TURNAROUNDS
The magazine could very well mark her arrival in Japan's show business, something Artiste wasn't prepared for. The original plan was for the group to be known as a whole, but they didn't expect the audiences to develop a special connection to the group's lead, Mimura Aisha.
It was nothing short of phenomenal.
Hua Ze Lei turned the magazine over and looked at its cover where Aisha's vibrant face beamed from. It was a shot taken from one of the group's performances, and her enthusiasm and energy shone through, lighting up the page.
One of Japan's top celebrity magazines had just featured Aisha. Lei smiled. He bets there is no one more surprised than Aisha herself. Even Yuki, their manager, didn't see this coming.
But nobody took it badly. After all, it's good for Artiste. As Aisha becomes more famous and more visible to the public, it's also Artiste being promoted.
Magazine in hand, Lei left his office, practically rushing towards Studio 4 where he was sure Aisha was, helping in the mixing of the music for one of their dance routines.
Indeed Aisha was there and Lei bit back a smile as he beheld her seated on the floor with her legs crossed, her head nodding along to the beat of the music she's listening to on her headphones, her back to him. There were three other people in the room: Mark, the sound mixer, Yutaro the dance choreographer and Mimi, the arranger.
Mark, Yutaro and Mimi saw him first. But when they saw the look of mischief in his eyes, they turned away and pretended they did not see him come in.
Aisha practically screamed when Lei suddenly touched her on both shoulders, startling her. She looked up and scolded him. "Hua Ze Lei! That wasn't funny!" she said when his shoulders started shaking with laughter. The other three now burst out laughing, even as Aisha glared at them.
"I'm sorry," he said, still shaking with mirth. Aisha took off her headphones, still glaring at him.
Hua Ze Lei lifted the magazine. "Have you seen this?"
Mark whooped as he saw the cover. "Aisha! You're a star!"
Confused, Aisha stood up and grabbed the magazine from Lei's hands, scanning the cover and the pages that featured her. "What the...?" She looked up with an inquiring look at Lei.
"The company had nothing to do with that," he said. "Apparently the magazine received many letters from readers requesting a feature on the lead dancer of Artiste." He smiled. "You're going places, Aisha."
To his surprise, she didn't look at all elated. Turmoil seemed to broil within her as she dropped the magazine on the floor and walked briskly out of the room.
Mimi and Yutaro looked at each other in puzzlement. "What happened?" Mark asked. But Lei had also left the room.
He found Aisha at Studio 7, on the floor, her legs drawn up, her chin on her knees, thoughtful.
Without a sound he walked in and closed the door behind him. Then he sat in front of her. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"You can tell me," he coaxed her.
It was a while before she answered. "Things are going better now. Simple. I don't want things to be complicated."
"I dont understand."
"First, the magazine cover, then the article...what's next?" Aisha looked utterly downcast that Lei wondered exactly what is worrying her.
"This isn't such a bad thing," he said. "Are you afraid of becoming famous?" he asked, smiling at the notion of her fearing notoriety.
She shook her head, her eyes stormy, on the verge of tears. "It's not that. I just...the press...what they do to celebrities. They dig and dig to find out more information...I don't care if they find something bad about me, I really don't! I just...I don't want your company to be ruined because of me."
Shaking his head, not understanding what shes talking about, Lei said, "What are you talking about?"
The tears now started. "You have been so nice to me, Lei. Very supportive. I don't want to let you down."
"What do you mean 'let me down'?" A hand reached out to grip her shoulders. "I don't understand."
Aisha sniffed and bravely met his gaze, still crying. "I haven't been entirely honest with you, Hua Ze Lei," she began between sobs. "Remember when we first met? I picked your wallet from that guy's pocket..." Another sniff. "I used to do that, Lei."
Lai let go of her shoulders and sat back on his heels, watching her.
"I stole from people. I became very good at it that, except for one time, I was never caught. But I only did it because I had to! I needed the money! But I stopped when Ma-Yi asked me to. I was a thief!"
"Ma-Yi?" he asked in a flat voice.
Sniff. "My friend whom I lived with when I was in Taiwan. She asked me not to steal again, and I didn't! I never picked pockets again, until that day when that kid stole your wallet."
"Then what are you worried about?" he asked, not sure what she's getting at.
"Don't you see! The reporters come snooping around, they check my background...If they find out I was a thief, Artiste would be destroyed! Your company would be ruined and I don't want that!"
Hua Ze Lei gazed upon her with a smile in his eyes. "I don't see what you're so worked up about."
Aisha looked at him in surprise. "What?"
"It won't ruin anything or anyone. I'll make sure of it."
"Didn't you hear what I just said? I said I was - "
"A thief, yes. A pick pocket. Yes, you told me." He sighed. "That hardly matters. Besides you've cleaned up already, so I don't see why we should worry about that." Lei took out a hankie from his pocket and handed it to her. She took it gratefully and wiped her tears, blowing her nose as well.
"It was all in the past," he said. "And the past is something that we should not bother ourselves with, because we can't change it. It's over. All we have to do is move on. Forward." He smiled at her. "Are you feeling better now?"
Aisha nodded. "Thank you," she said and handed the hankie back to Lei.
