Seth was walking on his way to school. His mother had to leave early so he decided to take the bus to school. What he didn’t expect though was for his peaceful morning to immediately break.

“Hey!” greeted a familiar voice he thought he would never hear again. “Are you ignoring me?”

“Yes, now go away.”

“That’s not nice.”

He sped up his pace but the guy following him also did the same thing.

“Are you still angry about what happened yesterday?” Seth made an abrupt stop.

Kyle, who had been following him ever since he saw him in the streets, also stopped hastily and he almost collided on the shorter teenager. He was very surprised when Seth turned around with an annoyed expression.

“So that’s a yes, right?” Kyle asked.

“Yes, now go away.” Seth started walking away again.

“I already said sorry right?” Kyle inquired. He saw Seth turn around again.

“If I insulted your parents and brother, would you get angry?”

“Ha? Well… yeah.”

“Do you think a simple sorry can make things fine? It’s not some sort of magic word that can make everything alright.” Seth said with gritted teeth. “Now what do you want and why are you following me?”

“Well… you’re interesting. And I want to be friends with you.”

“No.”

***

“Hello?” Elise asked when she answered the phone call.

A moment ago, she was organizing Ryan’s contracts and schedule, when her phone suddenly rang. The caller was unknown so she gingerly picked it up.

“Good afternoon Miss Li.”

“And you are?”

“It’s me, Dylan Zhou. The one from yesterday?”

Memories of the previous days incident at her son’s school surfaced on her mind.

“Oh, yeah. I remember. Good afternoon Mr. Zhou. What can I do for you?”

“It’s like this Miss Li, Kyle’s adviser assigned him a study-buddy to help with his studies. Just so it happened, Seth was chosen to be that study-buddy. I called to inform you that the kids are at my place and I’ll drive Set home later once they finished.”

Elise froze for a moment. The previous day Kyle and Seth were enemies, and they became study-buddies? Wasn’t that dangerous?

“Oh, if you’re worried they might fight again, you don’t have to. I assure you, the two are actually friends now.” Dylan answered as if he read her mind.

“Okay. Thank you for informing me.”

After she dropped the call, she wondered; Dylan Zhou seemed to act very friendly towards her? But then again, he had been known as a total gentleman in the business circle. She decided to just continue her work. But somehow, fate just seemed to hate her because a few minutes after the call ended, Ryan Zhang entered her office.

“Hey Ellie.” he called.

“Stop calling me that. We’re no longer close.”

“Eh, don’t be like that.”

“What do you want?” she asked.

“Ah, I have a favor.” she gave him an expression that said ‘go on’. “You see, my apartment’s being repaired. I was hoping-“

“I’ll book you a hotel. How many days will it take?”

“Ha? Uh… No, I was hoping I can stay with you for a week? It can save us some money.”

Elise looked at Ryan with an unimpressed expression in which he just flinched.

“Are you seriously trying to live in the house of an unmarried woman?” she asked. “Your fans might find out about it and shred me to pieces. Plus, there are many people out there trying to bring you down. Once they find out, another rumor about you will start and I will have to clean it up again.”

“Eh? But-“

“I’ll book you a Master’s Suite for a week in a nearby hotel. Also, the director of your current drama called. He said the shooting’s cancelled for today because Diana caught the flu.”

“Oh.” Ryan sounded unenthusiastic. He couldn’t believe his plan broke just like that. “I’ll go now.”

He was planning to stay with Elise to rekindle some past memories with her, but the woman just brushed off his advances just like that.

Elise let out a shaky breath once Ryan was out of the office. Did he really just ask to stay in her house for a week? Good thing, she was able to remain calm and brushed him off. She remembered that Ryan was very good at getting things his way when they were in high school, and if she was not able to retort, then he and Seth would’ve met! She couldn’t let that happen!

***

The doorbell rang and Elise left kitchen to open the door. When she did, she saw her son and Dylan Zhou.

“Hey mom.” Seth greeted. He kissed her cheek and immediately headed inside.

Elise’s eyes landed on Dylan who was only smiling widely.

“Thank you for bringing my son home.” she said.

“You’re welcome. Say, may I-“

“It’s late, you should return home as well. Good night Mr. Zhou.”

Dylan was not able to retort because Elise had already closed the door. He had no other choice but to retreat and try again another time. Meanwhile, Seth was just staring at his mother. He was at the bottom of the staircase and watched the whole ordeal. He watched her make her way next to him.

“So, a study-buddy?” she asked.

“Yeah. His grades aren’t that good. If Kyle doesn’t improve, he’ll have to repeat the year.”

“I see. Well, head upstairs and take a bath. I’ll get dinner ready.”

“Okay.” Seth was about to head upstairs but his mother called him. “Yeah?”

“Do you have to do it every day?” she asked.

“Yes. Until the exams.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Hey mom.”

“Hmm?”

“Mr. Zhou seems interested with you.”

“Ha?” Seth saw his mother’s confused expression slowly turn into that of disagreement. “That’s impossible. And besides, I only met him once… okay twice… but that won’t be enough to arouse interest. Also, he’s younger than me. I don’t date younger people.”

Seth just nodded his head and excused himself.

Elise just watched her son go upstairs, his words echoed in her mind. She just shook her head.

“How can he be? I’m the least bit interesting.”

