Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

"I will go straight to the point.." Li Muchen started, not in the mood to beat around the bush since he didn't have the time for that, especially as a businessman, it was his way of life to hit the nail on the head. 

Zhu Liang straightened up in his seat across Muchen. Although they were both businessmen, it was still uncomfortable being with Li Muchen like this. Not because Li Muchen was older than him and more experienced, but because of the aura around him and also because he was Li Heya's older brother. 

"Are you planning to continue sneaking around with Heya?" He asked, his piercing gaze not leaving the man sitting across him. 

"No." Came his abrupt answer. "I have no intention of doing something like that." 

"But that is what you have been doing." Muchen cut in. "You cannot have a fiancee and also have my sister. It's either one or the other. You cannot get two at the same time." 

"I perfectly understand that. I do." He said with a sigh. He wanted to continue before Muchen asked,

"Do you love her? Heya." 

Liang was a bit surprised to hear the question, but he decided to tell the truth so he nodded. 

"I do." 

"If you knew you were not in love with Yan Suyin, why did you agree to get engaged with her in the first place?" Although it was a private affair, he could not help but ask. 

"If you were still in love with Heya, you should have made an effort to reach her. Why did you have to do something you are not even okay with?" Muchen asked, looking genuinely concerned. 

"I do not have an excuse for my action." Liang answered calmly. 

"Since the deed has been done, the only thing you can do now is live with it until you are ready to come out to tell the truth. If you really love her, then you will make things right." 

"And I intend to do so. But..." 

"But?" 

Liang sighed again. "I know you may think this is an excuse, but that is the only thing I can do right now. Calling off the engagement with Suyin at this moment is not a wise thing to do on my part. It is going to affect both families and—"

"Sneaking around with my sister when you have someone you are engaged to is not wise either. So I am surprised you are talking about what is wise or not." Muchen spat out, his tone sounding harsh. 

Even though Muchen was currently insulting him, Liang didn't take offense because he was right. He could not eat his cake and have it. If he was going to stick with Suyin until the end of the vacation, he had to stay away from Heya. Now, he was also beginning to see that calling it off won't be that easy because Suyin seemed determined to be with him. But he was going to do it nonetheless. 

"Do you know the repercussion of what you are doing?" Muchen asked seriously and sat up. 

"If this whole thing blows up, considering the kind of country we live in, who do you think people are going to attack?" Muchen asked. 

"It's not going to affect you too much because you are a 'man' and majority of the people would think there is nothing wrong with a man falling for two women or having a fling when he already has someone he is engaged to. But what about Li Heya?" 

"Have you stopped to ask yourself what people are going to say about her? She is going to be the shameless one. She is going to be the cheap one. She is going to be seen as a homewrecker, going to be called a wicked person who stole her friend's fiance. No one would care to know if you are both in love or if you dated first before meeting your fiancee. No one is going to care about any of that. And what about your fiancee's friendship with Heya? Have you stopped to think about how she would feel if she sees you with Heya?"

"...."

"In the end, you are going to ruin Heya, her reputation and even more. Then, do you think the world is going to smile at you if you decide to date for real or get married? Do you think she is going to be happy after all that?" 

"....."

"And let me remind you that you won't only be ruining just her reputation, but also the reputation of the entire family Li, Song, Wang and Luo family."

"Do you think you are ready to get on our family's bad side just because you cannot control your emotions?" Muchen asked, raising a brow. 

It didn't seem like a conversation because Muchen was doing all the talking and not giving Liang a chance to speak. He didn't care what was happening between them, but he had to let him know the repercussion of what they were doing. 

For a moment, Muchen felt pity towards Liang. The young man was looking down like a kid being berated by his elder. He also looked crestfallen. 

"Look, I understand the dilemma you are facing. Do not think I do not. It wouldn't make sense for you to break up with Suyin right now, I get that. But what I would advise is this.... stay away from Heya. At least, until the vacation is over. Also... you need to tell the truth to your fiancee about who Heya truly is." 

'I really want to.' He said in his head, raising his head to look at the brother of the woman he loved, with sad eyes. 

He wanted to tell Suyin, tell her entire family it was Heya, the woman he loved. But Heya was always quick to tell lies whenever they all met. 

Muchen stood up. He believed he had said all he needed to say to him and the other had heard him clearly.

"I will leave you now. Make sure you do the right thing. At least, for Heya's sake." 

********

"Joreen?" 

Joreen turned around when she heard someone call her name. Seeing it was Kyle, she looked uncomfortable. "Oh... hi." She said, trying to be friendly when all she wanted to do so badly was to walk away from him. 

As usual, Kyle looked very handsome even though he was casually dressed. He had the body built that majority of girls would die for. Tall, handsome, nice long hair and an athletic build. On top of that, he had a really beautiful dimpled cheeks whenever he smiled, just like he was doing right now. 

"Your performance earlier... it was beautiful." He said with a smile before dipping his hands inside his pocket. 

"Yea, thank you." She forced out a smile at him too. For a moment, he didn't say anything else. He simply smiled at her while observing her. It made Joreen take a step back before saying,

"I... really need to leave." 

"Look, you do not need to be uncomfortable around me. Whatever happened between your sister and I has nothing to do with you, believe me." 

The mention of that made Joreen's face fall. Reen had denied their fall out didn't have anything to do with her. If that were true, he wouldn't have mentioned it. So it was her fault really?

Seeing her sad look, Kyle sighed. He assumed she was sad because he said she had nothing to do with his quarrel with Reen. Did she by chance want them to quarrel because of her so they would break up and she would be able to date him? 

"I really need to leave now. Take care." 

Before he could say anything, she quickly hurried away. 

"Ah! This is so difficult." He said with a sigh while watching her back. 

****

Hoy had strolled to and fro the hallway of the VIP floor for four times now. He took note of everything and nodded his head approvingly. It wasn't much different from his floor but he just thought it looked nice and wanted to stroll again. 

Since he was here, he thought it would be a waste if he didn't see how the rooms looked like. He was naturally curious just like everyone else. 

"But I don't know anyone in this floor." He said to himself. "If I knew someone who was staying here, I would get to see what the rooms look like." 

He paused and his eyes lit up as if he just had a moment of Eureka. "That's right. Jo is here." 

Of course he didn't remember Joreen was here before coming here. He just decided to stroll down here and then, he rememberd he knew someone who stayed here. 

Well, since she was here, maybe he could just check her room to see what it looked like, then he would return. A faint smile appeared on his face. 

Unfortunately, he didn't know the room Joreen was staying. 

Why was he suddenly being so clumsy with everything? He asked himself as he took out his phone to dial Reen's number. 

He didn't get to wait long before the call connected. "Uncle... Li?" She asked, sounding slightly surprised that he was calling her.

Hoy realised he didn't know what to ask her without making it sound like he had come here because of Joreen when he simply came here because he was curious. 

"Uhm... how are you?" He asked. It sounded really awkward and even Reen remained quiet. 

"1-1-0" Reen said. 

"What?" Hoy asked in confusion. 

"VIP ROOM 110. I believe that is the reason you called me. Good night then." Without waiting for him to deny it, she hung up.