Sonnet II

When forty winters shall beseige thy brow,

And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,

Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now,

Will be a tatter'd weed, of small worth held:

Then being ask'd where all thy beauty lies,

Where all the treasure of thy lusty days,

To say, within thine own deep-sunken eyes,

Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise.

How much more praise deserved thy beauty's use,

If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of mine

Shall sum my count and make my old excuse,'

Proving his beauty by succession thine!

This were to be new made when thou art old,

And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold.

 

~William Shakespeare

Vivienne

 

     Lightning cracks the noonday sky into pieces. The darkness of the sky and furious movements of the wind and clouds give off a frighteningly eerie feeling; as if today would be the day that the world could all come crashing down. Vivienne Stratford is not fond of this type of weather and she hates that she has to navigate from her car to her work in it. If it weren't for the fact that she had to be at work today of all days, she would have stayed home and finished reading her new novel, this would be the perfect day for it. There was nothing like being cocooned in a nice blanket with huddle up with a good book as the rain fell, even with the thunder and lightning, providing a relaxing soundtrack to rest too. The only thing better than that was falling asleep to the sound of the rain.

Looking up at the sky in wonder and with some trepidation, she checks once more to make sure her rain boots and raincoat were on properly before she exits her vehicle. Popping the truck she grabbed the bags off the floor of the passager side, then exits her Honda quickly and retrieves the box that she needed the most from the trunk. She clumsily shuts the trunk's door and fumbles her way into the building. Once inside she sighs with relief.  I made it! She thinks with a small sense of satisfaction. One hurdle crossed! Onward to the next one!

Vivienne, called Vi by her family, friends, and coworkers, is a third-grade teacher at Avondale Academy. Avondale is located in a suburban neighborhood outside of Los Angeles. The school is a two story elegant mansion that was the home of Lucida Avondale, a deaf socialite that lived in it during the early years of the 1900s. After the death of Lucida’s only child, the last surviving Avondale descendant, the estate was converted from a stately mansion into a school as Josef Avondale’s will had dictated. The first pre-k to the 12-grade private school of its kind the in the state of California and quite possibly in the United States. What made this school so unique was that it was a school entirely devoted to the cultivation of deaf and blind children grounded in a global/international teaching style with educational styles inspired by Japan, Germany, France, and the Netherlands for its academic programs. Avondale was a beacon of hope to parents and guardians of hearing impaired and blind children in that it offered the opportunity for their children to become productive citizens of the world that they may not otherwise have.

Vi was introduced to the school seven years ago just as she was completing her Masters in Special Education from The State University of New York. She had been finishing up her student teaching assignments in a local PS close to her parents’ home when her academic advisor at SUNY had given her an informational packet on Avondale. That informational packet changed Vi’s life. She knew that Avondale was where she was needed. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to work within the public school system in New York because she had. It was the only system that she knew. She had been educated herself in its walls, she understood it and she had been trained to teach in the system for the past seven years. But Avondale, even from the brochure felt like home. Why? Because she was deaf too. Profoundly deaf. She was all too familiar with the silence, well at least in those moments when her mind could shut the hell up.

After graduating with her Master’s in Education, Vivienne took her first ever trip out to LA and interviewed for the job as a teacher here at the Academy. Obviously getting it, she had packed up what had been her entire life into plain cardboard boxes into a U-Haul trailer. And with her parents, they went on their first ever cross country driving road trip. Just thinking of those two weeks brought a smile to her face. It was like no experience she had ever had up to that point. There had been many stops and plenty of pictures and lots of adventures (some quite ridiculous) to ease the pain of leaving her parents behind in Gotham City.  She was born and bred to be a New Yorker so there were times where she wondered if she could handle living this thing called “the California lifestyle”. Yet after seven years now on her own in California she felt she was just beginning to get the hang of it.

After cleaning her waterlogged glasses, she takes in her surroundings standing just inside Avondale’s doors. It’s the week before the new school year starts and she notices that the walls have been freshly painted over the break. They were now a new bright, happy, blue color. Down the hall, she sees the school's handyman/janitor stenciling on the walls what appears to be the makings of a scene for a vibrant garden. Nodding her head in greeting as she passes she makes her way to her classroom, her second home.

She knew that if she set her mind to it she could get her room 90% ready before classes started in just a few hours instead of a whole afternoon. Vi loved getting her room together and getting ready for the school year. Honestly, she was one of those freakish kids that had always loved school, getting that fresh new book bag, books, pencils, and notebooks. Butterflies always migrated to her stomach the week before school. She had once told her mother that it always felt like the anticipation and excitement of a new school year would overwhelm her, and it always did because she could never fall asleep the night before the first day of school. She would lay in bed with her eyes wide open as feelings of excitement and anxiety flooded her body. The only thing that seemed to keep her together was her skin. And getting her room ready for the new school year was just the same for her as when she was a student anticipating the first day of class, including the sleepless night before the first day of classes.

