"Ella!"

Ella stopped walking, and turned around. She saw Chun running towards her. "Ella, I need to talk to you." he said. "What is it?" she asked. "Can you be my partner for the project in Architecture Design?" he asked. Ella looked at him for a long time, and then burst out laughing. She turned her back on him, then walked, making Chun confused.

"Ella?"

"Chun, who else is going to be my partner." she said. She stopped, and then turned to face him again. "The way you acted, it's like you're asking me to be your girlfriend." she said. He could feel his cheeks turn red upon hearing what she said. Seeing him blushing made Ella laugh even more. "Wei!" Chun said in an annoyed tone. "All right, all right. I'm sorry, OK? Let's do it this weekend, I already made the design." she said. Chun smiled and nodded his head. "Don't bail out on me again, all right?" she said. He raised his left hand, and put his right hand on his left chest. "Cross my heart and hope to die." he said. "All right, I'll see you this Saturday, then." she said as she turn around.

"Ella..."

Ella paused again as she heard his call. She felt Chun walk up to her. "I was thinking, maybe..."

"Ella!"

Chun's moment ended the moment Calvin came up to them. "Senior..." Ella said. Even if she could not see her face, he could feel she was smiling the moment she saw Calvin. "Let's walk together to the auditorium. The ret of the guys are there." he said. Ella nodded his head. As Calvin offered his hand to her, he felt a tinge in his heart as she took his hand.

"Oh, I didn't know you're with Chun." Calvin said, noticing him standing behind her. Before Ella could look back, Chun let out a smile at the two. "Oh, don't mind me. I just talked to Ella about the project. I'm about to go and pick up my girlfriend." he said. Calvin simply nodded his head. "All right, I'll see you around." he said. Chun nodded his head. "Have fun, guys." she heard Chun say. Ella turned to Calvin, and smiled. "Let's go." she said.

He watched as Calvin took her away. He watched as she smiled as she talked to him. He could only watch while his own heart is breaking. But Ella deserves to be happy too. After all, he took her for granted. It was his fault she found her smile again to someone elese.

--

Ella got down from the stage, and sat at the front seat, right next to Pets. Their practice for the school festival has ended that afternoon, and she was somehow exhausted from her busy schedule.

"Hey, I heard something." Pets said to her with a smile."What is it?" Ella asked. "I heard Shu and Calvin talking before the practice. Calvin said he will confess to the girl he likes on school festival." Pets said. Ella was surprised at what she said. She looked back at the stage, where Calvin is, then back at Pets. "Confess to who?" she asked. Pets shrugged her shoulder. "I don't know who the girl is but she sure is lucky. You know, All the girls I know have a crush on him. It's just that he's too serious about his studies that he does not have time to have a girlfriend." she explained.

Ella looked back at the stage, and let out a smile as she watched Calvin. "Well, it's about time he chase after his happiness, right?" she said. Pets nodded in agreement. "About time, actually." she said.

Calvin jumped down from the stage and approached the two girls. "You girls are looking funny at me. You thought I won't notice?" he said with a pout. Pets and Ella laughed at him. "So, what are you two gossiping about me, huh?" he asked as he crossed his arm. "I was telling Ella how you're so in love with Wayne." Pets said sarcastically. Ella laughed at her. "Seriously, Calvin. Can you stop getting too touchy with my boyfriend? I want to think you're gay that's why you still don't have a girlfriend up to this day!" Pets scolded him.

"What's wrong with me and Calvin?" Wayne said as he stood beside Calvin. Calvin put his arm around Wayne's neck. "Yeah, what's wrong? I just love this guy too much!" Calvin said. He made a kissy face. As he was about to kiss Wayne on his cheek, Pets jumped from her seat, and pulled Wayne away from him. The other three laughedm while Pets was pouting at Calvin. "Wei! Stop flirting with my boyfriend!" Pets said.

Calvin glanced at Ella, and so how she was laughing so hard. "All right, I'll stop flirting with Wayne. For now." Calvin said. Pets still pouted, while Wayne tries to pacify her. "My love, don't mind Calvin. He's just asking some tips from me." he said as he hugged Pets. "Tips about what?"

