Lifted Spirits

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DISCLAIMER: The following is of fictional work and should not be taken seriously or be accounted for actual facts in any way. It is not aimed to confuse or mislead anyone for that matter. It is not meant to offend or disrespect any of the artists mentioned in the work either. Its purpose only serves to entertain and share with other fans who also like those artists. Thank you for reading.

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Vic had a surprise for Cyndi. And that surprise wasn’t easy to pull off. Because he had to hide his plans from her. Not to mention the obvious display that was in front of her every single day. He had recruited friends to help. And some more. That project had carried on for a while. He was blessed with the fact that she still had no idea. It wasn’t easy to fool her with his indifference exterior. Yet he tried. The day had finally come when they would reveal the surprise to her. Tomorrow. Vic had made a last round of inspections several days back to ensure everything was set for the special day.

*****

The night of Christmas Eve finally arrived. Vic approached Cyndi’s door with his familiar usual routine that night. The only difference was his attire. He wasn’t wearing the usual tux and bow to impress his date like many times before. He was in his usual daily outfit in addition to a heavy coat and a fancy scarf. Cyndi came to the door wearing similar winter clothes. It seemed like she wasn’t expecting anything special from him tonight. It was hard to when she had guessed wrong the last five times. Though she never showed her disappointment, at least she had tried to hide it from him. Yet he knew. He knew all along–and had let her stayed disappointed. Until tonight. And she had no idea.

“Hi,” He greeted her.

Cyndi nodded, pasting on a sincere smile.

“We’re going on a long ride tonight so you might want to pack a light bag,” He informed her.

She looked surprised then. Barely, but it was still present. He smiled and nodded, reassuring her that she didn’t hear wrong. About fifteen minutes more and they were in his car, driving into the night and toward an unknown destination.

On the way, they did not talk much. They only listened to the Christmas songs that were playing on the radio–with the occasional comments about some memories that had been triggered by those songs, nothing more. She became impatient with the constant glances his way from time to time. He noticed it yet still concentrated on the traffic, his indifference still on. She tensed up even more when they parted from the rest of the traffic and he turned into a dirt road leading to an area that led into the countryside. He drove slowly on purpose the whole time. Half of it was because of the snow. The other half? To keep the suspense intact. They soon passed the darkened part of the countryside and met with civilization again. He soon slowed down and turned into a street that led into a residential part of that town.

When they arrived at his planned destination, she gasped as soon as she saw the sight. He smiled upon seeing her shocked expression. After parking, he stepped out of the car, leaving her there dumbstruck. But not for long since he reached the passenger side soon enough and opened her door for her, extending a hand. She stepped out of the car slowly, still numbed from the initial shock. Her numbness wasn’t involving any source of coldness either–though the weather was indeed quite cold.

“Come on,” He urged. “They’re waiting for us.”

Yes, his friends and her friends were all waiting for them ahead. More specifically, they were all lined up at the house that had been in construction for months now. The only difference was how the house was no longer covered with a huge brown-ish tent to conceal its secrecy and privacy. It was now covered with a tan-colored humongous cloth with the portions of the bottom hanging loosely and getting contaminated by the snow on the ground, turning its color into a darker tan. And on that humongous cloth was held together on the top with a rough thick string like it was gift-wrapped.

“You’re finally here!” Joanne shouted when they were closer.

Vic nodded as Cyndi was still studying her surroundings with much awestruck.

“Glad you made it,” Jacky chimed in, smiling also.

“Everything ready?” Vic asked, his voice full of authoritativeness.

The others nodded in unison. Jacky and Joanne soon turned toward the others and gave them a signal. They spread out around the house. It was like everything had been planned carefully–and flawlessly. As soon as everyone got into their assigned position, Joanne reconfirmed their places one last time before Jacky did the countdown. And when the number reached one, they all tugged on a brown string at the same time. It appeared that they had arranged the strings carefully at the exact spot they were supposed to stand and then pulled it at the right moment–now. The tan tent soon gave way, falling slowly like a lava mountain flowing down toward the ground. A luxurious house appeared in front of their sight. The dark street had suddenly transferred into immense brightness because of the house that was decorated with bright lights streaming everywhere. That wasn’t all. Because Cyndi had realized the moment the house’s veil fell away that it was her dream house. She turned to Vic, still speechless.

