Happy reading everyone! And I hope I answered some of your concerns in the last chapter when I clarified the main focus and my future intentions! Feel free to comment and tell me what you think!

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[Gui’s POV]

Prince and I walked up to the front desk as Alien spotted me. He looked into my eyes as I quickly stared down at my feet, afraid to look into those eyes that were once so charming. Prince wrapped his arm tighter around my shoulders, as if giving me strength and courage. I looked up to meet his eyes. He nodded once at me and then looked on forward again.

Alien: Gui?

Rainie: *turns to face us* Gui?!?!

Gui: Are you guys surprised? Such a small world, huh?

Rainie: Why are you here?

Gui: Same reason you are.

They both stare at me, then at Prince, then back at me.

Alien: Who’s this guy?

Rainie: Must be another guy that YOU chased after. I bet he doesn’t even like you. He’s probably going out with you just for pity!

Gui: I… *silence*…

Prince: You must be the bastard Alien. And you must be the backstabbing Rainie. But although you two are not worthy of any appreciation, I must thank you both, because if you guys didn’t betray Gui, I wouldn’t be able to know her and be her boyfriend right now. Right Gui?

Gui: huh? Um…

Rainie: Don’t be serious! Gui, did you hire him to put up this show? If not, then surely he’ll just dump you later.

Alien: Gui, you are such an naïve girl, doing all those stupid things all the time like bringing lunch to me everyday, swiping your card for me, and planning out everything for us. Do you know why I cheated on you? Because you were so naïve, boring, stupid, and willing to do everything.

Prince let’s go of his arm that was tight around my shoulders and walked up to Alien. Prince grabbed Alien by his shirt collar with both his hands as his eyes looked straight into Alien’s.

Prince: I dare you to say it again.

Alien: Hey man, chill out. You know I’m right, and I know you’re just gonna dump her soon.

Gui: Prince, don’t. It’s okay, I’ve heard of this from them more than once. I-

Before I could even get out all the words, Prince has already thrown a big punch at Alien’s face. Alien fell to his floor as the corner of his lips drips a thin trail of blood. Rainie gasped in horror as she knelt down to help him up. I quickly pulled Prince back by his arm. Prince was still glaring at Alien.

Prince: Remember, don’t ever let me hear you say those things again. Next time, it will be a lot worse than this, trust me. I want everyone to know that, I, Prince Qiu is, her, Gui Wang’s boyfriend. No one can hurt her with me here.

Hearing Prince’s words, a strange feeling crept up to my heart. Before today, I’ve always thought that he was just some arrogant and rich business second generation. But the Prince that stands before my eyes right now seemed nothing like the Prince in my presumptions. There was no trace of his arrogance. He seemed so protective, so warm.

Suddenly, Prince pulled me close to him as he leaned down, eyes looking straight into mine. His lips touched mine, it was electrifying. The annoyance I had for him vanished instantly. My body froze, unable to react. The electric waves went through my entire body, tickling every cell. My eyes stayed wide open. Prince slowly lifted his lips from mine as he wrapped his arm around my waist protectively. Prince pulled me by the waist as we walked past Alien and Rainie’s stare.

Once inside the pub, Prince immediately dropped his arm. His sudden change reminded me of reality. Everything that has just happened was just a fake out. Suddenly, I seemed like Cinderella, craving for love. His kiss, his touch, everything was just an act.

Prince: Why are you still staring at me? Did you believe everything that happened just now? Don’t think too much of the kiss. I just didn’t like that jerk Alien, but you, don’t fall in love with me!

Gui: What-.. are you talking about! Of course not! You self-absorbed idiot!

Prince: Then why are you blushing?

Gui: I… I’m NOT! Let’s go find the rest of them.

*Prince and Gui walks around the pub, scanning the crowd*

Jae: Gui, Prince, over here!

Gui: Hey! Where’s everyone else?

Jae: Mike saw some friends and went to them. Angela and Hebe went to the restroom.  Speaking of that, they’ve been gone for a long time.

Aaron: Yea, you don’t suppose the same thing from last time will happen again?

Danson: No way! The chances are less than a comet hitting earth.

Calvin: You never know. With their looks and all their branded clothing and accessory, “target” is written all over their body.

Aaron; Maybe we should go check?

-Restroom-

[Hebe’s POV]

Angela and I walked out of the restroom. The hall was dark and gloomy. From close ahead, I heard men’s laughter. It gave me goose bumps. Angela clanged to my arm, I could tell she felt the same as I do. I looked at her blankly as she stared back with the same blankness. The men’s footsteps got closer and closer. For some reason, I have a familiar feeling, the one I had when we were on vacation last time, when those men tried to…. NOT POSSIBLE! Again?

The men saw us when they walked into the hall. It was clear that they were drunk, swinging from sided to side, although their actions towards us might not have differed either way. They looked at us mischievously; we were outnumbered five to two. There was no other way out; behind us was the actual lobby of the restrooms.

Somebody save us!

*whisper*

Angela: Why do I have a weird feeling about this?

Hebe: Me too.

Angela: What should we do?

Hebe: I don’t know… There no exits here and I’m sure no one can hear us since the music’s so loud out there.

Angela: Call the guys! *looks at phone* Crap, no battery!

