Love vs. Rich #9

Felis saw Mai guiding Fong through a vast crowd. She dashes out of the store and climb down the stairs and out the exit. His hat was sailing through the crowds and she follows it but before she knows it, she lost them in the sea of crowds. She cries sadly, seeing them for the first time after many years.

BAM! Yaki’s palm hit Tyno’s desk as he look angrily at him.

"What were you thinking?!"

"Calm down Yaki."

"But I don’t want her to work here!"

"Come on Yaki, think about it. She’s the only one who can replace Fenix."

"I don’t care! There are a lot of girls like her out there! Why not them?!"

"You’re right! There are probably millions of girls like her or even better than her but I choose her because you know why? Because I’m giving her an opportunity that might change her life forever!" Everything was silence for a while. Yaki try to form a sentence to counter his argument but the more he thinks about it, the sorrier he felts. He sits down on his chair, scratching his head.

"But, I’ll see her more often and you know how much I hate her."

"Then mind your own business. If you don’t bother her, then surely she wouldn’t bother you. You and her are working separate jobs."

"I guess you’re right." He begins to get up and walks over to the door to leave.

"Yaki." He pauses when he hears his name. "You’re not mad are you?"

"No I’m not."

"I don’t want any funny stuff coming from you when she works here. Do you understand?"

"Alright."

"Because if she even complains once about you, then I’ll have to punish you."

"Fine, fine. Do whatever you wish." He opens the door and left the room.

That night, Ka Lu looks at the card that Tyno gave her. She hears the door squeak and looks up to see sister Xiong.

"Why are you not at work?" she asked as she closes the door behind her.

"Mr. Frank gives me a night off since I sing at that party."

"That’s good." She spotted the card Ka Lu is holding and quickly went around her and look over her shoulder.

"What’s this about?"

"A friend offers me a job at a corporation."

"What kind of job?"

"Singing."

"Oh, he’s offering you a career to be a famous singer."

"Yeah, something like that."

"You should go for it; this opportunity never passes a person twice."

"You’re right but we’re only here temporally until we find our mother and anyways, I think I’m not ready to become a famous singer."

"Come on, all you need is confidence. I think your father and Mai will say the same."

"Yeah but this is a big step for me. I mean, I just barely got a job singing at the pub a couple of days ago and right now, I’m going to be a famous singer."

"Just listen to me Ka Lu; no matter what comes your way, you’ll be able to bypass the obstacle. This should be a piece of cake."

"Right but I still need some more thinking."

"Suit yourself." They both look at the front door as they hear keys jiggling. Pa Opens the door and enters the room, closing the door behind her.

"You’re done already?"

"Yup, what are you guys doing?"

"We’re talking about her career."

"I thought so." She looks at Ka Lu and asked, "Are you going for it?"

"I haven’t decided yet."

"Same answer as usual then. Well, I’m off to bed. Singing like this makes me tired." Ka Lu stared at the card which reminded her of something and she turns to Pa.

"Hey Pa."

"Yes."

"You said that Tiro used to work at the Sweet Voice Corporation, right?"

"Yes he did."

"Why did he quit?"

"I don’t know. He never tells it to anyone, not even his own father. I guess it’s a real mystery." She went up to the bedroom, followed by sister Xiong, leaving Ka Lu alone with the card.

A Pickup truck is parked by the driver in front of a house. The door opens, revealing Tiro as the driver and he walk up to the front door, checking for the right key in his key chain. He unlocks the door and enters the room. As soon as he closes the door, he sees his father looking up from his paperwork.

"Have you closed all the doors in the pub?"

"Sure did. From the back to the front."

"And the windows?"

"Come on dad, the windows are always closed."

"You can never be too careful." He walks into the kitchen, takes two glass cups from the cupboard, fills them with water and went back to the living room. He offer one cup to his father but he decline and he puts it on the table beside him before going upstairs to his room. He takes out a book and begins to read until he hears footsteps from the door. He looks up once to see his father and looks back down on the book again to read.

"What’s wrong with you, Tiro?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the book.

"You seem very joyful these days."

"Oh, I don’t know."

"You have to know. I never see you so active."

"Maybe it’s just because I’m in a good mood."

"I have seen you in a good mood and it’s not like this."

"How come you’re making a fuss over it?"

"No, no, it’s not that. It’s just that – well, I’m happy to see you happy and I want this to always happen." Tiro stops reading his book as his father’s words echoes through his ears.

"I wonder if it’s that girl?"

"What girl?" he asked, taking his eyes off the book.

"You know, Ka Lu."

"Why would you say that?"

"She’s beautiful and nice. Now that I think of it, your personality changed ever since I hired her here." His heart beats faster.

"Tell me son. Do you like her?"

"No dad, we’re only friends."

"Son, you know that lying is a sin right?" He hesitated as he searches in his heart if it’s true or not. Do I like her, he wonders to himself.

"I think I do," he finally answer, "but I don’t know if I am able to love her."

In an apartment somewhere, Malory crumbles a piece of paper and throws it across the room and hit a wall next to a chestnut hair girl.

"Why? Why her? I mean, why not me? I sang better than her and I’m more prettier than her, why not me? Are you sure you heard it right, Maria?"

"I was there myself, Malory. I was behind Tiro the whole time while he babble something about her getting an offer to be a star."

"This is not good. I sang at the pub for a long time and I wasn’t even offered that career. What am I going to do?"

"Well, you can’t sit around and let her take all the glory. Think about it, she’s going to sing in concerts. Her C. D. s will come out shortly, and also, pictures and posters of her will be everywhere. She might even make her own music videos or worse of all; she might become a movie star. On top of that, Tiro might like her for her riches."

