This is Chapter 9 PART 1, NOT Chapter 10.

 

~~

“Alright. That’s enough for today’s class. See you guys next week!” says Alissa’s dance teacher, Janice, as everybody started gathering their things. “For next week, I want you guys to at least have a song and couple of dance steps to it. It can be any song you want and any dance you want. Be creative!”

With that, everyone headed for the showers. Alissa went to her locker and got her bag, which had her clothes in it.. As she got out of the dance studio, some of the students were still hanging out in the hallways and practicing some dance steps. She steps out of the school building and takes a breath. “Ahhh….so refreshing! I love the summer wind!” says Alissa with a smile on her face as she pulls out her phone to check the time. 4:40pm. Upon seeing the time she frowns and walks the down the stairs and heads towards her car. As she is searching for her car keys in her bag, still walking, she bumps into someone.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?!” says Alissa as the person turns around to face her and Alissa immediately recognizes the face in front of her. It wasn’t easy to forget a face like her. “You’re…Victoria, right?”

“How did you know my….OH! You’re Show’s girlfriend”, says Victoria. “Didn’t expect you to be here. What are you doing here anyways…in such filthy clothes?” Victoria eyes Alissa baggy clothes up and down.

“Filthy clothes? Excuse me. But this is what I wear when I’m practicing”, Alissa was getting angry because of what Victoria just said.

“Oh please. I know when a girl has a sense of style. Which you obviously don’t have”, scoffed Victoria. “I don’t know what Show looked in you that made you be his girlfriend. I mean, he’s not THAT great to be with, you know? He’s---”, Victoria words are cut by a slap to the face and she turns to Alissa.

“That’s for bad mouthing my boyfriend. Not that great to be with?! EXCUSE ME?! That’s my boyfriend you’re talking about. He’s great. He’s nice. And kind. He’s much more of a great boyfriend than he was ever with you. YOU were the one who left HIM” says Alissa furiously. “Don’t you dare talk about him like that!”

“How dare you slap me?! You..!” Victoria raises her arm to hit her but Alissa grabs her and turns her around. “Hey! Let go!”

“You ask what he sees in me? It’s what he never saw in you”, Alissa lets go of her arm and heads towards her car but is suddenly interrupted by a hand on the car door. She looks to her left and sees Timothy, standing next to her. “What do you want?”

“Now, now. Is that the way you treat your boyfriend?” says Timothy with a smirk.

“Wipe that stupid smirk off your face. Whose boyfriend? I already have a boyfriend and it’s NOT YOU”, says Alissa getting more angry now. UGH! Why can’t my day go the way I want it to? thought Alissa.

“Oh come on now. That guy isn’t near as good as me. I can treat you way better than—“, Timothy’s words were broken by Alissa head butting him on the head.

“Coming from a person who ditched me 3 years ago”, says Alissa opening the car door. “Don’t ever show your face in front of me again”.

With that, Alissa gets in her car and drives away, hoping to clear her head.

~~

“You ask what he sees in me? It’s what he never saw in you”, Alissa lets go of her arm and heads towards her car. Victoria watches as a tall guy in a red hoodie interrupts Alissa by placing a hand on the car door. Who’s this? thinks Victoria.

“What do you want?” says Alissa to the guy to her left.

“Now, now. Is that the way you treat your boyfriend?” says the guy with a smirk. Her boyfriend? She knows him? thinks Victoria as she watches the two in front of her.

“Wipe that stupid smirk off your face. Whose boyfriend? I already have a boyfriend and it’s NOT YOU”, says Alissa getting more angry now.

“Oh come on now. That guy isn’t near as good as me. I can treat you way better than—“, the guy words were broken by Alissa head butting him on the head. Ohoho that HAS got to hurt, thinks Victoria.

“Coming from a person who ditched me 3 years ago”, says Alissa opening the car door. “Don’t ever show your face in front of me again”. Oh? This should be fun, thought Victoria with a smirk on her face. As soon as Alissa drives away in her car, Victoria makes her way to the guy.

“I feel sorry for you. I really do”, says Victoria.

“And you are?” asks the guy.

“Victoria”, says Victoria as she raises her hand for a handshake. “Victoria Tang”.

“Timothy Lang”, says Timothy as he shakes her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Timothy”, says Victoria as she smiles. “I believe we have the same mission here”.

“I’m sorry? The same mission?” asks Timothy.

“Well, from what I saw, you want to pursue Alissa”, says Victoria as she observes Timothy’s face and his eyes go wide. Bingo. “Am I right?”

