|
Mask One
Wednesday, 12/01/2010
Behind Her Mask: Mask One
Featuring Shim Changmin
Everyone was raving about the new drama, Unforgettable Memories, where the brilliant and handsome actor, Shim Changmin managed to once again sweep people off their feet. The movie was full of such emotions, people didn't know which emotion to act on. The ending literally made people cry rivers because of how entrancing Changmin's acting was. A snippet from the movie.
Changmin stared at with intense eyes, full of life and passion but he was hiding his pain. He slowly stroke her cheek and gave her a reassuring smile, "I love you. Don't forget that." She felt tears streaming down her cheeks, she couldn't put up a strong front anymore. He softly wiped her tears, "Don't cry. You know that I love you."
Just that one scene was able to hypnotize anyone who was watching the drama. Even some men found themselves unable to control the tears that were swelling in their eyes. It was amazing at how talented Changmin was.
"I would like to announce that I will be retiring now." Changmin announced, shocking all the audience. The paparazzi began shouting out questions as to why he was doing such a thing when he was at the peak of his stardom. "No more questions." With that said, Changmin gave a cheerful smile and waved as he entered the car.
Two reporters however knew there had to be a reason as to why the brilliant actor, Changmin was leaving. "There's something fishy about this. This could be our big scoop." The two nodded as they began their new mission, finding out why Changmin was retiring from the entertainment business.
All her classmates started to gossip. Gillian paid no attention to their silly gossip about Changmin and continued to polish her camcorder. She recently saved up enough to buy herself the camcorder she's been dreaming of having. "I don't understand why Changmin wants to retire!" Gillian overheard one of the girls saying. She shook her head mentally, these girls were just full of crazy gossip.
"Did everyone finish their papers on what they watched?" The teacher asked as he barged in the room. Following behind him was no other than Changmin himself, causing the whole class to go crazy.
"Changmin! Why are you quitting?" Some of the students asked as they rushed over to Changmin.
Changmin was always a cheerful person. You would always see him with a smile on his face, this day was no different. He grinned and held up a peace sign before answering, "Well...I'm getting tired of it and I just want to live a normal life. Plus I want to spend more time with my lovely classmates!" He gave a charming smile and winked at the girls in the classroom.
"We've missed you so much. Does that mean you're going to come to class everyday?" One of the girls asked.
Changmin nodded and grinned. "Yep! I have more time on my hands for school now." The class cheered, it was great having Changmin back. Changmin turned to look around the classroom, nothing changed. Everything was still the same, everyone was still their usual self. But one person in the classroom caught his eye, he looked at Gillian who continued to polish her camcorder emotionless. "Why aren't you guys talking to her?" Changmin pointed at Gillian, causing everyone to look in her direction.
"We can't hang out with her. She's a freak!" One of them answered as the rest of them agreed. "Yeah she's an emotionless weirdo."
"What are you guys talking about?" Changmin asked. He didn't understand why everyone thought so negatively about this girl in the class.
One of the girls held her cell phone, revealing a video of a dog getting beaten up. "Look at that. It's her! She recorded this. Only sick people would record such a thing."
Gillian couldn't tolerate their gossip anymore and immediately stood up, causing everyone to be shocked by her sudden movement. The teacher motioned for her to sit down, "Gillian, sit back down. You didn't even fill out anything for this paper. Did you watch the video?"
Gillian shook her head, "I did watch the video. But I have no reactions to the film."
Some of the girls snickered and muttered, "what a freak," under their breath. The teacher shook his head in disapproval, "What are you talking about? You didn't feel anything from Changmin's brilliant acting skills? Not even a 'Why did he have to die?' or 'I cried?' Nothing?"
Gillian shook her head. It wasn't that she was heartless, she just can't cry. She was never the type to cry, no matter how horrible the conditions were. Ever since she was a baby, she didn't remember crying at all. She was unable to cry. "I cannot cry."
The teacher scoffed at her answer, "Now you're just being disrespectful. Are you saying that you aren't a human being?"
She had enough. Ignoring the teacher's complaints, she walked out of the classroom and headed to the rooftop. She took a deep breath, why couldn't anyone understand her. But then again, she was used to being alone. Since she's been emotionless her whole life, no one bothered being her friend and she didn't mind.
Gillian felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Changmin grinning from ear to ear at her. He gave her a friendly wave, "Hi there."
"What are you doing here?" Gillian asked.
