Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

"We should go eat lunch together." Mr Ping suggested, looking at Li Hoy who was busy with his laptop as usual. 

"You can just order it and have them bring it here."

"Come on, stop being boring. What's the use of a vacation like this if you won't leave your room?" 

"..." He was still busy with his laptop and didn't bother to answer. 

"Maybe I should give your mother a call and let her know you've been inside your room? I'm sure she'll —"

"Dont!" Hoy glared at him. 

"So let's go have lunch together. You look pretty exhausted. Is something else other than work troubling you lately?" 

"It's nothing important." He said before grabbing his jacket. Mr Ping was pretty much his mother's spy. He didn't want her barging into his room. Threatening Mr Ping with his salary wouldn't work because his mother was ready to compensate for any loss he had as a result of being her spy. 

They left the room and took the elevator. They didn't go far before Mr Ping brought his attention to something, 

"Why is Miss Luo looking like that?" 

Hoy looked at her direction immediately and noticed how downcast she looked which was so unlike her. 

When Joreen saw Hoy, she was almost getting excited but decided to comport herself just like Xi Mingxi would do. 

"Uncle Li, Mr Ping, nice to meet you too here." She said with a bow. 

Mr Ping immediately knew something was wrong and turned to look at Hoy who was frowning slightly. Why the formality all of a sudden? It was very awkward. 

"I'll just... head to my room." Joreen bowed again before she walked past them. 

They both turned to look at her back as she continued to walk slowly. "That was... weird." Mr Ping pointed out. 

Her conversation with Sara earlier drained her. 

Herself and Sara had spent almost an hour or more talking about personality. Honestly, she didn't think her personality was sometimes unwelcomed until Sara pointed it out to her. 

Just like on the day they boarded the ship, Sara reminded her how her actions could be misinterpreted. Maybe she was just being nice, but someone may think she was flirting, another may think she had an ulterior motive. 

There had also been the issue of trust. "You shouldn't trust everyone you meet. Everyone is not going to like you so you should be careful." 

Sara had said. The talk had shifted from all of that to a more serious issue about how to act around the opposite sex. She always had to remember she was a woman and they were men. And men had feelings. Unlike women, little things could stimulate men to think sexually. 

The entire conversation truly reminded her of her character as Xi Mingxi. Xi Mingxi was a princess who was always lectured on how to act as a proper lady. Since she naturally wasn't one, playing that role had been really difficult for her. But how could she adopt those methods in real life?

She sighed deeply. All she wanted at that moment was to see Reen. Only Reen understood her. She was going to ask Reen what she thought about her personality and if Reen agreed she wasn't acting the proper way, then with the help of her sister, she was going to do her best to adopt Xi Mingxi's attitude. 

Her face instantly lit up when she saw Reen approaching her direction. She was about to call her but noticed Reen looked angry. 

Reen looked at her but didn't smile. She just kept walking and was about to walk past Joreen when she held her older sister's hand. 

"What is wrong? What happened to you?" Joreen asked, her voice filled with concern for her older sister. 

"LET GO!" Reen demanded harshly. 

"Who annoyed you? Why are you looking so pissed?" Joreen persisted. 

"I said LET. ME. GO!" Reen flung her hand away and turned to look at the shocked Joreen angrily. 

"You are so annoying."

"W—What? What.. did I do?" Joreen asked in surprise and confusion.

"That about you, is what I dislike. You never know anything." Reen hissed. "Your naivety makes me mad." 

Joreen stood there dumbstruck. "I..." She wanted to say something but she didn't even know what to say. What did she do this time? 

Reen turned around to leave but Joreen hurried to stand in front of her. 

"What did I do?" She managed to ask even though tears had filled up her eyes. 

"I don't even know what I did wrong! Is it so bad to be naive? Why.... why are you all doing this to me today?" She sniffed loudly, not bothering to clean the tears that had fallen from her eyes. 

Reen looked away from her and tried to leave but Joreen blocked her way. 

"Do you all hate the way I behave so much? Then why didn't you tell me? How... could you do this to me Re—" She couldn't call her sister's name because she began to cry. 

"Just go back inside the room before someone recognizes you." Reen said to Joreen before walking away.

This time, Joreen didn't try to stop her. She just stood there and cried.

