Hello, Mr Li: The Christmas Trip

As Zhu Liang returned to his room inside the resort (he had refused to stay in the house prepared for them), he remembered Li Heya and his conversation with her a few minutes ago. 

His heart beat had increased a thousand fold when she told him she loved him and could not live without him. He had actually been thinking the entire time that Heya had probably gotten over him, but hearing her confession while seeing her cry genuinely had told him otherwise.

He had been tempted to kiss her right there and agree for them to get back together, but he held himself back. If they got back together now, they may end up breaking up again. Because while she was still very insecure, he still hadn't cut ties with Suyin and even though he wasn't in love with Suyin, he didn't want to date Heya until he was officially done with her. 

After kissing Heya's forehead and sincerely wishing her goodluck from his heart because he really hoped she would work on herself, he noticed she was crying. Before he could look at her face, she pulled him into a hug and cried on his shoulder. 

"I don't know what to do. I don't even know where to start from." She confessed in between tears. She didn't want to lose him. She wanted to win him back but she didn't know where to start from. 

He had no choice but to hug her back and so he used his hands to rub her back as he tried to comfort her. 

"If we get back together now, you know what happened five years ago would repeat itself." He said softly before breaking away from the hug to look at her face. 

"You are a very beautiful lady Li Heya. And one of the reasons I fell in love with you after meeting you once was because of how confident you were. You didn't even swoon when I asked you out but you told me off instead. Even though that had embarrassed me greatly, you were fucking sexy."

"But along the line... you began to slowly lose it." 

He cupped her face in his hands and made her look into his eyes, "Look, I can give you all the love I have, but if you do not love yourself, it's still going to be difficult between us. If you continue to be doubtful and insecure, we won't be able to last." He explained calmly. 

"Remember what I suggested to you 7 years ago? I asked that you go see a therapist. Why don't you consider that?" 

She looked unsure about his question, 

"If you want, I can always make out time to go with you. And while you are working on yourself, I'll make sure to end everything with the Yans and also promise you that I won't get close to any other woman. But you have to do this... please." He begged sincerely because he also wanted her. But he wasn't going to until he was sure she had met a therapist and able to build back her self esteem. 

"You can do that for us right?" He asked hopefully. 

Although there was still some uncertainty in her eyes, she nodded. 

He sighed in relief before pulling her back into a hug. The last time he suggested it to her, she had gotten angry and refused the idea. He was glad she was agreeing to it now. 

"I fucking love you Li Heya. Don't ever forget that." 

He could tell she was still crying. She nodded against his chest and sniffled, "I fucking love you too." She heard him laugh. 

She couldn't believe she was able to say this to him after such a long time. It felt like a huge burden had been lifted off her shoulders. 

"And I am sorry I didn't believe you back then when you told me about your business with that girl—"

"It's okay. It's all in the past. You don't have to mention it anymore." He assured her while patting her back gently. 

He sighed deeply as he took the last stairs that led to where his room was. Immediately he got to the hallway, he saw someone standing in front of his bedroom's door. It was his supposed fiancee, Yan Suyin. 

Their eyes locked and he noticed how red her eyes looked. It seemed like she had been crying. When she saw him, she forced a smile at him but didn't move away from the door. 

"I knew you were going to be staying here tonight so I have been waiting for you." She said when he got closer to her. 

Before he could say anything else, she spoke up again, "Let us talk inside." 

********

"Are you tired?" Hoy asked Joreen when he noticed how dull she looked. 

Ever since he returned from answering the call, and saw her sitting alone staring outside, she had refused to talk to him. He thought it was because she wasn't having fun so he had led them outside and even picked a nice cake for her but she didn't look as happy as he had expected. 

"I want to go to bed. It's late." She said. 

After the list Mr Ping gave to her about Hoy's ideal type, her hope crumbled and now she was mad at him for being too picky. 

"You want me to carry you?" He asked. 

"What am I? A baby? I can walk." She said and began to walk away, leaving him behind. 

That seemed to make him realise she was mad at him. No matter how much he tried to make her talk, she refused to speak to him. 

When they got to the house, they saw Mr Ping waiting outside in the cold. He sighed in relief when he saw them finally arrive. 

"What are you doing out in the cold?" Hoy asked. 

"I was waiting for you two to get back before I go in." He said. Maybe Joreen didn't understand, but Hoy did. If he returned with Joreen alone, the others would probably become suspicious. 

Maybe he didn't need to fire him anyway. 

"You should have called me then instead of standing out here." Hoy frowned at him before going to open the door with the passcode. 

Mr Ping was about to enter but he shoved him to the side and glared at him before turning to look at Joreen. 

Joreen, who was oblivious to anything else, walked inside and head towards her room.

Hoy followed next, earning a glare from Mr Ping. "You are the most unloyal person I know." Mr Ping scoffed as he entered and locked the door behind him.

When Joreen entered inside her room, she realised Reen wasn't back yet. She didn't spend a lot of time thinking about what Mr Ping had said because after she changed her clothes and her back hit the bed, she dozed off. 

She frowned deeply when she began to hear noises which was disturbing her sleep. 

"Wake up!" Reen said to her but she grumbled and turned to the other side. 

"I just fell asleep. Say whatever you want to say in the morning." 

Before she could return to sleep, Reen said "It's morning dummy." 

"It's not." 

"Yes it is. And it's almost time for breakfast so you should freshen up." 

Joreen opened her eyes immediately and true to her sister's words, it was already bright outside.

"What... happened? I just fell asleep." She complained. She hated times like this when it felt like she had just fallen asleep but realize 4 hours had flown by. 

"So how was your date with uncle Hoy last night?" Reen asked. It became obvious she had been disturbing her to wake up because she was in gossip mode. 

"It wasn't a date." Joreen sighed as she sat up while rubbing her eyes. 

"No one is stupid, Jo. We all know there was no business to attend to. He only said that so you wouldn't get to answer his mother's question." 

"What? Really?" Joreen asked with wide eyes. "You knew?" 

"Yea. I'm not sure who else knows aside from our family, but we do know. You really thought there was a business to attend to?" 

Joreen bobbed her head up and down. 

"You are so naive. Tsk!"

"I'm not!" Joreen glared at her before getting up from the bed. 

"So you are dating Zichu now?" Joreen asked. "I saw you two last night. You both seemed really close." 

Reen waved it off. "It's nothing. He just seem cute." 

After brushing her teeth, Joreen changed into a trousers and tank top before heading to her parent's room. 

"We were just about to meet you in your room." Cixi said when she saw her daughter enter. 

"How did it go last night with Hoy?" Jaime asked.

"Nothing much happened."

"Nothing? Really?" Jaime asked in disappointment, earning a punch in the arm from his wife,

"What else were you expecting?" Cixi glared at him. 

"How did it go? Did anyone pick up the gift box under the Christmas tree?" Joreen asked curiously. That was the reason she had come here. 

Cixi shook her head. "We have nothing yet concerning that. Have you seriously thought about anyone who would have sent you that?" 

Joreen looked at the two quietly and slowly nodded.

"Really? Who is it?" Her parents asked.