"Bea loved those gifts, you know?" I said to Brandon, walking back to our room from the new room Bea was in. "Her face showed it."

"I can't take all the credit. Most was from your mom, my mom and Bea's mom. These three have been meeting too much for any of us to like. Next thing we know we all will be on holiday trips together," he murmured, casually brushing the back of his hand with mine.

"Why? Don't you like that?" I asked, grazing my fingers with his in return.

"No, I hate that." He made a sour face, but then looked at my unbelieving expression and stammered to explain himself. "I-I don't want Liam and Seth to be there."

"Huh?"

"You won't understand." He shook his head, but I narrowed my eyes at him, demanding explanation.

"You sure don't want to tell?" I smirked. When I didn't get a reply from him, I grabbed his arm to make him stop walking.

"What?" He widened his eyes and gulped when I lazily trailed my fingers up and down his arm. I stopped around his elbow, encircling my fingers around it. His other hand touched mine, but I pried it away, giving a little pout and fluttering my eyeslashes.

Brandon looked at me in a complete trance, and I held in my laughter to not to ruin the effect. His eyes darted around and once he confirmed we were alone, he whispered, "Fine, I don't want them to come, be-because I want it to be only us."

He at once pulled his hand away from my grasp and turned around. His ears turning bright red at his admission. I stood there, frozen. Unable to believe what Brandon had just said. He wanted it to he only us?

By the time I took it in, he was five steps ahead of me. I ran to catch up and grabbed him by the elbow, twisting his body towards me. His face was red, and it really looked like he was regretting answering my question. Well, there was only one way of making him not regret it, wasn't it?

I stood up on my toes and craned my neck towards him. Wrapping my hands around his neck, I meant to kiss his cheek. But Brandon got on fast and turned his head the moment before my lips would touch his cheek.

Our lips pressed together, and I widened my eyes, disengaging my arm from his neck to slap his arm. He caught it midair and held it up there. He leaned further down, making me go back on the balls of my feet. His lips not letting go of my lips. His fingers intertwined with mine, and I took a step back, overcame by his sudden attack.

One hand cupped my face and the other hand slid behind me to my back, closing the distance between the two of us in a swoosh. My body was a total jelly mess under him as I felt all the good things in the world.

"Tyler!" A voice shouted out from behind me, breaking me from my trance. Someone pulled me away from Brandon with a sudden jerk, and I stumbled back.

My feet imbalanced, and Brandon caught my hand, saving me from falling. I felt another hand on my back, politely pushing me away, if that was a thing.

The person stalked away from me and towards Brandon, his hand swished back and went forward with momentum, connecting with Brandon's jaw. Next movement was a blur as Brandon's single kick to Francis's knees knocked him down in one sweep.

Francis fell on his butt, and Brandon looked on with an amused expression. He rubbed his jaw a little, then tapped it, then a little harder, breaking out into a small laugh.

"Dude, I called you 'French Stick' but seriously do you call that a punch? I am disappointed in you, Tyler." Brandon grabbed Francis's right hand and pulled him up.

"Huh? Me?" I looked around, still with a weak case of knees and heart after the kiss. Francis winced when Brandon clapped his back a little too hard and I took this as my cue to intervene.

"Never mind," Brandon cut me off. He smirked and turned towards Francis who looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Brandon? I-I thought someone else--" Francis looked between the two of us, giving a dejected sigh. "When did you come to Singapore?"

"This morning." Brandon pulled me towards him and draped his over my shoulder. Francis opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. We both had taken a few steps when Roger's intimidating figure blocked our way.

"Do you know him?" Brandon whispered in my ear and I nodded. He smiled. "Good, because I don't think I could have fought this one."

"Roger. Meet my new partner, Brandon," I introduced the both of them and Brandon flashed a smile towards him. I saw Roger's smile falter, a new and all too familiar gleam lighting in his eyes.

This was so not happening.

Their handshake lasted a lot more than I was comfortable with, and Brandon had to pry his hand away from Roger's hand. He flashed him another short smile, steering me away from Roger. We walked ahead, and I peeked a glance back. Sure enough, Roger was blatantly staring at Brandon's butt.

