Ying Jie's POV

It's 4PM. Xiao Xun and I just came back in choosing a dress and masquerade mask. I've chosen a blue cocktail dress, and she chosen black cocktail dress. As for the masquerade mask, mine is blue to go with my dress, and Xiao Xun's white. I'm now in the bathroom changing.

While I'm changing, I realise that I have some bruises on my arms. I don't remember hitting onto something. Then I realise that it's the symptom of Leukemia. I quickly change to my dress and put some make up on my arm to cover the bruises.

I put some simple make-up and do my hair. I put down my comb and saw strands of hairs on it. I look down on to the floor, and there are also strands of hairs on the floor. Hair loss is also a symptom of leukemia. Does it mean that my time is running out?

There's a knock on my door. Probably it's Xiao Xun. I quickly clear away those hairs and open up the door for her.

"Something's wrong?" She asks.

"No. Why would you ask me that?" I lied. I don't want to worry her. She looks at me, and then says, "Tell me."

She knows me too well. It's like I can't hide anything from her, but still, I'm not telling her. I just kept silent. She's still waiting for me to say something when the doorbell rings. Saved by the doorbell.

"I'll go see who it is." I say and then walk out of the room and to the living room. Aaron is standing by the door as Xiao Yu opens the door. I look at him. He's wearing a tuxedo, gray shirt inside, and a bow. He looks really handsome. He's always handsome in anything he wears.

"Wow Ying Jie. You look... stunningly beautiful." He says, and I realise that while I'm checking him out, he's doing the same to me. I thank him for the compliments.

"Thank you. You looked handsome too."

"Well, thanks. Are you ready to go?" He asks. Yesterday he asks me whether I need a ride to his house. I agreed to his offer. One reason I agreed is because I do not know how to go, and I can't go with Hong Shi and Wei Yu because they live very far from me. I can't go with Apple and Yao Yao because they are going with their boyfriends. The second reason is that Ao Quan has offered me a ride, and I don't want to accept it. Luckily Aaron came and asked me while Ao Quan's been asking me. It's like I need to choose one out of the two of them. I chose Aaron since I don't like being near Ao Quan. He's been creeping me out lately. He keeps lean closer to me while we're working and whispers in my ear. Yesterday he said he needs to get a closer look at my drawings and put his hands around my shoulder. I shudder at his creepiness.

"Yes!" Xiao Xun answers for me.

"Alright, then let's go." Aaron says and leads us to the parking lot where he has parked his car.

We reach his house- no, mansion. The mansion was huge. While he drove pass the gates earlier, I look around. There's a big lawn and some kind of a shelter. Then I realise that there are horses under the shelter. Then he drove in deeper, and there's a flower meadow. Driving pass the meadow, there's a big mansion, and a huge swimming pool beside it. Now we're in a basement carpark under the mansion. After he parked his car, he walks over to the front passenger seat and opens the door for me. I thank him. We follow him to the elevator, which brings us up the mansion.

The elevator door opens, and the sight that greets us are many people, chatting happily with each other, greeting each other on a big space in front of hundreds of tables. The big space must be for dancing. Then there's a stage in front. That must be for the show. Aaron leads us to the reception counter, where there's few people taking our names and telling us our table number. After knowing our table number, he leads us to our table. There's a few of the colleagues and their friends at the table, including Ao Quan. He looks at me and pats the seat beside him, telling me to sit beside him. I pretend that I didn't saw it. There are only 3 seats left, and before I can sit 2 seats away from Ao Quan, Xiao Xun and Xiao Yu has already sat down. I have no choice but to sit beside him.

When I'm going to sit down, Aaron holds onto my wrist. I look at him. He smiles and drags me away from the table. From the side of my eye, I can see Ao Quan frowning and glaring at us.

"Where are you bringing me?" I ask.

"Introducing you to my friends."

***

Chun's POV

"Chun, Jiro, Calvin, this is Ying Jie. Ying Jie, these are Chun, Jiro and Calvin."

"Nice to meet you." All of us says to her and shakes hand with her. I'm shocked by her appearance. She looks just like Rainie, except for her voice, and maybe some small parts of her face. Though the masquerade mask has cover up some of her face, I can still see that she looks a lot like her.

"We heard a lot about you." I say, and Aaron glares at me. I ignore him.

We chat, and realise that her personality, background, are also different from Rainie. They are like 2 different people with the same looks. After few minutes, Aaron's Mom walks over to us. The three of us greets her, and then walks away. Before we walk away, I saw her with the same reaction as us when we saw Ying Jie. Shocked, surprised.

"Did you all realise that she looks a lot like Rainie?" Jiro asks. I roll my eyes at his question.

"It's obvious that she looks like Rainie. Mrs Yan was surprised too when she saw her." Calvin says. So I'm not the one who saw Mrs Yan's reaction.

"Did he like her because she looks like Rainie?" Jiro asks while looking at them. Calvin and I look over too.

Aaron looks really happy around her. He even changed because of her. Like the food that he didn't eat in the past, after he met her, he started eating up those kinds of foods. He also prepared to confess to her later on the stage, which he didn't do before when he likes Rainie. He always prefer low profile and doesn't like to shows his romantic or lovey dovey sides in public. I guess he must have really love her in order to change into a different person.

"Not sure." I answer. Even though he loves her, which is obvious, and he has changed into a different person, we do not really know if he loves her because she's her, or she looks like Rainie.

"Sigh. I don't know what he's thinking." Jiro says. He finally sounds more like a big brother to him.