Changmin smiled and sat down next to her. "Just sitting, what about you?"
Was this kid always this carefree? Giliian thought. "Obviously I'm sitting as well. I meant why are you here instead of the classroom?"
Changmin laughed, this was a first. No one ever complained about his presence. "Well you're not the only one that can walk out of class you know? Besides, I can understand why you didn't have any reactions to the film. I found it rather boring too. I hated acting for that film." Changmin revealed.
Gillian was curious, how could the main actor say that the film, what he worked so hard for, was boring. It was unreasonable. Changmin looked at her observing him and grinned, "To think, my manager chose that boring film for me to end my career with. Such a waste."
"Then why did you quit?" Gillian asked. She didn't understand people like that, complaining but not doing anything about it.
Changmin laughed once again. Gillian definitely didn't care how direct she was. "Didn't you hear me in the classroom? I wanted a normal life. So do you like taking videos? How about filming me? Free of charge!"
"I don't film humans." Gillian replied in a harsh tone.
"Why?" Changmin asked.
"Because I hate them."
▌The Next Day ▌
"Good morning Changmin" His classmates greeted as soon as Changmin walked in.
He waved at everyone while grinning from ear to ear. "Good morning guys!" He turned to look at Gillian who was still in her own world. He walked up towards her and waved his hand in her face, "Good morning Gillian!"
Gillian was surprised by his sudden action. "G-good morning." It was the first time someone ever said good morning to her at school.
The girls scoffed at the sight. "Ugh, why her? That bitch. Remember last time when we found that stray dog?"
▌Flashback ▌
Arf. Arf. The class surrounded the poor little puppy that they found. "Aw it's so cute!" Some of the girls squealed at the sight.
"Let's all take care of him!" One of the guys suggested as everyone agreed. Gillian watched them from a distance. One of the girls noticed Gillian and decided to include her, "Gillian, you can help us too!"
Gillian immediately turned around and headed back to the class, "No thanks."
Everyone was taken back by her rude response. "That wasn't necessary. Why did she even follow us then?"
That day, everyone agreed that it was useless trying to include Gillian. She was too rude and heartless.
▌End of Flashback ▌
"Why do you always this hideous camcorder around?" The class bully, Yunho asked while snatching away Gillian's camcorder.
She immediately stood up and tried to grab her camcorder but Yunho held it up too high. "Give it back."
"Oooh, did you hear that class? She wants her precious camcorder back so she can continue recording sick videos of animals getting beat up." Yunho announced as he continued to hold up Gillian's camcorder.
"Give it back." Gillian demanded once more and tried to snatch her camcorder but Yunho was too quick for her.
"Maybe you should destroy that camcorder of hers!" One of the students shouted. "Or watch what other disgusting videos she has!" Another suggested.
Yunho liked the second idea and connected her camcorder to the classroom's tv. Out popped a video of the puppy from the previous video but only this was a different scene.
"Vanilla, stop licking me." Gillian's voice was heard from behind the camera. The puppy continued to lick her hand then ran around Gillian, as if he was really happy. "You're going to get dizzy Vanilla."
Then there was another video after. "Vanilla where are you?" Gillian was shouting as she looked around the neighborhood. "Come on, we need to make another video." The video was shaking because of Gillian running around but you could still see what you needed to see. The shaking began to calm down as Gillian walked towards the dead body of Vanilla. "VANILLA" Gillian shouted, dropping the camcorder. On the edge of the screen, you could see Gillian whispering 'no' as she carefully touched the dog.
The tv screen turned off. Gillian had unplugged the cord.
The class fell into silence. So Gillian didn't upload the other nasty video. How could she? The puppy in the video was hers, she wouldn't do that. The class felt bad for their false accusations.
"Give her camcorder back." Changmin interrupted.
Yunho smirked. "Oh, mister fancy pants is going to get involved now huh?"
Changmin swiftly yanked on Yunho's collar and gave him a menacing look causing Yunho to be speechless, "Give it back or I'll have to force you to give it back."
The class was stunned. The cheerful Changmin transformed into such a scary person. Changmin quickly returned to his normal self and grinned, "How was practicing my delinquent role?"
Some people sighed in relief, it was only acting. "Wow it was really good!"
Changmin grinned, "Good!" He walked up to Gillian and handed her the camcorder. "Thank you for taking care of Vanilla."
Gillian looked up and took her camcorder. "Thanks."
Changmin patted her head and smiled. "You're a good girl."
