Ron woke up at the sound of his digital watch. He hastily rubbed the sleep in his eyes and glanced at it, showing the time 01:30 a.m. He was puzzled. He thought he had turned off the alarm and had left it alone the last time it beeped. He didn’t just suddenly get up just to reset it again, did he? Somehow, the feeling of familiarity came to him in a weird sort of sensation as he turned off the alarm. It was as if he was supposed to wait for someone. Someone to arrive and take him somewhere. He just couldn’t get what and who. Or more important why?
Suddenly he heard something at a distance. It was the sound of clashing, like something hit across bare skin. Come to think of it, it almost sounded like a whip. That’s weird. Who would be making such a racket at the dead of the night? He then realized that the sound was actually coming from the bathroom. His bathroom! And the lights were turned on too! Has his room been broken into? Was he in danger of being robbed? Attacked? Kidnapped? Who would it be this time? Dr. D? shego? Duff Killigan? Monkey Fist? Dr. Director’s fraternal twin brother Gemini (Is that his name)? Most of people knew that he’s an important song writer for Kim and if he were to be gone, it would be like amputating her leg. Armed with the table lamp he crept slowly and quietly towards the bathroom, ready to pounce on any perpetrator that comes changing at him.
Just when he thought he had the bad guys cornered, but again he was taken by surprise. Before him floated two chibi-people facing each other. One was wearing a pair of leather body-fit pants with a leather plate strapped on his chest for a shirt, and had knee-high leather boots. He had shoulder-length hair and icy-cold green eyes and was carrying a long whip in his right hand. He had that smile that was evil and seductive at the same time, which actually stood out from the rest of his pale complexion. The other one only wore a red underwear—or almost like a G-string—and wore a pair of half-broken glasses. His hair was slightly long and unkempt and he had that ecstatic look on his face. He had a dark-red leash around his neck connected by a long chain held and wound around the hand of the chibi in black. Most shockingly, he had red markings everywhere from head to toe and some were even bleeding. It became clear to Ron that the one in black was torturing the one with glasses. He was shocked; what the heck are they doing?
They didn’t seem to noticed, though, that Ron was standing there dumbfounded at what he was looking at. The chibi in black let out a sideways smile and raised the whip, bringing it down hard on his ‘captive’. The sound was sharp and loud, giving him the feeling of searing through his ear. Ron winced at every slash. He found it hard to believe that the one with glasses didn’t fight back as the whip came onto him over and over again. Why? What was he doing? Why didn’t he fight back? What’s the deal with him? Ron was about to go up and stop them when suddenly the chibi in glasses let out a loud groan. Ron stopped in his tracks. Was that actually groans of…pleasure?
“Oh yes, baby, hit me some more,” the chibi in glasses moaned and outstretched his arms at the chibi in black. “Hit me, baby.”
And so he did. He pulled at the leash, bringing him closer, gave him a peck on the forehead that he was actually looking at an SM live performance. He had to get their attention before this ‘live show’ creeps him out of his flesh.
“Um…excuse me…err…I, uh, don’t suppose you’re who I think you are, aren’t you?”
He finally got their attention. The two chibi-s turned and stared at Ron for a couple of seconds before moving up to him. The chibi in glasses drifted closer to the chibi in black, wrapped his arms around his waist and said in a seductive, quiet tone, “Honey, this must be that Ronald Kennedy Stoppable we’re assigned to.”
The chibi in black didn’t reply. He wrapped the dangling whip around his hand and reach over with the handle to knock Ron’s forehead a couple of times. His blows weren’t light and Ron yelled out in pain. As he nursed his throbbing head, the chibi in glasses asked, “How does it feel, Kennedy?”
“Feel?” Ron exclaimed. “Painful, that’s how it feels! Why in the damn hell did you do that for!”
“Does it not feel good?”
“No! Hell not! That is so sick and wrong! What kind of love do you suppose to represent anyway?”
“Oh, we don’t represent the love itself,” the chibi in glasses replied, smiling stupidly. “We represent one of the actions of love: through pain and pleasure. Many people show actions of love through gift-giving, kisses, praise, sex or just a pure bear hug. We are the extreme, that is through SM conduct. The name’s Pleasure by the way, and this is Pain, my wonderful Sex God.”
