Dyed in Your Color

When the Universe REALLY Has It In for You (2)

“What are you being in a daze for?” said a voice from out of nowhere. Recognizing it as Chase’s, Xian merely turned his head lazily but didn’t shift from his position.

“You’re here? Didn’t hear you come in.”

“Bet you were sleeping with your eyes open,” Chase said in his usual angry-for-no-reason tone as he sat on the floor by one side of the coffee table and took out things from his bag. “Lucky you, huh, being so free. How is it that you’re not bogged down by assignments and projects like the rest of us? Have you been cheating your way up until now?”

“Nope,” Xian replied lightly. Seeing that Chase was set to camp out there in the living room, Xian decided to get up and head to his room. “I do just the bare minimum,” he continued, script in hand as he walked off. “It’s you who’s too gung-ho, dumbass. Who needs a degree these days, anyway?”

“Yeah?” Chase shouted after him. “Well don’t come crying later when you fail to find a job!”

“And don’t come crying later when I become a dropout billionaire and don’t give YOU a job!” Xian taunted right back before closing his bedroom door.

Hearing Chase cussing him out while typing away furiously at his laptop, Xian chuckled before heading back over to his bed.

Before he could reach it, his eyes landed on the spot where Lance had so recently been sitting. Then he recalled how the guy had stopped short of entering Xian’s bedroom earlier, how Xian had dragged him in, how he had asked if Lance would prefer “the sofa or the bed,” and how he’d eventually forced the guy onto the bed.

Lance had seemed uncomfortable. It wouldn’t be a stretch to suppose he’d felt extremely wary.

Overcome with shame and guilt, Xian ended up on his knees by the bedside, letting go of the script in order to cover his face with both hands as he groaned.

“It’s a miracle the guy still wants to hang out with me,” he mumbled. “‘Next time,’ he said. He’s not the type who’d just say that and not mean it, right?”

After groaning to himself some more, Xian picked himself from the floor and lay facedown on the bed. As he did so, he felt the script underneath him pressing against his leg.

Right now, there was something greater than this film club project that he didn’t want to think about. Thus, he pulled the script up, placed it before his face, and started flipping through its pages.

***

A couple of hours passed.

After being immobile for quite some time, Xian slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. 

He stared down at the script on top of the bed. Its pages were now neatly shut, but Xian had gone through every single one, unable to tear his eyes off from the words and his heart from the story those words told.

Catching a glimpse of a darker patch on the bedsheet, right where his head had been, Xian focused on it and realized the patch was from something liquid that got absorbed by the fabric.

He felt somewhat surprised as he raised a hand to touch his face. When he felt moisture there, he realized he’d been shedding tears silently.

No wonder his eyes had been hurting. He’d been dismissing it as him being unaccustomed to reading for an extended period of time, and in any case, he’d been too engrossed to care.

He now knew just why his elder sister and her clubmates felt so strongly about this project that they didn’t want to let it go without a fight.

It was a simple tale of love, loss, and waiting, but it was overflowing with so much emotion that the tears couldn’t help but come, as he himself could attest.

The main character, a homosexual ghost from ancient times, was as tragic a figure as they come. When the audience was made to realize just what he had endured up to the present… it cannot be imagined, yet he somehow still evoked sympathy.

And Xian could see it clearly as well: this role should not be played by just anyone. He should be portrayed by someone who seemed born to do him justice.

His sister had already said that Xian fit the bill. It shouldn’t count as tooting his own horn for him to think so as well, right?

*** 

“Really?” said Laurel, her eyes wide, her fair cheeks tinted pink. “Really? You’ll try it? You’re not just feeling forced?”

She and her two younger brothers were at the dinner table and in the middle of having their meal. Xian had launched the topic by simply saying, “About what we talked about, Big Sis, I’ll give it a try.” Because of that, Chase had no clue about what they meant.

He looked at one and then the other, but since his sensible elder sister was involved, whatever the matter may be, he didn’t think that there’d be any issue with it.

“I’m not being forced,” Xian answered with a chuckle. “I read the script, and the story hit me like a ton of bricks. I don’t know why the theater club members would refuse to play the main character. If their only reason is that he’s homosexual, then either they’re a bunch of wusses or they probably have something to hide.”

Upon hearing the word “homosexual,” Chase coughed and almost spit out the food in his mouth. As he continued to cough, he was blatantly ignored by Xian, who continued, “I mean, have they never heard of ‘hiding in plain sight’?”

Not unsympathetic, Laurel poured tea for Chase and handed it to him. She said to Xian, “Their reasons are their own. Many of them also have their future careers to think of. We could only think that it’s unfortunate.”

Xian shrugged. “Anyway, if I can get the part, I’m in. I can’t promise anything about my acting skills, though.”

“Now—cough—hold on a second—cough, cough—what—?” Chase tried to articulate what he meant through his coughing but could only get out that much.

At long last, Xian looked at him. “What ‘what’?” he asked.

Chase took a swallow of tea and finally seemed to calm down a bit. Looking serious, he met Xian’s eyes. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

Shrugging again, Xian looked away before answering in a careless tone, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

From the corner of his eye, Xian saw his siblings exchanging a look. Knowing that they were probably thinking of a certain fierce woman back in their hometown, Riverine Valley, he pretended not to see it.

Right after, the three wordlessly agreed to drop the subject and finished eating their dinner in silence.

***

At another dinner table, in a certain legacy house deep within the university campus, a pair of siblings was also quietly talking.

"Lance…” said a man who’s slightly older than the one he was addressing. They had similar looks and statures, but where one exuded a cold and forbidding aura, the other radiated warmth and gentleness. 

The one speaking was called Lucian Hill, and he was Lance’s older brother.

When his younger brother raised his eyes to him, Lucian asked, “Is it for certain?”

In his spare way, Lance nodded. “I cannot be mistaken,” he said. “Not in this.”

Lucian took this in and let out a sigh. “Frankly, it is your method that has me worrying.”

“I too did not expect that events would unfold this way,” Lance replied. He was now looking down at the food before him but seeing something else in his mind’s eye. “But that they did only leaves me with no doubt at all.” 

When Lance raised his head again and met Lucian’s gaze, the latter saw in his expression something he had rarely ever seen there before. It jolted him deeply.

And then, with his eyes full of indescribable emotions that he could not contain, Lance said, “Brother, I… I've found him.”