The charity ball was definitely a grand event, Elise noted. Everyone invited were influential people ranging from the entertainment circle to the business circle. She even found a few politicians in the mix of crowd inside the room. She took a deep breath and was already starting to regret about coming to the event. She asked Seth to stay at Kyle’s house since she didn’t want him to be alone in their home, but she couldn’t help but be worried. Then there was her partner, Ryan Zhang who seemed to know just about everyone.

“We’re approaching Madam Han.” she reminded Ryan.

“Which one was she again?”

“You met her at the Paris Fashion Week last month.” she said.

“If it isn’t Ryan Zhang! Hi!” greeted Madame Han who was a woman in her early forties. “I see you’re also invited by Mr. Feng!”

“Yes. Jed and I were close friends.”

“I see. I hope you would make a big donation tonight.”

“Well, let’s see…”

“She’s wearing the same dress she wore when you met her. Compliment her about it. Her husband owns the car company you’re a model on.” Elise whispered, trying not to look obvious at it.

“I must say Madame Han your dress from Paris Fashion Week still suits you beautifully. You have maintained your figure quite well.” Ryan said.

“You noticed it? Thank you. I’m on strict diet you see.”

“Ooh. A healthy lifestyle. That’s good. Keep at it Madame Han.”

“Thank you Mr. Zhang.”

Elise and Ryan left the scene. The latter sighed in relief.

“Thank you for that. I totally forgot meeting her in Paris last month.” Ryan whispered.

“I thought you’re going to introduce me. Why does it look like I’m reminding you about a lot of things?”

“That’s your job. I don’t even remember what I did last weekend.”

“Whatever.”

Elise was afterwards introduced to a few singers and actors. May they be old or new. She also met a few directors and producers Ryan was acquainted with. The two lingered in a group of actors Ryan knew. Unfortunately, Ryan excused himself because he saw a familiar face. Elise was about to follow him, but Diego Liu stopped her by holding her arm.

“Don’t worry. He’ll be back here Miss Li.”

“That’s not really what I’m worried about.” she commented. “I should go and find him.”

“Don’t be like that.” Diego said seductively. “Have a drink with me.”

“I don’t really drink. Plus, I have to drive since Ryan drank a few glass of wine so…”

“Then just accompany me, until he returns.”

Elise glanced at his hand that was dangerously getting closer to her waist. She tried to calm down and reminded herself that she had dealt with things like that before but she was getting uncomfortable. She knew about Diego Liu. Many rumors of him harassing female actresses and staffs would sometimes circulate. But somehow, those rumors would get crushed almost immediately and the people around him just decided to turn a blind eye about it since it was in his nature.

But she did not like it one bit. And she wasn’t the only one.

Ryan thought there was something wrong. In the ball, he saw Luke, Elise’s older brother and headed to him to say hi. He also planned to catch up with him with Elise. But Elise was nowhere near him. He looked around and saw her stuck with Diego Liu. If memory served him right, Diego often harasses other people and he was doing the same thing to Elise. He was about to head to their direction and save Elise but somebody already beat him to it.

He watched as a tall man in a crisp black suit grabbed Elise’s hands and pulled her away from Diego. He immediately recognized him; Dylan Zhou. He saw him hide Elise behind him and pushed Diego away. The two then walked out of the room. He was about to follow them but he decided the two were nowhere to be found. He settled for dealing with Diego instead.

***

Elise was trying to endure but she swore that if Diego crosses the line, she wouldn’t hesitate and kick him where it hurt the most. All of a sudden, a hand dragged her away and she found herself facing the broad back of a man.

“Can’t you see she’s uncomfortable at what you’re doing?” asked a very familiar voice. She looked up and saw Dylan.

‘He was here?’ she thought.

“Mister Zhou, I think this none of your business.” Diego retorted.

She was about to tell him off but Dylan held her in place.

“I think it is. She’s my friend and you’re obviously harassing her.” she heard Dylan sneer. “You should get yourself straight Diego Liu, before you regret it. Let’s go Elise.”

She was dragged out of the room. A man tried to stop them once they were outside the door and said something about the party not over yet, but Dylan only shoved a check at the man’s chest and headed to the elevator. The two reached the parking lot where Elise took the courage to shake his hand off.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“We’re leaving here.”

“No, that’s, I’m here with someone and I don’t think-“

“You were obviously being harassed.” Dylan said, cutting her off. “It would only go two ways, one you’ll retaliate and smack him in the face which will cause a scandal, or two, he will get his way and implicate you.”

Elise was only silent. But suddenly, Dylan’s face appeared in her line of vision and somehow their faces were only a few inches apart.

“What?” she asked.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m… I’m fine. I could’ve dealt with that.” she said. She was trying to look away to hide her reddening face but Dylan was following her line of sight.

“I’m courting you, you know. At least let me be your knight in shining armor. Or in this situation, your knight in shining suit. And besides, if it escalated, my company’s legal team will have to do something about it since Diego is under the entertainment company under Zhou Group.”

Elise only chuckled at his remark.

“So that’s what you were worried about. Fine.”

“By the way, starting tomorrow, I’ll go public in courting you. So expect flowers and chocolate deliveries, and maybe I’ll fetch you from work sometimes.” Dylan said.

“Doesn’t that only work on couples?”

“Why not do it now?”

Elise could only shake her head in disbelief at Dylan’s words. The two decided to just leave the building and go somewhere. They reached the bank that overlooked the sea and sat on the grassy ground. Dylan bought a few cans of beer a while ago and set it between the two of them.

