Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

Next morning, Joreen woke up with a splitting headache. She groaned and shut her eyes back immediately.

"The blinds... put it down!" She said to Reen in a very quiet voice. 

She waited but Reen didn't move. She called her name gently and that was when Reen turned to her.

"You are awake?" 

"My head... drop the blinds." Joreen pleaded weakly. 

Reen stood up from the bed and went to the window.

"Done."

Joreen opened her eyes again but very slowly. Her head felt very heavy and she felt nauseous.

"You got drunk?" Reen asked.

"I... don't remember." 

Reen went to her side of the bed to help her sit up, and she noticed a white paper on top of the drawer with the words "Drink this"

There was also a bottle of water and an envelope there. Reen picked up the white paper and opened it to find two pills.

"Here is something for you." Reen handed the pills to her and opened the bottle of water.

Joreen swallowed it and gulped down half the bottle before handing it back to Reen. 

"What happened to you? Why did you drink so much?" 

"I don't know. God! I feel like I am going to fall sick!" Joreen said, placing her head on the headboard and closing her eyes. 

"It seems Uncle Hoy brought you here and left you the pain killers. You think you probably embarrassed yourself again?" 

"Uncle Hoy did?" Joreen asked as she opened her eyes and received the paper Reen was handing to her. She recognized the writing.

"What's this envelope?" Reen asked and picked it up. 

Joreen looked at it. She tried to remember what it was but her brain was still foggy. She couldn't remember much because it felt like she had Joreen having a long dream. But she knew she had definitely checked out the content of the envelope before now.

She took it from Reen and opened the document she took from inside. When she read the first page, she suddenly remembered. 

A building.

Hoy had said he wanted her to be financially independent since she was a big girl now so he got this for her. Not only was there a well furnished apartment for her upstairs, she would be receiving yearly rent payment from those businesses willing to rent a space.

It was a six storey building. Just how much would she be receiving on a yearly basis? 

"This is yours?" Reen asked in surprise. She had been reading from the side but now she took it from Joreen. 

"This is your birthday gift? Oh my!" Reen exclaimed. 

Joreen was busy thinking about something else. She was desperately trying to remember what else happened but her thought was interrupted when the door opened wide and her parents sauntered in like they owned the place. 

"Good! She is awake!" Cixi said to her husband before going to sit on the bed beside Joreen. Her husband also took a seat beside her.

"What happened last night?" Jaime asked. 

"What happened? Nothing." Joreen said gently. Her head was still banging and she wasn't appreciating this crowd right now. 

"Don't even think about lying to us. Don't think we didn't notice Hoy planning some kind of romantic dinner—"

"A romantic dinner?" Reen interrupted her mother before turning to look at Joreen, waiting for her to spill the beans. 

"What's wrong with you?" Jaime asked Joreen when he noticed how she kept wincing. 

"She's having a hangover."

"She definitely met him last night!" Cixi confirmed. 

"Taken meds?" Jaime asked. Her health was more important right now.

"Uncle Hoy left her pain killers. Isn't he the sweetest?" Reen giggled. 

"Come on, talk to me. How did it go? Did he confess to you? Tell you he loved you? What about a gift?" Cixi asked after touching Joreen's head to be sure her temperature wasn't high. 

Talking about gifts, Reen was still holding the document in her hand so she quickly handed it to her mother. "See this! He gave her this!" 

Jaime and Cixi read it and their eyes widened.

"Is this... for real?" Jaime asked Joreen who nodded. She told them what she remembered Hoy had said and they kept looking at her in surprise. 

"He gave you this? That guy seriously wants to spoil you rotten." Cixi said in surprise. 

"You can't blame him. I mean, look at Jo. She deserves to be spoilt." Jaime said with a smile before looking at Joreen again. "So tell us... what else happened?" 

"I... don't remember." She shook her head and winced again when it began to throb. 

"You should rest. Don't think too much and go back to bed. I'll leave something for you to eat. Hmm?" Jaime said and patted her head softly. 

She nodded and after they helped her lay comfortably, they stood up to leave.

