When Elise woke up, she found herself in an unfamiliar room. She was pretty sure her bed wasn’t a canopy one and it definitely didn’t have a black-and-white theme.

“Where the hell am I?” she wondered. She tried to think about it, but damn! She couldn’t remember what happened the other night. The last thing she remembered was drinking beer with Dylan at the bank. She even had a strange dream about head-butting Dylan.

She glanced at herself and was very surprised to see she was wearing a different set of clothes.

“What the hell happened?” she slowly sat up and she winced at the pain in her head. Hangover.

The door suddenly opened and Dylan emerged from the door. She remembered her strange dream and caressed her forehead.

“You okay?” he asked.

“My head hurts. What happened?” she asked in return.

“Well…” he sat on the bed. “You drank a lot of beer and got drunk. You head-butted me and then you passed out. I brought you home after that.”

If jaws could drop to the floor, Elise’s would’ve dropped already. She really wanted to find a hole and just hide.

“Thanks. Uh, who changed my clothes?” she asked again.

“What if I said it was me?” Dylan said in a teasing voice.

“I’ll head-butt you again.” she saw him swallow and stared at him intently.

“It was Auntie Yi.” he said immediately. “You looked uncomfortable with your dress so I asked her to change your clothes.”

“Is this your room?” she asked again.

“Yep. Be grateful about it. Also, I slept in the living room, so feel free to be guilty about it.”

“Jerk.”

‘Not as much as that guy I hope.’ Dylan thought

“Come on, breakfast is ready.”

The two headed downstairs. Elise was very surprised to see Seth and Kyle in the table, already munching on the food.

“Boys? Aren’t you supposed to be at school?”

“Mom, it’s a holiday today. School’s closed.” Seth answered.

“Ah, right.”

“Sister-in-law,” Kyle called. Elise couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the way Kyle called her. “You were very drunk last night.”

“I didn’t do anything embarrassing last night, right?”

“Well…” Kyle eyed Seth who only shrugged.

“Mom, you were singing all night. And it was so out of tune.”

Elise only clicked her tongue and sighed in disbelief. She had always avoided getting drunk because she couldn’t remember what she would do when she was in that state.

“I’m a good singer. I guess I got that from my dad.”

Her son’s remark only made her freeze. Dylan, who found out about it the previous night, but decided not to tell Elise about it also froze.

“Okay. You two eat your breakfast. You still have to finish your homework.” Dylan reminded them to divert the topic.

“Big brother, do we have to?” Kyle asked and pouted.

“If you want to goof around, finish everything first.”

“Fine.”

“I’ll make sure he’ll finish his homework Big brother Dylan.”

The employees of Wu Studios couldn’t take their eyes off the black Lamborghini that stopped in front of the building. Everyone’s eyes even widened, when Elise Li got off from the passenger seat and the famous businessman, Dylan Zhou, emerged from the driver’s seat.

“I’ll fetch you later so we can get your car.” Dylan said. “Text me okay?”

“Sure. Thanks for the ride.”

Elise watched as Dylan drove away from the premises. She was about to enter the building but she felt all eyes in the surroundings on her. She had a feeling a misunderstanding was about to ensue.

And boy was she right!

It didn’t even take half a day and a rumor that she was dating Dylan Zhou had already spread within Wu Studio building. At first, she just didn’t mind it, but when Ryan came barging into her office with an angry expression, she somehow became sensitive about it.

“What do you want?” she asked. “Don’t you have a day off today because of the ball last night?”

“Where did you go?” he asked.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Of course it is! You’re my plus one! We went to the charity ball together but you left me there and went with some other guy!”

“He wasn’t just some other guy. He has a name.” she retorted.

“Do you know how worried I was? I looked for you all night!”

Elise looked up and stared at his eyes.

“You’re sixteen years too late to worry about me. I’m your handler now, which means our work is purely professional. Keep that in mind. Now go home and take a rest, Mr. Zhang.”

Ryan was speechless. He was sixteen years too late? Those words definitely hurt him, but it was the truth. He left Elise’s office in low spirits.

President Wu was on his way to Elise’s office. He just found out some great news and he wanted to ask her about it. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Ryan walk out of Elise’s office with a blank look. He watched him walk mindlessly towards the elevator, a gloomy atmosphere obviously hanging around him. He went straight to the office and greeted Elise.

“Good morning Miss Li!”

“Oh, President Wu. What brought you here?”

“I wanted to make some clarifications with you.”

“I see. You could’ve just asked me to go to your office. Please take a seat.” Elise directed him to the living area set in the office. “What can I do for you?”

“You see, I made some research about you. I hope you don’t mind. It’s just that, I’ve noticed that you and Ryan seem to have some bad blood between you. So…”

“I see. So, what did you find out?”

“Well… You two used to date during your high school days. But after he debuted, you lost contact with each other and then you went to America after graduation.” President Wu gave her with a sorry look. “He broke your heart yet I made you work for him. It was careless of me.”

“President, it wasn’t your fault.”

“I thought since you two went to the same school, and were even classmates, you would be comfortable with each other. But I made a mess.”

“President Wu, I already got over it. I wouldn’t have accepted the job if I have to worry about that.”

“It’s good that you’re still optimistic. So here’s my offer. Would you like to switch handling another celebrity?”