“You sure you’re not one of those who represent gay love?” Ron wrinkled his nose in disgust. He may have nothing much against gays, but SM was way beyond tolerance limit.
“Oh, those are only for Valentine demons and angels. We don’t qualify. But since actions of love don’t discriminate gender, this business is good enough for us.”
“And I suppose you’re my guiders-in-duty for tonight, huh?”
“Did you hear that, Pain?” Pleasure asked as he laid his head on Pain. “Isn’t he the smartest thing? Yes, we are the Spirits of Valentine’s Day Present.”
“Your friend doesn’t talk much now, does he?” Ron eyed Pain suspiciously, resulting a cold glare from him.
“That’s because before we got this job, he accidentally consumed a Valentine chocolate from the mortal world. For spirits like us, the ironic thing is though one of our jobs is to stimulate chocolate-giving, those mortal food kill us. Pain barely survived. He couldn’t talk ever since.”
“Damn,” Ron muttered. Unfortunately it’s very hard to feel sorry for someone who looks at you like you’re a piece of stinky garbage that just won’t go away.
“Come, Pain. Let us take Kennedy to see a few interesting thing.” Pleasure said as he traced his finger on Pain’s chin. Ron’s skin crawled again. Valentine spirits sure have weird attitudes and ways of life.
Before he knew it, Pain raised the whip and brought it down hard onto his side and everything became dark.
“Oow! What the hell was that for!”
Pleasure giggled. He kinda found Ron’s complaints rather funny. Pain didn’t say much. He held the whip close to his chest and gave Ron a challenging look, as if trying to tell him to back off or he’ll shoot. Ron glared back, looking very grudging indeed.
“Just a whack to send you where we want to go,” Pleasure replied. “Anything else in mind, Kennedy?”
“Why are you calling me by my middle name? The name’s Ron!”
“I like your middle name,” Pleasure smiled seductively at him. Pain noticed and pulled at his leash, almost choking him. Pain grinned, “No offence, my sweet. I just like his name. I love you.”
Ron cringed. This is seriously freaking him out as he watched Pain and Pleasure fondle and torture each other at the same time. He looked around and asked, “So, uh, what am I doing here at KP’s parents’ house?”
“It’s up to you to think what you’re gonna see. We’re just gonna show you what’s happening right now. Pain, would you please?”
Pain nodded and took out his whip. Ron almost thought that he was going to be beaten and braced himself, but instead, it was lassoed around his neck like a leash and Ron suddenly felt himself being dragged into the house. Ron was shocked. How did this spirit have such strength to pull him? He was probably 5 times heavier than he and Pleasure put together! But then again, he’s a spirit, so there’s no knowing the limit to how much he can carry. He just let Pain take him where he wanted to take him.
Inside the house, Ron found himself standing in the living room watching Mr. and Mrs. Possible sitting in the dining room enjoying a nice cup of hot chocolate together. They seemed worn out and tired and just wanted to get by the day with the silent company of each other. As Mrs. Possible snuggled herself in her husband’s embrace, Mr. Possible broke the ice.
“I wonder how our Kimmie-cub is doing right now in Paris.”
“Probably doing another concert or MTV or something,” Mrs. Possible replied. “She’s getting really tight on her schedule though. She barely even survived college what with the tour and all. She’s lucky she passed with flying colours. Even Ron and Monique survived. I still can’t get over the fact that she’s actually a singer now. First she’s singing in a talent show, now she’s singing to the world.”
“Yes, well, I hope that she’s on her toes and all ‘coz the entertainment world is not all about just singing and stuff. I heard the entertainment has a lot of strings pulled around and she could get into trouble if she’s not careful.”
“Oh, honey, you are such a worried wart. You know our daughter is already a grownup and deserves to make her own decisions. Besides, she’s battled worse villains than she’s facing right now. I’m sure she can fend off a couple of hormone-charged male artists. She’s got Ron with her, you know.”
“Ron?” Mr. Possible looked a little surprised for a moment, then realized something and said, “Yeah, Ron. I almost forgot about that little guy. I used to forget his name all the time when he was a kid, and he gets so worked up about it. I remember the time I pretended to not know his name and he almost ranted and raved the whole house down. Remember the time when he and Kimmie-cub did their first Halloween trick-or-treating? I almost thought he’d get into the dancing carrier with his pretty jumps and flips in his tutu.”