Why it was hurting her so much was because she didn't even know what she had done wrong or what she had been doing wrong all along. Now, she felt like everyone actually did hate her but were only putting up with her. But what did she do?!!! She continued to asknherself. 

She didn't want to return to her room so she turned to the side and surprisingly, Li Hoy was standing there, staring at her. She could guess he must have heard their conversation. She ignored him and simply walked past him but stopped when he called her name gently,

"Joreen."

She took in a deep breath before turning to look at him, 

"Please answer honestly, do I make you uncomfortable?" She asked with tears still streaming down her eyes. 

"....." He thought that was a wrong way to put the question, but he tried to look for a tactful way to answer so he wouldn't hurt her feelings. 

Seeing how quiet he was, Joreen got her answer. "I do make you uncomfortable then." She said sadly. "Why? Why didn't you tell me? If you hated my presence that much, you should have told me!" She cried.

"I do not hate your presence." He assured her. 

"But you are uncomfortable around me. Why didn't you just say so?" She stopped talking again and didn't mind she was crying in an open space. Most of the people were on deck but that didn't guarantee a few people wouldn't pass by here and see her.

Hoy didn't know how to tell her what exactly about her made him uncomfortable. "It's different, Luo Joreen."

"What is?!" She shot back. "I... I thought... I thought you liked me."

"I like you." He said immediately. 

"You don't! If you did, you wouldn't hate my attitude. You wouldn't find me uncomfortable or want me to change. I can't even believe anything you all say anymore because I think maybe you're just saying it to make me feel better." 

"Joreen..." 

"Just let me be!" She said and turned towards the direction of her room, making up her mind to go to her room instead. 

Hoy sighed dejectedly. "What have I done?" He asked himself. He felt like punching something but there was nothing within his reach. He could only run his hands over his perfectly styled hair in frustration. 

Thankfully, Reen didn't lock the door this time so Joreen went inside the room and buried herself under the duvet, crying her eyes out. 

Her heart was aching so much. After having that eye-opening conversation with Sara earlier, it made her self conscious so the events that happened after only proved she had thought she was great when she was actually a bother to them. 

"Jo?" 

Joreen heard Reen call her name gently but didn't sit up or look at her. 

She felt Reen climb on the bed beside her and still didn't look up. 

"Jo, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said earlier." 

"....."

"I was just pissed and I said a lot of stupid stuffs which hurt you. I am an idiot and deserve whatever you choose to do to me until you are happy." 

"...."

"Something happened earlier, but it wasn't your fault. I stupidly transferred my aggression to you." Reen sighed. 

Kyle didn't deserve her anger. Because of him, she had hurt Joreen. They had decided to look around the ship earlier but she noticed how absentminded he was. She baited him by raising issues that concerned Joreen and that was when he actively participated in the conversation. She finally burst his bubble by telling him Joreen liked someone, then she noticed how his countenance suddenly changed. He was bad at hiding his emotions and she hated it. He could have at least pretended in front of her!

"Be sincere with me..." Joreen sat up and looked at her sister with puffy eyes. "Do you think I have a terrible personality? That I am too naive and you find me clingy or annoying sometimes?" 

"No! No!! Jesus, No! I am sorry about what I said earlier, but you are my sister and I love you. I find your attitude totally adorable." 

"You... are not lying to me right now, are you?" She said before sniffling. 

"I swear, I am not." Reen placed a hand on her chest and raised the other one. 

"I take back everything I said earlier. You are my precious sister and I love you." 

She was surprised to see Joreen start crying again so she hugged her tightly with Joreen's head on her chest. 

'It isn't your fault. It's their fault for misunderstanding you.' Reen said in her head.

Joreen's tears got even louder as she said, "He... doesn't like being... around me." 

"Who?" Reen asked. 

"Un..cle Hoy..."

"He said that?" Reen asked with a frown. 

Joreen nodded. 

"That bastard!" Reen muttered angrily. How could he say something like that to her?

"Who are you calling a bastard?" Joreen raised her teary eyes to glare at her sister, making her scoff in disbelief before pushing down Joreen's head to continue hugging her. 

"Just stay away from him from now on. He doesn't deserve you." 

Joreen nodded. She was going to stay away from him now.