“How is it? Is this place okay? You can cool down here before we head home.”

“I liked the place you brought me to last time.”

“It’s quite far. Plus we’re going to drink. At least here, my house is only a walking distance.”

“I’m not planning on sleeping at your house.” she reminded him.

“But you’re stopping by anyway since Seth is there. We can head there and I can ask our driver to bring you two home.” Dylan replied.

“Oh. That’s nice.”

The two started downing the canned beers. Dylan was a bit worried because Elise was drinking a lot more than he was and she was starting to get drunk.

“Ellie?” she called. “I think that’s enough.”

“What did you just call me?” she asked. Obviously drunk. “I thought I told you to never call me that again! When you left me all those years ago, you lost the right to call me that!’

“Okay, I think you’re drunk.”

“Do you know how hard it was for me when I had Seth?” Elise started crying. Dylan just decided to listen to her. She obviously needed to release all those things she had kept for long in her mind. “I had to live in the States because my family was afraid I would shame them! I didn’t set Seth for adoption because he was your parting gift to me! But still! You’re one big jerk!”

Elise suddenly stood up and faced him. She held his head in place.

“Elise, I think this is-“

“Ryan Zhang! You’re one big jerk!” she suddenly slammed her head on Dylan’s head. Dylan groaned in pain, but immediately forgotten it because of what he heard.

“Ryan Zhang?” he asked himself. “He’s Seth’s dad? I knew the two looked similar!”

“Ryan Zhang you big jerk!” Elise continued. “You weren’t there when I needed you the most! I swear! I will never tell Seth about you! And I will never tell you about Seth! Seth is a very nice kid and he’s too good to be your son! Ryan you jerk! I thought I was already over it but why did I have to see you again!”

She suddenly shut up and Dylan saw that she fell asleep. He gently tapped the spot where Elise hit him. He decided to bring her home. As they made her way back to his house, with her on his back, he couldn’t help but think about what she just spilled. He had heard Seth talk about his irresponsible father before. Apparently sixteen years ago, his father ran away and her mother had to raise him herself. After graduating from university, her parents stopped supporting the two of them and she never saw them again.

He then decided.

“If you don’t want Seth to know who his dad is, and you don’t want Ryan to know about Seth, I’ll help you.” he said. “You can count on me.”

***

Ryan was worried. He looked everywhere in the building and the surrounding areas, but he never found Elise or Dylan. He gave Diego a piece of his mind and he didn’t care whether it would be a hot topic the next day. At that moment, there was only one thing in his mind; find Elise.

He searched all night, but never found her, so he headed home a little distraught. Since he didn’t know where she lived, he had no idea where she would go. Plus she was with that annoying tree called Dylan, and the two seemed close. He was sure he wouldn’t do anything towards her.

He shook his head and laid down his bed. He just took a bath and was about to go to sleep but his gaze landed on the closet not that far from his bed. He stood up and started rummaging the chest that was placed at the bottom of the closet. He found a baseball ball which was signed by his favorite baseball player. It was the first gift Elise gave him when they were still going out.

“I asked my brother to introduce me to him since they knew each other.” eighteen year old Elise said and gave him the signed ball. “And since you knew him, I asked him for a signature. Luckily, Luke brought a ball so he signed it and gave it to me.”

A ghostly smile crept up Ryan’s face. That was the time he realized he was deeply in love with her. Not just because of the signature, but because she was dedicated to him. But another memory popped up in his head, and it wasn’t really a good one. It was the night Elise called him and told him she was pregnant. He felt like his world was about to crumble. He was supposed to debut next month and that piece of news would only crush his dreams. So he chose to be the bad guy. He didn’t show up in the meeting place and chose not to contact her nor see her. He thought, he could build up his career first then find them and give them a happy life. Because if threw the chance to make money, he would never be given the chance again.

Ryan admitted he was guilty at what happened. When he heard Elise went to America to continue his pregnancy, he tried to follow her, but he was swarmed with work. Over the years, he never heard any news about Elise or their child. Not even Luke whom he would see once in a while would tell him. In the end, he just shelved it at the back of his mind. But when they saw each other again, all those memories from sixteen years ago came flooding on his mind.

“Ryan?” he heard someone call. He turned and saw his cousin, Lily, who was staying with him for the moment, at the door. “Are you okay?”

“Lily, can you give me an advice on something?” he asked.

Lily Zhang was a psychologist. She was staying at his apartment because hers was under repair due to the leaking gas pipe.

“Sure.”

The two sat on the bed.

“There’s this girl from a long time ago. I thought I was already over her and whatnot but when I saw her, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.”

“Hmm… Did you do anything to her? In the past?”

“You could say that. I did the biggest mistake of my life.”

“So, you feel guilty towards her.” he nodded. “Then try to make up for it. I know you couz. You have never taken any girls seriously after you debuted. This is just a guess of mine but it’s because of that girl, isn’t it?”

“As always. Psychologists can easily understand it.” Lily only smiled brightly. “But these days, I’m not sure whether it’s because of guilt or something else. I like seeing her, annoying her and whatnot. I get annoyed when other guys go near her.”

“Ryan, you’re an actor and you have acted in many dramas and different roles. Can’t you asses yourself judging by that?” Lily asked.

“I still like her don’t I?”

“That depends on you. But let me remind you. You better settle that that feeling soon. You better choose whether you will treat her with guilt in your heart or will you resolve it and pursue her.”

“Your advice is complicated.”

“Sometimes, the simplest things are the most complicated to plan.” Lily reminded him.