The two of them stared at each other for an instant, then, Aaron broke it when he said, "Uhm...hello.." He tried to be as friendly as possible. After all, they were once best friends.

"Hello," Jiro returned the greeting coldly, like usual.

Aaron knew that Jiro wouldn't be willingly to heal the gap between the two of them. He knew that all his efforts were worthless against Jiro's determination and hatred. But at least Jiro didn't punch the heck out of him. Not this time.

"Well, I gonna go now. See you around," Aaron said and left. There was nothing more to say. Beside, he had to go back home fast. Gui Gui would be mad if he was late.

Jiro continued on with his search for potatoes and carrots while Aaron left for the check out. Both of them did not know what would be waiting for them once they got home.

---------------------------------------------

Outside, the sun was slowly falling down the horizon. The streets were covered with people walking, talking, and laughing. Each of them had a different story to tell. Each of them had a home to return to after a tired day. Each of them had something hidden inside their hearts. It would be very interesting to be able to read their thoughts. Zhen wanted to have that ability. He wanted to know why people did what they'd done. The reasons behind their actions. Everything happened for a reason. Nothing was an accident, and Lin's death was no accident either. It happened because of his parent's stupidity, of their brutality, and of their irrational belief.

He would make them pay for it. He had a perfect revenge plan. But first, he had to have some fun with the police. They would be the ones that deliver his message to the whole world.

-----------------------------------------------

"What take him so long to get here?" Jiro's grandma asked furiously. Jiro should be here an hour ago.

"He should be back soon," Angela assured her. Just then, the door opened and he walked in, carrying bags and bags.

"He's home!" Angela rushed out and helped him with the bags.

"No, you don't need to help. I can do it," Jiro said.

"You aren't superman. Let me help," Angela took the bags from his hand before he could react. She was always like that around him. Never gave him enough time to react.

"Granny, Jiro's home!"

"What took you so long?"

"Grandma, I was caught in traffic," he said.

"Well, let's start cooking!" Angela said excitedly. She wanted to stop the conversation from going into the 'hot zone'. Grandma was already mad at Jiro for being so late. If it went on, Jiro would be in jeopardy.

"But they're not here yet!" His grandma said.

"Who are 'they' ?" asked Jiro.

"uhm...my friends!" Angela lied. To her surprise, Jiro bought it without a doubt.

"Well, then, grandma, what do you want me to do with these? I can't cook!" Jiro pointed at the bags and asked.

"Just leave them there. We have to wait for a few people," she said and looked out the door.

-------------------------------------------------

"Aaron, hurry up! We will be late!" Gui Gui shouted to Aaron, who was choking on his water.

"OK! OK! I'm coming!" Aaron replied. "What's wrong with her? I can't even drink water in piece!" He mumbled. Her words were his commands. Who would dare to go against them? He picked up the bags of food he bought earlier and followed Gui Gui to the car.

"Where are we going exactly?" He asked. She didn't tell him where they were going to. Just simply 'a friend's house'.

"I told you we're going to my friend's house for dinner!" Gui Gui replied.

"For what occasion? And why don't we cook the food home instead of bringing the ingredients over?"

"We'll help them cook. It will be fun!" Gui Gui said enthusiastically.

"If you said so," Aaron shrugged. He had no idea who these friends were. It didn't matter anyway. He wanted to make Gui Gui happy, so he just went with whatever she wished.

Such a perfect boyfriend!

-----------------------------------------------

Zhen sat down in his dirty apartment, watching the afternoon news. The body of his newest victim had been found. This time, his 'signature' really gave them a shook. He had taken her heart out and pinched it onto the ground with a knife. He wanted them to understand that his heart was once stabbed like that. He was once suffered like that. The world had been so cruel to him. Now, it was his turn to punish it. It was time for some payback.

His eyes squinted at the image in the screen. It was Aaron.

"Detective Yan, what do think of this murder? Is it connected to the previous one? Is there a serial killer on the loose?" A reporter kept questioning the pissed Aaron Yan. He dislike the press to his guts. Unfortunately, he was always the one that had to deal with them. Neither Chun or Calvin offered to help. Zhen looked at Aaron's agitated expression and laughed to himself.

"I can't tell you anything at the moment, but I can assure you that we'll get the murderer into custody as soon as we can. Thank you," Aaron lightly bowed his head and pushed through the crowd toward his car.

"Mr.Yan, can you....." Questions were pouring in but Aaron ignored them. The investigation was still going on. He couldn't reveal much. He started the car and drove away, leaving the reporters standing there, disappointed.

Zhen turned the TV off. That was enough. So he got the great detective mad. Super! It was just what he wanted. His life was really dull. This whole thing really spice it up a bit.

