Gangster Cinderella

Chapter Nineteen: Together We Can Get Somewhere

"You got a fast car, I want a ticket to anywhere. Maybe we can make a deal, maybe together we can get somewhere." I sing to myself as Mikey stops at a red light.

"What's that song you're singing? Is it english?" Mikey asks.

"Yeah I heard it on the radio on the ride to the 2000 Australian Grand Prix racetrack." I tell him.

"How would it go in our language?" 

"Let me think for a moment...I have to translate." The light turns and I sing my favorite part, "So I remember we were driving, driving in your car. Speed so fast, I felt like I was drunk. City light lay out before us and your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder. And I~I, had a feeling that I belonged. I~I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone."

"It sounds pretty, we should listen to it together sometime. Oh- look at that. It's Yokohama city limits."

I look over and notice a sign that says, Welcome to Yokohama. A smile spreads and I finally noticed that my tears have dried.

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The first place we go to is the Ramen Museum and immediately we hit up the foodcourt. I order their spiciest ramen, while Mikey tries to find their least spiciest.

"I don't understand how you can be happy eating something so painfully spicy..." Mikey comments while glaring at my choice of ramen.

"No pain, no gain baby. God it's so good." I sigh in contentment. 

He smiles, "Weirdo." 

"Where should we go after looking around the museum?"

"No, you get to decide. We go wherever you want." He points his chopsticks at me.

"I'd like to go to Sankei-en Garden next if you're ok with it."

"I'd love nothing more."

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Chaos ensues after my eccentric boyfriend dumps his fourth coffee cup full of bread crumps into the koi fish pond and watches as they all fight each other for food.

"Yes! Yes! Fight, kill, all for the bread." Mikey says as they pop up to the surface.

"Damn they're fast." I comment as they devour all the bread crumps.

"Chi-chan, help me with making more bread crumps to dump."

I sit down next to him and begin picking off pieces of bread and putting them into the empty coffee cup. I turn around to notice all of the fish swarming near us.

"Mikey...I think they're associating you with food."

"No way." He turns and seeing all the fish waiting on this childish boy to dump a mass amount of bread crumps into their pond. He walks around the pond and watches with amusement as the fish follow him and the cup of bread crumps. "I'm king of the koi fish!" He shouts before dropping the entire cup into the pond.

"What're you kids doing?!" One of the workers shout.

"Shit, run Mikey!" I shout before sprinting out of the park with Mikey right by my side.

He grabs my hand and drags me along beside him. We find ourselves laughing as we run through the garden. Mikey pulls me under a bridge where we hide until we see the worker go in the opposite direction.

"You're so dumb." I say in between laughs.

"Did you see that guy's face? He was so pissed off at us." He sits down on the grass and continues to laugh. Once he's done laughing he look at me and says, "I'm glad to see you smiling again."

I stop laughing and sit down next to him, "It's thanks to you...I don't think I would be laughing like this right now without you here."

"I hate to ask you this...but what're you going to do about Hoang? I know you regret what you said...it was written all over your face."

I rest my head on his shoulder, "Yeah...I know he and my dad didn't mean any harm with keeping Hoang's true identity a secret. They probably didn't want me to keep being reminded of the woman who abandoned me."

"Are you going to meet her?"

"I...I don't know. A big part of me wants to be spiteful and refuse. But...there's this other part of me that just wants to know 'why'. Why did she leave me? Why did she have me if she was just going to run out on me? What did she see in my father? What does she see in me? These are all questions that small part of me wishes to ask her."

He gently strokes my fluffy brunette hair and says, "Whatever you choose, I'll be by your side."

"I know. But for now I need to apologize to Hoang. Thank you so much for today. I really needed it." I tell him.

"You ready to go back?" He asks as he stands up.

"Yeah, I am. I wanna ride back this time though. Don't worry, my head is all cleared up."

"Ok but we need to sneak out. Don't wanna run into that worker." He offers his hand to me; to which I take letting him pull me up to my feet.

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We get back to Mikey's house before 9:30 pm. He tries to drag me into the house but Draken was the one to do the dragging since Toman had a huge meeting. I ride back home and immediately go upstairs to collapse on the bed. I open my phone and stare at Hoang's contact...debating whether I should do this right now or later. I call him, deciding to get it done.

He picks up, "Hello?"

"Hey Hoang...I wanted to say I'm sorry for blowing up on you. I know you and dad were just looking out for me by keeping who you were secret. It's just whenever that woman is mentioned, I feel way too many emotions that I don't even know what to do with myself."

"It's fine, I know that it's hard talking about her. So...can I still have the honor of coaching you?"

I smile at the phone, "I wouldn't have anyone else."

"Good, I'm glad. Goodnight Chieko."

"Night Hoang."

I breathe a sigh of relief, feeling a huge weight taken off my shoulders. Now I need to decide what I want to do about that woman.