***
Lonnie came back home with a sullen face, after he got a call from the hospital, he didn’t go to the hospital. A lot was going on in his head and he didn’t want to add to it.
With everything his mom has done to him, he was still anticipating if he should go to the hospital to see her or not. His head was also aching from too much crying and thinking.
“Son in-law ” Eloise called his name and he slowly raised his head to look at her. She was standing at his doorstep.
“Grandma” He muttered and Eloise smiled at him.
“Do you have some time to spare?” She asked with a smile and Lonnie looked at her.
***
“Here you go son in-law” Eloise gives him a cup of coffee she made. Both were in his apartment.
“Lani told me what happened… about the truth involving your best friend’s death. Are you alright?”
“I’m trying to lessen up the pains I feel inside. How’s Lani?”
“If you’re worried you should have picked her call. She threw a tantrum earlier cuz she was worried about you”
“I am sorry grandma, I just need some time to be alone”
“You don’t have to apologize. It’s a hard pill for you to digest, so I understand you, and as for Lani, she is already asleep. I was able to put her to bed”
“Thank you grandma” He sniffles.
Eloise smiled and asked. “Can I tell you something?”
Lonnie nodded.
“The only way for you to stop feeling these pains is if you let go of the past. Let bygone be bygone, son in-law. If you continue living in the past, you won’t be able to move on and the pains will still be there. I know it hurts, but letting go lessens the pains. No matter how much we cry, the dead will never come back to life, so that’s why we have to move on so our love ones who are dead, won’t feel bad. You have your voice in singing back, so it means you can go back to doing what makes you happy”
“Lani makes me happy”
Eloise chuckled. “I know she does, but I also know you missed your life on stage. So forget everything and pretend it never happened, okay”
“I will grandma. Thanks for your advice, I am going to put it to good use”
Eloise smiled and stood up to her feet. “Good night, son in-law”
“You too, grandma”
Eloise walked towards the door, she was about leaving, but stopped halfway.
“Before I forget”
Lonnie turned to look at her.
“You finally opened the garden of my granddaughter. You slept with her, right?”
Lonnie gulped down hard.
“Why? You think I won’t find out even if you both chose to keep a secret from me. She is my granddaughter and I brought her up. Her body changed after you both came back from Paris, I just pretended not to know”
“I am sorry, I couldn’t control myself”
“It’s okay, you’re a man after all. You both love each other so it’s bond to happen, but don’t get her pregnant until she through with high school”
Lonnie nod
“Also thank you for helping Lani with her trainings and schooling. She improved in terms of her grades” Eloise smiled at him before leaving.
After Eloise left, Lonnie felt like a huge burden have been lifted up from his shoulders. He smiled and texted Camren to meet up with him.
******
Camren arrived at the meeting point and he sees Lonnie waiting for him.
“Lonnie” He said, guilty.
“Why did you pretend you didn’t like Sage?”
“I don’t know, I guess I was just scared of being rejected because she was head over heels for you. I was so scared of getting rejected”
“But you weren’t scared of plotting my accident? What if I died at that spot when the accident happened?”
“I am sorry Lonnie, I wasn’t thinking straight, and to make up for what I did I am going to confess like Miles did”
“Don’t do it”
“Why?”
“Miles can no longer be a k-pop idol because of what he did, if he had come to me first, I won’t have allowed him to go live. Don’t tell anyone, let’s just pretend it never happened”
“Lonnie”
“I already got my voice back, so you’re just going to ruin your career if you come clean. Sage or anyone shouldn’t know that you plotted my accident. Let everyone keep believing my accident happened coincidentally. It’s a secret that we’d take to our grave” Lonnie said and Camren began to cry.
“I’m sorry”
Lonnie pats his shoulder with a smile.
******
Sage keeps walking back and forth in her VIP room with her fingers in her mouth. She is worried about Camren, she tried calling him, but it was not connecting.
A knock came on the door, and she rushed to open it. Sage let out a sigh of relief when she saw it was Camren.
“Camren” She hugged him.
Camren hugged her back, before breaking the hug.
“Where have you been? You got me worried, what ever you have done, we can talk it out. I don’t want you to go live and ruin your career like Miles did” Sage said.
*Sage or anyone shouldn’t know about what you did* Lonnie’s voice echoed in his ear.
Camren smiled and cupped her round cheeks. “I’m sorry for making you worry about me, but everything is settled.
“Are you sure?” She said holding his hands that was in her cheeks.
“Mm”
Sage smiled and hugged him again.
“I love you, Sage”
“I love you too”
They broke the hug and smiled at each other before connecting their lips together.
