It was the middle of the day when Thanya was watching a movie with her aunt. She turned her head when she heard the sound of someone knocking on the door. She guessed it must be Hansen or Monica. Monica would drop by and update her on how her students were doing. Thanya took leave from work to recuperate, until she was fully healed. Hansen would drop by to spend time with Thanya, and continually try to convince her to marry him.
She enjoyed the tricks he would play and the gifts he would leave, and every time she was close to saying "yes" all over again. What kept her from changing her answer was Dan. She never forgot what happened that day, and she doubted she ever would. She knew that Dan Hayworth would never accept her and that would be hard. She knew that once she married Hansen, she'd be marrying his family too.
"I got it," said Sandy as she walked towards the door.
When she came back, Monica was right behind her. Monica walked to her friend and kissed her on the cheek hello. In her hands was a bag, containing all the handmade cards Thanya's students had made for her. Every single one had glitter or paint on it. It was adorable to see the creative drawings her students would make. It was both touching and heartwarming.
"What are you doing today?" asked Monica.
Thanya sighed and said, "Not much."
"Let's go out tonight," said Monica in a chipper tone.
She then turned to Sandy and said, "You should come as well. It will be fun."
"I don't feel like going out right now, or any time soon," said Thanya as she looked down at where her legs used to be.
Monica walked over to her and bent down beside her friend. She grabbed her hand and gently squeezed it. Thanya looked at the woman who had been a best friend and sister to her. She was so grateful to have this woman in her life. She helped out a lot since Thanya and Hansen came back from Alabama.
"Honey, we are going out to celebrate the fact that you're still alive," Monica said.
Thanya smiled and nodded to agree with her friend. She knew that was a good reason, and how lucky she was to still be alive. After she woke up in the hospital, Hansen filled her in on what happened. There weren't many survivors from the crash, and it hurt Thanya to hear that. She felt very blessed to be alive. "Okay. Can you help me get changed?" Thanya said.
Monica nodded and said, "Of course! Do the same for me when I'm old and wearing adult diapers in my eighties."
Thanya laughed as Monica wheeled her to the room to get ready. Thanya didn't really feel like dressing up, since this would be the first time in a long time since she had gone out of the house to do something special. Monica helped her get dressed in a simple maxi dress that was easy for Thanya to wear. She put Thanya's hair up in a messy bun, which still looked good on her. Thanya applied mascara and nude lipstick to keep it simple.
"Where are we going?" asked Thanya, as Monica was wheeling her towards Sandy's new wheelchair-accessible SUV.
"There's an event going on and I'm sure you're going to love it!" said Monica, as Sandy opened the car door for them.
45 Minutes Later
"Oh? This is the same place that the school had the fundraiser," said Thanya as they pulled up to the destination.
"Yup! I received three tickets for us to go for free. I'm glad you both said yes," said Monica.
After Sandy parked the car and all the women were out, Thanya saw a huge amount of people at what she assumed was the entrance. She could hear the bustling of children, laughter, and people clapping on the other side of the gate.
There were so many people that it was practically blocking them from seeing what was inside.
Thanya felt nervous about people seeing her and being out in public. She was glad that Sandy and Monica were with her. If she had her way, she would be back home in her living room munching on junk food, hiding from the world. She wasn't ready to go out, but she was positive it was a good thing she did. She knew she had to do this.
When she got to the entrance she overheard a conversation between two local women in line. One of them had long, dark brown hair and the other had light brown, wavy hair.
"What is this event for, Daisy?" asked the woman with the dark hair.
"It's going to be great, Hoku! A man is doing a fundraiser for the woman he loves," said Daisy.
Thanya couldn't help herself as she listened in on their conversation. Monica and Sandy didn't tell her what type of event this was.
"Ahhh, but what type of fundraiser?" asked Hoku, as they handed their ticket to the man to get in.
"It's going to be an auction. Apparently she lost her legs in an airplane accident and he's raising money to get her the best prosthetic legs money can buy," Daisy said with a dreamy sigh, right before they walked away.
Thanya felt her heart stop and her eyes watering up. She felt someone's hand on her shoulder. She looked up and it was her Aunt Sandy's hand. Thanya looked at her aunt's face and saw tears threaten to fall as well. Every single one of them was touched by the heartwarming event.