"Tips about -"

"Wayne," Calvin interrupted. "I think Pets need some help with her guitar. Why don't you go and see what's wrong with it?" Calvin said."Oh, I forgot! I can't seem to tune it. Can you see what's wrong?" Pets told Wayne. Then, she pulled Wayne to the stage, and left Calvin and Ella alone.

"Those two lovebirds..." Calvin said as he shook his said. "They really look good together, don't you think? Although they're quite opposites. He's a little nerdy, she's a rebel." Ella commented. Calvin nodded in agreement. "As they say, opposites attract. They're an example." Calvin said.

He then sat right beside her. "Ella..." he called. His voice was serious this time. She looked at him, waiting for the next thing he will say. "Do you know, this school festival is important to me."

"Because of the band?"

Calvin shook his head. "There is a myth here at St. Thomas. Every school festival, before the firework display, you can confess to the one you love what you feel. If she says yes during the fireworks, you can be together forever." he explained. Ella let out a laugh. "It's a silly myth." she said. "But it's worth a try, right?"

"So, this year's school festival is special toyou because this is the time you can confess to the girl you like?" she asked. Calvin nodded his head. "Well then, good luck. I hope she will accept your feelings." she said. Calvin smiled at her. "I really hope so."

--

Friday night.

Ella came home to find Chun at their living room, working on their project. "We have all the time this weekend to finish that." she said as she approached him. "I know. But I want to start and finish this sooner so that you could free up your time. I know how busy you're going to be till the school festival." Chun said as he put his folded paper on top of another. Ella sat beside him. "Thank you for starting it sooner." she said. Chun looked at her, and smiled. "I want to make up for the lost time with you, and for taking you for granted. I know this project is important for the two of us. I don't want to disappoint you. Plus, you've done so much effort with the planning and designing, let me help you make your design come to life."

She gave him a smile. "Well, seems like my design wasn't too bad after all." she said. "I'm pretty sure we'll get high marks on this one." Chun said. "I hope so. I hope our design gets featured in the School Design Expo this coming festival. That would be really awesome." Ella said. She took a piece of paper and began to fold it. Both of them were silent as they were working on their project.

"Ella..." Chun called as she looked at her. "Yes?"

"What do you think would have happened if I have not  met Tiffany?"

"Why are you asking me this?"

"Just answer my question."

She put down her paper, and then turned to face him. "I think you'll be more focused on things that matter to you." she answered. "It's not that you're not  focused right now, but it felt like you don't see anything else but her. Your world revolved around her and only her."

"Did you ever get jealous of her?"

Ella let out a laugh."How can I be jealous of her?" she lied. "She's my friend. You're my friend. I'm the reason you two met and got together, right?"

"But she takes our time together..."

"Yes, I know that and I understand. But even if she does, I like seeing the two of you together. I...I just wish she understand how important our dreams are - and that is to be the best architects ever."

He look at her as she smile. He watched her as she continued with her work. "Hey..." he called again. "Hmmm...."

"Let's watch the fireworks display together at the school festival."

Ella paused, then looked Chun. She doesn't know if Chun already knows about the school myth, and if he doesn't, she has no plan to tell him. "Fireworks?" she asked. Chun nodded his head. "I heard they really prepared for this year, and it's going to be the longest. I thought, maybe we could watch it from the rooftop of a building, right?" he said.

He could see the hesitation on her face. "But if you have plans with senior..."

Ella then realized that Calvin might be confessing to the girl he likes that night. She doesn't want to get in his way. "We can watch the fireworks together." she said. With that, Chun let out a smile. "It's a date, then."  he said. "Just don't stand me up like the last time, all right?" she said. He just gave her a thumbs up.

--

It was the day before the school festival. It was also the deadline of Chun and Ella's project.

