Love vs. Rich #8

Yaki happily takes out his cell phone and dials someone’s number.

"Hello," Carly’s voice came from the phone.

"Hey Carly great news, I got her."

"Got who?"

"Ka Lu."

"Who’s Ka Lu?"

"The girl that spill food on you."

"Oh, that one. Yeah, what about her?"

"I got her right into my trap."

"Really? That’s good! Hold on, don’t start yet, I want to see this for myself."

"Hurry up then."

"Don’t tell me to hurry up."

"Where are you then?"

"At the front entrance." Yaki turn to the direction of the door and Carly was there, looking around with her cell phone in hand.

"Where are you?" she asked still looking around. He crept up to her and stood behind her.

"Where do you think I am?" She looks at him and hang up the phone, smiling.

"Yaki!" she exclaimed, hugging him. "You were right beside me all this time?"

"Like an angel." She let go of him and kiss him on the cheek.

"Hey, hey, not in front of the crowd," he said, rubbing his cheek in embarrassment.

"Oh, come on. I am your fiance; I could do whatever I want."

"Yaki," a woman’s voice called him. He was about to say something but Carly cuts him off when she turns around to talk to her.

"Can’t you see we’re a little busy here old lady! Why don’t you go mind your own business?" The woman was thunderstruck. Yaki feeling very ashamed puts his head down and look the other way, hiding his face under his left hand. The woman looks at Carly with fiery rage while Carly looks at them both, feeling rather confuse.

"Who is this old lady, Yaki?" she asked him. Yaki lift his free right arm and points at the woman without turning to look.

"She - she’s my mother," he stuttered. She was shock, whishing that she hadn’t said that to her.

"I - I’m so sorry mother-in-law."

"Mother-in-law!?" Caroline said shock as well.

"Yaki," she said tilting a bit to look at him, "is this your fiance you’ve been talking about?" He nodded his head, telling her the answer. Caroline pause for a moment but finally speak up.

"Well, you’re pretty."

"Thank you."

"Since it’s my birthday, I will not make a big deal out of what you just said. Just don’t call me an old lady again."

"Alright mother-in-law."

"And don’t call me your mother-on-law. I may have sons but no daughter-in-laws yet." She left, forgetting about the whole thing that just happened. Yaki breathe out a sign of relieve and takes Carly’s hand.

"Where are we going?"

"You don’t want to see her before it begins?"

Ka Lu is in the dressing room, looking at acrobatics, dancers, and a magician performer. Tiro also looks around too, wondering where they should be. Ka Lu takes her bags of clothes and change in the restroom. She came out minutes later in traditional Thai clothing. Tiro gives her thumbs up, indicating that she looks good. Yaki and Carly came into the room and look around for Ka Lu but they didn’t recognize her in her Thai clothing. It was when Yaki spotted Tiro coming out of the restroom, dressing in a red suit.

"Tiro, so you know where Ka Lu is?"

"She’s just over there, can’t you see her?" He turns around and advances towards her as she looks at herself in the mirror.

"Tiro, are you done?" she asked as she felt his presence. She turns her head around and look onto Yaki’s eyes. He instantly stops, listening to his own heart beat when he looks into her eyes. Ka Lu looks at him nervously and stands up to straighten herself up. Carly comes up to them both and Ka Lu instantly recognizes her.

"You must be Carly," Ka Lu said.

"And you must be that dork that spilled food on me." She just simply ignores her and looks at Yaki.

"So, what song am I singing?"

"Oh," he said, putting on a mischievous expression, "I almost forgot about that."

"What do you mean?"

"Unfortunately," he said scratching his head, "I was about to have you sing this one song but I lost the lyrics."

"What? So what am I going to do then?"

"I don’t know? Sing Mary had a little lamb or something." She frowns at him and try to recall a song but nothing came to mind. He looks at his watch and said, "It’s almost time, good luck."

"Wait a minute," she said furiously, "is this your plan for payback?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, pretending not to know anything while Carly snicker behind him.

"I know that you’re trying to get payback for what I did to you."

"You mean that time when we’re at the police station? I almost forgot about that."

"Don’t you dare play dumb with me."

"Fine, I’ll tell you the truth. Yes, this is my payback plan for what you did to me a couple of days ago." Ka Lu was furious but she could see Tiro’s hand trembling with anger so she holds his hand to lessen his temper.