Today was nothing out of ordinary for him. His day was boring, like usual. The model agency where he worked was on the brink of closing down. Jenifer was one of their best models. But she was missing for days , all thank to his 'genius' plan. Many of her clients declared an explanation, or even worse, a refund. There were other unfortunate events added up to that that left the agency almost bankrupt. Zhen couldn't care less about it. His job was no longer important to him. He wanted to accomplish his revenge plan. Ten more to go. Tonight, he would go out and find his new victim. Maybe he would try to take two this time. One for Friday. One for Saturday. That would leave the police baffled, and the press would be stirred even more.

With a deadly smile spread across his dry lips, Zhen took his coat and headed out.

Tonight, two more 'lucky' girls would be his victims.

He preferred to call them 'sacrifices'. It sounded more.....pleasant.

Funny, what was so pleasant about killing?

The satisfactory that filled his hatred-dyed heart?

Definitely.

---------------------------------------------------------

"Turn right, turn right!" Gui Gui kept telling him with her finger pointed at that direction.

"Alright!" He turned right. The car entered a small road dimly lit with yellow streetlights.

"Stop in front of that blue house," she said.

"OK ma'am!" Aaron obeyed. The car pulled to a stop in front of the house. Gui Gui hoped out immediately and pressed the bell button. They heard the bell echoed inside the house. Then, someone rushed out.

"Gui Gui!" The girl yelled excitedly.

"Angela?" Aaron was in a state of shock. What was she doing here?

A much older lady walked toward them.

"Gui Gui, sweetie!" She hugged her like she would to a long-lost granddaughter.

"Grandma?" Aaron asked. He'd met Jiro's grandmother when she came to visit them in the academy.

"Ya Lun?" She turned to him, "Look at you! All grown up! You still have those baby cheeks? Aw, how cute!" She pinched his cheek like a five-year-old kid. "I haven't seen the two of you in such a long time. Come in!" She pulled him in.

"Who say they can come in?" A cold voice said.

"Da Dong, you better shut your mouth. I invited them here for dinner and I'm not going to let them leave with an empty stomach. Now, move out of the way!" She glared at her grandson like she would devour him if he didn't listen to her.

"But,."

"But what? Do you want me to smack your head with this umbrella?" She raised her black umbrella up threateningly. Jiro didn't reply. He just stared at Aaron. The killer eyes drilled deep into Aaron's thoughts.

"Gui Gui, let's go inside," Angela broke the awkward situation with a bright smile.

"OK! Aaron, you take care of the bags," she said and left.

"Da Dong, you help him bring the bags inside. I want to start cooking now," Jiro's grandmother ordered and followed the girls' footsteps, she went in.

Jiro stood where he was. He had no intention of helping anyone, especially his friend-turned-enemy, Aaron.

Aaron understood. He went back to his car and brought as many as he could and walked into the house.

Jiro grabbed Aaron's arm, "Don't you think that I've forgiven you just because grandma invited you here. It will never happen."

"I'd stopped hoping for your forgiveness years ago." Aaron shrugged his arm free and said. True. He'd stopped hoping for Jiro's forgiveness. He'd learned to scoop with the guilt. Though uncomfortable, it was the only way left for him.

"What are you two doing out there? Come in here!" Jiro's grandmother shouted. Jiro gave Aaron one last deathly look before he walked into the house.

"Well, I guess this is not bad after all," Aaron thought and followed behind Jiro.

"Let me help!" Angela came up to him and said.

"No! Angela, let the boys do the work today, OK? I haven't seen you for years. We need to catch up!" Gui Gui pulled her aside. "Grandma, we'll be in Angela's room!"

"I'll call you once dinner is ready," she replied. Turned to Aaron, she said, "Ya Lun, you take those to the kitchen. Da Dong, go out and bring the rest in."

The two obeyed. A few minutes later, both of them were cramped into the kitchen with Jiro's grandma.

"Da Dong, you chop the onions. Ya Lun, you take care of the potatoes," she said.

They dare not went against it.

--------------------------------------------------------

"Gui Gui, I don't think this is a good idea. They...." Angela said worriedly.

"Don't worry, Angie. Grandma can handle them," Gui Gui assured her. "Here, sit down." She patted the space next to her on the bed.

"I still don't think we can just leave them like that. Grandma is too hot-tempered. She will only add more tension," Angela wasn't convinced. She afraid that the plan would not work out.

"Just let them say everything they have in mind. It will make them feel better!" Gui Gui said.

"I guess you are right....somewhat."

"So, answer me, do you still like Jiro?" Gui Gui tackled the hard question.

"What?" Angela was caught by surprise. "I....I...."

"Aw just admit it! You like him! You like him! You like him!" Gui Gui repeated the sentence in a sing-song voice.

"Gui Gui, stop saying that!" Angela's cheeks turned crimson red.

"So I'm right! You still like him!"

"Yeah, I guess....But he's..."

"Angie, you should tell him how you feel."

