Tasha continues to curse under her breath as she slid off her heels at her front door. She had just spent 2 hours on the train back home standing the entire journey from work because an idiot refused to acknowledge that a lady, namely her, was standing while he was too busy playing Candy Crush with his headphones on to notice. Despite her coughing out loud for him to notice her and to look up to see that she was indeed suffering from standing 2 hours with her heels on, he couldn’t care less.

Mofo didn’t know that Chilvary ain’t dead, it should be an involuntary reflex. . She cussed out loud while pulling on the straps of her 2.5 inch Michael Kors heels.

She had spent the day with potential clients and an artist for a new line of fabrics to be released. She was exhausted and worn out but happy that she was doing what she loved. Best part of the day was receiving messages from Jimin, reminding her that he was thinking of her.

As much as she had wanted to reciprocate Jimin’s overflowing attention on her, she was still burdened by her unfinished business with Jackson. To stay married or kick him to the curb and go through divorce proceedings, was legitimately a glowing banner playing over her head every day.

Everything, now, reminded her of Jackson. Though she felt bad for Jimin for getting beaten up by Jackson at July weeks back, after having replayed the entire thing in her head now and having thought through it all with a clearer mind, she sorta understood why Jackson did what he did. She didn’t condone it, but she understood why.

She placed her shoes neatly into her side of the shoe cabinet she shared with Sierra. She hears muffled noises from Sierra’s room. I wonder if it’s Peaches or… then she gasps could it be… JK?

Tasha decides to ignore the curious noises and goes straight to the fridge. She places her laptop bag and handbag on the kitchen table and browses the contents of the fridge. She finds unfamiliar containers and bottles all lined up neatly. She read one that had a post-it on the cover ‘Please reheat 2 minutes BREAKFAST’ and another one that read ‘Please reheat 5 minutes LUNCH’.

Confused and unsure if this was one of Sierra’s family chefs making a debut or Peaches’ trying to woo himself back into Sierra’s pants, Tasha disregards the containers and closes the fridge. She opens the kitchen larder in search for instant noodles. She finds two shelves neatly stocked and stacked filled with instant newly bought premium noodles, every herb from the supermarket shelf, spices, chicken, beef and vegetable stocks and tinned food cans.

The hell is going on!? I didn’t do any grocery shopping the past 2 days, did Ira go on a shopping spree that I didn’t know about?

She turned around once again, triggered by the muffled noises from Sierra’s room. Tasha decides to go to her room and take a shower to clear her head. As she entered her room, she almost couldn’t recognize it. What used to be a plain white room with yellow bedding and mismatched pillow cases, were now fully decorated in designer interior finishing.

She saw a new bed side table and a fancy lamp on it. She turned to look at the chair which used to be the ‘hanger’ for clothes, was now reupholstered and the three pairs of skirts that hung over it that morning was all missing. Once again muddled thoughts clouded over her but she couldn’t help but appreciate the effort, whoever did it, that was taken to beautify her room.

Tasha walked in slowly into her room, feeling every single thread count with her fingers, every shiny leathery surface, taking in the new design of her room. She made way to her closet and saw that apart from her old clothes, a new section was made with new ball gown dresses and 7 pairs of crisp-looking suits. She narrowed her eyes and pulled at the label of the suit to check the size.

Whose are these? Am I in the right room?

She sees a new drawer with all her jewelry and accessories organized carefully according to color and size. She ran her hands over them, as if recalling the times she wore them.  She then closed her closet and made way across her bedroom to the bathroom. She passes her bed and sees that her photo wall above her bed is still intact. But the photos of her and The Lahlings and her family were all neatly arranged into frames on the other side of her bed. No photos of Jackson or Jimin, she thought but dismissed it quickly.

She leans both arms across the side door frame of her bathroom as she gawks at the improvements done on her bathroom. What was once a mint green old bathroom, with fixtures from the 60s, was now a black and white art-décor style bathroom. She had glass subway tiles lined across her tiny bathroom, with a vintage bathtub snugly arranged at the corner.

How the did that fit in here?  She mused.

Then she read a quote on the wall above the bathtub:

Whoever did this must know me too well, she smiled.

Too engrossed with her new bathroom, Tasha doesn’t realize that Sierra and her companion had crept out of the apartment silently (planned or unplanned she will never know). Still trying to take in all the improvements all at once, she suddenly felt a single tear trail down her cheek.

Only Jackson would know me this well, to have gone to this extent.

Tasha turns around and walks to her closet once again as she notices a new item that she didn’t recognize earlier. It was a set of old school vintage leather suitcases lined up in order of size on the floor. She lifts the smallest one on the top and sees the initials ‘T.W’ gold embossed on the top handle. She opens the suitcase and find all her cosmetics and skincare packed and arranged. Aghast, she started to pull open the other two suitcases and finds her clothing in one and clothing for a guy in it. Finally realizing what this meant, she stood up and anger started to creep in her veins.