Hua Ze Lei merely looked at it and, in a laughing voice, said, "What is it with you ladies? You don't really expect me to take that back when you've already dirtied it, do you?"
Aisha's eyes widened. After a while, she giggled, and Lei had never heard a happier sound. He stood up and extended his hand.
"Come on. Let me take you out to lunch."
Like someone who has died and resurrected, Aisha suddenly sprang into life, putting her hand in his and letting Lei pull her to her feet. Maybe she shouldn't worry. He's right. She shouldn't dwell on the past. She only has to move forward, just as Hua Ze Lei said.
Dao Ming Cheng's stately office was exactly as A Si remembered the last time he was here more than three years ago. There was still the huge mahogany desk, the paneled walls, the wide windows overlooking downtown Manhattan and the lower rooftops of other buildings all around them.
The door opened and Lara, Dao Ming Cheng's middle-aged secretary, walked in with steaming cups of coffee. She left as quietly as she came in, closing the door behind her. A Si eyed his father who sat across the large desk, then at the company lawyer Freddie seated not too far away on the couch.
He pushed the sheaf of papers his father had spread before him earlier. "I dont want it, thank you."
Dao Ming Cheng nodded slowly. "Why, may I ask, are you turning this down?"
"I have turned my back on the Dao Ming fortune a long time ago," he replied. "I made that decision without having any second thoughts. Your offer is generous, but I want nothing to do with Dao Ming money anymore."
"I see." Dao Ming Cheng leaned back in his chair, his fingers forming a steeple in front of him. "But you don't seem to understand, A Si. This is not Dao Ming money. This is YOUR money. Your grandparents my parents left this in my care, purposefully to be turned over to you when you get married.
"It's rightfully yours," he went on. "And if you worry about your Mama, I can guarantee you she has not touched any of that, nor does she even know it exists."
Dao Ming Si didn't reply, thinking quickly. His grandparents, people he barely knew because they died before he was ten years old, apparently left him a fortune. It was an enormous amount; by the Dao Ming standards, it is a huge sum, enough to merit the term 'rich'.
"If you doubt me," Dao Ming Cheng went on, "go over those documents again. Freddie can attest to their authenticity. Or better yet, ask Dao Ming Zhuang. She received her share when she got married." He sighed. "You need this, A Si, more than you know."
"What's the catch?" he asked, thinking there has to be a catch somewhere. This is too good to be true.
His eyes lighting up, Dao Ming Cheng smiled. "What else does a father want from his son? I want you to continue my legacy and be my son. Be Dao Ming Si."
"I don't want to go back to my old self again!" he exclaimed passionately.
"No one's asking you to go back to anything, A Si." His father's voice sounded calm and smooth. "I was thinking more along the lines of you starting anew. This isn't about you going back to being your old self, or to your mother, or to the family. I only ask that you fulfill your duty of being Dao Ming Cheng's son."
He pushed the papers back to A Si. "Take your inheritance. Do with it what you will, but make sure you do SOMETHING with it. Prove to me that you are Dao Ming Si...that this life you have chosen is worth turning your back to your old life. Prove to me that you deserve everything that's coming to you...including your wife."
Thoughts of Shancai sprang before him. Today she went out to meet Xiao Yo, who happened to have flown into New York from Toronto late last night. His eyes jerked to his father's. "What has Shancai to do with any of this?"
"I have never been a fair man, A Si. Many times I've been called ruthless, cruel. In the business world, I make more enemies than I make friends. It's the same thing within my family. If you want me to leave you and your wife alone, be a good boy and take the money."
"And if I don't accept it?"
"Ah, let me see..." Dao Ming Cheng paused for special effect. "Those things your Mama did...trying to buy her off, rendering her homeless, involving her friends..." He shook his head. "Mediocre methods, I must say. You can't even begin to imagine what I'm capable of."
"I'm not afraid of you," he said bravely, his protective feeling over Shancai resurfacing. Anybody dare spurn or hurt her will pay, and pay dearly.
"I'm not asking you to," Dao Ming Cheng said with a smile. "I'm asking you to think of your dear Shancai. Besides, turning this down is sheer stupidity on your part. It's yours, it was meant for you."
"I will not let you control me, or rule over my life just because of this inheritance."
"Who said anything about controlling or ruling anything?"
"If this is your attempt to lure me back into the family - "
"Believe me, that's the last thing on my mind. If I were in your place, I would not want to go back, either." He leaned forward. "I just want to make sure my son is in good hands. Is that so bad?"
A Si couldn't tell what his old man was thinking. Ever since he could remember, until now, Dao Ming Cheng is a mystery, even to him.
Freddie only spoke when Dao Ming Si has long been gone from the office, the documents tucked under his arm.
"There's no doubt he is your son," he remarked to his friend for many years now. "For a moment there I thought he wouldn't accept it."
"He is so much like me, that's why I was sure he'd take it."
"But let me ask why you put in that condition...if it can be called that."
Dao Ming Cheng became serious. "I want any excuse to be involved with my son's life, all the better for me to try to fix it."
"Fix?" Freddie echoed, not understanding what Dao Ming Cheng said.
The patriarch of the Dao Ming family nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, fix. Remove the defective parts, and replace them with brand new ones."
Freddie only shook his head. He will never really understand Cheng.