Due Time For Revelation

啟示時候

The concert was awesome, and Risen Warriors got a standing ovation

The concert was awesome, and Risen Warriors got a standing ovation. They actually got to play a couple of encores before Ra8er came out for their set. Thankfully, Dewei hadn’t pulled the classic “band member’s girlfriend dedication” move on me. My heart had been pumping fast enough the entire time thinking of Mr. Messenger.

Now, it was beating even faster as I sat in the room next to mine at the hotel. Coming out of the club, I’d found three urgent messages left from Amanda. I had turned my phone off in the afternoon and forgotten to turn it back on. The first one consisted of exclamations and repeated proclamations that there was no way I was going to believe this.

The second message was brief, telling me to call her right away and that she was flying up to meet me and Dewei! I couldn’t imagine what was so important that she’d pay for a same-day ticket!

The third one from Amanda was a little irate asking where the heck we were as she waited outside the club. We got out of the concert a half hour after the cab had dropped her off at the club. The same grumpy bouncer I’d encountered had refused to let her in without a ticket, and the concert had been sold out. Even after throwing all the legal jargon she could at him, he refused to budge.

Accosting us as soon as we came out the side door, Amanda refused to say anything about her news, much to my shock. She only repeated that it was extremely private and confidential. Asking why it couldn’t have waited until we got back in a couple of days, Amanda just kept saying this was worth it.

Booking her own room at the hotel, Dewei and I joined her as the befuddled band headed off for some needed sleep. Amanda was almost acting paranoid in the hotel room. She furtively shut all the curtains, put a chair in front of the door and insisted on speaking in low tones. Laying out some documentation, I gaped at the evidence in front of us.

Here was proof that Richard was involved in drug smuggling. Warehouses that he owned but had no actual business, backdoor deposits in foreign bank accounts, and other papers continuing the evidence. There was also falsified records that him and his dad had used in their tax filings. In addition, there was a grainy cell-phone picture of Richard in his designer suit testing a line of cocaine before apparently sealing the deal.

Dewei and I sat there in amazement. “Where, I mean how…just, this is unbelievable. How did you get this?!” I excitedly asked.

“Ssssshhh,” Amanda reprimanded. She almost looked scared as she continued, “You won’t believe me, but your Dad.”

Now my mouth really dropped open. “No way, there’s no way he’d ever divulge this information. His butt is on the line, both of you know what my mom told me,” I protested.

Shaking her head, Amanda continued, “Your dad got the information, but your mom brought it to me. She even told me they told Richard she was going to see me to try and convince you to return with a ‘womanly chat’”.

Dewei intercepted, “Wait, why are they willing to risk everything?” Running his hand through his hair, he continued, “If they were involved, they’ll all do jail time, along with her dad’s bankruptcy.”

Shaking her head, Amanda explained “No, they weren’t involved in the actual business. However, once her dad owed them big time, his suspicions were confirmed as they demanded he started operating on the side. He’s been delaying.” Glancing at me, she sadly looked at me before saying, “He wants a way out. May not be the best motive, but your mother did mention him having some family regrets.”

I snorted, “Right, family regrets, like having me.” Both Amanda and Dewei opened their mouths to argue and I raised my hand as I commanded, “Don’t! Don’t try and give me any pithy lines about how he’s having a change of heart. He’s simply looking out for his own best interests and they happened to benefit us.”

Steering the conversation away, I pointed at the all of Amanda’s evidence. “So, now the question is, what do we do with all of this?”

“Well,” Amanda started before pausing to look at Dewei then back at me. “Does he know about, you know?”

Closing my eyes in irritation at her lack of subtly, which was obviously not her gifting, I sighed.

“What, what do I know?” Dewei demanded. Amanda simply looked at me and waited.

Sighing again, I stood up off the bed and walked to my bag. Digging underneath where all my bras and underwear were as my chosen hiding place, I took out the letter.

Holding to my chest as I walked over to Dewei, I hesitated. I was apprehension at letting him read it. Not just because I hadn’t told him yet, but because he’d know I knew about Sheila. I couldn’t even think of what to say, so with a grim face I handed the letter to Dewei. As he was opening it, I mentioned to him the pictures I’d seen on his computer.

