Chapter 27
Roxanne's POV
Maryland Fire Brigade Division has invited us to commemorate the death of firemen who did their heroic job.
"We're so proud of your dad, Roxanne. He was a very good and kindhearted man. He is our hero and forever will be." Mr. Elliot Dork shakes my hand, as I take the heroic award plaque for Dad on stage.
"Thank you, Mr. Dork." I'm not ecstatic looking at the plaque. The mystery of dad's death hasn't resolved yet. No one knows who he rescued. I want to know the entire story and they can't give me that until now. For heaven's sake, it has been ten years already.
I give the award to mom who is drinking champagne with her new husband, Mikael West.
Yeah, Mikael broke up with the celebrity singer, Clarissa Garcia and married mom in Las Vegas. Mom and Mikael are so much in love, they're inseparable.
"Aren't you going to eat? Their carbonara is superb." Mom says, after she put the plaque in her new Hermes Birkin bag.
"I agree, the noodles are not saggy, and the cream... my goodness... it's orgasmic." Megan King giggles. She's sitting between Mom and her boyfriend, Mayor Oliver King.
"Shhh... I told you to talk naughty inside the bedroom only, honey," the mayor says to Meg.
"What do you like for a drink, Roxanne? I'll get you one." Mikael asks, but I shake my head.
"Thanks for the offer, I'll get it myself."
I walk to the bar and surprise to see Jimmy Park.
"Hey Jim!"
"Rox!" He hugs me instantly. He looks thrilled to see me, as always. His chinky eyes are gone, it happens every time he smiles and he can't see.
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm with Tay and our friends," he points his tiny forefinger at the group of six beautiful Korean men standing near the door. I wave at them, and they wave back. "We're going to perform later."
"Oh really! You and Tay are excellent singers and dancers. I can't wait to watch you guys later."
"Thanks. I'm very nervous, my hands are shaking already," he laughs covering his mouth with his hand, a habit, "actually, we're doing this for our hero."
"Wow! Who's your hero?" I glance at the enormous poster on stage of firemen photos paid tribute to.
"We really don't know. He rescued the seven of us. We couldn't see his face clearly, because of the smoke in the classroom. That happened ten years ago, we were so young."
My heart throbs when he mentioned ten years ago.
"What's the name of the building?"
"The Oasis Residences. Do you know the place?"
"Of course! That's where my dad died. It also happened ten years ago."
"Really? Maybe he was the one who rescued us."
"Maybe. But we can't be sure of that. I know, that one unit of the building was an English-Korean learning class for kids. According to the report, there were seven boys included in the rescue."
"Yeah, we were those boys."
"Oh Jimmy, I'm so glad a brave soul saved you and your friends from the fire. You and Tay are my angels at work, you protect me from Pipa, you give me food and always brighten my day. I won't survive at work without you guys."
"We love you, Rox. You're our big American sister." He laughs throwing his head, another of his habit.
I hug him briefly, then say, "tell me if you and your friends remember anything about your rescuer, okay? Any single detail. I'm still hoping that he was my dad. I have to go now, see you later."
"Oh wait, Rox," he opens his backpack, and the many zippers inside one by one, looking for something. "Remember, I told you I was asthmatic?"
"Yeah. You take swimming lessons."
"Exactly. During the rescue, I had an asthma attack. My rescuer gave me this to cover my nose and mouth." He finally found what he was looking for, and give it to me.
Tears immediately fall down my cheeks when I hold the handkerchief that belongs to my dad. It was his favorite hanky. I gave it to him the Christmas before he died. A sushi patterned hanky in white, red and black.
"Oh. Is that from your dad?"
I nod, and hot tears flooded on my cheeks. Jimmy hugs me and also crying.
"We owe him our lives, Rox. We would have been dead if he did not rescue us. He's our hero. He sacrificed his life for us, by holding that heavy beam in order for us to get out of the room," he cries harder, "I'm so sorry, Rox. You lost your dad because of us."
"Shhh... don't blame yourself and the guys. Dad would do the same to anyone, because he's an angel, just like you. You deserve to live too, and Tay and your friends. I don't have any hard feelings, you know I love you and Tay, you're like my younger brothers. And I believed, that dad planned for us to meet."
"Right. Our Papa Hero." He smiles again, looking relieved and happy.
His gang join us, and he explains to them. I hug them one by one, and they thank me with tears in their eyes.
"Finally, mystery solved! We've been looking for his family for so long, to thank personally." Tay says, after giving me a hug.
"We even showed the hanky to Mr. Elliot, but he ignored it, saying it probably from one of our classmates." Cookie, one of the cutest, with many piercings on his ears says.
One guy talks to me in Korean, doesn't care if I understand him or not. He looks cold and unbothered.
"Sugar said, thank you so much, he owes his life to your dad, and he wants to go home now," Joon says and everyone laughs.
The most cheerful says, "thank you so much, you're my hope. I'm hope."
"And I'm the most handsome among them all," Jin butts in.
"Okay, I agree on that, Jin. Would you like to meet my mom?"
"Yes, yes. We love to meet Mama Hero." Jimmy says, and the gang agrees happily.
YOU ARE READING
Spark Between Us
Romance"My brother is off-limits." Julia strongly warned her. Roxanne has to avoid any feelings to develop for her best friend's brother, Grayson King. But what happens when she works closely with him? Will she give in to that spark between them and let it...
