Part 1: A Birthday Present (Ruby)

I still have no idea on how to get myself close to Roy. It seems that every time I think about the revenge, my heart is still telling me that this is wrong. I am knocking Kevin’s door and saying

“Kev, are you there? May I come in?”

“Yes.. come in..” says he while opening the door for me.

“Kev, I ran into Roy just then. Do you mind if I ask you what happens between you, Lily and him?”

Kev asks me to sit down and he begins to tell me the story. Kevin, Lily, Christian and Roy were going to the same University. They were friends who used to hang out and studied together. Both Kevin and Roy liked Lily while Christian exchanged his girlfriend as many as people usually change their clothes. Kevin used to date Lily first for a while until he caught her making out with Roy one day. From then, everything was changed. Kevin and Christian didn’t hang out with them anymore. One day, they received an invitation to Lily and Roy’s engagement party. The story didn’t end there because it turned out that both Roy and Lily never made it to the party. Roamers have it they Roy dumped Lily on the way to their engagement party. Since then, Lily went back to Indonesia and Roy continued to work in Sydney.

“Do you still love her?” I ask Kev who eventually begins to drink his beer.

“With all my heart”

Kevin then starts to reach his guitar and plays a song “In the world without you” by Dennis Sun. I also reach his keyboard, turn it on and play the song along with him. From that moment, I understand his pain. He also can’t be together with the one he loves. Even Lily can’t reach her happiness at the end. At least with Rudy and me, one of us had the happy ending. He stops playing in the middle of the song and hugs me from behind. I continue to play the song as I know his despair. After a while, he lets go of the hug and says to me

“Do you know that Christian’s birthday party is in two weeks?

“No. Will he have a party?”

“He always likes to party. He will have it here at house. He might introduce you to all of his friends as May. You might need to prepare.”

“Why do I have to prepare?”

“You have to be ready for many things. You have to learn to dance properly; you also need to blend in with all his business acquaintances. I will start to teach you tomorrow.”

I am then thinking what will be the appropriate present to get him as he seems to have everything. Kevin then tells me to be ready for the lesson tomorrow morning.

“I need to go somewhere in the morning. Can we have the lesson in the afternoon” I ask Kevin

“Ok!” I want to get him a birthday present, however not from Anthony’s money or pay them with the credit cards. This is something that I have to earn by myself. This is the least that I can pay back his goodness since he lets me to stay at this gorgeous penthouse.

It seems that cooking for June, Christian and Kevin have already become a daily ritual for me, even June never complaints to me about the smell anymore. She only talks to his brother but I am glad that at least she is eating the meal. After cooking the breakfast, I go to the Burger King stall at the central station. I look at their AD that they are looking for part time employees. I am asking to look for the manager. He tells me that the rate is $15.00 per hour and its one and a half during 11.00 PM to 06.00 AM. The rate is also doubled during public holiday. I accept the offer and I tell him that I am willing to take the night shift starts from 10.00 PM until 06.00 AM. Christian and Kevin will not get suspicious as I am still at home during the day. The Manager, Rick tells me to start working tonight.

The afternoon lesson starts with a dancing class. I have no idea that there is a ballet room inside the penthouse. Kevin told me that May likes to practice Ballet in here before. The lesson is very tiring as I don’t have any basic dance at all. However, since I am pretty much familiar with the music rhythm, it helps me to be able to catch up rather quickly. Afterwards, the lesson continues with wine tasting. It begins with differentiating red wine and white wine. I just find out that white meat is supposed to eat with white wine and red wine is drinking with red meat. He taught me how appreciate wine by drinking the wine slowly; smell it first and also let me know how to compliment each different taste.

For the next week, my days begin to what a call a ‘princess lesson’ with Kevin and June, my new teacher who teaches me how to greet people using different language. May is able to speak Chinese, Japanese, English and France which leaves me to study Japanese and France in a short period. After the lesson, I take a nap for a while before cooking dinner for my roommates then go to Burger King to work.

During my second night, I found out that Roy has also been working there for more than three years. He is already the manager on duty during the night shift. I am glad to meet somebody familiar at work and Roy even walks me home when we finish our shift. He doesn’t work every day like I do. He only works here three times per week. He asks me the reason why I am working here. I tell him that I want to get to know more about the fast food business as my family will expand the business in the food chain. I can’t tell him that I need the money since he knows me as May Wong.

It has been days since I am able to get in touch with Anthony. We only text each other while I don’t have the time to call him or pick up his phone call. Due to the time difference, it’s hard for us to communicate with each other. Anthony has complaint a lot about this but he thought that I am busy with work as usual.

Nevertheless, my “Roy plan” is on the move. Roy starts to get closer to me. He often buys me a hot chocolate and even gives me a warm scarf for me to wear. We even like to go for a walk for 30 minutes before we start working. He likes to buy me an ice cream cone or even take me to visit his favorite book store. We suddenly stop at an antique shop for a moment. I remember that I have been here before. I look at the vintage clock on the wall and remember that I wanted to buy that clock 11 years ago but couldn’t afford to buy it at the time. I ask the shop keeper how much the clock is worth now. It’s $1500. I really want to buy it but I remember that I need to spend the money for Christian’s birthday present. We then continue to walk to the Burger King stall.

I am just praying that I can survive to live like this with only 3 – 4 hours to sleep for everyday. It has been 12 days since I am working at Burger King. If my calculation is correct, I will have my pay check by tomorrow for $2160. I have $3000 in my wallet from my own savings, not from the one Anthony gave me. The golf set I wanted to buy for Christian is worth $5000. I am glad that I finally able to buy Christian his birthday present.

Part 2: Butterfly (Christian)

It is getting more and more comfortable since the new girl moved into our place. The place to only spend the night turns into a home for some reason. I rarely go out to see my girls again and even June starts to hang out in the living room rather than just locks herself in her bedroom. I am now seeing what Kevin has been telling me all about. Ruby seems to have that special energy which contagious to the people around her. We like to hang out with her.