          Setting her belongings down on the floor outside her classroom door, she rummages in her messenger bag in search of her room key that she had picked up from Principal Roberts just the other day. After a few seconds, she pulls it out. At the end of the keyring, there is a small gray bear with the number two on the back and the name JETER embroidered above it. It quietly declared her devotion to the New York Yankee's captain, one of her favorite baseball players. Opening the door she flicks on the lights then picks up her things and fully enters the room.

                The walls of her classroom have been painted as well, however, the walls are not the blue color like in the hallway but a calming lavender color. Her favorite color. Taking off her raincoat and laying it on top of her desk, she pushes her shirt sleeves up and and gets to work hanging her new pictures, posters, rearranging the furniture to work with her teaching style and getting her animal wildlife (zoo) corner ready; The actual animal inhabitants weren't arriving until the day before school.

After working for about two hours and nearly completing all the tasks she had in mind to do that today, she sat on the wood floor to rest a minute. Just as her back muscles were beginning to relax Vi's phone vibrated in her pocket. Pulling her hair into a ponytail onto the top of her head she pulled the phone from her jeans pocket to see who it was.

 

Kasey568L:

Tell me you are not bailing on me tonight?

Vi4Vendetta1458:

Of course not!!! I thought about it this morning but I promised you I would be there and I will. You're one of my closest friends. Why would I bail on you on such an important night?!?!

 

Kasey 568L:

You better! This is one of the most important nights of my life…

I love you.

Vi4Vendetta1458:

Yeah, Yeah! I cannot wait to meet her friends. Looking forward to tonight!

I’ve never been to a mixed bachelor/bachelorette party…It seems kind of… weird…

 

Kasey568L:

Not you too?! My sisters have been having a fit since we began planning this.

 

Vi4Vendetta1458:

I’m cool with it…but knowing your sisters are upset because there will be no strippers at the party just makes me laugh. lol

 

Kasey568L:

Why don’t they understand that strippers are SOOO 1996? And I don’t want my fiancée looking at another man.

Vi4Vendetta1458:

Maybe because they had their showers in 1996. Don’t worry I will be there.

 

Kasey568L:

And dress Y!! Jenny said that Anais has some really cute guys friends that will be there!

 

Why does Kae have to remind me of that? He knows how I get nervous meeting new people. Ugh!

 

Vi4Vendetta1458:

Whatever Bye!

Kaesey568L:

Chicken! Laters.

 

               Vi locked her phone and put it into her pocket. After stretching her body some more she thought about tonight. She was looking forward to her college buddy's bachelor party. Well, his and his fiancee's party (so would you call it a bachelorette/bachelor party?). Vi wasn't quite sure what you would call it. But Kasey's fiancee's, Anais, had invited her guests and Kasey had invited his, which of course included her. Vivienne had grown to love meeting new people, so of course, she was looking forward to tonight even though she had no clue as to what she was going to wear. And should she take Kasey’s advice and dress y? As she was contemplating that very topic, her phone vibrated in her pocket again.

 

AnaisCK:

Thank goodness you are coming! I was worried Kasey just texted me!

 

Vi4Vendetta1458:

Why are you guys worried? Everything will be fine.

AnaisCk:

I am not so much worried about Kasey and his friends and family. I am worried about mine!! Do you know how people act when they meet people who are different you know? I don't want things to get weird, awkward...or worse they have a confrontation!

 

Vi4Vendetta1458:

Why would you think that there would be a confrontation? I mean it will be awkward for a while, but that’s to be expected.

 

AnaisCk:

You haven't met my Uncle Benjie...he's not open-minded at all...and that is putting it nicely. Especially when he is drinking.

 

Vi4Vendetta1458:

No matter what I got your back. Just enjoy it. It is your night, don't worry about anyone else. Fighting!!! You know I had to throw that in there LOL

 

AnaisCk:

hahaha! You've been watching too many K-dramas! I gotta go. I will see you tonight!! <3

 

Vi4Vendetta1458:

Laters!

 

After calming her friend down, V shrugged off the thought about what she was going to wear and Anais’s fears about being surrounded by cute and y men and being a geeky social awkward person, basically reliving her high school life and finished putting her room together.

 

@#%@#%

          

Jae

 

Jae Seong was soaked to the bone. He was having the worst day. He had woke up late this morning even after going to bed super early the night before. The second bad thing that happened to him today was his ex-wife showing up at his work. After a bitter divorce five years ago Jaehad hoped that he would not have to see Min again so soon. But there she was, sitting in his office as if she had every right to be there. When in reality she had thrown away all rights and claims she had to him six years before. It had taken every ounce of willpower not to throw the woman on her outside on the sidewalk into the torrential rainstorm.   

