2 LA SCALA
Roughly 15 minutes had gone by when the ambulance reached the hospital. Immediately, his parents were rushed to the emergency room.
Noah was left alone with a nurse in the waiting room. The blood on his trousers dried up while he was waiting to see or hear hopeful news about his parents.
While he was waiting, one of the nurses asked him if there were any family members that he could contact.
Unfortunately, Noah had never heard his parents mentioning his cousins, uncles or aunts, the only people he knew were his neighbors.
A Korean family that was quite close to his family. His mother had made sure that he memorized her friend's phone number alongside theirs.
He relayed the number to the nurse and she called.
"What's her name?" The nurse asked while dialing the number.
"Mrs. Kim Aera... or just Sonny." Noah responded.
"Hello, good day. Mrs. Kim Aera?" The nurse intoned, wanting to confirm if she was speaking to the right person.
"Yes, who is this?" For a Korean, Mrs. Kim Aera's accent and English was quite eloquent.
"I'm calling from the Policlinico of Milan…" The nurse proceeded to explain Noah's situation to Mrs. Kim Aera.
Within an hour, Mrs. Kim Aera and her husband arrived in the hospital and joined Noah there. When they arrived, he was already asleep.
Noah's mother and Mrs. Kim Aera treated their selves like sisters. They regarded themselves as family.
His father too was quite close with Mrs. Kim Aera's husband, Mr. Han Haeun. They had similar interests
After waiting for hours, the doctors exited the emergency room with sour expressions.
"How are they?" Mrs. Kim Aera ran towards the doctors and questioned them.
The lead doctor sighed and shook her head.
"I'm sorry, we weren't able to save either of them. Mrs. Martins passed away first. If only they had arrived in the emergency room earlier, we might have had a better chance at saving them." She lamented.
"No," Kim Aera whispered as tears gathered on her eyes and she began crying.
Her husband came forward and held her in his arms, comforting her.
Noah, who was still asleep, was oblivious to the final demise of his mother and father. When he woke up, he realized that he was on a couch in Mrs. Kim Aera's home.
A thin, grey blanket was used to cover him. A minute after he woke up, Noah began crying once again.
Noah was certain that what happened to his parents wasn't imagined nor was it a dream.
Kim Aera heard his cry and rushed to his side to comfort him. She embraced him the same way she would to her son.
"There, there, what's wrong?" She asked with a shaky voice. She too had been crying but she didn't want Noah to see that.
"Where's my Mommy? I want to see my mommy and Daddy!" He sobbed as he requested to see his parents.
His request cut through Kim Aera like a knife, her heart ached for Noah. "I'm sorry little one, your parents have gone to a place, far… far away." She nearly burst into tears while she responded to his request.
"Did my parents die??"
This question broke all the self control Kim Aera had, she let her tears out and held Noah closer to her.
"They died, didn't they?" Noah intoned, at this point he was sure that his parents were no more.
"I'm sorry little one, I'm so sorry." She placed her hand on his head as she sobbed, while Noah placed his head on her shoulder, crying.
…
Time went by quickly, Noah's parents were buried a week after their deaths. The police tried all they could to find the killer, and when they did, they couldn't apprehend or reveal the identity of the person.
They said that the person had some kind of immunity, money.
Mrs. Kim Aera, together with her husband, decided to adopt Noah.
Since that day, Noah have been part of the Han family, although, he didn't change his surname…
…
"Noah." Mr. Hugo called out but received no reply from Noah, he was in a daze at the moment.
"Noah!" He called again, this time he did so alongside a tap on Noah's shoulders.
"Huh, yes, Mr. Hugo?" Noah snapped out of his thoughts.
"Break is almost over and we were just about to get back to work. Are you alright?" Mr. Hugo asked, his concern for Noah could be heard in his voice.
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine, I was just thinking about something."
"Aiii, mes amies, I told you that you work too much. See what it's doing to you, it's making you think too much too!" Mr. Hugo complained.