I have reminded myself not to develop any feelings with this girl since the custom in our family is for us to have an arrange married for business / political purposes. That’s the reason why I don’t want to date any girls for more than one week. They are just my companions who like my money more than they like me. I thought that Ruby is just the same like any other girls. However, when I found out that she never takes the check I gave her as her monthly allowance, I realize that she’s different. She even cooks for us and I know that she uses her own money to serve food for the rest of us.

“What is in your mind?” June suddenly asks me when she enters the gym room.

“Nothing” I lie to her

“You are thinking about the new girl, aren’t you?”

“Which girl?” I ask her. I wonder should any of my dates offend her again.

“The one who makes you smile even though when she is not around.”

“Who are you talking about?” I don’t know how she finds out about this.

“It’s Ruby. I like her too. Why don’t you date her then?” she asks me while taking a treadmill.

I cannot hide anything from June because her observation is always accurate. She was the first to find out when dad was cheating with his secretary. She was also the first to find out that the real May has a crush on Kevin. Now, she finds out about my feelings to Ruby.

“You know that she is different with any other girls who I dated before. I can’t just date her and dump her in a week. Your cousin Amy will kill me. She is here to heal her heart, not to break them.”

“You can treat her differently. You can start a serious relationship with her.” She says to me.

This is the first that June likes other girl besides May. All of us have to admit that having Ruby in the house really makes our home warmer, even from the cold silent June.

“You know that I can’t do that. Our parents will not approve. She is not coming from the same social status as our family.” I reply to her.

“I know but you can always fight. Since when that you become this obedient? I know for a fact that mom will like her at the end. May will like her too.” says June

“My feeling for her is just a little crush. It will go away. By the way, I need to go now.” I say to her.

“Do you know that she has been missing every night for the past few days?” she says to me while I am walking out to the door.

“She can go anywhere she wants to” I reply back to June, pretend not to care.

As I am picking Candy, my new girl for the week to party at the new club Carruzo, I can’t stop thinking on what June has said about Ruby. Where does she go every night? Has she been staying at Roy’s place? Suddenly, I have this weird feeling about it. Do I feel jealous? Impossible.

I decide to leave Candy at the club and ask my friend to drive her home. I tell her that I am not feeling well. I need to find out where she has been going every night.

As I went to park the car, I see Ruby coming outside from the apartment and start to walk alone. I follow her around and she seems to go to the central station. She then comes in to Burger King and does not come out again even though I have been waiting for more than an hour. I drive the car to cross the Burger King and finds out that she is working in the cash registry.

What is she doing there and why does she need to work? Even though she doesn’t come from a rich family, I know that she has enough savings to survive. I wonder whether I should come in but I decide to let her continue to work for the time being. I need to ask Kevin about this and finds out whether he knows the reason behind it.

“Kev, wake up!” I hit his head with a pillow

Kevin wakes up unwillingly and asks me what’s going on.

“Do you know that Ruby has been working every night? I ask Kevin directly

“No, I don’t. Where does she work? And Why?” Kevin asks me back while yawning.

“She has been working at Burger King Central. I don’t know why. I followed her just now.”

Kevin then keeps silent for a while and then replies “Doesn’t Roy work at the same stall?”

Now, I know the reason why she has to work there every night. It is for the sake of her plan to get closer with Roy. Suddenly, I feel really angry with her. I punch Kevin’s white board in the room until it cracks and falls dawn to the floor.

“What are you doing?” he then asks me suddenly and gets confuse due to my extreme reaction.

“She is just the same like any other girls.” I reply him and then grab my jacket to confront her right away.

Nobody can play with my feelings like this. Now, I want her out from my life. She has spent so many nights together with Roy without telling me before hand. I don’t understand why does she still make meals for us every day? Is she here to catch my attention as well? I wonder what they were doing together for the last few days. Has she stayed at his place too? Are they together now? I am getting to feel angry and even getting angrier. She doesn’t deserve to live here at my house and continue to pretend as my sister. She is just the same like any other girls. She only wants to take an advantage from me, to use all of the facility; also to get what she wants which is to get closer with Roy.

I wait for her to come outside from her work. I then see her walking with Roy to come back to the apartment, laughing together. They seem having such a great time. This makes my heart to burn even more. I follow them with my car until Roy says good bye and takes the bus.

I approach her as my anger begins to rise. I slap her in the face and say:

“You! Pack your things and get out of my house by tomorrow.”

Ruby seems surprise to see me and wonders what I have just said. I continue to yell at her

“I don’t want a girl like you to stay at my home. I thought that you were different. It turns out that you are worse. You really use us for your own purposes. You have used us along the way without considering back our feelings! I never want to see you again. Just get out!”

She is slowly starting to cry, look me in the eye and finally says

“You don’t have to wait until tomorrow. I will pack my things in a few hours and get out from the house as soon as possible.”

I can’t stand to see any girls to cry in front of me. Many girls have slapped my face during breaking up but no one has really cried in front of me. I am starting to melt and feel sorry that I have hit her in the face. However, instead of apologizing, I just stand there while looking at her running away to the apartment. “Ughh…. What have I done?” I say to myself.

I am then waiting in the car for one hour. I see her bringing her large suitcase try to get a taxi. I really want to stop her but I think that she won’t forgive me for hitting her face. I wonder where she will go as she doesn’t have a place to stay and I know that she can’t go back to her Aunt’s house. I follow the taxi and they stop at the small hotel on Broadway. I am thinking and driving away from the hotel. Without realizing, I am stopping at the Burger King’s stall. I haven’t had any breakfast therefore I order some food and then suddenly asking the cashier,

“Is May Wong working in here?”

He seems to be the manager as he wears a different uniform compares to the others.

“Yes, she just finished her shift an hour ago.” He replies to me

“How long has she been working here? Did Roy bring her to work here?”

“No. She applied for a job around two weeks ago. She said that she will work with us for only a half month. As we are short of employees during the night shift, we accept her terms to work with us temporarily.”

