Joreen was just about to enter inside the building when she felt two strong hands on her shoulders, holding her in place.

She impatiently looked up and was surprised to see Li Hoy in his usual mighty and handsome self, staring right at her.

"Did something happen?" He asked, looking back at where she had been sitting with Kyle but Kyle was no longer there. He was guessing he must have done or said something to her to make her look this worried and frantic.

"It's... Reen. She has been gone for an hour. I am worried but I cannot find her alone."

He noticed how worried she really looked and gently squeezed her shoulders.

"Relax. I'll find her for you. You can go rest inside your room." She shook her head stubbornly. There had been a time where her family went out on a little vacation and while thinking Reen was having fun somewhere, she had actually tripped and sprained her ankle and was screaming for help for hours until someone found her.

"Jo? Breathe." He instructed, looking straight into her eyes.

She managed to take in a deep breath and exhaled sharply.

"Feel better now?" He asked but she shook her head instantly. "Not at all. It's late and she should—"

"LUO JOREEN!"

Joreen quickly turned to look beside her and saw Reen walking towards them. Reen's face showed obvious displeasure.

"Reen! You are safe!" She sighed in relief and moved away from Hoy's reach and towards her sister. "You scared me. Where have you be—?"

"What do you think you are doing?" Reen asked before she eyed Hoy. Once upon a time, this same man used to scare her. But when it involved her sister now, she didn't care. Besides, it wasn't like he would do anything to her, especially now when it was quite obvious he had a thing for Joreen.

"If someone took a picture of the both of you again, it's going to badly affect my sister badly." Reen said to Hoy, not trying to hide how displeased she was. She was in big sister mode already and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

"Reen..." Joreen tugged her hand to stop her sister from reacting further but Reen wasn't having any of it. She pulled Joreen with her inside the building.

"That was unnecessary. He was offering to help me find you." Joreen said with a frown.

"He can do that without touching you like that. We cannot deal with another scandal at this point."

"And why were you freaking out? I was only gone for a few minutes."

"You were gone for more than an hour!"

"That long? I didn't know it was that long. I was with this two girls. They seemed so keen on keeping me with them when it was obvious they didn't even like me. It was so annoying. If this was a movie, I would have thought they were probably trying to stall me." She hissed.

"Really?" Joreen thought about it seriously. Was it possible... it was Kyle's doing? She wondered but didn't say anything out to Reen. If Kyle was going to be a big trouble, she would just have to report him to someone she believed would take care of him completely.

********

The next morning was quite cold. Heya found a nice spot and sat by some rocks while she looked at the sea. She made sure to be fully dressed since it was just a few minutes past 6 in the morning and it was still quite cold outside. A lot of people were still asleep while some were busy celebrating Christmas with their families or something. She didn't care about any of that.

She took a moment to seriously think about her life these past few days. Since the day Zhu Liang's mother caught the two of them cuddling inside his room, she had made sure to stay away from him and thankfully, they hadn't bumped into each other at all. As much as she liked the fact that they hadn't bumped into each other, somewhere in her heart, she wished they would meet.

"Merry Christmas."

She heard a voice beside her and turned to see Yan Shen. He smiled at her before keeping his eyes on the ground so the rocks wouldn't trip him.

"Merry Christmas." She greeted back.

Shen wore joggers and a sweater with hoodie which he used to cover his head. On his feet were a pair of sneakers. He looked quite simple for a bigshot basketballer.

He managed to climb to where she was and sat down beside her, looking ahead into the sea.

"You must have a lot on your mind to not hear me coming." He noted without looking at her.

"I guess." She shrugged. She also kept her eyes ahead.

"Any plans for today?" He asked curiously.

"What am I supposed to do in a boring island?" She asked.

"Well... there is going to be some kind of Chrismas party out here, bonfire, fireworks, cookies and barbeques. Maybe it wouldn't be as boring as you think?"

She hadn't bothered to read the pamphlet she saw in her room. After dinner last night, she went to bed and woke up quite early this morning. Not knowing what else to do, she decided to come out here. So maybe all those were written on the pamphlet, but she didn't care.

"What are you doing out here by the way?" She turned to ask him curiously.

"I am an early riser. I actually wanted to use the gym but surprisingly, it was quite full so I decided to come out here and then I found you." He smiled at her but she kept looking ahead.

"It must be difficult being an athlete right? You always need to be in shape." She noted.

"Not so difficult. Once you get used to it, you find out it becomes quite easy. A lot of people use the gym. Those people inside the room just now, I can swear a bulk of them aren't athletes."

"Are you trying to convince me to hit the gym?" She asked, turning to look at him.

He realised she was joking so he laughed. "Anything the princess wants. But in case you need a coach or guide or whatever, I'll be happy to help."

"I'll keep that in mind." She said distractedly.

The two didn't say anything else and just looked ahead until he cleared his throat and began to speak again,

"What do you think about leading a Christmas Carol tonight? It would be fun."

"I am not interested." She declined without bothering to look at him. He noticed she looked very distracted but he kept trying.

"What about singing just a Christmas song?"

"Still not interested."

"What about having dinner with my family tonight?"

"Still not intere—" She paused and turned to look at him. Did he just ask her to have dinner with his family?

"I.. don't understand." She said, looking a little confused.

"It's Christmas. Just wondering... if you would love to join my family for dinner before the Christmas party tonight?"

"Why?" She asked before adding, "As... what? I mean, what am I going there as?" She asked.

He looked a bit flustered by her question but he shrugged, "As... a friend? My friend."

She just stared at him for a few seconds before she turned to look at the gentle waves.

"I'm sorry." She said apologetically. "That's... too much you are asking of me."

It wasn't up to a week ago that she made up her mind to not have anything to do with boys but here was one, wanting her to have dinner with his parents disguising as his friend. Maybe what Suyin had said was correct. Maybe he wasn't just friendly to her because he was generally friendly to people.

When Shen still didn't say anything, she spoke, "I'm sorry but... I just... the thing is..."

"I get it." He said with a sigh.

"I don't want you to feel pressured. Besides, we haven't known each other for long. I'm sorry for asking in the first place—"

"Uhm.. no. It's just... so complicated.." She said with a sigh. She hadn't known Shen for a long time, but she could tell he was a nice person, considerate, a gentleman and he was respectful not just to her but to others. Maybe if she wasn't having a lot of issues in her life, she would have been swept off her feet by him but....

"I know there is someone else." He said, making her snap her head to the side to look at him.

"No need looking so surprised." He forced a smile. "It wasn't hard to know."

Heya's heart literally stopped. Did he know just that or did he also know who the 'someone else' was? She waited for him to at least say something about the person but when he didn't mention anything else and just kept staring into the sea, she guessed he knew nothing else and secretly sighed in relief.

"We can be friends at least, right?" He asked hopefully.

"No pressure still. I do not like to force people against their will." He added.

"Friends... is fine." She nodded. There was no problem in being friends with him. At least, she had sorted this one out.

"I'll return to my room now. I need to freshen up." She said before standing up to leave.