Jae is the owner of YB Motorsports, an automotive restoration and collision repair company. It is THE elite auto restoration of its kind in the city. Being the owner and boss of his own company he knew that it wasn’t a big deal that he was late for work, he could set his hours as he liked when he liked, that was one perk of being a boss. But that wasn’t in Jae’s nature. He was an overachiever, the first one to be there and the last one to leave. And some days he never left staying overnight at the garage, which was why he had gone to bed so early last night. He had spent the last 8 days pulling 14-hour shifts at YB. It was the last dog days of summer, the school would be starting in about two weeks, so a lot of the guys that had kids were taking their families on family vacations before the summer ended. Jae had worked it out so that the vacations staggered the last remaining weeks of summer so he wouldn’t be too short-handed; however, he hadn’t counted on a small epidemic of summer flu cases to run through the city. And it had hit YB Automotive hard. Hence the 14 hours shifts lately.

Jae hadn't minded. Actually, it was reminiscent of his first days starting the business out of his parent's garage in Koreatown when it was just him. Now it was a 50 employee operation with him opening another garage in Santa Ana next year if all went according to plan.

Yet, at the moment Jae did mind, because of the lack of workers he was stuck out in this hellish rainstorm in one of his tow trucks helping to tow a 2014 Lamborghini that had been involved in an accident. His rain gear wasn’t helping any in keeping the rain off him as he carefully hooked the vehicle to his tow truck. Jae shook his head at the sight of the severely dented import. LA drivers. Jae scoffed. They were almost as bad as South Korean drivers.

After securing the car, Jaehopped back into the truck and started it up. He took a moment to grab the towel that he had the foresight to bring with him and wipe his hair and face. Checking to make sure that it was clear to merge back into traffic he begins the 45-minute drive back to his shop. Another thing that he could live without, crazy traffic. There was nothing that he could do about it so he just sat back, the radio and relaxed.

Jae contemplated his day. It wasn’t even 2 p.m. yet but he felt completely drained. His phone beeped alerting him to an incoming text message. It was from his mom.

 

Mom: Hey Baby! How has your day been? I missed you. Why haven’t you called me lately? Have you forgotten about me?  

 

Jae smiled at the message. His mom was the most important woman in his life, there was no way that he could or would ever forget her.

 

Me: No mom, been busy with work. I will call you tomorrow. Is that okay?

Mom:  Why can’t you call me now? Are you texting me now, right? So you must have time to talk.

Me: I’m out on the road, so I cannot talk now. I’m stuck in traffic. And I’m not in the best mood right now.

Mom: what happened?

 

Jae paused for a moment then decided to be truthful.

 

Me: Min came back

 

For a couple of minutes, there was no reply. Then his mother replied.

 

Mom: Did you at least talk to her? She is a sweet girl. I never understood why you two separated. You need to stop being selfish and fix your marriage.

 

Jae sighed and tossed his phone back onto his dashboard rubbing his hands over his face in frustration. He didn’t know why he felt compelled to mention Hyo Rin to his mother. They weren’t separated they were DIVORCED. However, his Korean mother didn’t believe in divorce and as far as she was concerned this was just a bump his and Hyo-Rin marriage. And being a good Korean son he did not have the heart to tell his mother that she was wrong.

   Jae was born in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea which means nothing to anyone born outside South Korea. At the age of 15, he and his father and mother moved to the States from Korea due to his father’s job. His elder brother Hyun Bae, who was 20, stayed in Korea since he was in college there. They had settled into Koreatown in Los Angeles and for the first month, Jae had been homesick. He missed his older brother a lot as they were extremely close, he had no friends at his high school and he knew no English at all. On that point, his parent was struggling as well. It wasn’t until another student transferred to his school by the name of Hyun-Jin Kwon who went by the nickname Jin that things began to turn around. They were both assigned to the same ESL beginner class and were ESL lab partners.

It was Jin that help to pull Jae from the depths of depression, exposing him to Hip hop, and connecting him to some of the other ESL classmates. For the rest of high school, because of Hyun-Jin he had a crew of friends and they made life in LA fun and his home. By the time his father’s company was ready to transfer them back to Korea Jae decided he wanted to stay, much to his mother’s dismay.

Jae had changed while he was in America, at least that was his mother’s opinion. Jae hadn't really changed. Well...outwardly he had since he dressed like a hip-hopper (at one time even sporting cornrows). He had a penchant for wearing thick masculine rope silver and gold chains and at the age of 18 got his first tattoo and the second one when he was 23. On the inside, he was still the sweet and energetic person who loved animals and was gentle as he was kind, but he had become more American than his mother liked and it seemed to her the 17 years he had lived in America hadn’t done him any good. Otherwise, why would he divorce his sweet Korean wife? “Americans divorced at an obscene rate and had no appreciation for marriage it seemed”, at least that was Mrs. Seong’s opinion.

