'Tonight I stay here' - a Fearless Duo fanfiction

The scene between Szeto Man Mo and Lam Chor Yin (MMCY) in Ep 6 of Fearless Duo after they had to share the room to fool Chor Yin’s uncle and aunt. After realising that he couldn’t escape the mansion without getting beaten to death, Man Mo resigned his fate and decided to just sleep in the room. But there was only one bed there. Fearless Duo is the property of TVB HK. This fanfiction is dedicated to Michael Miu and Barbara Yung. Click here for Fearless Duo episode summaries.

Lam Chor Yin wanted to slap Szeto Man Mo, ep 6

Tonight I stay here

"I'm not sharing a bed with you!" Chor Yin glared at Man Mo.

Szeto Man Mo glared back at his former wife. What a nonsensical girl! "Miss, even though you don't want to sleep, I do. You can sleep next to me, I don't mind!"  He then lay down on the bed, only to be dragged up again by Chor Yin. “Haiyaaa...! What do you want, Girl??”

Since Chor Yin still lodged a protest, both of them ended up sleep-sitting on the chairs. For the first two hours they could do that. But at midnight, just as the clock man passed the mansion with his clunking bamboo, Man Mo woke up with a thud cos his head hit the table. Groaning, he massaged his forehead. Then he looked around. Although the room was dark, silver lights penetrated the windows from the moon and 2-3 lanterns in the garden. He looked across the round table where he had been leaning on and found Chor Yin sleeping on her folded hands on the table. He was about to change his position when he saw the bed again. His back hurts. What would he give to sleep there...

Then Chor Yin stirred, turned and almost fell on her chair. On reflex, he jumped over to catch her. The girl woke up with a start, found her former husband holding her arms, but she was too sleepy to protest.

"Whuh...?" She said incoherently.

MM suddenly realised he'd been holding her arms, hence he let her go with a start too. But half asleep, Chor Yin still wobbled. MM held her again to stabilise her before saying, "Well, I don't think we actually should sleep sitting like this."  He turned to the empty bed, looked back at the sleepy Chor Yin who struggled to wake up, and decided that they should just be practical.

"Look, let's sleep on the bed, shall we? We're both sleepy, the floor is too cold, we're not in love, hence we just sleep on the bed for a practical reason. I'm fine with it, and I think you should just sleep next to me unless you want to get sick."

Chor Yin blinked several times, her sleepy brain tried to find a justification to say no. But then she looked at the bed and decided to ignore decorum and take Man Mo's suggestion. For uncle and auntie, she and Man Mo were still married anyway. So she agreed, staggered to the bed and, after an encouragement from the also sleepy MM, took the inner side of the bed. She said "thanks" drowsily and then rolled to face the wall and resumed her sleep.

Szeto Man Mo then lay down next to his former wife and closed his eyes. He managed a few minutes of sleep before he opened his eyes again, wondering why he couldn't get back to sleep. He then closed his eyes again. However, the desire to sleep had left him, such that when the clock man sounded his bamboo once more, Man Mo gave up and fully opened his eyes. He stared at the ceiling for a while before realising that, despite being awake at this late hour, he was feeling peaceful. Peacefulness wasn't a familiar concept for the stroppy, cantankerous Man Mo. Cheerfulness and excitement were more of his things, in addition to losing his temper and logic, usually at the wrong time and place.

Man Mo sensed a movement on his side. He turned to see Chor Yin changing her sleeping position to face him. In the darkness of the room, he could still see her cute face sleeping like a baby. More like a fairy perhaps, if they do exist. Szeto Man Mo never slept with any woman before, tho it was a common practice for young men to visit brothels in those days. Hence, he wouldn't know the feeling a man gets from sleeping next to a woman. But would sleeping next to any woman give him this feeling? 

