[Special Appearances]
Paul Chun Pui - Paul Lam
Rosanne Lui Shan - Rosanne Cheng
Natalie Tong - Natalie Cheng

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“Good morning, young master,” A maid of the Lam estate greeted upon seeing Raymond come down the stairs. “Master is waiting for you to have breakfast.”

A smile formed on Raymond’s face as he quickly pranced towards the dining area. “Good morning, Daddy,” He greeted and scanned the table for today‘s breakfast. Seeing his favourite congee and Chinese donut, he eagerly reached for his chopsticks and attempted to retreive some deep fried goodness.

“Hey,” Paul used his chopstick to beat Raymond’s. “Have you brushed your teeth yet?”

Raymond smiled innocently and set his chopsticks down, “I‘ll go brush them right away!” He turned around and walked speedily back up to his own bathroom. With the door shut, he turned the water tap on and looked in the mirror. In a matter of seconds after brushing, he could see a trail of blood trickling down from his nostril.  He reached for the paper towels from behind and pinched his nose. With the toilet seat cover down, he sat down to wait until the bleeding would stop like he had done so before.

Recalling the other day when his nose bled at the shopping centre, a smile formed on his face behind his clump of tissue paper. “If only Tavia was here, then I wouldn’t mind these nose bleeds.”

It suddenly hit him that Tavia had given him her pack of tissues that day.  Come to think of it, he still had it in his jeans’ pocket. With one hand against his face, he used his other to reach down into the laundry basket. After a moment of blind drawing, he retrieved a packet of tissue paper. “Good thing the maid didn’t do the laundry yet.”

“Son?” Paul knocked on the door from outside, “Are you okay? Why is it taking you so long to wash up?”

It would worry the old man if Raymond told the truth, “I’m fine! I’ll be right out, I just… Lost my contact lens, but I found it. Let me just wash it and I’ll be right out. Daddy, why don’t you start eating first or else the food will get cold.” He lied with good intentions.

“Okay, then hurry out,“ The sound of Paul’s footsteps fading away indicated that he was gone.

With a sigh, Raymond once again starred at himself in the mirror. The tan from his Caribbean trip was nearly gone; perhaps he had gotten paler. “I have to hang in there. There's still too much in the world I haven't seen, too many things I haven't done.  Who would take care of my dad and watch over his business?” Several similar questions swarmed his head, but he knew he had no time to fret.  Taking one last look, he took in a deep breath and headed for the bathroom exit.

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At Tavia’s apartment, Linda sat at the island counter of the open-styled kitchen and surfed the internet with curious intentions. “Tav, you just have to read this!”

Putting some coffee grind into the coffee machine, Tavia started the brewing process before directing her attention to her friend. “What is it?” She leaned over the counter and caught a glimpse of a few pictures. “Isn’t this Raymond? You ‘Googled‘ him?” She scrolled down the entire page of the website and clicked onto a few links. “Linda, are you stalking him?”

“It’s not called stalking, it’s more like finding out more about a friend.” She reasoned and giggled, “He’s not only a shareowner of Starlight Café, his family also owns a lot of different businesses. Tavia, we met a millionaire!”

The sight of Linda being so excited over such simple matters caused Tavia to laugh too, and the thought of Raymond-the-millionaire wasn’t so bad either. “We’ve only gone out with him once, and since he’s such a popular guy with hundreds of business contacts, what makes you think he still remembers us?”

Hitting Tavia playfully in the arm, Linda was more optimistic, “We saved his life, remember?”

“It was just a nosebleed, everyone gets nosebleeds once in a while.” Tavia explained and shook her head with a smile, “Who knows, maybe he’s one of those erted men whose nose starts bleeding whenever he sees pretty girls.” She couldn’t help but giggle at her own comments.

“Too bad we didn’t ask for his number, there’s no way of contacting him.” Linda calmed down and stated rather disappointedly. “Remember back then in high school when we’d dream about the future during our breaks? We always wanted to meet and marry a millionaire.”

Staring at the coffee pot, Linda’s mentioning of the past caused Tavia’s mind to drift back to a haunting memory she desperately wanted to forget…

--

The heavy rain poured down on the university campus like a broken showerhead. Puddles of dirt-mixed water flooded here and there on the roads in front of the grand lecture hall. Tavia stepped outside the building with her bag in tow, but she had been in such a rush that morning that she had forgotten to pack an umbrella.

Like a ray of sunshine, she saw him running up to her with an umbrella in hand. “Kevin?” She called out to beat the sounds of the rain. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to drop off my application for an entrance spot into a masters degree program.” He explained, then flashed his gorgeous smile. “And of course, I came to pick you up from school.” He took a step closer to her so that she would be under the protection of his umbrella. “Shall we?”

Shyly, she smiled and nodded her head with her heart racing faster than ever. They had known each other for 6 years already. It was love at first sight for Tavia, but she knew that dozens of other girls also felt the same way about Kevin. With his captivating looks and his million-dollar smile, it was hard to think of any girl in high school who didn’t praise his features.

