Messages and Pictures
Inevitable Consent
Alysha's POV:
Alysha was busy simulating her new security code for mobile phone data transmission on the specific simulation tools installed on the computer in front of her while listening to her favorite Japanese group’s CD single, TOKIO, when she was abruptly disrupted by her colleague pat on the shoulder.
Removing her headphone, she asked, “Hai… Nan de?”
“Anata no keitai denwa…” her colleague, Shinji stated, pointing at her bag.
She nodded, understood what her colleague was trying to tell her. Her mobile phone might have ringed when she was listening to the CD.
“Arigatou…” she thanked Shinji before opening her bag to retrieve her mobile phone. She took out both of her phones. Looking at the screen, she noticed that she has received a message on her Nokia. Putting back her FOMA phone inside the bag, she clicked down her menu button to opened the message and read it.
The message was sent by her best friend at Malaysia reporting her about her ex-boyfriend’s engagement ceremony. She even offered to call her at Japan if she wanted to cry and expressed her frustration to her. Her best friend even joked to hire someone to attack him if she wanted to. Alysha smiled. She had forgotten to tell her best friend about the breakup. Her best friend was the best! She would do anything for Alysha and so would her.
Alysha typed her reply to her best friend telling her that she was all right and that she already knew about the engagement. She even told her about the reason of her breakup with her boy friend. Declining her best friend’s offer to attack her ex-boyfriend, she added that she appreciated her concern of her being and also for being her spy at Malaysia. After clicking the sent button, her smile faded. Looking around in the lab, she felt lonely when she didn’t have anyone to talk to about the message she had just received and what she had been through the past few days.
Fixing her sight back to her mobile phone screen, she browsed her message box and clicked on the outbox column to read some of the jokes and picture message sent by her best friend she had saved from before. She was browsing one by one, smiling at the jokes and her friend’s funny pictures, when she noticed that there are two new saved messages that came from her own phone. Alysha frowned, thinking deep and curiously.
‘When did I save two messages? How come I can’t recall them? Why did I save?’ she asked herself.
She clicked at the first text message, wondering what the content would be. Reading the first line from the message, she smiled. It was from Vic.
‘Hi! It’s me, Vic. You do still remember me, right? Just want to let you know something about me. My name is Zhou Yu Min. Vic is my English name. My friends call me Zai Zai. If you forgot, this is my phone number ###########. My birthday is on 9th June. I want present from you! Don’t forget! I’m 22 this year. Check the next message!’
Alysha clicked on the other message. This other message is a video streaming message. The message opened with Vic sitting on a bench with his back resting on the bench’s back. She could see it was the day she met him in the park to change their hand phones because of the familiar background and also his blue sweater. He was smiling broadly.
“Hi Alysha! I’m sorry for taking your phone accidentally, but I like this mix up. It let us know each other. I want to be your friend. What do you call friends from far?” Vic made his thinking expression, frowning with his lips twitching about and his eyes wanders. Then he smiled.
He continued, looking straight at the camera, “We can be pen-pal or phone-pal. You can teach me Japanese and English. Vanness always teased and laughed at me when I speak English. You know Vanness, right? Adi said, he called me and shocked to find a Japanese girl answered the phone. You’re half-Japanese. What is the other half? Contact and tell me, okay? Bye!” Vic waved to her with a grin before the message ended.
She couldn’t help smiling at the phone after watching the short message by Vic. Her colleague, Shinji, looked at her curiously.
“Alysha san, emi wa doe?” asked Shinji, shocking Alysha from her little world. She looked over to her right, at Shinji. Shaking her head, blushing and smiled sheepishly, ashamed because she was caught red-handed day dreaming and smiling to the phone, she replied short, “Nan ni mo.”
Shinji smiled understandingly, and excused himself after adding, “Koibito ne…hai, wakarimaa. Ja.”
Alysha was stunned by Shinji’s remarked. She wanted to call out to him, to explain that he was not her lover but just as a friend but she cancelled her thought when he was already far away from her. Shaking her head and smiled, she put away her phone and continued her work.
~~~*~~~*~~~
Vic's POV:
After a couple of days after his arrival back to Taiwan from Japan, Adi had asked the four of them to come over to her house to have a little celebration. The little get together will be held in the afternoon, making him having time to buy a cake for the occasion.
He arrived at Adi’s apartment at about half an hour after noon. Vic was about to ring the doorbell when he heard Adi’s scream. Panicked, he quickly turned the doorknob and to his surprised, it opened. Dashing inside to rescue Adi from whatever that made her scream, he frantically called out, “Adi! What’s wrong? Where are you?”
From behind the kitchen counter, Adi poked her head to see who called out her name. Seeing it was Vic, she came out from the kitchen wearing an apron with a big Doraemon on the front, and flashed him a sweet smile.
“Vic, you’ve came. Wow! Is that a cake? Put it in the refrigerator first so that it wouldn’t melt.”