▌Flashback ▌
Changmin stared outside the window, it was pouring. "Did anyone check up on the puppy?" Changmin grabbed his coat and ran off towards school.
He walked to where the puppy was being taken care of, only to find Gillian already there with the puppy. She was soothing him and whispering, "it's going to be okay." Changmin smiled at the sight, she wasn't so bad after all. She was probably shy when everyone asked her to join them.
▌End of Flashback ▌
The next day at school, no one changed their attitude towards Gillian. Not a single apology was said but Gillian was okay with it. Changmin greeted her with his usual happy grin, "Gillian. Where's Vanilla's grave? Can you take me there later?"
Gillian nodded. After class was over, she headed over to where she buried Vanilla with Changmin following behind her. When she reached the grave, there were already flowers. Changmin saw the beautiful flowers, "Wow Gillian, do you visit everyday or something? Those flowers are fresh!"
Gillian shook her head, she only visits whenever she had the time, "Those are from me."
Changmin turned around and saw a group of their classmates. He turned Gillian over so she could see them. He glanced at her and gave her a smile then pushed her towards the group. "Gillian, we're sorry." One of the girls nervously said. "We really are sorry for accusing you like that." Another added. "We got carried away and we didn't give you a chance to defend yourself" Another apologized. Pretty soon, all of them apologized.
Gillian shook her head, "It's okay. It happens and I didn't give really do anything to convince you guys too."
Changmin smiled to himself. She was finally opening up. When the group left, Changmin took it upon himself and offered to walk her home. While walking home, he noticed Gillian had stop talked and turned around to find a camera pointing in his direction. "What are you doing?" Changmin asked.
"Filming" Gillian answered while focusing her camera on Changmin.
"I thought you don't film humans." Changmin countered.
"I don't film things I hate." Gillian answered causing Changmin to form a huge grin on his face.
▌The Next Day & So On ▌
"Good morning Gillian!" The girls from yesterday greeted her with smiles on their faces. Changmin joined them as well, "Good morning!"
Ever since then, Gillian has been getting more social and have been making new friends. All thanks to Changmin. She turned on her camcorder and began filming her new friends. Watching them really made her happy and without realizing it, a smile curled on her lips.
"GILLIAN SMILED!" One of the girls shouted, causing everyone to look.
"She's actually pretty cute when she smiles." One of the guys complimented.
Changmin grinned, he was really proud. She finally brought down her walls. "Smile more Gillian!"
"Look look! That's Shim Changmin. He looks exactly like in the drama! Even his smile's the same." A voice could be heard from outside the classroom. Changmin turned around a gave them a wave and smiled at them.
Gillian heard everything the girl was saying and observed Changmin as he cheerfully continued to smile. "I'm going to the bathroom." Changmin stated while walking outside the classroom. Gillian followed after him. He turned around an gave her a mischievous grin, "Did you want to join me?"
Gillian shook her head and began recording him, "I want you to smile."
Changmin was confused by her request but nonetheless, he gave her a big smile. But Gillian wasn't satisfied. 'He smiles exactly like in the movie' She recalled the girl's words and shook her head. "I want you to actually smile. Stop acting."
Changmin was shocked. He didn't realize that he was caught. "I am smiling Gillian." He still kept up his appearance, maybe she was just lucky to have caught him off guard.
Gillian was getting angry now. Why was he acting? What was he hiding? "You're not smiling!" She shouted at him.
"I am Gillian. See look." Changmin pointed to his curved lips.
Gillian couldn't hold in her frustration anymore and threw her camcorder at him. "Stop being a fake!" With that said, she ran away, leaving Changmin.
▌The Next Day ▌
Gillian looked around the classroom but he was no where to be found. He disappeared. Maybe he was angry at her for yelling and throwing the camcorder at him. "Has anyone seen Changmin?" She asked her friends.
All of them shook her head. "Maybe he's working?" Usually whenever Changmin was absent, it was due to his acting career. But it wasn't possible now since he retired. Right?
"Gillian, Changmin stopped by my house the other day and asked me to give you this." Junsu handed her the camcorder.
The next several days, Changmin was still no where to be found. Gillian sighed as she walked home. She felt bad for yelling at him. She was too busy thinking about Changmin that she didn't realize two men were following her. When she noticed their presence, she turned around and gave them a 'what do you want' stare causing the two to be surprised.