A frown settling on his face while he read the letter, Dewei leaned away from me to rest on the bed’s headboard as I sat back down next to him. I watched his face closely, waiting for his reaction. First his face showed confusion, then shock and finally downright fury.

Throwing the letter down, he bounded off the bed and ranted as he paced. “I can’t believe it! He had no right…I mean…” Dewei raged, his face growing red as his right fist pummeled into his left palm. I was becoming uncomfortable and slightly scared at the intensity of Dewei’s emotions. He seemed ready to punch the wall but slowly reigned himself in.

Calming down a little bit, I could see Dewei battling his emotions as he asked, “Were you going to tell me about this?” Handing me back the letter, he stood at the edge of bed by me with his arms crossed.

Swallowing, I stood up and reached out to him. He simply kept his arms crossed as I tried to hug him. “I wanted…well, I just… I don’t know.” Letting go of Dewei as he continued to be physically unresponsive, I sat back down on the bed.

Continuing, I said “I knew this was a really personal thing for you, I didn’t know what to do. Plus you’ve already dealt with so much crap because of me, I didn’t want to make you feel obligated to do more.”

Anger creeping back in his voice, he replied, “Obligated? You think I feel obligated to help you? What, that because my mother was abused you thought I felt I’d have to take care of you?”

I’d never quite even verbalized it to myself, but I knew subconsciously that I had thought there was a little bit of guilt avenging going on.

“Well, I mean…No, it just..” I mumbled, groaning in my own frustration.

Standing up hastily, Amanda awkwardly excused herself to go use the bathroom. Shutting the door, I heard the bathroom fan go on as she tried to give us privacy.

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. “I just, I mainly knew Sheila had been a big part of your life. And, and..” I trailed off as crying took over any sentence forming.

“Sssh,” Dewei crooned as he sat down and cradled me in his arms. Gently stroking my hair and slightly rocking, all my pent up emotions came welling out as I sobbed into his shirt. Once again, leaving my trademark wet stain complete with mascara on it. At least the cloth of this shirt was almost all block this time.

My tears running their course, Dewei carefully wiped my mascara trails away. “May, I’m not here because I have to. I’m here because I want to be.” Tenderly leaning down, he gave me a soft kiss. Still holding my face in his hands, he gave me a small smile. “I love you May,” Dewei said, before kissing me with all the passion that had just been in his words.

I kissed him back with all the love I’d been storing up in my heart. Just waiting for someone to prove worthy of it. I was mentally in a fog as he pulled away, my heart feeling like it would burst out of my chest. I whispered in return, “I love you.”

Our arms wrapped around each, we startled as Amanda cleared her throat while turning off the bathroom fan.

“So uh, see you made up,” she said with a grin. Chuckling she sat down next to the bed. “Back to business,” she commanded while starting to put the documentation away.

Not rushing to pull away, Dewei gave me another soft kiss before releasing me. He moved so I back lay cradled against his chest, his legs jutting out on either side of me Resting his head on my shoulder, I could feel and hear him sigh.

Looking back over my shoulder, he ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah, about the letter. Sheila…”

“You don’t have..” I started to protest, before Dewei gently covered my mouth with his hand.

“No, I need to. I need.. it’s time…” Dewei started, before taking another deep breath and exhaling as he wrapped his arms around my waist. “It’s time to let the past rest.”

Amanda and I stayed quiet, wanting to give Dewei the time he needed as he collected himself.

“Sheila was my best-friend growing up, and we did love each other. I was heartbroken when she obeyed her dad’s command for us to not see each other anymore. While I started to drift into drugs and hang out with the gangs, her dad set her up to date his business partner’s son.”

Leaning into his chest, I turned my head so my cheek rested against it. I could hear Dewei’s heart rate pick up as he continued to speak.

“He was an all-around rich jock, used to getting what he want. He was pretty nice to Sheila, though only she seemed to bring out a semi-human side to him. Well, he pressured her into drinking at the parties he’d taken her to after the football games. One night she was so drunk she wasn’t really coherent enough to stop him when he kept pressuring her to have sex.”

I could hear sadness in Dewei’s voice, but no lingering traces of anger. I squeezed his hands as they lay on my stomach. Taking a deep breath, Dewei plunged forward to finish the rest. “Once she realized she was pregnant, Sheila told him and their families. Their parents were crushed and his family even ganged up and called her a ‘conniving whore’. His parents had lots of assets and thought she was trying to ‘seal the relationship’ as they called it.”

