When Malama Na Keiki O'Waianae Elementary started working on their new playground, days passed and it was a success. All they had left to do was to finish the landscaping. There were some volunteers who offered to help with it. All help was appreciated, especially Hansen Hayworth. He was a man all women were glad came to help.
Hansen would come after dropping the girls off at home from school. He had gained experience in landscaping by working for his uncle's company back in Alabama. It was a great way for him to earn some side money during high school. He would come after work dressed in dirty jeans, and a plain, old T-shirt. Sometimes the weather would be scorching hot, causing many of the men to sweat a lot faster. Sometimes, Hansen would take his shirt off while he worked.
All the women, including employees and relatives of the students, would take their time leaving the premises. They all enjoyed watching him work. They practically drooled at the sight of him. No one could blame them - Hansen was a purebred type of man. He was very chiseled and had the body of a Greek god.
They could see how fit he was, but no one could see that he was in love. Everyone assumed he was still single. Thanya and Hansen had yet to be open about being in a relationship. The only one who knew was Monica. Hansen didn't want everyone to think he was single. He wanted people to know that Thanya was his. He felt like a winner and he knew he was. He was a very lucky man to have her in his life.
Thanya on the other hand, was not ready for everyone to know yet. She didn't like it when people were nosy and knew every single thing she did. She only told people who she was close to and trusted, like her Aunt Sandy, Monica, and a close friend from college named Akita.
All the other men working on the landscaping, were a bit jealous of Hansen. They saw how much the women fawned over him. Even so, the men knew how good of a man he was, and they got along with him, especially two of the local guys who worked for the landscaping company.
One of them was a big Samoan man named Bubba Amosa. He had short black hair and a Hawai'ian tribal tattoo that went around his left arm. The other was a skinny Hawai'ian man named Poké Figaroa. Both of the men had thick Pidgin accents.
(Pidgin is the name of the slang in Hawai'i.)
As Hansen was putting a plant in one of the open holes along the playground, Bubba and Poké were doing the same thing on the other side of the playground, an area that was closer to the entrance of the school. Hansen was too busy working - he didn't notice the women staring at him.
As Bubba was working on putting a plant in a hole, Poké tapped him on the shoulder.
"Psst!" whispered Poké, as he faced Bubba. "Don't look now, but da wahines stay checking you out." He nodded behind Bubba.
Bubba stopped what he was doing and looked behind him, seeing a group of ladies staring at him. They were grinning and twirling their hair around their fingers. They were staff members and other women he assumed to be relatives of the kids attending the school. Bubba never saw himself as a handsome man, but that changed. He was feeling like a champ - maybe if he was lucky, he'd end up getting one of the ladies' numbers.
"Brah! I told you not to look," Poké said, rolling his eyes, and emphasizing the word "not."
Bubba stood up and exclaimed "You know what? I just started going on a diet." He patted his huge belly, "It must be working," he said, surprised.
"When did you start going on diets?" Poké asked, with a raised eyebrow.
"Since yesterday," said Bubba.
"It worked fast! You know what? I knew there was something different about you today," Poké said, surprised.
Poké was known for not being too bright, but he was still fun to have around. Plus, he was great at his job. Bubba wasn't too bright either, and practically listened to everything Poké would tell him. Bubba looked proud of himself. He couldn't believe it was working this fast. If he knew it was this easy, then he would have started his diet a long time ago.
"Nah, they're looking at you, and not me," Bubba said doubtingly.
Poké shook his head "Brah, those wahines are definitely at you." Poké then put the plant into the hole.
(Wahine means women/woman in Hawai'ian)
Bubba bent back down to fill the hole with dirt, and sneaked another peek at the women watching him. His grandma always called him handsome, but that's just what grandmas always said to their grandkids, so he never took her word seriously. Today changed that.
"Take your shirt off and start flexing. Pretend you don't see the wahines looking at you." Poké said to Bubba.
"Why?" Bubba asked skeptically.
"Trust me. It'll make you look more cooler!" Poké said assuringly.
"Do it like how they do it in the movies. The chicks are checking you out now. Imagine how crazier they'll get when your shirt is off." Poké said, while grinning.
"Okay." Bubba, as always, listened to whatever Poké said, and started to take his shirt off. "Aye Hawai'ian!" cheered Poké.
