Melody of the Soul
Copyright B.G. Q. 2000. All Rights Reserved.


ACTORS                       ACTRESSES
Tony-Gallen Lo              Cathy-Jessica Hsuan
Chris-Louis Koo             Sandy-Ada Choi
Tommy-Julian Cheung    Alice-Nadia Chan
Eric-Deric Wan               Joanne-Kenix Kwok
Michael-Sunny Chan       Tina-Mariane Chan
Jerry-Bobby Au-Yeung
Johnny-Jacky Lui

CHAPTER 15

Weekend, on the yacht
Tina: Hey Alice, did you make all these food yourself? (whispered to her) I
wouldn’t want to eat if any of the rest cooked them.
Joanne: I’ve heard that! You’re not so great yourself…I wonder who blew up
my stove? I still don’t understand how you could have done it.
Eric: Hahaha, I can surely learn how to destroy property and possibly kill
people by hanging with you girls too much.
Sandy: Would you like me to demonstrate right here? (holding a butter knife
near Eric’s neck)
Johnny: Be gentle; no need to threaten him like that.
Cathy: Yeah, if you really want to threaten him, you should use Alice to do
it.
Eric: Oh no, she got my weak point (pretending to be scared).
Alice: Good, now I know how much I mean to you.
Cathy: Huh, I wonder where Jerry and Chris are.
Tony: Probably out on the deck fishing.
Cathy: Ok, I’ll meet with them out there (hastily ran out before Alice could
make her prepare the bread).