"So, it’s your guys turn to get payback huh," she said calmly as Yaki and Carly both nodded their head.

"Well, I’ll tell you guys one thing, don’t be sure that you guys will enjoy this."

"Oh, we will enjoy this," Carly said in her mocking voice, "what else can you do? No songs, no lyrics, you can do nothing. If you leave now, you wouldn’t be embarrass but I think Mr. Frank wouldn’t be satisfied either." She gives out a maniacal laugh and leaves. Yaki smiles and waves a good bye at them before he exit the room. Ka Lu tired to hatch up a plan while Tiro stood there mad with rage.

"Come on Ka Lu, lets go," he finally said taking her hand but she didn’t move.

"Come on Ka Lu; let’s just get out of this place."

"No."

"No? Why?"

"If I do, I’ll lose to them."

"So what, lets just go, who cares about this."

"What about your father?"

"Don’t worry; I’ll explain everything to him."

"But no, I won’t lose to them." Then a light flashes across her eyes.

"Tiro, did you remember to bring that one song?"

"Oh yeah I did. It’s in your bag somewhere."

"Alright, let’s practice before we go out."

On the stage, dancers danced smoothly on the stage. A table was right in front of the stage where Caroline, George, and Tyno were sitting and drinking their drinks. Everything was fine until Caroline saw Yaki with Carly who is hugging onto his arm.

"Look at her," Caroline whispered into George’s ear, "she holding onto him like some kind of leech."

"Keep your temper down," George whisper back, "we don’t want to cause any commotion."

"I know but it’s so irritating. Did you know what she called me earlier?"

"Not like I know."

"She called me an old lady. An old lady. Can’t you believe it? She called me an old lady. I mean, so I look that old to you?"

"No honey, you’re as beautiful and young as ever." Just then, Yaki and Carly arrived at the table and takes their seat. Tyno looks up and becomes curious of why Yaki and Carly are laughing.

"What are you guys laughing about?"

"Oh, nothing," he answered cheerfully. The people applaud as the dancers take their left the stage and the curtain closes. The announcer comes out with the microphone in her hand.

"Whoa, that was beautiful. Dancers these days really know how to dance but now lets move on to our next act. Next up is a singer who just got a job at a pub two days ago. Mr. Frank, the pub manager and also the CD manger of this company, said that her voice grabs a lot of people’s attention. Now let us experience this for ourselves right here where she’ll sing to us today." The curtain opens and the crowds applaud as Ka Lu stand in the middle of the stage. She became nervous as she made eye contact with the audience. She looks towards Tiro who is handing out the music sheets to the band. She looks back at the audience and speaks into the microphone.

"Um - hello ladies and gentlemen, before I sing this song, I would like to say a few things. First, I would like to dedicate this song two people," and she secretly flashes an angry look at Yaki and return to her speech, "and thank them for giving me this opportunity. Second, I do hope that this song doesn’t offend or disappoint anybody in this room," and she give an obnoxious look at him and turns back to the audience.

"Thank you." The audiences applaud her as Yaki’s eyebrows wrinkles into a frown.

"Don’t worry, we got her where we wanted," Carly whispered to him, shaking his arm to get his attention.

"I mean, she can’t just make a song within six min -" but she spoke too soon and disappointment came across her face when she hear an upbeat music starts. Ka Lu danced on the stage a bit and raises the microphone and sings about how a girl doesn’t like a snobby guy. Her voice was very enchanting that the people in the audience started to dance to the beat, the wives dancing with their husbands and the singles dances with a partner. Yaki and Carly were surprise but was shock when Caroline starts to dance herself, taking George by his hand and said, "Some handsome, dance with me." Now they both know that their plan failed and felt humiliated. Tyno looks upon his disappointed face and said, "What is it Yaki? Don’t you like the song?" but he didn’t answer nor notice him because his head keeps on telling him that he lost to that girl the second time. Ka Lu finish singing her song and the crowds cheered.

"Was that great everybody!?"

"Yes!" the audience exclaimed.

"Thank you all for listening and dancing with me. I hope you guys have a wonderful afternoon." The audiences applaud once again as Ka Lu left the stage to change. Tyno still looks at Yaki whose face is struck mix with humiliation and anger.

