When Nick paid for the third time, she refused for the third time, and Nick stopped taking her to the restaurant for dinner. Instead, he took her to his mother's house, and his mother made a Hawaiian storm. After Abby ate, Nick felt that it was not like a fool to invite her to Hawaii as the first place. He knew that she could not afford the cost and knew that she would not accept his offer, but he still invited her selfishly.
Nick hopes Abby sees his new things here now. He grew up in Hawaii, and sometimes he forgets to appreciate the beauty there. In general, whenever he is with Abby, he feels more grateful. He tried to appreciate the pineapple field. He tried to look at them with the eyes Abby would use. It didn't work. In his opinion, these things are as boring and ordinary as ever. He turned off the voice in his head, closed his eyes, and listened to Melody's chattering about this person and that person. Her voice is familiar, everything about her is familiar. On the way home, she chatted endlessly.
"Here we are," Mel announced that he was driving into the roundabout.
"Wow, you painted," Nick said.
"Like it?"
"It looks good," Nick said, although he prefers brown, it used to be.
In Nick's memory, it has always been brown. Today, it is yellow. The house is a beautiful local style house, the kind built on stilts. It looks like it grows directly from the fertile brown land by the sea, shaded by palm trees. The stilts are like slender brown legs, the house is like a skirt, and all precious property is rolled up, away from the threat of the waves.
Dad and Uncle Hee, his mother's brother, built it. On the day of completion, his father proposed to his mother on the porch of the brown house.
Now it becomes yellow. It will take some time to adapt.
"Hey, brother," Frank walked towards the jeep arrogantly. "Give me a hug, you big fat man."
Nick opened the door and walked into Frank's long-awaited embrace. When he was with Frank, he felt complete.
"What to eat?" Nick said.
Frank carried Nick's luggage with one hand, and they followed the leader up the steps, first Frank, then Mel, and finally Nick.
"Nicole!" His little Hawaiian mother put her arms around him, hugging him as tightly as she could. "Come in, come in, I have prepared so much food for you. You are too skinny, baby. When will you move back in so I can fatten you?"
"I know what you did to Francis, mother. It's not my style."
Frank rubbed his once flat belly. "I'm eating for two people." He took out a bottle of beer from the refrigerator and handed it to Nick. "You wait. When you get married
"Nicole will never get married," said Mel, "he is a bachelor through and through. Right, Nick?"
"Oh, be quiet." Nicole's mother covered her ears. ""I do not want to hear. Niko has many beautiful, round children in his future
Later that day, the three of them, Nick, Frankie and Melody, found themselves on the beach.
The sand is warm on Nick's feet, and the sun is warm on his face. He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
He listened to Frankie and Melody's conversation. He knew he was eavesdropping, but he felt he had the right to do so. After all, it was Mel and Frank. He is part of them, and they are also part of him.
Frankie is a professional surfer. He and Nick have been surfing since they were young. Put salt water in their blood or something.
One Christmas, Frank wanted a new surfboard, even though his old surfboard was just right, and Nick wanted a camera. His mother bought them surfboards first-Frank and Nick. Nick had to wait a whole year before the next Christmas, so that his mother could save enough money to buy a camera for each of them. Frank's camera was kept in its original box and had not been moved. It hadn't been moved for a long time before Nick broke the camera. He replaced the broken camera with Frank's new camera. He covered Frank's permanent marker name with Batman stickers. In fact, he puts the Batman sticker around the whole thing, so it won't look suspicious. The Batman sticker has only one corner. As far as Nick knew, Frank never knew.
Frank's professional surfing career ended with a broken neck. There is still a week before the North Shore competition, and the three of them go surfing as usual. A storm has just passed, and the waves are heavy. They are kind of too good.
Nick didn't see Frank fall. He was lying on the beach, basking in the sun. The last time he ran very well, he lay on a towel, let the sun dry him, closed his eyes and closed his mind.
Melody's scream made him realize something was wrong. He knew everything he needed to know from her voice, and his body came out when she heard the second "Nico! Help!"
Nick is a master swimmer, better than Frankie, and Frankie is a master swimmer.
When Nick arrived at Melody. She cried and said, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" over and over again. Tears flowed down her cheeks, and her body trembled violently. Frank is gone. His surfboard floated to the shore without passengers.
