Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

Everyone got the announcement to meet in the hall in the next one hour for the talent show and also to exchange gifts to whoever they were going to end up picking during the raffle draw.

Reen and Joreen already had their names written down for both the raffle draw and talent show contest but as the hour drew near, Joreen became even more nervous. 

"Do not worry girl. Trust me, you can do this." Reen said to cheer her up but it wasn't working. 

"Are you sure I won't mess up?" She asked uncertainly.

" I told you to trust me. You won't. Let's just go get a good make up done in the dressing room. Those people were good with yours last night." Reen said before pulling Joreen along with her. 

Seeing a lot of people especially good looking guys on their way, Joreen remembered how she didn't get to make friends or find a boy just like she had planned. Now, she wanted Li Hoy. It also surprised her how everything turned out this way.

"Hi!" Reen greeted the woman who welcomed them inside the dressing room. She then explained what she wanted so the woman gestured towards another door where they were to find whatever they wanted. 

"You are really doing this?" Joreen asked. 

"Point of correction dear sister, we are doing this!" 

The make up wasn't very different from the one Joreen wore last night but the major difference was her eyes. She wore grey contact lenses this time and it suited her perfectly. Her braids were tied in a bun almost at the front of her head. 

"Wow! I like this coat." Joreen said as she turned around while keeping her eyes on the huge mirror. She wore a white fur coat which stopped halfway on her thighs and a black thigh high boot. 

"I swear to God Jo, if you do not wear this, I will never forgive you." Reen said which made Joreen giggle. Of course she was going to wear it!

"She is pretty." A hair stylist who was busy styling a young lady's hair said as she looked at Joreen and Reen through the mirror. 

The girl whose hair was being fixed had been staring at the two girls through the mirror. She eyed Joreen with envy and snorted.

"Tch! What is pretty about being Black? So dirty." The girl said loud enough to get everyone's attention.

Joreen and Reen turned to look at her at the same time. Since the girl's back was to them, they locked eyes on the mirror. 

"Excuse you?" Reen said, taking a step forward. Her countenance already changed and she was staring daggers at the rude girl. 

"Were you... just referring to me?" Joreen asked, also looking pissed.

The girl kept a smug smirk on her face. "Continue fixing my hair. Need to get out of here." The girl said to her stylist, totally ignoring Joreen and Reen. 

"Just let her be. She is not worth it." Joreen held Reen's hand when it looked like Reen was about to march towards her. 

"I should let that thing be? If everyone keeps letting people like her be, we are going to have shitload of people like her in this world so no! I cannot just let that useless thing be." 

"I beg your pardon?" The girl stood up, eyes flashing with anger. 

"Did you just call me a thing?" 

"I also called you a useless thing. What are you going to do about it?" Reen raised her chin in a challenging manner, now standing in front of the girl. 

Joreen sighed. She really wasn't in the mood for any of this right now but it seemed like Reen wasn't going to back off. 

The girl looked intimidated by Reen. Not only was Reen taller than her, Reen looked very angry and Joreen wouldn't doubt that Reen could beat her up mercilessly. She was an athlete after all while the girl looked like a spoilt little brat. 

"Just ignore her Reen. She is being silly." Joreen tried again. 

The girl looked around, she didn't want to lose her cool especially with a lot of eyes on her. 

"Piss off you two!" She said, pushing Reen's shoulder. 

"Oh no!" Joreen exclaimed when she saw Reen smile maliciously. It seemed like Reen had been looking for an opportunity to unleash her pent up anger and this girl just presented herself. 

Before Joreen could stop her sister, Reen slapped her hard across her face. And with that, a fight ensued between them. 

A few minutes later, the three girls were inside a room that looked like an office cum detention centre with two men keeping watch over them. Joreen recognized one of the men as the first man they had met at the port who led them to the cottage before they boarded the ship. 

"You just wait until my mother gets here and see—" The girl could not finish speaking because her jaw began to ache. she touched it while groaning in pain. Reen had made sure to hit her a couple of times. 

