; killed for no apparent reason.”

“POOR ROACH?! Poor ME! I’m the one who was attacked! It kept crawling toward me and leering at me with those beady little eyes. What was I supposed to do? Let the creepy thing crawl all over me? Besides, I didn’t intentionally kill it.”

Ruby and Annie were too busy arguing with each other to notice Tae, Kevin and Stephan standing in the doorway, listening to their banter. Kevin had a weird smirk on his face and Tae appeared slightly amused. On the other hand, Stephan was occupied with a report in his hands.

“Ahem,” Kevin cleared his throat. “Do you guys always argue like this?”

Both Ruby and Annie whirled around to stare at the men.
Annie shot cold eyes on Kevin and in a sarcastic voice, “May we help you with something or are you here to haul us off to another entertaining party?”

Kevin walked over to the bed and pulled up a stool. “It really is good to see that you’ve recovered and ready to start attacking people again.”

“No thanks to you and I don’t waste my time attacking people with the morals of a bug.”

Kevin raised his eyebrows. “How do you know what kind of morals I have? You don’t know me well enough to judge me. I could be a very honest and ethical person.”

Annie demurely smiled. “Did I mention your name? I was talking about “people” in general. It seems someone knows his faults and is being way too defensive. And hell will freeze over before you become an honest and ethical person.”

Stephan glanced up from his report. “Kevin, will you please stop provoking Annie and act your age.”

“ME?!” Kevin asked, stunned. “I’m not the one throwing insults at people.”

“Yeah, Kevin, listen to the nice officer,” Annie gloated with a satisfied smile. “He’s obviously a very mature and cultured man. You could learn a thing or two from him.” She stretched out her hand and introduced herself. “Hi, I’m Annie Man, but you already know that. And you are Officer – ?”

Stephan firmly shook Annie’s hand. “Chan. Stephan Chan, but you’re welcome to call me Stephan.”

“Well, Stephan, I’d like you to meet my best friend, Ruby Lin.”

Humor lit up his eyes as he shook Ruby’s hand. “Ah, the young lady with the crisp voice, right?”

Seeing Ruby blushed with embarrassment, Stephan tried to lighten her discomfort. “Under the circumstances, I’m sure anyone could have made a misleading assumption. Plus Annie did look quite pale.”

“What assumption? What about me looking pale?” Annie grabbed her purse and pulled out a small mirror to inspect her complexion. Frowning, “I don’t look that pale. Maybe it’s the lighting in here.”

“Well, we just dropped by to see how you girls are doing,” Tae said. “Oh Ruby, remember that little terrier that followed us in the hotel?”

“Oh my gosh, I totally forgot all about her. Where is she? How is she doing?”

“An officer found her sound asleep in the room and placed her in the animal shelter one block from here. I’ll post up a notice at the hotel in case the owner shows up searching for the dog, but I doubt she belongs to anyone. She doesn’t have a collar or any identification tag.”

“Thanks. I’ll drop by the animal shelter later on to check on her.” Ruby made a mental note to visit the shelter tomorrow.

Stephan tucked his reports under his arm, “I guess we’ll be going now. You girls take care of yourselves.”

“We will.” Ruby smiled sweetly and waved bye.

Annie was still using her mirror to study her skin tone and kept turning her face back and forth. Ruby remained standing and staring after Stephan. She sighed dreamily. “Stephan is quite dashing in that police uniform, don’t you agree, Annie?”

“Yeah, a real hottie,” Annie replied without turning away from her reflection and in an indifferent voice. “Ruby, does my skin appear pasty to you?”

Ruby yanked the mirror out of Annie’s hand. “Annie, you’re not even paying attention to what I’m saying.”

“I heard you. I even agreed that Stephan’s a hottie, but you still haven’t answered my question.”

“You look fine. Beautiful as ever.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re my friend,” Annie said doubtfully.

“No, I’m saying that because I want to get out of here and return home. Now, do you want to stay here for the night or go home?”

Annie scrambled to her feet. “No need to ask me twice. Let’s get out of here. I’m bone tired. Can’t wait to get home and sleep for twelve hours straight.”

Annie asked Ruby to fill out the release form for her, while she went to pay the hospital bills. Ruby completed the forms and returned them to the nurse at the admittance area. Ruby saw Annie appeared with a gloomy face. “What’s wrong?”

They walked out of the hospital and Annie handed Ruby the bill while letting out a pitiful moan. “Just look at the amount they charged me for laying on that dinky little bed for two hours. It’s highway robbery I tell you.”

[jeh]

Yeah, a long chapter! I love long chapters. Anyway, Tae and Ruby are just so cute together. They have now officially become one of my favorite couple <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">. Hope you write more about them and Annie-Kevin, too.

[lil_bubble]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="80%" bgcolor="#dcdcdc" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" bgcolor="#DCDCDC"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><font size="1">“Stupid idiots! Trying to take advantage of a weak, innocent girl like me."
</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ahahaa... that was funny! I don't mind long chapters either. <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0">