Loving Marcus: 2
“Jacky, faster!” demanded Myolie, when she realized that Jacky was dragging her pace down. She quickly turned back to scan the dark hollow road with very few streetlights. At the corner of the opposing street a gang of three tattooed masculine men were less than half a block away and their expression definitely showed no mercy. “I mean NOW! Faster!” yelled Myolie with the last of her huffing breath making her face pale. Picking her speed up, she ran faster, dragging her frightened brother.
Panting labouredly, Jacky tried hard to move his kiddy legs to keep up with Myolie. He finally tripped and fell, shaving his knees against the rough pavement. His painful shriek quickly echoed down the vacant dark road. With watery eyes, Jacky blurry vision looked down at the burning abrasion on his knees. It was too dim for him to tell that it was blood, but he felt something wet oozing out of his knees. Knowing that it must be blood, Jacky got frightened and began to cry louder. He cried distressfully when Myolie was jerking on his arm trying to get him upright to run again. “Olie, stop! It hurt! I can’t do it… Oow…stop pulling on me!” Jacky tearfully begged. Sniffing, Jacky looked up at Myolie with pleading red glassy eyes. He was tired, in pain, and can’t even breathe adequately.
Anxiously looking down at her brother, Myolie felt his pain, but she had no other choice but to urgently urge him to move on, “Jacky, get up! There is no time for this…”
“My knees are bleeding and it’s hurting really bad! Please stop, I don’t want to run…” Realizing his sister’s deadly warning glare land on him, Jacky’s voice faded with his head slightly dropped. It was a cue for his complete obedient; a cue for him to stop whining and just listen. Though he was not even six yet, he understood that at certain circumstance there is absolutely no time for him to fuss. “It hurt too much…” he softly whined and began to sniffle as he labouredly tried to catch his breath, but he still tried to get back on his feet again.
Fearing that they will get capture again, Myolie harshly reminded, “Jacky, hurry up! Do you remember what they say to you last time? It will happen! Because I absolutely don’t know how on earth I can come up with the money for them this time. They are not going to let us walk off without paying them first. Do you want to get chop into pieces? It’ll be a million times worse than that scrape!” Feeling frightened, Jacky widened his eyes and cried louder as he shook his head to her. Myolie eagerly darted toward the directions where three barbarian debt collectors were catching up very quickly. They were yelling profanity warning them to stay put. She knew both of them will get seriously hurt, if they can’t outrun them.
“I just want to go home…” murmured Jacky tearfully. He sniffled and innocently added, “They can have all of my toys…”
Myolie rolled her eyes with a loud sigh. “Argh,” Myolie growled, knowing that she had no choice but to carry her brother. She quickly picked Jacky up and ran for her life.
Hugging Myolie tightly, Jacky nudged his eyes onto her shoulder to dry his tears. He felt worthless and a burden to his sister, because he knew if it not for him being slow each time, his sister could had escape easily in the past.
Having to carry Jacky, Myolie knew that there is no way for her to outrun them. Therefore she swiftly went into an alley and zigzagged into smaller alleys trying to hide from their sight. It was better than the open street, because the alleys were more sheltered by tall old building filtering out all of the streetlights making the surrounding almost pitch black, which make it harder for the men to spot them. “Jacky, hush!” scolded Myolie with impatient, since Jacky nonstop crying was giving their position away.
Pressing his lips tightly sealed, Jacky still couldn’t control himself from whimpering and panting. “Olie, where’s daddy?” anxiously asked Jacky.
“I don’t know and I don’t have the time to care right now! He will be dead when I find him! It’s like seeing us almost got killed last time because of him was not enough for him,” growled Myolie in between her breath. With her bounding pulses and high adrenaline rush, Myolie felt a little lightheaded. Her legs were cramping with pain and she was getting really out of breath. Myolie knew that she wouldn’t be able to keep her distance away from them for long.
Clinging more tightly onto Myolie’s body like a koala, Jacky mumbled, “It’s so dark in here, there must be monsters…” Hearing the voices of the men yelling for them to stop, Jacky gasped, “They’re catching up!”
Trying to speed up more, Myolie end up tripping over her foot and dropped to her knees falling forward. She quickly reached her two palms out to tripods her body, trying to break her fall before her weight slam Jacky’s head against the asphalt. Feeling the sharp burning pain on her palms intensifying, Myolie silently hissed in pain. She quickly glanced back seeing the dark figures not too far behind them now. She then anxiously scanned her dimly lit surrounding for a place to hide Jacky before they catch up. Turning to her left, she finally realized that they are only half a block away from the central street, where there are always heavy crowd walking.
Quickly removing Jacky’s tight grip off of her, Myolie urgently exclaimed, “Jacky, if we don’t split up now, they’re going to catch up with us and we’ll both get kill.”
