Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“No way… do I know her?” Wang Yang was a little freaked out. There were several movie theaters in this neighborhood, so how could he run into someone he knew so easily? But it was not something he should be happy about. In fact, running into his classmates from USC was the last thing he wanted at that moment. Due to the accusation of being a racist, he had already become the most undesirable rat. Almost all of his classmates were hostile to him, and he just didn’t want to stay in such a tangle anymore.
However, the girl’s voice was not familiar to him. Wang Yang couldn’t recognize her at all. Under the dim light, he took a glance at the girl. Her hair was chestnut brown in a slightly curly style, and her skin color revealed that she was Latino. Her face was so pretty and even looked familiar, but Wang Yang was very sure that she was neither his classmate from USC nor from his high school because there was no such impression in his mind. He nodded confusingly and said, “If you mean ‘Wang Yang’, then yes, I am him.”
“Oh, my God! I can’t believe this!” After listening to Wang Yang’s answer, the girl was totally surprised. She covered her mouth with her hands and said in excitement, “Yang, I can’t believe we could run into each other like this. Oh, my God! How could this be possible? This is insane!”
Looking at her being thrilled like this, Wang Yang was even more confused. It seemed that she encountered her old friend who didn’t keep in touch for a long time. But he still couldn’t recall who the girl was, so he had to rain on her parade, and he said, “Wait a second, you are?”
The girl paused for a second and then cracked a smile again. Her sweet smile could even eclipse the beauty of Kate Winslet on the big screen. She placed her hair behind the ears and smiled playfully, “Can’t you recognize me now? Well, that’s understandable. I’ve changed a lot growing up. But you… you haven’t changed that much. Actually, you looked so close to what I’ve imagined.”
“Let me think…””Did she just say ‘growing up’? So we knew each other when we were kids?” So, it was indeed a reunion. Wang Yang started to go through every single childhood friend and classmate in his head. But he just couldn’t find her, no matter how hard he racked his brain. He just felt that the girl’s face was more and more familiar to him. Where on Earth did he meet her?
All out of sudden, a short cut of film flashed out in his mind. It’s a clip from the movie “Sin City”, where Nancy was pole dancing alluringly. Her waist, her hair… Jesus Christ! That was so hot! And the girl sitting right beside him looked very much like the actress who played the role of Nancy–Jessica Alba!
Wang Yang was shocked and blurted out, “You are Jessica Alba?!”
“Oh, Yang, so you do remember me!” said Jessica with her eyes filled with sparkles. And then she asked curiously, “How did you recognize me?”
Jessica Alba, one of the sexist women in the 21st century. And she was also known as the most beautiful face in the world. Undoubtedly, she was the iconic spokesperson of the “face of an angel and figure of a devil”.
Although she was only a 17-year-old teenager, who was rather immature, she had already started to show her talent. In her acting career, she was still a “nobody” and only played some small roles in some TV series’. All of the information was provided in the actors’ profiles in Wang Yang’s head. But now she wanted to know how he recognized her. There was no way he could tell her that he had watched her future movies!
Wang Yang didn’t know what to say because he indeed remembered nothing about Jessica when they were little. So he said hesitantly, “Well, just the way it is. You are more or less the same as I’ve imagined.”
“Really?” Jessica couldn’t believe this answer, rolling her eyes and saying, “How could it be possible? I was so ugly when I was little. Oh, thick lips, overbite, skinny as a skeleton, and I never tried to tidy myself up. That was awful…” She covered her forehead with her hand, embarrassed by her own history.
Thick lips? Overbite? Untidy? How could those words be associated with the sexy goddess? But while Wang Yang was listening to the description, an image of a little girl began to emerge and become clearer. It was the year of 1989, the second grade of elementary school. One day, a transfer student suddenly came to the class. Skinny, scared, and brown, and that little girl was Jessica Alba.
At that time, Jessica was no doubt the ugly duckling. She had been extremely shy and had hardly spoken. Although she had been very introverted, the brown skin color had always brought her many troubles. The white kids in the class had always made fun of her–not only verbally, but also physically. In the end, her dad had to escort her to school.
The worse thing was that no kid had wanted to be her seatmate. To her, there were only two types of people in the class–the bullies and the avoiders. Wang Yang didn’t have many friends in the class either, but no white kid had dared to bully him because, if they did so, their asses would have gotten kicked. Therefore, the teacher appointed him to be Jessica’s seatmate and keep an eye on her.