Removing one of his hands from my stomach, Dewei ran his hand through his hair. Unable to sit still anymore, he got up and started up pacing back and forth in the small hotel room.

Now I could hear the sorrow in his voice as spoke, “She called me, sobbing, for her parents had thrown her out when she refused to get an abortion. Jock-boy wouldn’t marry her either. I told her I’d marry and take care of her. I was so furious that I borrowed one of my gang friend’s gun and tracked ‘im down at a party.”

Leaning forward with his hands on the back of the table’s chair, I could see Dewei’s struggle to continue. “I wanted… I wanted to kill ‘im,” Dewei said, his voice starting to choke up. “But I knew I wouldn’t. He tried to jump me as I walked away, so I beat the crap out of ‘im. He was huge but karate gave me the advantage, and he didn’t stand a chance. I walked away to ‘im wheezing and voicing he’d get revenge, but I was too arrogant to take ‘im seriously.”

Taking a breath, Dewei stopped talking and the silence seemed to stretch on forever. Amanda and I barely breathed for fear of interrupting him while coming to terms with his past.

His chest heaving and expelling noisily, I could almost hear his heart ties letting go. His voice almost in a rhythm, Dewei continued, “He called Sheila one night about four months later, who’d been staying at her aunt’s house. He said he wanted to talk. Since both their parents were still furious, they met secretly at a Pasadena park they used to hang out at. She thought he was going to apologize, but instead he yelled at her and dragged her into his car. He said he was going to take her to someone to have an abortion who’d promised secrecy. He refused to have what he called a ‘bastard child’ lurking around.”

The words almost tumbling out now, Dewei continued, “Being an alcoholic after partying all through high-school, he didn’t pay attention to how much he’d been drinking that night. He was so drunk he missed the warning sign of deteriorated road conditions with all the flooding.”

Clearing his throat, Dewei choked the words out, “They went over the rail in the San Bernardino mountains going up to Mt. Baldy to where a black market doctor was waiting to do the abortion. Without braking, they skidded over and rolled down the side of the entire mountain. He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and was thrown out of his sports car. They barely found enough pieces of ‘im to bury. Sheila lost the baby and was in critical condition for a couple of days. Just enough.. time for her… to say what happen…and…” Dewei trailed off. Gulping, he finished, “say goodbye.”

Amanda and I both had tears streaming down our faces. I stood up and walked to Dewei. Amanda again discreetly excused herself to the bathroom again to give us privacy. Enfolding him in my arms, we both cried. Sobbing into my shirt, Dewei’s hands clutching the back of my shirt, it felt like all the years of him holding it in were pouring out.

Slowly the tears ran out, and I could see a look peace settling over Dewei. It was my turn to hold him and brush the lingering tears on his face. Holding each other, I had no words. Nothing could have comforted or been appropriate to say anyways. Simply holding each other, I felt closer to Dewei than I had to anyone in my life. I gently pulled his head down to me and softly kissed him on the lips.

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Chapter 22 Review Replies
GrannyP – LOL, and the sleeve is revealed! :D Hope you liked it ;) Thanks as always girlie! Do you not like the new summary? I’m trying to fix it, but it’s really hard to summarize! Grrr
Somewhere In Between Hi and.. – LOL, I’ve never heard that word before…that’s hilarious…
Misoshiru – Yay, I’m glad you liked the pictures! I really don’t know Michael…I couldn’t really find what I was looking for, but I may just take him down. Though um, did you mean Vin Diesel as Vinny? :D Thanks as always!
Heartfeltlove – Aw, thanks! Hope this is wrapping up well for you, no suicide return ;)
Evil Angel of DOOM – Aw, now review? Lol… Sunny is cool isn’t she? I’m considering sequels for each of the bandmates, hence why she came up :)
AMM3485 – Yes, creepy indeed! I’m glad you found the kiss funny, it was fun to write. I mean, c’mon - how many of those Hollywood moments actually work? Like the famous rolling around in the waves scene, egads it looks uncomfortable with all the sand, salty sticky water, etc. So, I wanted to parody it :D
Twilight Starr – Thanks for the reviews, I’m glad you found it interesting :D