Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

Reen heard a ship-shattering scream from the bedroom and quickly ran from the bathroom to check what was wrong while hurriedly tying a towel around her chest. She had been enjoying a warm bath so now, she had soap lather all over her body. 

"What's wrong?" She asked. 

Joreen was sitting on the bed with her face in her hands while she stared blankly. She had the 'I cannot believe it' look on her face. 

"Are you okay?" Reen asked as she slowly approached the bed. Joreen finally turned to look at her. 

"What did I do?" Joreen asked, abashed. "How did I get here?" She looked around the room. "What happened last night?" 

"Give me a minute okay?" Reen hurried back inside the bathroom. 

She used the shower to wash off the soap from her body before quickly drying herself with a towel then she wrapped another smaller towel around her hair before she returned to the bed room. 

"You don't remember what happened last night?" Reen asked. 

"I remember only a little." Joreen said as she jumped from the bed. She began to bite her nails and pace around the room. 

She remembered saying something to Hoy or rather, he said something to her. She remembered crying and saying he was mean, but she couldn't remember what transpired between them. Only thing she could vividly remember was that she drunkenly went to sit beside Hoy and asked Aishu to tell her something.

"Why can't I remember anything? Why did I approach him last night?" 

"Well, I also do not know what you did and I do not remember much because I also drank a lot, but I remembered Mr Ping coming to find me inside the hall and told me to come open the door so you can sleep on the bed. After opening, I think I went straight to bed. That's all I remember." 

"What did you do?" Reen asked, touching her sister's shoulder gently. 

"You didn't confess your feelings to him by chance, did you?"

"WHAT FEELINGS?!" 

Joreen's eyes widened immediately. "I... do not... have feelings... for him." Joreen stammered. 

Reen realised she had let that slip. Her mother was going to kill her.

"Okay." Reen said, wanting to let it slide but Joreen looked at her suspiciously. "Wait, you knew?" 

"Knew what?" 

"That... I probably like him? Oh my God! Did I just say I like him?" Joreen gasped and used her hands to cover her mouth.

"What am I going to do? I didn't embarrass myself, did I? Why did I have to drink a lot just to avoid him and then still ended up beside him!" She began to ramble on while pacing around. 

"Calm down Jo. I'm sure you didn't do something terrible."

"You think so?" 

"Honestly, No."

A knock on the door had her jolting nervously and her heart skipped. 

"You get the door. I'll go get dressed." Reen said before taking her stuff from the bed with her to the bedroom, ignoring Joreen's protests. 

Joreen took in several deep breaths before going to open the door. She opened it only slightly and peeked to see who it was. It was a man in his mid thirties. 

"What's wrong?" Minde asked. "Are you hiding from someone?" 

'Yes! Your younger brother!' Joreen screamed in her head but tried to smile. 

"Good morning uncle. I haven't showered so..." She said with a sheepish smile, hoping he would buy her lie. 

"You always look pretty anyway so you don't have to be shy." He said with a wink. She opened the door wide.

He looked down at her and looked a bit surprised. That was when she realised she was still wearing the dress from last night. 

"You really haven't showered." He noted.

"Why are you here?" She asked. 

"Oh! Yea. We couldn't reach you and Reen. The family wants everyone down in an hour. We are meeting outside at the West Wing."

"THE WHOLE FAMILY?!" She asked in horror. She didn't want to bump into a certain someone!

Minde was a bit startled by her outburst. "Got a problem with it?" He asked.

Joreen immediately noticed the opposite door was about to open so she panicked. "No problem at all. We will be there!" She said and shut the door just before the opposite door opened. 

She touched her chest, feeling how rapidly her heart was beating. She took the opportunity to press her ear to the door to hear the two people communicate. 

"Good morning, Mr Li." Mr Ping greeted Minde formally. 

Joreen sighed in relief when she realised it was Mr. Ping. She wasn't sure she would be able to handle it if she heard Hoy's voice at the moment. 