"Come with us Reen." Cixi said firmly.

"Me? Why?" Reen asked but followed them to their room. When they got inside, Jaime locked the door and the couple looked at their oldest daughter.

"Spill it." Cixi said, making Reen confused.

"Spill... what?" Reen asked in confusion as she looked at the two.

"Don't think we do not notice everything. If we aren't saying anything, it's because we don't want to always be intrusive. But now, we really need to know what happened to you yesterday." Jaime said, taking her aback. 

Had they noticed? What was she supposed to say now?

"Nothing... happened." 

"Something did." Cixi cut her off. "You left here, returned looking awful and went straight to bed. You are good at hiding your feelings but we need you to talk. Is it about Kyle? Zichu?"

"And we won't let you leave here unless you tell us everything." Her father chipped in.

"Every single thing." Cixi emphasized. 

******

Joreen was glad they allowed her rest. With all the many voices gone, she tried to think about what exactly happened last night. She knew she had a knack for embarrassing herself whenever she was drunk but she prayed she hadn't done something worse last night. 

Being relaxed like this, her head hurt less and the memory slowly began to come.

She remembered how he deeply looked into her eyes and then he smiled. "I want you to always be independent Lady Jo. Happy 18th Birthday."

Lady Jo! He had called her Lady Jo not Baby Jo! 

She had been so touched that she cried. When he noticed she was crying, he stood up immediately. Before he could say anything else, she stood up and hurried to embrace him. 

"I thought the food was my gift." She said while hugging him, oblivious to how stiff he was. 

"Why... would I... not give— You probably should stop hugging me." He said, clearing his throat awkwardly. She was wearing a thin pyjamas while he was wearing a thin shirt. So there was no way he wasn't feeling something he wasn't supposed to feel. 

"I want to keep hugging you baby!" She said stubbornly.

"Joreen!"

She pulled away from the hug to look up at his face but she kept her hands firmly around his waist.

She noticed that his face looked red again. She finally realised it wasn't because he was cold or the wine just like he claimed earlier. He was embarrassed. Or maybe flustered was the right word to use. 

She smiled at him. "You know... I'm already an adult right?" 

He narrowed his gaze suspiciously to look at her. Seeing her smiling while reminding him she was an adult, he didn't think it was something good.

"So... you can go ahead and..." She bit her lower lip before removing her hands from his waist.

"Hold on." She said and returned to the table to gulp down the remaining wine in his glass before he could stop her. He had told her the wine was a strong one but she knew she wouldn't have the courage to do this if it wasn't in her system.

She returned and wrapped her hands around his waist again. She watched his every reaction and noticed how confused and uncomfortable he was.

"Can I... kiss you?" She blinked at him and then her eyes slowly widened after the words left her mouth. She was surprised she actually said that. She noticed Hoy's eyes were also wide from surprise. 

She didn't want to look at his face anymore so she closed her eyes. She had already said the words out and there was no going back. She wanted his kiss to make her birthday complete. 

For several nights, she had dreamt about this. 

She stood on her toes and puckered her lips as she kept stretching to meet his height. But he continued to look at her. She just knew he was looking at her face when he didn't make any move. 

She began to feel lightheaded and standing on her toes was no longer easy for her. 

She wanted to return her feet to the ground when she felt his hand around her waist and his other hand on the side of her face. 

She had been really surprised and her eyes snapped open immediately. His face was right in front of hers! Her heart began to beat erratically and she knew he heard it. 

At first, she thought she was seeing things when she noticed his face was inching closer, but she realised she wasn't. He was really coming! He was going to kiss her!

She closed her eyes and waited for the kiss to come, she felt his breath on her lips but to her utmost disappointment, he diverted and kissed her forehead instead. 

"I won't kiss you when you are drunk." He whispered to her. 

She didn't remember anything else that happened after that.

Joreen used her hands to cover her face after she remembered. She was really fond of embarrassing herself. 

But something seemed to register and she sat up. 

He had said he won't kiss her when she was drunk. 

Does that mean, he was going to do it when she was sober?