“Don’t cry,” He comforted her, patting on her shoulder with one hand while the other hand reaching up to wipe away her tears.

She didn’t realize she was crying. “I thought you…” She stopped to control herself before continuing. “I thought you wanted to break up with me.”

“Silly,” He chided her, hitting the tip of her head playfully. “Now, why would I do that?”

“You’ve been passive these past months. I thought you were getting tired of me…of us…and…”

Vic smiled, still wiping away her tears with his hand. “Now you know.”

She pulled out a handkerchief from somewhere and tried to contain her tears, still not believing the sight in front of her. He led her toward the house’s entrance then. Jacky, Joanne, and the others standing in front of the house drifted apart and made way for both. The ones who were in charge of pulling the strings from the other sides of the house had also gathered around, waiting to witness the moment the new owners of the house open the door of their new habitat.

Vic had his own copy of the key. The other one he had given to Jacky so the others could work on decorating the house awhile back. Now, Jacky stepped forward and handed the key back to Vic. Vic then handed it to Cyndi, wanting her to do the deed. They all watched as Cyndi placed the key into the slot and the echo of a click traveled to their ears seconds later. They continued to stay quiet as Cyndi stepped in–with Vic right by her side. The first thing Cyndi saw–aside from the welcome mat–was a large bucket placed at the left corner. Joanne soon explained it was for their shoes. They all took off their shoes one by one after Vic and Cyndi.

Like any typical tour of a new house, Vic started with the living room. However, he did not do the usual narration like others would often approach the process. Instead, he gestured for Jacky to light the fireplace. Joanne was in charge of candles–though the house was already so bright due to the outdoor lights. Unexpectedly after the candles were lit, the lights on the exterior parts of the house flicked off, putting everyone in the dark. That was also preplanned because one of their other friends had pulled the lever that controlled the exterior lights.

Cyndi was startled by the sudden lack of light, letting out an audible gasp. Yet she soon recovered and returned her eyes to the center of the room. It was also in time to see Vic getting down on his knees–one knee to be exact. The others had already left the room, not wanting Cyndi to feel the pressure in satisfying the watchers only. It was an important decision of her life and they wanted to fulfill Vic’s command in letting her treasure that moment only with him.

As they returned to the hallway, they retrieved their shoes from the bucket silently, not wanting the noise to reverberate around the property–and possibly ruin the moment for both Vic and Cyndi. Jacky led the way outside this time, holding the doors for them all before shutting it again.

“What are we doing now?” Joanne asked, turning to Jacky as she stood next to him in front of the house again.

“We are…” Jacky answered, pausing on purpose. “…moving onto the next part of the surprise.”

Joanne, confused, wrinkled her face and turned to Jacky for clarification. “I didn’t know there was part 2 of the plan.”

Jacky still had on that calm smile, not upset at all that she was misinformed. He slipped a hand around her shoulders and pointed toward the sky with his other hand. She gasped and cried out in excitement as soon as she saw what was enveloping the sky.

“Fireworks!” Joanne yelled out at last. She turned to him with that incredulous expression still. “How did you do it?”

“Vic isn’t the only one who knows how to pull a surprise on Christmas, you know,” Jacky replied casually.

It was then that Joanne noticed some parties missing from the group. She looked around for them, knowing they had to be somewhere to unleash the fireworks on time.

“That’s not all,” Jacky spoke up again.

Joanne turned to him again, waiting.

“Firecrackers!” The others yelled out at that time–and their appearance proved its existence.

Joanne ran toward one of the other girls and took a stick of firecrackers from her. Jacky reached for one as well. Soon, they were lining up around the front of the property to play with the firecrackers. And that little commotion also affected Vic and Cyndi–but they didn’t join the group until a good twenty minutes later of touring the house.