“Yes, that kid’s got a bright future ahead of him,” Mrs. Possible agreed. “He and Kim are inseparable. Unless they had a little squabble or two between them, you’ll never see them away from each other. You could almost swear they were twins in their before life or something.”
“Honey, that’s very un-scientific of you. You wouldn’t even believe anything other than scientific facts.”
“Well, I believed in animology now, didn’t I? And admit it, so do you.”
“That’s true. You a teal cat and I a beige fish. Perfect soulmates.”
After finishing their drinks, they went upstairs to their bedroom. As they got ready to hit the hay, Mr. Possible, while getting ready to take a shower, asked with a doubtful face, “Do you sometimes believe that Ron is the perfect person to be with Kim? I mean, you remember the couple of blunders he made when they’re in a mission. It almost cost Kimmie-cub her life.”
“Honestly, honey,” Mrs. Possible replied as she changed into her nightgown (which, by the way, surprised Ron because he hadn’t expect Mrs. Possible’s body to be that good-looking at her age), “I can assume that you still think Kimmie is ten-years-old. I trust Ron with my life. There’s no one I would let to help protect Kim from her kind of world. Ron’s street-smart enough to handle it than any crime-fighting business in the history.”
“True, but I can’t see how I let you convince me to let Kim and Ron be engaged. It’s so…so…sixties ago.”
Ron lit up. Engaged? He and Kim are engaged? What’s going on here?
“Honey, we’ve discussed this before. Ron is the perfect guy. He’s her best friend and they’ve been together like forever,” Mrs. Possible went up to bed, grabbing a novel with her. “Even our future in-laws Mr. and Mrs. Stoppable agreed to this. Didn’t we plan to get them married somewhere on Valentine’s Day? That’s when they met, right?”
“Yes, but…well…” Mr. Possible joined her on the bed. “It never occurred to me that Ron would be like the future son-in-law I expected.”
“True, he may not be the cutest or most reliable person in the world, and he’s anything than a normal guy we’ve expect, but we’ve have a not-so-normal daughter anyway. And most of all, she trusts him. It would be hard on them to be suddenly separated and live their own lives, not after all these years together.”
“As usual, honey, you make a very convincing argument. Who can ever counter that?”
Ron stood there, rather dumbfounded at what he just heard as he watched the Possibles giving each other a goodnight kiss. He and Kim were engaged? Why did he not know of it? Why didn’t Kim tell him about it? They usually talk just about anything, why not this? Unless…unless Kim herself doesn’t know this. But why? Why the secrecy? Wouldn’t it be easier to just tell them than keeping it? It would’ve saved him so much trouble hiding his feelings for Kim for so many years!
“You never told them that you’re in love with Anne anyway,” Pleasure said. “They wouldn’t find it necessary to tell you until you two were ready.”
“Anne?” Ron didn’t get it. Pain pinched him, and Ron’s reaction was expected. As he rubbed his cheek, he quickly got the message. “Oh, you mean Kim, huh? Well…I didn’t have to tell them. I’m sure they’ve figured us out to let us be engaged now, haven’t they? I mean, how old were we when we got engaged?”
“Somewhere before you two were officially 12 years old, I suppose.”
“But then…”
Before he could figure out more about this issue, Pain tugged on the whip that was still lassoed around his neck. He brought him to the twins Jim and Tim’s room. They were still up, surrounded by a number of mechanical gadgets, probably working on the latest experiment. The usual ‘Hicca bicca boo’ and ‘Hooshaa’ were communicated between them, like it was some kind of code between them.
“You ever wonder what our sister and her friends are doing?” Jim asked.
“I don’t wonder,” Tim rolled his eyes. “I know. They probably are making it big time at some cool country able to meet famous people and stuff. We’ll never hear the end of it, since her face pops up in every entertainment news and stuff.”
“I still envy her though. I mean, she gets to meet all the cool people face to face and we only get to see them on TV. I bet Ron’s having a good time making friends with Pain King and Steel Toe as we speak.”