Hebe: What?!?!? Ok, don’t panic. Let me check mine’s.

The men walked closer as I panicked. I quickly hid the phone behind my back, pressing some random buttons accidentally.

-Pub table-

[Aaron’s POV]

Ring…Ring…

I looked at my cell phone screen. Hebe? Why would she call? Isn’t she in the restroom with Angela?

*Aaron: Hello?

*Hebe’s voice: What do you guys want? Get away…!

*Aaron: Hello? Hebe?? Hello?

*Hebe’s voice: Angela… What do we do? *men’s laughter*

*Aaron: Hebe! Angela!

-click-

Du….Du…..Du…..

Aaron: Hebe! Angela! Jae, we guessed right!

Jae: WHAT?!?!?!

Jae, Calvin, Danson, and I ran full speed towards the restrooms. When we reached the hall, the first thing I heard is Hebe’s cry for help. Then I heard Angela’s gasp and the men’s laughter. I raced forward towards the voices and I saw a glimpse of Hebe’s face behind the men. Every cell in my body was heated with anger. I grabbed the first man I saw by the collar and threw a punch at the guy. He fell to the floor. Jae was right beside me, running into the guy that reached his hands towards Angela. Calvin and Danson followed behind.

Hebe escaped from the gap created and clanged onto my arm as she buried her face into my chest, wrapping her arms around my waist. I instinctively hugged her back. Her eyes weren’t exactly full of fear, probably because this was the second time. But it must be even more devastating that this has happened again. She had hope in her eyes, hope of being saved, and now finally relieved that we were here.

Hebe: Lucky you guys are here. How’d you know?

Aaron: What are you talking about? I got your call and got here as soon as possible.

Hebe: huh? It must have been those buttons I pressed randomly…

Jae: Lucky that you did, Hebe.

Angela: Why does this always happen to us?

Calvin: You guys aren’t fit for pubs. People here are messed up with no formal identification. Next time we should go to private lounge bars for VIP, guaranteed safety. You two are like the jackpot for those low-class men. Of course you would get attacked all the time here. Just look at yourselves, beautiful faces, designer clothes, branded bag and jewelry. People in here aren’t like us. Good thing they’re drunk, or else Hebe would definitely be all over the news tomorrow. We won’t be this lucky every time.

Danson: Annoying women. So much trouble.

Aaron: Calvin’s right. We shouldn’t take you guys to these places.

Jae: Way too risky.

-Hebe and Mike’s room-

[Hebe’s POV]

Aaron walked me back to my room as we stood in awkward silence. I was confused, because the moment I saw his face when he arrived, all my worries were gone. I don’t know if it was because there was someone there to save me at all, or if it was because it was Aaron who did.

Our history had been so weird. It’s just one of those really awkward things that everyone knows not to mention. Angela, Gui, NF4, and I have grown up together since kindergarten. In 11^th grade, I liked him but he had a girlfriend then. Two years ago, I heard from Angela who heard from Jae that Aaron had broken up with his girlfriend because he started liking me. But at that time, I was still with Jay. I was so devoted to Jay all the time that I couldn’t go back to the days when I loved and needed him. And after I broke up with Jay, I never really recovered enough to be with anyone yet.

Come to think of it now, when we were little, Aaron and I were the closest in our group. Not even Angela and Jae were as close as we were. . We used to sit in the gardens behind my house and pour our hearts out to each other until 9^th grade. That was when Aaron somehow accepted a random girl’s love confession and went out with her. I remember I was really mad at Aaron because he wasn’t only mine anymore and I didn’t like sharing him. If he couldn’t be only mine, I’d rather not have him. So we drifted apart completely. We still hang out within our big group, but it just wasn’t the same. 

But tonight, everything was different. I could feel it, feel the closeness between us. The feeling I had when I was crazy over him in 11^th grade. He was there to protect me tonight. Just like in 8^th grade, when some jealous “pretend-rich” students at our school picked on me. Aaron was there to defend me. That was the first time he got in a fight and punched someone. Of course he didn’t get in trouble since our parents funds the school and our principle was a huge -up. Tonight, he was there, when I had almost lost hope…

I turned around to face him. Impulsively, I slowly wrapped my arms tight around his waist and leaned my head on his chest. My eyes were staring off to space, with blurry images of the flowers on the table beside us.

Hebe: Thank god you were there.

Aaron: I was afraid. When I got your call, I was afraid I was going to be too late.

Hebe: But you weren’t. Why are you always the one there to protect me?

Aaron: That’s good isn’t it?

Hebe: Yes… Of course it is.

Aaron: I promised you. Remember? When we were in 8^th grade, the first time that I fought, for you, I promised you that no one will ever hurt you, because I’ll always be here to protect you.

Hebe: you did…

***

3 days later, the group left Japan and headed back to Taiwan. Luckily, nothing more bizarre had happened during those 3 days. Life was good.

Even Prince and Gui had taken a break from fighting.

Life was really good.

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Dear Readers, 

I need more moral support! It's hard to keep up with everything and constantly update if I'm not really hearing any responses from readers. If you are enjoying this story, then please speak up! If you feel that this story lacks certain qualities, please make suggestions and help me make it better! Just let me know what you guys are thinking and that there are people actually paying attention. No silent readers please!

Thanks,

Grace