They broke the kiss later on, and hugged, with Sage resting her head, perfectly on Camren’s chest.
******
“Tada!” Opal said, showing her a picture of a handsome boy in her phone.
“Who is he?”
“My new crush” Opal kissed her phone.
“Crush? I thought you had a crush on Rory?” Palmer asked.
“Some crush don’t last forever, so I no longer have a crush on Rory. His name is Franklin, what do you think of him? He looks like Cha eun-woo, right?”
“Take your madness somewhere else. You said you wanted to be a medical doctor, shouldn’t you be thinking about how to pass the exam into Seoul national university, huh?”
Opal rolls her eyes and sighed. “Here she goes again. Bookworm, we have two weeks left before our final exams to graduate from high school. There’s still time”
“How did you become my friend?” Palmer asked, Opal said nothing and continued drooling over Franklin’s picture.
Palmer got a text from Sean and she smiled before standing up to her feet.
“Where are you going? We’re not done eating?” Opal said. They were in a restaurant.
“I just got a text from Sean, we’re going to the library to study”
“Since when did Sean become so serious with his studies? Did Lani’s rejection reverse his way of thinking?”
“See you around” Palmer leaves.
Opal tried eating, but she drops her cutleries “Why are they making it seem like I am the only one who is not serious” She frowns.
But nevertheless, she continues looking at her new crush’s picture.
******
•THREE DAYS BEFORE THE AUDITION, HOSPITAL•
Lonnie kept holding the knob of the hospital room door, finding it hard to enter. He came to see his sick mom in Seoul.
He took in a deep breath and entered and he almost started crying when he saw his mom.
She looked dried up, she has swollen lymph nodes in her armpits, back of her head, behind her ears and under her jaw.
“Mom”
Mary-Jane looked at her son and painful tears falls down from her eyes. “You came”
Lonnie quickly rushed to her and held her hand. “What happened to you? You weren’t like this when I last saw you. Why did you allow it to get to this point before calling me?” Lonnie asked, crying.
No matter how bad of a mom Mary-Jane has been, he still loves her. She will always be his mom no matter what.
“I was so guilty. How can I call a son who I treated unfairly? I guess this is karma for everything I have done to you” She said in a weak tone, tears was also producing itself from her eyes.
“I don’t resent you mom, you should have called. It hurts seeing you this way” He cries.
A doctor entered the room and Lonnie quickly walked up to him. “What is my mom’s condition?”
“She has lymphoma”
“Lymphoma?”
“Yes, and it has greatly affected her”
“Is there a way to save her. I don’t want to lose my mom”
“Through a bone marrow transplant, and since you’re related to her, you can be a donor to her. The faster it’s done, the faster she survives, but you have to transfer her to America for the surgery”
“You don’t have to do it, Lonnie”
Lonnie looked at his mom and then to the doctor.
“I will do it, I will be a donor for my mom” He said, sniffing and Mary-Jane cried.
******
•TWO DAYS BEFORE THE AUDITION•
“I packed the things I’d be needing to go to Seoul for the audition. You should also prepare too, you need to cheer your girlfriend” Lani said smiling.
“Sage will be going with you and your friends tomorrow. I already booked an hotel for you all. So all you have to do is get enough rest so that you won’t collapse on stage”
“Why aren’t you going with me?”
Lonnie smiled and caressed her hair. “I have something to do, but I promise I will be there during the audition”
“Are sure?”
“Yes. Don’t worry your handsome boyfriend will be there to lift up your spirits”
Lani smiled and hugged him. “Thank you for everything”
Lonnie blinked back his tears and hugged her. “I should be the one thanking you. Make sure you win okay”
“Of course I will” She smiled.
Lonnie held back his tears and hugged her tightly.
******
•AUSPICIOUS DAY OF THE AUDITION, SEOUL•
The whole building of Ever-hill entertainment was crowded with people who came for the audition. They were all wearing their group costumes and looking beautiful and handsome.
“What’s wrong with Rory?” Dami asked Posy.
“He has been shaking that way since we got here, I think he is nervous. Go and talk to him” Posy said with a smile.
Dami walked up to Rory and tapped him.
“Oh, Dami” He said, shaking.
“Are you nervous?”
“I will be a liar if I said I am not nervous”
Dami walked more closer to him and pecked his cheek, Rory’s eyes widened.
“We will become a couple once we pass this audition, so make sure you put in your best” Dami turns to leave.
“I will do all I can to pass!” He said in a loud voice and Dami smiled as she walked back to Posy.
Rory touched his cheek and a huge smile erupted in his face.