~~

“UGHHHHHHH!!!!” yelled Alissa as soon as she got in her room. “Why can’t things go my way when I want them too?” She threw her bag onto her bed and heads to the bathroom.

After a long hot shower, Alissa is finally relaxed and gets ready to make dinner when her phone rings. She picks it up from the kitchen counter and read the caller ID, it says “Show”.

“Hello?” says Alissa as she takes out veggies and meat from the fridge.

“Hey. What are you doing?” asked Show on the other side.

“I’m about to ma--”, Alissa suddenly remembers the time where she told him that she couldn’t cook. I can’t tell him! I can’t tell him that I can cook!, thinks Alissa. “I’m about to have dinner”.

“Ahh. I’m hungry but I can’t eat for another hour. I’m here for a commercial and Xiao Shuang won’t let me till after I’m done”, says Show.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Hmm. Do you want to have dinner at my place?” asks Alissa, hoping he would say ‘YES’. “Besides we already have so much food here”. I hate lying, thought Alissa.

“Oh. Is it okay? Won’t your sisters mind?” asked Show.

“Haha. It’s okay, Show. They’re having a sleep over at their friend’s place for the night”, said Alissa nervously. Why am I so nervous, all of a sudden? thinks Alissa.

“Okay. I’ll be there at around 9:30 then”, says Show as Alissa hears a voice calling him. “Ok. I have to go. I’ll see you in a bit”.

“Ok. Bye”, says Alissa as she hangs up and looks at the clock on the kitchen wall. 8:45 PM. “Just enough time for me to get everything ready”.  She puts on her apron and starts making food for dinner.

~~

“Oh. Is it okay? Won’t your sisters mind?” asked Show.

“Haha. It’s okay, Show. They’re having a sleep over at their friend’s place for the night”, said Alissa. After hearing that, Show gets nervous. Why am I nervous? thinks Show.

“Okay. I’ll be there at around 9:30 then”, says Show as Xiao Shuang calls his name. “Ok. I have to go. I’ll see you in a bit”. Why the hell am I so nervous? It’s not like anything will happen at her place, thinks Show as he gets ready for another shot of the commercial.

~~

“Whew! I’m done!” says Alissa as she looks at the table full of food that she just made in under an hour. “I hope he likes it”. Just as she takes off her apron, the doorbell rings and she goes to open it, revealing Show in jeans and a leather jacket with sneakers.

“Hi. Did anyone see you come in to my house?” asks Alissa as Show steps inside her house. She goes to take a peek outside but is pulled back, luckily she had her right hand on the door so when she was pulled back, and she closed the door with it. “Show. What are yo--” Alissa words get cut off my Show’s sweet lips on hers. At first, her eyes go wide but she kisses him back with the equal amount of force. After a second, they pull away from each other.

“I missed you”, says Show as he looks at Alissa.

“I missed you too”, says Alissa as she smiles sweetly as Show. If only time could stop right now, thinks Alissa. But why am I getting so nervous?  She shakes off the thought and grabs his hand. “Ok. Enough chit chat! Come. Eat”. She leads him to the kitchen table of where the food was still warm enough to eat.

“Wahse! Did you make this?” asked Show.

Alissa chuckled at Show’s expression upon seeing food. “Yeah, take a seat”, says Alissa as she gets chopsticks and places them on the table.

“Wait. If I remember correctly, you said you didn’t know how to cook”, says Show sitting down on a chair.

“Hahaha. I’m sorry I lied to you. I just wanted to surprise you”, says Alissa as she gets the hot steaming rice from the rice cooker into two individual medium sized bowls and places one in front of him and another in front of her. “Dig in!”

~~

15 minutes later….

“Ahh. That’s the best dinner I’ve had in a while”, says Show as he rubs his tummy. Alissa chuckles as she gets up to take the dirty dishes to the sink and looks at the clock. 10:30 PM.

“Would you like to have tea?” asks Alissa as she gets a kettle from a cupboard and fills it water.

“Yeah. That’d be great”, says Show as he brings the remaining dirty dishes and places them in the sink.

“So how’d the filming go?” asks Alissa as she starts washing the dishes and putting them on the dish rack. Show gets a clean cloth and starts drying the clean dishes away. “Oh. You don’t have to do that. I can--” Her words gets cut off by Show placing a kiss on her cheek.

