Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

"What was that for?" Joreen asked as she entered inside Hoy's room after him. 

"What was what?" He asked as he began to take off his coat. 

"You just... threw me under the bus there!" She seethed. 

"I just answered their question." He said casually and sat on the bed to take off his shoes. 

"You said we were going to tell the family after this holiday." 

"No.. I said.. I will officially ask you out after the holiday. They wanted to know who I liked and I told them." He shrugged. 

"But..."

"No buts. They are not going to think about finding introducing you to any bastard and neither would they want to pair me up with any lady again. Also, they'll all know why I'll be reacting the way I'll be reacting now." 

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked as she watched him wear his slipper before he stood up. 

"It means... they'll all take my side whenever I try to punish anyone for trying to covet you." He winked at her. 

She scoffed. "That was why you just told them like that without telling me first? Everyone was just staring at me! It was embarrassing." 

"Actually... I did that to punish you." He said while smiling. "You didn't tell me you received a gift for Christmas that made you uncomfortable." 

"What?" She asked, not believing he was this petty. 

He walked towards her, held her shoulders and made her turn around. 

"Now shoo. You need to go sleep."

"Don't shoo me! Do I look like a fly?" She asked in annoyance while looking over her shoulders at him but he kept pushing her towards the door. 

"After my confession earlier, if anyone sees you here by this time, their imaginations would run wild. Save yourself more embarrassment and go to bed. We'll see each other tomorrow." 

Just before he opened the door, he made her turn around to face him and dropped a quick peck on her lips. "Good night baby." 

He smirked when he noticed she was blushing. "What? You are shy? You were doing a good job calling me baby the other day." 

She avoided his gaze and turned around to escape but he placed his hand on the doorknob before she could reach it. 

"No good night kiss for me?" He asked, looking down at her with glistening eyes. 

"I feel... sleepy." She lied. 

"So hurry up and kiss me so you can go to bed." 

Joreen did not fail to notice how amused he looked. He was really having fun at her expense. 

She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek but before she could pull away, he held her by the waist to keep her in place before he pressed his lips to hers. 

It was a short kiss that didn't give her any chance to reciprocate before he let go of her. "Sleep tight." 

Her face was flushed as she left his room and hurried to hers. When she locked the door behind her, she placed her back on the door and touched her chest where her heart was rapidly beating before a smile slowly split up her face. 

She had thought this whole thing was going to be very complicated but thankfully, it wasn't. She had been surprised when he suddenly told everyone he liked her. 

She had hoped the ground would open up and swallow her that minute when all eyes looked at her. Even her parents and Reen had been really surprised by his sudden confession. What was he thinking?

"Oh... okay. Please pass me that bottle." Heya's mother was the first to break the ice and asked Minde to pass the bottle of wine in front of him. 

"Please pass it to me when you are done. That's a really fine wine." Hoy's father said. 

Minde, who looked really proud smiled smugly. "I have eyes for good things. Don't you agree?" 

Joreen looked at everyone in confusion. Just like that, the topic moved away from her and they all began to talk about differen things. None of them looked even a little bit surprised by this. Or maybe they thought he was just joking? She had looked at Hoy who resumed eating like he hadn't just dropped a bomb. Her parents were also surprised but at the same time, they looked relieved. 

One big burden had been lifted off their shoulder. 

"Are you just going to stand there?" Reen asked, pulling Joreen from her reverie. Joreen was startled when she heard Reen's voice since she thought Reen was with their parents. 

The bedside lamp came on as Joreen approached the bed where Reen was sitting on.

"Come talk to your big sister!" Reen said with a little excitement in her voice.

*******

January fourth was the last day of the trip. As much as they wished for it to never end, they knew this day was bound to come where they had to return to their separate lives.

Heya didn't know what was going to come after this trip. Before the trip, she made up her mind to stay away from men. In two weeks, she was already trying to win Zhu Liang over. She still had her doubts, but she believed him. One of the reasons they had broken up was because she didn't trust him back then so she had to trust him now. 

She was done packing her things and looked out the window once more. She had to confess she liked this place a lot. 

She turned around and reached for her phone when a message notification came in. 

When she realised it was from Zhu Liang, she looked very surprised and quickly opened it. 

"If you are free, let's meet in my room?" 

He wanted to meet her? 

He had suggested that they both stay away from each other until after the trip. Also, she had only just started talking to a therapist online. 

Why did he want to see her in his room?

She figured he probably would have come down to hers if Suyin wasn't staying in the opposite room. 

He wouldn't be that insensitive to pay her a visit in her room. 

She looked at her reflection on the mirror and adjusted her turtleneck she was wearing. She also touched up her make up a little before leaving her room for his. 

She didn't realise how nervous she was until she was standing in front of his door and could not bring herself to knock. 

After taking in several breaths, she finally knocked. A few seconds later, the door opened and his face came into view. 

When he saw her, he smiled and opened the door fully for her. 

"Come in."

She nodded nervously and went inside while he closed the door and turned to face her. 

"How are you?" He asked. 

"I'm... fine?" She answered uncertainly. 

"No. Like.. for real, how are you doing? Have you been eating well? Sleeping well?" 

"I am fine. Been eating well and also sleeping well." She said a bit confidently this time. 

"What... did you want to talk about?" She asked nervously. 

"I was just worried about you. And maybe... I thought you were going to start avoiding me after everything that happened." He said, looking concerned. 

Heya frowned in confusion. "Why... would I avoid you? You did nothing wrong." 

"I did. Everything was my fault." He said before looking at her seriously. "So... you are not mad at me?" 

"Of course not!"

He sighed in relief. "I'm glad. I would have come down to your room but you know..." 

"I know." She nodded. 

"How's it going? Therapy I mean?" 

"Fine." 

The small talk was actually beginning to make them both feel really uncomfortable, especially now that they were both judt staring at each other. 

After thirty full seconds of silence, they distance between the two reduced and they embraced. 

They both could not remember who had initiated the hug but they found themselves in each other's embrace. 

They held unto each other tightly as if afraid of losing the other. 

"I love you Li Heya. I swear I love you so much." He confessed without breaking the embrace. 

Heya sniffed and buried her face in the crook of his neck. 

"I'll be better." She said in a tight voice. "I'll be better and love you better." 

"I would have said I do not care about that but I'll appreciate it if you did. I want us to be better this time." 

He felt Heya bob her head in his shoulder, 

"We will be better." 

He turned to plant a kiss on the top of her head and began to rub her back up and down. 

"My mother wanted to know if you'll love to have dinner with us one of these days?" 

Zhu Liang asked. 

Heya grew stiff but she relaxed almost immediately. His parents, she remembered the hostile look his mother kept giving her. Could she sit through a dinner with them? 

The answer was YES. She could do anything for him. She would do anything for him. 

"I would love to." She said.