Out on the deck
Jerry: You’re probably the worst fisher I’ve seen.
Chris: Ah, let’s see. This big one has to weigh more than all seven of your
sorry fish.
Cathy: Hey you two! What are you arguing about?
Chris: Hey, finally decided to come out here?
Cathy: Yeah, I figured leaving that nosy group for a while wouldn’t hurt.
(She smiled and sat down next to them.)
Jerry: Ah, so we are the last ones on the list (looked at Chris)
Cathy: You can say that.
Chris: I’ll give you one more try.
Cathy: What? Wasn’t I loud and clear?
Chris: Then don’t blame me for this! (He tickled her and Cathy gave up after
laughing too hard.)
Jerry: Uh, I’ll go in and get some food. Keep fishing.
Cathy: (looked up at Jerry and then at Chris with smiley eyes) Jerry, should
we start calling you Garfield from now on?
Jerry: Whatever…(walked in)
Cathy: (looking at the water) I wish Tommy were here. He would have enjoyed
this so much. (She did not know why she said this…It was rather spontaneous
but she thought it was the right thing to say.)
Cathy’s words snapped Chris back to reality… of course, not without
disappointment.
Chris: Um, I’m getting a little hungry too. I’m following Garfield.
Cathy: Okay.
He hesitantly turned back to look at Cathy and almost wished he had not. He
walked away with an unwanted gloomy face and by met Tony by surprise.
However, he was not aware that Tony had witnessed part of what happened.
Tony: (glancing toward the direction where Chris came from and vaguely
understood what gave him the gloomy face) Not fishing anymore?
Chris: Yeah, I’m getting some food now before they eat it all (about to step
in).
Tony: It must have been hard hiding it from everyone.
Chris: What did you say?
Tony: Nothing. I think Sandy is looking for you.
After a while, the group, all except Tony and Chris, went up to join Cathy.
Tina: Anyone wants to swim? The water here is so nice and the weather’s
perfect too!
Sandy: I’m for it, but I don’t have my swimsuit though.
Cathy: I’ll let you borrow mine.
Sandy: Great, hurry! (Cathy left to get the swimsuit.)
Joanne: (sticking her feet in the water) Wow, you’re right…the water’s
really warm.
Tina: Please please…pull your feet up! You’re going to kill all the poor
fish!
Joanne: (To make it worse, Johnny was also chuckling over Tina’s words) Shut
up! If so then you should all thank me for floating up the fish. Else we can
wait here for years, yawning for you gentlemen to catch one. And what are
you laughing at, Johnny? (whispered to his ears) Hey, I know you’ve gotten
over me and are currently dating her, but save me some face here.
Michael: Hey, we’re not too bad in fishing, right guys?
Sandy: Haha! Even if it’s only one fish… at least it’s still fresh and not
contaminated.
Joanne: (ticked off by the group ganging up on her) Hum, I wonder who fell
in the lake and made a fool of herself last year…This time, don’t bother
saving her, Michael.
Michael looked at the pretty Sandy, whose cheeks were reddened. He could not
help but smile as he thought back at the picnic. As she saw Michael looking
at her, she awkwardly stood up and went inside to search for Cathy. By the
time she got out, except Chris and Tony, who were still on the deck reading
magazines, the rest was already swimming in the water. Thinking that they
will make fun of her again once they see her jump down, Sandy swam on the
other side of the boat without anyone knowing.
Joanne: Whoa, I’m tired! I’m going up right now.
Alice: Wait, me too. I’m following you! (They swam to the yacht and climbed
up.)
Alice: Hey Chris, Tony, why don’t you two swim? The water’s quite nice.
Tony: It’s not so good to swim after you’ve eaten a lot. And Chris…hahaha,
he’s tanned enough, I think he still wants to be seen at night. (Everyone
laughed out loud.)
Joanne: Hey, where’s Cathy? How come she’s not swimming?
Chris: What? Isn’t she down there?
Alice: No, Cathy wasn’t with us!
Tony: She’s not on the boat. I just went down to get a drink and I didn’t
see her! I only saw Sandy reading a magazine.
Joanne: Let’s go check again. Cathy!?
Tony: She’s not down there. Only Sandy, but she’s in the bathroom.
Alice: She’s not on the deck either!
Chris: (called down to the group) Hey you guys, did anyone see Cathy?
Jerry: What? She’s not up there? Have you checked closely?
Tony: No, she’s not up here.
Tina: What do you mean? She can’t just disappear like that, unless…(Everyone
turned silent)
Michael: Where’s Sandy? She’s not here either.
Tony: She went to the bathroom. I saw her from the back.
Johnny: That’s strange! I don’t remember seeing her before we jumped down
here.
Eric: Can it be that…
Tony, Chris, Alice, and Joanne looked at each other with cold sweat.
Chris: (yelling out loud) Cathy? Cathy? (started looking around to see any
sight of her. His heart was beating faster and faster.) No, she’s all right.
I know she has to be all right. (He ran around the boat yelling out her name
but there was no reply. Alice and Joanne went around the large yacht to look
for her one more time and Michael, Johnny, and Eric, and Tina got on two
small boats to check if Cathy was swimming somewhere far from the yacht.)
Tony: She might have fell down the water? She does swim rather well, but
maybe…
Chris looked at him and not a second to waste, he jumped down and swam with
all his strength, making his way around the boat. Cathy, who heard her name
being called, went up to the deck just in time to see Chris jump. Tony, who
was also about to jump, stopped in surprise as he saw Cathy rushing to him.
Without a word, they looked down to see the worried Chris swimming and
calling out Cathy’s name and then looked at each other with questioning
eyes.
As Chris swam to the other side of the yacht, he felt the heavy weight on
his chest lifted off as he saw Cathy in her swimsuit, floating on a buoy. He
quickly swam to her, but the second she turned around…
Sandy: Chris? (She took off her earplugs happily.) You’re swimming too?
Chris: (still numbed that the person in front of him was Sandy, he looked up
just to find Cathy standing near Tony, both looking at his direction.)
Sandy: Hello, Chris! Chris?
Up on the yacht, Tony opened his lips slightly.
Tony: [My feelings are right again.] He thought something bad happened to
you.
Cathy looked at Tony with wide-open eyes and turned back at Chris’s
direction. For a while, they stared at each other without any movement.

Later, on the yacht
Tina: Ayya, how dare you two scared us all like that!
Joanne: And thanks to Tony, who told us the one on the yacht is Sandy!
Cathy: Don’t blame him, I gave Sandy my swimsuit and my clothes got wet so I
had to wear Sandy’s clothes. He just couldn’t tell from the back that I’m
Cathy.
Eric: Why didn’t you answer us when we were calling your name?
Cathy: I was in the bathroom! And I had my headphone on; I couldn’t hear you
all.
Michael: What about you, Sandy? You didn’t hear anything either?
Sandy: I had on my earplugs…I didn’t want any water in my ears…and…I was
kind of falling asleep, hehe.
Joanne: Kind of? Oh my God, you could have floated to the American West
Coast and not even know!?
Sandy: I couldn’t help it…The water was so nice…
Johnny: Hey, that’s ok. The good thing is that none of us is hurt.
Jerry: (looking at Cathy with full understanding) Yeah, I think that’s
enough lecturing for today.
Alice: Why don’t I get everyone a towel to dry up. Should we head back now?
Tony: That’s a good idea (he answered Alice but smiled at Cathy).
Cathy forcefully smiled back at Tony and glanced at Chris. The aggravating
silent was still there as eyes met eyes. Cathy stared back down at her feet
and Tony, who saw no good of staying as he caught their glances, got up and
made himself a cup of tea.