Sensing what his sister was implying, Jacky violently shook his head while tightly clenching to her arm. “NO! I wanted to be with you. I’ll run! I’m a boy; I could take care of you. Olie, please…”
“Listen!” she shouted back at him to hush him up and pay attention. Seeing the moonlight reflecting those glistering tears of her very young brother, Myolie shoulders slightly drop in regret for being so harsh. She knew she was unreasonable and expected too much from a five-years-old child, but she really had no choice. Gently, she placed her hands on his checks and softly explained, “I’m sorry. Jacky…you’re too young to take care of me… Listen to me, you have to…”
“You’re bleeding,” tearfully cried Jacky when he realized Myolie’s palms were deeply scraped.
Shaking her head at him, Myolie alerted, “Jacky, listen closely! See that brightly lit street not far from here?” She pointed down the left alley where it intersects with the central street. “I want you to run to it. I know your knees hurt, but you have to...”
“But…”
“No time to argue. Just get there and walk within the thick crowd. Jacky, you’re short enough that they won’t be able to spot you…”
“What about you? Why don’t we both go?” questioned Jacky with still glassy red eyes on his sister.
“I want to distract them, so they don’t go after you…”
“But they’ll go after you…”
Glancing over to check on her troublemakers, Myolie assured her brother in a rushed tone, “No more BUT! Just listen to me! Hurry! Just go!” She nudged him forward and gave him a shove toward the direction.
“I’ll get lost…” distressfully exclaimed Jacky as he obediently got up and limped his way, but in a slow hesitated fashion.
“Hide in the closest McDonald you can find, I’ll be able to look for you. Once I get rid of those bad guys, I’ll come find you.”
Flattening his lips into a frown, Jacky kept shaking his head.
“Come on, Jacky, we have no time! Run there and don’t cry or else they’ll be able to hear you. You understand?” asked Myolie urgently, while her brother eyes became teary as he shook his head feeling frightened already. “GO!” she yelled at him and quickly ran back toward the debt collectors’ direction to get their attention before she made a left turn running deeper into another dimly lit alley.
“Olie…” softly whispered Jacky as he watched his sister disappeared into the dark. Hiding against the dirty damp wall, Jacky peeked out to see the men followed his sister heading deeper into the closely knitted building. Anxiously, his teary eyes scanned his dark surrounding not knowing what to do as he murmured, “Nooo… It’s too dark...”
….. …. ….
At the meantime in a grand hotel, both Marcus and Tavia were at the entrance of the grand ballroom welcoming their guests to their engagement banquet. Kept glancing around the crowds, Marcus was getting a bit agitated to not see his twin Bosco arriving as he had promised. Tavia too was hoping to see her childhood best friend, especially since they hadn’t seen each other for seven long years already. Seeing her fiancé disappointedly kept checking the hotel’s main entrance, Tavia sneaked her hand into his and interlocked their fingers. She slightly tugged his hand and when his attention turned to her, she warmly assured, “Don’t worry. If Bosco told you, he had brought ticket and is flying in today, than he is on his way. There is no doubt.” Her smile gently curved brighter and sweeter.
Nodding to her, Marcus smirked, “Knowing Bosco, maybe he is planning to make a big entrance by being late.”
Chuckling, Tavia nodded agreeing to her fiancé’s comment. “It had been at least more than five years since I last talked to him. I kept getting his answering machine for the past years,” pouted Tavia.
Laughing, Marcus teased, “You two just don’t have much fate with each other.”
Nodding, Tavia softly murmured, “I guess. You think he still recognize me? We were only about nineteen when he left for college.”
Slightly swinging their interlock hands, Marcus sweetly gazed into her eyes as he exclaimed, “Probably not, since you are so beautiful tonight. Your hair is no longer short like how they use to be. Your smile had never been as beautiful as today.”
Giggling, Tavia scrunched the bridge of her nose at her husband-to-be. Marcus raised their interlocked hands to give the back of her hand a tender kiss. It made him felt complete to have her by his side.
Feeling really cherished, Tavia smile curved sweeter. She looked deep into Marcus eyes and pondered, “I wonder if Bosco had changed in any way.” The thought of how Bosco used to be back then made her chuckled as she commented, “Remember how he always put on this ‘don’t you dare to touch me’ look? To think of it, I don’t recall ever hearing him laugh loudly. The best he could do was a smirk.”
“I could still hear that attitude of his over the phone,” laughed Marcus. After a bit of thought, Marcus added, “I guess it’s an artist’s attitude. He does lead a rock band after all.”
Placing her hands on both of Marcus cheeks, Tavia honestly exclaimed, “Marcus, I had a confession to make. I had always admired how attractive Bosco’s little smirks were. Though you two look exactly the same, the way you two smiles are just so different. Somehow his smirk carries this mysterious feel... Actually, his eyes too, they are more captivating…”
“I can’t believe it, my fiancée is complimenting on another man in front of me on our engagement day, and that man happens to be my twin brother too,” protested Marcus with his fake pettiness.
Giggling, Tavia jokingly warned, “Marcus dear, who could you blame, but yourself for devoting too much of your time on your work rather than me? You better watch out, if you keep it up, I might not only just compliment, but actually fall for another man.”
