Gillian was in her room packing her luggages when she heard Aunty May and her Dad outside her door. It was obvious to her that they were trying to decide who should try to change her mind about leaving Hong Kong and going to the States. Gillian decided to swing open her door in a hasty manner just for the fun of it. She laughed when both her Dad and Aunty May stood erected like stones in front of her, looking very embarrassed as if they were caught in an act or something.
“What happened? Am I intruding on the two of you being intimate?” Gillian looked at Aunty May and asked teasingly by memicking. “Was Dad trying to kiss you?”
The smitten Aunty May pushed her husband away and tried to hide her blush. “Oh no, we are already so old, we don’t do such things!”
“What! You got to be kidding! There is no age limit for that!” Gillian gave out a hearty laugh.
Mr. Chan hoped to nip the bud before they could continue with the topic of discussion. He saw the opportunity to escape and turned to his wife. “You two have a nice woman to woman talk.” He pushed his wife into Gillian’s room and shut the door and quickly disappeared to his den.
Upon entering Gillian’s room, Aunty May noticed there was a box sitting on the chair. She headed over and looked inside the box in hope to strike a conversation with her niece regarding her travel plans. “What are these?”
“Oh, just some items to give to the hospital pediatric department.” Gillian said casually and returned to her packing. “No point having them here collecting dust after I leave.”
Fumbling through the items in the box, Aunty May came across some stuff animals, photo frames, and a double heart shaped bottle filled with folded paper stars. Curious, she took it out and placed it on Gillian’s desk. “Now this would be a waste to donate to the hospital, don’t you think? I don’t think kids would know how to appreciate this.”
Gillian ignored her Aunt and continued with her packing. Aunty May continued to fumble through more of the items and something caught her eyes. She picked up the item and tried to open it but couldn’t. “What is this?”
With a sigh, Gillian reached for the keycard that fell to the bottom of the box when Aunty May took out the stationery a moment ago. She then inserted it into the slot where the lock was. “It’s a daily organizer! Completely new! Do you have any use for it?”
“Still a waste if you ask me! Why did you buy something if you didn’t plan on using it?” Aunty May asked though she was pretty certain Gillian wouldn’t have bought it for herself. Her line of questioning was in hope to break the ice and bring the topic of Ethan up. When Gillian gave her a look of disapproval, Aunty May knew this was the perfect timing. “Gift from Ethan?”
Gillian didn’t agree or disagree, she just gave her usual pouty look. Aunty May pointed to the heart shape bottle that was filled with paper stars. “That one too, huh?”
Gillian finally spoke up to stop her aunt from carrying on with her ploy. “Yes! And I am giving away everything he ever gave me!” Then Gillian thought to herself and chuckled. “Which is not much, come to think of it!”
Aunty May pulled her niece away from her packing and sat the two of them down on the bed. “So things between you and Ethan are truly over? You’re not giving him another chance even if things don’t turn out between Anita and him?”
Gillian’s answer was obvious from the expression on her face. Aunty May took hold of her niece’s hand. “Gillian, what if Ethan realizes he loves you more?”
Gillian was prepared for this question. She had asked herself this question in her head, in her heart, and sometimes even in her sleep over the last six months. She had played the role of a psychologist on herself and was convinced the decision she made to walk away from this relationship was indeed the right choice. She just didn’t anticipate it would take so long for her to get over her feelings for Ethan.
Gillian looked at Aunty May and said with certainty in her voice. “I cannot be with someone who loves me more. I want a husband who will love me only!”
Derek opened the door from inside his condo and there stood Aunty May and Mr. Chan. Suddenly, a loud sigh of relief was heard from Jason and Gabby as they came out from their hiding spots. Then Katie showed herself, followed by Anita and Nathaniel and the other colleagues from Derek’s unit.
After closing the door, Aunty May asked Derek. “Is everyone else here?”
“You and Mr. Chan are the last one!” Derek told the couple.
“And late too!” Added Katie.
“Yeah, we thought you guys were Ms. Chan!” Erica stated.
“Well, she would need to call your intercom, wouldn’t she?” Mr. Chan asked.
“Someone called but there was no one there when we got to it! That’s why we thought it was Sis!” Jason explained.
Mr. Chan made a guilty as charged gesture and apologized. “Sorry, we didn’t wait for the call to go through because someone let us in. She recognized Aunty May!”
Anita returned to her lookout spot and spotted someone alighting from a taxi. “Hey, Is that Gillian?”
Mark, Aunty May, and Gabby rushed to the window and confirmed it was indeed Gillian. They all scrambled back to their hiding spots once again. This time, their effort was successful as Gillian was shocked to see the empty quiet apartment suddenly bursted forth with cheers and laughter when she entered Derek’s condo. She was deeply touched by their plan in surprising her with this farewell gathering, so much so that tears started to cloud her eyes as she went around giving hugs to her friends and family.