"You're Gillian Chung right?" One of the men asked. Gillian kept her distance and gave them a skeptical look. The man gave her a warm smile, "I'm not going to harm you. I'm from Hong Kong News and I actually had a question about Shim Changmin. You're an acquaintance of his right? I saw you walking around with him before."
Gillian didn't like the idea of reporters poking into Changmin's life. "Sorry I don't know anything. Goodbye."
Gillian went to school the next day, hoping to see Changmin so she could warn him about the two men but he still wasn't there. As soon as she sat down, Junsu barged into the room, "Gillian! It's Changmin, he's on the phone and he wants to talk to you!"
Gillian quickly got out of her seat and rushed to pick up the phone. "Hello? Changmin? Where have you been?"
"Gillian...I don't have much time." Changmin replied, his voice was hoarse. "I want to see you. So much."
"Where are you?" Gillian asked.
"I'm at..." The line started to get disrupted. "the bridge."
As soon as she heard where he was she quickly rushed out of the room and headed towards Changmin.
"Breaking news!" One of the news reporter interrupted. "The shocking truth behind Shim Changmin's retirement! It was revealed a while back that Shim Changmin was diagnosed with an incurable disease when he was younger. As soon as he was cured, he began his acting career and rose to fame. What's the reason for his retirement? Well, sources say that Shim Changmin was in fact, never cured from his disease. He suddenly had an attack last week and was rushed to the hospital immediately. It's been said that he will be watched under strict supervision at the hospital."
Gillian continued to rush to her destination. She glanced up and saw Changmin waiting for her on the top of the bridge, "Changmin" She called out.
He immediately grabbed her and embraced her. "I wanted to see you. I had to see you." Changmin whispered.
"Where have you been? Are you okay? Did you start working again?" Gillian asked, she had so many questions.
"You didn't hear yet?" Changmin asked. But shook off his question, "It's okay. Gillian. I'm going far away and I won't be coming back." Changmin gave her a weak smile and soft kissed her forehead.
Before Gillian could say anything, she noticed the two reporters from earlier approaching them. She quickly grabbed Changmin's wrist, "RUN!"
She yanked his arm and began running to get rid of those pesky reporters. But suddenly, out of no where, she felt a force pulling her back. She turned around and saw that Changmin had collapsed. " CHANGMIN" She screamed.
The two reporters had caught up to her and witnessed the scene. "Hurry film them!"
The bystanders soon noticed that it was Shim Changmin and started to take pictures or film them as well. "Are they filming a new movie? Is he playing dead?"
"MOVE" His manager, Jaejoong pushed through the crowd and guided Gillian while carrying Changmin out of the crowd.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Changmin stirred awake. "Jae...jaejoong...gillian....where?"
"She's over there. I have already informed her on everything." Jaejoong answered while pointing at Gillian who was sitting down, speechless.
"Gillian..." Changmin extended his hand, he wanted to touch her. Gillian immediately grabbed his hand, although she couldn't shed any tears, she looked terrible. He gave her a weak smile and stroke her cheek, "It's okay."
"Changmin, Hong Kong News would like to do a segment on you." Jaejoong looked at Changmin.
Changmin nodded, "Okay."
Gillian gasped. "Why are you agreeing? They're horrible people!"
Changmin shook his head, "The reason why I got into this career was so people would remember who I was. I knew I was going to die but I wanted people to remember me. I guess this is a way for them to remember me."
Gillian took a deep breath and took out her camcorder, "Then I'm going to film the real Shim Changmin. I want them to know the real Changmin."
Changmin stared at her, she was serious. He gave her a nod. "Okay. Let's show them who Changmin is."
▌Through The Camera's Lens ▌
The camera focused on Changmin who was getting ready to get his check up. He turned and gave a devious smirk, "What? Do you want to help me undress?" He asked as Gillian giggled in the background. "Why not?"
"Because!" Gillian answered.
"Why are you blushing?" Changmin asked then broke out in laughs, "You're so cute Gillian." Changmin showed a genuine smile.
-------
"It's Christmas soon. What do you want?" Gillian asked.
Changmin took his time to think and curled his lips into a smirk, "I want..." He pulled Gillian closer, causing the camera's focus on his shoulder, "you" he whispered.
"Merry Christmas!" Gillian cheered as she handed Changmin his present.
He took his time opening it then smiled when he saw it. It was scrapbook. He took his time looking through each page. Gillian, with the help of Changmin's parents, took the time to collect any pictures she had of Changmin and turned it into a scrapbook. The camera focused on Changmin's face, it was revealing all his true emotions; grief, fear, happiness, sadness, but you could also see how brave Changmin was.