“Yeah, good ol’ Ron. We had a lot of fun together, and he clicks with us way better than Kim. He rocks.”
“I wish he was our big brother. We can have so much more fun together.”
“Yeah. I know it sounds rather cootie-ish, but wouldn’t it be great if Kim gets to marry Ron and all? He’ll be like our brother-in-law and all and we can be cool with him all the time. Hicca bicca boo?”
“Hooshaa!”
Even the twins felt the same way about him. He never knew that he was liked and accepted so much in the Possible family. He had always taken their hospitality towards him as a way of making up for being Kim's sidekick, like almost paying a servant for his servitude. How bad he felt for not letting them know that he had fulfilled their hopes of being their future son-in-law just by telling them he had a crush on Kim.
“Do Jim and Tim know about our engagement?”
“No. Jim and Tim were not informed also, just in case they blurt their lungs out at Anne about it.”
“I wonder what convinced my parents to allow me to marry KP…”
As if answering his question, Pain brought down the whip on his side again, which transported them to his own house. Ron had no time to nurse his sore side; he was dragged with the lassoed whip again into the house. There he saw his parents in their room going through their closet. There were two huge boxes in front of them and when they opened them, there revealed the most beautiful pair of wedding clothes he had ever seen. Ron couldn’t believe his eyes. His parents wearing those clothes during their wedding? They had to be mega handsome and gorgeous to wear them.
“Looks like we’ve been keeping these for a while now,” Mr. Stoppable said, inspecting his tux. “Do you think our son’s gonna look good on this? I was hoping to get a new one for him…”
“Sweetheart, those clothes have very sentimental values,” Mrs. Stoppable said as she took out hers to see in front of the mirror. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t look good on either of them. It gives a touch of class in them, don’t you think?”
“I guess you’re right, sweetie. Bridal clothes these days don’t come cheap.”
“I hope the Possibles would find it OK. Mrs. Possible might still have her wedding dress with her or something and she might want to pass it to Kim.”
“We’ll discuss about that issue another time with them. Better put it away before we ruin it.”
“When exactly do you suppose we tell the kids anyway? Has the Possibles come to a decision yet?”
“They said they’d tell them as soon as the kids finished college, but it seemed like the kids are too busy going around the world to even give us a call and say hi. I really think they’re meant for each other. I mean, it’s quite obvious why he hangs out with Kim all the time. She is a looker for her age.”
“Indeed. I was wondering when our son’s going to notice her. If you hadn’t pointed out to me, I would’ve just broken out the secret there and then.”
“Patience is virtue, sweetie. Time will tell when it will be right to tell the kids.”
Ron felt a little peeved about all this. He didn’t know that his parents had already figured out his feelings for Kim behind him. Then he realized he didn’t need to tell him. He’s their son, and parents always have this innate sense of knowing what’s going on their kids’ head, not matter how vague it was. It was Kim he worried about. Since her parents never had a clue at how her feelings are for her, it probably convinced them that she was just a mere friend to him. The possibility of this being true hurt him.
“Will…Will I ever be married to Kim if we were told about the truth?” Ron asked this tentative question.
Pleasure remained silent for a while, then pointed at the dining room table and said, “I see a shadow on the seat where you and Anne share dinner with your family. If the shadow had not left after the next Valentine…then the marriage had never taken place.”
“Oh no…this…this is bad…How can I…?”
His words were cut short by another blow of the whip on his side.
“That hurts, man! Don’t you have any other way of taking me to places!”
Ron was complaining while rubbing his side. He soon found himself standing outside a cinema called Le Cinema de la Cruz. There were quite a lot of people waiting outside and inside and some more lining up to get themselves tickets. It seemed that the majority of them were getting ready to watch the new movie Kim had mentioned before. And most of them were couples. Great, Ron thought. A real sight for sore eyes.
“Sorry, Kennedy,” Pleasure grinned, his arms around Pain’s waist. “This is the best way to go. You’ll learn to love it. I know I did.”
“No, thanks. It’s still sick and wrong. And why you keep calling me by my middle name?”
“You sound better in your middle name. Makes you sound more…patriotic.”