“Ira! Where are you, Ira!?” Tasha called out for her roommate. When Sierra doesn’t respond, she walks out of her room and finds Sierra’s room door wide open and the apartment was empty. The lights in the living room now slowly dim and candles lit up automatically making a path towards the front door.

Were those there just now? Tasha thought, her mind still messed up.

* * * * *

At the lobby as Sierra walked out of the lift with her partner, she realizes that it had started to rain heavily. She signals to her partner to go to the car first when she sees Gwen and Daniel standing at the lobby, seemingly drying themselves after running through the downpour.

The love birds made up. Sierra expected, approaching Gwen and Daniel.

“Gwen, you , look at what you did to Daniel! You made him a wet-t-shirt contestant!” Sierra attempts to reach for Daniel’s shoulder only for Gwen to slap it off.

“Woman, no touching! Hands off!” Gwen warns. Daniel had given up his black hoodie for Gwen when they realized it was drizzling earlier. He laughs at the banter between the girls and is now drenched in his white t-shirt and black jeans. One could see every groove and muscle through the thin jersey t-shirt that clung snugly on him. He jumps and shakes off the excess water off his light brown hair, while the water drips onto the tiled floor of the lobby entrance.

While Sierra was appreciating the view of a Wet T-shirt Samoyed (aka. Daniel), she is suddenly distracted when she recognizes a familiar face standing across the road in a grey hoodie, with his hands in his pockets, taking shade under a tree. The rain continued to pour heavily and it started to thunder.

“Are my eyes deceiving me?” Sierra squints. “Isn’t that Jackson? What is he doing here?” Sierra goes to borrow an umbrella from the security guard and walks across the road to where Jackson was.

“Oh, you’re here. Come in, you’ll get sick.” Sierra offers to shade Jackson from the rain and to take shelter under the umbrella.

“Thanks, Ira.” He’s relieved for her rescue and follows her to her apartment lobby.

“Look guys, I found a squirtle hanging out in the rain.” Sierra kidded and shook the water off the umbrella.

Though Jackson was clad in a hoodie and jeans, he looked like he was shivering cold and had been waiting for quite awhile in the rain. He flashed everyone his shy squirtle smile and kept his hands in his hoodie pocket, shoulders trembling and arms clamped to his body.

“Is Tasha upstairs yet?” He sniffed, trying hard not to sneeze.

“She is.” Sierra replied and turned to Gwen and Daniel (who looked like he needed a warm shower). She waited for Jackson to lead the conversation. She was curious as to why Jackson was waiting outside. She wasn’t aware of the new changes that happened in Tasha’s room.

“Are you here to see her reaction? From the changes in her room?” Gwen smiled knowingly. “It’s been an hour or two since she got home, I think…” Gwen looks at her watch. “Yup, it’s Friday and she usually gets home around this time. I made sure no one knew, don’t worry!”

“’Knew’?” Sierra turned to Gwen was shocked at the sudden reveal. “What changes? Where?”

“I didn’t wanna tell you coz I wasn’t sure you would’ve been able to keep it from her.” Gwen smiled sweetly.

“Ugh. I hate it when you keep these things from me!” Sierra was still confused and hated the fact that she couldn’t put two and two together.

“I’ll fill you in when you get back.” Gwen leans to the side and sees Jinyoung approaching them from the car park. “Peaches approaches. He looks pissed.” Gwen cautions Sierra and turns to Daniel. “C’mon babe, let’s take Jackson up and you… need a hot shower.” She winks.

Minutes later, Gwen and Jackson stood in front of Sierra and Tasha’s apartment door (Daniel had gone straight up to Gwen’s apartment).

“Are you ready for this?” Gwen was genuinely concerned. “You did this all by yourself today, you must be tired. Are you sure you want to do this today? Now? I mean, look at you, you’re a mess.” She turns to look at Jackson looking tense and still shuddering from the cold.

“I didn’t really think this through, have I? I wanted to give her something… anything… everything.”

“I’ll key in the code for you now, but you have to promise me you won’t screw this up? You’ll make it up to her? Otherwise this will be the last time I’ll be speaking to you.” Gwen advises Jackson. She was fiercely protective of Tasha. She’s seen Tasha breakdown and go into depression after Jackson left her high and dry. She didn’t want to see her go through it again. In all honesty, she had a soft spot for Jackson. She was willing to give him a second chance for him to prove to Tasha that he was all that he had promised to be and more.

All Jackson could do was nod. He was feeling the effects of setting up her apartment that day and also, having stood under the tree for hours while waiting for her to come home.