***

Elise wasn’t sure whether her stress was from her work or personal life. Or maybe even both. Dylan Zhou somehow always found her and tried to strike up a conversation countless of times. And it didn’t help that he would always drive Seth home from his house. Then there was Ryan Zhang who seemed to want to annoy her to death whether it was work related or not. But she decided to just steel herself and face it.

She was in the shooting site of Ryan’s drama. She decided to pay him a visit and see how he was doing in his new project. She was watching as Ryan and Diana did their scene that was in the middle of the rain.

“I love you.” Ryan’s character said. “And I will take responsibility of the child.”

The two kissed.

She couldn’t help but huff. In the drama content, Diana’s character changed Ryan’s character from a heart-breaker Casanova to a responsible gentleman, especially when they found out she was pregnant.

‘If only he was like that sixteen years ago.’ she thought.

After the shoot, she headed to Ryan’s area and decided to just wait for him there. Ryan on the other hand was confused. He didn’t know why he was so happy seeing Elise come to the set. But when he saw her with a longing expression, he knew there was something wrong.

“Hey Ellie.” he said.

“You will never really stop calling me that, right?” she asked, a little annoyed.

“Nope.”

“What’s wrong with you? Eh? Why are you here?”

“To see if you’re not goofing around. I heard you sometimes cause trouble in the production.” she said.

“Hey, I’m a grown up. Do you really think I will always be up to some mischief?”

“Do you?” Ryan froze at her question.

“Wait, you didn’t answer the first question.” he said, trying to divert the topic.

“Nothing’s wrong. Just remembering some stuff.”

“Like what?”

“The past.” she scoffed. “If only you were like James back then.”

“James? Oh, you mean my character? Why? I never thought you like the Casanova type?”

Elise shook her head in disbelief.

“Sometimes, I just have no idea what’s going on in that head of yours. Are you really just dense? Or you’re just doing it on purpose?”

Ryan wondered what she was talking about, but then he remembered that his character in the drama, James, left everything behind to take responsibility of the girl he impregnated with.

‘So that’s what she was remembering.’ he realized.

He froze for a moment and sat across her. He clasped his hand and looked around to make sure nobody else was around.

“Look, Ellie I know I was irresponsible back then. But I’ve changed. I’m no longer that kid you used to date.”

“Really? You seem childish now.”

“If you’re feeling guilty for giving him away, do you think I don’t feel guilty for what I did back then?”

“Don’t you?” Elise was looking at him with an angry expression.

“I do, okay? How about this, I’ll ask someone to investigate and find him in America.” he said. “We can take him back if you want. We can have shared custody or something?”

“Hn. No need. He’s probably happy now. It will be better for him not to know us and be in the mess we are in. You’re sixteen years too late.”

Ryan watched as Elise stand up and walk out of the door. He sighed and slapped himself. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling at all. He realized that Elise pointed it out already. But how come he didn’t feel like giving up?

Elise did all her best to stop tears from falling down her eyes. She wasn’t sure herself but Ryan’s words made her angry and sad. She felt rather insulted at what he said. And she became even more determined not to let him and Seth ever meet. She ran to the entrance of the set, ignoring everyone that went her way, and tried to look for her car. But her eyes were getting blurry from the tears trapped in it. She found a familiar car and entered the passenger’s seat.

“Drive.” she said.

Dylan was about to get off his car when the door to the passenger’s seat opened and a familiar figure sat on it. He was very surprised to see Elise, hiding her face behind her hair, and slammed the door close.

“Drive.” she said to him.

“But, I’m here to visit the set since we’re one of the sponsors-“

He flinched when she looked up and he saw tears pooling in her eyes.

“Drive.”

“Got it.”

Since Elise never really told him where to go, Dylan just drove mindlessly. Strangely, the former was just silent on her seat, looking out the window. He may be a little slow on figuring out how people think of him, but he knew Elise was sad and wanted some fresh air. He decided to bring him to a special place in his heart.

The car which carried Dylan and Elise stopped at the edge of a cliff that overlooks the ocean. It was quite an isolated area, but it was the perfect place to be left alone. He turned up the radio which blasted some music and decided to head outside. Just as he exited the car, he saw Elise started crying. He just sighed and sat at the hood of his car and looked at the setting sun. His phone suddenly started ringing and saw his brother’s caller ID.

“Where are you?” asked Kyle on the other line, sounding a little annoyed.

“I’m busy brat.” he answered. “By the way, are you and Seth already at home?”

“Yeah. We’re going to start soon. You better come home soon too.”

“Hey, can you tell Seth to wait a little bit more?”

“Ha? Why?”

“I’m quite busy so I might come home late. And besides, his mother’s busy too.” Dylan glanced behind him and saw Elise still continuing to cry.

“Are you two together?” Kyle asked suspiciously.

“Well… you can say that. Anyway, we’ll both busy and will probably be home late. Just ask him to eat dinner there and sleep until we arrive.”

“Okay.”

The call ended and Dylan just watched the sea and the sky slowly turn to night.

***

After the call with his brother ended, Kyle told Seth the situation.

“Is that Ryan Zhang trying to work my mom hard?” Seth asked to no one in particular.

“He’s a famous actor Seth. I bet he has a lot of things your mother has to manage.” Kyle answered. “By the way, I think your mother and my brother are getting closer. You wouldn’t mind if she becomes my sister-in-law right?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Seth asked in return at the ridiculous question.

“If they ended up together, I’ll be your uncle!” Kyle said excitedly. “Seth, call me uncle.”

“Shut up! Just get your textbooks!”