“Tavia, today’s your engagement. Stop speaking nonsense now,” warned her father with a jolly big grin as he patted Marcus’s back. “Prioritizing his career above everything else shows a good quality of a dependable man that will know how to take great care of his family,” complimented Paul.
Laughing, Tavia restored, “Only you men would think in such a strange way, daddy.”
“Well, enough chits chatting between you two, lets go on stage and start the toast,” urged the excited father.
Seeing Marcus anxiously glanced back toward the entrance again, Tavia explained, “But daddy, Bosco is not here yet.”
Glancing around, Paul’s eyebrows began to scrunch together in disappointment. Noticing that the guests are waiting with a bit of impatient, he suggested, “Let’s start the ceremony first. It’s not polite to make our guests wait too long. Don’t worry, Bosco will understand.” Marcus nodded, since he knew that there were many important business guests of both his and his fiancée’s father. They followed Paul heading up to the stage.
…..
Meanwhile running for her life zigzagging through over ten blocks, Myolie swiftly took a turn and heading for the grand hotel after she saw a large crowd hovered over there. She ran the fastest she could to finally reach the heavy glass door. Huffing and puffing for breath, she paused to pull the glass door open while turned her head back to check on those men. She was a bit relieved to realized that maybe she was lucky enough to finally loss them. When she turned to face forward again wanting to run into the hotel, she couldn’t stop herself fast enough to not collide into a man that was about to head out. The guy steadied himself and quickly grabbed hold of Myolie before she falls. “Are you okay?” he asked in his crisp firm tone.
Myolie nodded repeatedly as she anxiously kept turning back to check on her debt collectors. Seeing that they are still nowhere in sight, she glanced back at the man that was still holding onto both of her upper arms. Their eyes interlocked for a split second. His dark still eyes gave her a sense of familiarity. He too was studying her feature and trying to pull her out from his memories. In a rush, Myolie didn’t allow herself time to recall. “Sorry,” she apologized as she quickly removed his hands from her and dashed into the hotel. As she headed in, she glanced back once again at the stranger. On top of his casual t-shirt and jean he had a long black overcoat on. He hurried his way out of the door and disappeared within a few seconds.
Following the majority of the people, Myolie was lead to the grand ballroom. She glimpsed in and was in aw to see how fancily decorated the ballroom was. In her world, ballroom event like this would only happen to princesses in fairytale. Hearing the loud clapping and following everyone’s line of vision toward the stage, Myolie saw Marcus and Tavia. Seeing Marcus’ features, she blinked her eyes several times for a better looks, she then turned to the entrance looking at it puzzlingly. She swears she just saw this man walked out of those heavy glass doors.
“Miss, do you have an invitation card?” questioned a voice from behind her. Startled Myolie swiftly turned around to look at the male in a suit uniform with a title being a ‘manager’ on his golden name tag. The manager looked at Myolie’s pale face along with her daunt expression. He could tell that she doesn’t belong here from how she is dressed in a dirty olive green carpenter’s pant and a white tank top. Seeing Myolie unable to give him an answer, he understandingly nodded and politely explained, “I’m sorry Miss; you couldn’t stay here if you’re not Mr. Wong’s guest. They are hosting a private party. I’m sorry this is a member only hotel, so you’ll have to step back out. Please follow me, Miss.”
As they walked toward the main entrance, Myolie gasped at the sight of her followers luring outside searching for her. She quickly took off running the opposite direction before they get a chance to spot her. The manager hollered after her, “Miss!” Needing more help, he quickly announced on his walkie-talkie for additional help to track down this girl.
Urgently, Myolie ran as fast as her body allowed her to. She ran into and knocked over a large framed poster, making herself trip and end up lying flat on top of the poster. Achingly pulling herself back up, her eyes was staring straight into the eyes of the man in the poster. The same familiarity that she had received from the eyes of the man she ran into at the entrance was one again stirred and tugging on her memories. Within a split second, Myolie is up on her feet again. She puzzlingly stared down at the poster of the handsome man and the beautiful woman. This time she finally saw their name printed on the frame stating, ‘Marcus & Tavia.’ She also recalled the manager addressing the host of the party being a ‘Mr. Wong.’
Surprised, Myolie swiftly turned to look into the ballroom. “He is Marcus?” she whispered under her breath with eyes kept on Marcus unmoved. The last she remember seeing him was when she was seventeen. He had looked quite different. Much more mature and well built than the image of the young man in her mind. With a soft gasp, her eyes shifted toward the exits as she mouthed, “Bosco Wong?”
Hearing sound of the hotel staffs catching up, Myolie quickly brushed her curiosity aside to pick up on her escaping run. She continued to blindly run within the hotel making twist and turn trying to find an exit to the back door, while distance behind her, she heard dispatches from the hotel’s staff walkie-talkie.
She let out a big relieved breath and collapsed onto the grass field when she finally made it out of that hotel and her debt collectors don’t seem to be nearby.
…..