I’m not getting sick. Not like this.

He closed his eyes to imagine what he needed to do to get his Tasha back. He had made so many mistakes; the worse kind was to leave her. No excuse or reason in the world could fix this but he had to try.

He was hungry. He will have to pour his whole life out for her, like he promised he would. He let out a sigh to release the tension that was building up in his chest. No board meeting, investor presentations or contract signing was more nerve wrecking than this. He decided that he had to man up, take time off work, and sort out his life with Tasha. He realized that he was not himself unless he was with her.

“I need her. I can’t live without her.” Feeling resolved, Jackson declared.

“Then, go get her Tiger.” Gwen was satisfied with that confession and immediately keyed in the code to the apartment and shoved him in.

When the door opened, they were greeted by Tasha sitting on the floor, bawling her eyes out. She sat with her arms hugging her legs and face buried in her knees. She could not hold in her sobs.

“She’s all yours.” Gwen pushed the door wider and let Jackson in. She leaves them alone and heads back home.

Jackson could feel his heart wrench when he saw Tasha on the floor with her eyes pouring a stream of tears.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” He choked. “I’m so sorry... so sorry…” while he hugged her and buried his face in her hair. “It’s my fault… I’m sorry…” He kept reciting, voice shaking apologizing repeatedly.

Tasha continued to sob and weep. All her worries, depressive moods, hatred towards Jackson, confused thoughts about Jimin, securing the new client’s contract, messed up designs… so many things came flooding in. She didn’t know how to handle it all. Everything was so overwhelming, she hadn’t had the time to unwind or pour her heart out to anyone.

The Lahlings used to have a weekly ‘lay it on the table’ talk where they would pour chips and dip on the glass table and talk about everything under the sun. Of late, that hasn’t happened since each of them were either busy with work, studies or men. Life had become somewhat complicated and there was no way to untangle the thoughts and emotions that came with it.

Tasha was highly dependent on these ‘lay it on the table’ sessions. The last time this session was called, Mandy blew her top and everyone stopped talking to each other. Now that she had to deal with Jackson, she needed an anchor. She wasn’t sure Jackson could be that anchor for her.

Her chest started to heave, as every thought came pouring out and she sobbed continuously, hoping that if she let the tears run she would feel better. She could feel a stitch in her heart breaking free, as she dug her forehead into Jackson’s shoulders.

“Cry it all out baby... I’m here. I promise I won’t go anywhere. I’m here… I’m here…” Jackson reiterated while her hair.

Minutes later, Tasha pulled herself together, shook her thoughts away and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. “Sorry about that.” She said simply while pointing at the wet patch of tears on Jackson’s shoulder.

She stood up, sniffled a little and straightened her dress. “Did you have something to do with that?” She points to her newly furnished bedroom.

“Do you like it?” Jackson looks her in the eye, expecting a satisfied response. He sniffed a little.

“No I don’t.” Tasha cleared . “You can’t just do these things hoping that I’m going to be fine and forget about what you did.” She shuffled to her room and disappeared into her closet.

Jackson got up from his kneeling position and stood motionless, not knowing whether he should follow her or to just stay put.

Tasha then emerges from her bedroom with a new plain black t-shirt and hands it to him. “Give me your hoodie, here, take this.” She instructs him.

Jackson does as he is told, afraid that if he defied her he’d have to pay the price. He removed his hoodie, exposing his chiseled abs and stone hard pelvic muscles in the process. Tasha takes a deep breath and tries to push back all the ‘fun’ times she’s had on those abs. She turns around and folds her arms across her chest.

With her eyes closed, she narrates to herself. Keep it together, Tee. You. Must. Not. Give. In. So. Easily.

Jackson, ignorant but hopeful, slipped the black t-shirt on and used his hoodie to dry his hair. He held onto the hoodie and waited for Tasha to turn around and speak. A moment of silence passed through them for a few minutes. It was neither awkward nor strange because both knew that a lot needed to be said, but was unsure of where to begin.

So much water under the bridge for us, babe. I need you to understand. Jackson tried to relay his thoughts to Tasha. I just need you.

Then, to break the silence, Jackson took out a mini remote control from his pocket and clicked the button. The automated candles immediately switched off and the living room lights began to light up.

“I’m still mad at you.” Tasha finally managed.

“I know.”

Once again, the quiet air froze their tongues. So much needed to be said, but all they could do was to avoid eye contact as they both struggled to find the words to clear up the muddle between them.

“I— “ Jackson began.

“YOU LEFT ME.” Tasha interrupted, she couldn’t contain her anger. She had surpassed the Denial Stage the first day he left her. She had been stuck between the Anger, Bargaining and Depression for the past few months. She thought she was about to Accept her fate (of being jilted) but Jackson showed up at her door step, wanting to make amends.