"I know. The night grandma and I got here, I wanted to test him. So I...I..." Angela hesitated.

"You what?" Gui Gui urged.

"I kissed him on his cheek," Angela said and blushed madly.

"WHAT?!"

"Lower your voice! They will hear it!" Angela hushed. "It was just a quick kiss..."

"You are braver than you look, Angie!" Gui Gui's eyes were wide opened. "So how did he react?"

"He didn't react at all. He just simply ignored me," she replied sadly.

"That jerk! He knows that you like him. I bet he has feeling for you too. He's too stubborn to admit it!" Gui Gui said angrily. "I will knock some sense into him at dinner!"

"Don't! He will be mad! I don't think he likes me or anything. He always looks at me as a friend; nothing more."

"You will never know unless you ask!"

"I don't want to ask him that. It's suppose for the guy to ask the girl. Not the other way around!" Angela shook her head.

"That's so outdated! What time period are you living in?" Gui Gui grabbed Angela's arms and said. "It's the modern era! Men and women are equal; meaning we, women, can do whatever men can!"

"But asking such question is...." Angela tried to find an excuse.

"Is what? There's nothing wrong with you ask that question first!" Gui Gui tried to convinced her friend. "You have to work hard for your happiness. If you let him slide away from you like this, you will regret it! Why don't you just ask him? Then, you will know if he's worth loving and, you will know if it's time to stop. Besides, what do you have to lose?"

"I will lose having him as a friend! I mean, it's also ... good this way...."

"Being friend with him? You know that's not what you want!" Gui Gui said.

"What can I do? He loves only....you."

"Please!! What he thinks as love is all an illusion of loneliness. He was in a depression, Angie. The medication he received wasn't even worth taken. And I was there at the right time. I understood what he was going through because I was once like him. My name was on the suicide watch list!"

"Really?" Angela asked surprisingly. She couldn't imagine Gui Gui, a cheerful girl, in a depressed state.

"Yeah..It was when my whole family died in a fire...." Gui Gui's voice trailed off.

"I'm so sorry," Angela patted Gui's shoulder comfortingly.

"It's OK. I'm fine," said Gui Gui. "I moved on. I brought myself out of my own grave. When I saw Jiro, I knew I needed to help him. So I did. Jiro isolated himself at the time. I didn't remember how I managed to break through his defense system. I was able to help him recover. All he had for me was just gratitude. He mistaken it as love. And when I accepted Aaron, the old wound stirred up again."

Angela started to get a new look at the problem.

"So you see, Angie," Gui Gui continued. "You still have a chance. Now the question is. do you want to take it?"

------------------------------------------------------------

Just a few minutes chopping the onions, Jiro's eyes teared up. He put the knife down and rubbed his eyes with his palm. Thing didn't go easy on Aaron either. The peeler he used was blunt, and the potatoes were too small for his hand to have a firm grip.

"You two are unbelievable ! I don't know how you two handle the criminals. Don't even know how to deal with some onions and potatoes!" Jiro's grandmother said when she saw them struggling. "Turn on that mini fan. It will blow the smell away, and thus, you don't have to cry as profusely, Da Dong. And you, Ya Lun, try not to crush the poor potatoes with your hands. We need them, remember?"

"Granny, you should have tell me earlier," Jiro whined like a child with his palm rubbing his red, teary eyes. He'd temporarily forgotten that Aaron was there; the onions had defeated him!

"How old are you exactly? Still acting like a kid. No wonder you can't let that old grudge go," she grumbled. Her words had great impact on Jiro.

"How can I let it go? You tell me, how?" He hissed.

Aaron froze where he was.

"How else? Forget about it and move on!" She replied. "Only kids wouldn't understand such simple logic!"

"It's not that easy," Jiro's voice turned back to the familiar coldness.

Aaron felt his throat burning. Not because of anger, but because of guilt. The guilt that mounted up inside of him over the past six years. Yes, he'd learn to live with it; but that didn't mean he would feel any better. If he held her hand tighter, she wouldn't have to die. It was all his fault. His fingers unconsciously tightened around the peeler, relived that crucial moment. He could see Jade's arm reaching out for him, yelling for him to help her. Then, the monstrous current swallowed her. The image was so vivid, and the feeling was to real. He couldn't remembered how many times he had relived that story. It was a nightmare that kept recurring.

"Of course it is not! I understand how you feel, but it was an accident. No one wanted it to happen!" Grandma's voice brought Aaron back to the painful reality.

"It was preventable!"

"How can an accident be 'preventable'? Da Dong, you and Ya Lun were best friends. You should be the one to understand that he didn't mean for it to happen. You should of know him better than that."

"Didn't mean for it to happened? Grandma, I let him to come here today because I thought you wouldn't mention this to me. Now you brought this up, and you're on his side!" Jiro snapped back.