"She's a good girl. I just hope Aaron really loves her for her."

***

Aaron's POV

I bring them to their table after knowing their table number. There are already people seated there, including the Architect. There are only 3 empty seats left beside him. He gestures Ying Jie to sit beside him, but I can see that Ying Jie pretends not to see it. I smirk at him. Then Xiao Xun and Xiao Yu sits down, and left a seat for her beside the Architect. It's the only seat left, so she walks over to the seat. This time, the architect smirks at me. I feel like punching him.

Before she sits down, I hold on to her wrist and pull her towards the dancing floor where Chun, Calvin and Jiro were. Since they always tell me that they want to meet her, I guess this is the best time to introduce her to them, and also to erase that smirk of the architect.

While chatting with them, Mom walks over. The guys greet her and leave the three of us. I introduce her to Mom. Mom seems surprised when she saw her, I wonder why. Her surprise was only for a moment before changing into a wide smile. Mom looks really happy. They chat, and it seems like Mom likes her.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please settle down as we are about to start in 5 minutes." Mr Kang says on the stage.

Mom left us first and walks to her seat. I turn to Ying Jie and ask, "Do you want to sit with me?" I don't want her to return to the table and sit with that architect.

She looks at me and shakes her head. I feel down instantly. Then she says, "Xiao Xun and Xiao Yu are there. I can't leave them." Right, they are at the table, and she needs to be with them.

I walk her back to her seat, and then walk to my seat. Grandma, Mom, Ya Tou, Ah Wei her boyfriend, his parents and my 3 best buddies are already seated down. I greet Grandma and Ah Wei’s parents before sitting down.

When it’s 6:30PM, I went up to the stage for my speech. It’s the same old plain speech I have every D&D, but this time, I introduce Ya Tou as my sister, and she will be taking a Manager position from the next week onwards. She didn’t attend any Dinner and Dance for the company. This is the first time, since she has started working in the company, and also Mom gave her a mission. If she works hard in the company for 2 months, there will be a Manager position for her. Though I’m the CEO, Mom still makes big decisions in the company.

After my speech, all of us have our dinner. While having our dinner, there are people performing on the stage. Some are celebrities that we have invited, and some are performed by employees in the company. I’m performing later, after the dance, before the fireworks. It’s the first time I’m going to perform on stage, just for her. I’m going to confess to her later.

After the dinner, people start to dance on the dance floor. I walk to Ying Jie’s seat, which is just few tables back from my table. I want her to dance with me. Before I reach her, I saw the architect offering his hand to her, probably asking her for a dance. It seems like she’s going to accept it, since she’s lifting up her hands to reach his. Before she put her hand on his, I turn her around. She looks at me surprised and confused. “Dance with me.” I say and pull her towards the dance floor.

“Wait!” The architect stands in front of us and stops us. I stare at him, wanting him to give way to us, but he didn’t.

“You shouldn’t force Ying Jie to dance with you. Let her choose who she wants to dance with.” He says, looking at Ying Jie. He’s right though, even though I hate him. I look at Ying Jie and wait for her answer. She looks at us, and then walks towards him. So she’s going to choose him.

“Um… I’m going to dance with Aaron first. I’ll dance with you later?” She says. I smile widely. I’m happy that she chose me first. He nods and makes way for us.

When we’re at the dance floor, the music change to a slow one. One of my hands holds onto her hand, and the other holds on to her waist. She put her hand on my shoulder and we start dancing. I look at her. This is the first time I’ve been so close to her. She has beautiful eyes, rosy cheeks, and kissable cherry lips. Before I know, I’m leaning in to her lips.

***

Ying Jie’s POV

He’s leaning closer to me. His eyes, he’s looking at my lips. My heart beats fast. He’s not going to kiss me is it? Before our lips touch, someone coughed. He moves back and looks at the person who makes the noise. It’s Ao Quan. He walks towards us and says, “My turn to dance with Ying Jie.” Aaron nods and leaves us.

While dancing with Ao Quan, I’m thinking back to the dance I had with Aaron. We almost kissed just now. Does that means he feels the same way as I feel towards him? No! He can’t! Or maybe I’m just thinking too much.

“I’m sorry. I need to go to the washroom.” I apologise and say to Ao Quan and left for the washroom.

When I came out of the washroom, the dance time has ended. Now is the time for lucky draw. I walk back to my seat while some other people are still standing on the dance floor. Apple and Hong Shi’s name are called out, which means that they are two of the winners of the lucky draw. We clap for them.

After the lucky draw, the MC announces that Aaron is performing next. Then everyone is commenting about it. “Mr Yan is performing?” “The first time in all these years!” “I can’t believe we’re able to see Mr Yan perform!”

Aaron stands on the stage, holding a microphone. Everyone become silent. The music starts to play and he starts singing. He’s singing I can see nothing but you (只看見妳). 

While he’s singing, he keeps on looking at me. I wanted to think that he isn’t, that I’m wrong, but I’m not. He’s walking straight towards me. My heart beats faster and faster when he’s walking nearer. He stops in front of me and continues singing. I look around, and everyone is looking at him, at me. After the song ends, he’s still looking at me. Then he says something that makes me surprise.

“Ying Jie, I love you. Will you be my girlfriend?”

He looks at me, waiting for my answer. I’m happy that he feels the same way as I do, but I know I can’t accept it. I stand up, look down, and give him my answer.

“I’m sorry Aaron. I… I can’t be your girlfriend.” I say and run away, letting my tears fall.