Wang Yang was also a victim of racism, so he didn’t bully Jessica at all. As a matter of fact, he did a pretty good job in the task the teacher had given him. He protected her and even chased those bad kids away, putting on the plot of “hero rescuing the beauty”. Naturally, they became very good friends in a short time, sharing all the details about their lives and even gradually exchanging the secrets.
The memories were like the tide rushing over him. Wang Yang still remembered that he told Jessica about his dream of being a director. In return, Jessica, under his encouragement, told him that she wanted to be an actress, blushingly.
However, after less than half of a semester, Jessica got transferred again, and she didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to him. At first, Wang Yang missed this ugly duckling, but as time passed by, he had forgotten this little girl. If it weren’t the reunion today, he wouldn’t have remembered those stories between them, even if he saw her on the big screen.
Who would expect that she was the ugly duckling? My God! Who would have expected that she would turn out to be such a gorgeous woman when she grew up? How could a girl change so much from her childhood? It was such a miracle of the Creator! Wang Yang couldn’t help smiling while he was drowning in the surprise. Once, in order to encourage Jessica, he said to her, “Jessica, you are an ugly duckling now, but you will become a beautiful swan in the future! Trust me, you must be an actress so that, when I become a director, I can ask you to be my actress.”
Who would expect that a childhood promise would come true? Jessica really turned out to be a swan from the ugly duckling, and she became an actress–a shining superstar in the future. He would have obtained the chance to become a director if he hadn’t gotten expelled from USC…
“I mean really, how did you recognize me?” Jessica kept asking in curiosity. She still couldn’t believe Wang Yang’s theory of “close to what he had imagined”.
As expected, to hide one lie, a thousand lies were needed. Wang Yang shrugged and said reluctantly, “It is the truth. I just recognized you like that. I knew it in my gut; sooner or later the little ugly duckling will become the swan.” He repeated the encouragement once again.
“Yang, thank you! I’ve always remembered what you’d said to me.” Jessica’s voice became soft, and her eyes were full of affection. And then she said sincerely, “Your words kept me going and made me more confident and brave. Because of it, I appreciate your help so, so, so much.”
“Well, what am I going to say? The encouragement was just a nice gesture. I had never really expected that she would turn out to be a swan,” he thought. Well, it was true that the white lies could do both of them good. Otherwise, the situation could even get worse. Naturally, Wang Yang wouldn’t be that stupid, so he cracked a smile and said, “No big deal at all. The gold will always shine, no matter where it is…”
In order to skip this topic, he asked deliberately: “How have you been these past years? How’s your health condition?” As he remembered, Jessica’s health was always in a very bad condition when she was a child. Simply put, she was a fragile and vulnerable kid. During the short period when she went to his school, she had to be hospitalized several times.
“Oh, thank you for asking.” Jessica smiled, bending her arms into a Popeye arm, and said, “I am pretty strong now–finally getting rid of the hospital now.” Then, she continued, “I almost forgot, Yang, I’ve already become an actress now and played some roles. I was in ‘Camp Nowhere’ and ‘Flipper’. Have you watched them?”
Wang Yang seemed a little embarrassed, said, “Probably not.”
“Ha, that’s okay,” said Jessica smiling so sweetly. “How about you? How are you after all these years? And…” she pondered for a while and continued, “are you still holding on to your dream?”
“Yes, of course. Being a director is the dream of my life!” Wang Yang answered her question immediately. He had never doubted his dream to be a director! In order to not be underestimated by Jessica, he continued proudly, “In fact, I’ve got accepted by the USC School of Cinematic Arts, majoring in film and television production, but…” Suddenly, he realized, “Holy sh*t, I was expelled…”
Jessica was so surprised and shouted, “My God! Film production at USC? That’s a top university! Yang, I knew you wouldn’t let me down!” She burst out laughing happily, but then heard Wang Yang say, “But…” She frowned and said, “But, what? What’s going on?”
“Hey, guys, stop chatting, will you? This is the movie theater!” At this moment, one of the people in the audience on the back row complained loudly. In no time, many other audience members joined the complaint, too. Apparently, they had put up with their conversation for a while. It was the climax part of “Titanic”. Why chat?
“Sorry, I am so sorry about it!” Wang Yang and Jessica apologized and promised they would shut up. Then the audience quieted down. They looked at each other. Wang Yang grimaced awkwardly, and Jessica stuck out her tongue, leaning closer to him and whispering, “Yang, after the movie, let’s keep talking over a cup of cafe. How do you think?”
Wang Yang nodded. “Okay, sure.”
And then both of them fixed their gaze at the big screen and watched the movie quietly like everybody else. But their minds had already flown out of the movie theater.