In the dark, he studied her face. It was a pretty face, but he never appreciated it. He met Chor Yin the first time when he was chasing a thief who took his jade. During that event, he and Chor Yin (dressed as a boy) misunderstood each other. The second time they met, it was at Supreme Master's school and they bickered again with each other. When he finally realised she was a girl, he just ridiculed her for her marriage wishes. As the result, when they found out that they were engaged without consent, both of them swore that they would never marry the other person.

Man Mo almost never stopped to consider that Chor Yin was beautiful, except for the first time he met her properly dressed as a girl. He had thought that she was not too bad, that she was actually cute. Yet, her habit of saying anything without prior consideration just evaporated that initial interest. When he was married to her and had to kick the door of the palanquin open, he kicked it hard with despise because he hated having to marry a girl he barely knew. When he divorced her and later met and fell for Miss Fa Ying Fung, he thought he had made a good decision (although he did feel that divorcing Chor Yin was a cruel move).

But now, as he lay silently next to her, watching her sleeping soundly, he wondered if he didn't make a mistake. If he could actually feel this peace every night by sleeping with her, would it really be a bad thing to marry her? Then his nose caught a whiff of a fragrance. He stared at her hair; it must be from there. Man Mo leaned forward slightly to inhale her fragrance; it was a mixed of peony and chrysanthemum. A nice fragrance for a cute girl like her.

Then his body did something out of control. His hands developed their own mind and reached to hug her. Very gently, as if the hands belong to someone other than the rude, recalcitrant Szeto Man Mo. He embraced her so gently that he surprised himself. He was also surprised to feel how natural it was to hold her like that. He was debating whether to let her go and return to his own side of the bed, despite it being only a few inches away, when she whispered something unexpectedly. 

"Szeto Man Mo... Don't go...Stay..."

Startled, Man Mo let go of Chor Yin. It took him a while to realise that she was still sleeping. The girl was actually talking in her sleep. 

"Man Mo... Please stay..."

He looked at Chor Yin’s sleeping face. He never thought she actually harboured a gentle feeling towards him. Yes, she did search for him, but it was more because she demanded an explanation about the divorce and nothing else. At least, that was what he’d been thinking so far. Truth be told, he actually considered that he didn’t deserve Chor Yin’s affection, for he ditched her just the day after their wedding. In spite of himself, he embraced her again, inhaled her sweet fragrance and smiled. "I'm not going," he whispered to her ears. "Tonight I stay here. Just tonight, I stay here."

Szeto Man Mo tightened his arms around his former wife and fell asleep almost immediately. When the first rays of the morning sun penetrated the room, he stirred and woke up. He looked into his left; his former wife was still there, still sleeping soundly in his embrace. He smiled despite himself and debated whether to extract himself or just lay still like that until she woke up. Just as he finished that train of thoughts, she stirred and woke up. She opened her big eyes (he just realised how lovely those eyes were), then with a start she gasped and rose.

"What are you doing?!" she almost screamed. 

"What do you mean what am I doing?!" Man Mo asked back, though he knew what she meant.

"Why are you hugging me?! I thought we're done for good!" She rolled herself into a ball, but when she said those words, her eyes betrayed herself. She didn't actually mind him holding her. She was just surprised, but she didn't find it disgusting at all.

Yet, Szeto Man Mo took it that she was disgusted to be with him. He withdrew his arms and rose from the bed. "I didn't realise it, okay?! I was sleeping and I didn't know where my hands were!"

Chor Yin opened her mouth to retort but then counsel herself against it. The truth was, she actually didn't mind. But, the problem was...

"We're not married anymore..." She almost whispered.

"I know," Man Mo got out of the bed. "You don't need to remind me that. I'm leaving now."

He hastily walked towards the door without even washing his face. He stopped momentarily at the door, wishing Chor Yin would prevent him from leaving. But when he turned to see her, her face registered an unreadable expression. Wrong-footed, he muttered a goodbye and left the room. He wished Chor Yin's uncle or his bodyguards were outside to stop him, but he encountered no one. As he reached the gate and effortlessly left the mansion, he felt he had gained his freedom back but lost something in return.

-xxx-