Chapter 3

 A Serenade of Sorts

“!” Ella cried as she braked immediately in the middle of a four-way intersection, having the cars passing by nearly run her over.

Of all things she had worried about and dreaded, she had forgotten to consider New York City’s horrid traffic. This was definitely one part of the city that Ella didn’t appreciate too much. The honking and mad-driving was driving her adrenaline to the limit.

But after hours of honking through a sea of mad-men, she’d finally arrived at the ‘Ivy Complex’, an apartment complex located comfortably in the middle of Manhattan and on the corner of Park Avenue. That’s where Selina had said to find her.

“Ooh! Ella!” Selina opened the door, flustered and hair sopping wet. Clearly, she had just stepped out of the shower and was panting like mad, “I was just washing up and--was--gonna--get--Heb--”

Her voice trailed away as footsteps approached from behind her. In the shadows stood a woman with shoulder-length black hair and a rather mousey expression on her face.

“Hebe.” Ella breathed, knowing quite well that Hebe would not be so happy to see her after four years of an unintended silent treatment.

And sure enough, she wasn’t. Hebe folded her arms, her lips pursing and then proceeded with her verbal explosion of words right in Ella’s face, “WOMAN. Where exactly have you been in the past FOUR years of our lives?! No contact? No calls? No letters or emails?! NO NOTHING.”

“Hebe, I--”

“NO EXCUSES, WOMAN. You deliberately ditched us. I mean, I understand if you were escaping from the wraths of your family or running away from clingy boyfriends--but I don’t remember you having one at the time--or looking for more educational opportunities in another country but--”

“Hebe, I’m really, really sorry. Look, I--”

“We were three best friends, since forever ago! And you had to ruin it by leaving the two of us behind, confused and uninformed AND--”

 “Hebe, just drop it. Ella’s back. We’re friends, remember? Faults forgiven,” Selina shooed the argument away and waved her two friends inside.

“Sisters, actually,” Hebe retorted as she trolled inside, her expression softened but still brimmed with anger, “We were that close.”

“Wives, actually,” Ella corrected as she was dragged inside the apartment complex, frowning at the realization of what she had missed out on in the years of a lost friendship, “I don’t think a sorry really works for what I’ve done. You don’t have to forgive m--”

“Okay okay, you guys thoroughly missed each other as did I. Now let’s hug and make up,” Selina suggested warmly, as diplomatic as possible.

Hebe put her hands on her hips and withdrew a sharp sigh, “Fine, I admit it. I missed you. A lot.”

---

“Dang, you’re place is so big…” Ella commented in awe once she toured the inside of the living headquarters, after the potentially explosive Hebe was calmed following a rather ‘civil’ discussion on the front doormat of the apartment.

“Big? Big? This apartment complex is one of the smallest ones in Manhattan! Granted, it is considerably big for an apartment, but we pay big bucks every month for this! If only we could find another roommate from our hospital or something…but the idea of living with Rainie or Ida already gives me migraines,” Hebe sighed dramatically, letting herself sink into the cushion beneath her, “And speaking of bills, the hospital has been extremely stingy with us residency trainees, so our salaries can barely suffice the living standards here in Manhattan…”

Ella began thoughtfully, “Well, maybe you could rent an apartment outside of the Manhattan district…maybe in Bronx or Brooklyn or something. I’m sure the apartments are cheaper there.”

“Not a chance. Ella, during the time you’ve spent in Russia, you have clearly forgotten the most infamous thing about New York City,” Hebe tutted in mock disapproval, “traffic.”

“What Hebe means is...traffic is horrid around here and residency students are required to live near the hospital due to the constant emergency calls we get in the middle of the night, so commuting everyday from Bronx to Manhattan is not practical. Plus, Bronx is definitely not much cheaper,” Selina had hurried into the living room, a tray of tea cups propped up in one hand and a kettle in the other.

“Actually, I was just in the traffic this morn--” Ella began.

“--want some tea?” Selina interrupted, pushing the pot of hot tea across the coffee table, “I know you like green tea but I’ve only got lemongrass and rosehips flavors left…”

Selina’s voice was quickly drowned by a banshee-like honking noise coming from outside the window. A series of chaotic sounds followed. Hebe promptly got up, stomped towards the window, slammed it shut, walked back to the couch, and proceeded to sulk on the couch, groaning, “I can’t wait till I finish up with these three years of residency and get out of this freaking annoying city. Ithaca was loads quieter.”

“The city’s alright,” Selina replied, always being the reasonable one.

“Only for people who have shopping and night life on their mind,” Hebe snapped, “for people who’d like some peace and quiet for once, this place .”

Hebe had always been the skeptical one. She was reasonable, no doubt, but skeptical to the point where she seemed cynical at times. After all, studying medicine had never been her dream. It was something her parents had urged her to pursue and so, out of being realistic, having exceptionally high grades and having Selina alongside her also being qualifying factors, she had agreed with their decision.

She had always wanted to delve in novel-writing and journalism, but because the idea had not received such popular approval from reality, she pushed her interests aside and it soon became a side-job, a serious hobby. She’d taken up a part time job with the local newspaper company and spent her break time plotting and writing her novels.

But all the same, through the years, she had found practicality in medicine. It guaranteed a stable career, it allowed a stable life, and even gave her irregular free time to relax with her friends, as she was doing right now, but was not being an active participant due to her lack of sleep the previous morning.