"On his side? I invited him over so that you two can have a good talk; to clear things up. It has been six years, Da Dong. Six years! Do you think you're the only one that live in pain all this time? Do you think that he's not blaming himself for Jade's death, for an accident?"

"I told you it was NOT an accident!" Jiro bellowed.

Silenced followed right after his words.

"Jiro," said Aaron. His voice stabbed the sullenness. "It's my fault. Everything happened because of me. I....."

"What do you mean it's all because of you?" Jiro's grandma interrupted. "Stop blaming yourself! No one wanted it to happen. It was just an accident!"

"It was NOT an accident! Grandma, how many times do you need me to say this?"

"Guys! guys! What's going on?" Gui Gui poked her head into the kitchen and asked.

"These two idiots: One keeps putting the blame on someone else and that someone takes all the blame on himself. They're now debating over whose fault is it."

"Why are you two like this?" asked Gui Gui. "I really don't understand!"

"Gui Gui, calm down," Angela pulled Gui Gui out of the kitchen, but she sneaked back in.

"Calm down? How can I calm down?!" Gui Gui felt anger was boiling up inside her head. "We set up this dinner plan so that you two have some time to talk. We want to heal your friendship! A friendship that had endured so many years before it was disrupted by an accident."

"It was..." Jiro stared to protest. Gui Gui cut him off.

"It was an accident!!!! Jiro, do you ever think about it? Do you ever actually think about it? Aaron did try to rescue Jade that night. Calvin told me that he was trying, but didn't succeed. Did you ever think that Aaron also endangered his own life trying to save your girlfriend?" Gui Gui's last question dawned on Jiro. Why didn't he think of that before?

Both Jiro and Aaron stood in silence. The memory of that night was playing in their heads.

"There's no reason for you to hate Aaron," Gui continued. "Jade's death isn't a valid reason. I'm not a reason either. You've never love me, Jiro. It's gratitude that you feel. You were lonely at the time, and I was there beside you; helping you. You mistaken it as love. If I like someone else, you wouldn't be as mad. But it was Aaron who I chose. Jiro, you should cherish the one you really love." She pulled Angela into view.

"Gui Gui, what are you doing?" Angela struggled to free herself. She felt her face burning up when Jiro stared at her.

"Gui Gui's right. Da Dong, you're so stupid! You should cherish what you have now," his grandmother grabbed her arm around Angela's shoulders. "And you know I won't let you be the third wheel!"

"Granny!" Angela blushed more and more.

Jiro didn't know what to think anymore. What Gui Gui said confused him, not to clear things up.

So he did not love Gui Gui?

It was just a mistake?

-------------------------------------------------------------

One of the few lights left in the park flashed a few times, then black out. The street was empty and quite scary. Only a small figure of a high school girl could be seen.

Leanne sat down on a cold bench, waiting for her friend. She didn't have to wait for long.

"Joanne!" She waved.

"Hey!" Joanne sat down next to Leanne. She ped her handbag to reveal a cute, pink notebook.

"What is it?" Leanne asked.

"It's my dairy. I wrote everything in here. I have Leon's number in here too!" Joanne answered as she flipped through the pages.

"Really?" Leanne was getting excited. She had a crush on Leon, her senior, for months. He didn't notice her due to the fact that she was not the only one that was drooling over him.

"Yup!"

"Where? Can I have it?" Leanne asked hopefully.

"Of course!" Joanne nodded. She took out a piece of paper and copied the number down. "Here. Good luck!"

"Thank you! Thank you! You're truly my best friend!" Leanne hugged her friend and said happily.

"You just realized it now?" Joanne asked teasingly. "So, what are you going to do? Call him and arrange a date?"

"What else?" The two of them giggled.

"By the way, why did you want to meet me here? This park is really creepy!" Leanne asked.

"We can't meet at the usual place anymore. My parents grounded me for three months! That café was too obvious. They will find me easily," Joanne answered.

"Why did you get grounded?"

"Kissing my boyfriend."

"What?"

"Yeah. My life ," Joanne shock her pretty head.

"Are you going to get into trouble when you get home tonight?"

"Probably. But who cares? They're just pretending to be good parents. They already split up, and have their own lives," Joanne felt a tear ran down her cheek. Her family wasn't a family. It was an empty shell to fool people.

"Joanne, don't be sad. You still have me, your best buddy!" Leanne hugged the crying girl. "Oh, do you want ice cream? It'll make you feel better! Wait for me here!" then she left.

"Get me strawberry!" Joanne yelled after her.

A few minutes passed. The park was as vacant as ever.

Joanne felt a cold breeze touched her neck. She turned around but saw no one. It started to creep her out. "Leanne, you better get back here quick!" She mumbled.

Then, she felt a cold piece of cloth pressed into and nose. She struggled, but she felt sleepy all of a sudden. Her version blurred, and she fell into a pool of darkness.