SING ME A SONG - CHAPTER 31&32
***
Lani and Posy rushed inside the ward, and met Rory with Dami. He was sitting beside her.
“Dami!” They called her name hugging her so tightly.
“I… can’t breath” She struggled to say, Lani and Posy quickly stopped hugging her.
“Are you alright? Should I call the doctor?”
“Does it hurt so much?” Lani asked touching Dani’s forehead that has bandage on it. Her eyes were already becoming glassy, she is about to cry.
“Hey Lani, I know that you’re a crybaby, but don’t cry, it’s not like I am about to die”
“Why won’t I cry, Dami? I almost got an heart attack when Rory called me and told me about what happened” Lani said, allowing her tears to flow. She is the softest one among them.
“Rory, I told you bringing me to the hospital wasn’t necessary, Lani is crying because of it”
“Her crying is not new to me, what matters is that you’re okay” Rory said.
Dami smiled at Rory before looking at Lani. “I’m perfectly fine, Lani. Rory was the one who was making a fuss about the whole drama that have happened earlier”
“How can you call it a drama, Dami? If Rory didn’t come on time, you would have been R@P£D. I’m not a crybaby like Lani, I’d have been crying by now. I was so scared” Posy said.
“I am sorry I made you two worry, but don’t worry girls,
Rory here taught him an unforgettable lesson” Dami said with a smile.
“He is acts crazy sometimes but we haven’t forgotten that he learnt taekwondo and judo” Posy said, giving Rory a thumbs up and he smiled at her.
“He didn’t only beat him up, he also commanded him to eat sweet’s poo”
Sweet is the name of Dami’s dog.
“You’re joking, right?” Lani asked, laughing.
“No, she is not. I wish sweet has pooed more, then I’d have ask him to eat more of it. He is a coward”
“Whoaa! Daebek!!!” Lani and Posy squealed.
“Our Rory is growing into a man!”
“Yes he is”
“Rory! Rory! Rory! Rory!” Lani and Posy praised him.
Rory kept smiling as they showered praised on him, and when he noticed Dami was looking at him, he winked at her.
Dami looked away from him with a smiling face.
******
•AN OPEN BAR•
“More chicken and soju!” Dami’s mom said to the waiter with a smiling face.
“Hey, did you hit the jackpot?” One of her friends asked and she smiled.
“Yes I did. After today, I’m relocating to Seoul, and I am going to live the life I have always dreamed of”
“Really?”
“Yes. I have the money to live in riches, so enjoy while you still can, cuz after today, I will no longer live as a countryside woman”
“Will you be leaving with Dami too?”
“Of course out!” She snapped.
“Why? She is your only daughter?”
“Does it look like I care about Dami? Thanks to that curse child, I had so many unfortunate marriages, no one wanted me all because of her. I don’t regret selling her off”
“You sold your own daughter?”
“Yes I did! Is there something wrong with that!” She said in a loud voice.
“Yes there is”
Dami’s mom turned behind her to see who gave answers to her question and she sighed when she saw it was Rory, Posy and Lani.
“Who are those kids?” One of her friends asked.
“Dami’s friends”
“Just looking at her, I regret begging on the streets just to pay for her hospital bills” Lani said angrily.
“We did it for Dami” Posy pats her.
“Hey, what do you kids want?” Dami’s mom asked.
“Should we get straight to the point?” Rory asked, while Lani and Posy nodded their heads.
The three friends walked up to Dami’s mom with a baton on their necks.
“What do you want?” She asked becoming scared. She is also aware of the tight bond the four friends shared.
They are always ready to fight for one another, regardless of the fact that one of them is at fault. They don’t joke with each other.
There was even a time the four of them spent a day in prison cuz they scattered a man’s store because he harassed Posy.
The man had to use his social influence to put them behind bars, but that didn’t stop them from defending one another.
Posy raised the baton to hit Dami’s mom on the head, she screamed and fall to the ground, but Posy stopped halfway.
“So you know how to be scared and yet you sold off your daughter to a man who is old enough to be her father? You’re lucky we Koreans are raised to respect our elder, if not I’d have landed this baton on your head for doing that to Dami” Posy said making an attempt to hit her the baton, but she didn’t.