“Thank you” I reply to Rick as I know his name by seeing his name tag.

I am now confused. Why is she planning to work there only for two weeks if her intention is to get close to Roy? She should have continued to work there for an unlimited period.

I am driving away again and picking up the phone from the party planner to set things at the house. I really forget that tomorrow, I will have my birthday party at home. Suddenly, I don’t feel like having a party. I just need to lie down and sleep for a while.

I finally wake up and go to the dining table to see any food to eat. The table is empty and I realize that with Ruby’s gone, we will never have a home cook meal anymore.

“Where is Ruby? I haven’t seen her all day?” asking June while also sitting at the dining table.

“She has gone.”

“What?” June seems surprise and asks me to tell her the reason.

I finally tell her anything and she asks me to look for her at the hotel and bring her home immediately.

“How can you hit her? She didn’t do anything wrong. You shouldn’t hit her even though she took the job to get close to Roy. That’s normal and that was the original plan on why she came to Sydney for the first place. You have promised Amy to take care of her. She wasn’t even planning to go to Sydney if Amy didn’t tell her to go! She is not the type of girl who likes to take any advantage on other people like you thought.” she begins to scream at me.

I never see June to bring this many emotion likes this and talk this much. I wonder how Kevin will react when he finds out that I have kicked out the girl he adores the most.

“She is a big girl. She will come home eventually. She can’t stay at the hotel forever!” I reply to June.

“If she hasn’t still to come home by tomorrow, I will go look for her by myself. You must be thankful that Kevin is staying at his friend house tonight. He will slaughter you alive if he finds out that you kick Ruby out from the house!” June leaves the table, comes back to her room and slaps the door.

Deep down in my heart, I know that I should come and get her. I also need to apologize for hitting her. However, my pride is too high. I never apologize to any one and I certainly do not want to start with her. I open up a refrigerator and find many containers with food on it. The containers are labeled with our names on it. There is a container with June’s name, Kevin’s name and even my name. There is also an instruction on each paper on how to hit up the food. I take one container with my name on it, open the food and put it for 3 minutes in the microwave like the instruction says.

While having dinner, I know that Ruby was the one who did all of this things for us. I begin to feel sorry even more. She even remembers to make my favorite lasagna. I swallow the food hard.

It’s already morning and when I look at my watch, I realize that it’s already 11.00 AM. I slept really late last night thinking about Ruby. I hear a door bell rings constantly. I wonder where everyone is today. Is Ms. White, the house keeper not coming in today?

I open the door and there is a delivery of a golf set. I didn’t order any golf set. It can’t be Kevin’s or June’s as well as both of them do not like to play any sport. However the person insists that the delivery is made to my name. I sign the receipt and read the card on top the golf set.

Dear Christian,

Happy 30th birthday! I wanted to give you this as a surprise birthday present from me. I knew from June that you always wanted to have this Tiger Wood set for a long time but never bought them eventually. I want to give you something you like and it seems that this is the perfect choice for you. I also have asked to have all the sticks engraved with your initials on it. I hope that you will like it.  

I am really sorry to hide my job at Burger King from all of you as I know that you guys would disapprove me to work at the night shift. At the same time, I don’t want you guys to worry. I just want to work there temporarily until I can earn enough money to buy your birthday present.

Thank you. You have been nothing but generous to me and I always feel thankful to meet a great friend like you. Please stay happy and I am sure that you will have a splendid birthday today.

Warm Regards,

Ruby

I feel really stupid and don’t know how to even apologize to her. I misunderstood her. I should have known that she’s not the same with any girl I know. She has always been kind and sincere to anyone around her. She would never take any advantage to anyone, not even from the one who has hurt her. I put the card on the table, take my car keys and then plan to go to the hotel as fast as I can.

I arrive at the hotel and find out that she already checked out this morning. I am then driving to her Aunt’s place and ask her whether she has come by with nothing to go on. I call Kevin and ask him whether she has contacted him and Kevin says no. He eventually finds out that I have asked her to move out and plan to help me to look for her before killing me in person. I don’t have any other strategies than going to Roy’s place and hope that she will be there. I knock Roy’s door repeatedly without stopping and finds out that Ruby is not here either. He then asks what has happened and I only told him that I couldn’t find my sister as she ran out from the house. He thinks that it has something to do with taking the job without our permission.

I begin to drive and start looking at her while thinking where she could possibly be by now. It is also raining heavily and it is getting harder for me to see the road. I remember her telling me her favorite place in Sydney. It’s the park near with a view to the Harbor Bridge near The Rock café. It’s already 03.00 PM and the party will start in a few hours but I don’t care. I am calling June to ask her taking care to cancel the party. She agrees that it is best for us to find Ruby rather than dealing with the stupid party. For me, finding Ruby too is the most important thing to do now. I never have this strange feeling, the feeling of afraid to lose someone, the feeling of falling in love.

Part 3: An apology (Ruby)

I don’t know where to go as I don’t want to keep staying at the hotel. The hotel was terrible. There were polices to go to one of the room last night and it scared me. I think that the person was caught using drugs. I really don’t know what to do since I get not go back to my Aunt’s place as Roy is involved now. I am sitting on the park, the same park when I got here on the third day. It starts to rain and I am feeling thankful for it. The rain will cover my tears. I cry and wonder whether I should just come home to Jakarta and forget about all the things have happened in Sydney. I am really surprise that Christian was really mad because I took a job behind his back. I never would have thought that it would be a big deal. As sorry as I am today, I still don’t regret of making the decision to work at BK in order to buy him a present. I am just sad that I might ruin his birthday mood.

I remember that today is the delivery day of the golf set and I wonder that he already received and liked them. I don’t blame him at all for hitting me last night. He was right. I shouldn’t have taken any advantage from his family. I shouldn’t pretend as May Wong to get to Roy. Actually, I have reminded myself that I am not May Wong. I am still Ruby Lee, an ugly-fat girl who doesn’t deserve a special attention from anybody. A gorgeous penthouse, beautiful clothes, a rich and handsome brother. This belongs to May, not me.