Before he could go to school, he had to drive Tiffany to her school first. "Thank you for today. I'll see you later for a little celebration, OK?" Tiffany said. Chun let out a laugh. "It's too early to celebrate. I'm not even sure if we'll get the highest grade for our project." he said. "I'm sure you two will. Tell Ella congratulations for me, all right?" she said. Chun nodded his head.

Tiffany went out of his car, and then opened the back seat of his car. On the floor was Chun and Ella's project, and on top of it was her gym bag. Tiffany so how her bag was smashed their project, deforming it. "Chun, I think something wrong just happened." she said. Chun looked back, and saw Tiffany's bag on top of their prototyep. "Tiff?"

He got out his car to take a look at the bag. He was mortified at what he saw. He immediately took out her gym bag, but noticed that it was wet. "There's water in here?" he asked. Nervously, he looked at his project. Not only was the papers towers out of place, most of them were wet or torn apart. ", Ella is going to kill me." he muttered.

"What are we going to do?" Tiffany asked in a worried tone. "Go to your class first. I'll find a way to fixt this." he told her. "But do you have the time? Ella will be mad."

"I'll find time and I'll try to appease Ella. Just go now, I need to get to school right away." he said.

He did not wait for Tiffany to get inide the campus. He immediately drove to their school to try to find a way to fix their project.

--

"Ella, where is your project? I need to see it." the professor told her. Ella looked at her watch, then to the door. "Sir. I'm pretty sure Chun will be here any moment." she said. The old professor just looked at her sternly.

It was a big pressure on her, because not only is it their first class, they were supposed to be the first to present it to their professor. Just then, Chun came in. Ella smiled upon seeing him, but it abruptly faded when he came in empty handed.

"About time you came, Mr. Wu. Now, where is your project?" their professor asked. "Sir, about that. Is it possible if we submit it before the day ends?" he asked. Ella became puzzled. She stood up from her seat, and went to Chun. "What's wrong?" she whispered to him. Chun remained silent,but she could see how tensed he is. "If you submit it before the day ends, you won't have the chance to have it displayed at the design expo. If you don't submit it within the day, both of you will fail this subject." he said bluntly.

Chun nodded his head. "I... I understand sir. I promise we'll be ableto submit it before the day ends." he assured him. He excused himself, then went out of the room. Ella soon followed him.

"What's wrong, Chun? What happened to our prototype?" she asked him as he followed him. Chun took a deep breath, and turned to face her. "There's a little accident..." he began. Ella wrinkled herforehead. "Little accident? Chun, even if it's a little accident, you still would be able to bring our prototype. We don't need to join the expo, we just need to be graded for it. What happened?" she asked again. "Ella..."

"Just tell me, Chun. What happened? Where's our project?" she asked again. "Look, I'm going to try to fix it. I promise, we will not flunk this subject, all right?" he assured it. "Just tell me what happened, Chun, god damn it!" she shouted angrily at her. He lowered his head.She looked at one of the tables near their classroom, and despite how ruined it is, she recognized it as theirs.

"What... what did you do?" she said as she walked towards it. Chun followed her. She was on the verge of crying. She spent sleepless nights over their prototype and it was ruined just like that. "I'm sorry. It was my fault. I, I think I pressed on the brakes really hard, that Tiffany's bag fell on it. We didn't know the water bottle inside her bag is leaking and -"

He stopped explaining when he heard Ella's muffled cry. "Ella, I'm so sorry. I swear, I'll fix this." he apologized. "You can't fix this anymore..." she told her. "I will. I'll spend the rest of the day working on it."

"You don't understand."

"I won't go to my other classes just to fix this. I promise, Ella."

"No."

She turned to face him. She wiped the tear from her eyes. "You can't fix this anymore. You just ruined the very last string of hope I have for you. I trusted you, Chun, I trusted you. I thought you will take care of everything, and this is what you did. You can't fix this project, and you can't fix us anymore, even if you make so many promises to me." she told him. "Just give me another chance, Ella." he begged her.

Ella shook her head. "I gave you too many chances, Chun. Not just a second or a third, there's too many chances that you blew up. I'm not going to let you ruin what I've worked hard for just because of your stupid mistake and carelessness." she told him. "I'm sorry. I know it won't fix things, but I'm sorry, Ella. Please trust me again. Please believe me. Please..."