Jae felt more drained thinking about his failed marriage. It also reminded him of the invitation to Anais’s pre wedding party or whatever it was called. He was happy that Anais, a high school friend, was getting married but it reminded him that he was alone. As far as his romantic life went, this wasn’t what he had planned. He was 40 years old. He was supposed to be married and have three kids by now with a wife that smiled at him when he came home from a long day at work. But that was the funny thing about life, no matter how you much you work and plan it, it could all blow up in your face. Jae was still waiting for God to explain why that part of his life hadn’t worked out.

Jae just decided to leave it alone and so he just did not answer his mother’s text.

   Pulling into the garage he parked the truck. Rudy, one of his mechanics came out to greet him.

   “Hey boss, man is it killer out there.”

   “No kidding, Any problems while I was gone," Jae asked.

   “Nope, it's been real quiet. Thankfully.”

   “Good. Unhook the car and do a diagnostic to see what is damaged internally. I need a write up as soon as possible, Mr. Lamborghini will be here in the morning for the estimates for his insurance claim’ Jae turned to walk away. “I’ll be in my office if you need me.”

   “Sure thing boss.”

   Jae walked through the shop floor and up the flight of stair to the far left in the shop to his office that overlooked his shop floor. Closing the door and pulling the shades down he flopped down on his sofa and laid out on his stomach. He hadn’t bothered to even take off his wet raincoat. His recently bleached colored blond hair fell over his eyes. As he closed his eyes he mentally ran through the things that he needs to do before he calls it a day. After thinking it over he decides that he will skip Anais’s bachelor thingy and just hit the sack early again tonight.

Right at that moment, his cell phone rang. Without looking at it, he answered.

“Hello?”

“You are not thinking of ditching me tonight are you?”

Anais. How the hell had she been able to read my mind?

“Ummm…”

“JAE!!!”

Jae pulled the phone away from his ear. Sitting up he shook his head and briefly wondered if he had incurred some hearing damage from the sheer volume of her voice at that moment.

   “I swear Jae if you do not show up tonight I will never forgive you.”

   “Dramatic much Anais? Besides, you will be too busy staring into Kasey’s eyes to even care if I am there or not.”

   “Not true!” Anais paused for a moment. “It has been five years Jae. It's time that you move on. Min is not worth holding on to the pain” Anais' voice softened in concern. “And besides my party will be the perfect place to meet her.”

   “Her who?”

   “Her as in your soulmate.”

   Jae laughs at that comment. He had long ago given up on THAT idea.

   “Yeah, sure. How likely is it that you will hunt me down if I don’t show up?’

   “Extremely likely. So I will expect you at 7. Okay? Good. I’m glad we had this conversation. I gotta go! Tons of thing to do! Toddles!”

   “Ana---” the dial tone rings int Jae’s ears. Hanging his head in defeat he realizes it was still going to be a long day.

  

 

@$@$@$

 

Vivienne

 

It was around 5:00 p.m. when Vi finally made it back to her condo in Venice Beach. After finishing up her classroom she had had to drive back to Venice in the afternoon traffic which was a slight nightmare. At least it wasn't raining at that point. The one thing that Vi did not like about California, was the traffic; especially LA traffic. You would think after living in NYC almost all my life that I was being used to crowded roadways, she thought as she snagged a parking space. But she never had. Vivienne liked her space and was sometimes claustrophobic when people were crunched up on top of each other. It felt like everyone was up all the oxygen and she wouldn't be able to get any. Although she was born and raised in the Big Apple, she quickly realized she did not have to live there. Her family liked to that she wasn't a real Stratford because all her family members on both her mother's and father's sides where die-hard New Yorkers; they believe there was no better place to be born or to die and if whatever a person thought they needed wasn't in NYC you really didn’t need it.

She soon entered her condo and preceded to get ready for the party; starting with a soothing bath. Dressing for this party was beginning to stress her out. Putting her eyeglasses back on she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. The sight that reflected back at her threatened to send her into a deep depression and a gallon of chunky monkey ice cream. And a major part of the reason is due to her weight. Which meant she couldn’t and shouldn’t go diving into a gallon of chunky monkey right now.

At 5 feet 4 inches and coming in at 203 lbs (when she weighed herself four months ago) all her clothes were beginning to get tighter, an indication that she had gained more weight. She was now terrified of getting on the scale. All Vi wanted to do was a flop on the floor and cry. She almost did until she reminds herself that she would mess up my makeup and she did not have time for that. Anais and Kasey are counting on her.

