“Why didn’t you just accept his proposal?” Shannon asked. “Don’t you want to experience true love?”

“True love?” He said, rolling his eyes afterwards. “Jackson Wang is nowhere near true love.”

“But, he’s so hot! How can you even resist a guy like him?”

“Shannon, you know how allergic I am to such people.”

“Yeah” The girl sighed. “But, maybe this is your chance in love, Mark.”

“Please, he’s probably having one of those stupid bets again with his immature friends.”

“You’ll never know unless you try, Mark. Love is all about sacrifice, and most of the time, you gamble with your feelings.”

The word gamble instantly ruined his mood even more. If there was one thing he hated, it was gambling. Maybe, that was one of the reasons why he hated his dad so much.

“Love? Bets? Gambling? They’re all the same, Shannon.” He said. “Look at my mom. She chose to trust my dad, and what happened? She lost.”

“At least don’t close your heart, Mark. Not everyone’s the same.”

“I know. For now, I choose not to let anyone in my heart, because I’ve learned that the people you love can hurt you the most.”

---

He counted the bills of money he had inside the box, and added some from his part time job earlier. He sighed, returning the bills inside the box.

“So?”

“It’s still not enough, James.”

The guy pursed his lips. “Well, you know you can always go back to making music, Mark.”

He glared at the screen. “James, you know I don’t write songs anymore, right?” He said. “I’ll just find another job to double my income.”

James sighed in defeat. “Okay, princess.”

He would never write another song ever again.

---

Even though Jackson was pissed as hell with his sister, he had no choice to pick the girl up. It was his mom’s request, and if there’s anyone in the world he could never resist, it was his mother.

“Jackson!” The girl called out, with her group of friends. “Thanks for picking me up.”

He rolled his eyes. “Pink, huh?”

“Look, look, I’m sorry. But, I have one more thing to finish they we can-“

“What were you thinking, Tzuyu?” He said. “You made a fool out of me.”

The girl stopped for a moment, sighing after. “I’m sorry, okay? I just wanted you to know how it felt to be played.”

That hit him, very hard actually. But, he was the angry one here, so he kept his ground.

“You should never play with anyone’s feelings, Jackson.” They started walking. “But hey, have you ever fallen in love? No. Do you even have a heart? I guess none. Don’t you want true love?”

He scoffed at his sister’s words, even though they all spoke of the truth. Even if he was a playboy, as people labelled him, he had never actually experienced true love, and maybe because he didn’t believe in such.  

He didn’t mean to, but his eyes fell on a person he knew very well. His fists tightened, as his teeth gritted with each other.

Again. He thought, it was happening again.

He had to get out of here, especially when his sister was still here. No one could find out, especially not the peo