My Last And My Only

Chapter 173: One More Night

By seven in the evening, the café lights had long been switched off.

The aprons were folded away.

The espresso machine sat quiet for the first time all day.

Paolo locked the front door before turning toward everyone with a grin.

"So..."

He jingled a set of keys.

"Who's ready to hear Lindtsey sing?"

Lindtsey nearly laughed.

"You're setting yourself up for disappointment."

"I have unreasonable confidence."

"You've had that since birth."

Angela pointed toward Paolo.

"He's right about one thing."

"What?"

"We're definitely making somebody sing."

Fea immediately looked at Khae.

"There."

"Our newest victim."

Khae stopped mid-step.

"...Why am I involved already?"

"Because you've escaped every karaoke invitation this summer."

"I was working."

"So were we."

"I was... emotionally working."

Angela burst into laughter.

"I don't even know what that means."

"Neither do I," Khae admitted.

"But it sounded convincing."

"It absolutely did not."

The KTV room was louder than the hallway outside.

Someone had already chosen a playlist before everyone had even sat down.

A long table was quickly covered with fried chicken, sisig, nachos, pizza, and pitchers of iced tea.

"...And these."

Paolo proudly placed two buckets of bottled beer on the table.

Khae stared.

"There seems to be... a lot."

"We're celebrating."

"I noticed."

Fea slid into the seat beside her.

"You don't have to drink."

"I wasn't planning to."

Angela raised a bottle.

"More for us."

Khae reached for her iced tea with obvious relief.

"Excellent."

The first hour disappeared into music.

Angela surprised everyone with an incredible voice.

Paolo insisted on singing old OPM classics with dramatic hand gestures.

Fea laughed so hard during one song that she couldn't finish her own verse.

"You skipped half the lyrics."

"I replaced them with confidence."

"That explains everything."