His complain made Noah and some of the workers around, to chuckle. "Mr. Hugo, I don't think working too much has anything to do with thinking too much. You just want me to take sometime off."
"Oui, you should really do that. Your body has a right over you."
Suddenly, Noah's phone vibrated in his pockets. He rarely got messages or calls because he didn't exactly have someone he could call a friend.
Only his foster family calls or sends messages. Being curious, Noah removed his black Samsung Galaxy S6 from his pocket and viewed the message.
When he was done, he bobbed his head a bit and placed the phone back in his pocket.
"Don't worry Mr. Hugo, very soon, it's going to be hard for you guys to see me." Noah got up and put his gloves back on.
His statement grabbed the attention of the rest of the workers. "What do you mean by that? You are finally going to quit? Ahh, you shouldn't take my words so seriously mes amies. I said take a break, not quit."
Noah walked towards his sledgehammer and picked it up. He raised it and placed it on his shoulder.
"Yes, I'll have to quit. But not because I want to, the university I'm going to attend won't allow it and it's a bit too far." Noah explained.
"You're going to a university!?" Mr. Hugo grinned, clearly happy for Noah.
"Yeah, on scholarship." Noah flexed his shoulders a bit, getting ready to continue throwing his hammer at the wall.
"Which university was fortunate enough to have you?" One of the workers that had been listening in, questioned.
"La Scala." Noah replied shortly. Immediately after he responded, he resumed hitting the wall with his sledge hammer.
Oblivious to the reactions of everyone else that heard his response.
"Heavens above, La Scala?" Mr. Hugo uttered in surprise. He wasn't sure if Noah was lying to them or just messing with their minds. But then again, it wasn't something that Noah was fond of doing.
Not only was Mr. Hugo was stunned by what Noah said, everyone else that heard him call out the name of the university he was going to attend had the same reaction.
Some of them were jealous, some proud, and some of them didn't want to believe it.
"Wait Noah! Wait!" Mr. Hugo went closer and tried to get Noah to stop what he was doing for a minute.
"Yes?"
"You're sure that it is La Scala?" He asked.
"Yes, unless I imagined it." Noah removed his phone from his pocket and showed Mr. Hugo the letter of acceptance that was sent to his email, a few minutes back.
Mr. Hugo snatched his phone from his hand and read the letter. When he was done, he checked the time that the email was sent.
'3 minutes ago.' He read.
"You, aren't you excited that you got admitted into the school!? Your reaction when you were reading the email didn't look like you were excited. You had the same reaction a person would give to a spam message!" He exclaimed.
"Excited? Not particularly, since the day I decided to apply to La Scala, I expected to be accepted." Noah said nonchalantly.
"Hahaha, You cocky boy!!" Hugo laughed and hugged Noah.
"I'm not being cocky, it's just that I am aware of my capabilities."
"Cocky, capabilities, who cares? I am happy for you, mes amies. Tonight, I'll take you out for a drink, I'll take everyone out. Bills on me!!" Mr. Hugo announced.
"Yeah!!!" Everyone that heard his announcement shouted out in excitement.
"Thanks Mr. Hugo, but I don't drink, and I'll prefer to spend the rest of my day on my bed." Noah chuckled.
"Sometimes, I feel like smacking your head, with that sledgehammer in your hands. Kill happiness."
"You mean kill joy, Mr. Hugo?"
"Hahaha!!!" The crowd began laughing.
"Shut the fuck up, mes amies. I told you that it is the English man's language not mine." Mr. Hugo shook his head at Noah.
"Take a correction Hugo, hahaha." Someone amidst the crowd commented.
"He never will, why!?" Another person chipped in.
"Because it is the English man's language!!" They chorused.
Mr. Hugo face palmed himself. "Tell me when you'll be free, I'll buy you lunch or dinner instead." He added as he left to get his tools for work.