I am beginning to feel cold and dizzy due to the limited hours of sleeping and heavy rain. Suddenly, I hear a loud voice calling my name. It strikes me out since I know that it’s Christian voice. I couldn’t understand. How does he know that I would be here? Does he suppose to be at home celebrating his birthday? I see him walking towards me while bringing an umbrella. I don’t have enough time to run away but I don’t want to bring any more trouble to him and his family. As I try to run away, throws his umbrella away and starts to hug me. I really don’t know how to react as he whispers

“Ruby, I am sorry. Please don’t go. Please stay. I never say sorry to anyone in my whole life. But for you, I am willing to say I am sorry. Please don’t go and come back to our home with me.”

“I… I…” I don’t know how to respond to his last statement. I want to tell him that it’s not his fault but nothing is coming out from my mouth. I suddenly feel even dizzier and begin to lose sight as I only can see many black spots at the moment.

I am now opening my eyes and realize that I already back at the penthouse. There is something heavy on top my forehead. I take it away and it turns out that it’s a wet towel. What happened to me? I try to remember the last thing happened and recall that Christian was hugging me in the park. I sit down and find that Christian is sleeping with his head on the bed beside me. As I wake up, he then wakes up too and touch my forehead, my cheek and my neck right away.

“Thank God you are ok. The Doctor said that you have been too tired and caught a fever. You have been passed out for two days. I will bring you your soup. June has prepared them for you to eat.”

I don’t know how to react. Did he say that June has prepared the soup for me? I don’t even know whether she can cook. I thought that she didn’t like any activities outside her room.

“Eat your soup.” Says Christian

He grabs a soup and tries to give me a spoon feeding.

“I can eat by myself.” I say to him. I really feel bad that he has taken care of me for the past two days. After all, he is the owner of the house and I am not his real sister. I don’t deserve this attention

“Please let me to feed you. You are too weak now. The Doctor said that you need plenty of rest.”

I don’t want to debate further with him and decide to drink the soup. As he feeds me, Kevin and June start to walk into my room.

“How are you guys?” I say hello to them

June then says “You never leave the house again without saying good bye. Do you have any idea how panic we were? I even thought of calling the police.”

“I am sorry. I will never do it again.” I say to June with gratitude.

Kevin then suddenly speaks

“Chris, leave the soup to me. I want to talk to Ruby in private. Please leave us alone.”

Christian seems to doubt but June pulls his hand to leave the room and close the door.

“You will never to this childish thing again, understand?” as Kevin begins to get angry with me

“You are our family now and family doesn’t leave anyone behind without saying good bye.”

“I am sorry. I thought that Christian didn’t want me here.” I defend myself to Kevin 

“I already know what happened between you too and it seems that it’s a pure misunderstanding. I am sure that he won’t ask you to leave ever again in the future. Do you realize about Christian’s feeling to you now? Have you begun to notice the difference?”

I am then beginning to choke as I am surprise to hear what Kevin just said.

“What do you mean?” I say to Kevin curiously.

“He has started to develop a special feeling for you. He never panics to search for any girl like he did for you. He never carries a girl in his life. He even carries you twice in a month on his hand to put you on your bed. He never calls a doctor to check up on any one beside her sister. Most importantly, I saw him kissing your forehead; keep apologizing to you when you were unconscious.”

“I don’t feel for him that way. You know that. Since Rudy, I never have the same feelings to any guy. I may have a little bit of feelings with Anthony, but I always think of you or Christian in a more brotherhood and friendship love. You know that. Kev, what should I do now?” I ask Kevin and really feel scared that I might hurt Christian’s feeling.

“Don’t think about this too much. I am not sure whether he is serious about you. You know that he always exchanges his girlfriend every week. He never ran out of girls. Just let me think about it.

For now, you need to maintain your distance with him and concentrate on Roy. The faster you are done with Roy, the sooner you will understand your true feeling.”

I spend the next two days still lying on bed while Christian, June, and Kevin are patiently looking after me. The soup is getting tastier as the day go by. June’s cooking skill is getting better day by day too. While Kevin never allows Christian to be alone with me, I am glad that I have three great friends. I also call Anthony often and we spend hours to chat after all this time. I am glad to hear his voice again. I have been in touch also the three musketeers via Skype. Amy gave me some great advice on how to get even closer with Roy.

Yesterday, Roy came to visit me as he knows that I was missing back then. It turns out that Christian was looking for me to his place. He brought me some flowers and wished me to have a speedy recovery. As the weather in Sydney is now winter, he asks me to join him for his family vacation with his brother and sister to go to Snowy Mountain. I have agreed as Amy thought that this is a good strategy to get closer to him. He also has helped me to formally give a resignation letter to Burger King as he thought that Christian has forbid me to work because I am Amy Wong.

I am now packing my things to prepare to go to Snowy Mountain tomorrow. Kevin then enters the room, giving me some new winter clothes and asks me

“Are you sure that you want to go on this vacation?”

“Yes. This is the fastest way to win his heart.” I reply to Kevin.

“I am afraid that your heart will get melt first even before his” Kevin starts to state his worry to me.

Actually, the same hypothesis also appears in my mind. After all, the guy was my first love. The feeling of attraction remains exist when I see his handsome face smiling at me.

“Don’t worry. I know what I am doing. He has told me the reason he broke up with me back then. I wouldn’t fall for a guy who has abandoned me during my darkest time.” I reply to Kevin

“I hope that I am wrong but I get the feeling that you will fall for him again.”

“Kev, I heard from June that Lily has coming back to Sydney. Are you going to see her?”

I suddenly remember that I want to let him know about Lily. I am glad that my relationship with Kevin has been always a friendship. We never start to develop any other feelings with each other. We just adore each other in an “Idol” kind of way. It is like my affection to Roy Chiu, one of the most handsome Actors from Taiwan. We can talk about anything and spending hours together while playing our music together.