The cheer he got from Poké and knowing that the ladies were watching him made him feel attractive. He looked at the women watching him and saw their dropped jaws, thinking to himself, this must be a good thing. It influenced Bubba to go even further with the show that he was putting on.
He looked towards Poké and whispered, "What now?"
Poké looked around him and saw a water bottle. He grabbed it and tossed it towards Bubba and said, "Pour this on your head. Do it like how they do it in the movies, when they're trying to be sexy."
"Okay," replied Bubba, as he poured the water on his head.
"Good! Now whip the hair! Whip the hair brah!" encouraged Poké, shaking his head, as if he was whipping his hair back and forth from side to side.
"Rajah!" replied Bubba.
(Rajah means an agreement in Pidgin.)
Bubba poured the water over his head, and did exactly what Poké told him to do. He heard the gasps of the women watching him, turned to them and winked. He turned back to Poké and saw Poké giving him a thumbs up. He felt like he was a sexy man moving in slow motion, like being in that iconic scene of Baywatch with the lifeguard running on the beach.
"Hey!" shouted someone.
Bubba and Poké turned toward whoever was calling them and saw Mrs. Kim walking toward them. She did not look happy. Bubba quickly stopped what he was doing and Poké quickly went back to work. When she stopped right in front of the two men, she put her hands on her hips and scowled at them both.
"We're not looking for a Chippendale's show!" she whispered in an angry tone. Her back faced the school, hiding her expression.
Poké choked on his laugh, and turned to see the principal looking at him with a scowl on her face. He quickly turned back to what he was doing and pretended he had no idea what she was talking about. The last thing he ever wanted was to be in trouble, but he didn't regret what they did. He always liked having fun.
"Sorry," Bubba said, embarrassed.
"Now, put your shirt back on!" she said, scowling.
Bubba turned to Hansen and saw that his shirt was off too, though Hansen wasn't playing around and instead, was working. Even though Bubba was playing around, he at least wanted to keep his shirt off. It was a hot day, and he was sweating so much, that he'd have to change into another shirt just because the one he was wearing was practically soaked with sweat, even before he took it off.
He pointed his thumb behind him and said, "What about braddah over there? He doesn't have his shirt on," gesturing at Hansen.
Mrs. Kim replied, "I was about to talk to him about it too, after handling both of you."
She was lying. She wouldn't admit it, but she enjoyed the view too. She wasn't oblivious to how attractive Hansen was, so she never bothered him whenever he took off his shirt - she liked watching him work.
"Fine," said Bubba, as he put on his shirt and got back to work.
Mrs. Kim nodded her head, and headed toward Hansen.
"Mr. Hayworth, do you—" said Mrs. Kim, before Hansen cut her off.
"Mr. Hayworth is my father," Hansen said, shaking his head. "Call me Hansen, please," Hansen chuckled.
Mrs. Kim said, "Okay." She then chuckled. "Hansen, can you put your shirt back on? There're parents here, and they—" Mrs. Kim didn't get to finish, before Hansen interjected again.
"Say no more," Hansen said, understanding.
He smiled and grabbed his shirt to slip it back on. Mrs. Kim was grateful, because she didn't know what excuse she would have to come up with. After all, she never bothered him before, so she didn't know what she would have said. She was glad he did it without waiting for a reason. Mrs. Kim then walked away, and headed back toward the school. She saw the group of women watching Hansen.
"Okay, ladies. Show's over," she said sternly.
The ladies groaned, annoyed that she told Hansen to put his shirt back on. Everyone scattered and went home, or back to their classrooms to clean up. While this was going on, Thanya was still in her classroom and had a great view of the area where the playground was. She stayed inside, instead of going out to watch her boyfriend. She smiled, just thinking about the fact that he was now her boyfriend.
Feeling that he was being watched, and that he knew who it was, Hansen looked toward Thanya's classroom and saw her watching him. He gave her a grin and winked. To everyone else, he took off his shirt because he was hot, but honestly, he did it not only for that reason, but also because he knew that Thanya was watching him work with his shirt off.
He's slowing chipping at her walls, and it's working. Hansen, was going to break her walls down. She was his, whether she knew it or not. Hansen would win her heart and soul.