Ella shook her head. "It's over, Chun. I don't want to see you or work with you ever again." she told him. She took their prototype, and dumped it on the garbage can. Then, she walked away from him. Chun could only helplessly look at her as he watch her walk away from him.

--

As Calvin entered the chapel, he could hear Ella sob. He walked towards her, and then sat beside her. "I've been looking all over for you." he told her. "You didn't attend the practice, and I heard you didn't attend the rest of your classes after first period. Is there something wrong?" he asked. Ella shook her head as she cried. "You're here at the chapel, crying. And you're telling me nothing's wrong?"

"The... the prototype... our project... it's ruined." Ella managed to say in between sob. Calvin let out a sigh. "Maybe it still can be fixed." he asked. Ella shook her head. "Are you sure? Sometimes, we look at a destroyed thing and thought, hey, this is no longer pretty or working, I should just throw it away. But if we just spend some time and try to focus on it, on why we made it in the first place, even if we can't bring back how it was before, we'll try mend it." he told her.

He leaned back, and then let out a smile. "You know why I got into architecture in the first place?" he asked. Ella shook her head. "I'm fascinated by old houses, buildings and structures. I love the fact that they stood the test of time. Yes, buildings like The Parthenon or The Colisseum are destoryed, but that's  what adds up to their beauty. " he said. "But it's not my project." she said. Calvin nodded his head. "I know. I'm just making a fancy comparison. Sometimes, beauty is not just about perfection. Even a broken thing can be beautiful as well."

He turned to face her. He took a hankerchief from his pocket, and wiped her tears. "Don't cry anymore. What happened has already happened. All you have to do know is find a way to save what's remaining, and work with what you have. Yes, it's ruined. You may not be able to fix it anymore. But that doesn't mean you have to give up, right? You can try. If you just cry here, you'll be wasting precious time in fixing it. You can cry all you want. You can be mad and you can lose your temper. You can even be scared. But it you won't give it a try, how will you find out it won't work?"

She know Calvin is right. She felt at ease with his words. "Thank you for encouraging me." she said. "Then, the first thing we should do is ask for an extension of the project. I know it's impossible, but it's worth a try, right?" he said. Ella smiled and nodded his head. "Good. Now, compose yourself, and let's face your professor. If you need help with it, I can lend a hand."

She wiped her face. Calvin stood up, and then offered his hand. "Let's go." he said, smiling at him. She took his hand, and smiled back at him. "Let's go." she said.

As they were walking towards the faculty room, they passed by the hallway, where the design expo will be held. On one of the tables, something caught Ella's attention - it was hers and Chun's paper structure design. Ella stopped walking, and then stared at it. "My... my project. Why is it here?" she asked. "Chun asked me for help." he told her.

[Flashback]

"Senior..."

Chun approached Calvin as soon as the latter got out of his room. "Chun. What are you doing here?" he asked. Chun lowered his head, trying to hide the tears falling from his eyes. "I need your help, senior. Ella... she's mad at me."

Calvin crossed his arms as he listened to him. "What is it this time, Chun?" Calvin asked. "I ruined our project, and I can't submit it on time. Please help me, senior. This is not for me. This is for Ella. I don't want her to fail because of my carelessness."

"Where's Ella?"

Chun shook his head. "I don't know. All I know is that she doesn't want to see me again." Chun said. Calvin let out a sigh. "You must be very desparate to come to ask me for help." he said. Chun nodded his head. "I've let her down a lot of times. I know I've disappointed her today. She can be mad at me for a long time, but I can't let her fail because of me. I want to fix what I've broken." Chun said. Calvin let out a sigh. "Come on. Let's fix that project of yours." Calvin said.

[End Of Flashback]

"I know you will never be able to forgive him, but he did his best. He do care a lot about you, Ella, that's why he asked me for help." Calvin told her. Ella felt guilty. She should have trusted Chun. She should have not said hurtful words to him. "I would understand if you will still be mad at him, of course, he almost made you fail the class. But please understand, he tried to correct what happened. Let's give the guy the credit." Calvin said. "But, I'm not ready to talk to him yet."