"The lengths this man will go to get you down the aisle," Monica joked with a chuckle.
Both women chuckled and looked around as soon as they got in. Thanya was shocked at the amount of people who were at the event. There were many faces she recognized. She saw Jim and his family, coworkers from the school, some of her students and their families.
"Aloha, ladies and gentlemen! My name is Kekoa! Mahalo nui for coming to the fundraiser!" said a man's voice.
Thanya looked where it was coming from, and it was the same man who was the emcee for their fundraiser. The way everything started off was the same too. They auctioned off the female lifeguards and then the males. Throughout the whole event, Thanya had yet to see Hansen.
"All right, everyone, now we're going to bring out one last man to auction off," said the emcee.
The women in the crowd cheered. Thanya laughed when she saw Hansen come behind the corner. He looked exactly how he did when she first met him. He was dressed in red lifeguard swim shorts and walked out, smiling at the crowd. Thanya was so happy to see him, but couldn't help but feel jealous when she knew other women were about to bid for him too.
As the emcee was reading off the card that had "fun facts" about Hansen, bids were already being shouted. The amount got high real quick. It had reached up to a thousand dollars. Thanya was both happy and sad. This meant she was close to getting her prosthetic legs. She was also sad that she might just lose him to another woman.
A beautiful woman in a blue dress shouted, "$2,300!"
Thanya looked at her and was not going to let Hansen go on a date with this woman. It was amusing at how she was about to start bidding on her ex-fiancé, a man who she had broken up with not long ago. She watched as the bids got higher and higher. It was the woman in blue who kept going. The woman looked like she was here on vacation, and was ready for a fun night with Hansen.
"$2,900!" shouted the woman again.
"Why aren't you bidding?" asked a woman's voice that Thanya recognized. Thanya looked to the side and saw Belle.
"Mrs. Hayworth!" Thanya said with surprise. "You're here too? I thought you and your husband went back home."
Dan followed right behind her in his wheelchair and stopped right by Thanya.
"No, we're here for two more weeks," said Dan.
Thanya looked at him and said, "Hello Mr. Hayworth."
"Like my wife asked earlier, why aren't you bidding too?" asked Dan.
"I don't have that kind of money, Mr. Hayworth. Besides . . . Hansen and I broke up," said Thanya. Thanya looked down.
Dan pulled something out of his coat pocket and handed it to Thanya. This was the money that Dan was going to use to purchase prosthetic legs for himself. Thanya looked down at what he was holding and it was a $7,000 check with her name on it. He grabbed Thanya's hand and put the check in it. He looked at her and gently smiled. He was willing to give up his chance of walking again in order to make Hansen happy.
"Miss Lan, my son is a man that never gives up on a stubborn woman," Dan said to Thanya.
Thanya chuckled and shed a tear. She knew that this exact moment was such a big deal. This man, who was prejudiced against Asians, had given her money to bid on his son - the son that he didn't want dating her. He did not like Thanya at all, so for him to do this was a big step in the right direction.
She realized that.
She then turned to the stage and shouted, "$4,000!"
Everyone looked at her to see who the new bidder was. Hansen looked down and winked when he saw Thanya. He gave a charming smile, which caused Thanya to blush. Hansen grabbed the mic from the emcee. He was really hoping that no one else would bid, because the woman that he wanted to marry was the only woman he wanted to go home with.
People looked at the woman in the blue and watched as she looked at Thanya, annoyed. She made a dismissive motion to the emcee signaling that she wasn't going to outbid Thanya.
"$4,000 going once!" shouted Kekoa.
"$4,000 going twice!" Kekoa shouted again.
"SOLD to the wahine with the watery eyes," said the emcee as he pointed at Thanya.
People laughed and clapped, as Hansen got off the stage and walked over to her.
"I'm going to give you a day to remember," said Hansen as he bent down in front of Thanya.
He kissed her on the forehead and pulled back to see her smile.
That night was a huge success. They raised over $20,000 dollars from the auction and from the games booths that were set up all around the event.
Hansen not only succeeded in raising the money for her prosthetic legs, but also for his next plan. He was determined to win this woman back.