“Well?” Jacky asked as soon as he saw Vic and Cyndi coming out.

Vic raised his hand–the one that was holding Cyndi’s hand. They could all see the sparkling ring on Cyndi’s finger. It was then that the others gathered around to congratulate both parties–with the girls hugging Cyndi and the guys clapping Vic on the shoulders. And soon, they were lining up in front of the property to watch the last of the fireworks together.

“Now we could put this in our book and call it a success,” Joanne mumbled as she was standing next to Jacky–her hands in her coat pockets.

Jacky turned slightly toward her. “We definitely could file it away as a success–on both counts.”

Joanne was a bit taken aback. “What?”

Jacky had on his teasing smile. “I meant for Vic’s plan and my firework plan. Don’t tell me you were thinking of having another proposal taking place here as well.”

Joanne took her right hand out of her coat pocket and hit Jacky on the shoulder. “I knew you’re too cheap to plan anything like this!”

Jacky knew she was joking so he caught her hand and laced it with his. But he wasn’t done. He took off one glove and undid a black ring from his finger. Then he slipped it onto her ring finger. It was when he was satisfied with his work that he let go of her hand. While he was putting his glove on again, Joanne inspected the ring on her finger.

“We wouldn’t want to steal the show from Vic and Cyndi, would we?” Jacky reasoned. “But you have the other half of the pair now.”

“I like it this way,” Joanne admitted, finally smiling. She slipped on her glove again as well–since Jacky had also taken off hers when he slipped on the ring. “It’s unique.”

Then they returned their eyes toward the sky just like the others to watch the sparkling night, still filled with the fireworks that refused to die down because it was still waiting for the moment when the hour announced Christmas’ arrival. The difference this time was how they had hooked hands with each other’s–not shoving them in their pockets like before.

© Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

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*NOTES*:

– This is a Christmas special story that was voted on here and the result announced here.

– Hope everyone enjoyed it to some extent and have a Merry Christmas!

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8 thoughts on “Lifted Spirits

  1. vgag says:

    That’s a really nice Christmas story. They certainly make cute couples. I’d love to see Vic an Cyndi in real life star together in a drama, and Jacky and Joanne definitely had chemistry in Love Magician and even more so in Mafia Principal. LOL

    Reply
  2. vgag says:

    Do you know if Vic and Cyndi have ever been linked in real life? Recently, rumours about Joanne and Calvin have been surfacing again.
    Not that your fan fic was about them in real life, anyway.

    Reply
  3. DTLCT says:

    @vgag – I don’t think so regarding Vic and Cyndi since mostly I heard about were Vic still NOT getting over the other relationship OR all those other things about his co-stars. SO not really about Cyndi. They were only mentioned at one time when Vic was still doing the Jasmine Tea commercials with CD. TOO BAD they’re not doing that together anymore.

    And yeah, some of us QiaoRu fans are going bonkers over the bizarre rumors. Mostly Apple Daily’s making that up. But that’s another topic that could be discussed at the QiaoRu thread (at AF) or here on the QiaoRu page, LOL!

    Reply
  4. littleblm says:

    awww a dream house! I want one too! except not in the country side. XD Geez… way to keep Cyndi at the edge… she’s been worried that he was gonna break up with her… awww but its all settled now… new house, new ring, new hubby 😀 omg you cheated squeezing in your fav fav couple in all the world ahahah but they’re sweet too… 😀 joanne got a nice surprise didn’t she 🙂 everyone got to have fun :p is 15 minutes long or short for packing a light bag? XD

    Reply
  5. DTLCT says:

    @syko – No, I didn’t cheat, LOL! I said ‘top two couples’! LOL! So Jacky and Joanne are just supporting, lol.

    Anyway, you want a dream house too? I’ll write a quick one-shot to have your guy (your choice) to give you one. LOL! How about a haunted house? JUST KIDDING, lol…

    Reply
  6. littleblm says:

    oh… i was only thinking of vic ahahah my bad whoa whoa… a haunted house for meeeee?!?!! no no… i’d rather have an asylum of my very own instead 🙂 thanks

    Reply

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