"What’s wrong with you?" For the first time Yaki detected that Tyno is suspicious.

"Oh, it’s nothing."

"It’s Ka Lu is it?"

"No it isn’t."

"Don’t lie to me; I suspected something was going on when you came back from the dressing room. You were very happy and joyful but now look at you; you look mad and shock at the same time." Yaki looks the other way, hiding his face from him.

"Are you still trying to get payback? Because if you did, it backfired." He didn’t say anything but he just stood up and walks away.

The dressing room door open and Ka Lu and Tiro come out. She then burst into laughter and turns to Tiro to talk to him.

"Did you see that?" she said choking with laughter, "he – he looked like he had been struck by lightning."

"Yes, I did. It seems like we caught him by surprise."

"Yes we did. I’m just lucky I told you to get that song for me." She bumps into someone while she was backing up towards the entrance. She turns around to see Yaki’s disappointed face.

"You shouldn’t be talking behind people’s back."

"And you shouldn’t be seeking revenge either." Tiro looks at them closely and swears he see sparks coming out of their eyes. Yaki slowly takes out an envelope and hands it over to her but she just stared at it with questioning eyes.

"What’s this suppose to be?"

"This is the rest of the money I pay for your services."

"Oh, thank you." She snatches the envelope from his hand and put it in her purse.

"Hey there," a female voice called from behind Yaki. He looks behind him and see Caroline walking towards Ka Lu.

"Thank you for singing at my party, that was beautiful. If we are going to have another party then I’ll make sure to call you first."

"Thank you."

"Ha ha, no need to thank me. What’s your name young lady?"

"I’m Ka Lu." Caroline twitch when she heard the name and look over her shoulder to talk to Yaki.

"Is this the poor girl you picked up?" Yaki nervously nodded his head. She turns herself around and pinches his arm.

"Ow, mother, not in front of them."

"You hire this girl to sing at my birthday party? What are you thinking?"

"I’m sorry." She majestically walks over to Ka Lu’s side and whisper to her.

"Don’t take those compliments to heart. I only say those words to make me look good in the audience."

"Right," Ka Lu said smiling. She leaves them while Ka Lu silently giggles.

"What are you laughing at?" Yaki asked irritatingly.

"On nothing," she said still gigging. Yaki looks around and left them at the entrance. She instantly stopped giggling and heads for the entrance.

"Hey, Ka Lu wait!"

"Now what." She stops to look around and see Tyno running towards them.

"Hey Tyno! How are you doing?"

"Fine but you sing great out there."

"Thanks."

"Oh and hi Tiro."

"Hi."

"Anyway, I want to offer something for you, Ka Lu."

"To me?"

"Yes, after hearing you sing, I wanted hire you as our new singer in our corporation." Ka Lu is very surprise that she couldn’t utter a word. Tyno takes out a card from his pocket and gives it to her.

"Just return here whenever you’re confident and show this card to the lady on the circulation desk, she’ll know what you’re here for."

"Um…thank you."

"Don’t mention it." Tyno left them as Ka Lu continues to stare at the card.

"Are you going for it?" Tiro asked her.

"I’m not sure because if I do, I’ll have to see that guy every single day."

"Just don’t mind him. I mean, a guy like him can’t ruin your life right."

"Hmm…you’re right but I still need to think some more."

"Suit yourself." She puts the card in her bag and they both finally left.

Somewhere inside a mall, Felis, Sarah, and Alex are looking through some clothes. Sarah gives some clothes for Felis to try it on but she brushes it away.

"Put it back Sarah."

"What’s the point of shopping if you’re not going to buy anything?"

"I’m just tired of staying in the house too long."

"So spending time here is your plan of getting out of the house."

"Anything to get some fresh air." She walk into an isle of dresses and was stop by Alex whose hand is behind his back.

"What do you want?" He takes out a pearl necklace from behind him and puts it around her neck. She was astonished but wasn’t happy either as she takes off the necklace and gives it back to him.

"I don’t want it."

"Why?"

"I just don’t want you to spend money on things like this."

"I don’t care. I bought it for you alright. Keep it." He hands her the necklace back and walks in some other direction. She puts it inside her bag and continues to browse through the dresses. She stares out the window and her eyes widen. She can’t believe her eyes but she could only utter the name, "Fong."