Now What? {COMPLETED}
by Min_Dee
Chapter 6
After he replied his friend’s e-mail, Ray looked at his clock and saw that it was only 9P.M.
‘Ohmigod. It’s barely 9 o’clock?’ Ray was bored out of his mind. He got out of his chair and went outside.
Ron heard knockings on his door and opened it to find Raymond standing there.
“Hey, let’s go do something. I’m friggin’ bored.”
Ron looked at his watch and said, “Okay, let’s ask Tav and Qian to go too.”
“Aww, do we have to ask the brat to go with us?”
“Don’t be like that. You’re a man, be forgiving.”
“Whatever,” Ray rolled his eyes.
Tavia and Qian’s conversation was interrupted by Ron’s voice on the other side of the door.
“Tavia?”
Tavia got up form her bed and opened the door.
“Hey Ron, big bro. Whatsup?”
“Oh Qian, you’re here too?” Ron asked once he saw Qian behind Tavia. Ray also saw her and lifted up the upper right corner of his upper lip.
“We were thinking of going out, you guys want to join us?” Ron continued.
“Sure!” Tavia was about to answer, but was interrupted by Qian.
“Okay, let us get our jacket. It’s a little chilly outside,” Tavia said.
“Alright, we’ll wait for you downstairs,” Ron replied and started walking toward the stair case.
After the guys left, Tavia computer made a noise to indicate that it has received an email. Qian immediately ran to it.
“Hey! Check this out! He replied.” Qian cried excitedly.
After finishing reading her email, Qian said, “He wants to meet me too. He’s asking where we should meet. Where should we meet Tavia?”
“I don’t know. Umm..how about The Lounge? I’m pretty sure he knows The Lounge.”
“The Lounge. Yeah, The Lounge is a good place to meet.” With that said Qian replied her friend’s email telling him that they will meet on Saturday for lunch at The Lounge.
Qian could hear Ray’s bickering once she was walking downstairs.
“What’s taking her so long up there?”
“She’s replying her friend’s e-mail.” She heard Tavia answered.
“Friend? That little brat has friends? Are you sure she didn’t send that e-mail to herself and lied that it was from her “friend”?”
‘That moron,’ Qian could feel her blood boiling.
“Are you speaking from experience Ray,” Qian retaliated to Ray’s comment.
Ray rolled his eyes and ignored Qian’s answer.
“Are you ready now?”
“Where are we going?” Ron asked.
“Well, let’s so sing karaoke uh?” Ray suggested excitedly, taken everyone by surprise.
“Karaoke? Sounds good.” Tavia agreed to her brother’s suggestion. It has been a while since she heard ray sing. He has such a beautiful voice, but he had stop singing since her mother past away. She could remember that day so clearly. It was a rainy day; Raymond had an audition that day. If he was to pass the audition, he would score himself a 3 year contract with 1Voice Record Label. But that morning, his mother had catch a cold; Ray intended to stay to take care of his mom, but the madam told him that he shouldn’t worry about her and just go ahead and go to the audition. It was a chance of a lifetime, so Raymond decided to listen to his mother and went to the audition. The audition went great and Raymond got the contract. But when he returned home to hear the news of his mother’s death, it turned out to be she was catching pneumonia, and because of her horrible health condition, it was too much for her body to bear that it took her life that day. Ray was devastated from the news; he blamed himself for leaving his mom behind to go to that dreadful audition. He then decided to cancel the record contract and vowed to not sing again, as a way to punish himself. However, he loves the music industry so much that he decided to create his own record label and train new music sensations. Because of his talent and Ron’s great business skills; within a year, they have created a well known name for themselves and became one of the most respectful companies in the industry.
…
“2Rs!!!!” the middle-aged female bar owner greeted the two handsome customers as if they were her long lost sons. “What brought you two here today?”
Ray broke free from her wrath of death, and replied with a smile. “We’ve missed you, that’s all.”
“Aw, look at you and your sweet talks. Don’t make me tell your girlfriend!”
“Girlfriend? What are you talking about? I’m still waiting for you.” He exclaimed with a wink. “Madame, I’m going to need one of those VIP rooms, will you be able to get us one?”
“Sure, anything for you sweetheart!” The Madam said, and then signaled them to follow her through the dimmed lit hallway and into a dark room. “Enjoy, let us know if you need anything.”
Once the Madam left, Qian immediately grabbed the remote and began selecting songs to sing.
“Tav, what song are you going to sing?”
“Umm…I don’t know, I don’t sing that well.”
“What are you talking about? I remember, back then when we were in college, you used to love to sing, and you were great at it!”
“Well in that case, I’ll sing Reflection by Christina Aguilerra.”
Qian smiled at Tavia and began punching in the numbers for her song.
After Tavia and Ron was through with their songs, Tavia turned to Qian and said.
“Now it’s your turn.”
Qian hesitated, but finally agreed to sing. Ray was quiet until now.
“Wait, give me one second,” he said.
Everyone was surprised and curious.
“For what dude?” Ron asked.
“I’m going to get some cotton for my ears, in case her singing is going to make my ears bleed.”
Qian narrowed her eyes and gave Ray the evil look. “Ha ha ha, you think you are so funny huh? Since, these karaoke systems also grade the singer on their voice performance. Why don’t you and I make a bet?”