One small ray of hope was that she had already signed up for that fancy gym membership her neighbor convenience her to sign up for and her first day was the next day. After being overweight all her life she was tired of being winded when she wanted to play a sport or walk up a flight of stairs or even worry about how she looked in an outfit. Or be in front of a lover.This was actually a major step for her to even sign up for a gym membership and frankly, that terrified her too. So many fears were dominating her brain that it was almost driving her insane. But that fear was forcibly pushed back, she had to deal with today and finding an outfit that fit and was still cute. An impossible mission it seemed.

After switching outfits for the 7th time she settles on a pair of royal blue pants with a white wrap type shirt that had a keyhole opening at the top that camouflaged her thicker waist. She pairs it with some y killer leopard heels with the matching purse. She turned and looked at herself from all angles and she felt good about what was reflected back at her. She was already starting to feel a little better. It's amazing what a well put together an outfit, no matter how simple, can boosts a woman’s confidence.

Now that she is finally dressed and makeup is on point, she begins to take down her Bantu knots that she had worn all day. They were finally dry. Vi loved her hair, after many many years of having a love/hate relationship with it. Vi was finally at the stage where her hair was now a more accurate reflection of who she really was and she embraced the reflection.

Three years ago Vi had made the drastic and dramatic decision to cut off all of her hair. She had completely shaved her head bald.  She had gone through a very hurtful breakup that had left her emotionally scarred and she had felt she needed a change, both inside and outside. So why not cut off her waist-length chemically straightened hair.  Hair that had taken 10+ years to grow to the length that it had been. And one of her prettiest features, if she believed what her ex-boyfriends said.

Of course, a lot of people were shocked to see her sporting so short of a hairstyle and that it wasn’t the culturally acceptable mainstream straight hair. But for years Vi had been entranced by stars like Lauren Hill, Solange Knowles, Kim Wayans, and Esperanza Spalding and the embracing of their natural hair and having the confidence to wear it in its natural state. As a plain unexotic black girl, she never felt she could wear her hair that way. Vivienne wasn’t Dominican, or Puerto Rican or even Jamaican. The Stratford’s were just plain boring black people with no traces of even Native American blood in the family tree so for the longest time she felt that she couldn’t wear her hair natural, and growing up having natural hair was not an option. It was considered to be too unmanageable, unattractive and just too much of a hassle. At most all she knew that would be coming out her head would be fluffy cotton. But it would be her cotton and no one else's.

As Vi continued to slowly undo the Bantu knots taking them down, she took the time to love and appreciate her hair; the texture of it, the softness and of the versatility of it. Her hair, when stretched, was now to her shoulders so she could do a little bit more with it and she was loving the curls that the Bantu knots give her hair without the heat. When she had separated and fluffed the curls to her heart's content, she takes in the vision that is her and genuinely smiles at herself.  She may not be model thin, may never be and have the eyesight of a mole without her glasses or no longer have the silky straight hair that so many men love but she was slowly allowing who she really is to show through. And she looked pretty damn awesome if she said so.

After switching her items from her current purse to the leopard clutch she came upon her cochlear implant piece. it for a few seconds she put it in the clutch. Maybe she would put it on when she arrived at Kasey and Anais’s party.  Finally ready to depart she smiles one more time at her reflection, blowing a kiss at herself and off she went.

 

@$@$@

 

Jae

 

   Jae pulled up into the driveway of Anais Ceniza’s bachelorette party. Actually, the party was a joint one, her fiancé Kasey and Anais. Jae had never been to a joint bachelor party and he was not sure how you would host one. So this would be interesting.

       The party was being held at the estate of Kasey. The house is a massive mansion that was built with the intention of being used to host extravagant parties and events. And the gardens that surrounded it was just as impressive. Pulling into the circular drive Jae was met by a young Hispanic valet.

"Good evening, sir. May I see your invite?" Jae pulled the invitation from his inside blazer pocket. Passing it to the valet, he looked at then gave it back.  "Very good sir, pull up behind that valet there." Jae nodded his head and did as requested. He was impressed, the valets were handling this like it like a five-star hotel or restaurant. Passing his keys to the parking valet he was given a ticket.

   The party appeared to be in full swing and more cars were arriving as he made it to the front entryway. As he was climbing the steps he recognized a familiar figure.

    "Jae!" Hyun-Jin turns towards Jae's voice. "I thought you weren't coming!" They shared an elaborate handshake in greeting.

         "Anais called me" Hyun-Jin answers,  lifting an eyebrow. He didn't need to say more. At least I wasn't the only one who got guilted into making sure I came. To be honest they hadn't been guilted just forcefully reminded of the commitment they had made.

     "Why would you bail? You know how the rich and famous are, heck you are one of them." Jae snorted.

    "I'm new wealth. Not old. Believe it or not, there is a difference." Hyun-Jin pushed the doorbell to announce their arrival. Before Jaecould comment the door swung open and they were greeted by Anais and Kasey.

