ACT 10: A Chance Partnership -------------------------------------
They say a picture is worth a thousand words... Normally it may be true. Remorse, for instance, is better depicted by seeing a man on his knees, begging for forgiveness, as opposed to a letter written so legibly that the man must have thought long and hard to know exactly what to say and how to say it.
In this case, however, the picture was worth squat.
Folken's face wore a tight smile, with nondescript clothes and a nondescript background of a mall, with several people carrying saccharine-lined faces. Whether his tight smile said he was uncomfortable in front of a camera, or if he was truly not happy with the state he was in, and the wrong he had caused Merle in the past, one could never know. People are always full of different unreadable visages - some sincere, some just poster expressions. We live our whole lives trying to determine which is which, but die in vain.
Speaking of "in vain"...
Hitomi was exasperated. She had been staring at Folken's picture for so long that she was getting sick of his face - his distinct features, his square jaw, and the gentle demeanor that radiated about him. A few more minutes and she would be considered an obsessed stalker.
She finally conceded defeat and threw the picture on her nearby mahogany desk, beside her lime green cellular phone. Dilandau had gone home minutes ago, because he had conceded defeat as well and felt that him staring at Folken for so long was definitely freakier than Hitomi doing it - for obvious reasons.
Silently, Hitomi prayed she'd have Veronica Mars'() wits and quick thinking that moment, remembering the female star of the TV show she had watched last week that she immensely enjoyed. But since she was just little, old Hitomi, and she was always going to be little, old Hitomi, she would do what she always did when she had a dillemma: try as hard as she could like a stubborn fool.
Getting up from her bed, she abruptly took the picture in her hands with a crisp "woosh" sound, wrinkled her forehead and looked some more.
Dinner time came and went quickly that day.
Hitomi could hardly remember what she ate. Her mother could have fed her liver and rotten cabbage salad that night and she wouldn't have suspected. She was just hell bent on cracking the mystery.
Suddenly, the proverbial light bulb lit above her head. There was a small clue that she had overlooked!!! She got her magnifying glass and zoomed into the lower right corner of the picture.
Just as she thought.
She thinned her lips in a serious, determined demeanor, and punched in the numbers on the phone.
"Um... hello... May I please speak to Van?"
The next few seconds were frustrating. She could faintly hear the maid calling Mr. Fanel and hoped to God both that he wouldn't be there and he would. She couldn't decide which she was leaning towards but immediately remembered Merle and shook off the first wish.
In a few seconds, a familiar youthful voice spoke on the other end.
"Hello?"
"Van, it's me, Hitomi."
Van's next reply was coated with an unfamiliar tone of uncertainty and curiosity. The ebony-haired boy's heart started thumping against his ribcage quickly and strongly. Hitomi had called him? He didn't see that coming. He thought for certain that Hitomi was never going to speak to him again after that stunt he pulled at the concert and the talk they had in the cafeteria.
I'm sorry... What kind of a jackas would say that to her anyway?
He snapped out of his trance.
"Yeah, what's up?"
Way to go, Van. Short. Simple. Neutral, Van cheered himself on
"Sorry to bother you but I really need your help... For Merle, that is."
Van blinked.
"Oh."
Perhaps that was way too short and simple.
Hitomi rolled her eyes. Was she really talking to Van or to a robotic toy?
"Van, can you come over? Are you busy? I really need you to take a look at something."
"Uh yeah sure. I'll come right over."
"Okay... Thanks."
Hitomi hung up the phone and sighed. What the hell was that all about? She smoothed her hair and suddenly became conscious of the wreck she looked like.
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Before long, the doorbell buzzed and Hitomi ran towards the door.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Soooo..." Van said, prolonging the "O" a little too much.
"Yeah, come up to my room."
Van concealed a blush. In truth, he had never been to a girl's bedroom before. He used to study in an all male school and had no sister. Not to mention, his mother had passed away earlier than he had learned to walk.
When he went inside, though, he didn't see a room that was worlds apart from his. Aside from her pink fluffy bed, everything else was simple. He had expected posters of boy bands and male actors, quite like those female bedrooms he saw in chick flicks that aired on TV. He would never comment that out loud though, because for one thing, he shouldn't be watching those damn chick flicks in the first place.
What caught Van's eyes was a poster of a familiar Samurai - the one with the cross on his cheek. Himura Kenshin. Van would have never pegged Hitomi to like anime, much less an anime that involved more fighting than romance. But then again, Hitomi wasn't the stereotype of a girl. She loved rock, was tremendously athletic, and had more interesting topics to talk about other than shopping and boys.
She was certainly one of a kind.
Van blinked. There he was again in his trance. Hitomi looked at him quizzically. She was holding a photo in her hand and an unspoken question.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, yeah. What was it you wanted to show me?"
"Yeah... this..."
Hitomi handed him the photo.
"Who's this dude?"
"So you've never met him?"
"Nope."
"Look at the bottom right"
"What am I supposed to be looking at?"
Hitomi gave him the magnifying glass and told her in a manner-of-fact tone like Sherlock Holmes would to Watson, or Veronica Mars to Wallace(). "Look closely."
There at the lower right portion of the picture, in the background, farther away from Folken, was a boy in a red soccer jersey looking at the direction of the camera, but farther from it. He must have been waiting for someone.
"Hey, that looks familiar! That's someone in our soccer uniform back in my old school!"
Hitomi beamed, "So I'm right!"
"How did you know??"
"Your car had a photo of you in a soccer uniform when I opened the glove compartment."
"Woah, now that's the keen power of observation."
Hitomi laughed. "It wasn't easy to forget you know. Not all soccer uniforms have an intricate dragon design print on their jersey."
Van snorted. "Good point. Blame it all on the former Soccer team captain."
"And who that would be...?"
Van grinned.
"Me."
Hitomi giggled. What was it about him that captivated her so much? He was such a mystery and yet such a charmer. The cherry on the ice cream was that he didn't know that. He was just being himself, and not forcing some persona just to impress.
Giving up on Van was certainly not an easy feat.
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The laugh died down and silence was once again referee of this little game Hitomi and Van had.
"So, what's our next step, Mr. Holmes?", Van queried.
Hitomi smiled. "Now you tell me where your former school is and try to track down this guy."
"And you want to hunt down this guy because...?"
"He was Merle's ex-boyfriend... But I don't think Merle's given up on him just yet."
Van nodded.
"Okay then, Mr. Holmes. I'll be your Watson for this case."
"Great!"
Van took out his hand in a mock formal way and Hitomi shook it.
"It's off to Shogoku High then."
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() For anyone who has no clue who Veronica Mars is, I feel bad for you ;). Veronica Mars is this very, very, VERY witty TV show that I recommmend you guys watch. It's got everything - suspense, romance, comedy, drama. And the characters are such good (and good-looking hehe) actors. Veronica Mars is on its third season and is playing in CWTV. Check out for more details. You can also watch the 3rd season online in that site butI do suggest you watch the 1st and 2nd season first :).
I'm really sorry to upload such a short chapter. I've been hellishly busy again. Hope you liked this short chapter none the
less.
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