Ray’s eyes brighten as the words escaping from Qian’s mouth. “A bet? Sounds interesting.”
“Yeah, I’d win if I got a 100% on my performance. If not, then you won.”
“100% huh? That confident about yourself? Well, then if you insist I will follow. The loser will do anything the winner asks them to do for a week. How’s that?”
“Fine with me,” Qian answered with confidence in her voice.
Qian was determined to win the bet, so she picked her favorite song, Color of the Night.
Everyone was taken surprised at how beautiful Qian’s voice was, especially Raymond.
‘I can’t believe her annoying nagging voice could sound this beautiful,’ he thought to himself as he was listening to Qian sing.
“…but you hide behind the color of the night…” finally Qian was done with her song. The four of them anticipated as they were waiting for the result. Finally a score appeared on the screen and it read 99%.
Everyone in the room went silent, but Ray was overjoyed.
“Ah-hah! 99%, too bad,” he said as he pouted.
“Ah quit it with your fake sympathy,” Qian rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll admit my defeat.”
“I love it! I love victory!” Ray yelped and laughed like a mad scientist, not noticing 3 pairs of frightful eyes staring at him as if he was a beast that escaped from the zoo.
Once everyone was settled down, Ron turned to Ray and asks.
“Hey, how about you sing a song?”
Ray looked at Ron then at the floor and said, “You know I can’t.”
“Why not? It’s just you. I don’t think mom…” Tavia’s was cut-off by Ray’s glance. She knew better than to continue with what she was about to say.
Qian, who now is confused with the whole conversation, spoke up.
“Why can’t you sing moron?”
Seeing the curious look on Qian’s face, Raymond couldn’t help but smiled. “You wanna know why I can’t sing? Come here, sit next to me, then I’ll tell you.” He said as he patted the cushioned seat right next to him.
Qian lowered her brows and thought about it for a few seconds; she then decided to go sit next to Ray.
Once she sat down next to Ray, he signaled her to lean in closer so he could whisper it into her ear and she did just that.
“It’s none of your business. You little nosy brat.” He whispered loudly into her ears.
“Ugh, you thick skinned moron,” she exclaimed as she pushed his face away.
“Nosy brat,” Raymond replied.
“Thick skinned moron,” Qian retaliated.
“Nosy brat.”
“Thick skinned moron.”
“Nos…”
“Ah…you two cut it out,” Ron cried before Ray could repeat the cycle. “Let’s go home, I’m tired.”
“Yeah, me too,” Tavia agreed. She wanted to get out of there before someone got murdered.
…
As they were approaching the gates to their house, Tavia suddenly remembered that she forgot to buy some equipment for her work.
“You guys go in first, I’m going to run to the convenience store real fast.”
“At this hour?” Qian exclaimed. She then realized something and pushed Ron toward Tavia. “Ron, you go with her. It’s late, she needs someone to protect her.”
Tavia immediately knew what Qian was up to and glared at her.
“I’ll go with you,” Ray volunteered and took a step but was stopped by Qian’s kick to his shin bone.
“Oww. What the hell?”
“Aww, look at that. I think Ray just pulled a muscle. Ron why don’t you go with her and I’ll stay to take care of this big fat baby huh?” She said while pointing at Ray.
“Alright, Tavia? Let’s go.” Ron suggested.
“Uh…okay.” Tavia turned around a walked away. Then when Ron wasn’t looking she turned around to look at Qian who is now smiling while making an “okay” sign with her hand. Poor Ray was hugging onto his shin and claimed that Qian had broken his leg.
Qian just rolled her eyes and started walking toward the house.
“Hey! Hey!” Ray called after her, but Qian just ignored him and kept on walking. Seeing that Qian won’t stop walking, Raymond forgot about the pain and ran after her.
“Hey! Didn’t you hear I was calling you?”
“Nope, didn’t hear a thing.” Qian answered without looking at him.
“Ugh how could someone be so rude? But anyway, good job at trying to push those two together.”
Qian couldn’t believe her ears.
“Was that a compliment?” She turned to him and asked.
“Yeah, just don’t make a habit out of it alright? I’m just glad that they get to spend some time alone. I know they need to sort out their feelings for one another. With us there is just a road block.” Ray said in a serious tone.
“Well, I think they will be able to sort out their feelings tonight. So don’t worry,” Qian said while patting his shoulders.
Ray was surprised by her action. He looked at her hand on his shoulder, then back at her, then back at his shoulder again. Then he finally spoke.
“Since when did we become close friends huh?”
Qian looked at him, then looked at her hand on his shoulder. She then realized what she had done and immediately withdrew her hand. Cast on last furtive look at Ray’s smirking face, Qian walked into the house without looking back.
“Hey! Hey, nosy brat. One last question,” Ray caught up to the bottom of the stairs as Qian was getting upstairs.
“What is it?” Qian asked, looking down at him from the staircase.
“Where did you learn to sing so well?”
Qian smiled and said. “You wanna know where I learned how to sing?”
Ray nodded and she signaled him to come up the stairs to be next to her, so she could tell him.
Ray listened and made his way up the steps. Once he was next to Qian, she signaled him to come closer, she then whispered into his ears.
“It’s none of your business, YOU THICK SKINNED MORON!” She then purposely screamed as loud as she could into his ear. Had on a satisfying smile, Qian left to her room leaving Ray standing there bitterly at stairs.