[NEXT DAY] 11 A.M. in the morning
The Lai sisters are now in Nnadia's private Suite # 8888. This is the only place they were able to talk and disclose their relationship as sisters. For the last 15 years of their life, they've been forced to lead separate lives as if they didn't know or cared for each other.
"Are you okay?" Ada asked walking into the room to greet Kristy.
"I'm fine." Kristy said without much expression.
"I couldn't show any concern for you because Louis was there but I was scared out of my mind! I heard Anthony say you almost got raped!"
"Its nothing really, Louis helped me and now I'm fine."
"Where was that stupid bouncer that was supposed to protect you! I should have him killed for leaving you alone!"
"Calm down, I gave him the night off. I didn't expect something like that to happen."
"He should have made sure you were home and safe before he left!" Ada said picking up the phone.
Nnadia took the phone away from her. "You don't need to call someone to kill him off." she said putting the phone down. "Kristy gave him the night off, they both didn't expect something like that to happen."
"Yeah." Joey added. "It would seem unfair of us to just kill him like that. Father wouldn't approve."
Ada chuckled, "Why would he care. He kills people everyday and for no reason at all." She looks at her sisters. "Why have all of you suddenly gotten soft hearts? What's going on?" she asked circling them.
"Nothing." Nnadia responds looking out the window. Joey shakes her head.
Kristy catches Ada's look and turns away. Ada rushes over to Kristy. "Don't tell me you like Louis."
Kristy doesn't respond. Ada shakes her, "You can't possible like him. If you do father will kill you! Don't you understand, you can't like him!" she said then slowly shook her head. "Don't forget his last name is Wong."
Kristy shoves Ada's grasp off her. "I don't like him. I'm just wondering if anything we're doing is right."
"Why are you suddenly wondering that?" Ada asked walking over to Nadia. "Ask Nadia how many men she has destroyed with her good girl image." Nadia looked up at Ada without the ability to respond.
She then walked over to Joey. "Ask Joey how many men she had to sleep with since she was 12!" Ada said. Joey looked to the floor with a pout on her lips. She also couldn't say anything.
Ada walked back to Kristy. "How many men have had their dirty hands on you!" she shouted. "Do you think we've done anything right?" she asked sitting on a chair with tears welded in her eyes. "Everything we've done has been to survive, not to do morally right things!"
Kristy kneels down to the chair next to Ada, "I'm sorry for asking such silly questions. I should have never asked such a silly question." she said apologetically.
Joey is in tears and she runs over to Kristy and Ada. Nnadia walks over and hugs her sisters. "Is this kind of life really worth surviving for?" she asked.
"No." Ada responded bluntly. "But what can we do? We can never escape no matter what we do. We're all doomed."
Nnadia shook her head. "I refuse to accept this is our doom. We will rise above everything. We will return home. That I promise you." she said harshly.
The four sisters nodded and hugged each other in a solitude moment thinking about their lives. Everything flashed before them and they realized they had no where to go. If they dared leave, their father might destroy them all, but Nnadia held onto hope for their future.
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LATER in theafternoon... Annie is walking around the mall and notices Marco holding some shopping bags. She walks over to him and peeks in. "What are you buying?" she asked.
Marco becomes startled. "I didn't know you were here." He says.
"What kind of police officer are you? If I was a crook you'd be dead!"
Marco smiled scratching his head. "I'm not on duty so I wasn't keeping my eye out for any criminals."
Frankie comes out of one of the stores and notices Annie standing next to Marco. She must be snooping around again he thinks and walks up to her with an attitude. "What are you doing here again?" he asked.
"Cold one minute, warm the next. Not a very nice way to treat a lady." Annie smirked.
"You?re not a lady." Frankie says and looks at Marco. "Let's go I need to get one more thing and we need to get back to the station."
Marco looks back at Annie, "Bye." He says as they walk away.
Annie stands there with her lips in a pout as she thinks of a way to mess with Frankie. She doesn't like being defied and he was just too mean to her. She follows them into Macy's and gets an idea.
Frankie picks up a shirt to try on. He walks into the dressing room. Annie watches and follows him in. When he least expect it, Annie shoved the door in and wrapped her arms around him. Her tank top was not on correctly and her skirt was pulled up above her thighs.
"Help!" she screamed.
Marco who was entering the stall came running in hearing someone scream for help. He was astonished at what he saw. "What's going on?" he asked in an angry voice.
"He...he...": Annie said pointing at Frankie as if he almost violated her. She pouted and looked pitiful and cried on Marco shoulders.