“For the first time since I was born, I regret being a Korean, cuz Americans don’t care about who and who is older than them, just looking at you, I feel like slapping the madness out of you!” Lani said.
“What do you all want from me?” She asked, crying.
Rory smirked and squat beside her. “So a witch like you knows how to cry? If it was up to me, I won’t have cared about the traditions of Korea and beat you up the way you should be dealt with. You should be grateful to Dami, cuz I don’t want her to blame herself for what I did to you” Rory said.
“Please don’t hurt me, I’m only trying to survive”
“Survive? By selling off your daughter? Someone should hold me or I am going to land this baton on her!” Posy yelled, and Lani held her hand.
“Let Rory take care of her”
Rory held her hair, and Dami’s mom screamed in pain. Her friends and everyone in the open bar was just watching.
“Where is the money?”
“What money?”
“The money you got from selling Dami. Where is it?”
“What do you want to do with it?”
“If you answer my question with a question, I am going to use this baton on you. I might act crazy sometimes, but I don’t joke with my friends. Where is the money!!!” Rory yelled at her, his eyes were screaming anger.
“He only wrote me a cheque” Dami’s mom answered, shivering.
“A Cheque?” Rory muttered and looked at both Posy and Lani.
They got the mess and took her purse from her.
“The cheque is her purse” Lani said.
Rory stood up from the ground and said. “I am going to make sure Dami never gets to live with a witch like you. Witches are not only the ones with dark powers, witches are also people who will do anything for money, and that’s someone like you. Let’s get the heck out of here”
“Give me back my money!!!” She screamed.
“Did you say something?” Lani asked with a serious look on her face, and Dami’s mom went numb.
She glared at her, before leaving with Posy and Rory.
“My money!!!” She cried hitting her hands on the ground.
******
•SOME DAYS LATER•
“Aren’t we there yet?” Dami asked as Rory held her hand leading the way. She was blindfolded.
Rory smiled and said. “Just a little more”
“That’s what you have been saying for the past 30 minutes. Are you playing games with me? I’m not ready for squid game, okay”
Rory laughed. “No I am not. I promise you that you’re going to love it”
“Let’s see how it goes then”
When they arrived in the house, Rory opened the door and said. “We are here now”
He slowly took off the blindfold and Dami’s eyes widen when she saw the house in front of her.
“Surprise!!!!” Lani and Posy said.
Lonnie was also with them, he helped out in decorating the house.
“Guys, what’s all these?” She muffled with a surprise look on her face.
“Sorry we didn’t tell you sooner, but we took the money from your mom, and rented a house for you, so that you won’t live with that witch of a mom anymore” Lani said.
“And here is an ATM card, we paid in the remaining money into this account, you can always withdraw from it anytime you are short of money” Posy said.
Dami started crying.
“Why is she crying?” Lonnie asked.
“I know why. Our Dami is feeling so emotional” Rory said, placing his hand on her shoulder.
“Thank you so much. We all can share the money together” Dami said, sniffling.
“No Dami. It’s all yours. We won’t take a dime from it” Lani said.
Dami break into tears again.
“Oh our Dami is crying again” Posy said.
The four friends laughed and hugged each other.
“Thank you all so much”
“It’s nothing” Rory said, caressing her cheeks, she chuckled with tears falling down from her eyes.
All what Lonnie did was looked at them. He never got a chance to experience what true friendship is because, he sacrificed his teenage life training and being on stage.
He didn’t regret being a K-pop star, but he wish he was able to know the true meaning of friendship when he was still eighteen years old just like Lani and her friends.
Although he was always with Sage and Camren, but they spent most of their times practicing for their new albums, and signing autographs. They never got a chance to live like a normal youth, cuz they spent even the slightest bit of time making songs.
Should he be grateful he lost his voice? That he couldn’t tell.
“Lonnie!!” Lani tapped him and he woke up from his bed of thoughts.
“Huh?”
“Why were you lost for a while, we have been calling you to touch us for dinner, so we can celebrate Dami housewarming with her” Lani said.
“Sorry about that. I had a lot on my mind that’s why”
“Let’s eat. It’s taste so yummy. How do I know? I will answer that question, it was prepared by me”
“Here she goes again bragging that she can cook” Dami said, Rory looked at Posy and smiled.
