Pop Singer: A Dark BWAM / AMBW Romance (35 page)

JONG-SOO

I grabbed the rest of my clothes, helping Henrietta back into hers.

I had only stripped off her trousers and panties, lifting up her shirt some, so it was only about a minute before we were back inside the luggage case.

The bag enclosed us tight again in a stifling heat.

I zipped it up as quietly as I possibly could.

By the time the sailors came round to our side of the ship, they were seeing nothing more than a bunch of crates and bags.

“That was close,” Henrietta whispered.

We stared around at our surroundings for signs of the crewmembers coming.

They started offloading bags from the hull, slowly pulling crates away from the room. I heard banging and clanging, boots storming this way into the far end.

They quickly went back down the other way.

It was only a matter of time before they would haul us away to Bit-na and Hae-il’s room.

I wondered what they were up to.

Probably enjoying themselves a more comfortable place to stay at.
 

Which was fair enough, considering me and Henrietta had enjoyed the motels.

Anyway, I was surprised at myself. Giving into Henrietta’s wanting. She had a heady lust that seemed impossible to satisfy.

There would be many more nights ahead of us like that, in cramped places or in unfortunate circumstances.

And that’s what I came to really like about her.

She was fearless in a way women in Korea typically weren’t. There were so many protocols to follow in Korea, standards to obey.

Parents to adhere to.

But Henrietta herself wanted something and would go after it.

You typically never saw people from the West traveling to Asia. So, I guess, she really wasn’t the type of woman who was “average” here at all by any stretch of the word.

Exceptional, that’s the type of girl Henrietta was.

I felt elation in that moment, knowing her, being by her side there in the darkness.

Even if we were in the worst of times, we were together on a different level than most people.

We understood one another in a way others could never really get.

Which meant something to me…

Whenever I talked to Hae-il, there was always rivalry, a back-and-forth tension in the air.

With Bit-na, there came territory disputes and ideas about where to go next, a mystery presence emanating from her skin—who was she really?

Henrietta though?

She was the most normal of them all. Without being connected to any gangs, and without being raised in Korea, she did not understand all of the different rules.

So when she broke them, it was refreshing.

When she crossed barriers, it made me want to do more for her.

I could just show her so much—once we were out and about in Japan.

The sounds of men standing outside made me quiet. Henrietta looked to me, and I put my mouth on hers, kissing her gently. She knew to stay silent.

I heard them talking. They didn’t know exactly where our bag was supposed to go. Eventually, after much chatter, two men pulled us up, and we were in the air, carried on their backs.

“Was this the special one?” one of the sailors below us said.

I glanced at Henrietta. Bit-na and Hae-il had indeed been successful.

“Yeah,” the other sailor replied. “This is for the Twin Swords girl.”

They walked down the hallway. Now me and Henrietta could see a glimmer of hope—the outside world, all through the small breathing hole.

“Almost there,” I mumbled.

HENRIETTA

I’m pretty sure scientists say that when you have sex with someone, you release oxytocin in your system, otherwise known as the love drug.

It’s not that I loved Jong-soo.

But I did feel closer to him, his lips on my body, now going down across my chin, his hands lacing around mine.

He was always all over me, constantly reassuring me with his skin and his touch and his ways.

The gentle stroke of his voice in the air, like the plucking of a harp.

I knew how much he wanted to be on my side, how much he thought for me.

And that made me want to stay with him in the back, next to him, only to open up in a new world, not the boat we were on, but someplace else.

New York? Paris? Rome?

I wanted to sit next to him on a Venice sidewalk, our legs about to dip into the water below. I dreamed right then and there of us going paragliding or mountain climbing.

I might have considered myself crazy, but I had only him to cling onto for hope. A man who had given me much of his time and had safeguarded me from the dangers I had encountered in Korea.

Who was bringing me along an adventure I hesitated to call “exhilarating,” but that’s what it was.

The entire trip so far had been so different than life in Lincoln or Anywhere, America.

Here, it was fast-paced, so quick and unaccountable. We moved like vagabonds, traveling across the earth wherever we wanted, creating our own rules and laws.

I loved being next to him.

That’s the truth.

I didn’t love him, but I loved being next to him.

“Here it is,” one of the men outside said. I recognized him as having a low, guttural voice. Jong-soo told me it was one of the sailors.

“They should be setting us outside Hae-il and Bit-na’s room,” he said.

With a thump—and a bruising to my ass—we slammed against the ground. I think the men simply threw us without any care in the world.

I heard knocking, probably the sailors, and then boots walking away. A door opening up.

And then we slid slowly across the floor, Jong-soo and I still inside the bag, so ready for release.

“Are you guys in there?” It was Bit-na’s voice.

I saw her. The door closed again.

“It’s us,” I said.

“Get us out of here,” Jong-soo said.

Bit-na unzipped the bag, and it was her face I saw first, next to Hae-il’s.

