บท 41: 41 - Henriette
Henriette's voice sounded different from what I was used to hearing. She technically pronounced my nickname, but I felt zero affection coming from her mouth. That hurt me, especially when I could remember vividly how singsonged my name in her melodious voice. How she shouted my name with feigned anger as I turned up thirty minutes late to a rehearsal. I loved to hate it when she extended my name just to piss me off.
I had lost that friend today, and her voice informed me she wouldn't come back easily. I swallowed my saliva. My legs shook in apprehension, "I was a good friend to you. That's a good enough reason not to kill me."
I wasn't convinced myself. But...you always have to give it a shot, you know. And that's what I did. But I wasn't sure what I was doing.
Henriette answered me with a monotonous voice, "Traitors are not counted within my friends. I never told you anything about stealing my bra, because you weren't hurting anyone. But we're not talking about tutu nor pointes shoes. We're talking about the assassination of human beings," She was screaming now, "You kill people for a living, Yoh Song-ho!"
Her words were as sharp as a frozen bullet hitting my nape. It was as if she already shot me. Her words penetrated deeply in my skin.
She was right. I killed people for a living. I killed Francis. I did the same thing I accused Boss' of. I was the same as her now. All of the hatred I poured on the criminal organization fell back on me.
I could see my dead Mom accusing me, front her hanging rope, of being the shameful son I swore I'd never become.
I turned toward Henriette, "I'm not like this anymore! I don't want to do anything like this anymore. And... You should understand, you killed my comrades. You've killed people too."
She spat her words this time, "We're not the same!" She raised her weapon and headed it toward the top of the skull.
I can't die here! Adrenaline pulsed through my body and ordered me to move, to save myself. I reached toward her gun.
The metallic object, shining because of the sun, burned my eyes. That's why Henriette took advantage of it to kick her knee into my stomach.
"You're a criminal. For the sake of the greater good, you must die."
I held my belly, "But you love Song the dancer. You know I was honest when I talked about my dreams."
Henriette came near me, her weapon still ready to shoot me between my two eyes, "That's not true, you're lying! If it was true... why was I fighting ?"
I was on the floor, weakened by all those hits from the people I called my friends. Now Jieung-yong hated me to death, and Henriette was seeing me as some sort of a subhuman. My stomach turned in pain, and I wanted to ball it out right now.
Mom... I was all alone now. No one would sing be my lullaby about ballerinas taking moon baths, "Please..."
Henriette frowned, diverted her gaze from me, and hit me on the temple with the back of her gun.
I supported myself on the object that was nearest to me, a pole. I leaned on it as I stood back. Henriette wouldn't kill me, right?
The back of her weapon was now dripping in my blood. It colored the metal object and the hand gripping it with a darker tint. I would have never thought those tender and stroking hands would end up harming me so much.
Henriette kept lowering her face, so I couldn't know what expression she had. I could only see tears flowing, "Tell me the truth! Who are you exactly? And who is Nadi... That's not her real name, isn't it?"
"What do you mean..."
"Nadine Ndongo. Who is she? I'm pretty sure she's not your flatmate, huh? Tell me. Who was that woman? Who was the one I fell so hard with?"
She deserved to know the truth. I moaned and laid my forehead on a pole, trying to suppress the bulging pain in my right temple. Then, I told her. She would have known sooner or later anyway.
As soon as I revealed the true identity of Nadine Ndongo, Boss of the Parisian mob, she threw her gun on the ground and held her skull. She shouted and screamed, asking 'Why, Nadi?' for a seemingly endless amount of time.
"I'm sorry. But that doesn't mean you have to choose between your couple and your job," I said, panting.
She stopped ruffing her red hair and glanced at her firearm as if she realized I could snatch it from her. She picked.it up aimed it at me, "You criminals, you hurt innocent citizens. You rob, kill, and rape, all of that for personal gains. I should have known it was her when Mr. Chauvel died a week after I revealed his identity...Nadi lied to me the whole time!"
I bowed to her, "I don't agree with you! Bos- Miss Ndongo suffered, like almost everyone in our organization! I can't agree with what she did either, but you have to know we're as broken as you."
The arm gripping the barrel was shaking, "I can't understand why she had to become a criminal. Things could have been done to avoid this. I could have helped her."
I stood up. I could remember Miss Ndongo patting my head in the Hologram Hallway and telling me she never had a choice. That's when I had a brilliant idea! if the two women sat down and talked, they could surely understand each other, "Ask her directly why."
She stopped crying, "I didn't allow you to speak, criminal."
Her words didn't weigh on me anymore. How could I have been afraid? I shouldn't have doubted my friend, "You're saying that criminals are subhumans compared to people with clean records but..." I sighed, "You can't actually kill me."
Her face frowned with rage, "You insulting brat!" And she pressed her barrel on my forehead. She glared at me and clenched her teeth. She then furrowed her brows and panted, as her arm shook.
She was not really going to do it, that wasn't in her personality. Everything was alright. Even as I thought that, my heartbeats got faster. I tried hard to remain visibly unbothered when all parts of my body wanted to shake and run, "You don't want this, Henri. I'm sure of it."
Her arms were shaking more violently than mine. It was trembling so much I could see her jacket jiggle, "I... I can..."
She put her weapon in her vest, "I can't do it, Song."
My shoulders relaxed and my forehead was dripping with liquid. I was sweating from the beginning?
Henriette was staring at the ground. Well, she wasn't technically staring, because her eyes seemed to be lost in her thoughts.
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