Since they got back Cathy had parted from the group and strolled on the
beach, just her favorite thing to do when she had a confused mind. The sun
was already setting and she finally decided to step into Jerry’s restaurant
afterward. As she sat on the top level looking down at the beach, Cathy
suddenly realized this was where she first met Chris in person. She gazed at
the beautiful light beams dancing on the gentle waves and a smile slightly
grew on her pretty face. After a while Jerry came up to her.
Jerry: What are you thinking?
Cathy: (She forced a smile.) Just some personal dilemmas…
Jerry: (mumbled) I’m not surprised. Usually you come here with Chris…This
time you’re just by yourself… It’s funny how people love to play hide and
seek.
Cathy: Huh?
Jerry: I don’t know if I should tell you this. If I do Chris might hate me
forever but if I don’t I might hate myself forever.
Cathy: You know this guessing game is not very funny!
Jerry: Hey, just out of curiosity…what is it about my place that you like so
much? Chris said it’s the “view”. Every time he comes here he always looks
down at the direction you’re looking.
Cathy: (started and looked away quickly) [My God, this can’t be true!]
Um…I’m not surprised; it sure is a nice view from up here.
Jerry: [Excuses, excuses!] Yeah, you both always speak of the same thing.
They say two people will start acting like each other when they’re together
too much.
Cathy: (trying to sound as nonchalant as possible) Yeah, I guess he passed
some of his traits on to me. What can I say? We’re like best buddies.
Jerry: Is that all?
Cathy: You know what, I think I know where this is going. NO Jerry; it’s not
going to work.
Jerry: Ironically, outsiders usually have a much clearer view than those in
the relationship. Haha, at least from up here I can see things down there
very clearly (looked at Cathy, whose jaw was about to drop as she knew Jerry
was hinting at all the “friendly” and fun times Chris and she had together
the last ten months).
Cathy: Assuming what you said is true…How do you think it can happen between
us when I have Tommy, and…[and my sister is still in love with him!]
Jerry: And?
Cathy: And we’re like best buddies! (She tried hard but never came up with
something better.)
Jerry: (shrugged) What can I say? Only you know how you feel so no need to
explain to me. But I’ve got to tell you…he looked pretty damned worried this
afternoon!
Cathy: Jerry, leave me alone before my head starts pounding!
Jerry: Your head or your heart? (He laughed.) If this didn’t matter at all
and if you didn’t have any feeling at all, why would your heart hurt? Oh I’m
sorry, did I say heart? I meant “head”.
Cathy: Just leave (she grumbled).
Jerry: Ok, I’ll leave you alone. Hey, don’t be too upset; I just wanted to
make it clear for you. I really felt so mad for Chris. How do you think that
foolish guy felt for the last year or so, never confessing his love for you?
Cathy buried her head in her hands. Her mind was a mess and there was a
twitchy feeling inside her stomach that she did not know whether it was a
sort of delight or anxiety. Now that she was thinking back, she realized
that Chris had done so much and almost every one of those actions were for
her advantage.
And yet, she was ignorant all along.
When she was with Tommy there were always small, tacit conflicts that either
one had to swallow to please each other. To be honest she still had no idea
how she agreed to be Tommy’s girlfriend at first place. She still remembered
how sudden it felt after realizing the commitment she had made. Did she ever
love him? Of course she did…at least she felt happy and grateful for the
things he did for her. If she didn’t love him why did she agree to be his
girlfriend, right? But how come she barely missed him after the first two
months he was away? And there was always Chris… When she was with him she
always felt very happy, safe, and free of worries. Whenever there was a
problem, how come the one she called up first was Chris and not Tommy?
Cathy’s been hiding this relationship from Joanne ever since she and Tommy
first started dating. It had been a year, amazingly, and Joanne was still
clueless. As much as Cathy hated to hide in the dark, she did not feel a
need to tell Joanne. Probably she had never expected this relationship to
last a long time. But she’s tired, tired from having to hide her feelings
from everyone. If she ever developed a feeling for Chris the past would
probably repeat itself. The only difference? This time it would be with
Sandy and not Joanne… No…not Chris! It’s just a “friend” thing…isn’t it? She
removed her hand from her face. The sun had fully set. Unchained Melody was
playing on the background along with the peaceful sound of palm trees
against the breeze.
…And her mind was not peaceful at all.
Cathy: (She felt a stinging sensation on her eyes.) Is it too late, Jerry?
She turned around. Jerry was gone by that time.


"There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or
simulate it where it does not."
-La Rochefoucauld