Reen ignored the girl and faced Joreen instead. "I'm sorry for fighting." She said with pitiful eyes. "Shouldn't have let my anger get the best of me."

Joreen shook her head. "I'm sorry too." 

The two girls began to speak in whispers. 

"For what? I should be apologizing.." 

"No. I've noticed your emotions have been off lately. I feel I had something to do with it." 

"What? That's not true!" 

"Like Kyle for example—"

"No... no.. who told you about it? I swear it has nothing to do with you." Reen tried to assure her. 

"Lying to me won't make me happy or make me feel better. I am your sister. You should be able to tell me anything and everything. I know you keep some things away from me because you do not want to hurt my feelings and I love you for that but please stop doing that." 

"Look, Kyle is an idiot. You have nothing to do with any of it. I just... well.. Kyle got me angry so at first I was pissed because of that but my consolation was in the fact that I didn't like Kyle that much and I probably have a crush on Yan Shen but he liked probably Heya and this cute waiter keeps popping up everywhere. Well, he likes me but I don't think I like him. And this vacation is not going as planned and I don't know who else I am supposed to be hanging out with so everything has been frustratin–"

"You have a crush on Yan Shen, he likes Heya and there is a waiter who likes you?" Joreen asked in surprise. When did all this happen?!

Reen giggled at her surprised look. "You have been too busy with your crush on uncle Hoy so—"

Just then, the door opened from outside.

"We will talk about it all later. Ah! Thank God it's only mum and dad." Reen looked at the door and sighed in relief. She hoped other members of the family didn't know about this. 

There was another woman with a ugly make up hurrying inside while a man led them in. They guessed the woman was probably the girl's mother and they confirmed it when the woman shouted,

"Oh my God Princess. What happened to you?" Her mother asked in horror as she approached her daughter who began to cry. The girl's hair was disheveled. She had bruises on her face and a small cut on her lips while her dress was messed up.

"They beat me up." She pointed at Reen and Joreen who were standing now.

"Is that true?" Jaime asked in a dark voice. 

Although he was usually cheerful and playful, he was scary when he was angry. 

"It was my fault!" Joreen said, immediately standing in between Reen and her parents. 

Jaime and Cixi looked at Joreen and then at Reen. Joreen still looked well dressed and composed but Reen's hair was a bit messy and her dress looked rumpled. It was obvious who had fought. 

"Stop it Jo. It's obvious I did it." Reen said. 

"Were you hurt anywhere?" Jaime asked, looking at his two daughters. 

"You stupid girl! How dare you hit my princess?" The other woman shrieked angrily and roughly pulled Reen's hand. 

"What do you think you are doing?" Cixi and Jaime were startled by the woman's action.

The man who had led them inside to resolve the issue tried to pacify the woman's anger but she wasn't listening. When Joreen tried to pull Reen away from the woman, she pushed her away roughly, glaring at her, "Get away from here you disgusting black animal."

Joreen's body froze. She would have fallen to the floor had her father not held her. 

Joreen had faced a lot of racism in her young life but not one as harsh as this. The woman was looking at her like she was trash and the woman's words hurt. 

"How dare you?!" Jaime exerted force to pull Reen away from her grip. Reen wouldn't have had any problem pushing the woman away but she didn't because her parents were there and they were gathered there supposedly to resolve an issue. 

Cixi was normally a hot tempered woman. Seeing how stupefied her daughter looked, anyone could guess the woman's word had gotten to her. Remembering how Joreen sometimes became sad because she could not get some movie roles because of her skin tone, or how she was looked down on by some people or how she got worried Hoy probably didn't like her because she had a different skin tone, Cixi got even angrier. Animals like this woman was the reason her daughter was unhappy. They were slowly destroying her self esteem and she was not going to let her be. 

"You dirty piece of shit!" Cixi said angrily before sending a slap at the woman's face. The woman hadn't recovered when Cixi pulled her hair. 

"Apologize this minute!" Cixi demanded from the wailing woman.