Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

Joreen noticed the glares she received the next morning was a lot sharper and harsher than the ones she received the previous evening but as usual, she did not let it bother her. Mengli who had come to 'reconcile' last night, was practically looking at her like she wanted her to drop dead that instant. And it wasn't just her. Han Yu was glowering, Mengli's friends had a similar look in their eyes. Is it because she didn't drink with the girls? Or because she sounded rude to them? But who cares?

After wrapping up the shoot, she didn't bother to change and hurried to where her offical van was parked with Xiao Fei standing at the back of the van, holding the door open for her. She was about to get in when she was stopped by a big man in a black suit. 

"Miss Luo, my boss wants to see you for a second."

Joreen recognised him. He was Mr Wen's bodyguard. But she still asked, 

"Who is your boss?" 

"Mr Wen." He answered.

He was surprisingly really polite and for some reason, he had this look of pity when he spoke to her. 

"I'm sorry. Please let him know something urgent came up and so I had to leave in a hurry." 

"My boss won't like that." He said, moving to stand in front of her. 

She scoffed. "And you think I like being stopped like this? Do you know this is rude? We both don't have any form of relationship or business dealing so if he wanted to see me, he would have come see me directly instead of wanting me to go meet him whenever he is. Point is, my answer is no. I only meet people for business and they have to go through my manager." She forced out a smile, "If you understand, move!" 

He hadn't expected her to be quite sharp like this. But then again, look at the family she was from. He couldn't force her even though it could cost him his job. He didn't like doing this gor his perverted boss either. 

He stepped out of her path and she gave him a smile. "Thank you." 

Xiao Fei quickly joined Joreen when she entered and closed the door behind her while the driver drove down to where the manger was to pick him up before they zoomed off, heading back to town. 

She was relieved this went well. She really hoped she didn't get to work with any of the people here again. They were all creepy. 

She groaned when the manager joined and told her he had forwarded something to her email. 

"It's going to be the greatest blockbuster of all time, I assure you." He kept saying with excitement. 

She had thought she would have a lot of time to rest before she went on set again but it wasn't the case. She trusted her manager so if he said it was a good show, she believed him. But she still had to go through it and be sure she wanted to do it. 

"You need to keep building your career. Now that you have turned 18, there are a lot of main roles lined up for you. You just have to keep appearing in the spotlight... for the good reason." He quickly added before giving her a can of juice. 

"Thanks." She took the drink and opened her email, occupying herself with it for the rest of the trip. 

******

"What happened to your face?! You got into a fight?" Cixi asked Reen who had been trying to hide her face while they had breakfast.

"What? You fought?" Jaime asked, looking at Reen with surprise. 

Reen finally raised her head. She had a mark on her cheek, nothing a foundation wouldn't hide if her parents hadn't practically forced her to come down for breakfast. 

"No. I tripped." 

"Tell a better lie." Cixi dared her. 

"Who hit you? Why didn't you say anything?" Jaime asked. 

She sighed. "It was a fight. Mass fight actually. Some guys were trying to bully the girls and I out of the court so we went at it. I'm sorry." 

"Which bastards tried to bully you! They should all be locked up!" Cixi fumed. 

"Who won the fight?" Jaime asked. 

"Jaime!" 

"What? That is going to determine the next action we are going to take." He said to his wife defensively.

Reen knew the 'action' he was talking about was definitely going to involve having the police picking them all up. 

"The.. girls.." She answered. 

Jaime raised his palm for a high five and she joined him.

"You always make me proud." 

"Jaime!" Cixi called again, this time, she sounded really frustrated. 

Reen hadn't wanted to mention anything about the people she had fought with because she could vaguely guess Mr Ping had been looking for a way to plead with her to let it go but he didn't directly tell her. He just seemed uncomfortable asking that of her. 

"I'll... get you treated." He had said after returnung from kicking his brother. She had watched him snatch something that looked like a card from his younger brother, swearing he would make him pay for everything before he kicked him while the younger one scurried away.

He was just going to let him go? She had wondered. 

When he tried to trace the mark on her face, she slapped his hand away. "What do you think you are doing?"

He looked a bit flustered. "To know how badly you injured and see if a normal first aid treatment can handle it or you need full medical—"

"I'm fine. You think those little bunnies can throw a punch that could actually break my jaw?" She scoffed. 

"I... apologize for what happened." He said awkwardly. 

"You aren't asking what exactly happened. What if we were wrong?" 

"I know my brother. He likes to make trouble with his group of friends so I do not need to ask. But..." He stopped talking and ran his hand through his hair. 

"I won't make an issue out of this— if you warn him to stay away from this place with his friends."

"I will! Thank you!" He finally smiled, then he looked her up and down, 

"You... may want to cover up." 

She looked at herself and remembered she was still wearing just her sport's bra and joggers with a pair of black basketball shoes.

His curious eyes lingered on her belly and she quickly covered her belly button when she realised he was looking at the piercing and piece of jewellery on her navel which she had gotten a little while ago. 

"Sorry." He said awkwardly. 

She leisurely went to pick up her hoodie and noticed he was still standing there. 

"I can... drop you off." He offered.

"No thanks. I brought my car. And stop being nice to me, I already said I won't push the issue with your brother."

"That isn't the reas—" 

She was already out of the court and jogging to where her car was parked without sparing him another glance. But she had heard him mumble "She is... scary. " to himself.

She noticed he didn't move from where he was standing until she drove out of sight. 

After breakfast, she returned to her room. There was something she had to do. 

She took out the basket of chocolates from the spot she had been hiding it and looked closely at it. Today, she was going to get rid of everything. 

But she just kept looking at it, not able to lift it from the spot. In defeat, she closed the place.