Marco tried to calm her down and looked angrily at Frankie. Frankie put his shirt back on and said, "Do you believe her or me man, we've known each other for how long?"
Marco didn't say anything. He just looked furious. "Do you think she's even my type!" Frankie asked him. "She's just a rascal!"
Without notice Marco lifted Annie off him and punched Frankie. "Don't ever call her that again!" he shouted. The two men fought in the changing stall and an attendant came in to stop the fight.
"Please break this up!" the male attendant yelled. He looked at Annie. "No girls in this changing room. Please leave!" He turned his attention back to Marco and Frankie. "Break this up!"
They let go of each other. Frankie gave Annie an evil look as he walked by her. Marco looked at Annie. "Are you okay?" he asked.
Annie nodded her head. "Walk me out, I'm afraid he'll come back after me." Annie said with a pitiful expression. She was gleaming from happiness. She loved getting people all worked up. Especially against people she didn't like and right now, she didn't like Frankie.
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Joey sat on the bed thinking of her life. She pulled the bed sheet over her body and pulled out a cigarette from the drawer. Stephen came out of the bathroom. He sat next to her and kissed her on the neck slowly and gently then proceeded down to her chest. Joey stopped him and handed him another 3x5 envelope. "Here." She said.
Stephen put the envelope down without looking at it and continued to kiss Joey pulling the bed sheet off her. She stopped him. "If you don't look at that I might not be here tomorrow." She said sarcastically.
Stephen reluctantly opened the envelope. It was his next assignment. He was shocked when he read it. He couldn't do it. This was not something he ever expected.
Joey saw his expression and looked at the note inside the envelope. She gasped. "Why would he want you to do that?" she asked. "This is ridiculous. I need to verify with him." She said picking up the phone.
"Don't." Stephen said. "If you question him he might kill you."
Joey looked at Stephen, "What are you going to do?" she asked.
"Exactly what the note tells me to." He replied.
"Are you that heartless?" Joey asks leaning on his chest.
"I rather the whole world die than anything happen to you." He responded.
"You promised to take me away from this life, but I'm still here. Why can't we leave." She asked holding him tightly.
"He'll kill us both. What's the point of running off if we can't be together?" he asked her.
Joey didn't respond. She didn't know what kind of life that would be. All she knew was that she couldn't stand living like this anymore. Just thr thought scared her, making her feel unsafe and crazy.
"Please make me feel good." she said pulling him closer. She kissed him passionatley on the lips pulling his clothes off. He laid her down and they passionate made love through the night.
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[KABUKI LOUNGE] Later that later night....
"The fucking idiot ignored me the whole day because of the fucking rascal." Frankie said taking a drink of his beer.
"Get over it." Ekin advised. "He'll realize she's just another bitch."
Jordan cleared his throat, "Give yourself that advice." he said mockingly. Ekin glared at Jordan. Jordan chuckled, "You still haven't gotten over that Chan chick have you?" he asked.
Frankie looked at Ekin, "That reminds me, I checked her out for you. She's clean."
"When did you get her checked?" Jordan asked surprised that Ekin had Nnadia checked.
Ekin smiled, "I'm more rational than that. I won't just trust her or anyone so easily."
Jordan was proud of Ekin again. "That's why I call you Dia Lo!"
Frankie laughed and said, "I don't know why you guys get all hyped up on these chicks. If I didn't check up on that Annie I would have thought she was a hooker. Dam bitches."
"So what's your little cunt's history?" Jordan asked.
"Some rich man's daughter. She keeps calling herself Annie Man but her father's name is Simon Yam." Frankie said. "The triad leader in your gangs."
Ekin and Jordan looked at each other. They remembered Simon saying he had no wife or daughter at one of their meetings.
"Oh that reminds me." Frankie said pulling out a folded paper from his pocket. "That Steven Ma you had me check out. He works for Simon Yam too!" he said handing it to Ekin.
Ekin unfolded the two page report. Steven Ma was Simon's accountant, an ironic job for a man who never had money. Steven had many problems. He gambled, drank, and was a big time womanizer. He usually dated wealthy girls and stole all their money. He had four jail arrests and was once suspected of rape but never convicted because there wasn't enough evidence.
Ekin suddenly thought of Nnadia and the trap she was falling into. He immediately got up and rushed to the Rio hotel because Fortune's was located in there. He knew Nnadia would be working hard on rebuilding her restaurant.
When he got there the place was dark and there were no workers. The casino was bustling with people but as for Nnadia's restaurant it was empty. Usually Nnadia was hard at work with construction workers on rebuilding, so Ekin sensed something wrong. He walked closer and heard sniffling sound. He walked in following the sounds to see Nnadia on the floor.