“I don’t know. We will see.” Kevin replies to me.

“Have you told Christian that you are going to Snowy Mountain with Roy?” He suddenly reminds me.

“Yes. He disapproves at first but when he heard that we are leaving with his sister and his brother, he is willing to give the permission.”

I have begun to avoid Christian as hard as I can for the past few days. If he comes in to my room while Kevin is not around, I pretend to sleep. I have been avoiding any private time with him. I don’t know whether Kevin is right about his affection for me but I just don’t want to take chances of hurting his feeling. He has been too kind. He doesn’t deserve to feel any pain, especially from me.

Part 4: Friendship (Kevin)

I am walking out from Ruby’s room and thinking whether it’s appropriate for me to meddle in with Ruby’s relationship with Christian. I don’t want any of them to get hurt. They are both my best friends and especially for Chris, this is the first time for him to actually care for a girl.

“Chris, let’s go out to have some drinks” I ask him to go out to our usual bar near the Bondi beach.

“Ok! Let me change first.”

He is then taking May’s red Ferrari car key and driving us to the club.

“I haven’t seen you with Candy or with any other girls for a while now.”

I ask Chris while he’s driving the car. He has been given more than 20 speeding ticket during the past year. His Australian license has even got provoked. However, as he has many sets of Indonesian driver’s license with different names, he never cares to maintain his speed.

“Candy is no longer with me.” Christian replies to me.

I understand that the reason he dumped her was not because of his weekly ritual to change a date but because of Ruby. I suddenly understand how Ruby slowly starts to grow on his heart.

“You cannot develop any feelings for Ruby.” I reply Christian as we reach the club. The valet attendant helps us to park our car as Chris stops to stands still instead of going in to the club.

“We will talk inside.” I am going into the club asking for a private corner for both of us.

As we reach the table, I order a Vodka Martini and Chris orders his regular Double Scotch on a rock.

“You were saying that I am not allowed to like Ruby?” Christian opens our conversation

“Yes.” I reply to him. I know that the only way to stop him to like Ruby is when he thought that I like her too. He always respects our friendship and our brotherhood.

“Why?” He is starting to drink.

“Because I love her”

I have to lie to Chris as I know that this is for the best. Ruby has already enough burdens due to the love triangle between her, Roy and Anthony. She doesn’t even know her true feeling for them yet. She even got hurt badly because of Rudy and is still in the process of a recovery. I am not sure whether Christian’s feeling is as serious as it seems. What if he got bored and left Ruby at the end?

“You are lying. I know that you still have feelings for Lily.” Replies Chris.

“It’s Ruby whom I only love from the start. You know that she has always been more than just a friend to me. I fell in love with Lily because Ruby went back to Indonesia. She had Roy at the time. As we are living under the same roof now, my feeling starts to develop even more and more for her.”

I really hope that Chris bought this. I accidently almost kissed Ruby a few weeks ago. It wasn’t because I liked her but it’s because I miss Lily so much and she looks a little but like her. They are also similar with one another. They both love music and they both are just kind to any people.

“Let Ruby decides who she will choose between the both of us.” Replies Chris

“That’s the thing. I don’t think she will choose either one of us.”

Chris seems to get more and more confuse as I continue to explain things with him

“The best thing for Ruby is now for her to understand her feeling. She doesn’t know yet whether she still has some feelings for Roy or for her childhood friend, Anthony. She doesn’t have feelings for the both of us as she considers us as her family. Your love will cause as an extra burden for her. The only thing we can do for Ruby now is to protect her, not to force her to love us back.”

“I guess you are right. I won’t force her to love me back but I won’t stop chasing her.” replies Chris

“Did you remember what did your love do cause her in the first place? What did your jealousy do to her? It caused her to leave and she even fell ill because of it. Do you want that to happen again? Do you want her to disappear again? You haven’t learned the right way to love somebody. She cannot get her heart broken again. She will crush eventually. Do you think what you have for her is an eternal love? No, I know you. Your feeling for her now is just an infatuation because she is different for any other girl you have met. You want to have her now but you will dump her later on.”

I know that I shouldn’t say any of this to him as I really now that Chris truly cares for Ruby. However, this is the only way for him to back down for a moment before he is certain of his feelings towards her. I am not doing this only for Ruby only but also for him. I don’t want Chris to stop believing in love. I am afraid that he will get his heart broken because Ruby does not love him back.

“Just promise me that you won’t chase her aggressively.” I hit him on this shoulder. He seems very serious. For the first time, he is not thinking about himself. He really thinks whether his feelings will cause Ruby any harm. The old Chris would argue with me and try to do things for his own good.

“Ok! I will just be her protector for now. But if either Roy or you or anybody else breaks her heart in the future, I will not hesitate to kill either one of you.”

We are then continuing to drink until we get drunk. I am then asking the valet attendant to drive us home as neither of us is capable to drive. I give him a tip for $200 as it’s already late. I put Christian to the sofa as I also feel drunk and don’t have any power left to reach both of our room. We fell asleep in the living room.

Ruby wakes us up in the morning as she makes a delicious pancake for our breakfast. I have to admit that it’s nice to have her around the house. I remember about Lily also cooked for me when we were still together. Now, I am missing her even more.

Ruby then gives us a hangover pill and a glass of Pocari Sweat to Chris and me. She thought that we were hanging out with some friends to celebrate Christian’s late birthday party. June comes out from her room and joins us for breakfast and starts to ask Ruby

“What time are you leaving?”

“Roy will pick me up in an hour” replies Ruby to June.

“Maybe my brother should join you.” Says June

“I can’t join her today as I already have plans but I might catch her up with Kevin tomorrow if we are both available and willing to drive the car for 8 hours” says Chris with smile to both of them

I understand Chris’ plan to give Ruby some space but he still hasn’t given up on Ruby. I can see that he is still highly concern on how Ruby spends a holiday together with Roy.

We continue to have our breakfast until Roy comes by to pick Ruby’s up.