She turned around and noticed Reen was behind her with her hands folded across her chest. 

"I am doomed!" Joreen cried. 

"Good thing is, you do not remember anything so act like you don't!"

"But I am sure he remembers! I feel like I must have said something stupid."

"Not something new." Reen shrugged. 

"Trust me, you will feel better after showering. Now that I think about it, where is the contact lens you wore last night? Did you take it off? I liked it on you." 

Contact lens? Yes, contact lens! She wasn't wearing it? 

Joreen ran to the mirror. True to Reen's words, she wasn't wearing it. What surprised her most was the fact that her face was bare. What happened to her make up? 

"Did you clean off my make up?" She turned to ask Reen in surprise. 

"I didn't. Didn't you?" 

Joreen shook her head vigorously. 

Although she could not remember what happened last night, she knew she had been really drunk and cleaning off her make up was probably the last thing she would think off at that point, also taking off her contact lenses. 

So if she didn't, and Reen didn't, then who did?

~~~~~~~

"You are an actress. You can do this." Reen cheered Joreen on as they left their room. Joreen had delayed a lot, hoping for a miracle to happen so they wouldn't have to meet with the whole family but no miracle happened. Instead, they received several calls from their parents to come down. 

Dressed in a beige sweater and grey baggy pant with a boot and her long braids left untied but was parted in the middle, she took heavy steps outside. She wore only a powder and lipgloss on her face while Reen dolled herself beautifully. 

"I can't go there." Joreen froze and whispered when she noticed Hoy was already seated there with the rest of the family. 

"We do not have a choice!" Reen replied through gritted teeth.

"Maybe you can say I'm sick or somet—"

"Reen, Jo, come over here." Their father who saw them first, gestured for them to come sit beside him. 

The others moved their attention to them but Hoy didn't look at her. She noticed he looked a little bit... uncomfortable? 

"You can do it." Reen reminded her before a big smile bloomed on her face and she approached the table to greet the others. 

Joreen followed suit but it was difficult keeping a smile on her face, also difficult trying not to look at Hoy. 

"How are you? Heard you partied a lot last night?" Jaime asked Joreen who was sitting by his left side. 

Reen, who was sitting by Joreen's left whispered in her sister's ear. "You look tensed. relax."

Joreen spoke with her father for a while and she almost forgot all about her anxiety until she looked at Hoy's direction and noticed he was looking at her. She quickly looked away. A heart was pounding so fast, she feared everyone could hear it. 

A frown formed on her face as she had a flash memory of herself crying. She was sitting on a bed and Hoy was standing in front of her. 

Why did I cry? What did I say? She tried to remember but it was as if something was pushing back the memory. 

She was lost in her thoughts until she heard someone say Hoy's name gently. 

It was a girl who approached their round table. She greeted all of them and smiled pleasantly at Hoy. 

"I see you are having a family time so I won't intrude. Maybe we can get to meet each other later?" The girl asked. 

Different pairs of eyes moved from the girl and Hoy to look at Joreen. But she didn't notice because she was busy staring at this stranger in surprise. Who was this one? When did she become close with Hoy? So there wasn't only Aishu?

She felt a sharp pinch on her hand and turned to glare at Reen. 

"You are making it so obvious that you dislike what is happening. You are an actress for goodness sake!" Reen whispered, frustrated. 

Joreen moved to whisper back to Reen. She wanted to tell her that she was trying her best but she didn't know why she could not hide how she felt. But instead, she heard a different voice similar to hers say something else. 

She paused. 

She frowned. 

Her face was contorted with confusion. 

What was that just now? 

The voice echoed in her head again and she remembered she had whispered something into Hoy's ears. 

"Oh my God!" She jumped from her seat, looking completely horrified. 

Why did she tell him that? 

"I want you for myself, Li Hoy. As a man. My man." 

"Oh my God!" She gasped again, not taking note of how everyone was staring at her.