Looked like I had a new competitor, however twisted that was. Good for me that Brandon didn't notice nothing off.

"Are you ready for your first round Mr. Brandon?" I nudged him, washing my hands at the basin. We were back in the giant hall of the hotel, the crew definitely traumatized after the grand failure of the last round.

"Oh, I am so ready for more," he whispered, and for a second I was confused with what we were talking about.

"Uh-huh." I turned away, taking a deep breath away from those green eyes. One thing was sure, with him here I was bound to be on my toes.

"Instructions are clear. Don't interfere when I am cooking. Don't even dare touching me," I warned, narrowing my eyes at him. He acted innocent, shrugging his shoulders. I gave him another look but then let it go. There were others ways to make him suffer if he did that.

"What am I supposed to do? Look at your pretty face?" He laughed at his joke, but I nodded, finding the idea pretty good.

"You can do that." I suppressed my smirk at his raised eyebrows. Then added, "Fine, you can do the decorating. I have heard you have a good hand at that."

"Yes!" He moved his fists up like he had won lottery and put on the apron. He even hummed. Did he really think I would keep him standing there the whole time?

"Wash your hands well," I added, and he did that with no complains.

"Attention contestants!" The director boomed from behind the head camera and we all fell silent. "We are starting the shoot. Best of luck for the competition. Get ready. Action!"

The camera circled us, I saw Brandon raise his hand to wave at it, but I quickly slapped it down. He whimpered but then kept it in at my serious look. I just hoped that this round did not turn into a babysitting session.

The boring talk and introductions continued for a while, and I did well to look interested and smiley for the camera. I gave an internal sigh when they finally moved on to the important part.

"Today you'll be divided into two teams, white team and black team. The task is easy; make two dessert imposters each," Tony paused for effect. When he saw all of us were starving for more information, he continued. "Dessert imposters looks like savory dishes but are sweet."

"Here is an example prepared by Mark," Tony said, holding up a grilled burger in his hand. "What does it look like? Burger, correct. But what does it taste like?"

He dissected the burger, holding up the fake cheese, meat and vegetables. "These are fondant, pancakes, and jellies. They taste like a dessert, but look like any normal savory dish. Hope this is clear." We nodded.

"The winning team gets to visit a special place tonight. The losing team stays home. Both will have to nominate two bottom members whose dishes they thought were the worst. Two contestants will leave the show tonight." Brandon nudged me with his elbow, and I almost bellowed in pain. These boys never learned that their playful jests were like knife stabbing to us.

"Team members, step forward and select your color." I took a deep breath, gave Brandon a tight lipped smile and went over when my name got called out. Putting my hand in the box to retrieve the color ball, I swirled it around and picked one up. I took the hand out and showed the black color ball to the camera.

With only a few contestants selected in the black team yet, I was happy to see that all were familiar faces. Francis got called, and he picked the white ball, going in the other direction. I saw Brandon smirking, swinging his arm to bump with mine now and then.

But the calamity turned miracle happened when Bella picked the black ball. I shared a look with everyone, and suddenly the revenge was so easy for us. We had only one motive for the competition today, for us to take our revenge on Bella. And being on the same group as her was never so much fun. We had to pick the worse players for elimination? Guess what, one player was already in the queue.

"Wait, wait, wait," Cheng called out, and we all stopped from going to our kitchen stations. "The rules aren't over yet."

"White team can only make white colored dishes and the black team will have to stick to the dark palette."

"What?" I whispered, wheels churning in my head. Black color? Only one thing came to my mind. Meat. And who doesn't love some meat balls? But that was the easiest thing we could make today. I had to think up something special and come up with a great recipe to win.

"Oh, I have got it!" I whispered to Brandon, who nodded eagerly. "Let's make sushi."

"But isn't it white? In between that black thing." He scratched his head.

"We'll make the red rice version. It's almost dark, you know."

"We have to make a dessert," he pointed out and I just about rolled my eyes. "Rice can't be used."