It took her awhile to catch onto the bits and pieces of Selina’s long explanations to Ella on their lives in the past decade,“--No, we did stay in New York City for undergrad, but Hebe and I moved to Ithaca’s Cornell University to get our M.D…Ithaca’s four hours away from the city, so it’s really peaceful and quiet. Quite boring, actually.”

“It was not boring,” Hebe interrupted, explaining her view of the humanity-withdrawn town of Ithaca for what seemed like the thousandth time, “it gave you a chance to concentrate on things that were actually important.”

“You can’t even find a job or internship there! You live next to the waterfall as if Cornell is going to be your long-term retirement home!” Selina sighed, her tone rather bland as she had this conservation with Hebe many, many times before.

“Speaking of which, I need a job,” Ella sighed, “To pay for Cammie’s medical bills AND to get medical insurance, I need to take up a proper job, not just the performance one at Carnegie.”

Ella really felt as if she had grown decades older. Childhood seemed so far away already, but she remembered when she was Cammie’s age; her parents would worry about medical insurance whenever her dad had been laid off from a job. Little did she know that the problems would enter her life so soon.

“Me too,” Selina agreed, stuffing a biscuit into , “the hospital isn’t paying me enough to afford my living expenses… and my sister’s, who’s basically on welfare.”

“But you’re a doctor,” Ella emphasized the latter word, disgruntled, “you’ll be earning a fortune soon enough--”

“Not when I keep getting invited to weddings and going broke buying hundreds of dollars worth of gifts every time,” Selina leaned back in the couch, tossing her handbag aside, “Weddings are lovely and everything but the cost of it all is really taking away from my budget.”

“Come work at The New York Times with me, then,” Hebe smirked, “I’m sure the three of us will have loads of fun there.”

Selina crinkled her nose, “Eww, no way. I’m staying away from newspapers of any kind, if I can help it. But anyways, you guys sit and chat. My next surgery shift is starting in approximately 13 minutes and 35 seconds. You think I can make it and finish up in time for my date with Calvin?”

“If you run,” Hebe suggested.

“And I shall,” Selina grabbed her coat and dashed out the door.

`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.`.

The night was cool, a swirl of the last winter winds settling throughout the seaside. Selina could see the Boston Harbor beyond her window. Just one week earlier, it had been her first day of residency, a day riddled with errands and reunions and havocs having something to do with fish fillets and morning surgeries.

In so little time, so much had happened.

“What’s on your mind, Selina?” a calm, male voice flowed into her thoughts as the man took a seat across from her.

“Oh nothing really…I was just thinking of life… in general, I suppose,” her eyes shifted its gaze toward the water fountain beyond her, "I feel like it’s changing, somehow,”

“I was thinking that too, actually,” Calvin Chen, her boyfriend of two years, replied smoothly. The man was rather tall and lean with wispy black hair and almond shaped eyes. His presence was, sure enough, alluring not only to Selina but also to those around her. And that didn’t bother Selina a bit. It only made Selina smile more and more every time.

Selina looked up in surprise at his response, “Really? Life is changing for you too?”

“It might. Life’s direction is guided purely by one’s actions,” Calvin mused, “and choices.”

“That’s true,” Selina nodded airily, thoughts drifting. In a date with him, nothing could go wrong-- there was only agreement and only laughter. The two crossed each other’s paths in perfect harmony, stepping not even a beat behind the other. And in the perfection of it all, she thought that she’d find beauty.

“Selina, I have something for you,” he reached into his pocket, pulled out a black, velvet box and pushed it across the table to her.

“A ring…what is this for?” Selina said, almost whispering.

“Take a guess, Sel,” Calvin leaned towards her, his elbows resting easily on the table.

“Well…It can be for marriage proposals…” Selina pondered, her heart beat accelerating at an irritatingly loud rate that made it hard for her to think straight.

“And it is.”

It hadn’t gone any simpler. Calvin had taken her to the Boston harbor for dinner, proposed to her less than an hour into dinner, and now, she was expected to give a ‘simple’ answer back. But Selina had remained startlingly silent.    

“…so what is your answer?” His voice had gone a bit hoarse.

“There wouldn’t be any reason to say no,” Selina finally murmured, a smile etching across her face.

Just like that, she had become engaged-- he the fiancé and she the fiancée, surrounded by soft melodies and a serenade of sorts. And in an evanescent rush, the coolness and uncertainty of the night had vanished, leaving only warmth that Selina could feel and touch and see.

There had been worries and concerns and broken promises yet to be fixed, of which Selina had pondered twice more. But in the imperfection of her life, she had found some sort of beauty. She could only think of that beauty and nothing more.

Because, to Calvin, she was a fiancée and nothing less.

Life was changing, she knew. She was getting married, Selina mused.

Other than the engagement party at the end of the month, he didn’t want to make any wedding plans yet, Calvin had rushed to explain. And Selina was okay with that.

He wanted to wait a year before they had the wedding. Selina was okay with that, too.

He didn’t want to tell his parents just yet about the engagement. Selina was okay with that as well, and ever so grateful as she was not yet ready for such a confrontation.

They nodded and agreed and smiled and did not argue. And amidst the nods and ‘yes’s, perfection lingered in the air.

A/N: Please Read and Review! I love more feedback as to how I'm progressing with the story. This chapter was a bit short, more of a filler chapter than anything else. I promise there'll be Chun/Ella interaction in the next chapter! :)

Also, this story has switched its site on winglin! It's now officially http://winglin.net/fanfic/blackestdawn01/

Check it out and comment/review/critique please!

Btw, Amoretti's Reviews Service will be back in service on the 24th!

-Amoretti