He opened the envelope and emptied the contents onto my bed. I gasped as bundles of money tumbled out; I couldn’t close my mouth.
“My father’s actually paying me to leave Charleston and come home,” AJ said flatly. We both stood there staring at the cash. “He says it’s only until things calm down again, but…” He paused and shook his head. “There’s gotta be about fifty or sixty grand here.”
I stared in disbelief, wondering what’d transpired to cause Mr. Hahn to send such an urgent message in the middle of the night like this. My heart thudded against my ribcage, thinking things that I’d been fighting against for the past couple weeks, since finding out that AJ was in danger.
“AJ…maybe you-“
“I’m not going anywhere,” he replied before I could even finish my sentence. “Mr. Tanaka’s gonna have his answer any day now…and all I have to do is wait,” AJ said, trying to convince himself and me at the same time. “This is gonna work out. It has to,” he added.
Confusion crossed my face as I questioned AJ’s defiance. “I don’t think your dad would give you that kind of money if he didn’t have good reason to think that you were in some sort of trouble.”
“I won’t leave without you.”
“Then I’ll come too!” I insisted. “I can transfer to the community college for a while and maybe reenroll here when –“
He shook his head sternly. “This isn’t your problem, Sam! And I’m not gonna let you change your plans because of this. There’s nothing else to talk about,” he stated, and sat on the edge of my bed frustrated. With him cutting me off at every turn, I sat beside him and gently stroked his back.
“Is there anything I can do?” I asked desperately.
He lifted my hand and kissed the back of it once, focusing his eyes on my ring when he spoke. “Just promise that you won’t leave me,” he replied softly, leaving me with the impression that I was the one thing holding him together. I pulled him into my arms and held him close like I knew he needed me to.
I kissed him the side of his face before looking into his eyes and making him a promise that I had every intention of keeping. “I’m not going anywhere. Ever….”
Chapter11
AJ
The begging went on for an entire week. I couldn’t understand how my mother could see the logic behind not leaving my father to head to safety, but didn’t understand why I couldn’t leave Sam. Having her join me back in Fairfac would’ve been ideal, but I was hell-bent on not letting her leave school. Not only would her parents never forgive me, I’d never forgive myself. And seeing as how I refused to leave without her, waiting for Mr. Tanaka’s decision was my only option.
“Since I can’t talk any sense into you, you’re father insists on coming there.”
I cursed under my breath which my mother ignored under the circumstances. “For what?”
“I don’t think you understand the severity of the situation!”
That’s where she was wrong. I did understand. Just as a precaution, Sam and I had opted to stay in as much as possible to avoid crowds. However, that was as big a sacrifice as I was willing to make.
Knowing that I wouldn’t bend, my mother sighed into the phone. “Well…it’s out of my hands. As I said before, your father will be there to discuss matters with you further.”
With that, she ended the call.
If my father was on his way to Charleston, Sam would appreciate a head’s up. She wouldn’t want to be anywhere in the vicinity when he showed up and I couldn’t blame her.
When she answered my call, I’d already prepared myself for the disappointment I was sure to detect in her tone.
“Hello?”
“Hey…busy?” I asked, knowing that even if she was, she would say she wasn’t so we could talk.
“Just watching some lame TV show because nothing else’s on. What’s up?”
I hated to even bring him up to her. “Turns out my dad’s gonna be here sometime tonight. Just thought I’d give you a fair warning.”