   Anais Ceniza is a cute, bouncy, bubbly, Filipina woman with her hair done in a chic deliberate messy bun. Her eyes were bright with happiness and a smile gracing her full lips as she recognized the two beautiful men at the front door.

   “Jae and Jin! you made it!” She giddily grabs their wrists dragging them inside over the threshold “You’ve earned gold stars.” Anais looked over at Kasey who was greeting another one of their recently arrived guests making the three of them part a group that could be considered the final arrives. “Of course I should have known that you would be fashionably late.”  

   “Is there any other way to arrive at a party?” Hyun-Jin smirked.

   Jae smirks at Hyun-Jin’s audaciousness.

   Anais ignored Hyun-Jin for a moment as she turned to see who the latest arrivals are. Kasey silently beckoned the person in behind Hyun-Jin and Jae. Jae turns to watch in curiosity as well.

   A young black woman appears and Jae soon realizes that she barely stands at 5’8 thanks to her four-inch heels; her makeup is flawless. Her weight falls on the plump side but her chic outfit camouflages it well. As Jae observes her he realizes that she has not said one word in greeting yet. Then it dawns on him that she is speaking to Kasey in sign language. Quickly swinging his eyes to Anais, she gently smiles at Jae.

   “Oh yeah, you haven’t formally met Kasey, Jae. Kasey is deaf, the space shuttle can take off right next to him and he would not be able to hear it. But don’t worry about not being able to communicate, he can read lips.” Anais gently tapped her fiance's arm getting his attention. Both she and the women turned to the small group.

 

(Text written in purple denotes dialogue spoken in ASL (American Sign language))

 

“Kasey, I want you to meet my friends you remember Hyun-Jin Kwon, right?” Anais points to Hyun-Jin, “ and this is my other friend Jae Seong. We have been friends since high school. Guys this is the wonderful, Kasey Chavez” Anais, of course, translated her ASL to her friends.

“Nice to meet you. I am glad that you could come. This is MY best friend from high school, Vivienne Stratford.” Kasey’s voice is surprisingly strong and clear for a person that was deaf. For a moment Kasey looks over at Vivienne and signs fairly quickly, that to Jae and Hyun-Jin looks like nothing but a blur of un-discernable finger movements and hand movements. Whatever was being said,  Vivienne answered with a negative. Kasey turns back to the small group “Vivienne is also profoundly deaf but she can read lips even better than I can.

“Anais I am sorry for being late I was stuck in traffic,” Vivienne spoke for the first time. Her voice was soft and clear with an almost bell-like quality to it. The caress of her natural tone touched Jae’s body lighting up his nerve receptors, his body becoming alert just at the sound of her voice.

   "Just as long as you're here. By the way, you look fabulous!" Anais grabbed Vivienne’s hand pulling her more into the foyer and past Kasey, Jae and Hyun-Jin, allowing Vivienne’s scent of pure amber to float around you. Jae was becoming intoxicated by her. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her.

"Thank you! You are too sweet"

"Mother is coming, Anais. I think we better get back to our hosting duties. Come on in and let's party." Kasey ushered the small group into a large sitting room reminiscent the decor from the popular British drama, Downton Abbey. There was definitely a whole British English vibe to the opulent home.

Clearing his throat and forcing his eyes from the woman named Vivienne, Jake looked over at Hyun-Jin, only to find his smirking at him knowingly.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Hyun-Jin said as he and shared a look with Kasey.

 

***

 

Vivienne

 

Kasey Chavez is a tall extremely handsome Filipino American from Brooklyn, New York. He was tall at 6’5 inches which meant he was taller than the average Asian man. His skin has a warm almond tint to it due to his love of surfing that he did every weekend to relax from the hectic career as a computer systems engineer. His eyes are open and welcoming, framed by thick well-groomed masculine eyebrows, complemented by a straight nose and pink full lips that were lightly framed by a day's worth of facial scrub. His body is toned and fit, like the surfer that he is.  He is a yummy package.

Vivienne attempting to glance surreptitiously and not outright stare at the two breathtaking beautiful men, she nodded at them before making her way to her other friends that she had made through Kasey over the last few years upon her move to Cali. She understood that she was being really rude by just walking away without saying anything, but honestly, she was intimidated.  Intimidated by their beauty and coolness. They looked like the cool kids in high school that had tormented her whole educational career, ten long years. It is was obvious from the first second that she laid eyes on them that they were out of her league. What would she say to them? Would they even want to talk to her? Especially the one that Anais had introduced as Jae? Could a man be even more beautiful?