“Let me do it. It’s the least I can do”, says Show as he dries the dishes and places them on the counter. “Oh and filming was a pain. It’s always a pain”.

“The same goes for me. Except it’s for dancing”, says Alissa as she places the last dish on the dish rack and starts placing the dried ones in their desired places. The high pitch whistle of the kettle goes off and Alissa gets her oven glove and takes the kettle off the stove.

“Careful. Here let--” Show’s words were cut off by his phone ringing. He frowns as he takes it out from his jeans pocket. “Wei?” He goes farther away to take his call.

I wonder who’s on the phone, thinks Alissa as she gets two cups from the cupboard, places them on the counter and gets the tea bags to put in the cups. “Hey”, comes a voice from behind and she turns around to see Show standing.

~~

“That was Xiao Shuang on the phone”, says Show. “She said the electricity is gone at my apartment area and…”, he tried his best not to sound awkward.

“And?” asks Alissa. UGH. How do I make this sound like so it doesn’t look like I had planned this? thinks Show nervously. “Uhm…”.

“Just spit it out, Show. What is it?” says Alissa as she turns around to pour the hot steaming water into the cups.

“Well, is it okay if I stay here for the night?” asks Show. She’s going to say no, thinks Show. Just then, he hears a little bang come from Alissa and runs over to see what happened.

~~

“Just spit it out, Show. What is it?” says Alissa as she turns around to pour the hot steaming water into the cups.

“Well, is it okay if I stay here for the night?” asks Show. Upon hearing that, Alissa suddenly burns her finger from the hot water as she was pouring it into the cup.

“Ah!” Alissa looks at her finger, which had turned red. Show comes to her side and immediately looks at her finger. He wants to stay here for the night? Thinks Alissa as she looks at him and blushes.

“You burned your finger! Come here”, says Show as he takes her towards the sink, turns the faucet on cold water and puts her finger under the running water. “You should be more careful”.

Alissa wipes her hand with a tissue and goes to pour the water from the kettle again but gets stopped by Show’s hand. “Oh no you don’t”, Show pours the water in the cup. “You go sit down. I’ll bring the tea”. Alissa obeys as she walks toward the living room and sits down on the comfy couch.

She hears footsteps coming from behind as Show appears in her view with two steaming cups on a tray. He gives one to Alissa and keeps one to himself. All of a sudden there’s an awkward silence between them as they sat side by side. She decided to break the awkwardness but is stopped by Show talking. “If you don’t want me to stay over, it’s fine with me”, says Show as he puts the cup down on the table and gets up. “I can just go to Xiao Gui’s place and spend the night there”. Did he sense the nervousness in me just now? thinks Alissa.

Alissa sighs and puts her head down. “Did you bring spare clothes with you?”

Show turns and looks at her, confused. “Huh?”

Alissa gets up and looks up at him. “I said did you bring spare clothes with you?” says Alissa as she starts walking towards her room. “Because if you don’t, I can give a pair to you if you want”.

“Yeah, I have a pair”, says Show as he goes to get his bag and grabs a pair of clothes and heads towards to the bathroom.

While Show changes, Alissa goes to her room and picks up whatever is on the floor and stores it in her closet. “Wait. Why am I getting nervous? He’s just staying the night. No big deal”. But she knew why she was getting nervous. A voice comes from behind her and she jumps. “JESUS! Don’t scare me like that!” Alissa clutched her heart and listened to her heartbeat beating unexpectedly very fast.

“Sorry”, says Show. Alissa looks at the clothes he changed into, a dark blue shirt with white and black check boxed pajamas. She couldn’t help but think how cute he looked.

“Uhm. You can sleep on my bed and I can sleep in Jane’s room”, says Alissa as she takes her pj’s and heads towards the door to exit her room but is stopped by Show’s hand. She looks at his hand on her arm and looks up to see him looking at her. “What is it?” Alissa blushes as she feels Show’s eyes on her and stares at the ground instead.

After a second, she feels his hands on her shoulders and turns her so that she’s facing him. OMG. OMG. thinks Alissa. Show lifts her head so she’s looking straight into his eyes. He leans his head in as Alissa slowly closes her but a sudden sound, which she recognizes, breaks them apart. “Ah! That’s my phone”, says Alissa as she gets her phone from her table.

“Hello?” says Alissa on her phone.

“Alissa”, a deep voice calls her name on the other side but her smile turns upside down and turns around to face Show. Do I want him to see me like this? thought Alissa as a tear falls down her cheek.

“Dad…”, was all Alissa could say.