-------
Changmin had a sudden attack and the doctors quickly worked on him. "Gil...gillian....are you ...f-filming?" He managed to whisper. The video when up and down when Gillian nodded. "Good..."
After he was stable again, Changmin met with his doctor. "Tell me the truth. How much time do I have left?"
The doctor had a troubling face but he saw how confident and serious Changmin was. "The next time you have an attack, treat it as your last moments."
Gillian let out a small gasp. She didn't want it to be true. Why couldn't Changmin take medication? Surely there would be a way to heal him! Changmin turned to look at Gillian and gave her a brave smile, "It's okay Gillie..."
That night, Gillian stayed in his room, watching over him. As she slowly dozed off, a dark figure entered the room.
"You're here." Changmin said.
Gillian gasped as she stirred awake. She rubbed her eyes then looked at Changmin, only to find him not on the bed but collapsed on the floor. As soon as she pressed the emergency button, the nurses and doctors rushed in with terrified looks. "SAVE HIM" Gillian shouted! But there was nothing they could do. He was gone. The nurses quickly tried their best to soothe Gillian but she was uncontrollable, "I killed him. If only I was awake. If only I didn't fall asleep!"
Jaejoong shook his head, "It wasn't your fault Gillian."
▌Back To Reality ▌
"Next up, we would like to show a little film called, The Real Shim Changmin" The reporter announced, catching the audience's interests.
The film started off as a usual produced film until it was interrupted by another film. "Isn't that Gillian's recordings?" Junsu asked as he noticed the scenes being played.
At the studio, all the workers were horrified, when did the films get switched. "Cut to commercial!"
"NO" A voice interrupter, it was the same reporter that was pestering Changmin and Gillian. "Please, play this film. There will still be enough time for the other film."
The film continued, showing all the recordings. Changmin really showed his true self and caught everyone's hearts. Yunho watched the screen and started crying, "Come on Changmin. You can make it through!" He shouted as he watched the scene of Changmin going into critical condition.
"That Shim Changmin, he's really strong isn't he?" Gillian's mother commented as she wiped away the tears that wouldn't stop flowing down her face.
▌Flashback To That Night ▌
"You're here" Changmin whispered as he spoke to the reporter who walked in. Gillian stirred away and rubbed her eyes.
"I heard you've been filming separately. I would like to use your film." The reporter suggested.
Gillian turned to look at Changmin. He gave her a nod, then turned to look at the reporter, "Okay but on one condition."
"Name it."
"You can't edit anything out or in."
▌Back To Reality ▌
Gillian walked the streets as if she was a living corpse. She continued to blame herself for not being awake. If she were awake, maybe he would've had one more night. Why did she have to doze off?
"Gillian wait!" Jaejoong called out while chasing after her. He quickly placed the camcorder in her hands.
She looked at the camcorder. What was the point of filming now? But she couldn't toss it aside. All her memories of him were still in there. She mustered up her courage and opened it once again and played the recording.
▌Through The Camera's Lens ▌
Changmin woke up in the midst of another attack. He reached out to press the emergency call button but remembered the doctor's words, "If you have another attack, treat it as your last moment."
He turned to look at Gillian who was sleeping peacefully. He quickly turned on the camera and focuses it on Gillian. Taking a deep breath, he endured the pain and slowly got out of the bed, only to collapse on the floor. But he still continued to reach Gillian. Using up all his strength, he pulled himself up to Gillian and gave her a passionate kiss on her lips. As soon as he finished, he felt the life draining out of him. It was the end.
▌Back To Reality ▌
Gillian felt droplets falling down on her camcorder. She touched her face and noticed that she was finally crying and the tears wouldn't stop pouring.
-------------------------
Imaginatious Comments: I hope you enjoyed Changmin's version of the one shot. I actually debated on which character to write about first but decided write about Changmin for this plot since he was the youngest! I apologize if I gave certain DBSK members two roles? I may have mentioned their names a bit too much! Anyways, I hope you guys liked this one shot. I tried my best making it long, hopefully it wasn't too rushed! Definitely took up my time and it was about 13 pages long, WHEW. Finally done with the first one! You won't be seeing an update soon because I still have to finish my other story first. This one isn't a priority. But thank you for the lovely comments, it definitely makes me happy knowing that there's readers out there!
Labels: Behind Her Mask |
|