They seemed much better than before, refreshed. I was glad to see them so, because I didn’t want to return to cranky people.

“How was the ride over?” Bit-na said, walking away. She wore a pair of jeans and a tight tank top. Out on the bed, there were fresh new clothes. “Get into those,” she said, “we got them for you free from the crew. We need to throw away your old ones or else we’re going to leave a trail behind.”

Robotically, I took off my clothes, trashing them as fast as I could, as if we were being chased or something. Part of me wanted to appease Bit-na, and then another part wanted to throw the clothes in her face.

She seriously could be such a bitch sometimes. But she knew what she was doing, catching our asses, constantly looking out for us. I suspected she only cared about our well-being because if we fell, then she would fall.

Oddly enough, she needed me around for her own peace of mind, her own wellbeing.

So we had to work as one. If there was simply a single person who snitched—it could mean the entire downfall of the chain.

Do I want to tattle on them? If I just told one of the shipmates, I could get out of here, couldn’t I? What’s stopping me from doing so? Why don’t I want to? Am I really going to be so proud that I can’t look for help?

Well, I literally can’t. If I try to communicate with anyone, they’ll probably just brush me off as crazy.

I don’t have the same kind of clout as a native Korean woman.

I didn’t want to think those kinds of thoughts anymore, so I sunk down onto the bed, putting my hands over my face, breathing in the scent of my skin, leftover sex. Jong-soo’s come in the air, and on my hands, remnants against my cheeks.

Jong-soo sat down next to me and stroked my thigh. Hae-il was on the other bed, Bit-na in the bathroom.

She got out, walking in between the beds, hands on her hips. “This is no time to rest. We need to make a game plan. We need to find Oh-seong. And then a place for this girl.”

I sat up. “I want in. I want to get revenge on him too.”

“What? You’re not really staying with us, are you? I thought you wanted to go home. I thought you wanted to simply be brought back to the United States in a fancy airplane. Isn’t that what you were asking for before?” Bit-na turned her head to Jong-soo. “Isn’t that what was going on before?”

Bit-na had a nasty smirk, like she was toying around with me.

“I know you don’t want me out there,” I said back, “blabbing to everyone about who you are. I’m a witness. I know you wouldn’t actually release me—you’re just holding that over my head, the idea of me going back home.”

I was speaking completely in English now and very fast, so I don’t think she understood me at all. Or if she did, only about halfway.

“Can you translate for me?” I said to Jong-soo.

Hae-il seemed to be enjoying the fight. Sitting up on his bed, he smirked at the ladies arguing.

“I’ll tell her,” Jong-soo said, switching into full Korean, raising his voice. He pointed to her, and then back to me, making gestures, angrily and then not. He talked over with Bit-na, and I tried to follow my best, but I couldn’t exactly tell what was going on.

“Fine,” Bit-na said, “then we need to think about the plan for Oh-seong.”

“What did she say?” I said to Jong-soo.

“I told her off. She’ll be on you again, just watch. I’ll be here for you though,” he said. “You’re right though. They won’t let you go. If you did appear at the police station or something, then they would start asking you questions. And that would halt the entire operation. They don’t want me going anywhere either. We’re all sort of locked up tight together.”

“So I have some power in this relationship, don’t I?” I smiled. “I don’t want to go home just yet. But I do want to have revenge on Oh-seong. I want to see him squirm and struggle!” I stood. Bit-na stared at me, shaking her head. “I know what Bit-na and Hae-il think of me. But I can help you out.”

Bit-na looked like she wanted to eat me alive.

“I can be bait,” I said.

I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth.

Was I insane?

What was I doing?

I…just knew I had to have revenge.

And this might have been a way to let myself have a seat at the table, so to speak.

“That’s dangerous and crazy,” Jong-soo said, “you can’t be bait. Don’t you remember what I told you about them?”

I sat down on the bed. Maybe it was a little bit over the top. “It was just an idea. Maybe you guys can come up with something else that’s more stable?”

“I don’t know,” Jong-soo said. “We need to first think about what we’re going to do when we find him.”

Bit-na boiled over with rage. “He raped me! That’s why want to get back at him. He raped me so many times. And I stole his money from him. I got away with so much just to get even with him. Now, you’re muddling everything up with this bitch!”

I stared at Bit-na in shock.

Jong-soo stood up, and he went over to her, lording over her, his shadow sweeping across her body. She faced him, and they glared.

Then Hae-il got up from the bed, and he got between them, me joining in.

“Guys,” Hae-il said. “Guys, come on.”

Bit-na slumped into bed, curling up into a ball. She cried and sobbed, tears rolling down her cheeks. “My life is so hard,” she said. “Everything has been so hard so far. I’ve had to sell my body since I was a teenager. Being with Oh-seong has broken me. And I just want to have
my own
sweet form of revenge. I don’t want to have to share it with this woman here.”

Jong-soo translated some of her words. I did feel sorrow for her.

“He raped me,” she said, over and over. “He raped me…”