Melt out of breath, he leaned over again to look for Frank. When she came forward, the water choked her and made a hissing noise. She can't breathe. She opened her eyes in panic. She coughed and coughed, and she inhaled bluntly, but couldn't breathe into her lungs.
Nick dived into the water and swam desperately. He opened his eyes in the salt water, and his eyes were burned. With each stroke, he pulled himself lower and lower. He saw Frankie's shorts first. Purple sè. When he felt Frank's leg with his fingertips, his lungs were already burning. His vision began to narrow. He knew that if neither of them could return to shore, then neither of them would return.
He has no opinion on this. He crossed his hands and pulled Frank's leg towards him. Before he could react, Frankie had gotten into his arm. He raised his head sharply. He exhausted all his strength, kicking and pulling. He came to the surface and took a breath. Alone fully armed, he swam back to the shore and dragged Frank's heavy, feeble body. His arm was burning. His lungs were burned. His leg was burned.
"Nicole, he doesn't breathe anymore," Mel said, paddling the water behind them.
Nick stopped, holding Frank's head against his chest, half floating on the water. Melody exhaled into Frank's mouth. Nick treads water.
After every two breaths, she said, "It's no use. But she continued, Nico tried to get Frank's mouth out of the water so that Mel could approach. It was much harder than he thought. This is the best he has ever done. Hard things.
Nick felt a violent tremor in Frank's chest, and with a cough, water came out of his mouth and nose. Nick hugged him and Frank kept coughing until he stopped coughing, but breathed weakly.
Nick dragged them to the shore. He carried his brother on his back and put him on the water. He ran to get their things and took out the phone from his backpack. There was no worship service where he stood. Nick picked up the phone and ran to the beach desperately until he saw a signal on the phone.
He called 911. The ambulance whistled the Jǐng whistle and came. The medical staff found them.
"It took you a long time," Nick said, but they arrived soon, and Nick knew it. He just has nothing else to say.
Brett is one of the paramedics. He goes to high school with Nick and Frank. He understands. He drove there as fast as he could. For Nick and Frank, he was willing to do everything.
"Where is he?" Brett asked.
They ran along the beach together. Mel knelt next to Frank. She wrapped him in a towel. She was still shaking.
The paramedics strapped Frank to a stretcher and hurried back to the ambulance.
Brett gave Mel a jacket, but she kept shaking. Nick sat on the bench in the ambulance, without a shirt, no shoes, only sweatpants. He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned his head forward. The paramedics helped Frank by saying things that Nick couldn't hear or remember.
Frank was dragged out of the ambulance by the hospital staff and crashed into the hospital door through corridor after corridor. It was too fast for Nick to keep up. Nick walked into the emergency room and tried to keep up with Frank. barefoot. lose the way.
After Frank was handed over to the attendant in the emergency room, Brett found him.
"...Mom..." Brett said, and Nick couldn't understand what he was talking about.
"What?" Nick said.
"You should call your mother," Brett repeated. "If you want, I can call her."
Nick circled aimlessly.
"Here you are," Brett said, handing Nick a cell phone.
Nick called. He didn't know what he was talking about. He just remembered the sound of his mother's screaming. He will never forget the despair and pain in her voice.
Later, as soon as Frank's condition stabilized, every machine in the hospital was connected to a power source, and a white blanket reached his chin. not moving at all. still. They crowded around him like a campfire. Except they feel cold. Mom, Nick, and Mel are still wearing Justin’s jackets, and they stay vigil together.
Later, when Frank got better, he could walk. They would laugh at Frank's near-death experience, shake their heads at the fact that a promising professional surfing career had sunk before it even started, and comfort him that he could have been an amazing person. When I think of what my mother almost lost, tears will flow from her eyes, and Frankie will say, "Oh, mother, am I okay?"
Frankie is more than okay. Frankie is still great. He has a great job. He married Mel. They will have children soon.
Somewhere deep in Nick's mind, he knew that watching Mel was ill and watching Frank, at that moment he lost her and Frank won her. Nick never allowed himself to admit this, nor did he allow himself to express it in words, but he knew this in his heart. He has no opinion. Frank is the better of the two, and Mel deserves the best. (To be continued) (End of this chapter)