Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

Heya didn't want to turn around, but she couldn't just stand there and pretend like someone wasn't standing behind her. The cold intensified and goosebumps appeared all over her skin when her brain registered the person who was standing behind her. 

Slowly, she turned around. She knew he was still standing there. He was watching her. She could feel his eyes on her. When she completely turned around, their gaze locked and her heart literally stopped. 

It was him.

Zhu Liang.

What was he doing here? 

He stood there, his eyes on her face, his hands inside his pockets, his countenance looked cold. 

She wanted to say something but her throat felt very dry. No word could find their way out. She was also too shocked to think of something to say. 

"Breathe, Li Heya." He whispered softly, his eyes never leaving her face. 

As if his permission was the only thing she had been waiting for, she suddenly released the thick breath she had been holding. Her body shivered again from the cold and she saw him take a step towards her. He stopped abruptly and touched his earring.

She recognized that gesture as what he did whenever he was confused. But his face didn't look like he was confused about anything. He looked serious. He wasn't smiling, didn't look like he was happy or surprised to see her, he just looked serious. 

"What... are you... doing here?" She managed to ask even though it had been difficult getting the words to come out. Her heart was beating so fast and she was glad he wasn't really close to her unless he would have heard it and realised how much effect he still had on her. 

"Zhu Automobile is a major partner so—"

"I mean.. why are you here? On deck?" She corrected. She had gone through every of her conversation with Yan Suyin in her head while standing there, to know whether Suyin had any inkling about who she was or to recall whether Suyin had mentioned Liang's name at all. So she remembered vividly that Suyin had said Liang stayed at the VIP floor since his family was the biggest investor and partner in the making of Serendipity. 

"I was taking a stroll. Why are you here?" He asked, his voice was still as cold as the weather, and made her tremble.

"It is too noisy inside." She lied. She knew he was going to believe her since he knew quite well how much she hated the crowds.

"You have a room." He reminded her. "It's dangerous out here."

"And cold." He added as an afterthought.

"You should go in." He turned around immediately and wanted to leave but stopped when she spoke clearly,

"Congratulations on your... engagement." Heya almost slapped herself after those words left her lips.

What was she doing? Did she want to keep him here so much that she had to say something as stupid as that? 

"I met Suyin earlier. She.. is a nice girl." She said again foolishly and cringed. If only she could jump into the sea and drown.

Liang's back was still to her but he turned around slowly to look at her. 

"Yea. She is nice." He literally spat the words out.

It looked like he wanted to say something else but he pressed his lips together. 

"I'll go in now." She said and began to walk past him. Once she was beside him, he spoke, 

"Shen is also a great guy."

"...." She stood there beside him but said nothing. Standing this close to him felt surreal. It was hard to believe. 

"Miss Li Heya? What are you doing out here in the cold?" Shen asked as he hurried his footsteps towards her.

Heya began to panic. She was directly facing Shen while Liang was facing the opposite side, with his back to Shen. 

She didn't want Shen to misunderstand and tell Suyin about it. She didn't want any trouble at all. 

Maybe because it was a bit dark there and Liang wore a dark tux, Shen didn't notice him until Liang turned around. 

Both boys looked at each other. Shen already took off his jacket to drape it around Heya's shoulder but he stopped and looked surprised when he saw Liang standing beside her. 

**********

"Oh my! Luo Joreen?" Joreen saw a young girl probably around her age stand in front of her and gasped. The girl looked unfamiliar but Joreen smiled at her warmly since she could be a fan. 

"It really is you! You are Luo Joreen! I am your fan and my brother is practically obsessed with you. Can I take a picture? You look even prettier in person. I thought the camera always exaggerated your beauty but I was wrong. Oh my!" The girl rambled. 

She didn't wait for Joreen to answer, she already took out her phone and moved closer to pose for a picture. 

"I didn't think I would meet you here. What's your room number?"

She also didn't expect to meet a fan here. So far, she had been a bit relieved to not see one of her crazy fans all over her. It was really a crazy experience when you do things much carefully than others because you feared some eyes were watching you and are ready to take photos without permission to upload online. Seeing now that she had a fan here, and the girl had mentioned her brother was also her fan, she didn't know how many other people recognized her here so she had to be really careful now. 

As Joreen smiled at the camera, she answered between her teeth, "My room is on the—"

"Young miss, Miss Luo is actually busy right now. Maybe you can have a moment to speak with her later?" 

The girl looked behind. She hadn't noticed someone else was behind Joreen until he spoke. 

She looked at Hoy with squinted eyes before she gasped and pointed a finger at him 

"You.... you are.... CEO Li Hoy of G-GLOBAL???!!!! It's you! Oh my God! Today must be my lucky day." 

Surprisingly, Hoy smiled at her and greeted her politely before explaining again that they had to leave. When they finally left her, Joreen sighed in relief. 

"That was crazy." 

"You really were about to give her your room number?" Hoy asked. He wasn't even surprised. 

She looked up at his face in confusion as they continued to walk. 

"I wasn't supposed to? She looked harmless."

Hoy sighed deeply. 

They had gotten to the floor where Heya's room was and it was just the two of them in the hallway. 

"Always remember that no one is 'harmless' no matter how they look. You should always be as discreet as possible. Hmm?" 

"Yes sir!" She said ardently and smiled when he scoffed at her. 

"What's Heya's room number?" 

"058— Here..." Joreen pointed at the room and knocked on the door a couple of times but there was no response, neither did the door open. 

"Where could she be?" She turned to look at Hoy but she noticed he looked a bit lost and only broke out of his reverie when she spoke to him. She had noticed this even when they were still inside the hall earlier. 

"Are you okay?" She asked. Even though she was wearing a heel, she was still shorter than Hoy so she stretched and tried to feel his forehead with her hand. 

He looked a bit surprised and simply stared at her face which looked serious as she tried to focus on feeling his temperature. When she suddenly looked at his face and into his eyes, he stepped back abruptly which startled her since she hadn't been prepared for it. Before they both knew it, Joreen fell forward, her head and chest pressing into him. His hand quickly found her waist so he held her in place to keep her from falling.

His jacket which had been around her shoulders fell on the floor. He kept his eyes forward and tried not to look down. He knew if he did, he would be looking straight inside her dress. 

Everything happened so fast. They stood there, pratically hugging each other until he tried to break away from the hug but surprisingly, she quickly wrapped her hands around his waist and hugged him while nuzzling into his chest.

"I miss hugging you uncle Hoy. I like how you smell. And you are also big and warm." 

He was startled by her ambiguous statement and quickly pushed her away but not hard enough to make her fall.

He scolded himself for having a perverted mind when he saw how surprised, confused and hurt she looked. But when she opened her mouth to speak again, she sounded worried,

"Uncle Hoy, are you sick? Your face... is very red." She tried to touch him again but he looked away from her to face the side. 

He was even more surprised to find Heya's mother and his mother standing right there, looking at the two of them with wide eyes and slightly agape mouths.

All Hoy wanted at that moment was for the floor to open up and swallow him. 

But he wasn't going to allow this little devil stay behind. She would go with him.