“Well I wasn’t the one who told you and Lani not to know how to co….” Lani covered Posy’s mouth so that she won’t complete her statement. She don’t want Lonnie to find out that she can’t cook.
“You talk too much, Posy. Let’s eat” Lani said, Lonnie smiled at her.
***
“Are you alright? You don’t seem to be in a happy mood” Lani said to Lonnie. They were all eating in the dining room. The friends bought a good house for Dami.
“I am fine” He answered.
“Don’t lie to her, Lonnie. She knows you better than anyone else. She knows when you are happy and when you’re sad. Even when she is watching you on tv, she knows if you’re faking a smile or smiling sincerely” Dami said.
“That is true” Rory added, eating.
Lonnie sighed and dropped his cutleries. “I just…I envy you guys”
“Huh? Don’t say that Lonnie, do you know how hard it’s to live as a pauper? You have everything, the money, the fame…everything” Rory said.
“Not everything that glitters is gold, Rory”
“Meaning?” Posy asked, furrowing her eyebrows.
“You’re right, I have everything, the money and the fame, but I never got to experience what friendship is like. The four of you are lucky, you can spend time with each other freely, but I spent 10 years of my life training and practicing. My friends and I are always conscious of what we do, so that we don’t create a scandal for ourselves. The little time we have we either spent it practicing or preparing for our next show. We’re not always free like you all, our lives were like a movie cuz we always have to be on cameras, and smiling at it, even if we don’t want to. It’s not like I regret it, but I wish I got a chance to be like you guys”
“You told you, you can’t be like us?” Rory asked, and Lonnie looked at him.
“We are friends, and since you’re no longer a K-pop idol, you can create new memories with us. You don’t always have to be in front of cameras anymore. Even if you don’t want to reveal yourself just yet, we can always entertain you indoor” Posy said.
Lani nod her head with a smile.
“Since you’re six years older than us, we should call you Sunbae (senior)” Dami said, smiling
“Sunbae? Don’t call me that, it makes me look older”
“Of course you are older, Sunbae” Lani said, teasingly.
“Eish, don’t call me that”
“Sunbae! Sunbae! Sunbae!” The four friends sings with it, hitting their spoons on the table, and Lonnie laughed to their craziness.
*****
“Thanks for coming with us to welcome Dami to her new house” Lani said as she walked hand in hand with Lonnie.
“I’m glad I was part of it”
“Thanks, Sunbae”
Lonnie let go of her hand and stopped walking. “Don’t call me that”
Lani laughs and stumbled on a stone.
“Ouch!” She winced in pain.
“Are you alright?”
Lani shake her head like a baby. “It hurts so much, Lonnie. I don’t think I can walk with it”
Lonnie quickly squats and said. “Get on back, I will give you a piggyback”
Lani demonstrated a yes signal with her hand before hopping on his back with a smiling face, and in the process of doing so, her hand mistakenly removed the face mask he was wearing.
“I am sorry”
“It’s fine” Lonnie put on his face mask and began walking home with Lani in his back.
“Can I tell you a story?” She asked.
“Sure” He adjusts her properly on his back.
“There’s a K-pop star I know, his name is Lonnie lee. He is so handsome and caring… the end”
Lonnie laughed. “You’re so funny”
“I know that, Sunbae”
“Call me that again, I will drop you”
“Don’t” Lani said, holding him tightly.
“Don’t choke my neck, I wasn’t planning on doing so”
Both giggles.
Someone looked at them from the back and quickly put Mary-Jane on call.
“Any news about Lonnie?” She asked.
“I found him today”
“Really? Where?”
“In Hadong”
“Hadong? What in the god’s name is he doing in the countryside?”
“I don’t know, but he is currently with a girl?”
“A girl?”
“Yes. Thanks to that girl, I was able to see Lonnie’s face. I think they are in a relationship”
“I don’t care wh@??ver relationship he has with that stinking girl from the countryside. Kidnap him and bring him to Seoul. He doesn’t know how to fight, so if he proves stubbornness, beat him up a little and bring him to me” Mary-Jane said without blinking an eye.
……
TBC