The Semblance of Bliss

“YOU’RE LATE.”

Shun wiped off the sweat on his forehead. “I’m sorry.” He’s slightly panting as if he just had been into a long run. He then stood straight in front of his manager at the pizza parlor. “I encountered some minor accident on the way.”

Shun wanted to grimace. Minor. He was almost kidnapped. Kidnapped!

Shun barely even believed himself when thought of that. Earlier, he was just casually doing his job—his other job as a delivery guy—when he was tasked to deliver pancakes at a squatter area, then he found out that the customers were gangsters!

Gangsters! Kidnapped! Shun shivered. The worse is, the leader of those gangsters was a burly man called Joe! Joe! The man he’s been hugely indebted to!

Although Joe wasn’t present earlier, his men really don't take it easy for a cute guy like him. They demanded the money! If he hadn’t escaped earlier and hadn’t run like death was after him (or maybe it really is), he might have been beaten up now and then caged inside their lair. Then he would never be found for a long time and by the time his sister woke up and found him he'd already be a rotten corpse—argh, he doesn’t want to think about it.

Goodness. He was freaking tired. He was working with the deliveries for 7 hours, then those gangsters just showed up. After fleeing from those gangsters, Shun originally wanted to take a leave for the first time in 13 weeks of being a waiter in this pizza parlor. But remembering that the manager grew a little fond of him because of being a hardworking employee, he retracted this decision.

More importantly, he can’t waste a single day in his life without working. His sister’s bills were more huge than his debt at Joe after all.

Manager David smiled reassuringly, “No it’s okay. I’m just surprised because you’re rarely late.”

Shun made a sound of relief. Manager David told him to start working and Shun immediately heed the task. 

After five hours of shift at the pizza parlor, the sun gradually goes down. Shun was bidding goodbyes to his co-workers and to the manager with a bright smile. Once he stepped outside of the parlor, his smile plastered on his face immediately disappeared.

He spent almost all of his 13 hours working, his face showed exhaustion. His body was close to being numb but he managed to come to his apartment.

It was a three-story old building beside a wanton food stall. The owner of the stall glanced curiously at him and he just smiled awkwardly. He subconsciously touched his face.  It seems like he didn’t recognize me again.

He shrugged and entered the building.

He went to the bathroom. The bathroom was just as small as one-third of his whole apartment. It was illuminated by a dim-brightened small bulb in the ceiling. The walls are filled with white tiles, which some are even broken and darkened because of old age and lack of renovation.

In front of him are a sink and a large fragment of a mirror that was taped on the wall above it. The size of the mirror was enough for him to see his whole face. He stared at his reflection. He can see the unfamiliar, yet the familiar face of a young man in his early twenties. The skin was lightly tanned, the eyes were as dark as an abyss, and the hair was pink.

Suddenly, he pulls the hair to remove it.

He put down the wig and revealed his black hair underneath. He then washed his hands in the sink. Next, he slightly pulled his lower eyelid and slowly pinched the dark contact lens out. What is revealed underneath is a golden-brown eye, similar to that of a cat’s. He did the same to the other one.

He removed his clothes, revealing his body with mixed complexions. If one can see him right now, one might think that Shun had gone into a beach just recently. It was because aside from his whole arms, legs, face, and neck, all of the other parts of Shun’s body were fairly skinned.

He went to a small space in the bathroom on the left, where the old shower head was hanging. He opened it and the cold water immediately gushed out. As he rubbed his arms and legs, the floor was continuously filled with a brown liquid.

Once he finished bathing, Shun rubbed a clean towel in his face and faced himself again to the mirror. The young man with pink hair, tanned skin, and dark-eyed was now gone and it only reflect a fair-skinned, androgynous-looking, dark-haired handsome young man with a pair of golden-brown eyes.

It was his real appearance. 

“What a weird hobby,” some may say. But this ‘hobby’ of his is what he's been doing for almost five years now, to fill his stomach and continue living. Every few months, every month, every week, he’ll change appearance as he also changes his jobs. Because he doesn’t have a college degree and even a high school diploma, Shun was forced to do any racket jobs he can find. As long as there’s money he can get, he’ll take the job. Once he’s done with that racket job, he’ll change into a new identity again. 

It’s not a problem for Shun anyway. To have different appearances, different identities. He almost loved doing this. Although this changing into a different someone is hindering him to gain long-lasting friends or might even get his life in danger, he still doesn’t want to stop it.

He can’t.

Not until his sister woke up.

Shun just thought of his sister when suddenly, his phone rang. He fished out his phone and answered the call from an unknown number.

“Hello?”

“Is this Mr. Montejo?”

Shun tensed up. “Yes…”

SHUN STAGGERED on his feet while wogging through the hall. Several patients, nurses, and doctors were shooting him a curious glance, but he paid it no heed. Soon after he turned to the left, he finally saw the room his sister was in. He sprinted towards the room and opened the door.

What welcomed him was an unconscious woman lying on the bed. Several tubes and infusion pumps were attached to her wrists, and there’s a nasal cannula attached to her nose. A tall doctor in his 40’s was standing before her.

“Mr. Montejo?”

He nodded.

Shun rushed to his sister's side and stared at her beautiful, sleeping face. Pale skinned, black hair, and an innocent face of a young woman in his twenties is what he had seen. Shun held a worried expression while his hand caressed his sister’s cheek. Shaine…

He turned to the doctor. “Doc—”

“It is what I’ve said in the call. Your sister is in a dire situation. She badly needs to be operated on.”

“Then operate her!”

The doctor sighed. “I’m sorry, Mr. Montejo. We still can’t proceed to the surgery not until you pay for at least fifty percent of the whole payment.”

Shun cursed in his mind. He glanced at his Shaine again and didn’t respond.

The doctor then continued. “It’s almost the fifth year since your sister was confined to the hospital and was comatose. Her head is what is injured the most, and there’s a fifty percent chance your sister will have amnesia the moment she wakes up. That is–” If your sister will still wake up. The doctor wanted to continue, but when he looked at Shun’s anxious face, he doesn’t have the heart to. He sighed. “I recommend that your sister will have the surgery in the next two weeks. If not, the machines that keep her breathing will worsen her situation.”

The doctor excused himself after saying the amount he needed to pay. When he left, Shun sat on the sofa beside the window. He placed his elbows on top of his knees, held his head using both hands, and shut his eyes tightly.

“What to do?” Shun mumbled multiple times.

He doesn’t have that huge amount of money for his sister’s surgery. His savings from his work these past few weeks didn’t even hold one-eight of it. What should I do now? Shaine’s life will be in danger if she won’t have the surgery soon…