"We won't use rice, Brandon," I whispered, pulling his hand to take him to the pantry. "And for the second dish, how about jajangmyeon?"

"Ja-what? Why are we going all Japanese today?" he asked, but I handed him the basket and placed roll of fondant, rice puffs, and cereal in it.

"Ja-jang-myeon, that's Korean. And I don't know the recipe but I do know the ingredients, and how it looks. It won't be tough to replicate. We can have an Asian cuisine theme today."

"Fine by me." He shrugged, and we both ran back to our counter on the right side of the room. White team was directly in front of us and I couldn't help but think that it was so much easier to make white colored dishes.

"I'll roll out white fondant to look like noodles. You use the rice puffs and dye them dark red. We'll mix the flavors in later." The fondant machine was already out, and I was ready to sweat.

"You are really letting me work?"

"Yes, I am. Now stop staring." I gave him a nudge, but he only moved closer. His hand rested on the edge of the counter on either side of me. If he so much as thought of--

"You look really sexy cooking," he whispered. He gave me no time to take it in, and was away in a breath, leaving me staggering where I stood. I saw the cameraman closest to me snicker, making me realize that the whole production team had heard it through their ear piece. And counting my luck, this would make headlines in the next episode. Sarah had already gone through it last episode, it seemed to be my turn this time.

With a flushed face and a shaky hand I continued to work hard. There were no more surprises from the judges, but a lot of scary looking dishes being cooked all around. Meat balls were definitely in the menu, but when they were doughnut balls dipped in caramel sauce? Not to mention white pasta made of fondant and white chocolate.

The smells and the tastes were the same, but the sight was a different thing all together. Plating up was the highlight of the day and Brandon and I used all efforts to make it happen.

"Use this sheet of dark chocolate fondant and spread the raspberry rice cereal in it. I'll do the rest!" I shouted the instructions and went back to working on the perfect replica of jajangmyeon.

Long strands of creamy fondant glazed with sugar to keep it separated, and the thick chocolate sauce with roasted nuts and almonds balls to represent the bits of meat. I poured the gravy over the fondant in the bowl, letting it seep through the layers and deliciously coat the sweet chewy material. Small dark cherries cut into bits and pieces, and soft white cookies painted to look like radish put on the top.

Brandon came over, nodded in appreciation and took over to clean and polish the bowl. I exchanged with his space, putting long green jelly as cucumber, soft pink cake as raw fish inside the fake sushi. Carefully rolling the fondant, I smiled in contentment at the finished result.

The cut pieces with its delicate detailing, looked like delicious sushis and before I could stop him, Brandon had popped one piece in his mouth. My mouth watered imagining well the sweet chocolate melting in his mouth, the sweet raspberry crunch of rice cereal, the jelly and cake adding another layer of soft texture. Mixing together to make a perfect blend of sweet and tanginess.

Brandon moaned, his back arched as a sweet trail of chocolate oozed out from his mouth. He licked it up with a finger, me following his every move. His eyes closed in bliss, enjoying the treat, unaware of his surroundings. I willed myself to look away, feeling that I had seen something personal or illegal. The way his mouth moved could have put this show in the adult time slot.

Damn food porn.

"Stop eating, you can have the rest later." I snatched his hand as he tried to sneak away another piece. As much as I would have enjoyed another show to please my poor heart, the looks Roger and a few girls around the room were shooting him, was enough for me to put Brandon in a cave.

"Fine," he whimpered, taking his wimpy self away to the other corner. With ten minutes left on the clock, I plastered all my attention on plating the sushi. Red cherry syrup contributed as chilly sauce and the dark choco-coffee mixture as soy sauce.

Brandon shuffled back and dutifully picked up the cloth and cleaned. I smirked at my small victory and helped him. With three minutes left on the clock, we were all set with our dishes.

"I think we did amazing," Brandon whispered. He scooped up a spoonful of cherry syrup and it disappeared into his mouth. It was impossible to stop his hands. Only if Richard came to know about his recent eating habits, Brandon would be swimming hundreds of laps.