When Vi’s eyes met Jae’s her stomach did instant flip flops as if she was on a roller coaster. A physical reaction to the attraction that she felt for him. It wasn’t an unfamiliar sensation as she had experienced it numerous times with different men in her life. It was one of Vi’s flaws, she “fell in love at first sight” way too many times. It was personal failing that she desperately wanted to overcome. Pushing the feeling aside she weaved her way through the crowded room to a group of friends that Kasey had introduced her to when she settled in LA.  Without Kasey, she knew that she would not know half of the people that she knew in California on her own.

 

“Hey, guys!” Vi greets the small group somewhat huddled into a small section of the room.

“Girl where have you been?!” asked Tracy, a small white petite woman that was slightly taller than Vi.

“Look at you, looking hot as usual.” Renee, a pale light skin African American with blond hair gushed.

   “Does anyone else feel strange hanging with all these ‘normals’? That was Greg, he was the group’s resident hipster.

   “No, you aren’t the only one, but there are some fine normals up in here!” Renee agreed. “I may actually find a decent guy to hook up with. At least for the weekend.”

   “ I just got here and you guys are already acting up. Seriously?! Vi snorted as the conversation took on a rapid-fire pace. All of them were talking at once with the conversation having no clear direction. Pretty much a metaphor for all their lives at this point. The thought of that struck Vi with its profoundness. Or maybe her melancholy attitude was back and was affecting her more than usual.

   “Hey, this is where the fun is at,” Evan spoke up. Evan was a Filipino transplant from Vermont. he was tall and muscular and an avid surfer like Kasey.  It was actually how he and Kasey had met.

   “Where is your beverage girl. It's drinking time!”

   Vi just shook her head. Tracy, Renee, Evan, and Greg, were hyper when they all got to hang together and she enjoyed her time with them and being that they were all there to celebrate Kaesey and Anais’s night it was also an opportunity to loving poke fun at each other.  They were all profoundly deaf like Vi and Kasey were so that made their bonds strong.

   “What I want to know is who are those two fine men that walked in with Vi?” Renee asks.

   “They are Anais’ high school friends. Jae Seong and Hyun-Jin Kwon or something.” Vi answers as she snags a flute of champagne from a waiter’s tray as he effortless weaved passed them.

   “Can we say yummy?”

   “Yummy.”  Tracy happily agreed.

   “What are you guys doing?! You are supposed to be mingling, not huddled in a corner like...I don’t know!” Anais said. In a matter of just a few minutes, she went from being calm when she greeted Vi to looking like wanted to do bodily harm to people.  Greg, Evan Renee, and Tracy took one look at her dispossession and scattered in seconds.

“Anais, your makeup looks a little smudged, let's go to the bathroom and fix it,” Vi said and before Anais could say anything Vi grabbed Anais’s slender wrist and dragged her from the room. They quickly found the lavish restroom door behind them.

As soon as the door was locked Anais started pacing the floor. Vi went to the sink and opened her purse. Removing the cochlear device Vi began to adjust her hair and position the device over the implant located behind her ear, under her skull. Anais stopped pacing for a moment and watched her friend. When Vi was done Anais asked, “Why are you putting that on?”

“Didn’t you want me to mingle. In order to do that and not make some of the normals feel uncomfortable, I need to wear it.”

   “You know I hate that term.”

   Anais never liked the term ‘normals’ that Kasey and his friends used. The word was used for people who had their hearing. It wasn’t a bad word, it definitely gave a sense of how separated Kasey and others like him were separated from mainstream society.

   “You know deaf people are not always treated normally. I’ve dealt with it.” Vi finished the final touches to her hair then turned toward her friend her eyes squinting in determination as she looked at Anais. Anais had started pacing again.

   “Please don’t wear a hole into this beautiful floor. Or even worse damage those gorgeous Jimmy Choos that Kasey just bought you.” Vi said.

   “I cannot help it, I am mad and hurt and I want to harm someone.”

   “Anyone in particular?” Vi arched her right eyebrow. She really hoped that Anais and Kasey weren’t having last-minute doubts about their relationship. In Vi’s opinion, the two of them were pure magic. They lit each other up from the inside out. They matched in a way that made Vi very envious and her loneliness that more acute. She really doubted it was Kasey that had caused her so much anger if anything she would bet 100$ that it was her family that was causing her anguish.  “Which of your cousin’s ran their jealous mouths, again?”

   Anais sighs, “Rosa.” The frown on Anais’s face deepened.  “she seems to think that a man like Kasey deserves a more educated and well-traveled bride.”

   “Like her, I take it. Just because she is working on her doctorate and flying to the Philippines a couple of time does not make a person well traveled.” Vi snorted in annoyance.  Vi had only meet Anais’s cousins a couple of weeks ago by accident and immediately had disliked them. Also, the rude remarks about her deafness had not helped their first impression. “if she is all that...why is she still single?”

“Yeah, why is she still single?” Anais asked in deep thought.