“Sir?”

“I will let you work with another celebrity. How about it?”

Elise was very surprised at the offer. She had a shot at staying away from Ryan. But then she realized that if she said yes, it would only seem like she was running away.

“Thank you for the offer President Wu, but I’ll continue being Ryan’s handler. It’s also good for me. At least my tolerance level against him will increase.”

President Wu couldn’t help but chuckle at her statement.

“Nice choice of words. If that’s your decision, I won’t stop you. I should go Miss Li.”

“Thank you for coming President Wu.”

She sighed. She wasn’t sure if it really was a good idea or not.

A few days later, everything went back to normal. Well not really like before. More like a new normal was established. Elise realized that Dylan was really serious about courting her. He started sending her flowers on her office and he would fetch her from work whenever her car was not available. It also became one of the hottest topics in Wu Studios and even in both the entertainment and business circles.

Many girls were envious at Elise. After all, Dylan Zhou was one of the most desirable bachelors these days but he was pursuing a woman dubbed as a total femme fatale by the employees of Wu Studios. Some were also happy for Elise, especially he best friends; Anna, Harold and Hilda. Their friend finally found a guy who didn’t run away after finding out she was a single mother.

There was one guy who was not a bit happy though; Ryan Zhang.

When he heard the rumors and saw the flower delivery himself, Ryan couldn’t help but be annoyed. Not just annoyed. He was angry. He was angry at Dylan Zhou for pursuing Elise, he was angry at the people who spread the rumor, and most especially, he was angry at himself for not making a move on her. He was angry that he was being a coward. He wanted to pursue her, to make up for his mistakes and to let her know that he still loved her even after all these years, but he was worried about his reputation. And it was starting to grate at him.

“Vin, do I have any schedule for today?” he asked his PA.

“Err… You have a guesting later at eight. Why?”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’m going somewhere.”

***

Dylan was surprised to see the Ryan Zhang at his doorstep. It was a weekend, and he decided to accompany his brother and Seth, who was visiting, since all the servants were out on their day off. When he saw him, his mind immediately drifted to the teenagers who were playing video games in Kyle’s room.

“Come in.” he offered. “Would you like anything to drink?”

“No need I won’t be long.”

“Oh. Okay. Take a seat then. So, what is it that you want?”

Dylan was surprised when Ryan gave him a suspicious look.

“What do you want with Elise? Why are you pursuing her?”

“It’s because I fancy her.” Dylan answered straightforwardly. “Why do you ask?”

“It bothers me that you keep bothering her.”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” Dylan retorted. “Elise knew I’m courting her and she agreed with it. I like her and want to date her, so I’m courting her. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. And why does it bother you? Do you like her too?”

Ryan was rendered speechless at Dylan’s statement.

“If you like her, then court her. Don’t think you have the upper hand just because you had a past relationship with her. Wake up and realize that she’s over you. And if you want to pursue her, then pursue her. No questions asked.”

The two men stared at each other intensely.

Kyle was on his way downstairs to get some snacks, but when he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw his brother and the famous actor Ryan Zhang staring at each other. They were like a tiger and a dragon that was eyeing the same prey. And if he had to guess, it was probably his future sister-in-law, Elise.

He silently returned upstairs and released a deep sigh when he entered his room.

“Where are the snacks?” Seth asked.

“That’s not important. My brother has a visitor downstairs.”

“And?”

“It’s Ryan Zhang!”

“Ryan Zhang? The actor that works with my mom?”

“Yep. And you know what I heard? He also wants to date your mom.”

“Ha?” Seth was a little bewildered at the sudden news. His mother somehow got tangled into a complicated situation between two complicated guys.

“But you support my brother right?” Kyle asked. “I will be your uncle, right?”

“Shut up. Let the grown-ups resolve it themselves.” Seth replied.

“If you say so.”

***

Elise was very surprised when her son suddenly called her.

“Hey sweetie. What is it?”

“Is Ryan Zhang also trying to court you?”

She almost choked on her own saliva. Her son just said what?

“Where did you hear that?” she asked. A little nervous.

“Hmm… He came to Kyle’s house and talked to Big brother Dylan.”

“Did you… did you meet him?”

“Nope. Kyle and I stayed inside his room since it was obviously a private conversation.”

“I see. Uhm… Ryan Zhang and I are just colleagues Seth. I’m his handler. That’s all there is to it.”

“Hmm… Okay. Hey mom? Are you going to date Kyle’s brother?”

“Why do you suddenly ask that?” she felt a little nervous again.

“Just curious. Kyle’s been bugging me into calling him uncle. Plus, he already considers you sister-in-law.”

Elise just chuckled at her son’s statement. He was obviously annoyed about it, but he didn’t sound angry.

“What do you think? Should I date Kyle’s brother?”

“Why are you asking me that?”

“We’re a set, remember? You have to approve of the guys I have to date.”

“Tch. That’s annoying mom. If you decide to date him or not, I’ll support you. If he hurts you, I’ll go all ninja him.” she could hear him grin on the other line. “So, decide about it based on how you’ll feel. Okay?”

“Wah, my son is all grown up. Thank you Seth. That really means a lot.”

“I have to go. I love you mom.”

“I love you too son.”

The call ended and Elise couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t know why, but she felt really happy.