Calvin put his hands on her shoulder and turned her to face him. "Give it some time. Time heals everything, as they say." he said. Ella simply nodded his head.

--

School festival.

Ella and the band are getting ready for their performance at the quadrangle. As she wa tuning her guitar, she looked at the audience, hoping she could find Chun among them,

"He'll come. I'm sure Chun won't miss your performance, even if you two are still not talking." she heard Calvin say. She looked at him, and saw him smiling at her."We never got to talk since yesterday. Maybe he's still taking the things I say bady." Ella said. "Or maybe he's giving you some space. You made him cry, you know." Calvin said.

She was surprised at what Calvin said. "I didn't tell you yesterday? He was crying when he approached me. It wasn't more about himself, it's more about you. He know he messed up." he said. "I don't expect him to come. Even if he promised me he'll watch me today, I don't want to get my hopes high." she said.

Then, she turned to him. "How about you? Are you ready to confess tonight?" she asked. "I'm ready. I sure hope she is." Calvin said. Ella laughed at him. "But seriously, I'm scared. What if she rejects me? What if she doesn't feel the same?"

"What will you do if she does that?"

Calvin shrugged his shoulder. "I don't know. It will hurt, I know. After all, I waited for her for a long time. But that doesn't mean that I should change after she rejects me. She was my friend before I fell in love with her."

"I don't think she will reject you."

He gave her a puzzled look. "Why do you think of that?" he asked. "Because you're too good to be true. You're the perfect gentleman. After all, you're the campus crush." she said. Calvin let out a laugh. "If you were the girl I'm going to confess to, will you reject me or not?" he asked.

Ella paused. She was surprised at his question. "You don't have to answer that. I'm just jokiing." he said with a laugh. Ella laughed with him.

Just then, Wes called them. "Guys, were next. We can do this!" he said.Calvin smiled at him, and gave him a thumbs up. Then, they heard the name of their band being called. They got out of the stage, made a little adjustment to their instruments, and then began to play.

Ella sang four songs, then she finally sang their finale. "Our last song is a song composed by our band leader, Calvin Chen." she said on the microphone. "It's called 'Taken'" She looked at Calvin, and nodded her head. Then, she began to sing.

"I Can see you standing in the pouring rain
Waiting for changes to carry you away
I can see the light fall from your eyes
As we get lost in the tears of this goodbye

But you can't go farther
Than my heart can go "

From the crowd, Chun stood as he look up at Ella as she sings. He was just in time for their band's last performance. He let out a smile as he watched her. He was proud of her, that she was able to sing on stage.

" Cause I'll still be loving you
Through the sadness and the madness here
And I'll always be with you
In the distance
That has taken you
From me "

"Am I late?" Chun heard someone say. He looked at his side, and saw Tiffany. The smile on his face slowly faded. "Her last performance just started." he told her.

" I can hear you laugh
When I close my eyes
I can picture your face
And the strength inside your smile
I can see the words
Dance across your lips
I'll remember forever
Something more than this "

Ella looked in front of her, and saw Chun. She let out a smile as she sang, then she saw Tiffany walk towards him. She watched as she held his hand. She watched as he looked lovingly at her. She watched as he smiled at her. It only broke her heart.

" And you can't go farther
Than my heart can will go

Cause I'll still be loving you
Thought the sadness and the madness here
And I'll always be with you
In the distance
That has taken you
From me "

She closed her eyes as she sang. She was trying hard not to let the tears fall from her eyes. As she opened her eyes, she looked at Calvin. He was smiling at her. His smile telles her he was so proud of her singing his song. It reassured her everything is going to be fine, even if her heart is breaking once again.

"So you can't go farther

Than my heart will go
Cause I'll still be loving you
Thought the sadness and the madness here
And I'll always be with you
In the distance
That has taken you
From me

And I'll always be with you