Now I’m back where it began, AGAIN. this .

All Jackson could do was to stare at her, words choked up in his throat, as he struggled to form the right sentence without ruining his chance. He made a few attempts to get the words out but cat caught his tongue. He knew that if he didn’t do something about this, he may lose Tasha, possibly forever.

Tasha folded her arms, waited merely seconds for Jackson to have his say, before she stomped off to her room and bangs the door shut.

He couldn’t even deny the fact that he left me! Raging, Tasha paced back and forth across her bedroom. She felt a scream building up in , she was fuming.

Jackson shook his head, not registering what had just happened. His eyes followed her to her room while she stomped off and he hit his forehead with his palm and muttered to himself. er get yourself together! You only have this one chance! He chased after her and opened the door to her room.

*  *  *  *  *

“How many classes do we have left to go?” Tasha stared at the list of rooms with courses on the time sheet given by the student council advisor.

“I think we have about 2 more classes to go before we call it a day.” Sierra had the same list in hand and as Vice President of Student Council she had to make her rounds around campus to brief the classes of the upcoming charity event held at the cafeteria.

“I hate Christian; with a vengeance. THIS is supposed to be HIS job not ours!” Tasha complained. She didn’t hold any special position in the council but she had to tag along because Sierra needed a wing woMan.

“Mr. Yu is cute, I couldn’t say ‘No’” Sierra chuckled. “But you are right, this IS his duty not mine. Not ours. Just be thankful we have only two classes to go to and then we’ll make him do the rest.” Sierra pointed out. She scratched the last class off her list as they walked down the hall towards lecture room P7.101.

Tasha and Sierra looked at the schedule pasted on the door and it read that ‘Business Analysis 102’ was in session. They peeked through the little window through the door and saw that it was a huge class. There was possibly close to a hundred students in that lecture room and there were only two of them to conduct the briefing.

“. That’s a huge class. We need reinforcements.” Tasha declared and quickly sent an SOS text to summon Gwen to join them.

Minutes later, Gwen turned up with Jaebeom in tow, ready to help out with the student council briefing.

“Gwen, you distribute the flyers and JB, you hold this name list and get people to sign up.” Sierra took charge of her ‘minions’ and prepared herself for the brief. She knocked softly on the door and helped herself in, with her ‘underlings’ behind her. As soon as the lecturer sees Sierra he exclaims.

“Ira, are you here for that brief?” Dr. Guan Lin sounded almost too excited to see Sierra. He was known to be overly friendly with Chaebols, for he treated them as his source of ‘income’ when it came to requesting for grants for his research.

Sierra smiled sweetly, not wanting to get on his bad books, and nodded profusely. She turned to the crowd of students in front of her but nobody pays heed. In the corner of the room, a group of rowdy students were seen to be fooling around with a mobile phone. Tasha saw that they were tossing the mobile phone around in the air, playing ‘monkey catch’. She noticed the instigator of the group as a guy with the black ball cap, laughing in his high pitch voice and jumping from chair to chair.

“Class! Everyone settle down please. We have the student council reps here. I need you all to pay attention. Boys in the corner, yes you there, SIT, or I swear to god I will confiscate that phone!” First year students are like kids, really, Dr. Guan Lin grumbled to himself.

Gwen and Jaebeom took that as a sign for them to move around the class and started to talk to students at the back of the class. Tasha and Sierra stood in the middle of the class preparing to speak but got interrupted by black ball cap guy.

“I’ll participate in whatever it is you have there, if I could have her number.” He smiled cheekily and points at Tasha. He looked so pleased with himself as if he was expecting to be told ‘good boy’.  Like the mischievous kid he was, he fist bumped his buddies as if a touchdown just happened. He his bottom lip and winked at Tasha with a brazen nod.

Tasha giggled shyly and pretended to ignore the pass made as she stared at her briefing notes. Still smiling sweetly and feeling impatient, Sierra gathered herself. “Hi guys, this year we’re organizing a charity event at the Theater Sixteen on the 7th this Saturday. If you’re not sure where Theater Sixteen is, Gwen over there can guide you. Anyway, we’d like volunteers to sign up for this event.” Sierra hadn’t finished her sentence and she already saw Black Ball Cap guy already jumping up and down with both his arms up in the air.

Jaebeom quickly noticed him and ran across the room to pass him some forms to fill for him to register for the event. While Jaebeom was busy with signing people up for the event, Sierra continued her brief. “All proceeds for our event will go to the children’s hospital for kids suffering from cancer. I hope you know you will be doing this for a good cause.” Proud and gratified, Sierra was happy that it caught their attention.

Sierra stood straight with her shoulder squared looking all put-together. Her theory about having been