Yet unlike other girls, Tavia somehow stood out and captured his attention. Their friendship had blossomed with the accompaniment of many jealous girls, but the warm feeling of being with him made up for the nasty words easily.

“Kevin,” She began and took a deep breath. “There’s something I want to tell you.”

He turned and looked at her curiously, “Sure.”

For a long time, Tavia had rehearsed the lines in her head fluently. “All our friends seem to be dating these days, and Linda found herself a boyfriend too. It kind of makes me want to be in a relationship…”

He chuckled at her words, not taking them seriously. “A lot of our friends are in a relationship, it’s too bad I’m shy, I wouldn’t dare ask a girl out even if I liked her.”

“Really?” Tavia looked at him, unconvinced.

“I can’t get over the fear of rejection,” He replied honestly, “But if the girl asked me out, that’s a whole different story.” As they neared an intersection, both stopped walking and looked at each other sincerely.

His words were so encouraging, his eyes so inviting. “Kevin… Do you think there’s a chance that… We can be more than just good friends?”

The unexpectedness of her words startled him into a state of shock. It took him nearly a minute to recover, “Tavia… You’re a great girl and a great friend… But I hope we can just stay friends.”

“I understand… I’m sorry,“ Embarrassed and humiliated, she ran across the street at once and got onto a bus that had just stopped at a station. Six years of friendship; six years of loving this man, and along with her tears, they were all drained away like the rainwater that drained into the sewage system.

--

“Just milk, no sugar, right?” Linda asked her friend; she had already poured two cups of coffee in front of them.

“Right,” Tavia snapped back into reality and forced a smile. She watched as Linda dropped two sugar cubes in her own cup and stirred.

“Coffee’s ready.” Linda cheered, but just as she was about to take a sip, she put it down on the counter and stared worriedly at her best friend. “You’ve been drinking coffee a lot these days…”

“Really?” Tavia asked like she hadn’t been keeping track. “Maybe I sleep too late so I always feel tired during the day.”

Unconvinced, Linda pushed her laptop away and leaned closer to her. “We’re best friends, don’t hide it from me. I know something’s bothering you. You told me once that you drink coffee when you’re unhappy because you can’t drink alcohol. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Tavia insisted, her eyes turning slightly red.

Pouting her lips, Linda shook her head and patted her best friend on the arm. “Tavia…”

As much as she tried to hold it in, the tears managed to find their way down her cheeks. With one loud gasp, she couldn’t help but began sobbing. “It’s been 6 years since he rejected me… But no matter how… How hard I try to let go, every time I see him, I think back to how stupid I was… How humiliated I was… That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. The biggest regret of my life…”

Instinctively, Linda ran up to her and hugged her. “It’s not your fault. He’s the stupid one, it’s his own fault that he’s missing out on such a wonderful girl like you. Please, Tavia, don’t cry. You’re going to make me cry too.”

------

Hearing the sounds of keys clashing against one another, Natalie could tell that her brother was home. To save him the trouble of unlocking the door, she eagerly did so and opened it for him. “Kevin, why are you so late? Mom’s really mad…”

“Mad? Why?” He stepped inside their tiny apartment and took off his shoes. “Do you have an exam tomorrow that you still haven’t started studying for?”

Rosanne walked out into the living room area from the hallway with crossed arms. As she reached the coffee table, she picked up an opened envelope and threw it at Kevin. “Such a big deal, and you didn’t bother to tell me?”

“Mom,” Natalie rushed to her mother's side and tried to calm her down. “Kevin didn’t mean to… He only went out to drink because dad came and threatened us…”

Bending down, Kevin grabbed the envelope and took out a letter from inside. Once he opened it, he could understand why Rosanne got so angry. A few weeks ago, he had gotten into an accident near a pub and was even arrested on the scene. “Mom…”

“Don’t call me mom. You said you lent your friend the car, fine. But that was all just a lie. Instead, you went out to drink and crashed your car, got arrested and even went to court by yourself and you still didn’t say anything. You’re so dishonest with your own family. You don’t treat me as your mother, so why still call me mom?”

Apologetically, Kevin lowered his head, “I did get arrested, but even the judge gave me another chance. All I need to do is complete 50 hours of community service and my file can be erased. Mom, I’m sorry.”

“Kevin! It’s not about the arrest files or the severity of your punishments. It’s about your safety, your life! Yes, this time you got lucky, the airbags might’ve prevented you from being injured, but you’ve seen all those articles in the newspapers. Drinking and driving kills so many people these days. I don’t want to wake up one day to see my son’s picture in the papers…”

“Mom, I’m so sorry. I swear I’ll be more careful.” He apologized again.

Though it ached Rosanne’s heart to have to lecture him, it was only for the better. “Don’t just be more careful, don’t drink alcohol anymore. I really don’t want you to turn into your father… We’ve moved into a new apartment, he shouldn’t be able to find us and bother us anymore.”

Natalie and Kevin exchanged glances, but luckily, Rosanne wasn’t paying attention.

“I’m starting my community service tomorrow, so I think I’ll go take a shower and go to bed early…” Without saying more, Kevin disappeared down into the hallway.