Part 5: Snow Falls (Roy)

It’s been a long time since a girl gets my interest to get to know her better. I don’t understand why but it seems that I have known May from before. She isn’t like any other girl I have dated with, especially rich girls. I never see a rich girl who is dare to walk barefoot during a formal party. I also never see any rich girl who is not afraid to use the kitchen. She is even willing to work at Burger King. I didn’t buy the reason she told me before. It would have been impossible for their companies to expand their business from electronics to food chain. After visiting May during her illness, I knew from Christian that she was trying to buy a golf set for her brother using her own money.

I ask May to go on a holiday with Ko Ben and Ci Henny for them to get to know May better. I never bring any girl to come on a family vacation like this since I bought Ruby 11 years ago. However, I know that May wouldn’t say yes if I ask her to go on a holiday for just the two of us. I press the door bell to her penthouse. Christian opens the door and asks me to come in.

“Come in mate.” Says Christian

“Is May ready?” I ask him to look for May.

“She is still washing the dishes in the kitchen. We have just finished eating our breakfast. Kevin is helping her. Do sit down for a while. She should finish it soon.”

I sit down and get even curious why a princess like her do her own dishes. Kevin seems to be close with her. As I sit down, another girl I never met comes in to the room and sits beside Christian.

“What hotel are you staying in later?” she suddenly asks me.

“Roy, this is my sister June.” says Christian explaining her interrogation.

“We will stay in one of my friend’s villa” I answer back her question.

“I am going to need the phone number information.” June replies to me.

I am letting her know the phone number and thinking that May and June must be close with each other. It seems that June is very protective of her sister May. Roy is then opening his serious brotherly conversation with me.

“You are not to sleep in the same room with her. You have to promise to bring her back without any harm in both mentally and physically. I want you to promise me that you will take care of her during the trip. You can call me at anytime should there is any remotely thing going on with her.”

“Ok! Don’t worry. I will take care of her.” I reply to Christian

I am feeling weird with the relationship of their family, especially when you look closely that Christian looks so much alike with June but not with May. Christian was also over protective to his sister as if she is his girlfriend. I have no idea that May is very loved by her two siblings. However, I wonder how come that she doesn’t turn out to become a spoilt girl. Afterwards, June is leaving the living room while Kevin and May are coming in.

“I am sorry to keep you waiting.” Says May with her pretty smile as usual.

I look at her still wearing the apron while Kevin wants to help her to get her luggage.

“Did you cook breakfast as well?” I ask her curiously.

“Yes. I just made pancake. Do you want to taste it? We still have some over left.” says May.

“Ok. Why not?”

They are two main reasons that I want to try her pancake. First is I want to know whether she really can cook and second is I want to find out her current relationship status with Kevin. She brings me the pancake and before I ask her to put on the chocolate topping, she already gave me a double chocolate topping. One is crushed and one is melted chocolate.

“How did you know that I like to put on a chocolate topping?” I ask her with the highest level of curiosity. This is the second time that she already knew my appetite. I never like maple syrup as they are too sweet for me.

“I am just guessing.” She replies to me while taking off her apron.

“Is Kevin ok that you are going on a vacation with me?” I ask this question in front of her and Kevin to find out their real status.

“I am sure that Kevin is fine. Christian and Kev might join us tomorrow if they are free.” replies May

I look at Kevin and realize that he still doesn’t like me. I am not sure whether his dislike is because of Lily or because of May. However, I can see that both Kevin and Christian are very protective of May.

“Let’s go. It’s already late and we have to pick up my brother and sister first.”

May is then coming with me and says good bye to both Christian and Kevin. They walk her until reaching our car. I have hired a comfortable caravan for our family. While I am opening the back door for her luggage to fit in, Christian suddenly hugs her. I am not what they are talking about but it seems that Christian is unwilling to let go of this sister to go with me.

We are now taking off the road after a while. May then apologizes to me about the long good bye.

“You seem to be very close with Kevin and your brother.” I say to her opening our conversation.

“Yes. They both are like my real brothers.” She replies to my statement before.

It’s weird that she refers both of them as if one of them is not his not his real brother. However, I decide to ignore my curiosity. After picking up Ko Ben and Ci Henny, we continue to hit the road.

“It’s about time that you have a girlfriend” says Ci Henny

“I am not his girlfriend” replies May back to Ci Henny.

“Don’t make her uncomfortable Ci Hen.” I say to Ci Henny, hoping that the situation would not turn into an awkward atmosphere.

“You never bring a girl to our family holiday since your first girl. I forgot her name. Who was she again?” says Ci Henny.

“Her name is Ruby.” Says Ko Ben.

May seems excited to hear about Ruby and replies to Ko Ben

“How come that Ko Ben still remembers about Ruby? Was she a nice girl?”

Ko Ben then explains all the positive things about Ruby and how he likes her so much. He also embarrasses me by letting know May that I am still calling her name in my sleep sometimes. May then asks some more questions about Ruby and I begin to get curious as she seems to develop such a high interest in this topic.

“Why do you want to know about Ruby so much?” I ask May

“No reason. It seems that she left a deep memory for Ko Ben.” May replies back to me.

“She was not just leaving a deep memory to Ko Ben but also to me. However, I don’t want us to talk about her anymore. Let’s talk about something else.” I add her statement from before.

We are then talking about the culinary in Indonesia. She seems to know every great place to eat in Jakarta. Suddenly, I miss coming home. I can see that May can blend in with Ko Ben and Ci Hen very well, something that I didn’t expect from such a princess like her.

“Your character is very similar to Ruby.” Ko Ben mentions her again after halfway of our trip.

I just realize why I think that I know May. Ko Ben is right. Her character is very similar to Ruby. That’s the only reason why I found her so familiar. I approached her at the party not because she is May Wong. But, I found her really familiar. The way her eyes stare is really similar with Ruby’s. I don’t know whether I just miss Ruby so much after all these years. May smiles and she doesn’t answer Ko Ben’s reaction from before. I remember our happy time from before. We used to eat candy together. I turn around to look at May. She seems tired and falls asleep. Ko Ben asks me whether I want him to replace me to drive and I reject. I like to driver rather than just sit in the car doing nothing.