Ekin looked carefully and noticed a pool of blood around her right risk. He immediately ran to her. "What happened? Are you okay?" he asked with alarm. She didn't respond. He quickly picked her up and rushed her to the hospital. She was quickly cared for and admitted into her own private room. Ekin sat there worried for her. Soon he fell asleep beside her.
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Joey walked into the hospital room looking at the two people she called grandpa and Grandma. She didn't really know them but she took the identity of their granddaughter becasue her real chinese name sounded like their grandauther's name. She sat next to the man's bedside. He opened his eyes to see her.
"Cho yee, is it you?" he asked.
Joey nodded. "Yes grandpa. I'm here to visit you. I brought you some porridge and noodles. You can eat any one of them." she said/.
The woman in the other bed coughed. Joey ran to check on her. "Cho yee, you shouldn't stress over us old people. You should live a happier life." the old lasy said.
Joey chuckled to herself. She really didn't know what a happy life meant.
The woman continued, "That young gentleman that visits us, is he your boyfriend? He's very nice. He came in here to talk to us this morning. He listened to our stories about China and he even told us about his grandparents."
"Yes." The old man started coughing as he spoke. Joey quickly poured the two of them water. The old man continued. "He was a very nice person. The nurses said he helped pay for some of the hospital fees. You've picked out a fine gentleman for a boyfriend."
Joey forced a smile at their comment. She didn't know why but what they said affected her. She thought about it and wondered if he was a gentleman or not. She had heard before she started her mission that he only used girls for one night stands. Now he seemed like a completely different person. Could she go through with her mission. But did that matter? No, it shouldn't.
"I'll get you something to drink." Joey said leaving the room. Right when she turned she bumped into Nic who was coming in.
"Sorry." Nic said. "Did I scare you?" he asked.
Joey backed away. "No, I just didn't expect you to come tonight. Weren't you her this morning already?" she asked.
"Yeah, but I decided to come visit again." Nic said with a smiled.
The old man and old woman saw him and greeted him. "Come in young man." The old man said. "Please have a seat." The old woman said.
Joey invited Nic in and went to get some juice for them. When she came back she noticed them talking and laughing. She leaned on the doorway. Is this true happiness?
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Nadia woke up and looked around her. It was 2:51 AM She was still alive and in a hospital. Somehow she didn't have the detrmination to live on but she needed to continue living for her sisters, for herself, for the happiness she wanted with a man she loved. She looked beside her and noticed Ekin laying there. She moved which caused Ekin to wake up. "Sorry, did I wake you?" she asked.
"No I wasn't really sleeping." He replied.
Nadia chuckled, "Then what do you call really sleep?" she joked.
Ekin smiled, "Glad to see you're in a joking mood."
Nadia frowned. "I don't know what mood I'm in."
"What happened?"
"You were right about Steven. He took all my money and ran off."
"You shouldn't be so depressed over a rat like that."
"It's not just Steven, it's everything. We planned a life together, a marriage, a family. He helped me be stronger. I was able to continue my broken life with his support. He told me to be strong, so I was strong. He told me to be brave, so I was brave. He gave me hope, but now he took it all away." She said burying her hands in her face crying.
"You still have people that care about you. You don't need Steven." Ekin said trying to reassure her.
"No." Nadia said shaking her head. "I don't have anyone. I don't have any family members. I only have this restaurant my father left me. I don't have anyway of building it up. I still owe you so much money, I don'?t know how to repay you. I... I... I'm hopeless. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, you didn't do anything, why should you be sorry. You still have me, I'll help you rebuilt your restaurant, I'll be there for you. You don't have to pay me back. I want to do all this for you."
"No.No , I can't I can't accept anything else from you. You've done too much." She said. "I'd have to marry you or something to pay you back for all that you've done for me." she sid jokingly.
Ekin looked at her with a surprised expression. Nnadia shook her head. "I was only blabbling silly things. Don't pay attention to me. I was just..." she was saying when he cut her off.
" Then marry me! Marry me and you'll be my wife, you won't owe me anything and I promise to make you the happiest woman alive. Please marry me."
Nnadia looked disbelievingly at him. She couldn't believe he had asked her to marry him. She didn't know what to say, but she nodded and said, "Yes." This was not part of her father's original plan. It was something she wanted to test to help her keep her promise to her sisters. She just couldn't believe how easy it was.
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Copyright © Nov. 2, 2003
IiI Sorrow IiI
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