After hugging Derek, Gillian asked. “Who talked you into doing this for me?”
Derek smiled bashfully and then Gillian followed the direction of his gaze to Katie and Anita. Both the ladies were smiling triumphantly for being able to pull off the element of surprise on Gillian.
“We all wanted to do this. Four years is a long time to be away.” Derek added.
“That’s right, and you keep turning us down when we asked you out for lunch or dinner!” Katie added.
“Yes, I didn’t even get a chance to return your CD yet.” Anita added.
Then Gillian noticed the young man standing next to Anita. He was smiling at her as well. So Gillian asked politely but with a tone of glee towards Anita. “And this is?”
“Hello, Ms. Chan!” The young man extended his hand assertively. “I’m Nathaniel. It’s nice to meet you for the first time, but a pity to have to say farewell already!”
Everybody laughed at the irony as Gillian shook his hand. “Nice to meet you too, Nathaniel! Call me Gillian!”
Anita noticed Gillian was smiling at her in a meaningful way, so she leaned in and whispered into her ear. “Yes, Gillian, I took your advice and decided to dance!”
“I’m really glad,” Gillian gave Anita a hug for her courage. “If one day you shall come to New York to perform, I will be the first to purchase a ticket!”
For the next hour, though Gillian tried to busy herself by mingling with friends and family who came in her honor, she could not help feeling disappointed that Ethan was not there. Though no one mentioned his whereabouts, Gillian could sense everyone felt that Ethan not being here somehow made this farewell incomplete.
Gillian tried to let the matter go by convincing herself that it was better this way. Besides, she knew how upset he was to learn of her plan to go abroad three days ago. She couldn’t blame him. He was upset for two reasons. One was that he was the last person to know she was leaving Hong Kong to go to America. What made it worst was that he did not receive the news from her but from Mark, his colleague. The second reason was that he did not like the idea of her going to Baltimore at all. As she dwelled into her reverie, she realized that was most likely when Mark told Ethan about this farewell party to which he was asked to keep it a surprise. Gillian could now understand why Ethan wouldn’t tell her how he found out as her plan was to call him out the following night to relate the news to him over dinner. Gillian let out a soft sigh and her reverie was interrupted by a leap in her heart when the doorbell rang.
Derek opened his door to see the grumpy Ethan. His darken menacing facial features made it look as if he was ready to start a fight. Derek stood between the door posts with folded arms on purpose and tried his best to act like a bully. “So you are finally man enough to show up?”
When Ethan gave him nothing but a scowl, Derek stood his ground and wouldn’t budge. “Tonight, we don’t allow frowns to enter, only smiles are allowed.”
Ethan gave another deadly glare and his body language was a warning for Derek to step aside or else be prepared for property damage to his own residence. Heeding the warning, Derek finally stepped aside to let him in.
Gillian was on the opposite side of the living room when Ethan arrived. It didn’t take long for his presence to be noticed and welcomed by everyone. Gillian noticed he had to force a smile on his face. She watched him go through the charade of being greeted by everyone. Though he was aware of Gillian’s presence across from the living room, he refused to approach her or to have eye contact with her. He also took it to heart that she was the only one who didn’t come forward to greet him. When he was done with all the meet and greet, he helped himself to a plate of food and stepped out onto the balcony to be alone and to continue with his pouting.
From the occasional glance towards Ethan’s direction, Gillian could sense his pouting mood. When she saw him alone, she took this opportunity to go to the balcony and stood next to him. “If you don’t relax and put on a real smile, you’re going to need a facial massage tomorrow!”
Surprised by Gillian’s presence at first, he tensed up even more. To buy himself some time for a respond, he intentionally took another bite of his food. After swallowing the food, he finally turned and looked into her eyes. “Would my real smile make you stay?”
Gillian remained quiet and let time stood still. She then watched Ethan take another bite of food. Making sure he wouldn’t choke from her reply, she waited till the food was quite a distance down his throat. When Ethan finally turned to her for her answer, she surprised him with a question of her own. She knew the answer but she needed to know if Ethan had the same answer. “Do you still love me?”
When Ethan choked at her question, Gillian let out a chuckle. Though he only choked from the air in his throat, he placed his plate of food down and then turned to face her. She could tell he was wondering if she was being serious and expected him to answer.
Gillian got her answer and didn’t want to give him the chance to say anything. She smiled at him with glistening eyes. “That’s why I cannot stay! Even with your real smile!”
She turned around and was about to walk away when Ethan grabbed her arm and pulled her into a tight embrace and muttered into her ear. “Gillian, don’t go!”