Chapter 18

It was late - about 1 a.m. - when there was a knock on the door. It was a half-hearted knock, as though the perpetrator didn't want to wake anybody up. The gentle knock persisted nonetheless. It roused Kuki from her not-so-deep slumber. She had been trying all evening to stay awake, hoping that Wally was alright. She didn't want to sleep before confirming that. She crossed the room quickly, looking back at Abby who had just woken up as well. As Kuki turned on the light, the African American of French descent nodded in encouragement as her friend put her hand on the door knob. Unlocking the door, she opened it and yelped in shock when she saw her boyfriend's bruised face. She jumped into his arms, and he welcomed her into his embrace, holding her tight.

"Oh God, Wally, what did he do to you?" she asked as she pulled out of the hug to look up at him.

Wally smiled and brought his lips to Kuki's, stealing a quick kiss before he replied with a shrug, "You know me. I wasn't going down without a fight." The Asian brought her hand up to his face, touching him ever so gently. He winced and she withdrew her hand quickly, before bringing it instead to her face as tears flooded her eyes for the umpteenth time that night.

"Don't cry, Kuks," he pleaded. "It's all over now," he added as he wiped away her tears with his thumb. She looked up at him, slight disbelief reflected in her eyes. "It's over," he reiterated. "He's dead. He's never coming back." This time she smiled, and her tears were now of joy. She held his hand and led him into the room, where he sat on the edge of Kuki's bed. Seated next to Abby, he smiled at her and patted her knee. "Wally…?" she said quietly as she looked at his bruised face with worry. He smiled. "It's not as bad as it looks. Trust me."

He pulled Kuki down to sit on his lap, and she put her arms around his neck and buried her head in the crook of his neck. "I was so scared, Wall," she said with a sniff. "I'm glad you're okay…sort of okay," she added as she looked at his now tainted face. His lip was split near the corner of his mouth. His left cheek was blue and swollen right at his cheek bone, and on the opposite side of his face he had a black eye.

Kuki straddled him, and Wally held her firmly by the waist as he received lots of tiny kisses to the parts of his face that didn't hurt. With that course of action, Abby got up and clapped him gently on the back. "Gimme your keys, man. I sure ain't stayin' around for this," she said with a huge yawn. He reached into his pocket and removed his keys. He had his eyes closed as he basked in the 'loving' he was receiving, and so he held the keys out to no one in particular. Abby grabbed them with a smirk and made for the door as she said in a sing-song, "Goodnight lovebirds!"

As the door clicked shut, Wally lay back on the bed, bringing Kuki down with him. He kissed her with the good side of his mouth. "So, what happened?" she asked as she stretch her legs, lying flat against him. She ran her fingertips over his face as she studied it, carefully avoiding his bruises. "You said he's dead. Did you…?" she trailed off.

"Nah," Wally answered her incomplete question. "Crazy turn of events. Some guy I've never seen before saved my ass." He went on to explain all that had occurred earlier that evening. She shuddered as she thought of how many times Greg could have simply lost his cool and shot Wally. He held her to himself more tightly in an attempt to rid her of the shiver that had been brought about by her scary thoughts. Kuki listened to his heartbeat; a confirmation that he was there, he was alright. More tears escaped her eyes. She spoke in a choked voice, "I love you, Wally. I always will."

He smiled as he felt his heart warm at her words. He kissed the crown of her head as he caressed her back. Rolling over, he moved on top of her and kissed her gently on the lips. "I love you too," he replied as he kissed her again and again. He could feel a smile grow across her lips. Wally got up to switch off the lights as he removed his shirt and got out of his jeans before getting into bed with his girl.

xxx

Over the next couple of days the group of friends got used to the idea of Wally almost dying on them without their knowledge. They had blasted him about his secrecy, but they could not deny that he had indeed been between a rock and a hard place. They were all just glad he was alright. Wally had gone home the day after the incident to see his brother. Luckily their parents weren't home by the time he arrived. He didn't really want to lie to his folks when they'd have asked him what happened to his face. Of course, he would have said he had gone clubbing with his friends, and that some drunk fella tried to take a swipe at Kuki, so he socked him, and vice versa. His mom would have then panicked and admonished him, saying fighting is not the answer, while his dad would have secretly told him, "Good on ya, mate!" with a very proud smile on his face.