“Adi! Why did you scream? Are you all right?” asked Vic, looking very worried and shocked at the same time seeing Adi looking absolutely fine.
“Huh? Of course I’m all right. You heard me screamed? Sorry. Is that why you looked worried? It was nothing. Actually it was all because of the man inside the kitchen! He just came in and put more salt in my crab soup!! Urgghhh… could you help me dragged him out so that he wouldn’t bother me anymore?” Adi whined, looking towards the kitchen.
Vic smiled, ‘It must be Ken. No one else can irritate her like him.’
Walking towards the kitchen to put the cake in the refrigerator, he was shocked to find the ‘man’ was actually Jerry, holding on to the spatula and stirred one of the pots on the stoves.
“Jerry? You?”
“Vic, hey come and taste this,” Jerry motioned him to go over to him and have a taste on the held out spatula.
Adi went over to Jerry, frantically looking worried, and scolded him, “Jerry! What have you done to my sweet sour sauce? Give me back that spatula!”
“Adi, I’m a great chef. Haven’t you seen me in Magic Kitchen? Even Sammi let me read her mother’s recipe book,” told Jerry, letting go of the spatula.
“That was only a movie! Vic, keep the cake and please take him out to the living room before I whacked him with a frying pan,” pleaded Adi to Vic, looking very tense and tired.
“Come on Jerry, let us leave the real chef alone to do the cooking, if not I would starve.”
Jerry smiled teasingly at Adi and left with Vic towards the living room. Vic sat on the beanbag and took the remote control on the coffee table to switch on the television. Jerry sat on the couch behind Vic, crossed leg.
“Vic, how was Japan?” said Jerry starting the conversation.
“It was lovely. Now I know why you like Japan. The spring there was beautiful. The sakura tree, the parks, the scenery was absolutely magnificent! I would surely go there again if I have the opportunity,” answered Vic with enthusiasm, looking at Jerry in a glance.
“Now, you know. That is what I’ve kept telling all of you to go there.”
“But, I have a feeling he’ll be going there again because of that girl,” a voice butted in from their back.
Vic and Jerry turned their heads to their backs. There they saw Ken and Vanness leaning at the couch with Ken’s hands on Vanness’s shoulder, smiling.
“When did the two of you come in? ” asked Jerry.
“We just came and heard about Vic’s wishes to go back to Japan. It seems someone has forgotten to close back the door . However, I do agree with Ken. The reason Vic wanted to go there again in the future would probably because of the girl. So, how was she? Pretty? Ugly? Or pretty ugly?” Vanness said, with a teased tone in his voice and grinned.
“Ken? Vanness? You’re here? Good! Come and help me take these dishes out to the table and the other two, cleaned up the table and lay out the plates and the other apparatus,” yelled Adi from within the kitchen.
“She really has rubbed in with Ken’s ‘motherly’ attitude. Is she getting ready to be a wife and a mother? Ken?” whispered Vic to the other three, especially pinpointing it to Ken.
“Why do you ask me? Ask her yourself.”
“Do you want me to get beat up? No, thanks. I prefer you to be the one,” expressed Vic, glad by Adi’s sudden intervention and that they have moved the conversation to another topic.
All four of them quickly did what they have been told but Vic, like always, managed to run away from his duty by giving an excuse to go to the toilet. After everything has been laid out, Adi came out from the kitchen to seat on the table and start to scooped rice into her own bowl when she accidentally knocked something off the table. She put down the bowl and bent down under the table to pick the thing up.
When she rose back up, her face was all excited and beamed out. Ken, Vanness and Jerry looked at her curiously.
“Oh no! Something under the table has swapped out Adi with a mad, identical Adi,” teased Vanness, chuckling at the look on Adi’s face.
Adi quickly pouted at Vanness, disliked by his teased of her. Looking over at Ken on her right and back to Jerry in front of her, her face lit up again. Something mischievous shown on her face.
“What is it? Stop looking like that! Tell us!!” Ken urged her to speak up.
Without saying a word, Adi looked over at her back, towards the toilet’s direction before looking back at the three curious guys and motioned them to get closer to her before showing the thing on her palm. It was Vic’s mobile phone.
“That’s Vic’s phone. What was so unusual about that?” sighed Vanness, disappointed with the sudden let down.
Adi ignored his remarks and turned the mobile phone backwards. Pointing on a sticker pasted at the back of the phone, she eagerly said, “Look at this.”
The other three gathered around Adi to have a good look on what she was showing them. Jerry smiled and shook his head while Ken looked over at Vanness and laughed their heart out.
Translations:
- ‘Alysha san, emi wa doe?’ – Alysha, why do you smile?
- ‘Nan ni mo.’ – Nothing.
- ‘Koibito ne… hai, wakarimaa. Ja.’ – Your lover, right? I understand. Bye.’
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