“Because she is a . Anais, why are you allowing her to bring up old insecurities? Kasey chose You, and no one else. Rest in that. All of us envious girls will just have  to deal with it.” Although Vi was discussing Anais’s cousin a part of it was related to herself. Her mind briefly thought on the newspaper announcement she had seen earlier today.

“You are right. Rosa is a . Nothing but a self-hating would try to plant doubt into someone’s mind a week before the wedding.” Anais said as she stopped and took in the situation. Anais was a smart girl and what she had needed was to have someone confirm what she already knew.

“Truth.”

“ I wonder how much flack mama would give me if I un-invited Rosa to the wedding?”

"None," came the answer from her Anais's mother as she stood just outside the door. Vivienne and Anais were so intent into their conversation that had not heard Anais's mother unlock the door and quietly enter the bathroom. "So are you ready to handle the situation?

Anais's mother was a beautiful woman in her late 50s who enjoyed feeding everyone. She always seems to have a smile on her face accompanied by a sunny disposition.

“Sweetheart, you need to learn how to block people out, especially negative energy from unhappy people. I know that is easier said than done. But we can fix this.” Ms. Ceniza placed her hands on Anais’s shoulders and made her look her into her eyes. “ Rosa is no longer invited. So let's go tell them the great news!”

It was clear by the sparkle in Mrs. Ceniza’s eyes that she had no qualms about uninviting the vindictive cousin from the wedding. Vivienne turned slightly and placed her hand over to hide the huge smile that flourished onto her lips. It was no secret to Vivienne that Ms. Ceniza had a distinct distaste for her sister’s children, however, she was also civil to them. But this was taking it too far and mama bear’s claws were out. But Anais’s mother was wise enough to understand that her daughter had to stand up for herself no matter what, sometimes even against one’s own family.

“Come on, we have a wedding to celebrate. Coming Vi?”

“Definitely! Time to mingle and no longer be single” at the end of that statement Vivienne winked at Anais. “Have fun!”

The three women exited the bathroom and went their separate ways. Vivienne weaved her way through the mansion full of people. There seem to be even more people than she remembered. Intending to indeed mingle, however, the “no longer be single” bit was an up in the air, Vivienne elbows her way as politely as she could through the crowd until she reaches the bar on the far end of one of the rooms. Vivienne didn’t know what the name of the room, or even if it really was a ballroom, but was gorgeous. Oh to be rich, Vivienne thought, being the plebe who was barely able to be classified as lower middle class. At least that was what her tax statements classified her as.

If she was going to mingle with all these normals she was going to relax a little and a shot of Jack Daniels on the rocks was guaranteed to do just that.

“Could I have a Jack on the rocks please?” Vivienne requested to the sweaty male bartender who greeted her with a coy smile and a nod of his perfectly coiffed head as he worked on preparing her drink. Amazingly that simple interaction boosted her confidence.  Of course, it was probably a game to get more tips but she wasn’t going to dismiss it either.

“I would have never pictured you as a Jack Daniel’s girl.”  Vivienne turned toward the male voice that spoke to her. The sound of the male voice sent delicate shivers down her spine. It was Mr. Gorgeous. Jae Seong.

“I’m normally not,” Vivienne answered. At the sight of Jae’s eyes widening in the realization that she had indeed heard him, she hoped to put him at ease when she lifted her hair to the side to show him her cochlear implant before patting her hair back into place. “It's Jae right?”

“Yes...Vivienne?”

“Yes, but I answer to Vi more often than not.”

“Vi?”

“Hmm…”

“Why the Jack and why the stealth undercover hearing device?” Jae was even more curious about the shy woman.  He had been keeping an eye on her for most of the evening. There was just something about her that spoke to him. He had a feeling it had to do with her eyes and how expressive they were.

“Oh, well, I didn’t have it on when I first arrived. I knew that Anais and Kasey would want me to mix and mingle so I put it on. There are few mainstreamers that “speak” American Sign Language.

Jae nodded his head, that made sense and was full of truth. He didn’t know one word of sign language and it had never crossed his mind that he needed to know it. After a moment Jae keyed in on a word that she had used earlier,

“What did you mean by Mainstreamer?”

“People who can hear” She smiled in thanks to the bartender who continued to smile flirtingly with Vivienne. “So you went to school with Anais?”

“Yeah, although she was two grades behind us. She used to date one of my friends back in high school, Ri.”

“Was Anais always like she is now? I mean I love her but I’m curious. I only became friends with her when I moved out here about seven years ago and reconnected with Kasey.”

“So you met her when she was and Kasey we friends at first?” Jae leaned against the bar and got comfortable as he watched Vivienne over his glass of scotch. He knew he was being extravagant, but when would be able to taste vintage aged scotch again. If he was learning anything about Kasey Chavez and his family, they didn’t do anything by half.

 

TBC...