Joey looked absolutely remorseful upon seeing the injuries his brother had sustained. He could barely look him in the eye when he apologised for being so stupid and getting Wally to fight his battles. The older Beatles boy scoffed. "Don't worry about it," he said as he clapped Joey on the shoulder. "We're brothers. Just, don't do anything like this again. At least learn from your mistake, ay?"

The younger boy nodded. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Wally sighed. "I know."

xxx

Abby had become an honorary member of The mOholos, performing one song with them every other day. She had become pretty popular among the fans, so much so that the owner of the coffee shop asked the band to add one more day to their performing week in his premise. The band usually played on Tuesdays and Fridays. They were more than willing to add on Wednesday evenings as well. The owner would raise their pay for the extra performance. That meant Abby could earn some good money too. Really, it would be a win-win situation. So just like that, Abby became an official member of the band, taking part in the entire performance of the evening, not just one song.

Three weeks after the new performing arrangements, Hoagie had saved enough money to get a good apartment. He'd asked Abby to go house-hunting with him.

"And there's the other room," the landlord said as he took the couple for a tour of the house. "It's slightly smaller than the other one. But you wouldn't need that much room since it's just you two. The gentleman can take this room," he said of Hoagie. Then addressing Abby he added with a smile, "You could have the other room. You'd put better use to the extra cupboard space, I'm sure." She laughed at that. She didn't have the heart to tell him the house was for Hoagie, not both of them. The owner seemed convinced that the house was right for them.

The landlord's phone rang. He went into the corridor to take the call, leaving Hoagie and Abby to deliberate about the house. "What do you think?" Hoagie asked as he walked to the window, looking at the view. From that room he could see the roof of St. John's Cathedral on the horizon. She walked up to him and put an arm around his waist as she too looked outside.

"It's a nice little house," she said honestly. "Location's great. The place is alive with sound, but not too noisy. Transportation won't be a problem. Lots of street lights. I saw a couple of convenience stores nearby. And the rent's reasonable." They were quiet for a while before she added, "I think you should take it."

The middle-aged landlord, named Albert Klassen, came back a few minutes later. "Made a decision, Mr. Gilligan?" he asked as he raised his brow.

Hoagie turned around, draping his arm over his girl's shoulder. "Yes sir. I'll take it."

"Very good. Very good," Klassen said happily. He took the couple into the living room where they could read and sign the contract. Hoagie paid the deposit right there and then. Al handed him the keys to the house and left. He really liked the couple, and felt sure that they would take good care of his house.

The couple stood side by side as they gave the living room a final once over. "So, you like this house, right?" Hoagie asked.

"Yeah, I think it's lovely," Abby replied sincerely.

Hoagie brought his girl in front of him and turned her around to face him. He looked into her dark brown eyes. "Then move in with me."

Abby's jaw dropped, and the corner of her mouth twitched as she felt a smile come on her face. "Are you serious?" Hoagie nodded slowly, a smile steadily creeping onto his face. "Yeah," she replied breathlessly. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the lips. Then she added, "But I can't be here everyday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I've got night classes, so I'd stay in the dorms."

"Fair enough. I'll take what I can get," he responded as he lovingly kissed the tip of her button nose. "Ok, babe, let's go. I wanna get to the bank before it closes." He needed to go and transfer a month's rent into Al's account.

xxx

Kensei sat in his living room watching Top Gear. He was a sucker for hot luxury vehicles. He was even contemplating buying a Jaguar at that particular moment. He had a shiny silver Mercedes, though, and concluded that it would be unnecessary having two high end vehicles. He would definitely stand out more in the neighbourhood, and really, he wanted to keep a low profile. He didn't want people to be all up in his business when he brought Abby home.

Abby. He loved that girl. It was an unhealthy kind of love, but he wanted her. He wanted her so bad that he recently changed his lifestyle. A girl like that has got standards, he mused. It's why he wanted out from the drugs and prostitution ring. But he couldn't get out of it until Greg was out of the picture. It's why he killed him. That, and because he was going to destroy his sister's boyfriend, which would by extension, destroy her. There was no other way around it. Greg had to go.

But Kensei had not turned his life around yet; he still did drugs. Even at that very moment, he was in a light-headed daze as he had been snorting coke within the privacy of his four walls. It had been nine and a half days since he had last indulged in his guilty pleasure. Instead he had smoked the sweet weed that he had taken from Greg's club. He smoked it to wean himself off of the harder stuff. But on that lazy afternoon, he needed something strong. So there he sat on his couch in a stupor as he watched TV. I want Abby, he thought again as his eyes grew heavy.