We finally arrive at the villa and I see that May is still sleeping. I don’t want to wake her up. Therefore, I carry her and ask Ko Ben to open the villa. I put her on a guest bed. She will be sleeping with Ci Henny. After I put her on a bed, she seems to wake up and feel embarrass because she knew that I was carrying her.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” She asks me right away.

“I don’t want to disturb you from sleeping. You just got better from sick few days ago. You need to have plenty of time to rest.” I reply her immediately.

We are then unpacking our things in a separate room. I will be sleeping with Ko Ben.

“You like her, don’t you?” says Ko Ben to me

“Is it that obvious?” I reply back to him. I am closer with Ko Ben rather than with my sister.

“Yes. I haven’t seen you like this for a long time. She seems to be a really good girl.”

I know that Ko Ben is right. We spend the night by playing card. The losers have to drink a small glass of mixed vodka. May doesn’t seem to have the ability to drink at all. Fortunately, she only loses two times. The two drinks already made her face to turns red. I tell them our plan for tomorrow. We are going to take off at 11.00 AM, take a sky lift and go skiing. May told me that she never had a ski lesson before which is weird since I know that Christian’s family has their private mansion and a private skiing field here. I tell her not to worry that I will teach her and tell her to sleep early.

I wake up because of the good smell coming from outside the bedroom. It seems that someone has made breakfast. It turns out that it’s May. So far, she really has impressed me with her cook. At 11.00 AM, we are going to the sky lift area. I hold her hands as it’s really hard for any girl to walk on the snow ground for the first time. She seems a bit nervous that I am holding her hand. I also begin to feel the butterflies on my stomach. She just catches my attention more and more.

We are taking two sky lifts. Ko Ben with Ci Henny and May with me. The sky lift is an open lift. There are no pedals for you to step in and no glass wall. However, you can enjoy the lovely view from its surrounding. We spend our days skiing and I taught her a basic ski lesson. Ci Henny’s leg get cramp and they decide to go home earlier than us. I tell them that we will stay to see the gorgeous sun set. They and May agrees. I go to a toilet and find May is already helping some kids to build a snow man.

I can’t deny that I feel like I am a better person when I am around her. She is just so pure and is kind to everyone around her. We have a good time playing with the kids. Later on, we both are amazed with the sun set and after it finishes, we are planning to get back using the sky lift. It’s already dark.

In the middle of the way, the sky lift stops suddenly. This never happens before. I begin to panic as the weather is getting colder and colder. May seems to try to reach her cell phone and finds out that the battery has ran out. I don’t bring my cell phone here with me.

“Don’t worry. Someone will come and get us. I am sure that Ko Ben and Ci Hen will look for us if we haven’t reached home in a while” I reply to May to calm her.

“We have sat for almost one hour and no one is coming to get us. I forgot to bring my asthma pump” says her nervously while searching for it inside her bag.

“Do you have asthma as well?” I ask her curiously. She just has too many similarities with Ruby. Sometimes, I even find that she has the same expression as Ruby’s.

“We have to jump then and walk. It’s not good for you be out in the open, especially during a cold weather like this” I say to her.

“I don’t dare to. It seems that even though the height is only 8 – 10 meters away. It’s still dangerous.”

“Don’t worry. I will jump first and I promise that I will catch you. The snow is pretty thick. It will feel as if we jump out to a bed.” I persuade her quickly. I don’t want anything bad happens to her. Other than Christian and Kevin will kill me, I have really grown to care for her.

Before she can react, I jump to the ground. As I have predicted, the snow is really thick. I am then shouting to May, asking her to jump over and trust me that I would catch her. She jumps, I try to catch her and we both fall down. Our lips are touched with one another accidently. She then gets up and apologizes to me right away. I don’t know how to react other than smiling.

However, her safety is my priority at the moment. I am pulling her hand and say to her that we need to keep walking. Otherwise, our body will get colder and we would pass out eventually. We are walking for about an hour before she tells me that she is no longer has the strength to continue. It seems that she has run out of breath. I am really scared that she will have that asthma attack.

“We have to find a shelter” I say to her while looking for the surroundings to look for any shelter.

“Roy, just leave me alone. You have to continue walking. It is so dangerous here.” replies her to me.

“I wouldn’t leave you alone. You are my responsibility. Please wait. I will walk to a higher ground and look for a shelter.” I say to her.

She seems weak and continues to sit and breathe heavily to the ground. Her condition is very concerning. I am scared that she would pass out.

“Promise me that you won’t fall asleep.” I am touching both of her cheek as she almost losing her consciousness. I kiss her on her forehead and ask her to wait for me.

I know that I begin to fall for her when I gave her that kiss. I begin to walk into the higher ground and look for any shelter. On the left in about 100 meters away, I see what it seems to be a cave. I come down to the ground to look for May and find her lying on the ground.

“May… May… May, wake up!”

I am grabbing her body, hugging her while keeping calling her name, asking her to wake up. She doesn’t give me any respond. I am then putting her on the ground again and start doing a CPR.

“May.. wake up… Please don’t leave me like this…” I begin to shout at her as she doesn’t respond.

I keep doing a CPR until May opens her eyes weakly.

“Roy, you come back for me. I thought that you have left me again.” She replies back to me.

I suddenly hug her and whisper in her ear

“You are so stupid. How could I leave you alone like this? I would never leave you. Do you understand?”

“But you left me once.” She says weakly.

I don’t understand what she means. However, I know that I have to get her to wake up and go to the cave first. I give her a piggy back ride and walk towards the cave.

“May, don’t fall asleep. Please talk to me.” I say to her while still giving her a piggy back ride.

“I never forget you all this time. I have always remembered about you and cherish our memory from 11 years ago.” She whispers gently in my ear.