"Shh. They are starting with the tasting, listen." We both listened to the comments, judging the looks and doing 'ooh' and 'ahhs' wherever necessary.

"Bella, black team." Bella stepped forward, carrying a huge pan in her hand. Brandon and I shared a look, then back at judges who assessed the dish with raised eyebrows, which appeared to look like a burnt pizza.

"It's a pizza," Bella stated.

"A black pizza?" Tony commented.

"Weren't we supposed to do that?" she asked in that self confident tone.

"A dish which is black, not made black. But let's taste it," he replied, picking up a brown crusted slice and digging into it.

"It's a honey chocolate cake, and the risotto is sweet shavings of rolled cake. In black of course." She smirked, and the judges nodded.

"The taste is good, but I am afraid that this is not the best version of a dessert imposter. Good luck," Tony commented, giving her the signal to go back. Her eyes flashed for a second, but quickly collecting herself she came back.

The others and I exchanged a look, rejoicing at the poor review Bella received. Nominating her wouldn't seem suspicious or difficult now.

"Tyler, black team." I picked up the sushi and Brandon picked up the jajangmyeon noodles, keeping the cutlery on the judge's table.

"Today we have sushi and jajangmyeon noodles as our dessert imposters."

"You seem to have a new partner, welcome to the show Brandon." Cheng gave him a nod and then picked up the chopsticks to try the sushi. He dipped it in cherry syrup, and then it went straight into his mouth. His expressions described the taste as it hit its sweet and tangy notes.

"Amazing work. It looks like a sushi, and tastes like a dessert. Also, doing the black bean sauce noodles was an intelligent idea. Good work." Cheng patted my back, and Brandon gave me a high-five. With pleased smiles, we went back to the counter.

One by one, everyone received comments and our team was in the lead if we went by the judgements. Francis had also fallen weak in this round, but there were worse dishes than his. The few acquaintances I had had done well, so there would not be any guilt trip on ganging up on Bella.

"For the winning team, we have a special cruise waiting for them tonight. And a very special chef cooking them a meal." He held up one finger. "But for the losing team there is nothing like that. Enjoy your hotel room."

"Two contestants will be nominated from each team. Everyone please write a name and put it in the secret ballot." We did as we asked, and I made sure to write Bella's name in capital letters.

"The two members from the white team are... Teresa and Luke please step forward," Mark announced from the poll and they did so.

"Black team, Bella and Roy." Bella looked shocked, but Giulia whipped her head towards me, her eyes seething. She recovered fast though and stomped towards the center with Bella.

"You four will have to compete to stay in this competition. Two will stay, two will go. Best of luck." The eight of them nodded, standing aside.

"The team with the best dished today, the one that will go to the cruise this evening is..." Normally the commercial advertisements started at this point, but he didn't let us wait much, "Black team!"

A round of applause and cheers went through the team and I hugged Brandon, jumping up and down in excitement. I so knew that this was a honeymoon package, we get to go to a cruise ship in Singapore? Hell yeah!

With the announcement, the shoot ended and this time the contestants were free to go back to their rooms. Hand in hand, Brandon and I went back to our room.

"We have three hours before the cruise, what to do?" I asked him in a singing voice.

"Don't know. What do you want to do?" He put the key card on the scanner and the door opened. I went inside first and Brandon clicked the door shut behind him.

"Mmm, what to do?" I pondered.

Brandon grabbed my wrist and pulled me back towards him. "Should I suggest something?" he whispered.

"Like?" I breathed, as he pushed me back towards the door. He raised his arm, placing it right beside my head, blocking any exit.

"Like saying hi to me?" Bea spoke from behind Brandon and we both jumped. She stepped forward from the bedroom and waved. "Hi."

"Bea your arm is fractured," I replied, both of us frozen at our places. Brandon was making faces like he was regretting even entering the room and was about to bang his head on the door.

"Exactly. My arm is fractured. Not my leg, Ty." She giggled, looking between the two of us. "Looks like I disturbed you both. It's okay, I just wanted to say congrats and maybe help you out for the cruise."