Heya was beginning to regret her promise to hang out with Shen this evening. Since she had already promised her parents she was going to meet them outside when Liang was inside her room in the morning, she declined Shen's offer to hang out when he asked her but seeing how sad he looked, she promised to hang out with him tonight.

Meeting her parents earlier in the day, it had been the same talk about Liang but she promised them she was already over him which was a big lie and she could tell they knew she was lying. The conversation moved from Liang to Shen. They wanted to know what she thought about him and if she was willing to be his 'special friend' since they all knew his relationship with Suyin who had a very special relationship with Liang.

Shen was a great guy but she really wasn't seeing herself going into a relationship for now, especially with him.

The knock on her door made her stand from her dressing chair. She looked at her reflection for the last time and shrugged indifferently. At least she looked better than she did earlier.

A blue jean trousers, a black turtleneck, a ankle boot, hair let down around her shoulders, mild make up and a little pair of earring in each ear.

When she opened the door, it was Shen standing there surprisingly with a single red rose.

"Hi." He said with a smile as he handed the rose to her.

"You brought this with you for this trip?" She asked as she took it from him. Was he already planning to woo a lady in the ship even before boarding?

"Oh.. no no.. not at all! I just got it." He waved his hands in the air as he explained. "There is a room where really nice flowers are kept. I got it from there."

"I paid for it, of course." He quickly added.

'Just what isn't in this ship?' Heya wondered.

"You look... pretty by the way." He said, his eyes moving from her head to her feet.

She also took note of how he was dressed. It wasn't very different from hers so it made her feel relieved.

He wore a blue turtleneck, blue denim jeans and a simple but classy men's shoe with his hair styled to the back.

"You look good yourself. Oh! And thanks for the rose." She said politely. "I'll just leave it inside and we'll leave."

He nodded and waited outside while she dropped the rose on top of her bed.

"Shall we?" He asked when she came out.

"We shall." She replied with a smile as she locked her door and kept the key card inside the back pocket of her trouser.

"I am glad you are okay. I was really worried about you."

"Sorry for making you worried."

"Do not be silly. I consider you a friend so of course, I should be worried."

"...."

"Did I... push too far?" He stopped walking to ask her. Maybe she didn't think of him as a friend yet? He didn't want to seem too forceful with the friendship and end up pushing her away.

"No.. it's fine. I don't... you know... feel comfortable when people are worried about me."

"And why is that so?"

The conversation went on until they got to the hall.

"Wow! It's crowded. Had no idea they were a lot of young people here."

"Me too." Shen agreed with her. "If you are uncomfortable, we could go somewhere else to—"

"It's fine. A glass of drink wouldn't be a bad idea. Besides, I can always watch those who are dancing. It's fun to watch sometimes."

He looked happy when she agreed to go inside with him.

As they looked around for somewhere to sit, they both saw someone waving at them, and looked ahead to see it was Suyin. She was saying something while waving them over but they couldn't hear her.

"Let's go." Shen said, absentmindedly taking Heya's hand in his to lead her.

Heya wanted to flee. She wanted to disappear immediately she took note of the man sitting beside Suyin but Shen didn't know what was happening, he innocently led her towards the table.

Liang was looking at them. His eyes moved solely to Heya before it went down to their locked hands. Out of impulse, she tried to pull her hand away but maybe Shen didn't notice because he didn't let go of her until they got to the table.

"I'm so glad to see you Li Heya." Suyin stood up and hugged Heya while kissing her cheek like they were best of friends.

"How do you feel now? Do you feel better?"

When Heya saw how concerned Suyin looked for her, she felt guilty in her heart.

"I am good. It was only a mild cold." Heya assured her, trying to smile even though her conscience was pricking her.

She knew how Suyin had been trying to reach out to her since last night. Facing her now was really challenging for her especially when Liang was sitting right there, staring at them.

"Good thing you are here anyway. We can have a double date!" Suyin sounded excited as she pulled Heya to sit across her. Heya wanted to decline joining them. She could not handle sitting directly opposite Liang!

Shen took his seat across Liang, waiting for Heya to join.

Suyin suddenly stopped as if a better idea just occured to her.

"Since it's more like a double date, I think it would make more sense for us to see our significant other's faces."

"Suyin..." Shen called in embarrassment. Heya was far from embarrassed. All she wanted was to leave there. She immediately snapped back to her senses when she saw Suyin sitting beside her brother, directly opposite Liang.

Why did she change seats?

"What is..." Heya started to ask in confusion when Suyin gestured for her to sit beside Liang.

"I think this works best. What do you all think?"

Shen shrugged, he didn't mind. Whatever worked best.

Liang just sipped from his wine glass instead of answering while Heya stared in horror.

Sitting beside him was even worse than sitting across him!

The seats were little and soft sofas which could accommodate two people at most ir maybe three slim people. With how big they both were, it wouldn't be difficult for their bodys to brush against reach other. What was Suyin thinking in that fish brain of hers????? Heya wondered unpleasantly.

Seeing how the siblings were looking at her, she smiled awkwardly and slowly lowered herself beside him.

"I heard from my brother that you agreed to sing during our engagement party? That is so sweet of you." Suyin started the conversation after signaling to a waiter to get to new glasses of wine.

Sing during their engagement party?

The deed had already been done. She could not take it back or undo it. "Well..." Not finding the right 'insincere' words to tell her, she simply forced a smile, glad that the waiter brought the glasses faster than she expected.

"Thank you. Here is a tip." Suyin smiled at the waiter as she tipped him.

Heya could not help but feel jealous. Everytime she saw her, the girl kept reminding her how much of an angel she was. She also looked extremely pretty on the skimpy glittering red dress and gold sandal heel she wore. Heya tried not to look at herself and compare with her.

The next few minutes felt like a torture as Heya kept doing her best to pay attention instead of downing her glass of wine like an alcoholic. The siblings led the conversation. She didn't say much while Liang's presence was almost unnoticeable.

She began to slowly tap her fingers on her lap. It was a gesture she did sometimes when she was nervous. Meanwhile, she kept a smile on her face and tried to laugh whenever the siblings laughed.

Suyin stopped talking and turned to look at Heya. Shen also looked at Heya and asked, "Are you okay?"

Heya realised she had just let out a loud squeak. Her face suddenly felt hot and her eyes were as round and wide as saucers.

Liang's face was still straight. He raised his wineglass with his left hand and sipped from it. Since he was ambidextrous, no one thought it was weird he was suddenly using his left hand. With how nonchalant he looked, one wouldn't be able to tell how he was gripping Heya's hand under the table.

What is he doing? There are people right here! His fiancee is sitting right here! Heya screamed in her head.

She began to panic but whenever she tried to pull her hand away, his hold tightened as if he was indirectly telling her he was never going to let her go.

"Is something wrong?" Shen asked again.

"Uhm.. I... I am o-kay.. I just remembered I was supposed to cut down my alcohol intake. Silly me!" She laughed awkwardly, nor daring to look at Liang.

"Oh. I'm sorry for filling up your glass." Suyin apologized.

"No no no.. it's fine. You had no idea about it. Totally my fault." She gave another awkward laugh.

She felt Liang's hold lessen but he didn't let go. Instead, he locked their fingers together and continued drinking his wine.

'What am I going to do?' She wondered.