*We will become a couple once we pass the audition* Her voice echoed in his ears and he smiled like a fool.
His nervousness left him instantly and he began practicing his rap lines and dance.
***
Lani is seen at the entrance of the building waiting and at the same time calling Lonnie.
“Lani” Sage called her and she turned to look at her.
“What are you doing here?”
“Lonnie isn’t here yet, he promised to be here to cheer for me. I can’t do this without him” Lani said, sniffling. She was already crying.
Sage smiled and arranged her hair. “You’re going to ruin your makeup if you don’t stop crying”
“But Lonnie….”
“He is going to come, and even if he doesn’t, you have to do this on your own, so that you can rub it on his face that you pass the audition without him. Think of your friends too, they put in lots of efforts for this audition, do you want to be the reason why you all we fail”
Lani shakes her head.
“That’s my girl. Come with me your friends are waiting for you”
Lani looked at the entrance one last time before leaving with Sage.
***
Spotlight shown on Lani and her friends’ faces. They were on stage, ready to perform. Other groups have also performed too.
Lani looked at the crowd, but there wasn’t a sign of Lonnie, she looked at her friends and she could see the determination in their eyes.
*You can do this, Lani Han” She said to herself taking a deep breath.
The intro beating of their song began, and Dami was the first one to make an intro dance moves with her incredible energy and flexible body, and the crowd cheered for her.
Lani did the opening and closing part of the song, Posy sang the chorus while Rory and Dami took the rap lines.
Dami and Rory, especially Dami shined the brightest on stage, cuz they knew how to dance so well.
Lani was praised for her angelic voice while Posy was praised for being a backup singer.
They ended their performances, and the crowds kept cheering and clapping for them. The judges had smiles on their faces for a job well done.
During when they were being praised, Lani’s eyes kept looking for Lonnie in the mist of the crowd, but he wasn’t there.
After the performance ended the entire groups that came for the audition came up on stage to hear the final judgment.
“You all did great, you put in all your efforts and I really appreciate it, but sadly we only want one group. They are just going to train for a year before becoming popular K-pop idols” One of the judges said, and they became nervous on who will be chosen.
“Without wasting any time, I am going to call the group that fits the concept we want, and it’s no other group than No.308!!!”
The crowd screamed, while Lani and her friends opened their mouths in shock.
They won!
Posy was already crying, while Lani, Rory and Dami had happy smiles on their faces.
Their efforts didn’t go down the drain.
***
“Lonnie is so dead once I see him. He said he’d be here, but he didn’t even show his face!” Lani said as she came out from the building with Sage. Dami, Posy and Rory were still inside the building.
Camren walked up to them.
“Where is Lonnie?” Lani asked.
“He asked me to give you this” He said giving her an envelope.
Lani took a while before taking it from Camren. She opened the envelope and the first thing she saw was a music album and in it was written “MY LOVELY GIRL”
Lani’s eyes were already getting glassy as she brought out the letter inside the envelope.
✍️ I am sure before this letter gets to you, I will be on my way going to America, and you will probably be done with the audition. I’m sorry if I didn’t show up at the audition like I said I will. I didn’t want you to get distracted and that’s why I lied to you. My mom is terribly sick and she needs me, I am going to be a bone marrow donor for her, and her surgery is starting tomorrow. If I survive the bone marrow surgery, then I am going to come back to you in one piece. I am sorry it took so long for me to say this to you, I LOVE YOU. The music album is dedicated to you, I wrote it pouring out all my sincere love for you. I love you so much, my baby, I’m sorry I never for once said it to you, but I truly love you ✍️
Lani covered her mouth as balls of tears falls down from her eyes. It was now it occurred to her that they haven’t said the words I LOVE YOU to each other.
“Lonnie” Lani said, trying to leave, Camren knew she was trying to go to the airport, so he held her.
“Let go of me, he needs to know that I love him too. I want to tell him I love him too” Lani cries, trying to break free from Camren, but he held her tightly.
“Even if you go to the airport, you won’t be able to see Lonnie, cuz he is already on the plane with his mom, they are already heading to America” Camren said, and he slowly let go of her.
The moments she shared with Lonnie began coming back to her in a flash, including the first time they met, how she saw his d_1ck when she hid inside the wardrobe, their first kiss together, their first quarrel, their first s*x, the happy times they shared together as a couple, and most especially his bunny smiles that lights up her world, what if she never gets to see him again, if by chance he doesn’t survive after the donation of his bone marrow?
That part scares her. She knows she won’t be able to take it. How would she be able to forget him when when she did everything with him first.
“Lonnie!!!” She screams his name and she fell to the ground, crying.
……
TBC