I feel that she has lost her conscious and starts talking weirdly. She might experience a high fever.

“May, I never left you before. I don’t understand what you just said. What do you mean that you still remember me from 11 years ago? We only met few months ago.” I reply to her.

“I am Ruby. I have always been Ruby all this time. You just didn’t recognize me.”

I am now putting her down on the ground and shaking her body.

“What do you mean? You can’t be her. You don’t look like her at all.”

I have no idea what is she saying about. Even though I have found many similarities between her and Ruby, she just doesn’t look like her at all.

“Please open my wallet. I need to let you know the truth. I am afraid that I couldn’t make it through tonight” she whispers slowly.

I am opening her wallet and find out that there is a picture of the Ruby I knew and another guy. I also find out her ID card, her driver’s license, her credit card. They are all under Ruby Lee’s name. There’s none under May Wong’s name.

“My appearance has changed drastically but I am still Ruby. Did you remember when we got our first date? We went to the movies to see 51st date played by Drew Barrymore.”

 

I am now certain that May is Ruby and begins to panic even more. I cannot lose her. I cannot let something bad happens to her. I carry her again and then walk to go inside the cave.

The cave is very small. It only fits both of us with no room to light on any fire or anything. The wide is probably only 1,5 M with has 3 M of length. As we go inside, May / Ruby’s body is starting to shake and she has a difficulty to breath. I open my jacket to cover her body as an additional blanket. However, it’s still not working. I am then trying to talk to her to let her forget about the cold.

“Why did you come back to Sydney and pretend to be May Wong?” I ask her for an explanation

Her voice is shaking and replying to me weakly

“I wanted to see how you are doing. I wanted to know the reason you left me before. Unfortunately, it turns out that I was right. You left me because of the change in my family’s social status due to the bankruptcy. I want to hide this from you but I don’t want to die without letting you know the truth that I am Ruby. I still care for you and really wish you to find your happiness in life.”

I am then hugging her as her voice sounds to become weaker and shakier.

“You have misunderstood. I left you for your own good. Yes, it’s because of your family bankruptcy. However, I was forced to leave you because of my mother. She has threatened to report your mother to the police. I cannot let her to do that. That’s the real reason that I had to leave you. For me, I didn’t care even though you would change to become a homeless needy. I would still have loved you no matter what. It wasn’t easy for me too you know. I even quitted school for a while.”

She is then crying and asking whether this is true. After a few minutes, she is starting to ask about other question which seems to have bothered her for a long time.

“Why did you take Lily from Kevin then? Why did you leave her at your engagement party?”

“You misunderstood once again. I never leave anyone. We both agreed to cancel our engagement as we never love each other at the first place. Lily was very ill back then. She had a blood cancer and had to undergone a surgery. The chance for her to recover back then was really small. The kiss Kevin saw Lily and I made was just an act. We did it on purpose. Lily has asked me to do it to make Kevin to leave her. She didn’t want Kevin to feel grief due to her illness.

“Is it the truth? You didn’t lie to me right? I can’t stand to be left out again. I couldn’t handle this kind of pain again in my heart.” She whispers to me

I am then kissing her on her mouth gently. I am hoping that from the gesture I am making; she can look into my eyes and see that I am telling the truth. I hope she knows that I loved her 11 years ago and I am in love again with her now especially when I find out that she is my Ruby not Amy Wong. This time I won’t let her go out of my life. This time, I promise to give her the love she deserves.

I call Ruby’s name several times more as she begins to fall asleep.

“Ruby, you cannot fall asleep. We have to stay awake. It’s dangerous for us to sleep. We might never wake up.”

“But I am feeling so cold. I couldn’t stand it. I want to sleep. You have to stay awake. I don’t want anything bad happen to you.” I say to Roy.

“I don’t want anything happen to you either. I just held you in my arms for a few minutes. It’s too short. Please survive. Please.. I cannot lose you like this. This is too cruel. We have to grow old together.” I beg her with all my heart. I am really scared that she will leave me.

I then remember how the Eskimos used to warm each other using their bodies and talk to her.

“Rub, I need you to open your cloth.” I say to her while trying to help her open her jacket.

“No.. What are you doing?” asks her to respond unwillingly because of my action.

I explain on how the Eskimos used to warm their bodies. She seems disagree but I keep forcing her to open her top cloth. She does not have the strength to reject me anymore.

“This is for your own good. Trust me.”

I also open my shirt while helping her to open her jacket, sweater and finally her shirt. I also unwrap the scarf she has around her neck. I put some of the clothes on the ground to become our emergency mattress. I hug her and put my right hand as her pillow. I hug her tightly and put all the jackets as our blanket. Our skins are now pressed against each other. I kiss Ruby on her forehead, her cheek, her nose and her mouth in order for her to respond.

“Please stay awake.” I keep begging her to at least open her eyes.

She seems to fall asleep or even faint. I shake her body again and calling her name but she doesn’t give me any respond. I am then grabbing some ice and put them on my mouth and let it to melt. I open Ruby’s mouth and try to make her drink. I retry to do the same thing over and over as I am afraid that she might never wake up.

I put on my jacket to cover her as I don’t want her to get a hyperthermia. I must do anything for her to survive. I try to transfer all the heat to her. Suddenly, I also feel really cold and begin to lose the strength to survive. However, I am still trying to hold on since I promise myself that she will be ok. I try to whisper in her ears hoping for her to listen.

“Ruby, we must not fall asleep.”

“We must not fall asleep.”

“We must not fall asleep.”

“I love you.. Please stay awake.”

“I love you.. Please stay awake, please don’t leave me.”

“I love you.. Please stay awake, please don’t leave me.”

“Don’t leave me.”

“Don’t leave me.”

“Don’t leave me.”

“Ruby, please don’t leave me.”

“Ruby, please stay awake.”

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

I keep saying the same thing repeatedly.

However, after a while, I also don’t have any more strength to hang on and couldn’t help myself to fall asleep with her.