"No, Tiro is not that kind of person but she’s going to sing where Yaki is at and she’s not certainly going to get him as a boyfriend."

"Why not just bust up in there and try to beat her to it."

"You’re right. Maybe I will do that, but how?"

Three days later, Ka Lu is standing in front of the Sweet Voice Corporation with Tiro beside her.

"You think it through already?"

"Yes, I have." They both went inside and went directly to the woman on the circulation desk.

"Hello there, how can I help you?" Without saying a word, She slides the card to her and the woman picks up the card to take a closer look.

"Oh, you’re here to see Mr. Tyno. He’s on the fifth floor. If you just take the elevator, his office should just be there if you take the left corridor and then take the right."

"O.k. thanks." They followed the woman’s instruction and in no time, they got into his office where they meet his secretary.

"Hello there, are you here to meet Tyno?"

"Yes."

"Wait here and I’ll see if he’s available." The secretary gets up and opens Tyno’s door. A friendly conversation started as she tells him about them. She looks over to Ka Lu and Tiro.

"You may come in now." They both enter the office as Tyno is still talking on the phone.

"…Uh huh, thank you. Bye." Tyno hangs up the phone and smiles as they take a seat opposite of him while the secretary stand politely behind them.

"May you excuse us?"

"Certainly," and she left, closing that door behind her.

"So, are you here to tell me the good news or the bad news?"

"The good news."

"Oh, so you decided to join in, am I correct?"

"Yes."

"Perfect! All I need is to record your voice so we can talk it out with the others."

"Um, o.k." Tyno dials a number and waits.

"Hello David. - Yeah, it’s me, Tyno. - Can you meet at the recording studio? - Yeah, she came. - Alright, I’ll meet you there, thank you." He hangs up the phone and tells them to follow him.

Meanwhile, Malory is standing in front of the corporation, her eyes darting from left to right.

"Where is he?" she wonders to herself. Her spirit lifted once she sees George talks to the girl on the circulation desk.

"O.k., show time." She quickly walks up towards him, looking the other way, pretending not to see him. At the same time, George turns to walk away but they both bumps into each other.

"Oh, I’m so sorry," Malory said picking up her things.

"No, no, I wasn’t the one that was looking." George helped picks up her things, which makes Malory smiles.

"Thank you."

"Not a problem, Miss. Do you need any help of some sort?"

"Oh yes. I’m looking for a job here."

"What kind of job?"

"Well, I want to be a singer. I even recorded a cassette tape here." She hands him the cassette tape and he looks awkwardly at it.

"Let’s go talk over there."

"Sure, anything to get this job." They both enter a quiet room and he shuts the door behind him.

"So, why do you think you deserve this career?" She sigh as she’s about to tell her story.

"Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a singer whose name is well known all over the world but my parents died in an accident leaving me behind. My grandmother took me in but force me to do hard labor everyday. When I’m seventeen, I left home to seek a job but it turns out worse and I was kicked out of three jobs just because they didn’t like me." She begins to cry and hugs him around the waist. With one eye, she would constantly peek at him to see if he’s buying her story.

"I’ll see what I can do," he finally answered.

"Oh, thank you!" and she continues to cry harder.

Ka Lu and Tiro came out of the recording studio and wait by the door.

"Ka Lu, you’re very great out there."

"You sure?"

"Of course I’m sure. Oh look, here he comes." Tyno came out of the recording studio with a dark skinned man whose nametag reads "David."

"How did I do?" she asked with hopeful eyes.

"You did great. All I need to do is to show it to the others."

"Great."

"Why don’t you guys go on ahead to my office? I still need to talk to David about something."

"Alright, come on Tiro." They both went into the elevator and press up to the fifth floor. Tiro happily looks around, thinking about Ka Lu’s promising future but it soon faded when he looks at her sullen expression.

"What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy?"

"It’s nothing. It’s just that – well – I wonder if they’re going to accept me."

"They will o.k. Don’t doubt yourself yet. I mean come on, who wouldn’t think your voice is great."

"I could think of one." The elevator door opens and they walk towards Tyno’s office.

"And who could that be?" but before Ka Lu could answer, Tyno’s office door opens and she is face to face with Yaki.

"You? What are you doing here?"

"I thought you knew. I took up your brother’s offer."

"Oh, no wonders I left him twenty-four messages and he never answers back."

"You’re such a pest."

"Respect you manager."

"It’s not my fault your brother offer me this career."

"You’re right. I wonder why my brother pick a poor lower class girl?"

"Don’t you dare - "

"But it’s true, you’re only a poor lower class girl and you’re not even that good to be here." Right then, Tyno comes out of the elevator and she quickly takes Tiro’s hand and rush in there.

"Ka Lu, where are you going?" but she already press down to the first floor and the elevator door closes. He turns to see Yaki opposite of him and knew what just happened.

"Damn you, Yaki," and he bolted down the stairs.

"What? Is she that important?" but he receives no answer.

"Man, that Yaki is so irritating. Why do I even think of working here? How stupid."

"Ka Lu, it’s only a small problem, don’t take it seriously."

"Oh no, I’m serious alright. What he just said makes me mad." The elevator door opens and Ka Lu was surprise for she is face to face with Tyno who’s tired and sweaty.

"How did you get here so fast?"

"I run down the stairs but anyway I want you to reconsider. Just forget my brother’s rude behavior."

"Don’t worry, I will get over what he had said but I wouldn’t still work here."

"Why not?"

"Those words that your brother said made me think everything over again so I’m sorry for wasting your time." She rushes out of the building, closely followed by Tiro. Tyno looks at them both as they enter the car to leave. A raging fire starts to dances in his eyes.

"Yaki!" he breathed out.