This Marks the end of Part II, my goal is to finish the story in three parts and no more.. :-)
Chapter 20: Three Dreams
“Man they are busy! I had to wait a while… the food smells really good though.” Dan came in and headed directly to the dining table to drop the food. It’s getting a little chilly at night now, and he wasn’t wearing a jacket. The temperature probably dropped to the mid 40s, he thought he needed to remind Mei to dress warm before she went back to work on Monday.
He didn’t order drinks with the food since Mei had soda and juice at home. Dan was about to go grab a couple of glasses from the dishwasher when he was a little shocked to see Mei walked out from the kitchen with another man. He recognized him as Mei’s boss; he thought the name started with a B or a D.
“Dan, this is Mr. Broderick, you met him at…”
“Hello, we met at Maggiano’s.” Jesse stepped out in front of Mei, which somehow gave Dan a feeling that he was trying to protect her from him. “I stopped by to deliver the flowers from our team, wishing Mei a fast recovery. Oh Mei, management has approved your telework request for the next couple of weeks, you can start on Monday. We will probably need you to come in for specific meetings but that can be arranged later.”
Dan watched as Jesse went on with all the business talk. It didn’t take much for him to sense something was not right. Mei’s face was all red and she was avoiding any eye contact with him; and since when did people’s bosses start delivering flowers on a Saturday night?
“Mei, are you all right?” Dan’s voice was filled with concern.
“Yes. I am fine.” Mei quickly answered as she walked over to the dining room table, separating herself from Jesse and now standing next to Dan. “Mr. B, please say thank you to the team for me. I really appreciate it and I am sure there is a lot to catch up on Monday.”
Jesse stared at Mei for a few seconds without any movement or facial expressions; finally he dropped his eyes and answered in his usual calm and cool voice: “Great. Take plenty of rest. Please excuse me for interrupting your dinner.” Then he walked out without giving either of them another look.
“Are you sure you are all right?” Dan put one hand on Mei’s shoulder and led her over towards the light; he wanted to see her face clearly to make sure the awkwardness they just experienced was nothing but his imagination. To his surprise Mei dug away almost as a reflex and headed back to the kitchen: “I am OK. Let me grab some plates…”
Mei was completely overwhelmed at what just happened. It all seemed so unreal that she almost pinched herself to make sure it wasn’t all a dream. Did Jesse just try to kiss her? Did she almost kiss him back? And what about Dan, did he see anything? She didn’t know why she was so cold at Jesse in front of Dan, and why she avoided Dan’s touch just now. She had no idea whether the guilt that’s scratching her heart like a wild cat was towards Jesse or Dan; she is completely at lost at her own emotions right now that she was not sure anymore how she felt about either of them anymore. All she knows was that she needed to be alone.
Dan was taking the take out boxes out from the bag when he saw Mei came out of the kitchen again, empty handed. She did not look at him at all and headed directly towards the bedroom. Before closing the door behind her, Dan heard her say almost in a mumble, he couldn’t tell whether she was crying: “Sorry I think I am going to skip dinner today, I am so sorry!” And with that, Dan, Mei and Jesse are each left alone to face the quiet, long and sleepless night ahead.
* * *
Mei was standing in front of a bridge, somewhere inside a park. Everything around was green, with birds chirping above and water rushing under. She saw on the other side stood Jesse with his back facing her. His soft blonde hair was freely dancing in the wind. She called his name but he didn’t hear her. Mei started walking over toward him as she suddenly heard cracking sound from beneath. She looked down and saw the wood bridge was falling apart and the river running furiously fast and deep below. She started screaming for his help. He finally turned around and reached out his hand to drag her to safety. She wanted to tell him Thank you, but realized that she was completely naked in front of him. Her fear of being exposed completely took over and she ran as fast as she could inside the woods to hide herself. In a blink of an eye it became winter time, everything around including all the bare tree branches and the ground is now covered in snow. She felt so cold that her whole body was shivering. She heard Jesse calling her name telling her there is a warm cabin nearby. But she kept hiding and wanted to find something to cover herself first. Finally the calling stopped, she walked out and nothing, not Jesse, not anything alive is there anymore, only she, is left completely alone in the icy cold world.
Dan was running in a marathon, he was about half way through. His body was physically exhausted to a point that all he wanted to do was quit. Then there was a water booth not far ahead on the side of the road, he told himself only if he could make it there he would be able to regain strength to finish the race. As he gathered up the last bit of energy left in his body and pushed towards his goal, the booth started moving further and further away. He started feeling nervous and scared, as his legs became heavier and heavier. He tried to raise his arm and yell at the person behind the booth to wait for him. The person turned around and it was Sarah. She smiled at Dan and told him she’s sorry for leaving. Dan cried out her name and started running as fast as he could, but the booth is now so far a way that just before he lost sight of them, Dan saw she turned around again to waved goodbye, and the face was Mei’s.
Jesse was so excited; he finally got both contracts signed by IRS. He called Elaina and was so eager to share with her the good news. Elaina was happy for him, and told him she always believed in him. She also said that her Dad had another position for him in the company and he planned to give him 20 percent of the company stock as their wedding present, but he will have to move back to DC right away. Jesse hesitated because he realized his brother Ryan was in the hospital still and he could not just leave him. He tried to reason with Elaina to give him more time but she said he was trying to delay their wedding with excuses. He got pretty emotional at Elaina’s cold heartedness and said he’s not one of her pets that would just follow her around and do whatever she wanted. That along with other hurtful things Elaina said finally broke the engagement. Jesse was heartbroken, he ran to the hospital, only to find a white bed sheet covering Ryan’s lifeless body from head to toe.
Almost uniformly Mei, Dan and Jesse found themselves tossing, turning, sitting up, lying down, and having nightmares through most of their night and waking up to a feeling of lost and confusion. Each had to deal with their own worst enemies and fight hard to stay afloat, hoping and praying that God would somehow bring light and happiness to their lives in the future not too far ahead.