“What exactly are we doing here?” Ron asked as he looked around. He noticed most of the people gathering at one of the posters on the wall and he followed suite. The title of the movie they were looking at was in French, but there were English translations below it, and it read ‘The Life & Times of the Girl that Never Was’. Was this the movie Kim’s been talking about? Pain pinched his cheek sharply again.
“Pain said this is where Anne and her friend are watching the movie she told you about,” Pleasure translated Pain’s painful infliction. A wonder he could able to translate all that in just one gesture.
“I really hope you stop using our middle names. It’s really confusing, you know.”
“Sorry, Kennedy. Can’t help it.”
“Never mind,” Ron muttered in defeat as he rubbed his cheek. There’s no way he could talk him out of it.
Pain then lassoed Ron’s neck and, with his mysterious strength, dragged him into Cinema No. 3. Ron soon found himself being led to a row of seats in the middle. There he saw Kim and Monique, with Rufus on the seat handle, sitting there sharing a barrel of popcorn and sipping their drinks. The entire cinema was full, so he sat on the stairs just beside Kim. Ron had declined to watch this movie before, yet he was here. Guess he just couldn’t escape fate. Though he had not watched the front part, he got the message of the movie—it was about a girl who fell in love and pursued the man of her dreams despite him being oblivious of her existence. Ron almost felt for her until the shocking ending turned out to be that she was in fact non-existent; she was an imaginary friend created by that man when he was a kid and had forgotten all about her as soon as he had a new brother in the family. Luckily there were English subtitles, or he wouldn’t have understood the story. He really regretted not watching this movie together with Kim; he would’ve been able to share his shock and excitement with her.
After the movie, Ron followed behind Kim and Monique as they leave the cinema. They chitchatted all the way to the nearest snack house. They ordered a helping of lasagna and a tall glass of apple cider each and tucked in. Ron stood beside them and listened to their conversation.
“Man, that movie was the bomb, girl!” Monique said as she took a sip of cider. “And the food here is like heaven! This is gonna be added to the list of my most favourite countries.”
“Yeah, that’ll total up to about 20 countries and counting,” Kim grinned. “Seriously, you’re gonna overload that PDA of yours if you continue to upload so much.”
“Not with the PDA Wade designed. Way better than your standard PDA,” Monique replied, flashing the PDA in front of her.
“Too bad Ron didn’t come join us for the movie. He would’ve liked it so much.”
“Ron?” Monique half-exclaimed as she stuffed a forkful of lasagna in her mouth. “That boy wouldn’t even notice what you’re trying to do even if you do a striptease in front of him! Why would you even think that he’d even notice you’re hinting him or anything?”
Ron was a little surprised. Hinting? What did she mean?
“I know it’s ridiculous to talk about it,” Kim said as she blushed slightly. “But I gotta try. I mean, after all he is my fiancé.”
Ron almost fell over. Kim knew? She knew about the engagement! How? Even Rufus, who was enjoying himself eating meatballs and garlic out of Kim and Monique’s plate seemed confused.
“That’s what really puzzled me, girl. How on earth did you find out about this thing anyway? You did say your parents were trying to guard this secret with their life or something.”
“Monique, I used to fight crimes and I used to read the minds of the criminals. It’s not hard to spot if your parents have kept a few skeletons in their closet. I noticed his parents and mine were having this really hush-hush conversation between each other and I had to figure out what they were planning. Sleuthing wasn’t easy back then, but I found the signed contract in my parents’ room that was kept in a coded titanium box under the bed. Code wasn’t so hard to break, and I was rather pissed when I read the contract. I mean how could they make this decision without discussing this to me first?”
“I get you, girl. I’d be flushed if my parents engaged me secretly with anyone I didn’t know of.”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh,” Rufus nodded in agreement.
“I was ready to give my parents a telling off, mind you. I was having this major crush with a guy named Walter Nelson back then, and I was ready to tell Ron about this too. Perfect timing when he called me to meet him at Bueno Nachos after his summer camp, but then…well…something changed my mind.”
“What did change your mind?” Monique asked, looking slyly at Kim.
“Well, it was Ron. I mean…when I got there…I saw not the Ron I knew would be tagging along with me behind my back or the Ron who was silent, quiet and mysterious and all that, but the Ron who had came back from somewhere he never wanted to be and needed someone to reassure him that he was home. The Ron that needed protection, needed help, and at the same time provide me with the same help and protection in return. Of course I was in denial every single minute of the day and thought my feelings was just a phase…but…as I knew him longer and longer, the more I couldn’t bring myself to believe that it was a phase at all. Maybe my parents and his meant something when they decided to get us engaged. Maybe they saw something I didn’t until that fateful day. I guess that’s…how it feels when you’re in love with your best friend.”
“So you and that Walter Nelson, and you with Josh Mankey, and all the other guys you’ve been having a crush so far…that was all just an act, isn’t it, girl?” Monique asked, grinning from ear to ear. “Those were the real phase, right? You and Ron are not a phase, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess you can say that,” Kim grinned sheepishly. “Pretty lame, huh? I’ve been holding back this secret from him for so long and trained myself to believe that it wasn’t real until I guess it kinda showed up on my face, and I hate to say this, but Ron sure is a klutz not to notice all the hints I’ve been giving him.”
“Say it to his face, girl! The only way to deal with those kind of blokes is to tell them right at his face!”
“What if he never felt the same way about me as I do to him?”
“At least you tried now, didn’t you? You guys are still gonna be friends.”
“Friends!” Rufus put up a thumbs-up. Kim smiled weakly before changing the subject to the concert next day. Monique began blabbering excitedly about catching the 12.30 p.m. flight to Upperton Town and all that. The love conversation was over.
Ron backed away in disbelief. Kim was actually having a crush on him! Her! All this while, she actually had a crush on him! He had always thought he was a one-sided love, but she was struggling just as much as him not to tell the truth about her feelings. How could he have not seen it? Those countless times she rescued him from certain death during crime-fighting, those sharp scolding she gave him every time he made a blunder, the time she forced him to get a haircut…those were her hints of love. Those were her way of saying that she, too, had a crush on him. How could he be so stupid? How could he have overlooked these clues? How could he…?
That was when he realized that he was standing on a dark empty pedestrian road in a park. The fog was coming in and there was no one around except the streetlamp and he and the spirits. He noticed the spirits were sitting on the back of two ragged-looking puppies that have seen better days. The puppies both glared at Ron with a vengeance and looked scary enough to rid a million cats before them. He also noticed the wounds on Pleasure’s body were gone, and the chain of the leash was getting rusty and the whip less sharp as it was before. Their faces also looked a little ashen.
“What happened to you guys?” Ron asked as he knelt down to get a look at the puppies. He dare not touch them though. “What are these puppies?”
“We’re wearing off,” Pleasure replied. “That’s the consequence of being Spirits of the Present; our time is short around here. We’ll cease to exist if we don’t leave now. And for these puppies, they are called Jealousy and Envy. Extra assignment. If they’re not kept at bay, love would lose its significant meanings.”
“What do you mean leave? Why isn’t there anyone to care for these puppies? There must be someone who…”
“Valentine’s Day is for mushy people!” Pleasure suddenly blurted out as he held his leash with one hand while holding Pain’s waist possessively with another. His facial expression had suddenly changed from his jolly, cute self to something dark and vengeful, like the puppies. Pain, on the other hand, changed too as he wrapped his free arm around Pleasure. His icy cold face broke into a sad look, like looking at someone who was gonna die and yet couldn’t do anything about it.
“What…?”
“What I give to just let this day go away or maybe just disappear in the face of the earth, then I don’t have to go through a day thinking that it will come and haunt me!”
Those words cut his heart like a knife. Pleasure was repeating his words and his opinions about Valentine’s Day. He felt so guilty. How could he have said that? Never mind the people who thought highly about this day, but what about the spirits who depended on this for a living? He wanted to explain himself but the fog grew thicker and thicker, hiding away both the spirits and the puppies.
“Wait! Pain! Pleasure! I didn’t mean what I said! I never meant…”
Too late. They were long gone. He was left all alone in the foggy park with no idea how to go back. He wandered around alone, trying to see if he could find some way to get back to the hotel when he saw a dark figure a few feet away from him. It was looming closer and closer to him and seemed to make its presence known by its cold aura that chilled Ron to the bone.
When it stood right in front of him, Ron knew what was coming for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment